Arthur Machen Ultimate Collection

by Arthur Machen

  "There are four things which astonish me very much. The first is that though the Jesuits were said to be so rich, not a penny was found upon them at the suppression; the second, that though the Scrivani of Naples are supposed to take no fees, yet their wealth is immense; the third, that while all the other young couples have children sooner or later, we have none; and the fourth, that all men die at last, except Tanucci, who, I believe, will live on in 'saecula saeculorum'."

  The King of Spain shewed this letter to all the ministers and ambassadors, that they might see that his son was a clever man, and he was right; for a man who can write such a letter must be clever.

  Two or three days later, the Chevalier de Morosini, the nephew of the procurator, and sole heir of the illustrious house of Morosini, came to Naples accompanied by his tutor Stratico, the professor of mathematics at Padua, and the same that had given me a letter for his brother, the Pisan professor. He stayed at the "Crocielles," and we were delighted to see one another again.

  Morosini, a young man of nineteen, was travelling to complete his education. He had spent three years at Turin academy, and was now under the superintendence of a man who could have introduced him to the whole range of learning, but unhappily the will was wanting in the pupil. The young Venetian loved women to excess, frequented the society of young rakes, and yawned in good company. He was a sworn foe to study, and spent his money in a lavish manner, less from generosity than from a desire to be revenged on his uncle's economies. He complained of being still kept in tutelage; he had calculated that he could spend eight hundred sequins a month, and thought his allowance of two hundred sequins a month an insult. With this notion, he set himself to sow debts broadcast, and only laughed at his tutor when he mildly reproached him for his extravagance, and pointed out that if he were saving for the present, he would be able to be all the more magnificent on his return to Venice. His uncle had made an excellent match for him; he was to marry a girl who was extremely pretty, and also the heiress of the house of Grimani de Servi.

  The only redeeming feature in the young man's character was that he had a mortal hatred of all kinds of play.

  Since my bank had been broken I had been at Goudar's, but I would not listen to his proposal that I should join them again. Medini had become a sworn foe of mine. As soon as I came, he would go away, but I pretended not to notice him. He was at Goudar's when I introduced Morosini and his mentor, and thinking the young man good game he became very intimate with him. When he found out that Morosini would not hear of gaming, his hatred of me increased, for he was certain that I had warned the rich Venetian against him.

  Morosini was much taken with Sara's charms, and only thought of how he could possess her. He was still a young man, full of romantic notions, and she would have become odious in his eyes if he could have guessed that she would have to be bought with a heavy price.

  He told me several times that if a woman proposed payment for her favours, his disgust would expel his love in a moment. As he said, and rightly, he was as good a man as Madame Goudar was a woman.

  This was distinctly a good point in his character; no woman who gave her favours in exchange for presents received could hope to dupe him. Sara's maxims were diametrically opposed to his; she looked on her love as a bill of exchange.

  Stratico was delighted to see him engaged in this intrigue, for the chief point in dealing with him was to keep him occupied. If he had no distractions he took refuge in bad company or furious riding. He would sometimes ride ten or twelve stages at full gallop, utterly ruining the horses. He was only too glad to make his uncle pay for them, as he swore he was an old miser.

  After I had made up my mind to leave Naples, I had a visit from Don Pascal Latilla, who brought with him the Abbe Galiani, whom I had known at Paris.

  It may be remembered that I had known his brother at St. Agatha's, where I had stayed with him, and left him Donna Lucrezia Castelli.

  I told him that I had intended to visit him, and asked if Lucrezia were still with him.

  "She lives at Salerno," said he, "with her daughter the Marchioness C——."

  I was delighted to hear the news; if it had not been for the abbe's visit, I should never have heard what had become of these ladies.

  I asked him if he knew the Marchioness C——.

  "I only know the marquis," he replied, "he is old and very rich."

  That was enough for me.

  A couple of days afterwards Morosini invited Sara, Goudar, two young gamesters, and Medini, to dinner. The latter had not yet given up hopes of cheating the chevalier in one way or another.

  Towards the end of dinner it happened that Medini differed in opinion from me, and expressed his views in such a peremptory manner that I remarked that a gentleman would be rather more choice in his expressions.

  "Maybe," he replied, "but I am not going to learn manners from you."

  I constrained myself, and said nothing, but I was getting tired of his insolence; and as he might imagine that my resentment was caused by fear, I determined on disabusing him.

  As he was taking his coffee on the balcony overlooking the sea, I came up to him with my cup in my hand, and said that I was tired of the rudeness with which he treated me in company.

  "You would find me ruder still," he replied, "if we could meet without company."

  "I think I could convince you of your mistake if we could have a private meeting."

  "I should very much like to see you do it."

  "When you see me go out, follow me, and don't say a word to anyone."

  "I will not fail."

  I rejoined the company, and walked slowly towards Pausilippo. I looked back and saw him following me; and as he was a brave fellow, and we both had our swords, I felt sure the thing would soon be settled.

  As soon as I found myself in the open country, where we should not be interrupted, I stopped short.

  As he drew near I attempted a parley, thinking that we might come to a more amicable settlement; but the fellow rushed on me with his sword in one hand and his hat in the other.

  I lunged out at him, and instead of attempting to parry he replied in quart. The result was that our blades were caught in each other's sleeves; but I had slit his arm, while his point had only pierced the stuff of my coat.

  I put myself on guard again to go on, but I could see he was too weak to defend himself, so I said if he liked I would give him quarter.

  He made no reply, so I pressed on him, struck him to the ground, and trampled on his body.

  He foamed with rage, and told me that it was my turn this time, but that he hoped I would give him his revenge.

  "With pleasure, at Rome, and I hope the third lesson will be more effectual than the two I have already given you."

  He was losing a good deal of blood, so I sheathed his sword for him and advised him to go to Goudar's house, which was close at hand, and have his wound attended to.

  I went back to "Crocielles" as if nothing had happened. The chevalier was making love to Sara, and the rest were playing cards.

  I left the company an hour afterwards without having said a word about my duel, and for the last time I supped with Callimena. Six years later I saw her at Venice, displaying her beauty and her talents on the boards of St. Benedict's Theatre.

  I spent a delicious night with her, and at eight o'clock the next day I went off in a post-chaise without taking leave of anyone.

  I arrived at Salerno at two o'clock in the afternoon, and as soon as I had taken a room I wrote a note to Donna Lucrezia Castelli at the Marquis C——'s.

  I asked her if I could pay her a short visit, and begged her to send a reply while I was taking my dinner.

  I was sitting down to table when I had the pleasure of seeing Lucrezia herself come in. She gave a cry of delight and rushed to my arms.

  This excellent woman was exactly my own age, but she would have been taken for fifteen years younger.

  After I had told her how I had come to hear about her I aske
d for news of our daughter.

  "She is longing to see you, and her husband too; he is a worthy old man, and will be so glad to know you."

  "How does he know of my existence?"

  "Leonilda has mentioned your name a thousand times during the five years they have been married. He is aware that you gave her five thousand ducats. We shall sup together."

  "Let us go directly; I cannot rest till I have seen my Leonilda and the good husband God has given her. Have they any children?"

  "No, unluckily for her, as after his death the property passes to his relations. But Leonilda will be a rich woman for all that; she will have a hundred thousand ducats of her own."

  "You have never married."

  "No."

  "You are as pretty as you were twenty-six years ago, and if it had not been for the Abbe Galiani I should have left Naples without seeing you."

  I found Leonilda had developed into a perfect beauty. She was at that time twenty-three years old.

  Her husband's presence was no constraint upon her; she received me with open arms, and put me completely at my ease.

  No doubt she was my daughter, but in spite of our relationship and my advancing years I still felt within my breast the symptoms of the tenderest passion for her.

  She presented me to her husband, who suffered dreadfully from gout, and could not stir from his arm-chair.

  He received me with smiling face and open arms, saying,—

  "My dear friend, embrace me."

  I embraced him affectionately, and in our greeting I discovered that he was a brother mason. The marquis had expected as much, but I had not; for a nobleman of sixty who could boast that he had been enlightened was a 'rara avis' in the domains of his Sicilian majesty thirty years ago.

  I sat down beside him and we embraced each other again, while the ladies looked on amazed, wondering to see us so friendly to each other.

  Donna Leonilda fancied that we must be old friends, and told her husband how delighted she was. The old man burst out laughing, and Lucrezia suspecting the truth bit her lips and said nothing. The fair marchioness reserved her curiosity for another reason.

  The marquis had seen the whole of Europe. He had only thought of marrying on the death of his father, who had attained the age of ninety. Finding himself in the enjoyment of thirty thousand ducats a year he imagined that he might yet have children in spite of his advanced age. He saw Leonilda, and in a few days he made her his wife, giving her a dowry of a hundred thousand ducats. Donna Lucrezia went to live with her daughter. Though the marquis lived magnificently, he found it difficult to spend more than half his income.

  He lodged all his relations in his immense palace; there were three families in all, and each lived apart.

  Although they were comfortably off they were awaiting with impatience the death of the head of the family, as they would then share his riches. The marquis had only married in the hope of having an heir; and these hopes he could no longer entertain. However, he loved his wife none the less, while she made him happy by her charming disposition.

  The marquis was a man of liberal views like his wife, but this was a great secret, as free thought was not appreciated at Salerno. Consequently, any outsider would have taken the household for a truly Christian one, and the marquis took care to adopt in appearance all the prejudices of his fellow-countrymen.

  Donna Lucrezia told me all this three hours after as we walked in a beautiful garden, where her husband had sent us after a long conversation on subjects which could not have been of any interest to the ladies. Nevertheless, they did not leave us for a moment, so delighted were they to find that the marquis had met a congenial spirit.

  About six o'clock the marquis begged Donna Lucrezia to take me to the garden and amuse me till the evening. His wife he asked to stay, as he had something to say to her.

  It was in the middle of August and the heat was great, but the room on the ground floor which we occupied was cooled by a delicious breeze.

  I looked out of the window and noticed that the leaves on the trees were still, and that no wind was blowing; and I could not help saying to the marquis that I was astonished to find his room as cool as spring in the heats of summer.

  "Your sweetheart will explain it to you," said he.

  We went through several apartments, and at last reached a closet, in one corner of which was a square opening.

  From it rushed a cold and even violent wind. From the opening one could go down a stone staircase of at least a hundred steps, and at the bottom was a grotto where was the source of a stream of water as cold as ice. Donna Lucrezia told me it would be a great risk to go down the steps without excessively warm clothing.

  I have never cared to run risks of this kind. Lord Baltimore, on the other hand, would have laughed at the danger, and gone, maybe, to his death. I told my old sweetheart that I could imagine the thing very well from the description, and that I had no curiosity to see whether my imagination were correct.

  Lucrezia told me I was very prudent, and took me to the garden.

  It was a large place, and separated from the garden common to the three other families who inhabited the castle. Every flower that can be imagined was there, fountains threw their glittering sprays, and grottoes afforded a pleasing shade from the sun.

  The alleys of this terrestrial paradise were formed of vines, and the bunches of grapes seemed almost as numerous as the leaves.

  Lucrezia enjoyed my surprise, and I told her that I was not astonished at being more moved by this than by the vines of Tivoli and Frascati. The immense rather dazzles the eyes than moves the heart.

  She told me that her daughter was happy, and that the marquis was an excellent man, and a strong man except for the gout. His great grief was that he had no children. Amongst his dozen of nephews there was not one worthy of succeeding to the title.

  "They are all ugly, awkward lads, more like peasants than noblemen; all their education has been given them by a pack of ignorant priests; and so it is not to be wondered that the marquis does not care for them much."

  "But is Leonilda really happy?"

  "She is, though her husband cannot be quite so ardent as she would like at her age."

  "He doesn't seem to me to be a very jealous man."

  "He is entirely free from jealousy, and if Leonilda would take a lover I am sure he would be his best friend. And I feel certain he would be only too glad to find the beautiful soil which he cannot fertile himself fertilized by another."

  "Is it positively certain that he is incapable of begetting a child?"

  "No, when he is well he does his best; but there seems no likelihood of his ardour having any happy results. There was some ground to hope in the first six months of the marriage, but since he has had the gout so badly there seems reason to fear lest his amorous ecstasies should have a fatal termination. Sometimes he wants to approach her, but she dare not let him, and this pains her very much."

  I was struck with a lively sense of Lucrezia's merits, and was just revealing to her the sentiments which she had re-awakened in my breast, when the marchioness appeared in the garden, followed by a page and a young lady.

  I affected great reverence as she came up to us; and as if we had given each other the word, she answered me in atone of ceremonious politeness.

  "I have come on an affair of the highest importance," she said, "and if I fail I shall for ever lose the reputation of a diplomatist."

  "Who is the other diplomatist with whom you are afraid of failing?"

  "'Tis yourself."

  "Then your battle is over, for I consent before I know what you ask. I only make a reserve on one point."

  "So much the worse, as that may turn out to be just what I want you to do. Tell me what it is."

  "I was going to Rome, when the Abbe Galiani told me that Donna Lucrezia was here with you."

  "And can a short delay interfere with your happiness? Are you not your own master?"

  "Smile on me once more; your desi
res are orders which must be obeyed. I have always been my own master, but I cease to be so from this moment, since I am your most humble servant."

  "Very good. Then I command you to come and spend a few days with us at an estate we have at a short distance. My husband will have himself transported here. You will allow me to send to the inn for your luggage?"

  "Here, sweet marchioness, is the key to my room. Happy the mortal whom you deign to command."

  Leonilda gave the key to the page, a pretty boy, and told him to see that all my belongings were carefully taken to the castle.

  Her lady-in-waiting was very fair. I said so to Leonilda in French, not knowing that the young lady understood the language, but she smiled and told her mistress that we were old acquaintances.

  "When had I the pleasure of knowing you, mademoiselle?"

  "Nine year ago. You have often spoken to me and teased me."

  "Where, may I ask?"

  "At the Duchess of Matalone's."

  "That may be, and I think I do begin to remember, but I really cannot recollect having teased you."

  The marchioness and her mother were highly amused at this conversation, and pressed the girl to say how I had teased her. She confined herself, however, to saying that I had played tricks on her. I thought I remembered having stolen a few kisses, but I left the ladies to think what they liked.

  I was a great student of the human heart, and felt that these reproaches of Anastasia's (such was her name) were really advances, but unskillfully made, for if she had wanted more of me, she should have held her peace and bided her time.

  "It strikes me," said I, "that you were much smaller in those days."

  "Yes, I was only twelve or thirteen. You have changed also."

  "Yes, I have aged."

  We began talking about the late Duke of Matalone, and Anastasia left us.

  We sat down in a charming grotto, and began styling each other papa and daughter, and allowing ourselves liberties which threatened to lead to danger.

  The marchioness tried to calm my transports by talking of her good husband.

  Donna Lucrezia remarked our mutual emotion as I held Leonilda in my arms, and warned us to be careful. She then left us to walk in a different part of the garden.