A Siren

  CHAPTER IV

  The Marchese hears the Ill News

  Signor Fortini judged rightly, when he said that he thought it probablethat the Marchese Lamberto had not quitted his library, from the timewhen he had left him there, after the conversation, in which theMarchese had avowed his purpose with regard to La Bianca.

  The shrewd lawyer had well understood, that the final decision withregard to such a purpose, and the definite announcement of it, which theMarchese had made to him, his lawyer, were not likely to dispose such aman to meet the eyes of his fellow-citizens. Had Fortini known that theMarchese had been made aware of the purposed excursion of his nephewwith the singer--as the reader knows that he had been by the officiousmeddling of the Conte Leandro,--it might have seemed strange that heshould have chosen just that day and hour for the declaration of hisintention. Was it that he hastened to acquire such an authority overBianca, as might enable him to put an end to any such escapades for thefuture? Was it that he was infatuated to that degree, that he feared,that if he did not make haste to secure the prize, it might be takenfrom him by his nephew?

  However this might have been, the overt step he had taken had certainlynot had the effect of tranquillizing his mind. The hours of that day,since the lawyer left him, had been passed in the most miserable mannerby him.

  The servants had all learned, that there was something very decidedlywrong with their master. The man who usually attended on him personally,surprised at his master spending the day in a manner so unusual withhim, had made various excuses to enter the library two or three times inthe course of the day. Each time he had found the Marchese, instead ofbeing busily employed, as was usual with him, when in his library,either sitting in his easy-chair with his hands before him, and his headhanging on his breast, doing absolutely nothing; or else pacing up anddown the room.

  As the afternoon went on, and the Marchese still did not go out, hisvalet, really uneasy about him, found the means of watching him withoutentering the room. Again and again he saw him rise from his chair and,after two or three turns across the room, return to it. Often he went tothe window, and looked out, as if expecting something. Three or fourtimes he observed him start violently at the sound of a door banging insome other part of the palace.

  Once in the course of the afternoon the servant had had a genuine excusefor entering the room. The Conte Leandro had called, and asked if theMarchese was at home. He had not seen the Marchese Ludovico in thecourse of the day, and was curious to find out what had been the resultof the eavesdropping that he had retailed to the Marchese Lamberto. Thatit had not availed to induce the Marchese to interfere in any way to puta stop to the excursion, the Conte Leandro had the means of knowing, aswill presently appear. But his curiosity was doomed to remainunsatisfied. The Marchese had replied with a savage ill-humour, that theold servant had never seen in his master before, that he did not want tosee the Conte, leaving the domestic to modify the harshness of the replyas he might.

  When, however, some hours later, Signor Fortini came to the door, anddespite what the servants told him of the state their master was in, andof his refusal to see the Conte Leandro, insisted on being announced,the Marchese admitted him.

  The first thought that flashed through the lawyer's brain, when he cameinto the presence of his old friend and client, was a profound sense ofself-congratulation at his own freedom from all connection withwomankind.

  His own experience of married life, essayed in early years and happilybrought to a conclusion after a probation of a very short time, had, ashas been hinted, not been a happy one. He had very deeply felt; somefive-and-forty years ago, that nothing in the Signora Fortini's life hadbecome her like the leaving of it. And during all those years ofwidowhood, the remembrance of that first burning of his fingers hadsufficed to make the old gentleman a consistent misogynist.

  "Ah, here is another specimen of women's work," he thought to himself,as he observed the utter wretchedness of the Marchese's appearance, andthe traces in him of a day spent in misery. "And he, too, who hadescaped for fifty years! If I had avoided the springes for fifty years,I don't think I should have been caught at last. Maybe, it is all theworse for coming to a man so late. Now here is this man, who hadeverything the world could give to make his happiness, wrecked, ruined,destroyed, blasted by the sight of a painted piece of woman's flesh, andthe lure of a pair of devil-instructed eyes. And he knows that it isruin. He knows which is the evil, and which the good, and yet is sobesotted, that he has not the power to take the one and leave the other.Is not the sight of the unhappy wretch, as he sits cowering there,afraid, evidently afraid to meet my eye, a warning and a caution?"

  And, in truth, the appearance of the Marchese might have been held, tojustify these reflections of the lawyer, who was right in supposing thatno tidings of what had happened had reached the Marchese since he hadparted from him after their interview that morning. Attributing,therefore, the state of utter moral prostration, mixed with a kind ofrestless nervous agitation, in which he found him, to the consciousnessof the terrible results he was about to bring upon himself by the follyhe had decided on committing, the lawyer could not prevent the thoughtoccurring to him that were it not for the dreadful circumstances thatseemed to bring home the suspicion of murder to the Marchese Ludovico,the tidings he brought of the death of the unfortunate woman would be,if not a relief at the moment, yet the most fortunate exit for theMarchese from the position he had made for himself.

  "Good-evening, Signor Giovacchino. You have come, of course, to askwhether the representations you made to me this morning have availed toinduce me to waver in the purpose I announced to you," said theMarchese, scarcely looking up so as to meet the eye of the lawyer.

  "Signor Marchese," returned Fortini, "it is my turn this time tocommunicate to you intelligence which will strike you, I fear, to thefull as painfully as I was struck by what you told me this morning." TheMarchese started; and the lawyer observed that the start seemed tocontinue and propagate itself, as it were, into a tremor, that ranthrough all his person, as he said, with chattering teeth: "What do youmean? Has anything happened?--anything--out of the common way,eh?--eh?--what--what is it?"

  "That has happened, Signor Marchese, which makes all furtherconsideration of the step you confided to me your intention of takingthis morning unnecessary. The lady, whom you purposed to make your wife,is no more."

  "No more--how no more?--what--what is it you mean?" said the Marchese,evidently terribly shocked, as was manifested by the tremor andshivering which seized him yet more violently than before; yet stillwithout looking up so as to meet the lawyer's eye.

  "She is dead, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, looking at himcuriously.

  "Dead--La Bianca dead! I don't believe it. It is some scheme forfrustrating the purpose you disapproved of--some plan managed betweenyou and my nephew. You have sent her away, and want to persuade me thatshe is dead."

  "Your mind is unhinged by the shock of my intelligence, SignorMarchese--naturally enough--or such an absurd notion would not haveoccurred to you. I have seen the dead body of Bianca Lalli. It is now inthe custody of the police," said the lawyer, with slow gravity.

  "The police!" cried the Marchese, shooting a momentary glance up intothe lawyer's face.

  "Necessarily so; for, Signor Marchese, the unhappy--the miserable truthis that a foul murder has been committed. The girl was murdered in thePineta this morning."

  "Murdered! Gracious heaven! Murdered--but why murdered? Why may she nothave died by a natural death?--that is--I mean--of course I mean, ifthere were no evident marks of violence on the body."

  The lawyer paused a minute, as if some cause of perplexity had beensuggested to him by the words of the Marchese, before hereplied,--"There were, in truth, no marks of evident violence on thebody, or, at least, none such as an unskilled eye would observe on avery superficial examination. But all that will be ascertained at themedical examination, which will take place to-morrow morning. But Ithink it can hardly be dou
bted that the death was not a natural one,"said the lawyer, shaking his head gravely.

  "And the Marchese Ludovico?" asked the Marchese, rather strangely, as itstruck the lawyer, seeing that nothing had as yet been said to connectthe young Marchese with the catastrophe, and he was not aware of thefact that the Marchese knew of his nephew's excursion to the Pineta.

  "That, alas! is the worst part of the bad story--we, at least, here inRavenna are perhaps excusable in thinking it the worst. The fact is,Signor Marchese, that this death took place under circumstances whichseem to leave no doubt that the deed was done by the hand of theMarchese Ludovico."

  "The hand of the Marchese Ludovico! Gracious heaven! But that isnonsense, Signor Fortini. No doubt? How can there be no doubt, merelybecause he was with her in the forest?"

  There was something in the Marchese's manner which made it seem to thelawyer as if he must have already heard of the tragedy that hadhappened, and of the suspicion that had been thrown on his nephew. "Wereyou aware, then, Signor Marchese," he asked, "that the Marchese Ludovicohad gone to the Pineta with this unhappy woman?"

  The Marchese dropped his head upon his chest and paused a minute,passing his hand slowly across his brow and before his eyes, before hereplied,--"Yes, I knew that," he said, at length; "the Conte Leandrotold me of it."

  "Your people told me, just now, that you had refused to see the ConteLeandro, when he called," remarked the lawyer, again looking puzzled.

  "Yes, I refused to see him because my mind was full of the conversationwe had this morning. You know I promised you, Signor Fortini, that Iwould think over the matter again; and I was engaged in doing so. I havebeen thinking of it all day; I was thinking of it still when you camein."

  "Thinking still of your purpose of making the woman, La Bianca, yourwife. Then you could not have heard of her miserable end when I camein,--as I supposed, indeed, you could not have heard," remarked thelawyer.

  "Heard of it? Why of course not. That is clear--that proves that I couldnot have heard of it, you know," said the Marchese, with a strange sortof eagerness.

  "When was it, then, that you heard from the Conte Leandro, that theMarchese Ludovico was in the Pineta with La Bianca?" asked the lawyer.

  "At the ball," replied the Marchese, after a minute's thought, "at theball. He came to me and told me that they had planned an excursion tothe forest, as soon as they left the ball-room. The Conte Leandro toldme of it, because, he said, he thought it an imprudent thing, and Ishould disapprove it. But why should I, you know? I said nothing toeither of them about it. Why not let them have such an innocentenjoyment? Young people must be young, you know, Signor Fortini. For mypart, I preferred making the best of my way to my bed, after being upall night." There was a strange kind of nervous eagerness and hurry inthe Marchese's manner of saying this, which struck the lawyer asaffording yet further evidence of the degree to which his mind had beenutterly unhinged by the struggle which had been going on in it,doubtless for a longer time than he, the lawyer, was aware of, betweenthe influence over him which the singer had acquired, and his sense ofthe terrible nature of the step she was inducing him to take. It seemednecessary to recall his attention to that view of the matter which wasnow of the most urgent interest, the suspicions which rested on theMarchese Ludovico.

  "As you say, Signor Marchese," he resumed, "that Signor Ludovico shouldhave been with La Bianca in the forest, affords no proof sufficient toconvict him of being the author of this crime; although the fact of hisbeing the last person in whose company she was ever seen alive, doessuffice, in a certain degree, to throw on him the onus of showing thathe is innocent of it. But the worst is--the damning feature of thematter is, that he had a very strong and intelligible reason for wishingthis Bianca out of the way. Remember that your marriage with her wouldhave the effect of reducing him to beggary. Put that fact side by sidewith the facts that he takes her to a solitary place in the Pineta, andthat she is shortly afterwards found there murdered; and I am afraid--Iam dreadfully afraid that the judges will not resist the conclusionthat, in truth, seems forced upon them. It is a bad business, SignorMarchese; a very bad and ugly business."

  "But I had not mentioned to the Marchese Ludovico my intention withregard to the girl. How could he have been led to do such an act by sucha motive, when he knew nothing of it?" said the Marchese, after severalminutes of consideration.

  "Unfortunately he did know it, and has himself stated that he knew it.It seems that the girl herself took the opportunity of their drivetogether to tell him of the fact. Would to heaven that she had neverdone so," said Fortini, with a deep sigh.

  "But anybody must see that it is a thousand times more probable that sheshould have been killed by robbers--vagabonds tramping through thecountry. The Pineta is always full of them. I am sure I would no morelie--I would no more wander there alone!--Of course the unfortunate girlmust have been murdered by brigands."

  "If any robbery had been committed, there might be reason to hope so, orat least ground for such theory. But, unfortunately, she had exposed onher person valuables exceedingly tempting to a thief; but they remaineduntouched."

  At that moment there came a loud and hurried rapping at the door. TheMarchese started violently in his chair, and turned deadly pale; anotherproof, if more were needed, of the degree in which his nervous systemhad been shaken by the intelligence he had received, coming, as it did,on the back of all that had previously contributed to unhinge his mind.In the next instant, a servant put his head into the room, saying thatthe Conte Leandro had returned, and was urgent to be admitted to see theMarchese, declaring that he had a very important communication to maketo him.

  "I cannot see him. I will not see him. I will see nobody. SignorFortini, would you have the kindness to let him understand that I am notin a condition to see anybody?" said the Marchese, apparently muchagitated.

  The lawyer stepped rapidly to the door, and at the stair-head found theConte Leandro, bursting with the news, which he had hoped to be thefirst to communicate to the Marchese, and which, of course, showed howwise and timely had been his own interference in telling the Marchese ofthe proposed excursion of Ludovico, and how disastrous had been theresults of his not having paid due attention to it.

  "My dear Conte," said Fortini, "I have just done the painful task whichyou, doubtless, have kindly come to undertake. You must excuse theMarchese if he declines, for the present, to see you. You will readilyunderstand how terrible the shock has been to him. He is, as might beexpected, quite broken down by it. In truth, I wish you had had thetelling him instead of me. It was most painful."

  "But, Signor Fortini," urged the poet, eagerly, as the lawyer wasturning away to return to the Marchese, "are you aware--have you heardwhat is said in the town?--that the Marchese had offered marriage to LaBianca, and that this was the cause--of course I do not believe anythingof the kind myself--but I assure you it is what people are saying. And Ithink the Marchese ought to be told, you know, for--"

  "I will tell the Marchese of your kind intention, Signor Conte," saidthe lawyer; "I think it would be better for you not to attempt seeinghim now. And, in the meantime, you cannot do better than to contradict,most emphatically, any such monstrously absurd reports, as those youhave mentioned."

  "You know, of course, that Ludovico is arrested; and I am shocked tosay, that the general opinion in the city is very much against him. Ofcourse I need not tell you that I am perfectly convinced of his entireinnocence. But who, except a really attached friend, would you get tobelieve it, under the circumstances? Ah! I am afraid it will go hardwith him," said the Conte; speaking with eager volubility,--"I am sadly.afraid it will go hard with him."

  "It seems to me, Signor Conte, that any such speculations are a littlepremature. The Marchese Ludovico has not been even officially accused asyet. At any rate you can console yourself, Signor Conte, with theconsideration that you have a magnificent subject for a tragedy in yourhands. To such a genuine poet as yourself, that is enough tocounterbalance any misfort
une that only touches our friends."

  And with that the old lawyer turned away to go back to the library;while the poet, though not altogether without a somewhat annoying notionthat he was laughed at, was nevertheless delighted with the excellentidea that had been suggested to him.

  "I made him understand that you could not see him. All he wanted was totell you just what I have already communicated to you," said the lawyer,as he came back into the room. "He said too, by-the-by, that all thetown was talking of the offer of marriage made by the Marchese Lambertoto Signora Bianca Lalli--"

  "Of course, of course," groaned the Marchese, tossing himself restlesslyfrom one side to the other of his chair. "And to think that at the verytime,--at the hour when I was communicating to you the decision I hadarrived at with regard to--to that unfortunate--to poor Bianca, she waseven then, as it would seem, lying dead in the forest. It is very, veryterrible."

  "And I told the Signor Conte that he could not do better than contradictsuch a report wherever he heard it," added the lawyer, who began almostto fancy, from a something that seemed strange to him in the Marchese'smanner, that the catastrophe which had come to relieve him in such aterrible manner from the scrape he had got himself into with the singer,was not altogether unwelcome to him.

  "It is of no use, Fortini," returned the Marchese, with a groan; "it isof no use. That old man, her reputed father, knows it; their servantknows it; Ludovico knows it: and, of course, his knowledge of it willhave to be made public."

  "Nevertheless, the denial of it by such a tongue as that of the ConteLeandro Lombardoni can do no harm in the meantime," said the lawyer,quietly. "It may be," he added, "it may be that something may turn up toprevent any public accusation of the Marchese. It may be that he is notguilty. It may be that the deed may yet be brought home to some otherhand."

  "Do you think that, Fortini? do you think that likely?" said theMarchese, with a quickly withdrawn anxious look into the lawyer's face.

  "No, frankly, I do not think it likely. I fear that it is very certainthat his hand is the guilty one. Nevertheless, it may be--it isdifficult to say--it may be. At all events, it is always time enough toabandon hope. I must leave you now, Signor Marchese; I will see youagain to-morrow morning."

  "Many, many thanks, my good Signor Giovacchino. Do not forget to come.Remember how dreadfully anxious I must be to hear what passes: aboveall, the result of the medical examination--specially the result of themedical examination."

  "I will not fail to come. I miei saluti, Signor Marchese."