A Siren

  CHAPTER VIII

  Signor Giovacchino Fortini at Home

  The Baron Manutoli was Ludovico di Castelmare's very good friend. Butthere are two sorts of friends--friends who show their friendship bywishing, and endeavouring to obtain for us, what we wish for ourselves;and friends, whose friendship consists in wishing for us thingsanalogous to what they wish for themselves;--who endeavour to procurefor us, not what we wish, but what they consider to be good for us.

  Now the Baron Manutoli belonged to the latter of these two categories.He was some years older than Ludovico; had been a married man, and wasnow a widower with one little boy,--the future Baron Manutoli; andconsidered himself as having been blessed with a supreme and exceptionaldegree of good fortune, with regard to all that appertained to thatdifficult and often disastrous chapter of human destinies which concernsthe relations of mankind with the other sex. Happiness and advantages,ordinarily incompatible and exclusive of each other, had in his case bya kind destiny been made compatible. For the representative of an oldnoble family to remain single, was bad in many points of view. But onthe other hand--when one's ancestral acres are not so extensive as theyonce were, and in nowise more productive--when one likes a quiet lifeenlivened by a moderate degree of bachelor's liberty,--when one sees theinteriors of divers of one's contemporaries and friends,--when onethinks of mothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law, and a whole ramifiedfamily-in-law!--the Baron Manutoli, though he had grieved over the lossof his young wife when the loss was recent, was now, after some tenyears of widower's life, inclined to think that of the man, who had alegitimately born son to inherit his name and estate, who had done hisduty towards society by taking a wife, and who was yet enabled to enjoyall the ease and freedom from care of a bachelor's life, it might besaid, "Omne tulit punctum."

  Far as he was from undervaluing the importance of the social duties of aman and a nobleman in respect to these matters, he had always been anearnest advocate of the marriage which Ludovico was expected to makewith the Contessa Violante; and had regarded poor Paolina, from thefirst, as an intruder and disastrous mischief-maker; and Ludovico's lovefor her as the unlucky caprice of a boy, respecting which, the evidentduty of all friends was to do all they could to discourage it, put itdown, and get rid of it.

  So that in the matter of the commission which Ludovico had entrusted tohim, the Baron was likely enough to have somewhat different views fromthose of his friend.

  What a happy turning of misfortune into a blessing it would be, if thisshocking affair should be the means of getting rid of this unluckyPaolina altogether! Not, of course, that the Baron was capable ofwishing that such getting rid of should be accomplished by the unjustcondemnation of the poor girl for such a crime. God forbid! But, ifthere should be found to be a sufficient degree of suspicion--ofunexplainable mystery--to cause the exoneration of Ludovico, and at thesame time, an intimation to the Venetian stranger that she would do wellto remove herself from the happy territory of the Holy Father, what aGodsend it would be!

  Then, again, as to the real fact of Paolina's innocence, Manutoli wasseriously disposed to think that there might be grounds for considerabledoubt. Ludovico's assertions to that effect were of course unworthy ofthe slightest attention; the mere ravings of a man in love. Of course,also, the menace he held out, that if any attempt were made to throw theonus of the crime on Paolina, he would meet it by avowing himselfguilty, was as entirely to be disregarded. The paramount business inhand was to clear his friend of this untoward complication in the matterof the crime which had so mysteriously been committed. The nextconsideration was to set him equally free from his entanglement withPaolina. And with these thoughts in his mind, the Baron decided that,upon the whole, it would be better that he should have an interview withlawyer Fortini, before making his visit to the lady.

  He knew that it was too late to look for the lawyer at his "studio;" andtherefore went directly to his residence, where he found the oldgentleman just concluding his solitary supper. Being the evening of AshWednesday, the meal had consisted of a couple of eggs, and a morsel oftunny fish preserved in oil, very far from a bad relish for a flask ofgood wine. And the lawyer was, when Manutoli came in, aiding hismeditations by discussing the remaining half of a small cobwebbed bottleof the very choicest growth of the Piedmontese hills.

  "I owe you a thousand apologies, Signor Fortini, for coming to troubleyou with business, and very disagreeable business too, here and at suchan hour," began the Baron; "but the interest we all feel--"

  "Not a word of apology is needed, Signor Barone. About this shockingaffair in the Pineta, of course, of course? Pur troppo, we are allinterested, as you say. Will you honour my poor house, Signor Barone, bytasting what there is in the cellar? I ought to be ashamed to offer thiswine, my ordinary drink at supper, to the Barone Manutoli"--(the oldfellow knew right well that there was not such another glass of wine inall the city, and that it was rarely enough that his noble guest dranksuch)--"but it is drinkable." And so saying, he called to his oldhousekeeper to bring another bottle and a fresh glass before he wouldallow Manutoli to say a word on the business that brought him there.

  "And now, Signor Barone," said the old lawyer, as soon as the wine andthe praise it merited, had been both duly savoured, "about this badbusiness? Do you bring me any information? Information is all we want. Ihope and trust information is all we want," he repeated, looking hard atthe Baron.

  "Of course, that is all we want; information which should put us on someclue to the real perpetrator of this crime."

  "That is what we want; that is the one thing needful; and it isabsolutely needful," said the lawyer, again looking meaningly in hiscompanion's face.

  "Of course that is what we want. But even supposing no light upon thematter can be got at all, it is not to be supposed that--that any judgewould consider there was sufficient ground for assuming our friend to beguilty?"

  "Ah, that's just the point; just the point of the difficulty. We mustnot expect, Signor Barone, that the judges will look at the questionquite with the same eyes that we do. They will have none of the strongpersuasion that we--ahem!--that the Marchese Ludovico's friendshave--that he is wholly incapable of committing such a crime. On theother hand, they are men used to suspicion, and to the habit ofconsidering a certain amount of suspicion as equivalent to moralcertainty. And I confess--I must confess, my dear sir, that I am veryfar from easy as to the result, if we should be unable to find at leastsome counterbalancing possibilities, you understand?"

  "But it seems to me, Signor, that such are already found; and it wasjust upon this point that I was anxious to speak with you to-night. Ihave just seen Ludovico. He sent for me to the Circolo. And what hemainly wanted was to bid me go to the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli, inorder to prepare her for the probability of her own arrest, and tocomfort her with the assurance that no evil could come to her. Also Iwas directed by him to tell you, that any attempt to fix the guilt ofthis deed on the girl, would be met by an avowal--a false avowal, ofcourse--that he is himself the guilty person."

  "Ta, ta, ta, ta! Mere stuff, chatter, the talk of a boy in love with apretty girl," said the lawyer.

  "Just so, just so. Of course we pay no attention to all that. I promisedto go to the girl as he told me; and I shall do so presently. But Ithought it best to see you first. The fact is, Signor Fortini, that I donot feel any one bit of the certainty that he professes to feel, thatthis Venetian girl may not have been the real assassin."

  The lawyer looked shrewdly into Manutoli's face, and nodded his headslowly three or four times. "What would there be so unlikely in it,"pursued Manutoli; "girls, and Venetian girls too, have done as much andmore before now? We know that she is in love with him. She sees himgoing on such an expedition as that with such a girl as La Bianca. Shehas already, no doubt, had cause to be jealous of her. Ludovico used tosee the Lalli frequently. What is more likely?"

  "Stay, Signor Barone, one minute. This is an important point; you saythat this Paolina saw her lover with La
Bianca. How do you know that?and how did it come about?"

  "Ludovico just told me so; and the girl, it seems, herself told him. Herstory is that she went out to St. Apollinare at an early hour thismorning to look after a scaffolding or some preparation of some kindthat had been made for her to copy some of the mosaics in the church;and that from a window of the church, being on the scaffolding, she sawLudovico and La Bianca driving by in a bagarino. Now all this probablyis true enough. The question is, What did she do then, when she saw whatwas so well calculated to throw her into a frenzy of jealousy? My theoryis, that she followed them into the forest, dogged their steps, andfinding her opportunity at the unlucky moment when Ludovico left Biancasleeping, did the murder there and then."

  The old lawyer started up from his seat, and thrusting his hands intothe pockets of his trousers took a hasty turn across the room; and thenresuming his seat, tossed off a glass of wine before making any reply.

  "And a very good theory too, Signor Barone. I make you my compliment onit," he said at last. "I was not aware of all the facts, the very,important facts, you mention. I had ascertained that this Venetian girlleft the city by the Porta Nuova at a strangely early hour this morning;and that was enough already, to fix my eye upon her. But what you nowtell me is much more important; advances the case against her to a farmore serious point. Upon my word," continued the lawyer, after a pausefor further meditation; "upon my word I begin to think that it is themost likely view of the case that this Signorina Paolina Foscarelli hasbeen the assassin. At all events it seems quite as likely a theory asthat the Marchese should have done it. Fully as likely," added thelawyer, rubbing his hands cheerily; "the motive, as motives to suchdeeds go, is quite as great in her case as in his. Greater, or at leastmore probable! Jealousy has moved to such acts more frequently than mereconsiderations of interest."

  "To be sure it has," cried Manutoli; "I think that the circumstancesbear more conclusively against her than against him; I do, upon mylife."

  "If only something do not turn up to show that it could not have beendone by her, I think--I do think that we have got all that is absolutelynecessary for us. For observe, Signor Barone, it is not necessary thatshe should be convicted. If there is such a probability that she mayhave been the criminal as to make it impossible to say that it is farmore likely that one of the parties suspected should be guilty than theother, there can be no conviction, and our friend is safe."

  "But I say that all the probabilities are in favour of the hypothesisthat she did the deed," cried Manutoli, warmly.

  "Much will depend on the report of Tomosarchi," said the lawyer. "Theinquiry arises, how far it was possible for a young girl to do thatwhich was done."

  "It is evident that she was murdered in her sleep," observed the Baron.

  "It looks like it; it seems clear that there could have been no struggleof any sort. Still, we must hear how the murder was done; we must knowwhether the means were such as might have been in the power of thisgirl," rejoined Fortini.

  "Well, we shall know all that to-morrow. God grant that the Professor'sreport may be a favourable one," said Manutoli, thinking little of thesavageness of his wish as regarded the poor artist. But, to the mind ofthe Baron, it was a question between one who was a fellow-creature ofhis own, and one who could hardly be considered such. How was itpossible to put in comparison for a moment the consideration of afellow-noble of his own city and that of a poor unknown foreign artist?

  "I trust it may; I build much on the fact that there was no struggle.She was put to death by some means which scarcely allowed her time towake from the sleep," returned the lawyer. "You are going, then, now,Signor Barone, to see this Paolina?"

  "Yes; if I find her still up, which I suppose I shall, for it is notlate," said Manutoli, looking at his watch.

  "Better be a little cautious in speaking to her, you know; best to avoidalarming her," said Fortini.

  "The express object of my visit to her is to prevent her from beingalarmed," rejoined the Baron.

  "Yes; but--what I mean is that--it would be desirable, you see, to leadher to speak. What we want now is to know exactly what she did and whereshe went after seeing the Marchesino and La Bianca in the bagarinotogether. Also to ascertain whether she was seen by anybody to dowhatever she did or to go wherever it was she went. And, I think, thatyou might very probably learn this from her more effectually than Ishould. She would be more likely to be on her guard with me, you see."

  "I'll try what I can do; my real belief is that she is the guiltyperson," said Manutoli.

  "To-morrow I will see what I can do at St. Apollinare. She cannot havebeen in the church without seeing and speaking to somebody. There are aCapucin and a lay-brother always there, I take it; we shall see whatthey can tell us. But I can't go out there till after the medicalexamination. I have arranged with my old friend Tomosarchi to be presentat it," said the lawyer.

  "I shall be most anxious to hear the result," said the Baron.

  "If you will be here about ten o'clock--my breakfast hour--I shall beable to tell you."

  "Thanks. A rivederci dunque--"

  "Stay; one more word before you go, Signor Barone. As we are bothengaged in this inquiry, and both interested on the same side, I may aswell tell you, perhaps, that there is one other person to whom myattention has been drawn as being open to suspicion in this matter--theConte Leandro Lombardoni."

  "The Conte Leandro! You don't say so! Impossible!"

  "Just listen one moment, Signor Barone. It is certain that the ConteLeandro passed out of the city by the Porta Nuova at a very early hourthis morning--at an earlier hour than either the girl Paolina or theMarchesino and La Bianca."

  "The Conte Leandro--out of the Porta Nuova--at such an hour in themorning. For what possible purpose?"

  "Ay, that is the question. For what possible purpose? But the fact iscertain. Though endeavouring to conceal himself by means of his cloak,he was perfectly well recognized by the men at the gate. For whatpossible purpose? No doubt you know, Signor Barone, much better than I,who am not much in the way of hearing of such things--unless in caseswhere I make it my business to hear of them, you understand, SignorBarone,--you, no doubt, know that the Signor Conte has been besieging,as I may say, this poor Lalli woman with his attentions and verses eversince she came here; also, that the lady would have nothing to say tohim or to his verses--that she has, in short, snubbed him and mortifiedhis vanity in the sight of all the town during the whole of the pastCarnival."

  "That is true--it is all true," cried Manutoli, eagerly, and lookingalmost scared by the ideas the lawyer was presenting to his mind. "It iseven truer, than you, perhaps, are aware of. She said sneering andcutting things of him in his hearing both at the Marchese Lamberto'sball and at the Circolo ball; I happen to know it."

  "Hey--y--y--y?" said the lawyer, uttering a sound like a long sigh, witha question stop at the end of it; and then thrusting out his lips andnodding his head up and down slowly while he plunged his hands into thepockets of his trowsers. "I'll tell you what it is Signor Barone," theold man added, after a pause of deep thought, "I was anxious to findsuch plausible grounds of suspicion against other parties, such elementof doubt, such possibilities as might make it difficult for the judgesto condemn our friend. I wanted to puzzle the court; but, per Bacco! Ihave puzzled myself. This afternoon, I confess to you, I had littledoubt but that the Marchesino had, in a fatal moment of anger anddesperation, committed the crime. But, upon my word now, I know not whatto think. Here we have three parties, each of whom we know to have beenacted on by one of three strong passions. We have jealousy, and woundedvanity. Which of the three has done the deed?"

  "It is an extraordinary circumstance," said the Baron Manutoli, "thatthey were jeering at the Conte Leandro at the Circolo just now, aboutthe way the Diva had snubbed him and his verses, and accusing him injoke of having been her murderer. And, as sure as I am now speaking toyou, Signor Fortini, he looked in a way then that I--a--a--in short thatI thought very o
dd--turned all sorts of colours. But then, you know, heis always such an unwholesome-looking animal."

  "One of the vainest men I ever met with," said the lawyer, musing.

  "Oh--for vanity--I believe you. Leandro has not his equal for vanity."

  "And strong vanity, deeply wounded, by a woman too, will breed a hate asviolent and vicious, perhaps, as any passion that ever prompted acrime," rejoined the lawyer, still meditating deeply. "Per Dio Santo!"he exclaimed, after a pause of silence, striking his open palm stronglyon the table, as he spoke, and speaking with a sort of solemnearnestness, "I am inclined to think, after all, that he is the man. TheMarchesino," he went on again, thoughtfully, "went out for afrolic--intelligible enough; The girl went out to look after thepreparations for her work--again quite plausible. But in the name of allthe saints what took the Conte Leandro out of the Porta Nuova at thathour of the morning, after passing the night at a ball?"

  "I still think that the Venetian girl has done the deed," said Manutoli,whose opinion was no doubt in some degree warped by his desire that thecriminal should turn out to be a foreign plebeian rather than a Ravennanoble. "After all Leandro is not the man to do such a deed. He is such apoor creature. Besides, it seems to me that the girl's motive for hatewas the stronger. I don't know that wounded vanity has had many suchcrimes to answer for, whereas jealousy--and such a jealousy--why, it isan old story you know."

  "Well, we shall see. Any way, I am very much more easy as to the result.Short of such evidence as it seems very highly unlikely should beforthcoming, I do not think that there can be any conviction at all. Itis most extraordinary that in the case of such deed, done in such aplace, at such a time, there should be so many persons so fairly liableto strong suspicion."

  "Of course, to produce the result we wish, a case must be set up againstLeandro?" said the Baron.

  "Of course. Leave that to me, or rather to the police. No doubt theirinquiries have already put them on his track. The fact of his havinggone out of the city by that gate, at that hour, is quite enough."

  "And now I must be off to see this Signorina Foscarelli. I don't halflike the job."

  "I daresay you will find her easy enough," said the lawyer, not quiteunderstanding the nature of Manutoli's distaste for his errand."Good-night, Signor Barone."