CHAPTER VI
The Beginning of Trouble
Nearly eight months had elapsed between that day when the Signora Orsolaand the Signorina Paolina were installed in their new lodging and theday when the Marchese Ludovico was sitting in the more than modestlittle room over a miserable morsel of fire, with the two Venetians,when his uncle sent for him to give him the hint about any inconvenientgossip that might be whispered concerning the Signora Bianca Lalli, inaccordance with the suggestion of the impresario.
The Marchese Lamberto had made the personal acquaintance of the youngartist, who had been recommended to his protection very shortly afterthe day on which he had deputed his nephew to find a lodging for her;and he had instantly become aware that he had made a mistake in sodoing;--that he would certainly have deemed it better to take that careupon himself rather than have confided it to the young Marchese, if hehad had the least idea what sort of person the Venetian artist was.Nevertheless, he had been very strongly impressed with the propriety ofPaolina's manner and bearing, and after one or two more interviews, withthe thorough modesty of her mind, and purity and dignity of hercharacter. And the Marchese was a man well competent to form a soundjudgment of such matters.
He had no reason to think that the young man, his nephew, was asprudent, as steady, as little liable to the influence of female beauty,as cold, if you will, as he himself had been at the same age. On thecontrary, the character, which the Marchese Ludovico had made forhimself in Ravenna, was a rather diametrically opposite one. But he wasstrongly of opinion that in any enterprise of an illegitimate naturewhich his nephew might attempt with the young artist, he would have histrouble only for his pains. And, of course, any enterprise of any othernature was wholly out of the question.
Still, as the months went on he would have been far better contentedthat his nephew should have been less often at the home of the twoVenetians. There were circumstances which made such visits especiallyinexpedient at the present time. He knew that the young man was theremuch oftener than he judged to be in any way desirable; and the youngman was there much oftener than his uncle knew. The Marchese Lambertowas still very much persuaded that Paolina had not been led by hisnephew into any false step of a seriously blamable nature. But this wasby no means any reason with the Marchese for approving of his nephew'sconduct. The intercourse was altogether objectionable. Talk wasengendered,--talk of an undesirable description; and this wasexcessively disagreeable to the Marchese, who had views for his nephewwhich might be seriously compromised by it. A liaison of the kind, letthe real nature of it be what it would, was in any case discreditable tohis nephew and heir, and damaging more or less to the position which hewished to see the young man occupy in the town. It was especially so, ashas been said, at the present conjuncture.
Then, of course, it could not be otherwise than injurious to the girl.She had, in some sort, been recommended to his care. And it disturbedhim much, that the conduct of his nephew should be the means of damagingher reputation.
Yet the Marchese, being a man of sense, knew very well that it would nothave done any good to attempt to exercise any such authority over theyoung man as to forbid him to visit the lodging of the Venetians. In thefirst place, such a step would, according to the notions and ways oflooking at things of the society in which he lived, have placed himhimself in a very ridiculous light;--a danger which was not to becontemplated for an instant! And, besides, the Marchese was very wellaware that even if such an attempt did not cause his nephew to assume aposition of open rebellion, it would only have the effect of making himdo secretly and still more objectionably what he did, as it was,comparatively openly.
Comparatively, it must be said; for Ludovico was very much morefrequently at the little house in the Strada di S. Eufemia than hisuncle wotted of.
Not much more frequently, however, than was very well known by most ofhis contemporaries and fellow-habitues of the Circolo,--by pretty wellthe whole of the "society" of Ravenna, that is to say. And in theearlier part of the time in question,--of the eight months, that is,from the March in which the young artist came to Ravenna, to theNovember in which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey to Milanthere had been plenty of joking and raillery about Ludovico'senthralment by the "bella Veneziana," and many attempts to compete withhim for so very attractive and desirable a "buona fortuna." But all thishad only been at the beginning of the time. Ludovico had taken thematter in a tone and in a humour, that had soon put an end to all suchjoking and to all such attempts. It was in all ways easy for him to dothis. He was popular, and much liked among the young men, in the firstplace. His social position, as the heir of one of the first families ofthe province whether for wealth or nobility of race, and of a man ofsuch social standing as his uncle, made it a very undesirable thing toquarrel with him. And even without any of such vantage-ground ofposition, Ludovico di Castelmare was a man, whose path it would havebeen dangerous to cross in such a matter as this, and who was very wellcapable of affording to any woman, in whom he was interested, a veryefficient protection against any such offence as the most enterprisingof the jeunesse doree of Ravenna might have been disposed to offer her.
The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had made the utmost of the chance that hadrendered him the earliest acquaintance of the beautiful Venetian inRavenna, with the exception of Ludovico himself. He had chattered, andboasted after the manner of his kind. He had succeeded in finding outthe lodging, which Ludovico had taken so much pains to conceal from him,and had endeavoured to establish himself on the footing of a visitingacquaintance in the Strada Sta. Eufemia. But it had come to pass, that adegree of intimacy had very quickly grown up between Paolina andLudovico, which permitted her to let him understand that, he wouldrender her an acceptable service by once again ridding her of the ConteLeandro, as he had done on that first day of their acquaintance. And theresult was that, one evening, the gallant Conte, on knocking at the doorof the house in the Strada di S. Eufemia, had it opened to him by hisfriend Ludovico,--and further, that he never came back there any more,or was heard again to make any allusion whatever to his Venetianacquaintances.
But what was no longer said jestingly before Ludovico's face was nonethe less said enviously, sneeringly, or knowingly behind his back. Itwas perfectly well understood by all the young men in Ravenna that hewas desperately in love with the beautiful Venetian artist. As to theterms on which he stood with her there were differences of opinion. Butby far the more accredited notion was that the affair was quite a normaland ordinary one; and that the charming Paolina was the young Marchese'smistress.
Would he give her up, when the marriage, which, as was well known to allRavenna, his uncle had been arranging for him with the young ContessaViolante di Marliani, and which was expected to come off shortly, shouldbe consummated? That was the more interesting point for speculation.Would he, as really seemed not impossible, be mad enough to carry onwith the Venetian girl to such an extent as to give umbrage to thefamily of the Contessa, and perhaps even endanger the match? This alsowas debated among his young peers of the Circolo, while he was passingthe hour in the Strada di Sta. Eufemia.
His uncle was far from being aware how far matters had gone with hisnephew in this matter. But he knew enough to make him uneasy about it,and to lead him to endeavour to push on the match with the ContessaViolante by every means in his power: for the marriage with the LadyViolante was, in every point of view, a desirable one. The CardinalLegate of Ravenna was a Marliani, and the young lady in question was hisgreat-niece--the granddaughter of his only brother. She had lost bothher parents at an early age, and now lived at Ravenna with agreat-aunt,--the younger sister of the Cardinal, under his protectionand wing, as it were. The family was not a rich one, but the Cardinalhad worn the purple many years. He had held very lucrative offices inthe Apostolic Court previously, and had doubtless amassed veryconsiderable wealth, and the Lady Violante was his only heiress. Besidesthat, of course the position of her great-uncle as Legate rendered herall that was desirable as a m
atch for the noblest of the province--notto mention other grander possibilities in the background. The reigningPontiff was a very aged man. The Cardinal di Marliani was thought tostand very well at Rome. Who knew what might happen? It would have beentoo monstrous if the hope of such a marriage as this were to beendangered by a silly fancy for the pretty face and slim figure of alittle artist.
The Marchese Lamberto had felt his position to be a difficult one. Hereally did not know what line it would be wisest to take. Ludovico hadspoken among his associates at the Circolo in a manner which hadeffectually silenced all light allusion to the ladies in the Strada diSanta Eufemia. He could not speak exactly in the same tone to his uncle;but the hints that the Marchese Lamberto had from time to time thrownout to the effect that, under the circumstances of the case, he did notapprove of his nephew's intimacy with the Signorina, Paolina Foscarelli,had been received in a manner by the younger man which had warned theelder that some caution was required in the task of guiding his nephewin this matter. He had never had much cause to be dissatisfied with hisnephew's conduct, or with his behaviour towards himself: but some yearsbefore the present time, he had been made aware that the MarcheseLudovico was one of those whom it is easier to lead than to drive; andthat any attempt at a little too much driving would be likely to lead tokicking, and perhaps to an entire breaking of reins and traces.
And, being a man of sense, he had acted on the hints thus given him withconsiderable success. The Marchese Ludovico had submitted on mostoccasions to be led with all desirable docility. But now, in thismatter, wherein judicious leading was more than ever before in his lifenecessary to him, he seemed to decline to be led at all.
How could the perplexed Marchese do otherwise than frown when he wastold that his nephew was not at the Circolo at that hour of the evening,knowing very well where such absence showed him to be? Yet he probablywould have done, or attempted to do, some thing else,--or, at allevents, the frown would have been a yet heavier and blacker one,--couldhe not only have guessed where his nephew was at that moment, but havealso heard what was passing in the little salottino of the Strada di S.Eufemia.
Some account of the conversation there may perhaps serve the purpose ofsaving all necessity for a detailed account of the intercourse which hadtaken place between Ludovico and Paolina during the last eight months.The story of it will be sufficiently understood from a peep at itsresult.