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by Rita Monaldi;Francesco Sorti

  It was only then that, in the general turmoil, Bedfordi at last un­derstood that he had had the plague and had for days on end been given up for lost.

  "But then, the vision..." he exclaimed.

  "What vision?" came a chorus of questions.

  "Well... I think that I have been in hell."

  Thus he related that, of his illness, he remembered only having suddenly experienced a long, long fall downwards, and the fire. After who knows how long, no less a personage than Lucifer stopped be­fore him. The Devil, with green skin, moustaches and a goatee on his chin (just like those of Cristofano, he pointed out) had planted one of his red hot talons, from which leapt tongues of fire, in his throat, and had tried to tear out his soul. Not succeeding in this, Lucifer had brandished his pitchfork and transfixed him with it again and again, almost draining him of all his blood. Then the foul beast had clutched his poor, exhausted body and thrown him into boiling pitch; and here Bedfordi swore that this had all seemed horribly real to him and that he would never have believed that one could suffer such pain. And in that pitch, the young man had remained for who knows how long, contorted by suffering, and he had begged God for forgiveness for all his sins and his little faith and had implored the Most High to rescue him from that infernal Hades. Then, darkness.

  We all listened in religious silence; but now the guests' voices were competing for who should shout "Miracle!" the loudest. Padre Robleda, who throughout the narration had been continuously mak­ing the sign of the cross, stepped forward prudently from the group and, deeply affected, signed the air in blessing; whereupon some knelt and crossed themselves in turn.

  Only the physician's countenance had darkened. He knew well, as did I, whence Bedfordi's vision came: it was none other than the delirious memory of the cruel therapies to which Cristofano had sub­jected him as he lay prostrate in the clutches of the pestilence. The diabolical claw which tried to tear out his soul was in reality the im­perial musk with which Cristofano had induced vomiting; the cruel pitchfork of Lucifer, we recognised without difficulty as the harness which the physician had employed when bleeding his patient; lastly, the boiling pitch was none other than the cauldron over which we had placed Bedfordi for his steam bath.

  Bedfordi was hungry, but, at the same time, he said he was suf­fering from a strong sensation of burning in the stomach. Cristofano then commanded me to warm him a little of the good broth of stock­dove which had already been prepared. This would both nourish him and pacify his bowels. At this juncture, however, the Englishman fell asleep.

  We resolved then to let him rest and all descended together to the chambers on the ground floor. Oddly enough, no one was trou­bled by the fact that he had left his own apartment; nor did Cristo­fano remember to scold them all and make them return to their own chambers. The plague seemed to have gone; so, by tacit accord, our seclusion was at an end; and no one so much as mentioned it.

  The guests of the Donzello seemed also to be suffering the pangs of great hunger; wherefore, I descended to the cellars, determined to cook something tasty and rich with which to celebrate. While with my head down almost to the ground among the boxes of snow I searched among kids' heads and feet, sweetbreads, legs of mutton and chick­en, a multitude of thoughts passed through my mind. Bedfordi was cured. How was that possible? Devize had played for him, as recom­mended by Padre Robleda: was the Jesuit's theory about the mag­netism of music then true? It was indeed true that the Englishman seemed to have awoken only after "Les Barricades Mysterieuses"... But was that rondeau not supposed to be a mere cipher concealing the secretum vitae? That had at least been Abbot Melani's assumption. Now, however, the melody itself had perhaps proved to be the agent of the cure... No, I really could make no sense of the whole matter. I must speak of this with Abbot Melani as soon as possible.

  Returning up the stairs, I heard the voice of Cristofano. In the dining hall, I saw that Atto had joined the group.

  "What is one to say?" asked the physician, addressing the little assembly. "It may have been the magnetism of the music, as Father Robleda avers, or my remedies, I do not know. The truth is that no one knows why the pestilence disappears so suddenly. The most wondrous thing is that Bedfordi had shown no sign of improvement. On the contrary, he was near death, and I should soon have been compelled to inform you that all hope was lost."Robleda nodded emphatically at that juncture, thus showing that he was already implicated in those desperate moments.

  "I can tell you," continued Cristofano, "that this is not the first such case. There are those who explain such mysterious recoveries by contending that nothing of the pestilence remains in the furniture or in the houses or in material things, but can disappear overnight. I recollect that when I was in Rome during the Visitation of 1656, no remedy having been found, it was decided to initiate a great fast and many processions during which the people went barefoot, in sack­cloth and ashes, begging forgiveness for their sins, their faces wet with tears, all mournful and dolorous. God then sent the Archan­gel Michael, who was seen by all the people of Rome on the 8th of May above the Castello with a bloody sword in his hand: from that moment on, the pestilence ceased and of the infection, nothing re­mained, not even in clothing or in beds, which are usually among the most dangerous vehicles of contagion. Nor is that all. The historians of antiquity also tell of such strange instances. In the year 567, it is told that there was a visitation of a most terrible and cruel pestilence throughout the world, and only a quarter of humanity survived. Yet the plague suddenly ceased and infection remained in no object."

  "In the Plague of 1468," Brenozzi added in support of the physi­cian's assertions, "more than thirty-six thousand died in Venice, and in Brescia, over twenty thousand; and many houses remained unin­habited. But these two visitations came to a sudden end and the in­fection was left in no thing. The same occurred during the visitations that followed: in 1485, the pestilence returned to Venice in the most horrendous form and killed many nobles, including even the Doge Giovanni Mocenigo; in 1527, it spread throughout the whole world and, finally, in 1556, it reappeared in Venice and all its dominions, although, thanks to the good governance of the senators, it did little damage. Nevertheless, at a certain point during every one of these visitations, the pestilence suddenly died out and not a trace of it remained. How, how can that be explained?" he concluded grandilo­quently, growing red in the face.

  "Well, I would until now have preferred to say nothing in order not to bring bad luck upon us," Stilone Priaso added solemnly, "but, according to the astrologers, because of the malign influence of the Dog Star during the last two weeks of August and the first three of September, all those contaminated by the pestilence should die within two or three days, or even within twenty-four hours. Indeed, in London, during the plague of 1665, that was the worst period, and it is said that in a single night, between one o'clock and three in the morning, more than thirty thousand persons perished. During the same period, nothing of the sort happened to us."

  A shiver of fear and relief traversed the little assembly, while Rob­leda rose to poke around in the kitchen. As soon as the kids' heads, the gigot and the chicken began to give off their first sweet aromas, I served soup with asparagus and citrus fruit, in order to settle the stomach.

  "I remember that, when I was in Rome in '56," said Cristofano, resuming his narration, "the pestilence was in full spate. I was then a young physician and my colleague, who had come to visit me, told me that the fury of the distemper was about to abate. Yet, it was precisely in that week that the bulletins reported more deaths than through­out the whole year, and I pointed this out to my fellow-practitioner. He gave me the most surprising of replies. 'Judging by the number of persons who are sick at this moment,' said he, 'if the distemper were still as fatal as it was two weeks or so ago, we should have had three times as many dead. Then, it killed within two to three days, but now it lasts eight to ten days. Two weeks ago, moreover, one sick person in five survived, while now we count at least three
cures. You may be certain that next week's bulletin will show a far lower mor­tality, and that there will be ever more recoveries. The distemper has lost its virulence, and, although the number of those infected is enormous, however long the infection itself may last, the number of deaths will be ever less elevated.'"

  "And was it so?" asked Devize, visibly perturbed.

  "Precisely so. Two weeks later, the bulletin showed half as many deaths. To tell the truth, many still died, but the number of those who recovered was far greater."

  In the weeks that followed, it was to become even clearer, ex­plained Cristofano, that his colleague had been right: within a month, deaths had almost ceased to be reported, although the sick still num­bered tens of thousands.

  "The distemper had lost its malignancy," repeated the doctor "and not gradually, but at the very height of its fury, when we were most desperate; just as has happened today in the case of the young Englishman."

  "Only the hand of God could so swiftly interrupt the course of the distemper," commented the Jesuit with great emotion.

  Cristofano gravely nodded in agreement: "Medicine was power­less in the face of the infection; death harvested thousands at every street corner; and, had matters continued thus for two or three more weeks, not a soul would have been left alive in Rome."

  Once it had lost its death-dealing potency, the physician contin­ued, the distemper killed only a small proportion of those infected. The physicians themselves were astounded by this. They saw that their patients were getting better; they sweated abundantly and their tokens soon matured, their pustules were no longer inflamed, fevers were not so extreme and they no longer suffered from terrible pain in the head. Even those physicians whose faith was less fervent were obliged to admit that the sudden decline of the pestilence was of supernatural origin.

  "The streets filled with persons who had just been cured, with their necks and heads still bandaged; or limping from the scars left by the tokens in the groin. And all were exulting that they had escaped so great a peril."

  It was then that Padre Robleda stood up and, drawing a crucifix from his black tunic, brandished it before his listeners, proclaiming: "How marvellous a change, O Lord! Until yesterday, we were buried alive, but Thou hast restored us to the land of the living!"

  We knelt and, ardent in our gratitude, intoned our praise to the Most High, guided by the Jesuit. Whereupon, when luncheon was served, all sat down to eat with a great appetite.

  I, however, could not free my mind from the thought of those words of Cristofano: the plague possessed it own obscure natural cycle, in accordance with which, after spreading, it suddenly dissipated, losing its virulence until, at last, it disappeared altogether. Mysteriously it departed, as it had come. Morbus crescit sic ut mortales, senescit ex abrupto...-. the distemper grows like mortals, and suddenly grows old. Were not those the same words as Abbot Melani had read in the strange letter from Padre Kircher which he had discovered in Dulcibeni's drawers?

  After hastily consuming my meal at the big kitchen table, I found Atto in the dining hall. We understood one another at a glance. I would be calling on him as soon as possible.

  So, I went to bring his luncheon to Pellegrino, who could be con­sidered as cured, were it not for his continual giddiness. The doctor joined me there, advising me that he in person would bring his broth to the young Englishman.

  "Signor Cristofano, could we not perhaps ask Devize to play in my master's chamber, too, so that he might again become as sharp-wit­ted as he once was?" I took the opportunity of asking him.

  "I do not believe it would be of any use, my boy. Unfortunately, matters have not gone as I had hoped: Pellegrino will not fully re­cover that soon. I am certain that this was not a case of the spotted fever, nor indeed of the pestilence, as even you will have realised."

  "Then what is wrong with him?" I murmured, troubled by the innkeeper's fixed, bewildered stare.

  "Blood in the head, because of his fall down the stairs: a clot of blood which will only very gradually be reabsorbed. I think that we shall all leave here safe and sound before that happens. But, do not worry, your master has a wife, has he not?"

  So saying, he departed. While feeding Pellegrino, I thought with a pang in my heart of his sad fate, when his severe spouse returned to find him in that vague condition.

  "Do you recall what we read?" asked Atto no sooner than I had en­tered his chamber. "According to Kircher, the pestilence is born, grows, becomes old and dies just like men. When it is about to die, it augments and reaches its greatest strength before expiring."

  "Exactly as Cristofano said just now."

  "Yes. And do you know what that means?"

  "Perhaps that Bedfordi recovered on his own, or not thanks to the rondeau?" said I, hazarding a guess.

  "You disappoint me, my boy. Do you really not understand? The plague in this hostelry was barely at its beginnings: it should have accomplished a massacre before losing its virulence. Instead, matters went otherwise. Not one of us others fell ill. And do you know what I think? Since Devize, compelled to keep to his chamber, began to play the rondeau ever more frequently, those notes, spreading throughout the inn, have preserved us from the infection."

  "Do you honestly believe that it is thanks to that music that no one else among us fell victim to the pestilence?" I asked sceptically.

  "It is surprising, 1 know. But think now: in all history, it has never sufficed, when faced with the spread of the plague, simply to withdraw alone to one's chamber. As for Cristofano's remedies to preserve us from the infection, forget it!" said the abbot with a laugh. "Besides, the facts speak for themselves: the doctor was in contact with Bed­fordi every single day, after which, he visited all the others. Yet nei­ther he nor any of us ever fell ill. How do you explain that?"

  Indeed, I thought, if I was immune to the infection, one could not say as much of Cristofano.

  "Not only that," Atto continued, "once Bedfordi himself was di­rectly exposed to the notes of the rondeau, just when he was about to give up the ghost, he awoke and the distemper literally vanished."

  "It is as though... Padre Kircher had discovered a secret which, in those already suffering from the plague, speeds up the natural cycle of the disease, inducing its extinction without having wrought any harm. Yet this is also a secret capable of preserving the healthy from the infection."

  "Bravo, you have got it. The secretum vitae concealed in the ron­deau functions precisely thus."

  Bedfordi, concluded Atto, making himself at ease on his bed, was all but resuscitated when Devize played for him. The idea had come from Padre Robleda, persuaded of the health-giving magnetism of music. Initially, however, the French musician had played for a long time without anything happening.

  "You will have noticed that, after Bedfordi's recovery, I stopped to speak to the doctor; well, he made it clear to me that only after Devize had begun to play the rondeau and had repeated it ad infini­tum, did the Englishman show signs of life. I wondered: whatever is hidden in those blessed 'Barricades Mysterieuses'?"

  "I too had wondered about that, Signor Atto: the melody must have mysterious powers."

  "Exactly. As though in it Kircher had concealed a thaumaturgical secret, yet the content was one with the casket; so much so as to ra­diate its potent and health-giving effects to anyone who so much as listened to the rondeau. Now do you understand?"

  I assented, with rather less than true conviction.

  "But could we not find out more about this?" I tried to ask. "We could try to decrypt the rondeau. You understand music. I could at­tempt to borrow Devize's scores from him and from there we could work by trial and error; or perhaps we might even obtain something from Devize himself."

  The abbot stopped me with a gesture.

  "Do not imagine that he knows any more than we do," he retorted, smiling. "Besides, what does that all matter to us now? The power of music: there is the real secret. During these days and nights we have done nothing but rationali
se: we wanted to understand everything and at all costs. Rather presumptuously, we meant to square the circle. And I was the first to behave thus:

  Qual e 'l geometra che tutto s'affige

  per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova, pensando, quelprincipio ond'elli indige,

  tal era io a quella vista nova.*

  as the poet says."

  "The words of Seigneur Luigi, your master?"

  "These words, no. They were penned a few centuries ago by my divine countryman, who is now out of fashion. What I mean to tell you is simply that while we racked our brains, we neglected to use our hearts."

  "Did we then misinterpret everything, Signor Atto?"

  "No. All that we discovered, all our insights and our deductions, were perfectly correct; but incomplete."

  "Meaning?"