XXI
In the evening Bartolomeo returned to the Palace and asked for Checco.At his request Matteo and I joined him in Checco's study, and besidesthere were his two sons, Scipione and Alessandro. Bartolomeo was graverthan ever.
'I have come to you now, Checco, impelled by a very strong sense ofduty, and I wish to talk with you on a matter of the greatestimportance.'
He cleared his throat.
'Firstly, are you convinced that the attempt on your life was plotted byGirolamo Riario?'
'I am sorry for his sake, but--I am.'
'So are we all, absolutely. And what do you intend to do now?'
'What can I do? Nothing!'
'The answer is not nothing. You have something to do.'
'And that is?'
'To kill Girolamo before he has time to kill you.'
Checco started to his feet.
'They have been talking to you--Matteo and Filippo. It is they who haveput this in your head. I knew it would be suggested again.'
'Nothing has given me the idea but the irresistible force ofcircumstances.'
'Never! I will never consent to that.'
'But he will kill you.'
'I can die!'
'It will be the ruin of your family. What will happen to your wife andchildren if you are dead?'
'If need be they can die too. No one who bears the name of Orsi fearsdeath.'
'You cannot sacrifice their lives in cold blood.'
'I cannot kill a fellow-man in cold blood. Ah, my friend, you don't knowwhat is in me. I am not religious; I have never meddled with priests;but something in my heart tells me not to do this thing. I don't knowwhat it is--conscience or honour--but it is speaking clearly within me.'
He had his hand on his heart, and was speaking very earnestly. Wefollowed his eyes and saw them resting on a crucifix.
'No, Bartolomeo,' he said, 'one cannot forget God. He is above usalways, always watching us; and what should I say to Him with the bloodof that man on my hands? You may say what you like, but, believe me, itis best to be honest and straight-forward, and to the utmost of one'sability to carry out the doctrines which Christ has left us, and uponwhich he set the seal with the blood of His hands and feet and the woundin His side.'
Bartolomeo looked at me as if it were hopeless to attempt anythingagainst such sentiments. But I signed him energetically to go on; hehesitated. It would be almost tragic if he gave the matter up beforeChecco had time to surrender. However, he proceeded,--
'You are a good man, Checco, and I respect you deeply for what you havesaid. But if you will not stir to save yourself, think of the others.'
'What do you mean?' said Checco, starting as if from a dream.
'Have you the right to sacrifice your fellowmen? The citizens of Forlidepend on you.'
'Ah, they will easily find another leader. Why, you yourself will be ofgreater assistance to them than I have ever been. How much better willthey be in your strong hands than with me!'
'No, no! You are the only man who has power here. You could not bereplaced.'
'But what can I do more than I am doing. I do not seek to leave Forli; Iwill stay here and protect myself as much as I can. I cannot do more.'
'Oh, Checco, look at their state. It cannot continue. They are grounddown now; the Count must impose these taxes, and what will be theircondition then? The people are dying in their misery, and the survivorshold happy those who die. How can you look on and see all this? And you,you know Girolamo will kill you; it is a matter of time, and who cantell how short a time? Perhaps even now he is forging the weapon of yourdeath.'
'My death! My death!' cried Checco. 'All that is nothing!'
'But what will be the lot of the people when you are gone? You are theonly curb on Riario's tyranny. When you are dead, nothing will keep himback. And when once he has eased his path by murder he will not fail todo so again. We shall live under perpetual terror of the knife. Oh, havemercy on your fellow-citizens.'
'My country!' said Checco. 'My country!'
'You cannot resist this. For the good of your country you must lead uson.'
'And if my soul--'
'It is for your country. Ah! Checco, think of us all. Not for ourselvesonly, but for our wives, our innocent children, we beg you, we implore.Shall we go down on our knees to you?'
'Oh, my God, what shall I do?' said Checco, extremely agitated.
'Listen to my father, Checco!' said Scipione. 'He has right on hisside.'
'Oh, not you, too! Do not overwhelm me. I feel you are all against me.God help me! I know it is wrong, but I feel myself wavering.'
'Do not think of yourself, Checco; it is for others, for our liberty,our lives, our all, that we implore you.'
'You move me terribly. You know how I love my country, and how can Iresist you, appealing on her behalf!'
'Be brave, Checco!' said Matteo.
'It is the highest thing of all that we ask you,' added Bartolomeo. 'Mancan do nothing greater. We ask you to sacrifice yourself, even yoursoul, may be, for the good of us all.'
Checco buried his face in his hands and groaned,--
'Oh, God! Oh, God!'
Then, with a great sigh, he rose and said,--
'Be it as you will.... For the good of my country!'
'Ah, thanks, thanks!'
Bartolomeo took him in his arms and kissed him on both cheeks. Thensuddenly Checco tore himself away.
'But listen to this, all of you. I have consented, and now you must letme speak. I swear that in this thing I have no thought of myself. If Ialone were concerned I would not move; I would wait for the assassin'sknife calmly. I would even sacrifice my wife and children, and God knowshow dearly I love them! I would not stir a finger to save myself. And Iswear, by all that is most holy to me, that I am actuated by no basemotive, no ambition, no thought of self, no petty revenge. I wouldwillingly forgive Girolamo everything. Believe me, my friends, I amhonest. I swear to you that I am only doing this for the welfare of themen I love, for the sake of you all, and--for Liberty.'
They warmly pressed his hands.
'We know it, Checco, we believe it. You are a great and a good man.'
A little later we began to discuss the ways and means. Everyone had hisplan, and to it the others had the most conclusive objections. We alltalked together, each one rather annoyed at the unwillingness of theothers to listen to him, and thinking how contemptible their ideas werebeside his own. Checco sat silent. After a while Checco spoke,--
'Will you listen to me?'
We held our tongues.
'First of all,' he said, 'we must find out who is with us and who isagainst us.'
'Well,' interrupted Scipione, 'there are the two soldiers, JacopoRonchi and Lodovico Pansecchi; they are furious with the Count, and saidto me a long while since that they would willingly kill him.'
'Our six selves and those two make eight.'
'Then there are Pietro Albanese, and Paglianino, and Marco Scorsacana.'
They were devoted adherents of the house of Orsi, and could be trustedto follow the head of the family to the bottomless pit.
'Eleven,' counted Bartolomeo.
'And then--'
Each mentioned a name till the total was brought to seventeen.
'Who else?' asked Matteo.
'That is enough,' said Checco. 'It is as foolish to have more thannecessary as to have less. Now, once more, who are they?'
The names were repeated. They were all known enemies of the Count, andmost of them related to the Orsi.
'We had better go to them separately and talk to them.'
'It will want care!' said Bartolomeo.
'Oh, they will not be backward. The first word will bring theiradhesion.'
'Before that,' said Checco, 'we must make all arrangements. Every pointof the execution must be arranged, and to them nothing left but theperformance.'
'Well, my idea is--'
'Have the goodness to listen to me,' said Checco. 'You have been
talkingof committing the deed in church, or when he is out walking. Both ofthose ways are dangerous, for he is always well surrounded, and in theformer, one has to remember the feeling of horror which the people havefor sacrilege. Witness Galeazzo in Milan and the Medici in Florence. Oneis always wise to respect the prejudices of the mob....'
'What do you propose?'
'After the mid-day meal the--our friend is in the habit of retiring to aprivate room while his servants dine. He is then almost alone. I haveoften thought it would be an excellent opportunity for an assassin; Idid not know it would be myself to take the opportunity.'
He paused and smiled at the pleasantness of the irony.
'Afterwards we shall raise the town, and it is well that as many of ourpartisans as possible be present. The best day for that is a market-day,when they will come in, and we shall have no need of specially summoningthem, and thus giving rise to suspicion.'
Checco looked at us to see what we thought of his idea; then, as if froman after thought, he added,--
'Of course, this is all on the spur of the moment.'
It was well he said that, for I was thinking how elaborately everythingwas planned. I wondered how long he had the scheme in his head.
We found nothing to say against it.
'And who will do the actual deed?'
'I will!' answered Checco, quietly.
'You!'
'Yes, alone. I will tell you your parts later.'
'And when?'
'Next Saturday. That is the first market-day.'
'So soon.' We were all surprised; it was only five days off, it gave usvery little time to think. It was terribly near. Alessandro voiced ourfeelings.
'Does that give us enough time? Why not Saturday week? There are manyneedful preparations.'
'There are no needful preparations. You have your swords ready; theothers can be warned in a few hours. I wish it were to-morrow.'
'It is--it is very soon.'
'There is less danger of our courage failing meanwhile. We have our goalbefore us, and we must go to it straight, with clearness of mind andstrength of will.'
There was nothing more to be said. As we separated, one of the Moratiniasked,--
'About the others, shall we--'
'You can leave everything to me. I take all on my hands. Will you threecome here to play a game of chess on Friday night at ten? Our affairswill occupy us so that we shall not meet in the interval. I recommendyou to go about as much as possible, and let yourselves be seen in allassemblies and parties....'
Checco was taking his captaincy in earnest. He would allow nocontradiction, and no swerving from the path he had marked out--on thespur of the moment.
We had four days in which to make merry and gather the roses; afterthat, who knows? We might be dangling from the Palace windows in an evenline, suspended by elegant hempen ropes; or our heads might bedecorating spear heads and our bodies God knows where. I suggestedthese thoughts to Matteo, but I found him singularly ungrateful. Still,he agreed with me that we had better make the most of our time, and asit accorded with Checco's wishes, we were able to go to the devil from asense of duty. I am sure Claudia never had a lover more ardent thanmyself during these four days; but, added to my duties towards thatbeautiful creature, were routs and banquets, drinking-parties,gaming-parties, where I plunged heavily in my uncertainty of the future,and consequently won a fortune. Checco had taken on his own shouldersall preparations, so that Matteo and I had nothing to do but to enjoyourselves; and that we did. The only sign I had that Checco had beenworking was a look of intelligence given me by one or two of those whosenames had been mentioned in Checco's study. Jacopo Ronchi, taking leaveof me on the Thursday night, said,--
'We shall meet to-morrow.'
'You are coming to play chess, I think,' I said, smiling.
When, at the appointed hour, Matteo and I found ourselves again inChecco's study, we were both rather anxious and nervous. My heart wasbeating quite painfully, and I could not restrain my impatience. Iwished the others would come. Gradually they made their way in, and weshook hands quietly, rather mysteriously, with an air of schoolboysmeeting together in the dark to eat stolen fruit. It might have beencomic if our mind's eye had not presented us with so vivid a picture ofa halter.
Checco began to speak in a low voice, slightly trembling; his emotionwas real enough this time, and he did all he could to conceal it.
'My very dear and faithful fellow-citizens,' he began, 'it appears thatto be born in Forli, and to live in it in our times, is the verygreatest misfortune with which one can be born or with which one canlive.'
I never heard such silence as that among the listeners. It was awful.Checco's voice sank lower and lower, but yet every word could bedistinctly heard. The tremor was increasing.
'Is it necessary that birth and life here should be the birth and lifeof slaves? Our glorious ancestors never submitted to this terriblemisfortune. They were free, and in their freedom they found life. Butthis is a living death....'
He recounted the various acts of tyranny which had made the Counthateful to his subjects, and he insisted on the insecurity in which theylived.
'You all know the grievous wrongs I have suffered at the hands of theman whom I helped to place on the throne. But these wrongs I freelyforgive. I am filled only with devotion to my country and love to myfellowmen. If you others have private grievances, I implore you to putthem aside, and think only that you are the liberators from oppressionof all those you love and cherish. Gather up to your hearts the spiritof Brutus, when, for the sake of Freedom, he killed the man whom aboveall others he loved.'
He gave them the details of the plot; told them what he would dohimself, and what they should do, and finally dismissed them.
'Pray to God to-night,' he said earnestly, 'that He will look withfavour upon the work which we have set ourselves, and implore Him tojudge us by the purity of our intentions rather than by the actionswhich, in the imperfection of our knowledge, seem to us the only meansto our end.'
We made the sign of the cross, and retired as silently as we had come.