CHAPTER VIII
Lost in the Forest
Signor Fortini went straight home to his pleasant little snuggery underthe wing,--it might almost be said, under the roof,--of the Cathedral,and sat down in his easy chair to resume the occupation that had beeninterrupted by the summons from the Marchese. He took up the medal hehad been examining, and the magnifying glass, in a manner that implied asort of ostentatious protest to himself that the calm and even tenour ofhis own life and occupations was not to be disturbed from its course byall the follies and extravagances of the world around him.
But "mentem mortalia tangunt!" The glass was soon laid aside: the medalremained idly in his hand, and his mind would recur to the things he hadjust seen and heard.
That an old bachelor should be caught at last by a pretty face, and makea fool of himself in his mature age, was no unprecedented phenomenon.That a man, who had never in any way made a fool of himself at theproper age for such an operation, should, after all, do so when thosewho did so in their salad days have become wise, was not unheard of.Nevertheless, Signor Fortini, who, in the course of his seventy years,had had a tolerably wide experience of mankind, was astonished that theMarchese Lamberto di Castelmare should have been tempted to act as heproposed to act.
"The very last man," said Signor Fortini musingly to himself, "that Icould have suspected of such a thing! The man who has the highestreputation in the city for sound judgment and unexceptionable conduct,to turn out the greatest fool! An old ass! How little be dreams of whathe is bringing upon himself. Let alone the terrible fall, thedisgrace,--in every way, disgrace and contempt and ridicule! It seemsimpossible, even now, that he should be in earnest. He must be mad! And,davvero, his manner was at times so strange, that I could almost believehe really is not quite in his right mind. Very strange his mannerwas,--very! And very ill he looked, too. Everybody has been saying thathe looked ill,--that he looked old,--that there must be something wrongwith him. Wrong with a vengeance! So this was the cause of it all: theMarchese Lamberto is in love! Bah!--Bah!!--Bah!!!--(with crescendoexpression of disgust). Poor devil! Well, I was in love once, or fanciedmyself so. But then. I was twenty-five years old. Un altro paio dimaniche! And I very soon found out my mistake. But he, at his time oflife! And such a woman! Well, the Emperor Justinian married Theodora.So, I suppose we Ravennati have authority for madness in that kind. Andthat poor good fellow, the Marchese Ludovico, too! It is too bad. Andall because such a creature as that is cunning enough to know how todrive a hard bargain for the painted face she has to sell. But that isthe sort of woman who can make that sort of conquest. A good woman now,who would have made him an honoured and good wife, would never have madesuch a blind, abject slave of him. He is bewitched! He is mad! and oughtnot to be allowed to carry out so insane a project! Perhaps it may stillbe possible to induce him to hear reason. It was very odd, that way,that just at last he promised me he would think of it again before hefinally decided. Very odd. Just as if a man has not finally decided insuch a matter before he sends to his lawyer! It is all very--verystrange. And I have a good mind to speak to Signor Ludovico at once. Ithink it would be the right thing to do,--I do think that would be themost proper thing to do. The old fool ought to be treated as one noncompos!"
And then the old lawyer, after spending nearly an hour in such musings,got up and went to his house,--not two minutes' walk from his"studio"--to his solitary but comfortable two-o'clock dinner.
By the time he had finished his repast, he had made up his mind that hewould at once confer with the Marchese Ludovico on the subject of hisuncle's disastrous project. It was by that time nearly half-past three;and Signor Fortini walked out towards the Circolo, having little doubtthat he should find Ludovico there at that hour.
But on his way thither he met the man he was in search of in the street.The young Marchese was walking at a hurried pace, and appeared to bescared, troubled, and heated. Nothing could be more unlike his usualeasy, lounging, poco-curante bearing. The lawyer saw at once thatsomething was the matter; and thought that, in all probability, theMarchese Lamberto had been already forestalling him, by speaking to hisnephew himself on the subject of his projected marriage.
"Oh, Signor Ludovico," said Fortini, as he met him, "I was on my way, tothe Circolo, on purpose to see if I could meet with you there."
"Why, what is it? Have you any news to tell me?" said the young man in ahurried manner, that the lawyer thought odd.
"Yes. I wished to speak to you on rather an important matter. Have youseen the Marchese Lamberto this morning?"
"No. I have been out of the town. I am but this moment come back,"replied Ludovico, evidently anxiously.
"I should be glad to speak to you for a few minutes before you go to thePalazzo Castelmare. If you are going to the Circolo, I would walk withyou, and we could speak there," said Fortini.
"I'll be there in less than ten minutes. But I want first to run just asfar as La Lalli's lodging in the Strada di Porta Sisi, only to ask aquestion," said Ludovico.
"La Lalli again! The devil fly away with her! It was about her that Iwanted to speak to you," said the lawyer.
"What about her? Have you seen her? Do you know where she is?" askedLudovico, hurriedly and anxiously.
"I seen her! No. Where she is? In her bed most likely, after dancing alllast night, I should think!"
"Well, I must run and just ascertain whether she is at home!" saidLudovico, again trying to escape. But the old lawyer, partly put alittle bit out of temper by the young man's evident wish to get rid ofhim, partly angered by finding the nephew thus running after the samemischief that was threatening to ruin his uncle, and partly thinkingthat it was desirable that the news he had to tell should be told beforeLudovico should come to speech with his uncle, was determined not to lethim escape till he had said what he had to say.
"Very well, Signor. I can say what I have to say in the street as wellas anywhere else. Though I confess I expected a somewhat more readyreception of information which concerns you nearly, Signor Marchese, andwhich I am prompted to tell you by my interest in your welfare. Listen!Your uncle sent for me this morning for the purpose of announcing to mehis intention of marrying this Bianca Lalli!"
"So I have been told this very morning," said Ludovico.
"I thought you said that you had not seen your uncle this morning!"returned the lawyer.
"No more I have; but are there not two persons from whom such anintention may be learned?" said Ludovico, with a slight approach to asneer.
"The lady, you mean?" said Fortini.
"Exactly so--the lady!" rejoined Ludovico.
"The lady herself told you that the Marchese Lamberto had proposedmarriage to her?" persisted the lawyer.
"The lady herself told me so," replied the Marchese.
"But I thought you said that you had only just now returned to thecity?" objected the lawyer again.
"Really, Signor Fortini, one would think that I was being examinedbefore a police-magistrate! However, since my tongue has let the cat outof the bag, you may take the creature, and make the most of her! I didreceive the intelligence in question from the lady concerned, and I havejust returned to the city. She communicated the fact to me during alittle excursion we made together to the Pineta this morning, after theball. Now you know all about it," said Ludovico, still in a hurry to getaway.
"Not quite!" rejoined Fortini, quite imperturbably. "If you went to thePineta with her--(did anybody ever hear of such a mad thing?)--andreturned this morning, how can you want to go now to her house to askwhether she is there?"
"Because, you very clever inquisitor, though I went to the Pineta withher, I did not say that I had come back with her."
"The deuce you did not! Did another gentleman undertake the duty ofescorting the lady back to town? It is all exceedingly pleasant for theMarchese Lamberto, upon my word!--oh, exceedingly!--and really aforetaste to him of the joys to come, quite frankly offered to him onthe part of the lady!" sneered the old lawyer.
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"Pshaw! how she may have come back, or with whom, I don't know, andcan't guess; and that is just what I am anxious to find out," saidLudovico, in provoked impatience.
"I don't understand. Where did you part with the lady?" persisted thelawyer, interested rather by the evident uneasiness of the MarcheseLudovico, than by any care how and in what company Bianca might havefound her way back to the city.
"Well, that's just the curious part of the matter. If you want to knowhow the thing happened, since you know so much already, walk with me tothe Strada di Porta Sisi, and I will tell you how it happened. At theball we spoke of the Pineta,--she had never seen it,--asked me to showit to her. In short, we agreed to start on leaving the ball, instead ofgoing to bed. I got a bagarino, and drove her to the farmhouse by theedge of the wood, just behind St. Apollinare; left the bagarino there,and strolled into the wood. It was there that she told me of my uncle'spurpose. And I was not a little taken aback, as you may suppose.However, that is matter for talk by-and-by. We strolled about a goodwhile, then sat down. She told me a good deal of the history of herlife. We must have been talking--I don't know how long; but a long time.Then she said she was so sleepy, she must have a little sleep; she couldkeep her eyes open no longer. Natural enough! She had been dancing allnight--had never closed her eyes for a minute since. The bank we weresitting on was the most delicious place for a siesta that can beconceived. In two minutes she was fast asleep. She slept on and on tillI was tired of waiting. No doubt I should have slept too, had not theintelligence she had given me been of a sort to keep me waking, for onewhile at least. Having my mind full of this, and not being able tosleep, I strayed away from her, and returned in a few minutes, as Ithink, to the place where I had left her, but could not find her. Icould not be sure about the place. One bit of the forest is so much likeanother,--just the same thing over and over again,--that I could notfeel quite sure of the spot. I still think I went back to the rightplace; but there she was not. Then I searched the wood all round, farand near, for, I should think, a couple of hours or more. I calledaloud, again and again, all to no purpose. And what on earth has becomeof her I cannot imagine."
"And why you need trouble your head about it, I don't see. I wished thedevil might fly away with her just now! And if the devil has taken thehint and done so, I confess it seems to me about the best thing thatcould happen! Why on earth you, of all people in the world, SignorLudovico, should be so anxious to recover the lady, I confess I cannotunderstand. Would it not be the best thing in the world for you if shewere never heard of again?"
"Oh, per amore di Dio, Signor Giovacchino, don't talk in that way. Neverheard of again! I shall be really uneasy if I don't hear of her again ina very few minutes. It is so extraordinary. What can have become ofher?"
"Become of her! Why, she waited, of course: got tired of waiting foryou, and so strolled back to the town. That sort of lady does not muchlike waiting, I fancy."
"That sort of lady does not much like walking so far as from the Pinetahere, I fancy. Besides, I should have overtaken her on the road."
"In any case what is there to be uneasy about. No harm can have happenedto her. No such luck, per Bacco!"
"Harm! No; no harm can have happened to her, beyond losing herself inthe forest. What I am afraid of is that she has strayed and not beenable to find her way. And God knows how far she may wander. When I tellyou that in wandering away from the place where I left her, for notabove a quarter of an hour, I lost my way, and that when I found, as Isupposed, the place where we had been, I could not be sure whether itwas the same spot or not; you may suppose how easy it is to loseoneself. And I don't suppose the poor girl would be able to walk veryfar. If she has not returned, I must get help and go back to the forestand search till I find her."
"It's far more likely that you will find that she has returned home. Iwish, for my part, that she had never set foot within a dozen miles ofRavenna. Just think what it would be! But I trust--I trust we may yet beable to induce your uncle to listen to reason."
"I'll tell you what, Signor Fortini. I should not be surprised if itshould be found more possible to make the other party hear reason."
"What, the lady!"
"Yes, the lady--if we set about the matter in the right way."
"Well, Signor Ludovico, it may be that you may understand such mattersand such people better than I can pretend to do. It is not improbable.But my conceptions of the power of persuasion have never risen yet to abelief in the possibility of persuading a dog who has got a lump ofbutter in his mouth to relinquish it."
"Umph! you are not particularly gallant, Signor Giovacchino. We shallsee. But all that must be matter for future conversation. Here we are ather door. Let us see if anything has been heard of her." Ludovico,leaving his companion for an instant in the street, sprang up the stairsto make inquiry; and in the next minute returned looking very much vexedand annoyed, with the information that nothing had been seen or heard ofthe Diva since she left the house in his company at an early hour thatmorning.
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