Latest / Gadfly / 22 - Gadfly by Ethel Lilian Voynich

Transcript

22 - Gadfly by Ethel Lilian Voynich · Gadfly

0:02
Speaker 1: Montanelli's anger did not make him neglectful of his promise.
0:07
Speaker 1: He protested so emphatically against the manner in which the
0:11
Speaker 1: gadfly had been chained, that the unfortunate governor, who by
0:16
Speaker 1: now was at his wits end, knocked off all the
0:19
Speaker 1: fetters in the recklessness of despair. How am I to know,
0:25
Speaker 1: he grumbled to the adjutant, What his Eminence will object
0:29
Speaker 1: to next? If he calls a simple pair of handcuff's cruelty,
0:34
Speaker 1: he'll be exclaiming against the window bars presently, or wanting
0:38
Speaker 1: me to feed Rivera's on oysters and truffles. In my
0:43
Speaker 1: young days, malfactors were malfactors and were treated accordingly, and
0:48
Speaker 1: nobody thought a traitor any better than a thief. But
0:52
Speaker 1: it's the fashion to be seditious nowadays, and his Eminence
0:57
Speaker 1: seems inclined to encourage all the scaleous in the country.
1:01
Speaker 1: I don't see what business he has got to interfere
1:04
Speaker 1: at all, the adjutant remarked, he is not a legate,
1:09
Speaker 1: and he has no authority in civil and military affairs
1:13
Speaker 1: by law. What is the use of talking about law?
1:17
Speaker 1: You can't expect anyone to respect laws. After the Holy
1:21
Speaker 1: Father has opened the prisons and turned the whole crew
1:25
Speaker 1: of liberal scamps loose on us. It's a positive infatuation,
1:31
Speaker 1: of course. Monsignor Montanelli will give himself airs. He was
1:36
Speaker 1: quiet enough under his Holiness, the Late Pope, but he's
1:40
Speaker 1: cock of the walk now he has jumped into favor
1:44
Speaker 1: all at once and can do as he pleases. How
1:47
Speaker 1: am I to oppose him? He may have secret authorization
1:51
Speaker 1: from the Vatican, for all I know. Everything's topsy turvy. Now.
1:56
Speaker 1: You can't tell from day to day what may happen next.
2:00
Speaker 1: In the good old times, one knew what to be at.
2:03
Speaker 1: But nowadays the governor shook his head ruefully. A world
2:08
Speaker 1: in which cardinals troubled themselves over trifles of prison discipline
2:13
Speaker 1: and talked about the rights of political offenders was a
2:17
Speaker 1: world that was growing too complex for him. The Gadfly,
2:22
Speaker 1: for his part, had returned to the fortress in a
2:26
Speaker 1: state of nervous excitement bordering on hysteria. The meeting with
2:31
Speaker 1: Montonelli had strained his endurance almost to the breaking point,
2:36
Speaker 1: and his final brutality about the variety show had been
2:40
Speaker 1: uttered in sheer desperation, merely to cut short an interview
2:45
Speaker 1: which in another five minutes would have ended in tears.
2:49
Speaker 1: Called up for interrogation in the afternoon of the same day,
2:53
Speaker 1: he did nothing but go into convulsions of laughter at
2:57
Speaker 1: every question put to him, And when the governor, worried
3:01
Speaker 1: out of all patients, lost his temper and began to swear,
3:06
Speaker 1: he only laughed more immoderately than ever. The unlucky governor
3:11
Speaker 1: fumed and stormed, and threatened his refractory prisoner with impossible punishments,
3:18
Speaker 1: but finally came as James Burton had come long ago
3:23
Speaker 1: to the conclusion that it was mere waste of breath
3:27
Speaker 1: and temper to argue with a person in so unreasonable
3:31
Speaker 1: a state of mind, The Gadfly was once more taken
3:36
Speaker 1: back to his cell, and there lay down upon the
3:39
Speaker 1: palate in the mood of black and hopeless depression which
3:43
Speaker 1: always succeeded to his boisterous fits. He lay till evening
3:49
Speaker 1: without moving, without even thinking he had passed, after the
3:54
Speaker 1: vehement emotion of the morning, into a strange, half apathetic
4:00
Speaker 1: state in which his own misery was hardly more to
4:04
Speaker 1: him than a dull and mechanical weight pressing on some
4:08
Speaker 1: wooden thing. That had forgotten to be a soul. In truth,
4:13
Speaker 1: it was of little consequence, how all ended. The one
4:17
Speaker 1: thing that mattered to any sentient being was to be
4:20
Speaker 1: spared unbearable pain. And whether the relief came from altered
4:26
Speaker 1: conditions or from the deadening of the power to feel,
4:30
Speaker 1: was a question of no moment. Perhaps he would succeed
4:34
Speaker 1: in escaping, perhaps they would kill him. In any case,
4:38
Speaker 1: he should never see the padre again, and it was
4:41
Speaker 1: all vanity and vexation of spirit. One of the warders
4:46
Speaker 1: brought in supper, and the gadfly looked up with heavy
4:50
Speaker 1: eyed indifference. What time is it? Six o'clock your supper? Ser?
4:56
Speaker 1: He looked with disgust at the stale, foul smelling, half
5:00
Speaker 1: cold mess, and turned his head away. He was feeling
5:05
Speaker 1: bodily ill as well as depressed, and the sight of
5:08
Speaker 1: the food sickened him. You will be ill if you
5:12
Speaker 1: don't eat, said the soldier, hurriedly. Take a bit of
5:16
Speaker 1: bread anyway, it'll do you good. The man spoke with
5:20
Speaker 1: a curious earnestness of tone, lifting a piece of sodden
5:25
Speaker 1: bread from the plate and putting it down again. All
5:29
Speaker 1: the conspirator awoke in the gadfly. He had guessed at
5:33
Speaker 1: once that there was something hidden in the bread. You
5:37
Speaker 1: can leave it. I'll eat a bit by and by,
5:40
Speaker 1: he said carelessly. The door was open, and he knew
5:44
Speaker 1: that the sergeant could hear every word spoken between them.
5:49
Speaker 1: When the door was locked on him again, and he
5:51
Speaker 1: had satisfied himself that no one was watching at the
5:55
Speaker 1: spy hole, he took up the piece of bread and
5:59
Speaker 1: carefully crumbled it away. In the middle was the thing
6:02
Speaker 1: he had expected, a bundle of small files. It was
6:07
Speaker 1: wrapped in a bit of paper on which a few
6:10
Speaker 1: words were written. He smoothed the paper out carefully and
6:14
Speaker 1: carried it to what little light there was. The writing
6:18
Speaker 1: was crowded into so narrow a space, and on such
6:22
Speaker 1: thin paper that it was very difficult to read. The
6:26
Speaker 1: door is unlocked and there is no moon. Get the
6:30
Speaker 1: filing done as fast as possible, and come by the
6:33
Speaker 1: passage between two and three. We are quite ready and
6:38
Speaker 1: may not have another chance. He crushed the paper feverishly
6:43
Speaker 1: in his hand. All the preparations were ready then, and
6:47
Speaker 1: he had only to file the window bars. How lucky
6:51
Speaker 1: it was that the chains were off. He need not
6:54
Speaker 1: stop about filing them. How many bars were there two
7:00
Speaker 1: and each must be filed in two places. Eight. Oh,
7:05
Speaker 1: he could manage that in the course of the night
7:08
Speaker 1: if he made haste. How had Gemma and Martini contrived
7:13
Speaker 1: to get everything ready so quickly, disguises, passports, hiding places.
7:20
Speaker 1: They must have worked like cart horses to do it.
7:24
Speaker 1: And it was her plan that had been adopted. After all,
7:28
Speaker 1: He laughed a little to himself at his own foolishness,
7:32
Speaker 1: as if it mattered whether the plan was hers or
7:35
Speaker 1: not once it was a good one. And yet he
7:38
Speaker 1: could not help being glad that if it was she
7:41
Speaker 1: who had struck on the idea of his utilizing the
7:45
Speaker 1: subterranean passage instead of letting himself down by a rope ladder,
7:51
Speaker 1: as the smugglers had at first suggested, hers was the
7:55
Speaker 1: more complex and difficult plan, but did not involve, as
7:59
Speaker 1: the other did, a risk to the life of the
8:02
Speaker 1: sentinel on duty outside the east wall. Therefore, when the
8:07
Speaker 1: two schemes had been laid before him, he had unhesitatingly
8:12
Speaker 1: chosen Gemmas. The arrangement was that the friendly guard, who
8:17
Speaker 1: went by the nickname of the Cricket, should seize the
8:21
Speaker 1: first opportunity of unlocking without the knowledge of his fellows
8:27
Speaker 1: the iron gate leading from the courtyard into the subterranean
8:32
Speaker 1: passage underneath the ramparts, and should then replace the key
8:37
Speaker 1: on its nail in the guard room. The gadfly, on
8:41
Speaker 1: receiving information of this, was to file through the bars
8:45
Speaker 1: of his window, tear his shirt into strips, and plait
8:50
Speaker 1: them into a rope, by means of which he could
8:53
Speaker 1: let himself down onto the broad east wall of the courtyard.
8:58
Speaker 1: Along this wall he was to creep on hands and
9:02
Speaker 1: knees while the sentinel was looking in the opposite direction,
9:07
Speaker 1: lying flat upon the masonry whenever the man turned towards him.
9:12
Speaker 1: At the southeast corner was a half ruined turret. It
9:17
Speaker 1: was upheld to some extent by a thick growth of ivy,
9:22
Speaker 1: but great masses of crumbling stone had fallen inward and
9:26
Speaker 1: lay in the courtyard heaped against the wall. From this turret,
9:31
Speaker 1: he was to climb down by the ivy and the
9:34
Speaker 1: heaps of stone, into the courtyard, and softly opening the
9:39
Speaker 1: unlocked gate, to make his way along the passage to
9:44
Speaker 1: a subterranean tunnel, communicating with it. Centuries ago, this tunnel
9:51
Speaker 1: had formed a secret corridor between the fortress and the
9:55
Speaker 1: tower on the neighboring hill. Now it was quite disused
10:00
Speaker 1: and blocked in many places by the falling in of
10:03
Speaker 1: the rocks. No one but the smugglers knew of a
10:07
Speaker 1: certain carefully hidden hole in the mountain side which they
10:11
Speaker 1: had bored through to the tunnel. No one suspected that
10:15
Speaker 1: stores of forbidden merchandise were often kept for weeks together
10:21
Speaker 1: under the very ramparts of the fortress itself, while the
10:25
Speaker 1: customs officers were vainly searching the houses of the sullen,
10:30
Speaker 1: wrathful eyed mountaineers. At this hole, the gadfly was to
10:35
Speaker 1: creep out onto the hillside and make his way in
10:39
Speaker 1: the dark to a lonely spot where Martini and a
10:44
Speaker 1: smuggler would be waiting for him. The one great difficulty
10:48
Speaker 1: was that opportunities to unlock the gate after the evening
10:53
Speaker 1: patrol did not occur every night, and the descent from
10:57
Speaker 1: the window could not be made very clear weather without
11:02
Speaker 1: too great a risk of being observed by the sentinel.
11:06
Speaker 1: Now that there was really a fair chance of success,
11:10
Speaker 1: it must not be missed. He sat down and began
11:13
Speaker 1: to eat some of the bread it at least did
11:17
Speaker 1: not disgust him like the rest of the prison food,
11:20
Speaker 1: and he must eat something to keep up his strength.
11:24
Speaker 1: He had better lie down a bit too, and try
11:27
Speaker 1: to get a little sleep. It would not be safe
11:30
Speaker 1: to begin filing before ten o'clock, and he would have
11:33
Speaker 1: a hard night's work. And so, after all the padre
11:37
Speaker 1: had been thinking of letting him escape. That was like
11:41
Speaker 1: the padre, But he, for his part, would never consent
11:45
Speaker 1: to it anything rather than that if he escaped, it
11:50
Speaker 1: should be his own doing and that of his comrades.
11:54
Speaker 1: He would have no favors from priests. How hot it was,
11:59
Speaker 1: surely it must be going to thunder. The air was
12:02
Speaker 1: so close and oppressive. He moved restlessly on the pallet
12:08
Speaker 1: and put the bandaged right hand behind his head for
12:12
Speaker 1: a pillow, then drew it away again. How it burned
12:16
Speaker 1: and throbbed, and all the old wounds were beginning to
12:20
Speaker 1: ache with a dull, faint persistence. What was the matter
12:26
Speaker 1: with them, oh, absurd, it was only the thundery weather.
12:32
Speaker 1: He would go to sleep and get a little rest
12:35
Speaker 1: before beginning his filing. Ache bars and all so thick
12:40
Speaker 1: and strong, How many more were there left to file.
12:45
Speaker 1: Surely not many. He must have been filing for hours,
12:49
Speaker 1: interminable hours. Yes, of course that was what made his
12:55
Speaker 1: arm ache, and how it ached right through to the
12:59
Speaker 1: very But it could hardly be the filing that made
13:03
Speaker 1: his side ache so and the throbbing, burning pain in
13:07
Speaker 1: the lame leg was that from filing he started up. No,
13:13
Speaker 1: he had not been asleep. He had been dreaming with
13:17
Speaker 1: open eyes, dreaming of filing. And it was all still
13:22
Speaker 1: to do. There stood the window bars, untouched, strong and
13:27
Speaker 1: firm as ever, and there was ten striking from the
13:31
Speaker 1: clock tower in the distance. He must get to work.
13:35
Speaker 1: He looked through the spy hole, and, seeing that no
13:38
Speaker 1: one was watching, took one of the files from his breast. No,
13:44
Speaker 1: there was nothing the matter with him, nothing, It was
13:47
Speaker 1: all imagination. The pain in his side was indigestion or
13:52
Speaker 1: a chill or some such thing. Not much wonder after
13:56
Speaker 1: three weeks of this insufferable prison, food and air. As
14:02
Speaker 1: for the aching and throbbing all over, it was partly
14:06
Speaker 1: nervous trouble, and partly want of exercise. Yes, that was it,
14:12
Speaker 1: No doubt, want of exercise. How absurd not to have
14:16
Speaker 1: thought of that before. He would sit down a little bit, though,
14:21
Speaker 1: and let it pass before he got to work. It
14:24
Speaker 1: would be sure to go over in a minute or two.
14:27
Speaker 1: To sit still was worse than all. When he sat still,
14:31
Speaker 1: he was at its mercy, and his face grew gray
14:34
Speaker 1: with fear. No, he must get up and set to
14:38
Speaker 1: work and shake it off. It should depend upon his
14:41
Speaker 1: will to feel or not to feel, and he would
14:45
Speaker 1: not feel. He would force it back. He stood up
14:48
Speaker 1: again and spoke to himself aloud and distinctly, I am
14:53
Speaker 1: not ill. I have no time to be ill. I
14:57
Speaker 1: have those bars to file, and I am not going
15:00
Speaker 1: to be ill. Then he began to file. A quarter
15:04
Speaker 1: past ten, half past ten, a quarter to eleven. He
15:10
Speaker 1: filed and filed, and every grating scrape of the iron
15:15
Speaker 1: was as though someone was filing on his body and brain.
15:19
Speaker 1: I wonder which will be filed through first, he said
15:23
Speaker 1: to himself, with a little laugh, eye or the bars.
15:27
Speaker 1: And he set his teeth and went on filing. Half
15:31
Speaker 1: past eleven he was still filing, though the hand was
15:35
Speaker 1: stiff and swollen and would hardly grasp the tool. No,
15:40
Speaker 1: he dared not stop to rest. If he once put
15:44
Speaker 1: the horrible thing down, he should never have the courage
15:47
Speaker 1: to begin again. The sentinel moved outside the door, and
15:51
Speaker 1: the butt end of his car being scratched against the lintel.
15:55
Speaker 1: The gadfly stopped and looked around the file still in
15:59
Speaker 1: his lift hand was He discovered a little round pellet
16:04
Speaker 1: had been shot through the spy hole and was lying
16:07
Speaker 1: on the floor. He laid down the file and stooped
16:11
Speaker 1: to pick up the round thing. It was a bit
16:13
Speaker 1: of rolled paper. It was a long way to go
16:17
Speaker 1: down and down with the black waves rushing about him,
16:22
Speaker 1: how they roared? Oh yes, he was only stooping down
16:27
Speaker 1: to pick up the paper. He was a bit giddy.
16:30
Speaker 1: Many people are when they stoop. There was nothing the
16:34
Speaker 1: matter with him. Nothing. He picked it up, carried it
16:38
Speaker 1: to the light, and unfolded it steadily. Come tonight, whatever happens,
16:44
Speaker 1: the cricket will be transferred tomorrow to another service. This
16:48
Speaker 1: is our only chance. He destroyed the paper as he
16:53
Speaker 1: had done the former one, picked up his file again
16:56
Speaker 1: and went back to work, dogged and mute and desperate.
17:01
Speaker 1: One o'clock he had been working for three hours now,
17:05
Speaker 1: and six of the eight bars were filed. Two more,
17:09
Speaker 1: and then to climb. He began to recall the former
17:13
Speaker 1: occasions when these terrible attacks had come on. The last
17:18
Speaker 1: had been the one at New Year, and he shuddered
17:21
Speaker 1: as he remembered those five nights. But that time it
17:25
Speaker 1: had not come on so suddenly. He had never known
17:28
Speaker 1: it so sudden. He dropped the file and flung out
17:33
Speaker 1: both hands, blindly, praying in his utter desperation for the
17:38
Speaker 1: first time since he had been an atheist, praying to anything,
17:43
Speaker 1: to nothing, to everything, not to night. Oh let me
17:47
Speaker 1: be ill tomorrow. I will bear anything tomorrow, only not
17:54
Speaker 1: to night. He stood still for a moment with both
17:58
Speaker 1: hands up to his temples. Then he took up the
18:01
Speaker 1: file once more, and once more went back to his work.
18:04
Speaker 1: Half past one. He had begun on the last bar.
18:09
Speaker 1: His shirt sleeve was bitten to rags. There was blood
18:12
Speaker 1: on his lips and a red mist before his eyes,
18:16
Speaker 1: and the sweat poured from his forehead as he filed
18:20
Speaker 1: and filed and filed. After sunrise, Montonelli fell asleep. He
18:27
Speaker 1: was utterly worn out with the restless misery of the night,
18:31
Speaker 1: and slept for a little while quietly. Then he began
18:35
Speaker 1: to dream. At first, he dreamed vaguely, confusedly, broken, fragments
18:41
Speaker 1: of images and fancies followed each other, fleeting and incoherent,
18:47
Speaker 1: but all filled with the same dim sense of struggle
18:51
Speaker 1: and pain, the same shadow of indefinable dread. Presently, he
18:57
Speaker 1: began to dream of sleeplessness, the old, frightful, familiar dream
19:02
Speaker 1: that had been a terror to him for years. And
19:06
Speaker 1: even as he dreamed, he recognized that he had been
19:09
Speaker 1: through it all before. He was wandering about in a
19:14
Speaker 1: great empty place, trying to find some quiet spot where
19:19
Speaker 1: he could lie down and sleep. Everywhere there were people
19:23
Speaker 1: walking up and down, talking, laughing, shouting, praying, ringing bells,
19:31
Speaker 1: and clashing metal instruments together. Sometimes he would get away
19:36
Speaker 1: to a little distance from the noise and would lie down,
19:40
Speaker 1: now on the grass, now on a wooden bench, now
19:44
Speaker 1: on some slab of stone. He would shut his eyes
19:48
Speaker 1: and cover them with both hands to keep out the light,
19:51
Speaker 1: and would say to himself, now I will get to sleep.
19:55
Speaker 1: Then the crowds would come sweeping up to him, shouting, yelling,
20:00
Speaker 1: calling him by name, begging him, wake up, wake up, quit,
20:05
Speaker 1: We want you again. He was in a great palace
20:09
Speaker 1: full of gorgeous rooms with beds and couches and low,
20:14
Speaker 1: soft lounges. It was night, and he said to himself, here,
20:18
Speaker 1: at last, I shall find a quiet place to sleep.
20:22
Speaker 1: But when he chose a dark room and lay down,
20:26
Speaker 1: someone came in with a lamp, flashing the merciless light
20:30
Speaker 1: into his eyes, and said, get up, you are wanted.
20:35
Speaker 1: He rose and wandered on, staggering and stumbling, like a
20:40
Speaker 1: creature wounded to death. And he heard the clocks strike one,
20:44
Speaker 1: and knew that half the night was gone already, the
20:48
Speaker 1: precious night that was so short, two, three, four five.
20:54
Speaker 1: By six o'clock the whole town would wake up, and
20:57
Speaker 1: there would be no more silence. He went into another
21:01
Speaker 1: room and would have lain down on a bed, but
21:04
Speaker 1: someone started up from the pillows, crying out, this bed
21:08
Speaker 1: is mine, and he shrank away with despair in his heart.
21:13
Speaker 1: Hour after hour, struck, and still he wandered on and on,
21:18
Speaker 1: from room to room, from house to house, from corridor
21:22
Speaker 1: to corridor. The horrible gray dawn was creeping nearer and nearer.
21:27
Speaker 1: The clocks were striking five. The night was gone, and
21:31
Speaker 1: he had found no rest. Oh misery. Another day, another day,
21:38
Speaker 1: he was in a long subterranean corridor, a low vaulted
21:43
Speaker 1: passage that seemed to have no end. It was lighted
21:46
Speaker 1: with glaring lamps and chandeliers, and through its grated roof
21:51
Speaker 1: came the sounds of dancing and laughter and merry music.
21:55
Speaker 1: Up there in the world of the live people. Overhead
22:00
Speaker 1: there was some festival, no doubt. Oh for a place
22:04
Speaker 1: to hide and sleep, some little place. Were it even
22:08
Speaker 1: a grave? And as he spoke, he stumbled over an
22:12
Speaker 1: open grave, an open grave, smelling of death and rottenness. Ah,
22:18
Speaker 1: what matter? So he could but sleep? This grave is mine.
22:23
Speaker 1: It was Gladys, And she raised her head and stared
22:27
Speaker 1: at him over the rotting shroud. Then he knelt down
22:31
Speaker 1: and stretched out his arms to her. Gladys, Gladys, have
22:35
Speaker 1: a little pity on me. Let me creep into this
22:39
Speaker 1: narrow space and sleep. I do not ask you for
22:42
Speaker 1: your love. I will not touch you, will not speak
22:46
Speaker 1: to you. Only let me lie down beside you and sleep. Oh, Love,
22:52
Speaker 1: it is so long since I have slept. I cannot
22:55
Speaker 1: bear another day. The light glares in upon my soul.
23:00
Speaker 1: The noise is beating my brain to dust. Gladys, Let
23:04
Speaker 1: me come in here and sleep. And he would have
23:07
Speaker 1: drawn her shroud across his eyes, but she shrank away, screaming,
23:13
Speaker 1: it is a sacrilege. You are a priest. On and
23:17
Speaker 1: on he wandered and came out upon the sea shore,
23:21
Speaker 1: on the barren rocks, where the fierce light struck down
23:25
Speaker 1: and the water moaned its low, perpetual wail of unrest. Ah,
23:31
Speaker 1: he said, the sea will be more merciful. It too
23:35
Speaker 1: is wearied unto death and cannot sleep. Then Arthur rose
23:40
Speaker 1: up from the deep and cried aloud, this sea is mine,
23:45
Speaker 1: Your eminence, Your eminence. Montanelli awoke with a start. His
23:51
Speaker 1: servant was knocking at the door. He rose mechanically and
23:55
Speaker 1: opened it, and the man saw how wild and scared
23:58
Speaker 1: he looked, Your eminence, are you ill? He drew both
24:02
Speaker 1: hands across his forehead. No, I was asleep and you
24:06
Speaker 1: startled me. I am very sorry. I thought I had
24:10
Speaker 1: heard you moving early this morning, and I supposed Is
24:14
Speaker 1: it late? Now? It is nine o'clock and the governor
24:17
Speaker 1: has called. He says he has very important business, and,
24:22
Speaker 1: knowing your eminence to be an early riser, is he downstairs?
24:27
Speaker 1: I will come presently. He dressed and went downstairs. I
24:31
Speaker 1: am afraid this is an unceremonious way to call upon
24:35
Speaker 1: your eminence, The governor began, I hope there is nothing
24:39
Speaker 1: the matter. There is very much the matter. Rivera's has
24:43
Speaker 1: all but succeeded in escaping. Well, so long as he
24:47
Speaker 1: has not quite succeeded, there is no harm done. How
24:50
Speaker 1: was it? He was found in the courtyard right against
24:54
Speaker 1: the little iron gate. When the patrol came in to
24:57
Speaker 1: inspect the courtyard at three or o'clock this morning, one
25:01
Speaker 1: of the men stumbled over something on the ground, and
25:05
Speaker 1: when they brought the light up, they found Riveras lying
25:08
Speaker 1: across the path unconscious. They raised an alarm at once
25:12
Speaker 1: and called me up. And when I went to examine
25:15
Speaker 1: his cell, I found all the window bars filed through,
25:19
Speaker 1: and a rope made of torn body linen hanging from
25:23
Speaker 1: one of them. He had let himself down and climbed
25:26
Speaker 1: along the wall. The iron gate, which leads into the
25:30
Speaker 1: subterranean tunnels was found to be unlocked. That looks as
25:34
Speaker 1: if the guards had been suborned. But how did he
25:37
Speaker 1: come to be lying across the path? Did he fall
25:40
Speaker 1: from the rampart and hurt himself? That is what I
25:44
Speaker 1: thought at first, your Eminence, But the prison surgeon can't
25:48
Speaker 1: find any trace of a fall. The soldier who was
25:51
Speaker 1: on duty yesterday says that Rivers looked very ill last
25:55
Speaker 1: night when he brought in the supper and did not
25:58
Speaker 1: eat anything. But that must be nonsense. A sick man
26:02
Speaker 1: couldn't file those bars through and climb along that roof.
26:06
Speaker 1: It's not in reason does he give any account of himself.
26:10
Speaker 1: He is unconscious your eminence still. He just half comes
26:15
Speaker 1: to himself from time to time and moans, and then
26:18
Speaker 1: goes off again. That is very strange. What does the
26:22
Speaker 1: doctor think. He doesn't know what to think. There is
26:25
Speaker 1: no trace of heart disease that he can find to
26:28
Speaker 1: account for the thing. But whatever is the matter with him,
26:32
Speaker 1: it is something that must have come on suddenly, just
26:35
Speaker 1: when he had nearly managed to escape. For my part,
26:39
Speaker 1: I believe he was struck down by the direct intervention
26:43
Speaker 1: of a merciful providence. Montanelli frowned slightly. What are you
26:48
Speaker 1: going to do with him? He asked, That is a
26:51
Speaker 1: question I shall settle in a very few days. In
26:54
Speaker 1: the meantime, I have had a good lesson. That is
26:57
Speaker 1: what comes of taking off the iron. With all due
27:01
Speaker 1: respect to your Eminence, I hope, Montanelli interrupted that you
27:06
Speaker 1: will at least not replace the fetters while he is ill.
27:10
Speaker 1: A man in the condition you describe can hardly make
27:14
Speaker 1: any more attempts to escape. I shall take good care
27:18
Speaker 1: he doesn't, the governor muttered to himself as he went out.
27:22
Speaker 1: His eminence can go hang with his sentinel scruples for
27:26
Speaker 1: all I care. Rivera's is chained pretty tight now and
27:31
Speaker 1: is going to stop so ill or not. But how
27:35
Speaker 1: can it have happened to faint away at the last moment,
27:39
Speaker 1: when everything was ready, when he was at the very gate.
27:42
Speaker 1: It's like some hideous joke, I tell you, Martini answered.
27:47
Speaker 1: The only thing I can think of is that one
27:50
Speaker 1: of these attacks must have come on, and that he
27:53
Speaker 1: must have struggled against it as long as his strength lasted,
27:57
Speaker 1: and have fainted from sheer exhaustion. When he got down
28:00
Speaker 1: into the courtyard, Marconi knocked the ashes savagely from his pipe. Well, anyhow,
28:07
Speaker 1: that's the end of it. We can't do anything for
28:10
Speaker 1: him now, Poor fellow, poor fellow, Martini echoed under his breath.
28:15
Speaker 1: He was beginning to realize that to him too, the
28:19
Speaker 1: world would look empty and dismal without the gadfly. What
28:23
Speaker 1: does she think, the smuggler asked, glancing towards the other
28:27
Speaker 1: end of the room, where Gemma sat alone, her hands
28:31
Speaker 1: lying idly in her lap, her eyes looking straight before
28:35
Speaker 1: her into blank nothingness. I have not asked her. She
28:39
Speaker 1: has not spoken since I brought her the news. We
28:42
Speaker 1: had best not disturb her just yet. She did not
28:45
Speaker 1: appear to be conscious of their presence, but they both
28:49
Speaker 1: spoke with lowered voices, as though they were looking at
28:52
Speaker 1: a corpse. After a dreary little pause, Marconi rose and
28:57
Speaker 1: put away his pipe. I will come back this evening,
29:00
Speaker 1: he said, But Martini stopped him with a gesture, don't
29:03
Speaker 1: go yet. I want to speak to you. He dropped,
29:06
Speaker 1: his voice still lower, and continued in almost a whisper.
29:11
Speaker 1: Do you believe there is really no hope? I don't
29:15
Speaker 1: see what hope there can be. Now. We can't attempt
29:18
Speaker 1: it again. Even if he were well enough to manage
29:21
Speaker 1: his part of the thing, We couldn't do our share.
29:24
Speaker 1: The sentinels are all being changed on suspicion. The cricket
29:29
Speaker 1: won't get another chance. You may be sure, don't you think?
29:33
Speaker 1: Martini asked suddenly that when he recovers something might be
29:38
Speaker 1: done by calling off the sentinels. Calling off the sentinels,
29:42
Speaker 1: what do you mean? Well, it has occurred to me
29:45
Speaker 1: that if I were to get in the Governor's way
29:48
Speaker 1: when the procession passes close by the fortress on Corpus
29:52
Speaker 1: Dominie day and fire in his face, all the sentinels
29:56
Speaker 1: would come rushing to get hold of me, and some
29:59
Speaker 1: of you fellows could perhaps help Ravera's out in the confusion.
30:04
Speaker 1: It really hardly amounts to a plan. It only came
30:07
Speaker 1: into my head. I doubt whether it could be managed,
30:10
Speaker 1: Marconi answered, with a very grave face. Certainly it would
30:15
Speaker 1: want a lot of thinking out for anything to come
30:18
Speaker 1: of it. But he stopped and looked at Martini. If
30:22
Speaker 1: it should be possible, would you do it? Martini was
30:25
Speaker 1: a reserved man at ordinary times, but this was not
30:29
Speaker 1: an ordinary time. He looked straight into the smuggler's face.
30:35
Speaker 1: Would I do it? He repeated, look at her. There
30:38
Speaker 1: was no need for further explanations. In saying that he
30:42
Speaker 1: had said all. Marconi turned and looked across the room.
30:46
Speaker 1: She had not moved since their conversation began. There was
30:51
Speaker 1: no doubt, no fear, even no grief in her face.
30:55
Speaker 1: There was nothing in it but the shadow of death.
30:58
Speaker 1: The smuggler's eyes filled with tears as he looked at her.
31:03
Speaker 1: Make haste, Michaela, he said, throwing open the veranda door
31:07
Speaker 1: and looking out. Aren't you nearly done? You two? There
31:11
Speaker 1: are one hundred and fifty things to do. Michaela, followed
31:15
Speaker 1: by Gino, came in from the veranda. I am ready now,
31:19
Speaker 1: he said, I only want to ask the Senora. He
31:22
Speaker 1: was moving towards her when Martini caught him by the arm.
31:26
Speaker 1: Don't disturb her. She's better alone. Let her be. Marconi added,
31:31
Speaker 1: we shan't do any good by meddling. God knows. It's
31:35
Speaker 1: hard enough on all of us, but it's worse for
31:38
Speaker 1: her poor soul. And of chapter four of the third
31:43
Speaker 1: part