Arthur Machen Ultimate Collection

by Arthur Machen

  "Then she will be sure that you do not love her."

  "She must think what she pleases. In the meanwhile I feel sure that if she loved me as I loved her, we should be of one mind."

  "We have duties which seem to press lightly on you."

  "Then be faithful to your duties, and permit a man of honour to respect them by visiting you no more."

  Armelline then appeared. I thought her changed.

  "Why do you look so grave and pale?"

  "Because you have grieved me."

  "Come then, be gay once more, and allow me to cure myself of a passion, the essence of which is to induce you to fail in your duty. I shall be still your friend, and I shall come to see you once a week while I remain in Rome."

  "Once a week! You needn't have begun by coming once a day."

  "You are right; it was your kind expression which deceived me, but I hope you will allow me to become rational again. For this to happen, I must try not to see you more than I can help. Think over it, and you will see that I am doing all for the best."

  "It's very hard that you can't love me as I love you."

  "You mean calmly, and without desires."

  "I don't say that; but holding your desires in check, if they are contrary to the voice of duty."

  "I'm too old to learn this method, and it does not seem to me an attractive one. Kindly tell me whether the restraint of your desires gives you much pain?"

  "I don't repress my desires when I think of you, I cherish them; I wish you were the Pope, I wish you were my father, that I might caress you in all innocence; in my dreams I wish you could become a girl, so that we might always live happily together."

  At this true touch of native simplicity, I could not help smiling.

  I told them that I should come in the evening to take them to the Aliberti, and felt in a better humour after my visit, for I could see that there was no art or coquetry in what Armelline said. I saw that she loved me, but would not come to a parley with her love, hence her repugnance to granting me her favours; if she once did so, her eyes would be opened. All this was pure nature, for experience had not yet taught her that she ought either to avoid me or to succumb to my affection.

  In the evening I called for the two friends to take them to the opera, and I had not long to wait. I was by myself in the carriage, but they evinced no surprise. Emilie conveyed to me the compliments of the superioress, who would be obliged by my calling on her the following day. At the opera I let them gaze at the spectacle which they saw for the first time, and answered whatever questions they put to me. As they were Romans, they ought to have known what a castrato was, nevertheless, Armelline took the wretched individual who sang the prima donna's part for a woman, and pointed to his breast, which was really a fine one.

  "Would you dare to sleep in the same bed with him?" I asked.

  "No; an honest girl ought always to sleep by herself."

  Such was the severity of the education they had received. Everything connected with love was made a mystery of, and treated with a kind of superstitious awe. Thus Armelline had only let me kiss her hands after a long contest, and neither she nor Emilie would allow me to see whether the stockings I had given them fitted well or not. The severe prohibition that was laid on sleeping with another girl must have made them think that to shew their nakedness to a companion would be a great sin, and let a man see their beauties a hideous crime. The very idea of such a thing must have given them a shudder.

  Whenever I had attempted to indulge in conversation which was a little free, I had found them deaf and dumb.

  Although Emilie was a handsome girl in spite of her pallor, I did not take sufficient interest in her to try to dissipate her melancholy; but loving Armelline to desperation I was cut to the quick to see her look grave when I asked her if she had any idea of the difference between the physical conformation of men and women.

  As we were leaving Armelline said she was hungry, as she had scarcely eaten anything for the last week on account of the grief I had given her.

  "If I had foreseen that," I answered, "I would have ordered a good supper, whereas I have now only potluck to offer you."

  "Never mind. How many shall we be?"

  "We three."

  "So much the better; we shall be more at liberty."

  "Then you don't like the princess?"

  "I beg your pardon, but she wants me to kiss her in a way I don't like."

  "Nevertheless, you kissed her ardently enough."

  "I was afraid she would take me for a simpleton if I did not do so."

  "Then do you think you committed a sin in kissing her like that?"

  "Certainly not, for it was very unpleasant for me."

  "Then why won't you make the same effort on my behalf?"

  She said nothing, and when we got to the inn I ordered them to light a fire and to get a good supper ready.

  The waiter asked me if I would like some oysters, and noticing the curiosity of my guests on the subject I asked him how much they were.

  "They are from the arsenal at Venice," he replied, "and we can't sell them under fifty pains a hundred."

  "Very good, I will take a hundred, but you must open them here."

  Armelline was horrified to think that I was going to pay five crowns for her whim, and begged me to revoke the order; but she said nothing when I told her that no pleasure of hers could be bought too dearly by me.

  At this she took my hand and would have carried it to her lips, but I took it away rather roughly, greatly to her mortification.

  I was sitting in front of the fire between them, and I was sorry at having grieved her.

  "I beg pardon, Armelline," I said, "I only took my hand away because it was not worthy of being carried to your fair lips."

  In spite of this excuse she could not help two big tears coursing down her blushing cheeks. I was greatly pained.

  Armelline was a tender dove, not made to be roughly treated. If I did not want her to hate me I felt that I must either not see her at all or treat her more gently for the future.

  Her tears convinced me that I had wounded her feelings terribly, and I got up and went out to order some champagne.

  When I came back I found that she had been weeping bitterly. I did not know what to do; I begged her again and again to forgive me, and to be gay once more, unless she wished to subject me to the severest of all punishments.

  Emilie backed me up, and on taking her hand and covering it with kisses, I had the pleasure of seeing her smile once more.

  The oysters were opened in our presence, and the astonishment depicted on the girls' countenances would have amused me if my heart had been more at ease. But I was desperate with love, and Armelline begged me vainly to be as I was when we first met.

  We sat down, and I taught my guests how to suck up the oysters, which swam in their own liquid, and were very good.

  Armelline swallowed half a dozen, and then observed to her friend that so delicate a morsel must be a sin.

  "Not on account of its delicacy," said Emilie, "but because at every mouthful we swallow half a paulo."

  "Half a paolo" said Armelline, "and the Holy Father does not forbid such a luxury? If this is not the sin of gluttony, I don't know what is. These oysters are delightful; but I shall speak about the matter to my director."

  These simplicities of hers afforded me great mental pleasure, but I wanted bodily pleasure as well.

  We ate fifty oysters, and drank two bottles of sparkling champagne, which made my two guests eruct and blush and laugh at the same time.

  I would fain have laughed too and devoured Armelline with my kisses, but I could only devour her with by eyes.

  I kept the remainder of the oysters for dessert, and ordered the supper to be served. It was an excellent meal, and the two heroines enjoyed it; even Emilie became quite lively.

  I ordered up lemons and a bottle of rum, and after having the fifty remaining oysters opened I sent the waiter away. I then made a bowl of punch
, pouring in a bottle of champagne as a finishing touch.

  After they had swallowed a few oysters and drank one or two glasses of punch, which they liked amazingly, I begged Emilie to give me an oyster with her lips.

  "I am sure you are too sensible to find anything wrong in that," I added.

  Emilie was astonished at the proposition, and thought it over. Armelline gazed at her anxiously, as if curious as to how she would answer me.

  "Why don't you ask Armelline?" she said at length.

  "Do you give him one first," said Armelline, "and if you have the courage I will try to do the same."

  "What courage do you want? It's a child's game; there's no harm in it."

  After this reply, I was sure of victory. I placed the shell on the edge of her lips, and after a good deal of laughing she sucked in the oyster, which she held between her lips. I instantly recovered it by placing my lips on hers.

  Armelline clapped her hands, telling Emilie that she would never have thought her so brave; she then imitated her example, and was delighted with my delicacy in sucking away the oyster, scarcely touching her lips with mine. My agreeable surprise may be imagined when I heard her say that it was my turn to hold the oysters. It is needless to say that I acquitted myself of the duty with much delight.

  After these pleasant interludes we went to drinking punch and swallowing oysters.

  We all sat in a row with our backs to the fire, and our brains began to whirl, but never was there such a sweet intoxication. However, the punch was not finished and we were getting very hot. I took off my coat, and they were obliged to unlace their dresses, the bodices of which were lined with fur. Guessing at necessities which they did not dare to mention, I pointed out a closet where they could make themselves comfortable, and they went in hand-in-hand. When they came out they were no longer timid recluses, they were shrieking with laughter, and reeling from side to side.

  I was their screen as we sat in front of the fire, and I gazed freely on charms which they could no longer conceal. I told them that we must not think of going till the punch was finished, and they agreed, saying, in high glee, that it would be a great sin to leave so good a thing behind.

  I then presumed so far as to tell them that they had beautiful legs, and that I should be puzzled to assign the prize between them. This made them gayer than ever, for they had not noticed that their unlaced bodices and short petticoats let me see almost everything.

  After drinking our punch to the dregs, we remained talking for half an hour, while I congratulated myself on my self-restraint. Just as we were going I asked them if they had any grounds of complaint against me. Armelline replied that if I would adopt her as my daughter she was ready to follow me to the end of the world. "Then you are not afraid of my turning you from the path of duty?"

  "No, I feel quite safe with you."

  "And what do you say, dear Emilie?"

  "I shall love you too, when you do for me what the superioress will tell you to-morrow."

  "I will do anything, but I shan't come to speak to her till the evening, for it is three o'clock now."

  They laughed all the louder, exclaiming,—

  "What will the mother say?"

  I paid the bill, gave something to the waiter, and took them back to the convent, where the porteress seemed well enough pleased with the new rules when she saw two sequins in her palm.

  It was too late to see the superioress, so I drove home after rewarding the coachman and the lackey.

  Margarita was ready to scratch my eyes out if I could not prove my fidelity, but I satisfied her by quenching on her the fires Armelline and the punch had kindled. I told her I had been kept by a gaming party, and she asked no more questions.

  The next day I amused the princess and the cardinal by a circumstantial account of what had happened.

  "You missed your opportunity," said the princess.

  "I don't think so," said the cardinal, "I believe, on the contrary, that he has made his victory more sure for another time."

  In the evening, I went to the convent where the superioress gave me her warmest welcome. She complimented me on having amused myself with the two girls till three o'clock in the morning without doing anything wrong. They had told her how we had eaten the oysters, and she said it was an amusing idea. I admired her candour, simplicity, or philosophy, whichever you like to call it.

  After these preliminaries, she told me that I could make Emilie happy by obtaining, through the influence of the princess, a dispensation to marry without the publication of banns a merchant of Civita Vecchia, who would have married her long ago only that there was a woman who pretended to have claims upon him. If banns were published this woman would institute a suit which might go on forever.

  "If you do this," she concluded, "you will have the merit of making Emilie happy."

  I took down the man's name, and promised to do my best with the princess.

  "Are you still determined to cure yourself of your love for Armelline?"

  "Yes, but I shall not begin the cure till Lent."

  "I congratulate you; the carnival is unusually long this year."

  The next day I spoke of the matter to the princess. The first requisite was a certificate from the Bishop of Civita Vecchia, stating that the man was free to marry. The cardinal said that the man must come to Rome, and that the affair could be managed if he could bring forward two good witnesses who would swear that he was unmarried.

  I told the superioress what the cardinal said, and she wrote to the merchant, and a few days after I saw him talking to the superioress and Emilie through the grating.

  He commended himself to my protection, and said that before he married he wanted to be sure of having six hundred crowns.

  The convent would give him four hundred crowns, so we should have to obtain a grant of two hundred more.

  I succeeded in getting the grant, but I first contrived to have another supper with Armelline, who asked me every morning when I was going to take her to the comic opera. I said I was afraid of turning her astray from the path of duty, but she replied that experience had taught her to dread me no longer.

  Chapter XVII

  Table of Contents

  The Florentine—Marriage of Emilie—Scholastica—Armelline at the Ball

  Before the supper I had loved Armelline to such an extent that I had determined to see her no more, but after it I felt that I must obtain her or die. I saw that she had only consented to my small liberties because she regarded them as mere jokes, of no account, and I resolved to take advantage of this way of looking at it to go as far as I could. I began to play the part of indifferent to the best of my ability, only visiting her every other day, and looking at her with an expression of polite interest. I often pretended to forget to kiss her hand, while I kissed Emilie's and told her that if I felt certain of receiving positive marks of her affection I should stay at Civita Vecchia for some weeks after she was married. I would not see Armelline's horror, who could not bear me to take a fancy to Emilie.

  Emilie said that she would be more at liberty when she was married, while Armelline, vexed at her giving me any hopes, told her sharply that a married woman had stricter duties to perform than a girl.

  I agreed with her in my heart, but as it would not have suited my purpose to say so openly I insinuated the false doctrine that a married woman's chief duty is to keep her husband's descent intact, and that everything else is of trifling importance.

  With the idea of driving Emilie to an extremity I told Emilie that if she wanted me to exert myself to my utmost for her she must give me good hopes of obtaining her favours not only after but before marriage.

  "I will give you no other favours." she replied, "than those which Armelline may give you. You ought to try to get her married also."

  In spite of her grief at these proposals, gentle Armelline replied,——

  "You are the only man I have ever seen; and as I have no hopes of getting married I will give you no pledges at all,
though I do not know what you mean by the word."

  Though I saw how pure and angelic she was, I had the cruelty to go away, leaving her to her distress.

  It was hard for me to torment her thus, but I thought it was the only way to overcome her prejudices.

  Calling on the Venetian ambassador's steward I saw some peculiarly fine oysters, and I got him to let me have a hundred. I then took a box at the Capronica Theatre, and ordered a good supper at the inn where we had supped before.

  "I want a room with a bed," I said to the waiter.

  "That's not allowed in Rome, signor," he replied, "but on the third floor we have two rooms with large sofas which might do instead, without the Holy Office being able to say anything."

  I looked at the rooms and took them, and ordered the man to get the best supper that Rome could offer.

  As I was entering the box with the two girls I saw the Marchioness d'Aout was my near neighbour. She accosted me, and congratulated herself on her vicinity to me. She was accompanied by her French abbe, her husband, and a fine-looking young man, whom I had never seen before. She asked who my companions were, and I told her they were in the Venetian ambassador's household. She praised their beauty and began to talk to Armelline, who answered well enough till the curtain went up. The young man also complimented her, and after having asked my permission he gave her a large packet of bonbons, telling her to share them with her neighbour. I had guessed him to be a Florentine from his accent, and asked him if the sweets came from the banks of the Arno; he told me they were from Naples, whence he had just arrived.

  At the end of the first act I was surprised to hear him say that he had a letter of introduction for me from the Marchioness of C——.

  "I have just heard your name," he said, "and tomorrow I shall have the honour of delivering the letter in person, if you will kindly give me your address."

  After these polite preliminaries I felt that I must comply with his request.

  I asked after the marquis, his mother-in-law, and Anastasia, saying that I was delighted to hear from the marchioness from whom I had been expecting an answer for the last month.