A Siren

by Thomas Adolphus Trollope

  CHAPTER VI

  The Trial

  The police authorities were longer in preparing their case than SignorFortini had anticipated they would be; but at length it was knownthroughout the city that the day for the trial had been fixed. It was totake place on a Monday morning towards the latter part of Lent.

  It had been rumoured in the city that the delay had been occasioned byhopes which the authorities had conceived that the female prisoner wouldbe induced to make confession of the crime. The imprisonment and therepeated interrogatories she had undergone had produced a great effectupon her. She had become downcast to a very much greater degree than shehad been in the days immediately following her arrest. She was verysilent, refraining even from the earnest and frequent protestations ofher innocence, which, during the early days of her imprisonment, she hadseized every opportunity of making. She passed many hours apparentlyplunged in deep introspective thought; she wept much, and passed much ofher time in prayer.

  And the judgment of the experienced people about her led them tointerpret these manifestations as signs of an approaching confession.When at length the day for the trial was fixed, it was reported thatPaolina Foscarelli had confessed. But the criminal authorities keep thesecrets of their prison house in such matters; and nothing certain wasknown upon the subject.

  The very general impression, however, throughout the city was that,whether she confessed or not, she was the real criminal, and that suchwould be declared by the tribunal to be the case. And such a solution ofthe mystery was readily accepted by the Ravenna world as the mostsatisfactory that under the unhappy circumstances could be arrived at.

  The disgrace that rested on the city in consequence of the perpetrationof so foul a crime, and on such a victim, had been felt throughout thecity to a degree, that can be duly appreciated only by those, who areacquainted with the strength and the exclusiveness of Italian municipalpatriotism. And it was a matter of general congratulation that theperpetrator of it should turn out to be no Ravennata citizen, but anunknown stranger from Venice. It would have been dreadful indeed if sucha deed should have been brought home to the door of a scion of theoldest and most distinguished noble family in Ravenna. Of courseeverybody had all along known, and had said from the beginning, thatwhatever might turn out to be the truth, this at least was impossibleand altogether out of the question.

  To many minds the guilt of the Venetian girl seemed so clear that itappeared altogether superfluous to spend time and trouble in bringingher to confess it. Her hatred of the victim she had confessed; and theconfession of it was in evidence. The motive for that hatred wasperfectly well known and understood. It was a motive that many a timeere now had led to similar deeds. She was close at hand when the crimemust have been committed. She could give no satisfactory account of herreasons for going thither, or of the occupation of her time during thehours, which must have comprised the moment of the assassination. Andthe manner of the murder rendered it infinitely probable that it musthave been the deed of a female. What more could be wanted? It was rarelythat a murder had ever been brought home to the murderer bycircumstantial evidence of a more conclusive and irresistible character.

  Signor Fortini was among those who thought and reasoned thus. But in theseveral interviews which he had had with the Marchese Ludovico, he hadnot judged it judicious to enlarge to him on this part of the subject.While assuring him that he might make himself perfectly easy, and thathis innocence in the matter would beyond all doubt be fully recognised,he had preferred to lead him to imagine that the result of the trialwould be altogether negative; that it would be found that no case thatwould warrant a conviction should be made out against any party.

  Signor Logarini had meanwhile made one or two more excursions to theBasilica of St. Apollinare. But he had gained nothing by his pains. Thepadre Fabiano was on each occasion found in bed, no whit better to allappearance than he had been on that day when the police Commissary andSignor Fortini visited him together. Nor had Signor Logarini'spersevering cross-examinations availed to obtain anything more from theaged friar than repetitions of his first statements. Nevertheless theCommissary was confirmed more than ever in his opinion that the friarknew something; if he could only be made to speak. Still it had beendetermined not to attempt to bring the old man by force before thetribunal. There was every reason to think that nothing would be obtainedfrom him in addition to what he had already said. In all probability hewas really ill, more or less, as Signor Logarini said, and living underthe government of the Holy Father, it was necessary to treatecclesiastical personages with a greater degree of consideration thanmight have been accorded to such under similar circumstances on theother side of the frontier between the territory of the church andAustria.

  Despite the friar's illness, however, Fra Simone, the lay-brother, hadonce or twice been observed lately in Ravenna. He was seen saunteringthrough the streets with his long linen wallet over his shoulder,stopping at a corner for a little gossip here, and receiving acontribution to the store in his bag from some friar-loving devout oldwoman there. There was nothing remarkable in such a sight in the streetsof Ravenna in any way. Only Fra Simone was very rarely seen there. Andwhen Signor Pietro Logarini, without whose knowledge scarcely a catstirred abroad in Ravenna, was told of the circumstance, he said tohimself that the Padre Fabiano was interested in knowing what peoplesaid and thought of the coming trial.

  Signor Fortini had in the meantime, not without infinite difficultysucceeded in persuading the Marchese that he must bring himself tosubmit to the ordeal of being present in the court on the occasion ofthe trial. The Marchese's extreme dislike to appearing thus publicly hadbeen in no degree overcome or diminished. And it was only the lawyer'spositive and repeated declaration, that he would assuredly be sent for,if he did not spontaneously present himself, that had availed to inducehim to say at length that he would go. Every possible attention, thelawyer had assured him, would be paid to him, and everything done tomake his attendance as little disagreeable to him as possible. Ofcourse, as Fortini urged, it was well known, through the city howdreadfully he must have been affected by the sad circumstances that hadhappened--people would be prepared to see him looking ill and changed.Curious? Yes, of course people were curious--it was impossible toprevent them from being so; but he, Fortini, would take care that theircuriosity should not be manifested in any way that could be offensive tothe Marchese.

  Thus, an unwilling consent to attend the sitting of the court on themorning of the trial had been forced from the unhappy Marchese,--fromhim who, so few weeks ago before the fatal coming of the fascinatingsinger to Ravenna, had been the happiest, the most prosperous, and themost secure of men; and it had been arranged that Signor Fortini should,on that morning; call for him at the Palazzo and accompany him to thetribunal.

  When the morning came it seemed to Signor Fortini as if he should haveto do all his work over again. He found the Marchese up and dressed. Hehad not shaved himself, however,--declaring, with abundant appearance oftruth, that, in the state he then was, it was utterly beyond his powerto do so, and he absolutely refused to allow it to be done for him; andthe effect of the stubbly grisled beard of a week's growth or so on thehollow lantern jaws, which all the city had been accustomed to see cleanshaved, and plump, and florid with health,--was such as to render himbarely recognizable as the same man by the eyes that had known him allhis life. It seemed, too, to the lawyer that the shocking change whichhad taken place in him was even more painfully marked by his attempt todress himself in his usual manner than it had been in his chamberwrapper. His clothes, which were wont to fit so well, and set off toadvantage his well-made and stalwart figure, hung about him in bags andpantaloon-like folds, a world too wide for his shrunken form.

  On the first entrance of the lawyer he protested that the effort wasaltogether beyond his strength,--that it was impossible for him to gothrough the ordeal. Did they want him to die before their eyes on thebenches of the court?

  A renewed suggestion by Fortini t
o the effect that the only means bywhich the necessity could be avoided would be by a certificate from themedical authority trusted in such matters by the court--his own oldfriend the Professor Tomosarchi, produced only a reiterated and violentdeclaration that he would not receive any visit from the Professor.

  Eventually, the strong representations made by the lawyer of the muchgreater unpleasantness, and the very much to be deprecated effect, ofentering the court as an unwilling witness in forced obedience to amandate from the tribunal, decided the wretched Marchese to allowhimself to be led down to the carriage.

  Even as he came, bent and shaking, down the great staircase of thePalazzo leaning on Fortini's arm, and had to pass, in crossing the hallto the carriage, all the servants of his household, most of whom had notseen him since the evening of the last day of Carnival, and who wereurged by curiosity to take this opportunity of looking at theirterribly-changed master, it seemed to him that his martyrdom hadcommenced.

  He passed through the streets of the city with the blinds of thecarriage drawn down, and with his eyes closed as he lay thrown back intothe corner of it: but, as he felt it draw up at the entrance to the"prefettura," he suddenly grasped the lawyer's hand, and Fortini felt,with a shudder, that his hand was as cold as that of a corpse. He wasaltogether in such a state that Signor Fortini began to fear that therereally would be some catastrophe in the court before the business of theday could be concluded.

  With the aid of a servant on one side and of the lawyer on the other,however, he was got out of the carriage, and, almost supporting him, thelawyer, who had made all his arrangements previously, led him into thebuilding by a private door and to the chamber in which the tribunal wassitting by a private passage used only by the magistrates, and openinginto the court in the immediate vicinity of the seats occupied by them,by the side of which a chair had been assigned to the Marchese.

  Nor had Signor Fortini's cares and preparations ended there. He hadspoken with each one of the magistrates who were to try the case, in nowise telling them of the Marchese's unwillingness to appear, butrepresenting the terrible state of mental and bodily prostration towhich the dreadful nature of the late events had very naturally reducedhim, and which would have rendered it utterly impossible for him toappear in court, but for his indomitable will, and the high sense ofduty, which had led him to think it, under the circumstances his duty todo so.

  To no soul had he whispered a word of the Marchese's very markedreluctance to attend at the trial, save to his old and intimate friendof many years standing, the Professor Tomosarchi, whom he had thought itadvisable to consult as to the desirability of his seeing the Marchesebefore he was called on to make the effort. To his surprise he had foundTomosarchi almost as unwilling to see the Marchese, as the Marchese hadbeen to see him. He did not say at once, as the latter had done, that hewould not see him, But while admitting the strong desirability that theMarchese should be present at the trial, he yet manifested a strongreluctance, which the lawyer could not understand, to taking any sharein the task of persuading and preparing him to do so.

  The magistrates, who were all of them old friends of Signor Fortini, andto each of whom he had spoken, separately on the subject, had seemed tofind no difficulty in understanding, that it was very natural under allthe circumstances, that the Marchese should have been terribly affected,both in body and mind, by the late events. It had been suggested to themby the lawyer, that it would be well to avoid, as far as possible,anything that should make it necessary for the Marchese to speak at all,even in saluting him on his entrance. When therefore, just after thecourt had assembled, the Marchese, trembling and shivering in everylimb, was led in by the little door that opened close behind the seat hewas to occupy, the magistrates contented themselves with rising andbowing to him in silence. The court, as might have been expected, wasvery full; and it was impossible to prevent a very marked and audiblemanifestation of the shock produced upon the spectators by the changedappearance of one so well known to them from running through the crowd.

  Even in the territories of the Pope, a criminal court is in these daysan open and public one. There is no jury, and the criminal, or suspectedperson, may be subjected to any amount of examination on oath. But, inother respects, the method of procedure is not very dissimilar from ourown. The prosecution is conducted by an officer analogous to ourattorney-general, or by his substitute; and is defended by any advocateof the court whom he may employ for the purpose. The appreciation of thecredibility of testimony, the greater or lesser value of circumstantialevidence, the application and interpretation of the law, and the awardof sentence, remain with the judges, subject to appeal to a highercourt. Moreover, in the present case, the inquiry assumed more of theform of a general attempt to ascertain the solution of an unexplainedmystery, than would have been compatible with the forms of our criminalcourts, inasmuch as there were two prisoners to be tried for the crime,whom no theory of the circumstances had suggested to be accomplices, andthe conviction of either of whom, according to the hypothesis which hadbeen started, involved the absolution of the other.

  The judicial oath is administered not as with us, but by requiring theaccused person, or the witness, to assert that he is speaking the truth,while placing the extended hand on a carved representation of thecrucified Redeemer. And there can be no doubt that this ceremony has avery strong effect on the imagination and nervous system among theeasily moved races of the south. Many a crime has been avowed, becausethe paralyzed lips of the criminal were absolutely incapable ofpronouncing the lie he fully purposed to speak, while he thus openlyappealed to the material figure which had the power of enabling thesluggish southern imagination to realize the presence of the Creator.

  There would be little interest in detailing at length the proceedings ofthe trial; since nothing was elicited that would be in any way new tothe reader, or that was calculated to throw any fresh light on thecircumstances to be inquired into, until the business in hand was nearlyconcluded.

  Every tenderness had been shown to the misfortunes and to the terriblestate of suffering of the Marchese. A full statement of his own conductat the ball, and on the following morning, had been extracted, with verylittle indulgence in the process, from the Conte Leandro, from whosewhite and pasty face the perspiration had rained beyond the power of anyhandkerchief to control it, while he described himself as aneavesdropper, an informer, and a spy. And all that had been requiredfrom the Marchese Lamberto was the admission that the Conte Leandro'sstatements, as far as regarded what had taken place at the ball, werecorrect.

  But the fact was that the case was well-nigh prejudged before theprofessed trial began. All Ravenna, including the police authorities,who had investigated the matter, and the judges who came into court wellinstructed in all that had been done, and all that could be known uponthe subject, had made up their minds that the stranger girl was and musthave been the criminal. It was infinitely more agreeable to everybodyconcerned to suppose that such should be the case rather than that sucha damning blot should fall on the noblest house in the city, and that inthe person of one of the most popular men in it; and, at the same time,it must be owned that the case was so strong against Paolina that aprejudice against her could hardly be called a corrupt one.

  Her own conduct during the trial had tended yet farther to impress theminds of all present against her. Not that there was anything in herappearance and manner that was otherwise than calculated to conciliatepity and favourable opinion. Her entrance into the court had excited thegreatest interest. She had on a black silk dress made in the simplestand plainest possible fashion; and the colour of it, where the neckbandencircled her slender throat, made an absolutely startling contrast withthe utterly colourless whiteness of her skin. Her manner was verysubdued, very quiet; nor did she exhibit any signs of fear; or much ofemotion, save to those who were near enough to her to perceive a quiet,silent, and undemonstrative tear steal occasionally down her dead-whitecheek.

  But when examined as to her disposal of
herself after leaving the churchof Apollinare--as to her motives for changing her purpose, if it weretrue, as she stated, that she did change her purpose of entering thePineta--she became embarrassed and failed to give any satisfactoryreply.

  Ludovico had, at an early stage of the proceedings, been removed fromthe court, after having been in vain again and again requested by thejudges to abstain from interfering with the progress of the case againstPaolina.

  At last, when almost everybody in the court had made up their minds thatthere could, in truth, be no doubt that the young Venetian, goaded tofrenzy by her jealousy, had been the author of the murder, and quiteeverybody was convinced that such would be the decision of the judges,the latter were on the point of retiring from the court to confer, andconsider their sentence, more as a matter of form, probably, thananything else, when an incident occurred that made a change in theaspect of matters.