CHAPTER XV. THE WILL OF HEAVEN
In the Chamber of Justice of the Communal Palace sat that day not theAssessors of the Ruota, but the Councillors in their damask robes--theCouncil of Ten of the City of Piacenza. And to preside over them sat nottheir Prior, but Ferrante Gonzaga himself, in a gown of scarlet velvetedged with miniver.
They sat at a long table draped in red at the room's end, Gonzagaslightly above them on a raised dais, under a canopy. Behind him hung agolden shield upon which was figured, between two upright columns eachsurmounted by a crown, the double-headed black eagle of Austria; ascroll intertwining the pillars was charged with the motto "PLUS ULTRA."
At the back of the court stood the curious who had come to see the show,held in bounds by a steel line of Spanish halberdiers. But the concoursewas slight, for the folk of Piacenza still had weightier matters toconcern them than the trial of a wife-stealer.
I had ridden in with an escort of twenty lances. But I left these inthe square when I entered the palace and formally made surrender tothe officer who met me. This officer led me at once into the Chamber ofJustice, two men-at-arms opening a lane for me through the people withthe butts of their pikes, so that I came into the open space before myjudges, and bowed profoundly to Gonzaga.
Coldly he returned the salutation, his prominent eyes regarding me fromout of that florid, crafty countenance.
On my left, but high up the room and immediately at right angles to thejudges' tables, sat Galeotto, full-armed. He was flanked on the oneside by Fra Gervasio, who greeted me with a melancholy smile, and on theother by Falcone, who sat rigid.
Opposite to this group on the judges' other hand stood Cosimo. He wasflushed, and his eyes gleamed as they measured me with haughty triumph.From me they passed to Bianca, who followed after me with her women,pale, but intrepid and self-contained, her face the whiter by contrastwith the mourning-gown which she still wore for her father, and which itmight well come to pass that she should continue hereafter to wear forme.
I did not look at her again as she passed on and up towards Galeotto,who had risen to receive her. He came some few steps to meet her, andescorted her to a seat next to his own, so that Falcone moved down toanother vacant stool. Her women found place behind her.
An usher set a chair for me, and I, too, sat down, immediately facingthe Emperor's Lieutenant. Then another usher in a loud voice summonedCosimo to appear and state his grievance.
He advanced a step or two, when Gonzaga raised his hand, to sign to himto remain where he was so that all could see him whilst he spoke.
Forthwith, quickly, fluently, and lucidly, as if he had got the thingby heart, Cosimo recited his accusation: How he had married Biancade' Cavalcanti by her father's consent in her father's own Castle ofPagliano; how that same night his palace in Piacenza had been violentlyinvested by myself and others abetting me, and how we had carried offhis bride and burnt his palace to the ground; how I had since held herfrom him, shut up in the Castle of Pagliano, which was his fief in hisquality as her husband; and how similarly I had unlawfully held Paglianoagainst him to his hurt.
Finally he reminded the Court that he had appealed to the Pope, who hadissued a brief commanding me, under pain of excommunication and death,to make surrender; that I had flouted the Pontifical authority, and thatit was only upon his appeal to Caesar and upon the Imperial mandatethat I had surrendered. Wherefore he begged the Court to uphold the HolyFather's authority, and forthwith to pronounce me excommunicate andmy life forfeit, restoring to him his wife Bianca and his domain ofPagliano, which he would hold as the Emperor's liege and loyal servitor.
Having spoken thus, he bowed to the Court, stepped back, and sat down.
The Ten looked at Gonzaga. Gonzaga looked at me.
"Have you anything to say?" he asked.
I rose imbued by a calm that surprised me.
"Messer Cosimo has left something out of his narrative," said I. "Whenhe says that I violently invested his palace here in Piacenza on thenight of his marriage, and dragged thence the Lady Bianca, othersabetting me, he would do well to add in the interests of justice, thenames of those who were my abettors."
Cosimo rose again. "Does it matter to this Court and to the affair atissue what caitiffs he employed?" he asked haughtily.
"If they were caitiffs it would not matter," said I. "But they were not.Indeed, to say that it was I who invested his palace is to say too much.The leader of that expedition was Monna Bianca's own father, who, havingdiscovered the truth of the nefarious traffic in which Messer Cosimo wasengaged, hastened to rescue his daughter from an infamy."
Cosimo shrugged. "These are mere words," he said.
"The lady herself is present, and can bear witness to their truth," Icried.
"A prejudiced witness, indeed!" said Cosimo with confidence; and Gonzaganodded, whereupon my heart sank.
"Will Messer Agostino give us the names of any of the braves who werewith him?" quoth Cosimo. "It will no doubt assist the ends of justice,for those men should be standing by him now."
He checked me no more than in time. I had been on the point of citingFalcone; and suddenly I perceived that to do so would be to ruin Falconewithout helping myself.
I looked at my cousin. "In that case," said I, "I will not name them."
Falcone, however, was minded to name himself, for with a grunt he madesuddenly to rise. But Galeotto stretched an arm across Bianca, andforced the equerry back into his seat.
Cosimo saw and smiled. He was very sure of himself by now.
"The only witness whose word would carry weight would be the late Lordof Pagliano," he said. "And the prisoner is more crafty than honest innaming one who is dead. Your excellency will know the precise importanceto attach to that."
Again his excellency nodded. Could it indeed be that I was enmeshed? Mycalm deserted me.
"Will Messer Cosimo tell your excellency under what circumstances theLord of Pagliano died?" I cried.
"It is yourself should be better able to inform the Court of that,"answered Cosimo quickly, "since he died at Pagliano after you had bornehis daughter thither, as we have proof."
Gonzaga looked at him sharply. "Are you implying, sir, that there isa further crime for which Messer Agostino d'Anguissola should beindicted?" he inquired.
Cosimo shrugged and pursed his lips. "I will not go so far, since thematter of Ettore Cavalcanti's death does not immediately concern me.Besides, there is enough contained in the indictment as it stands."
The imputation was none the less terrible, and could not fail ofan effect upon the minds of the Ten. I was in despair, for at everyquestion it seemed that the tide of destruction rose higher about me. Ideemed myself irrevocably lost. The witnesses I might have called wereas good as gagged.
Yet there was one last question in my quiver--a question which I thoughtmust crumple up his confidence.
"Can you tell his excellency where you were upon your marriage night?" Icried hoarsely, my temples throbbing.
Superbly Cosimo looked round at the Court; he shrugged, and shook hishead as if in utter pity.
"I leave it to your excellency to say where a man should be upon hismarriage night," he said, with an astounding impudence, and therewere some who tittered in the crowd behind me. "Let me again beg yourexcellency and your worthinesses to pass to judgment, and so concludethis foolish comedy."
Gonzaga nodded gravely, as if entirely approving, whilst with a fatjewelled hand he stroked his ample chin.
"I, too, think that it is time," he said, whereupon Cosimo, with a sighof relief, would have resumed his seat but that I stayed him with thelast thing I had to say.
"My lord," I cried, appealing to Gonzaga, "the true events of that nightare set forth in a memorial of which two copies were drawn up, one forthe Pope and the other for your excellency, as the Emperor's vicegerent.Shall I recite its contents--that Messer Cosimo may be examined uponthem.
"It is not necessary," came Gonzaga's icy voice. "The memorial is herebefore me.
" And he tapped a document upon the table. Then he fixed hisprominent eyes upon Cosimo. "You are aware of its contents?" he asked.
Cosimo bowed, and Galeotto moved at last, for the first time since thetrial's inception.
Until now he had sat like a carved image, save when he had thrust outa hand to restrain Falcone, and his attitude had filled me with anunspeakable dread. But at this moment he leaned forward turning an eartowards Cosimo, as if anxious not to miss a single word that the manmight utter. And Cosimo, intent as he was, did not observe the movement.
"I saw its fellow at the Vatican," said my cousin, "and since thePope in his wisdom and goodness judged worthless the witnesses whosesignatures it bears, his holiness thought well to issue the brief uponwhich your excellency has acted in summoning Agostino d'Anguissolabefore you here.
"Thus is that memorial disposed of as a false and lying document."
"And yet," said Gonzaga thoughtfully, his heavy lip between thumb andforefinger, "it bears, amongst others, the signature of the Lord ofPagliano's confessor."
"Without violation of the seal of the confessional, it is impossiblefor that friar to testify," was the answer. "And the Holy Father cannotgrant him dispensation for so much. His signature, therefore, stands fornothing."
There followed a moment's silence. The Ten whispered among themselves.But Gonzaga never consulted them by so much as a glance. They appearedto serve none but a decorative office in that Court of his, for theybore no share in the dispensing of a justice of which he constitutedhimself the sole arbiter.
At last the Governor spoke.
"It seems, indeed, that there is no more to say and the Court has aclear course before it, since the Emperor cannot contravene the mandatesof the Holy See. Nothing remains, then, but to deliver sentence;unless..."
He paused, and his eyes singularly sly, his lips pursed almosthumorously, he turned his glance upon Galeotto.
"Ser Cosimo," he said, "has pronounced this memorial a false and lyingdocument. Is there anything that you, Messer Galeotto, as its author,can have to tell the Court?"
Instantly the condottiero rose, his great scarred face very solemn, hiseyes brooding. He advanced almost to the very centre of the table, sothat he all but stood immediately before Gonzaga, yet sideways, so thatI had him in profile, whilst he fully faced Cosimo.
Cosimo at least had ceased to smile. His handsome white face had lostsome of its supercilious confidence. Here was something unexpected,something upon which he had not reckoned, against which he had notprovided.
"What has Ser Galeotto to do with this?" he demanded harshly.
"That, sir, no doubt he will tell us, if you will have patience,"Gonzaga answered, so sweetly and deferentially that of a certainty someof Cosimo's uneasiness must have been dissipated.
I leaned forward now, scarce daring to draw breath lest I should lose aword of what was to follow. The blood that had earlier surged to my facehad now all receded again, and my pulses throbbed like hammers.
Then Galeotto spoke, his voice very calm and level.
"Will your excellency first permit me to see the papal brief upon whichyou acted in summoning hither the accused?"
Silently Gonzaga delivered a parchment into Galeotto's hands. Thecondottiero studied it, frowning. Then he smote it sharply with hisright hand.
"This document is not in order," he announced.
"How?" quoth Cosimo, and he smiled again, reassured completely by now,convinced that here was no more than a minor quibble of the law.
"You are here described as Cosimo d'Anguissola, Lord of Mondolfo andCarmina. These titles are not yours."
The blood stirred faintly in Cosimo's cheeks.
"Those fiefs were conferred upon me by our late lord, Duke Pier Luigi,"he replied.
Gonzaga spoke. "The confiscations effected by the late usurping Duke,and the awards made out of such confiscations, have been cancelled byImperial decree. All lands so confiscated are by this decree revertibleto their original holders upon their taking oath of allegiance toCaesar."
Cosimo continued to smile. "This is no matter of a confiscation effectedby Duke Pier Luigi," he said. "The confiscation and my own investiturein the confiscated fiefs are a consequence of Agostino d'Anguissola'srecreancy--at least, it is in such terms that my investiture isexpressly announced in the papal bull that has been granted me andin the brief which lies before your excellency. Nor was such expressannouncement necessary, for since I was next heir after Ser Agostino tothe Tyranny of Mondolfo, it follows that upon his being outlawed and hislife forfeit I enter upon my succession."
Here, thought I, were we finally checkmated. But Galeotto showed no signof defeat.
"Where is this bull you speak of?" he demanded, as though he were thejudge himself.
Cosimo haughtily looked past him at Gonzaga. "Does your excellency askto see it?"
"Assuredly," said Gonzaga shortly. "I may not take your word for itsexistence."
Cosimo plucked a parchment from the breast of his brown satin doublet,unfolded it, and advanced to lay it before Gonzaga, so that he stoodnear Galeotto--not more than an arm's length between them.
The Governor conned it; then passed it to Galeotto. "It seems in order,"he said.
Nevertheless, Galeotto studied it awhile; and then, still holding it, helooked at Cosimo, and the scarred face that hitherto had been so sombrenow wore a smile.
"It is as irregular as the other," he said. "It is entirely worthless."
"Worthless?" quoth Cosimo, in an amazement that was almost scornful."But have I not already explained..."
"It sets forth here," cut in Galeotto with assurance, "that the fief ofMondolfo and Carmina are confiscated from Agostino d'Anguissola. Now Isubmit to your excellency, and to your worthinesses," he added, turningaside, "that this confiscation is grotesque and impossible, sinceMondolfo and Carmina never were the property of Agostino d'Anguissola,and could no more be taken from him than can a coat be taken from theback of a naked man--unless," he added, sneering, "a papal bull iscapable of miracles."
Cosimo stared at him with round eyes, and I stared too, no glimmer ofthe enormous truth breaking yet upon my bewildered mind. In the courtthe silence was deathly until Gonzaga spoke.
"Do you say that Mondolfo and Carmina did not belong--that they neverwere the fiefs of Agostino d'Anguissola?" he asked.
"That is what I say," returned Galeotto, towering there, immense andformidable in his gleaming armour.
"To whom, then, did they belong?"
"They did and do belong to Giovanni d'Anguissola--Agostino's father."
Cosimo shrugged at this, and some of the dismay passed from hiscountenance.
"What folly is this?" he cried. "Giovanni d'Anguissola died at Perugiaeight years ago."
"That is what is generally believed, and what Giovanni d'Anguissola hasleft all to believe, even to his own priest-ridden wife, even to his ownson, sitting there, lest had the world known the truth whilst Pier Luigilived such a confiscation as this should, indeed, have been perpetrated.
"But he did not die at Perugia. At Perugia, Ser Cosimo, he took thisscar which for thirteen years has served him for a mask." And he pointedto his own face.
I came to my feet, scarce believing what I heard. Galeotto was Giovannid'Anguissola--my father! And my heart had never told me so!
In a flash I saw things that hitherto had been obscure, things thatshould have guided me to the truth had I but heeded their indications.
How, for instance, had I assumed that the Anguissola whom he hadmentioned as one of the heads of the conspiracy against Pier Luigi couldhave been myself?
I stood swaying there, whilst his voice boomed out again.
"Now that I have sworn fealty to the Emperor in my true name, upon thehands of my Lord Gonzaga here; now that the Imperial aegis protects mefrom Pope and Pope's bastards; now that I have accomplished my life'swork, and broken the Pontifical sway in this Piacenza, I can stand forthagain and resume the state that is my own.
"
There stands my foster-brother, who has borne witness to my trueidentity; there Falcone, who has been my equerry these thirty years; andthere are the brothers Pallavicini, who tended me and sheltered mewhen I lay at the point of death from the wounds that disfigured me atPerugia."
"So, my Lord Cosimo, ere you can proceed further in this matter againstmy son, you will need to take your brief and your bull back to Rome andget them amended, for there is in Italy no Lord of Mondolfo and Carminaother than myself."
Cosimo fell back before him limp and trembling, his spirit broken bythis shattering blow.
And then Gonzaga uttered words that might have heartened him. Butafter being hurled from what he accounted the pinnacle of success, hemistrusted now the crafty Lieutenant, saw that he had been played withas a mouse by this Imperial cat with the soft, deadly paws.
"We might waive the formalities in the interests of justice," purred theLieutenant. "There is this memorial, my lord," he said, and tapped thedocument, his eyes upon my father.
"Since your excellency wishes the matter to be disposed of out of hand,it can, I think, be done," he said, and he looked again at Cosimo.
"You have said that this memorial is false, because the witnesses whosenames are here cannot be admitted to testify."
Cosimo braced himself for a last effort. "Do you defy the Pope?" hethundered.
"If necessary," was the answer. "I have done so all my life."
Cosimo turned to Gonzaga. "It is not I who have branded this memorialfalse," he said, "but the Holy Father himself."
"The Emperor," said my father, "may opine that in this matter the HolyFather has been deluded by liars. There are other witnesses. There ismyself, for one. This memorial contains nothing but what was impartedto me by the Lord of Pagliano on his death-bed, in the presence of hisconfessor."
"We cannot admit the confessor," Gonzaga thrust in.
"Give me leave, your excellency. It was not in his quality as confessorthat Fra Gervasio heard the dying man depone. Cavalcanti's confessionfollowed upon that. And there was in addition present the seneschalof Pagliano who is present here. Sufficient to establish this memorialalike before the Imperial and the Pontifical Courts.
"And I swear to God, as I stand here in His sight," he continued in aringing voice, "that every word there set down is as spoken by EttoreCavalcanti, Lord of Pagliano, some hours before he died; and sowill those others swear. And I charge your excellency, as Caesar'svicegerent, to accept that memorial as an indictment of that caitiffCosimo d'Anguissola, who lent himself to so foul and sacrilegious adeed--for it involved the defilement of the Sacrament of Marriage."
"In that you lie!" screamed Cosimo, crimson now with rage, the veins athis throat and brow swelling like ropes.
A silence followed. My father turned to Falcone, and held out his hand.Falcone sprang to give him a heavy iron gauntlet. Holding this by thefingers, my father took a step towards Cosimo, and he was smiling, verycalm again after his late furious mood.
"Be it so," he said. "Since you say that I lie, I do here challenge youto prove it upon my body."
And he crashed the iron glove straight into Cosimo's face so that theskin was broken, and blood flowed about the mouth, leaving the lowerhalf of the visage crimson, the upper dead-white.
Gonzaga sat on, entirely unmoved, and waited, indifferent to the stirthere was amid the Ten. For by the ancient laws of chivalry--howevermuch they might be falling now into desuetude--if Cosimo took up theglove, the matter passed beyond the jurisdiction of the Court, and allmen must abide by the issue of the trial by battle.
For a long moment Cosimo hesitated. Then he saw ruin all about him.He--who had come to this court so confidently--had walked into a trap.He saw it now, and saw that the only loophole was the chance this combatoffered him. He played the man in the end. He stooped and took up theglove.
"Upon your body, then--God helping me," he said.
Unable longer to control myself, I sprang to my father's side. I caughthis arm.
"Let me! Father, let me!"
He looked into my face and smiled, and the steel-coloured eyes seemedmoist and singularly soft.
"My son!" he said, and his voice was gentle and soothing as a woman'scaress.
"My father!" I answered him, a knot in my throat.
"Alas, that I must deny you the first thing you ask me by that name,"he said. "But the challenge is given and accepted. Do you take Biancato the Duomo and pray that right may be done and God's will prevail.Gervasio shall go with you."
And then came an interruption from Gonzaga.
"My lord," he said, "will you determine when and where this battle is tobe fought?"
"Upon the instant," answered my father, "on the banks of Po with a scoreof lances to keep the lists."
Gonzaga looked at Cosimo. "Do you agree to this?"
"It cannot be too soon for me," replied the quivering Cosimo, blackhatred in his glance.
"Be it so, then," said the Governor, and he rose, the Court rising withhim.
My father pressed my hand again. "To the Duomo, Agostino, till I come,"he said, and on that we parted.
My sword was returned to me by Gonzaga's orders. In so far as itconcerned myself the trial was at an end, and I was free.
At Gonzaga's invitation, very gladly I there and then swore fealty tothe Emperor upon his hands, and then, with Bianca and Gervasio, I mademy way through the cheering crowd and came out into the sunshine, wheremy lances, who had already heard the news, set up a great shout at sightof me.
Thus we crossed the square, and went to the Duomo, to render thanks. Weknelt at the altar-rail, and Gervasio knelt above us upon the altar'slowest step.
Somewhere behind us knelt Bianca's women, who had followed us to thechurch.
Thus we waited for close upon two hours that were as an eternity.
And kneeling there, the eyes of my soul conned closely the scroll of myyoung life as it had been unfolded hitherto. I reviewed its beginningsin the greyness of Mondolfo, under the tutelage of my poor, dolorousmother who had striven so fiercely to set my feet upon the ways ofsanctity. But my ways had been errant ways, even though, myself, I hadsought to walk as she directed. I had strayed and blundered, veered andveered again, a very mockery of what she strove to make me--a strollingsaint, indeed, as Cosimo had dubbed me, a wandering mummer when I soughtafter holiness.
But my strolling, my errantry ended here at last at the steps of thisaltar, as I knew.
Deeply had I sinned. But deeply and strenuously had I expiated, and theheaviest burden of my expiation had been that endured in the past yearat Pagliano beside my gentle Bianca who was another's wedded wife. Thatcross of penitence--so singularly condign to my sin--I had borne withfortitude, heartened by the confidence that thus should I win to pardonand that the burden would be mercifully lifted when the expiation wascomplete. In the lifting of that burden from me I should see a sign thatpardon was mine at last, that at last I was accounted worthy of thispure maid through whom I should have won to grace, through whom I hadcome to learn that Love--God's greatest gift--is the great sanctifier ofman.
That the stroke of that ardently awaited hour was even now impending Idid not for a moment doubt.
Behind us, the door opened and steps clanked upon the granite floor.
Fra Gervasio rose very tall and gaunt, his gaze anxious.
He looked, and the anxiety passed. Thankfulness overspread his face. Hesmiled serenely, tears in his deep-set eyes. Seeing this, I, too, daredto look at last.
Up the aisle came my father very erect and solemn, and behind himfollowed Falcone with eyes a-twinkle in his weather-beaten face.
"Let the will of Heaven be done," said my father. And Gervasio came downto pronounce the nuptial blessing over us.
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