CHAPTER III. GAMBARA'S INTERESTS
I awakened to find a man standing beside me. He was muffled in a blackcloak and carried a lanthorn. Behind him the door gaped as he had leftit.
Instantly I sat up, conscious of my circumstance and surroundings, andat my movement this visitor spoke.
"You sleep very soundly for a man in your case." said he, and the voicewas that of my Lord Gambara, its tone quite coldly critical.
He set down the lanthorn on a stool, whence it shed a wheel of yellowlight intersected with black beams. His cloak fell apart, and I saw thathe was dressed for riding, very plainly, in sombre garments, and that hewas armed.
He stood slightly to one side that the light might fall upon my face,leaving his own in shadow; thus he considered me for some moments insilence. At last, very slowly, very bitterly, shaking his head as hespoke.
"You fool, you clumsy fool!" he said.
Having drawn, as you have seen, my own conclusions from the attitude ofthe mob, I was in little doubt as to the precise bearing of his words.
I answered him sincerely. "If folly were all my guilt," said I, "itwould be well."
He sniffed impatiently. "Still sanctimonious!" he sneered. "Tcha! Upnow, and play the man, at least. You have shed your robe of sanctity,Messer Agostino; have done with pretence!"
"I do not pretend," I answered him. "And as for playing the man, I shallaccept what punishment the law may have for me with fortitude at least.If I can but expiate..."
"Expiate a fig!" he snapped, interrupting me. "Why do you suppose that Iam here?"
"I wait to learn."
"I am here because through your folly you have undone us all. Whatneed," he cried, the anger of expostulation quivering in his voice,"what need was there to kill that oaf Fifanti?"
"He would have killed me," said I. "I slew him in self-defence."
"Ha! And do you hope to save your neck with such a plea?"
"Nay. I have no thought of urging it. I but tell it you."
"There is not the need to tell me anything," he answered, his angervery plain. "I am very well informed of all. Rather, let me tell yousomething. Do you realize, sir, that you have made it impossible for meto abide another day in Piacenza?"
"I am sorry..." I began lamely.
"Present your regrets to Satan," he snapped. "Me they avail nothing.I am put to the necessity of abandoning my governorship and fleeing bynight like a hunted thief. And I have you to thank for it. You see me onthe point of departure. My horses wait above. So you may add my ruin tothe other fine things you accomplished yesternight. For a saint you areover-busy, sir." And he turned away and strode the length of my cell andback, so that, at last, I had a glimpse of his face, which was drawn andscowling. Gone now was the last vestige of his habitual silkiness; thepomander-ball hung neglected, and his delicate fingers tugged viciouslyat his little pointed beard, his great sapphire ring flashing sombrely.
"Look you, Ser Agostino, I could kill you and take joy in it. I could,by God!"
His eyes upon me, he drew from his breast a folded paper. "Instead, Ibring you liberty. I open your doors for you, and bid you escape. Here,man, take this paper. Present it to the officer at the Fodesta Gate.He will let you pass. And then away with you, out of the territory ofPiacenza."
For an instant my heart-beats seemed suspended by astonishment. I swungmy legs round, and half rose, excitedly. Then I sank back again. My mindwas made up. I was tired of the world; sick of life the first draught ofwhich had turned so bitter in my throat. If by my death I might expiatemy sins and win pardon by my submission and humility, it was all I coulddesire. I should be glad to be released from all the misery and sorrowinto which I had been born.
I told him so in some few words. "You mean me well, my lord," I ended,"and I thank you. But..."
"By God and the Saints!" he blazed, "I do not mean you well at all. Imean you anything but well. Have I not said that I could kill youwith satisfaction? Whatever be the sins of Egidio Gambara, he is nohypocrite, and he lets his enemies see his face unmasked."
"But, then," I cried, amazed, "why do you offer me my freedom?"
"Because this cursed populace is in such a temper that if you arebrought to trial I know not what may happen. As likely as not we shallhave an insurrection, open revolt against the Pontifical authority, andred war in the streets. And this is not the time for it.
"The Holy Father requires the submission of these people. We are uponthe eve of Duke Pier Luigi's coming to occupy his new States, and itimports that he should be well received, that he should be given aloving welcome by his subjects. If, instead, they meet him with revoltand defiance, the reasons will be sought, and the blame of the affairwill recoil upon me. Your cousin Cosimo will see to that. He is a verysubtle gentleman, this cousin of yours, and he has a way of working tohis own profit. So now you understand. I have no mind to be crushed inthis business. Enough have I suffered already through you, enough amI suffering in resigning my governorship. So there is but one wayout. There must be no trial to-morrow. It must be known that you haveescaped. Thus they will be quieted, and the matter will blow over. Sonow, Ser Agostino, we understand each other. You must go."
"And whither am I to go?" I cried, remembering my mother and thatMondolfo--the only place of safety--was closed to me by her cruellypious hands.
"Whither?" he echoed. "What do I care? To Hell--anywhere, so that youget out of this."
"I'd sooner hang," said I quite seriously.
"You'ld hang and welcome, for all the love I bear you," he answered, hisimpatience growing. "But if you hang blood will be shed, innocent liveswill be lost, and I myself may come to suffer."
"For you, sir, I care nothing," I answered him, taking his own tone, andreturning him the same brutal frankness that he used with me. "That youdeserve to suffer I do not doubt. But since other blood than yours mightbe shed as you say, since innocent lives might be lost... Give me thepaper."
He was frowning upon me, and smiling viperishly at the same time."I like your frankness better than your piety," said he. "So now weunderstand each other, and know that neither is in the other's debt.Hereafter beware of Egidio Gambara. I give you this last loyal warning.See that you do not come into my way again."
I rose and looked at him--looked down from my greater height. I knewwell the source of this last, parting show of hatred. Like Cosimo'sit sprang from jealousy. And a growth more potential of evil does notexist.
He bore my glance a moment, then turned and took up the lanthorn."Come," he said, and obediently I followed him up the winding stonestaircase, and so to the very gates of the Palace.
We met no one. What had become of the guards, I cannot think; but I amsatisfied that Gambara himself had removed them. He opened the wicketfor me, and as I stepped out he gave me the paper and whistled softly.Almost at once I heard a sound of muffled hooves under the colonnade,and presently loomed the figures of a man and a mule; both dim andghostly in the pearly light of dawn--for that was the hour.
Gambara followed me out, and pulled the wicket after him.
"That beast is for you," he said curtly. "It will the better enable youto get away."
As curtly I acknowledged the gift, and mounted whilst the groom held thestirrup for me.
O! it was the oddest of transactions! My Lord Gambara with death in hisheart very reluctantly giving me a life I did not want.
I dug my heels into the mule's sides and started across the silent,empty square, then plunged into a narrow street where the gloom wasalmost as of midnight, and so pushed on.
I came out into the open space before the Porta Fodesta, and so to thegate itself. From one of the windows of the gatehouse, a light shoneyellow, and, presently, in answer to my call, out came an officerfollowed by two men, one of whom carried a lanthorn swinging from hispike. He held this light aloft, whilst the officer surveyed me.
"What now?" he challenged. "None passes out to-night."
For answer I thrust the paper under his nose. "Orders
from my LordGambara," said I.
But he never looked at it. "None passes out to-night," he repeatedimperturbably. "So run my orders."
"Orders from whom?" quoth I, surprised by his tone and manner.
"From the Captain of Justice, if you must know. So you may get you backwhence you came, and wait till daylight."
"Ah, but stay," I said. "I do not think you can have heard me. I carryorders from my Lord the Governor. The Captain of Justice cannot overbearthese." And I shook the paper insistently.
"My orders are that none is to pass--not even the Governor himself," heanswered firmly.
It was very daring of Cosimo, and I saw his aim. He was, as Gambarahad said, a very subtle gentleman. He, too, had set his finger upon thepulse of the populace, and perceived what might be expected of it.He was athirst for vengeance, as he had shown me, and determined thatneither I nor Gambara should escape. First, I must be tried, condemned,and hanged, and then he trusted, no doubt, that Gambara would be tornin pieces; and it was quite possible that Messer Cosimo himself wouldsecretly find means to fan the mob's indignation against the Legate intofierce activity. And it seemed that the game was in his hands, for thisofficer's resoluteness showed how implicitly my cousin was obeyed.
Of that same resoluteness of the lieutenant's I was to have a yetmore signal proof. For presently, whilst still I stood there vainlyremonstrating, down the street behind me rode Gambara himself on a tallhorse, followed by a mule-litter and an escort of half a score of armedgrooms.
He uttered an exclamation when he saw me still there, the gate shut andthe officer in talk with me. He spurred quickly forward.
"How is this?" he demanded haughtily and angrily. "This man rides uponthe business of the State. Why this delay to open for him?"
"My orders," said the lieutenant, civilly but firmly, "are that nonepasses out to-night."
"Do you know me?" demanded Gambara.
"Yes, my lord."
"And you dare talk to me of your orders? There are no orders here inPiacenza but my orders. Set me wide the wicket of that gate. I myselfmust pass."
"My lord, I dare not."
"You are insubordinate," said the Legate, of a sudden very cold.
He had no need to ask whose orders were these. At once he saw thetrammel spread for him. But if Messer Cosimo was subtle, so, too, wasMesser Gambara. By not so much as a word did he set his authority inquestion with the officer.
"You are insubordinate," was all he answered him, and then to the twomen-at-arms behind the lieutenant--"Ho, there!" he called. "Bring outthe guard. I am Egidio Gambara, your Governor."
So calm and firm and full of assurance was his tone, so unquestionablehis right to command them, that the men sprang instantly to obey him.
"What would you do, my lord?" quoth the officer, and he seemed daunted.
"Buffoon," said Gambara between his teeth. "You shall see."
Six men came hurrying from the gatehouse, and the Cardinal called tothem.
"Let the corporal stand forth," he said.
A man advanced a pace from the rank they had hastily formed and saluted.
"Place me your officer under arrest," said the Legate coldly, advancingno reason for the order. "Let him be locked in the gatehouse until myreturn; and do you, sir corporal, take command here meanwhile."
The startled fellow saluted again, and advanced upon his officer. Thelieutenant looked up with sudden uneasiness in his eyes. He had gone toofar. He had not reckoned upon being dealt with in this summary fashion.He had been bold so long as he conceived himself no more than Cosimo'smouthpiece, obeying orders for the issuing of which Cosimo must answer.Instead, it seemed, the Governor intended that he should answer for themhimself. Whatever he now dared, he knew--as Gambara knew--that his menwould never dare to disobey the Governor, who was the supreme authoritythere under the Pope.
"My lord," he exclaimed, "I had my orders from the Captain of Justice."
"And dare you to say that your orders included my messengers and my ownself?" thundered the dainty prelate.
"Explicitly, my lord," answered the lieutenant.
"It shall be dealt with on my return, and if what you say is provedtrue, the Captain of Justice shall suffer with yourself for thistreason--for that is the offence. Take him away, and someone open methat gate."
There was an end to disobedience, and a moment or two later we stoodoutside the town, on the bank of the river, which gurgled and flowedaway smoothly and mistily in the growing light, between the rows ofstalwart poplars that stood like sentinels to guard it.
"And now begone," said Gambara curtly to me, and wheeling my mule I rodefor the bridge of boats, crossed it, and set myself to breast the slopesbeyond.
Midway up I checked and looked back across the wide water. The light hadgrown quite strong by now, and in the east there was a faint pink flushto herald the approaching sun. Away beyond the river, moving southward,I could just make out the Legate's little cavalcade. And then, for thefirst time, a question leapt in my mind concerning the litter whoseleathern curtains had remained so closely drawn. Whom did it contain?Could it be Giuliana? Had Cosimo spoken the truth when he said that shehad gone to Gambara for shelter?
A little while ago I had sighed for death and exulted in the chance ofexpiation and of purging myself of the foulness of sin. And now, atthe sudden thought that occurred to me, I fell a prey to an insensatejealousy touching the woman whom I had lately loathed as the cause of mydownfall. O, the inconstancy of the human heart, and the eternal battlesin such poor natures as mine between the knowledge of right and thedesire for wrong!
It was in vain that I sought to turn my thoughts to other things;in vain that I cast them back upon my recent condition and my recentresolves; in vain that I remembered the penitence of yestermorn, theconfession at Fra Gervasio's knee, and the strong resolve to do penanceand make amends by the purity of all my after-life. Vain was it all.
I turned my mule about, and still wrestling with my conscience, chokingit, I rode down the hill again, and back across the bridge, and thenaway to the south, to follow Messer Gambara and set an end to doubt.
I must know. I must! It was no matter that conscience told me that herewas no affair of mine; that Giuliana belonged to the past from which Iwas divorced, the past for which I must atone and seek forgiveness. Imust know. And so I rode along the dusty highway in pursuit of MesserGambara, who was proceeding, I imagined, to join the Duke at Parma.
I had no difficulty in following them. A question here, and a questionthere, accompanied by a description of the party, was all that wasnecessary to keep me on their track. And ever, it seemed to me from theanswers that I got, was I lessening the distance that separated us.
I was weak for want of food, for the last time that I had eaten wasyesterday at noon, at Mondolfo; and then but little. Yet all I had thisday were some bunches of grapes that I stole in passing from a vineyardand ate as I trotted on along that eternal Via Aemilia.
It was towards noon, at last, that a taverner at Castel Guelfo informedme that my party had passed through the town but half an hour ahead ofme. At the news I urged my already weary beast along, for unless I madegood haste now it might well happen that Parma should swallow up Gambaraand his party ere I overtook them. And then, some ten minutes later,I caught a flutter of garments half a mile or so ahead of me, amid theelms. I quitted the road and entered the woodland. A little way I stillrode; then, dismounting, I tethered my mule, and went forward cautiouslyon foot.
I found them in a little sunken dell by a tiny rivulet. Lying on mybelly in the long grass above, I looked down upon them with a blackhatred of jealousy in my heart.
They were reclining there, in that cool, fragrant spot in the shadow ofa great beech-tree. A cloth had been spread upon the ground, and uponthis were platters of roast meats, white bread and fruits, and a flagonof wine, a second flagon standing in the brook to cool.
My Lord Gambara was talking and she was regarding him with eyes thatwere half veiled, a slow
, insolent smile upon her matchless face.Presently at something that he said she laughed outright, a laugh sotuneful and light-hearted that I thought I must be dreaming all this. Itwas the gay, frank, innocent laughter of a child; and I never heard inall my life a sound that caused me so much horror. He leaned across toher, and stroked her velvet cheek with his delicate hand, whilst shesuffered it in that lazy fashion that was so peculiarly her own.
I stayed for no more. I wriggled back a little way to where a clump ofhazel permitted me to rise without being seen. Thence I fled the spot.And as I went, my heart seemed as it must burst, and my lips could framebut one word which I kept hurling out of me like an imprecation, andthat word was "Trull!"
Two nights ago had happened enough to stamp her soul for ever withsorrow and despair. Yet she could sit there, laughing and feasting andtrulling it lightly with the Legate!
The little that remained me of my illusions was shivered in that hour.There was, I swore, no good in all the world; for even where goodnesssought to find a way, it grew distorted, as in my mother's case. And yetthrough all her pietism surely she had been right! There was no peace,no happiness save in the cloister. And at last the full bitterness ofpenitence and regret overtook me when I reflected that by my own act Ihad rendered myself for ever unworthy of the cloister's benign shelter.