A Siren

by Thomas Adolphus Trollope

  CHAPTER II

  An Adopted Father and an Adopted Daughter

  When Bianca, on the evening of her arrival at Ravenna, rejoined QuintoLalli at the handsome and convenient lodging which had been providedher, after having passed an hour or two, as has been related, in beingpresented to the notabilities of the city, and receiving a great deal ofhomage at the Palazzo Castelmare, she had already learned many usefulthings.

  Imprimis, she had learned that the Marchese Lamberto was a bachelor;that he was--though what young girls call an old man--still almost inthe prime of life, for a man so healthy and well preserved; that he wasa remarkably handsome and dignified gentleman; that he evidentlyoccupied the very foremost place in the esteem and respect of hisfellow-citizens; that he was rich; and that he appeared from all thoselittle signs and tokens of manner, which such a woman as La Diva Biancacan interpret so readily, the last man in the world likely to fall inlove with such a travelling Diva as herself. She had learned, further,that the Marchese Ludovico was his heir; that the said Ludovico might bejudged, by all those same signs and tokens, to be very much such a manas might be likely to fall over head and ears in love with a beautifulwoman, who should make it her business to cause him to do so; and yetfurther, that this Marchese Ludovico was just the sort of man, whom, ifshe might permit herself to join pleasure with business, she would verywell like so to operate on. She had heard a poem read to her by theConte Leandro, and had decided that, if he were the wealthiest man inall Ravenna, no sense of her duty to herself could prevail to make herdo anything but run away from him at the first warning of his approach.Nevertheless, from him, even, she had learned something. She had becomeacquainted with the fact, whispered in his own exquisitely felicitousmanner, and with the tact and judicious appreciation of opportunitypeculiar to him, that Ludovico di Castelmare was, to the great sorrow ofhis friends and family, enslaved by a certain Venetian artist, thenresident in Ravenna,--a girl really of no attractions whatever.

  Thus much of the carte du pays of that new country, in which her owncampaign was to be made, and of which it so much imported her to havethe social map, she had learned, when she found Quinto Lalli waiting forher to take possession of their new home.

  "Well, bambina mia,--my baby," for so the old man often called her,"what sort of folk have we come among? How do you like the appearance ofthe country?"

  "Eh, papa mio, che volete? I have seen only a bit of it. It is ratherearly to judge yet," said Bianca.

  "Not too early for your quickness, bambina mia. Besides, you may be sureyou have seen most of what you are likely to see, and what it mostconcerns you to see. The Cardinal Legate was not likely to come out tomeet you, I suppose; nor does it much matter to you to see hisEminence."

  "Well, what I have seen, I like. As for the theatre, that MarcheseLamberto, whom you saw, knows what singing is as well as you do. I shallplease him on the stage; and, if so, as I see very well, I shall pleaseall the rest of Ravenna. But--"

  "But what? There is always a 'but.' What is it this time?" said the oldman.

  "As if you did not know as well as I!" said Bianca, with a little toss."Is what I can do on the theatre of Ravenna the thing that is most in mythoughts?"

  "'Twas you who mentioned it first," said Quinto. "I spoke of it merelywith reference to that man, the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. He isone of the first, if not the very first, man in the city; and everybodyis cap in hand before him. Evidently a rich man."

  "And he is a musician, you say?" rejoined Quinto.

  "Fanatico! But what matters that; except, indeed, as a stepping-stone?What has music done for me? The Marchese Lamberto is a bachelor,Quinto."

  "Ha! what, the old man?" said Quinto, looking sharply at her.

  "Yes, the old man, as you call him. Not so old but he might be your son,friend Quinto. But there is the young man, the Marchese Ludovico, whomyou also saw, when they met us on the road. He is the nephew and heir tothe other--a bachelor too--and as pretty a fellow as one would wish tosee into the bargain; a charming fellow."

  "So was the Duca di Lodi at Milan," said the old man, quietly; "a verycharming fellow--charming and charmed into the bargain. But--"

  "Yes! I don't need to ask the meaning of your 'but.' We know all aboutthat; but what is the good of going back upon it?" said Bianca, throwingherself at full length upon a sofa, and tossing her hat on to theground, with some little display of ill-temper, as she spoke.

  "Only for the sake of the light past mistakes may throw on futurehopes," replied Quinto, with philosophic calmness.

  "Bah-mistakes--what mistake? There was no mistake, but for that infamousold wretch of a governor," said Bianca, with an expression which theindividual referred to would hardly have recognized as beautiful, if hecould have seen it.

  "Yes! I know. May the devil give him his due! But, bambina mia, thereare wretches of governors here too, it is to be feared, no lessinfamous."

  "What do you mean? What did we come here then for?" cried Bianca,rearing herself on her elbow on the sofa, and looking at her old friendwith wide-opened eyes of angry surprise.

  "In the first place, cara mia, because it was necessary to go somewhere;and, in the second place, because I should be very much at a loss toname any place where the governors are not infamous wretches, every whitas bad as at Milan. 'Tis the way of them, my poor child. But you see,Bianca dear, to return to what we were saying, there was a littlemistake at Milan. The Duca di Lodi did not go off into the country, andleave you plantee la, to please himself."

  "Who ever thought he did? No, poor fellow, he was right enough. But whatwas the mistake, I want to know?"

  "You could bring no influence to bear, except upon himself, you know."

  "Of course not. How should I? E poi?"

  "And he could not do as he pleased," said Quinto, with a slight shrug ofhis shoulders. "That was the mistake, cara mia, to endeavour to bringabout an object, by influencing some one who had no power to act forthemselves in the matter."

  "A very pleasant Job's comforter you are to-night, Quinto. I don't knowwhat you are driving at?" said Bianca, staring at him.

  "Only this, my precious child. I was set thinking of the mistake atMilan by what you said of these two men, the uncle and nephew. Has itnot come into your clever head, mia bella, that we might find here themeans of avoiding a repetition of that error?"

  "Ah--h! Now I see what you are at. The uncle--hum--m--m," said Bianca,meditatively; and then shaking her head with closely shut lips.

  "And why not the uncle, bambina mia? I am sure the few words you havesaid about him are sufficient to point out that an alliance with theMarchese di Castelmare would be an advantageous one for any lady in theland," said old Quinto, with a demure air, that concealed under it justthe least flavour in the world of quiet irony.

  "I won't deny, papa mio, that, being humble as becomes my station,"replied Bianca, in the same tone, "I should be perfectly contented withthe style and title of Marchesa di Castelmare. But what reason have wefor thinking that there would be any less difficulty in becoming suchthan in becoming Duchessa di Lodi? That, between ourselves, is thequestion."

  "And what difficulty lay in the way of becoming Duchessa di Lodi?Certainly none that arose from the Signor Duca. Governors and fathers,and uncles and aunts, and police commissaries, and the devil knows what,all interfered to keep two young hearts asunder, and spoil the game. Andwhy did they interfere?--the devil have them all in his keeping! Becauseall the world agrees to believe that such springalds as the Duca di Lodican't take care of themselves. Because it is considered that the titlesand acres of such, if not their persons, should be protectedagainst--against the impulses of their warm hearts, shall we say? Now,do you think that the world would consider any such protection necessaryin the case of the Marchese Lamberto? Would any governors, or fathers,or uncles, or aunts, or commissaries, interfere to prevent him fromdoing as he pleased in such a matter?"

  "No, I suppose not!" replied Bianca, thoughtfully; "but if no father or
uncle did, a nephew might. It is always the way; people get out of theleading-strings put on them by their elders, only to be entangled inothers wound round them by their sons and daughters and nephews andnieces! The poor old man is beguiled. We must prevent him from makingsuch a fool of himself! And the interference is all the worse, and themore fatal, because the poor old man would not only make a fool ofhimself, but beggars of his protectors."

  "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed old Quinto Lalli with a quiet, almost noiselesslaugh; "it is very well and shrewdly said, bambina mia. But between thetwo times of interference, my Bianca, there is a happy medium; anintervening space, a high table-land, we may say, after the dominion offathers and uncles has been escaped from, and before that of sons andnephews begins--a short time, during which a man may and can pleasehimself. Now, it seems to me, that your Marchese--pardon me for theanticipation, it is a mere figure of speech, your Marchese diCastelmare, I say, seems to me to be just in that happy position!"

  "I don't know that, I have not seen enough to be sure about that yet.That young fellow, the Marchese Ludovico, does not look to me a likelysort of man to stand by quietly and see himself cut out of houses andlands! And besides,--it strikes me--"

  "Speak out your thought, bambina mia; I am sure it is one worth hearing.And between us, you know--"

  "Well, between ourselves then," continued Bianca; while a smile, half ofmockery and half of pleasure, writhed her lips into changing outlines,each more bewitchingly pretty than the other, and her eyes were turnedaway from Quinto to a contemplation of the slender dainty foot peepingout from beneath her dress, as she lay on the sofa; "between ourselves,papa mio, from one or two small observations, which I chanced to maketo-day, it strikes me that the Marchese Ludovico might possibly feelother additional objections to the establishment of any such relations,as you are contemplating between me and his uncle, besides thelikelihood that they might be the means of cutting him out of hisheirship."

  "Ha, I see, I see; nothing more likely! Per Dio, bambina mia, you loseno time! Brava la Bianca! And perhaps I may conclude, from one or twosmall observations that I have been able to make myself, you wouldprefer to win on the nephew! Eh, cara mia" said the old man, looking ather with a sly smile.

  "Pshaw!" cried Bianca, with a toss of her auburn ringlets, and a shrugof her beautiful shoulders; "I must do my duty in that state of life towhich it has pleased God to call me,--as the nuns at St. Agata taughtme. But between uncles and nephews, I suppose any girl would say,nephews for choice!"

  "But you see, my child, the devil of it is that it would be the Milanstory over again. You would have all the family to fight against. ACardinal Legate can be quite as despotic, and disagreeable, andtyrannical as an Austrian governor. You may be very sure that thesepeople have some marriage in view for this young Marchese, the hope ofthe family! We know that the Marchese Lamberto is hand and glove withthe Cardinal. And there would be an exit from Ravenna after the samefashion as our last!"

  "I know for certain already, that there is a marriage arranged betweenthe young Marchese and no less a personage than the niece of theCardinal Legate himself," said Bianca.

  "Well then; that is not very promising ground to build on, is it,bambina mia!" replied Quinto.

  "It may be, that as far as the man himself is concerned, the match thathas been made for him would be rather the reverse of a difficulty in theway," rejoined Bianca.

  "But the difficulty will not come from the man himself, cara mia! Itwould be doing you wrong to suppose that to be at all likely. I don'tsuppose it; but--do you imagine that the Cardinal Legate will permit youto snatch his niece's proposed husband from out of her mouth! It wouldbe a worse job than the other," said Quinto, shaking his heademphatically.

  "So that you are all for the uncle, papa mio?" rejoined Bianca; yawning,as if she were tired of discussing the subject.

  "Well, I confess it seems to my poor judgment the better scheme, andindeed a very promising scheme. Depend upon it, my child, an old man,who is his own master, is the better and safer game," replied Quinto.

  "Very well! Have at the old man then, as you call him; though, as I havetold you, Quinto, he is not an old man--not over forty-five I shouldsay; at all events the right side of fifty, I'd wager anything! But Itell you fairly, that a less promising subject I never saw. A man, whohas lived till that age a bachelor, though the head of his family,--anda bachelor of the out-and-out moral and respectable sort, mind you,--thegreat friend of the Cardinal; trustee to nunneries, and all that sort ofthing!--a man who looks at you and speaks to you as if he was a masterof ceremonies presenting a Duchess to a Queen,--a man, I should say, whohad never cared for a woman in his life, and was very unlikely to beginto do so now," said Bianca, yawning again as she finished speaking.

  "Bambina mia," replied Quinto, "you are a very clever child, and youknow a great many things. But you have not yet sufficiently studied theelderly gentleman department of human nature. If the Marchese Lambertois as you describe him, it may be, it is true, that he is one of thosemen for whom female beauty has no charm, and on whom any kind of attackwould be thrown away and mere lost labour. But it is far more likelythat the exact reverse may be found to be the case! A thousandcircumstances of his social position, or even of his temper and turn ofmind, may have kept him a bachelor,--may have kept him out of the way ofwomen altogether. He may be found cautious, haughty, backward to woo,requiring to be wooed, in love with the respectabilities of his socialstanding; but depend upon it, bambina mia, if you can once awaken thedormant passion of such a man, you may produce effects whollyirresistible,--you may do anything with him! His love would be like afrozen torrent when the thaw comes! It would dash aside every oppositionthat could be offered it. The calculated and calculating tentatives, andcoquettings and nibblings of your practised lovers, who have been inlove a dozen times, would be as a trickling rill to an ocean wave,compared to what might be expected from the passion of a heart firststrongly moved at the time of life the Marchese has reached. Fascinatesuch a man as that, and in such a position, bambina mia, and all thegovernors, and all the Cardinals that ever mumbled a mass, won't availto prevent him from being your own!"

  "Well, I suppose you are right, Quinto. And I suppose that that is whatit must be!--But--well! it is time to be going to bed, I suppose; I amtired and sleepy!" said Bianca, rousing herself after a pause from areverie into which she seemed to have fallen, and yawning as she got upfrom the sofa.