The Daughter of an Empress
Page 37
THE HOLY CHAFFERERS
Cardinal Francesco Albani, meantime, hastened through the streetswith the sprightliness of youth. He noticed neither the respectfulsalutations and knee-bendings of those he passed, nor their visibleshuddering and alarm when under the cardinal's hat they recognized thefierce and inhuman Francesco Albani.
He stopped before the palace of Cardinal Juan Angelo Braschi. Theequipage of the new cardinal was drawn up before his door.
"Ah," gleefully remarked Albani, "he is therefore yet at home, and Ishall meet with him!"
Hastily entering the palace, and pushing past the servant who would havepreceded him, he entered the cardinal's cabinet unannounced.
"Be not troubled, your eminence," said Albani, with a smile, "I willnot detain you long. I know your habits, and know that Signora Malvedausually expects you at this hour, because Cardinal Rezzonico is not thenwith her! But I have something important to say to you. You know I am aman who, without forms and circumlocutions, always comes directly to thepoint. I do so now. You desire to be the successor of Ganganelli?"
Braschi turned pale, and timidly cast down his eyes.
"Why are you shocked?" cried Albani. "Every cardinal hopes and wishes tobecome the father of Christendom--that is natural; I should also wish itfor myself, but I know that that cannot be. I have permitted these lordcardinals who, in the conclave, invoke the Holy Spirit, to look too muchinto my cards. I was not so prudent as you, Braschi, and therefore youare much the more likely to become God's vicegerent! Would you not liketo be pope, if Ganganelli should happen to die? And how high would youhold my voice--how much would it be worth to you?"
"More than all I possess, infinitely more!" said the shrewd Braschi."Were I sure of your voice, I might then have a definite hope ofbecoming pope; for your voice carries many others with it. How, then,can you expect me to estimate what is inestimable?"
"Would you give me twenty thousand?" asked Albani.
"Threefold that sum if I possessed it, but I have nothing! I am a verypoor cardinal, as you well know. My whole property consists of sixthousand scudi, and that trifling sum I dare not offer you."
"Borrow, then, of Signora Malveda!" said Albani. "Cardinal Rezzonico isrich and liberal. Let us speak directly to the point. You would be pope,and I am willing to forward your views. How much will you pay?"
"If Signora Malveda will lend me four thousand scudi, I should then haveten thousand to offer you!"
"Well, so be it. Ten thousand scudi will do, if you will add to it atrifling favor."
"Name it," said Braschi.
"You know that Ganganelli opposes the crowning of our famousimprovisatrice, Corilla, in the capitol. This is an injustice whichGanganelli's successor will have to repair. Will you do it?"
Braschi gave the cardinal a sly glance. "Ah," said he, "Signora Corillaseems to be less liberal than Signora Malveda? She will allow you nodiscount of her future laurel-crown, is it not so? I know nothingworse than an ambitious woman. Listen, Albani; it seems that we must bemutually useful to each other; I need your voice to become pope, and youneed mine to become a favored lover. Very well, give me your voice, andin return, I promise you a laurel-crown for Signora Corilla, and eightthousand scudi for yourself!"
"Ah, you would haggle!" contemptuously exclaimed Albani. "You would bea very niggardly vicegerent of God! But as Corilla is well worth twothousand scudi, I am content. Give me eight thousand scudi and thepromise to crown Corilla!"
"As soon as I am pope, I will do both. My sacred word for it! Shall Istrengthen my promise by swearing upon the Bible?"
Cardinal Albani gave the questioner a glance of astonishment, and thenbroke out with a loud and scornful laugh.
"You forget that you are speaking to one of your kind! Of what use wouldsuch a holy farce be to us who have no faith in its binding power? No,no, we priests know each other. Such buffoonery amounts to nothing. Onewritten word is worth a thousand sworn oaths! Let us have a contractprepared--that is better. We will both sign it!"
"Just as you please!" said Braschi, with a smile, stepping to hiswriting desk and rapidly throwing some lines upon paper, which he signedafter it had been carefully read by Albani.
"At length the business is finished," said Albani. "Now, CardinalBraschi, go to your signora, and surprise her with the news thatshe holds in her arms a pope _in spe_. Pope Clement will soon need asuccessor; he must be very ill, the poor pope!"
So speaking, he took leave of the future pope with a friendly nod, anddeparted with as much haste as he had come.
"And now to these pious Jesuit fathers!" said he, stepping out upon thegrass. "It was very prudent in me that I went on foot to Corillato-day. Our cursed equipages betray every thing; they are the greatestchatterboxes! How astonished these good Romans would be to see acardinal's carriage before these houses of the condemned! No, no,strengthen yourselves for another effort, my reverend legs! Only yetthis walk, and then you will have rest."
And the cardinal trudged stoutly on until he reached the Jesuit college.There he stopped and looked cautiously around him.
"This unfortunate saintly dress is also a hindrance," murmured he."Like the sign over the shop-door it proclaims to all the world: 'I am acardinal. Here indulgences, dispensations, and God's blessings are to besold! Who will buy, who will buy?' I dare not now enter this scouted andrepudiated sacred house. I might be remarked, suspected, and betrayed.Corilla, dear, beautiful woman, it costs me much pains and many effortsto conquer you; will your possession repay me?"
The cardinal patiently waited in the shadow of a taxus-bush until thestreet become for a moment empty and solitary. Then he hastened to aside-door of the building, and, sure of being unobserved, entered.
A deep and quiet silence pervaded these long and desertedcloister-passages. It seemed as if a death-veil lay upon the wholebuilding--as if it were depopulated, desolated. Nowhere the least traceof that busy, stirring life, usually prevailing in these corridors--nolonger those bands of scholars that formerly peopled these passages--thedoors of the great school-room open, the benches unoccupied, thelecturer's chair, from which the pious fathers formerly with such subtlewisdom explained and defended their dangerous doctrines, these also aredesolate. The reign of the Jesuits was over; Ganganelli had thrustthem from the throne, and they cursed him as their murderer! He hadsuppressed their sacred order, he had commanded them to lay aside theirpeculiar costume and adopt that of other monkish orders, or the usualdress of abbes. But from their property he had not been able to expelthem in this college _Il Jesu_--within their cloisters his power hadnot been able to penetrate. There they remained, what they had been,the holy fathers of Jesus, the pious defenders of craft and Christiandeception, the cunning advocates of regicide, the proud servants of theonly salvation-dispensing Church!--there, with rage in their hearts,they meditated plans of vengeance against this criminal pope who hadcondemned them to a living death; who, like a wicked magician, hadchanged their sacred college into an open grave! He had killed them, andhe, should he nevertheless live?
With these fatal questions did the holy fathers occupy themselves,reflecting upon them in their gloomy leisure, and in low whisperingsconsulting with their prior. And in such secret consultation didCardinal Francesco Albani find the prior with his confidant in therefectorium.
"Do not let me disturb you," he said laughing; "I see by your faces youare engaged in conversation upon the subject in which I yesterday took apart. That is very well--we can resume it where we yesterday broke off,and again knot the threads which I yesterday so violently rent. Withwhich knot shall we begin?"
The eyes of the pious Jesuit father flashed with joy. Francesco Albaniwas inclined to favor their plans and wishes; they saw that in hiscunning smile, in his return to them.
"We were speaking of the sacred and important duty you will have toperform to-morrow, your eminence," said the prior, with a winning smile.
"Ah, yes, I remember," said the cardinal, with apparent indifference."We spoke of the to-mor
row's communion of his holiness the pope."
"And of the fact that you, your eminence, would to-morrow have todischarge the important duty of pouring the sacred wine into the goldenchalice of the vicegerent of God," said the prior.
"Yes, yes, I now remember it all," said Albani, with a smile. "You spoketo me of a wonderful flask of wine, which, by means of the golden tube,you would gladly help to the honor of being drunk by his holiness fromthe communion chalice."
"It is so precious a wine that only the vicegerent of God is worthy ofwetting his lips with it. It must touch the lips of no other mortal!"
"I know such a wine," said Albani; "it thrives best in the regionof Naples,(*) and whoever drinks of it becomes a partaker of eternalblessedness."
(*) The celebrated poison, _Acqua Tofana_, is prepared only in Naples.
"Yes, you are right, it is a wonderfully strengthening wine!" said theprior, folding his hands and directing his eyes toward the heavens. "Wethank God that He has left us in possession of so precious an essence!The pope, they say, is suffering and needs strengthening. See howclosely we follow the teaching of Him whose name we bear, and who hascommanded, 'Love your enemies, bless those who curse you!' Instead ofavenging ourselves, we would be his benefactors, and refresh him withthe most precious of what we possess!"
"And you would be so unselfish as to keep from him all knowledge of yourbenevolence, you would bless him quite secretly! But how if I shouldbetray you, and communicate your precious secret to his holiness thepope? Yes, yes, I shall open my mouth and speak, unless I am preventedby a golden lock put upon my lips."
"We shall willingly apply such a lock!" said the pleased prior.
"But, that it may entirely close my mouth, the lock will need to be veryheavy!" responded Albani, with a laugh.
"It is so--it weighs six thousand scudi!" said the prior.
"That is much too light!" exclaimed Albani, laughing; "it will hardlycover my mouth. It still remains that I am to undertake a very hazardousaffair. Reflect, if any one should discover my possession of thisstrange wine; if Ganganelli should perceive that it is not wine from hisown cellar that I have poured into the cup for him! It is dangerous workthat you would assign to me, a work for which I might lose my head, andyou venture to offer me a poor six thousand scudi for it! Adieu, then,pious fathers, keep you your golden lock, and I my unclosed lips. Ishall know when and where to speak!"
And the cardinal moved toward the door. Hastening after him, the priorhanded him a small flask, the contents of which were clear and pure ascrystal water, timidly and anxiously whispering, "Ten drops of this inGanganelli's communion wine, and ten thousand scudi are yours!"
"Give the ten thousand scudi at once!" said Albani, with decision.
"And the drops?"
"The pope's wine is too strong: I will reduce it a little with this purewater."(*)
(*) The poison, _Acqua Tofana_, is pure and clear as water, without taste or smell. It is prepared from opium and Spanish flies, combined with some other ingredients, which, however, are only known to the makers of it. That the _Acqua Tofana_ is made from the foam sometimes found upon the lips of the dying, is an idle tale. Allessandro Borgia was the first to bring it into use.