Arthur Machen Ultimate Collection

by Arthur Machen

  "Princess, I can tell you an interesting history of my six hours of adventure, but you must give me a free hand, for some of the episodes must be told strictly after nature."

  "Is it anything in the style of Sister M—— M——?" asked the cardinal.

  "Yes, my lord, something of the kind."

  "Princess, will you be deaf?" said his eminence,

  "Of course I will," she replied.

  I then told my tale almost as I have written it. The slipping oysters and the game of blind man's buff made the princess burst with laughing, in spite of her deafness. She agreed with the cardinal that I had acted with great discretion, and told me that I should be sure to succeed on the next attempt.

  "In three or four days," said the cardinal, "you will have the dispensation, and then Emilie can marry whom she likes."

  The next morning the Florentine came to see me at nine o'clock, and I found him to answer to the marchioness's description; but I had a bone to pick with him, and I was none the better pleased when he began asking me about the young person in my box at the theatre; he wanted to know whether she were married or engaged, if she had father, mother, or any other relations.

  I smiled sardonically, and begged to be excused giving him the required information, as the young lady was masked when he saw her.

  He blushed, and begged my pardon.

  I thanked him for doing Margarita the honour of accepting a cup of coffee from her hands, and begged him to take one with me, saying I would breakfast with him next morning. He lived with Roland, opposite St. Charles, where Madame Gabrieli, the famous singer, nicknamed la Coghetta, lived.

  As soon as the Florentine was gone, I went to St. Paul's in hot haste, for I longed to see what reception I should have from the two vestals I had initiated so well.

  When they appeared I noticed a great change. Emilie had become gay, while Armelline looked sad.

  I told the former that she should have her dispensation in three days, and her warrant for four hundred crowns in a week.

  "At the same time," I added, "you shall have your grant of two hundred crowns."

  At this happy tidings she ran to tell the superioress of her good fortune.

  As soon as I was alone with Armelline I took her hands and covered them with kisses, begging her to resume her wonted gaiety.

  "What shall I do," said she, "without Emilie? What shall I do when you are gone? I am unhappy. I love myself no longer."

  She shed tears which pierced me to the heart. I swore I would not leave Rome till I had seen her married with a dowry of a thousand crowns.

  "I don't want a thousand crowns, but I hope you will see me married as you say; if you do not keep your promise it will kill me."

  "I would die rather than deceive you; but you on your side must forgive my love, which, perhaps, made me go too far the other evening."

  "I forgive you everything if you will remain my friend."

  "I will; and now let me kiss your beautiful lips."

  After this first kiss, which I took as a pledge of certain victory, she wiped away her tears; and soon after Emilie reappeared, accompanied by the superioress, who treated me with great cordiality.

  "I want you to do as much for Armelline's new friend as you have done for Emilie," said she.

  "I will do everything in my power," I replied; "and in return I hope you will allow me to take these young ladies to the theatre this evening."

  "You will find them ready; how could I refuse you anything?"

  When I was alone with the two friends I apologised for having disposed of them without their consent.

  "Our consent!" said Emilie: "we should be ungrateful indeed if we refused you anything after all you have done for us."

  "And you, Armelline, will you withstand my love?"

  "No; so long as it keeps within due bounds. No more blind man's buff!"

  "And it is such a nice game! You really grieve me."

  "Well, invent another game," said Emilie.

  Emilie was becoming ardent, somewhat to my annoyance, for I was afraid Armelline would get jealous. I must not be charged with foppishness on this account. I knew the human heart.

  When I left them I went to the Tordinona Theatre and took a box, and then ordered a good supper at the same inn, not forgetting the oysters, though I felt sure I should not require their aid.

  I then called on a musician, whom I requested to get me three tickets for a ball, where no one would be likely to know me.

  I went home with the idea of dining by myself, but I found a note from the Marchioness d'Aout, reproaching me in a friendly manner for not having broken bread with her, and inviting me to dinner. I resolved to accept the invitation, and when I got to the house I found the young Florentine already there.

  It was at this dinner that I found out many of his good qualities, and I saw that Donna Leonilda had not said too much in his favour.

  Towards the end of the meal the marchioness asked why I had not stayed till the end of the opera.

  "Because the young ladies were getting tired."

  "I have found out that they do not belong to the Venetian ambassador's household.

  "You are right, and I hope you will pardon my small fiction."

  "It was an impromptu effort to avoid telling me who they are, but they are known."

  "Then I congratulate the curious."

  "The one I addressed deserves to excite general curiosity; but if I were in your place I should make her use a little powder."

  "I have not the authority to do so, and if I had, I would not trouble her for the world."

  I was pleased with the Florentine, who listened to all this without saying a word. I got him to talk of England and of his business. He told me that he was going to Florence to take possession of his inheritance, and to get a wife to take back with him to London. As I left, I told him that I could not have the pleasure of calling on him till the day after next, as I was prevented by important business. He told me I must come at dinnertime, and I promised to do so.

  Full of love and hope, I went for my two friends, who enjoyed the whole play without any interruption.

  When we alighted at the inn I told the coachman to call for me at two, and we then went up to the third floor, where we sat before the fire while the oysters were being opened. They did not interest us as they had done before.

  Emilie had an important air; she was about to make a good marriage. Armelline was meek, smiling, and affectionate, and reminded me of the promise I had given her. I replied by ardent kisses which reassured her, while they warned her that I would fain increase the responsibility I had already contracted towards her. However, she seemed resigned, and I sat down to table in a happy frame of mind.

  As Emilie was on the eve of her wedding, she no doubt put down my neglect of her to my respect for the sacrament of matrimony.

  When supper was over I got on the sofa with Armelline, and spent three hours which might have been delicious if I had not obstinately endeavoured to obtain the utmost favour. She would not give in; all my supplications and entreaties could not move her; she was sweet, but firm. She lay between my arms, but would not grant what I wanted, though she gave me no harsh or positive refusal.

  It seems a puzzle, but in reality it is quite simple.

  She left my arms a virgin, sorry, perhaps, that her sense of duty had not allowed her to make me completely happy.

  At last nature bade me cease, in spite of my love, and I begged her to forgive me. My instinct told me that this was the only way by which I might obtain her consent another time.

  Half merry and half sad, we awoke Emilie who was in a deep sleep, and then we started. I went home and got into bed, not troubling myself about the storm of abuse with which Margarita greeted me.

  The Florentine gave me a delicious dinner, overwhelmed me with protestations of friendship, and offered me his purse if I needed it.

  He had seen Armelline, and had been pleased with her. I had answered him sharply when he quest
ioned me about her, and ever since he had never mentioned her name.

  I felt grateful to him, and as if I must make him some return.

  I asked him to dinner, and had Margarita to dine with us. Not caring for her I should have been glad if he had fallen in love with her; there would have been no difficulty, I believe, on her part, and certainly not on mine; but nothing came of it. She admired a trinket which hung from his watch-chain, and he begged my permission to give it her. I told him to do so by all means, and that should have been enough; but the affair went no farther.

  In a week all the arrangements for Emilie's marriage had been made. I gave her her grant, and the same day she was married and went away with her husband to Civita Vecchia. Menicuccio, whose name I have not mentioned for some time, was well pleased with my relations with his sister, foreseeing advantages for himself, and still better pleased with the turn his own affairs were taking, for three days after Emilie's wedding he married his mistress, and set up in a satisfactory manner. When Emilie was gone the superioress gave Armelline a new companion. She was only a few years older than my sweetheart, and very pretty; but she did not arouse a strong interest in my breast. When violently in love no other woman has ever had much power over me.

  The superioress told me that her name was Scholastica, and that she was well worthy of my esteem, being, as she said, as good as Emilie. She expressed a hope that I would do my best to help Scholastica to marry a man whom she knew and who was in a good position.

  This man was the son of a cousin of Scholastica's. She called him her nephew, though he was older than she. The dispensation could easily be got for money, but if it was to be had for nothing I should have to make interest with the Holy Father. I promised I would do my best in the matter.

  The carnival was drawing to a close, and Scholastica had never seen an opera or a play. Armelline wanted to see a ball, and I had at last succeeded in finding one where it seemed unlikely that I should be recognized. However, it would have to be carefully managed, as serious consequences might ensue; so I asked the two friends if they would wear men's clothes, to which they agreed very heartily.

  I had taken a box at the Aliberti Theatre for the day after the ball, so I told the two girls to obtain the necessary permission from the superioress.

  Though Armelline's resistance and the presence of her new friend discouraged me, I procured everything requisite to transform them into two handsome lads.

  As Armelline got into the carriage she gave me the bad news that Scholastica knew nothing about our relations, and that we must be careful what we did before her. I had no time to reply, for Scholastica got in, and we drove off to the inn. When we were seated in front of a good fire, I told them that if they liked I would go into the next room in spite of the cold.

  So saying, I shewed them their disguises, and Armelline said it would do if I turned my back, appealing to Scholastics to confirm her.

  "I will do as you like," said she, "but I am very sorry to be in the way. You are in love with each other, and here am I preventing you from giving one another marks of your affection. Why don't you treat me with confidence? I am not a child, and I am your friend."

  These remarks shewed that she had plenty of common sense, and I breathed again.

  "You are right, fair Scholastics," I said, "I do love Armelline, but she does not love me, and refuses to make me happy on one pretence or another."

  With these words I left the room, and after shutting the door behind me proceeded to make up a fire in the second apartment.

  In a quarter of an hour Armelline knocked at the door, and begged me to open it. She was in her breeches, and said they needed my assistance as their shoes were so small they could not get them on.

  I was in rather a sulky humour, so she threw her arms round my neck and covered my face with kisses which soon restored me to myself.

  While I was explaining the reason of my ill temper, and kissing whatever I could see, Scholastica burst out laughing.

  "I was sure that I was in the way," said she; "and if you do not trust me, I warn you that I will not go with you to the opera to-morrow."

  "Well, then, embrace him," said Armelline.

  "With all my heart."

  I did not much care for Armelline's generosity, but I embraced Scholastica as warmly as she deserved. Indeed I would have done so if she had been less pretty, for such kindly consideration deserved a reward. I even kissed her more ardently than I need have done, with the idea of punishing Armelline, but I made a mistake. She was delighted, and kissed her friend affectionately as if in gratitude.

  I made them sit down, and tried to pull on their shoes, but I soon found that they were much too small, and that we must get some more.

  I called the waiter who attended to us, and told him to go and fetch a bootmaker with an assortment of shoes.

  In the meanwhile I would not be contented with merely kissing Armelline. She neither dared to grant nor to refuse; and as if to relieve herself of any responsibility, made Scholastica submit to all the caresses I lavished on her. The latter seconded my efforts with an ardour that would have pleased me exceedingly if I had been in love with her.

  She was exceedingly beautiful, and her features were as perfectly chiselled as Armelline's, but Armelline was possessed of a delicate and subtle charm of feature peculiar to herself.

  I liked the amusement well enough, but there was a drop of bitterness in all my enjoyment. I thought it was plain that Armelline did not love me, and that Scholastica only encouraged me to encourage her friend.

  At last I came to the conclusion that I should do well to attach myself to the one who seemed likely to give me the completest satisfaction.

  As soon as I conceived this idea I felt curious to see whether Armelline would discover any jealousy if I shewed myself really in love with Scholastica, and if the latter pronounced me to be too daring, for hitherto my hands had not crossed the Rubicon of their waistbands. I was just going to work when the shoemaker arrived, and in a few minutes the girls were well fitted.

  They put on their coats, and I saw two handsome young men before me, while their figures hinted their sex sufficiently to make a third person jealous of my good fortune.

  I gave orders for supper to be ready at midnight, and we went to the ball. I would have wagered a hundred to one that no one would recognize me there, as the man who got the tickets had assured me that it was a gathering of small tradesmen. But who can trust to fate or chance?

  We went into the hall, and the first person I saw was the Marchioness d'Aout, with her husband and her inseparable abbe.

  No doubt I turned a thousand colours, but it was no good going back, for the marchioness had recognized me, so I composed myself and went up to her. We exchanged the usual compliments of polite society, to which she added some good-natured though ironical remarks on my two young friends. Not being accustomed to company, they remained confused and speechless. But the worst of all was to come. A tall young lady who had just finished a minuet came up to Armelline, dropped a curtsy, and asked her to dance.

  In this young lady I recognized the Florentine who had disguised himself as a girl, and looked a very beautiful one.

  Armelline thought she would not appear a dupe, and said she recognized him.

  "You are making a mistake," said he, calmly. "I have a brother who is very like me, just as you have a sister who is your living portrait. My brother had the pleasure of exchanging a few words with her at the Capronica." The Florentine's cleverness made the marchioness laugh, and I had to join in her mirth, though I felt little inclination to do so.

  Armelline begged to be excused dancing, so the marchioness made her sit between the handsome Florentine and herself. The marquis took possession of Scholastica, and I had to be attentive to the marchioness without seeming to be aware of the existence of Armelline, to whom the Florentine was talking earnestly.

  I felt as jealous as a tiger; and having to conceal my rage under an air of perfect satisfaction, t
he reader may imagine how well I enjoyed the ball.

  However, there was more anxiety in store for me; for presently I noticed Scholastica leave the marquis, and go apart with a middle-aged man, with whom she conversed in an intimate manner.

  The minuets over, the square dances began, and I thought I was dreaming when I saw Armelline and the Florentine taking their places.

  I came up to congratulate them, and asked Armelline, gently, if she was sure of the steps.

  "This gentleman says I have only to imitate him, and that I cannot possibly make any mistakes."

  I had nothing to say to this, so I went towards Scholastica, feeling very curious to know who was her companion.

  As soon as she saw me she introduced me to him, saying timidly that this was the nephew of whom she had spoken, the same that wished to marry her.

  I was surprised, but I did not let it appear. I told him that the superioress had spoken of him to me, and that I was thinking over the ways and means of obtaining a dispensation without any costs.

  He was an honest-looking man, and thanked me heartily, commending himself to my good offices, as he said he was far from rich.

  I left them together, and on turning to view the dance I was astonished to see that Armelline was dancing admirably, and executing all the figures. The Florentine seemed a finished dancer, and they both looked very happy.

  I was far from pleased, but I congratulated them both on their performance. The Florentine had disguised himself so admirably that no one would have taken him for a man. It was the Marchioness d'Aout who had been his dresser.

  As I was too jealous to leave Armelline to her own devices, I refused to dance, preferring to watch her.

  I was not at all uneasy about Scholastica, who was with her betrothed. About half-past eleven the Marchioness d'Aout, who was delighted with Armelline, and possibly had her protege's happiness in view, asked me, in a tone that amounted to a command, to sup with her in company with my two companions.

  "I cannot have the honour," I replied, "and my two companions know the reason."

  "That is as much as to say," said the marchioness, "that he will do as you please," turning to Armelline as she spoke.