CHAPTER VIII
A Carnival Reception
On that Monday night all the world of Ravenna were assembled in thesuite of state-rooms on the piano noble of the Palazzo di Castelmare.The cards of invitation had announced that masks would be welcomed bythe noble host; and a large number of the younger portion of the societyaccordingly presented themselves in dominoes and the silk half-maskswhich are usually worn in conjunction with them. But very few of eitherladies or gentlemen came in character. Such costumes were mostlyreserved for the ball, which was to take place at the Circolo dei Nobilion the following evening. That was of course the wind-up of theCarnival; and besides it was felt, that a shade or two more of licenceand of the ascendancy of the Lord of Misrule might fitly be permissibleat the Circolo, than was quite de mise in the rooms of so grave andreverend a Signor as the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare.
A few determined revellers would lose no opportunity of enjoying thedelight of dressing themselves up in costumes, which they deemedspecially adapted to show off to advantage either their physicalperfections or their intellectual and social pretensions. Sometimes, asmay have been observed by those who have witnessed such revelries, itunfortunately happens that both the above desirable results are notquite compatible. Our friend the Conte Leandro, for instance, havingdetermined to appear at the Circolo ball in the character ofDante--which, for a poet at Ravenna, was a very proper and naturalselection--presented himself at the Palazzo Castelmare in that ofApollo--an equally well-imagined presentation; had it not been that thehappy intellectual analogy was less striking to the vulgar eye, than theremarkable exhibition of knock-knees and bow-legs resulting from the useof the "fleshings;" which constituted an indispensable portion of thegod's attire.
He carried in one hand what had very much the appearance of a giltgridiron; but was intended to represent a lyre; and in the other apaper, which was soon known to contain a poem of congratulationaddressed to the host, on the announcement which, all the city well knewby this time, had been made to him that morning.
The rooms were thronged with black dominoes, and white dominoes, andpink, and scarlet, and blue, and parti-coloured dominoes. Violante wasthere in a black domino, and Bianca in a white one. There was verylittle dancing, but plenty of chattering and laughing. One main thing tobe done by every person there was to congratulate the host on his newhonours. Our Conte Apollo, among the rest, would fain have read his poemon the occasion. But as he approached the Marchese for the purpose, awhite silk domino, that was standing by the Marchese's side, burst intosuch an uncontrollable fit of silvery and most musical, but tooevidently uncomplimentary laughter, that the poor god of song was tooabashed by it to make head against it.
"Surely never had Apollo such a representative before," said theMarchese to his companion, as the mortified god turned away.
"The voice, the face, the lyre, and the legs; oh, the legs!" said thesilvery voice of the white domino in return.
The words of both speakers had been uttered sotto voce; but the ConteLeandro had unfortunately sharp ears; and not only heard what was said,but was at no loss to recognize the voice of the second speaker.
The poor poet was destined not to find the evening an agreeable one. Alittle later he was passing by an ottoman in one of the less crowdedrooms, on which the Marchese Ludovico was sitting with the ContessaViolante. She had, at an early period of the evening, abandoned allpretence of keeping up her incognito, and was dangling her black maskfrom her finger by its string as she sat talking to Ludovico. Leandroturned towards them to pay his compliments to the Contessa, and possiblyin the hope of being allowed to read his copy of verses. But here againmortification awaited him.
"What, Aesop, Leandro! What put it into your head to choose the oldstory-teller for a model? You look the part to perfection, it is true;but what is that thing you have got in your hand?"
Again his lordship was fain to retreat.
"What a shame to torment the poor man so, in your own house too, SignorLudovico," said Violante, who, nevertheless, could not help laughing.
"Not a bit, he's used to it. He is too absurd for anything; an egregiousvain ass," returned Ludovico; with very little precaution to prevent theobject of his animadversions from hearing them. And again Leandro'sacute ears did him the ill service of carrying every word that had beensaid to his understanding.
"Indeed I think her perfectly charming," said Violante, in continuationof the conversation, which had been interrupted by the bow-legged visionof Apollo; "extremely pretty of course,--but a great deal more thanthat. She is fresh, ingenuous, modest, full of sensibility, and ashonest-hearted as the day. You are a very fortunate man, SignorLudovico, to have succeeded in winning such a heart."
"How came it about at first, that you spoke to her?" asked Ludovico.
"Oh, I went into the chapel in the morning, as I very often do, torecite the litany of the Virgin, and if she had remained on herscaffolding I should probably not have noticed her. But she ran down inthe most obliging manner, fearing that she might disturb me, andoffering to suspend her work, as long as I should remain at mydevotions. It was so pretty of her, and so prettily said!"
"And then you answered her as prettily, I suppose, Signora?"
"Nay, it is not in my power to do that," said Violante, with a touch ofbitterness; "but I told her, that she did not disturb me in the least;and I spoke to her of the work she was engaged on; and she asked me tocome up and look at it; and so we talked on till we became very goodfriends."
"And then you were kind enough to converse with her on severalsubsequent occasions?"
"Oh, yes, we had several long talks; and I liked her so much. I am sureshe is thoroughly good. I rejoice with all my heart that a destiny, somuch more brilliant than anything that could have been expected for her,is likely to be hers."
"I wish, Signora Contessa, that it was more than likely to be hers; Iwish that our path lay clearer before us!" said Ludovico, with a sigh.
"Including me in the 'us'? I wish it were with all my heart. Butremember, Signor Marchese, how much is possible to a man, and how littleto a woman. All, that the strong expression of my own wishes andfeelings can do, shall be done when the proper time comes for the doingof it. But you must not trust to that, or to me. You ought to save mefrom being compelled to act at all in the matter. You are free to speak.And now that another besides me is so vitally concerned, I think youought to do so without further delay."
"And I have fully made up my mind to do it, Signora Contessa. I havetold Paolina, this very day, that I purpose speaking very seriously tomy uncle on the subject on the day after to-morrow--the first day inLent. I thought I would let this Carnival time pass by first withoutbreaking in upon it, with business that cannot, I fear, be otherwisethan painful. I have promised Paolina, and am fully determined to speakto my uncle on Wednesday."
"And what do you purpose saying to him?" asked Violante, looking intohis face with quiet eyes.
"In the first instance I have no intention of speaking to him on thesubject of Paolina--"
"No!" interrupted the Contessa, changing her look to one of surprise.
"Not to begin with, I think. To speak of my intention to make amarriage, which I cannot hope will meet his approbation, would only makemy rejection of the alliance, which he hopes to see me form, the moredifficult."
"Yes, that seems true; but I doubt whether you are right there. You willbegin, then, by telling him--?"
"I shall begin by saying that it seems clear to me, that I have littlehope of any success in the quarter in which he has wished me to--"
"Nay, that will not be quite fair, Signor Marchese," interruptedViolante, speaking very quietly. "Can you honestly tell your uncle thatyou have made any very strenuous efforts in that direction?"
"But I thought, Signorina," said Ludovico, hastily; I surely had reasonto suppose that I should be speaking in support of yoursentiments--quite as much as--"Stay, Signor Marchese; excuse myinterrupting you, but it is exactly on this point that I
wished to talkwith you. Let us clearly understand each other. It is, no doubt, quitetrue that if you and I had been left to ourselves, if nofamily-considerations had intervened to suggest other views, neither ofus would have been led by our own inclinations,--it is best to speakopenly and frankly,--neither of us, I say, would have been led by ourown inclinations to think more of the other than as an old and valuedacquaintance. This is the truth, is it not?"
"Nay, Signorina, can I say--"
"It is not fair, you would say," interrupted Violante again, "that Ishould force your gallantry to make so painful an avowal. Nonsense! Letus put aside all such trash: the question is, not--how we shall mutuallymake what the circumstances require us to say to each other agreeable tothe self-love of either of us, and to silly rules of conventionalgallantry, but there is a real question of fairness between us; and itis this: how much should each of us expect that the other willcontribute towards the difficult task of liberating both of us fromengagements we neither of us wish to undertake. You see, SignorMarchese, I have made up my mind to speak clearly; more clearly than Icould, I think, have ventured to do, had I not the advantage of havinghad those conversations with my friend Paolina in the Cardinal'schapel."
"In what respect did it seem to you, that what I proposed saying to myuncle in the first instance, was unfair, Signorina?"
"In this it would be unfair. To talk of your want of success inobtaining what you never sought to obtain, is simply to throw on me theburden and the blame of disappointing the wishes and plans of both ourfamilies. I am ready to do my part; but it would be unreasonable toexpect that it can be so active or so large a part as your own. It willnot be for you to let it be supposed that you are ready and willing tooffer your hand to the Contessa Violante Marliani, trusting to myrefusal to accept it in the teeth of the wishes of my family. It is yourduty to say openly and plainly that you cannot make the marriageproposed to you. If I were in your place--if I might venture to suggest,what I would myself counsel--I should add, as a reason--an additionalreason--that I had given my heart elsewhere."
"But, Signora, you forget that the marriage between us was proposedbefore I ever saw or heard of Paolina," said Ludovico, with a naivetethat should certainly have satisfied his companion that he was no longerattempting to shape his discourse according to the rules of conventionalgallantry.
Violante, despite her gravity, could not forbear smiling, as she said inreply:
"Not at all, Signor. I do not in the least forget that before Paolinaever came to Ravenna, you were no whit better disposed to second thewishes of our families."
"Nay, Signorina. I declare--"
"What, again! Do let us leave all such talk. Don't you see that we mayfrankly shake hands on it. Don't you see that any pain that yourindifference might have occasioned is entirely salved by theconsciousness that I have been as bad as you. We are equally rebelsagainst the destiny arranged for us. Let us fight the battle togetherthen. I think that you would act wisely in telling your uncle at oncethat it is impossible you should make any other woman your wife than herwho has your entire heart and affection. I think that this course is dueto Paolina also."
"I only wished to spare my uncle, as much as possible, in breaking tohim what I know will give him pain."
"People, who will wish what they ought not to wish, must endure the painthat the frustration of such wishes entails. It is certainly your rightto marry according to your own inclinations."
"Yes; and in truth, as far as real power goes, there is nothing toprevent my doing so. It is truly a desire to break to my uncle, asgently as I can, that which will certainly be a blow to him. He is notwell, my uncle. He is deplorably changed since the beginning of thisyear. Look at him, as he passes us," he added, as he observed theMarchese Lamberto approaching the place where they were sitting, withthe white satin domino on his arm.
"He is looking changed and ill, certainly," said Violante, when theMarchese had passed, apparently without noticing them; "he looks thinand worn, and yet feverish and excited. Who is the lady on his arm? Shemust be very tall."
Many of the assembled company had by this time, like the ContessaViolante, discarded their masks, finding the heat, which always resultsfrom the use of them, oppressive, and not perceiving that any furtheramusement was to be got by retaining them. But the white domino, leaningon the Marchese's arm, still retained hers. It is not likely that Biancaherself could have had any objection to its being seen by all Ravennathat she monopolized the attention of the Marchese during the entireevening. And it is therefore probable that she had retained her disguisein compliance with some hint given to that effect by the MarcheseLamberto.
"I take it it must be La Lalli, the prima donna. I know she is hereto-night and in a white domino, though I have not yet spoken to her. Iam afraid my uncle must be tired and bored with her. He always makes apoint of showing those people attention; and besides he had so much todo with bringing her here. I dare say we shall hear her once or twiceagain in this house before she leaves Ravenna. My uncle is fond ofgetting up some good music in Lent, when he can."
"The Marchese Lamberto did not look to me as if he was tired or bored,"said Violante, thoughtfully. "I hope he is not. Here comes that absurdanimal Leandro again. Did you ever see anything so outrageouslyridiculous?"
Ludovico and the Contessa then rose from their seats, and Violantetaking his arm drew him in the direction in which the Marchese Lambertohad led the white satin domino.