A Siren

by Thomas Adolphus Trollope

  CHAPTER V

  Rivalry

  The first care of the two Venetian women, on arriving in their new placeof abode, which seemed to them almost as much a foreign country as Pekinmight seem to an Englishman, was, of course, to present their letter ofintroduction to the powerful and illustrious protector to whom they wererecommended. But there had, thereupon, arisen a difference of opinionbetween the older and the younger lady. Old Orsola Steno, acting on thewisdom which certain observations of life picked up in her sixty yearsof passage through it had probably taught her, was strongly of opinionthat the important letter should be presented to the Marchese by Paolinain person,--or if not that, by both of them together. But Paolinastrongly objected to this mode of proceeding; and urged her friend totake upon herself the duty of waiting on the Marchese. Orsola contestedthe point as strongly as she could. But as it was very rarely thatPaolina had ever opposed her in any thing, she was the less prepared toresist opposition on the present occasion. And as Paolina was in thismatter obstinate, old Orsola yielded; and set forth by herself to walkto the Palazzo Castelmare. Nobody had ever any difficulty in obtainingaccess to the popular Marchese; and the Signora Orsola Steno was at onceushered into his library,--presented her letter, and was received withall courtesy and kindness.

  To receive recommendations of all sorts, to be asked to render all kindsof services, was nothing new or uncommon to the Marchese. He ran overthe Englishman's letter rapidly.

  "Va bene! va bene! At your service, Signora! I shall be most happy togive you all the assistance in my power. I remember very well thatSignor Vilobe (Willoughby was the Englishman's name) was desirous ofprocuring copies of some of our mosaics. I am very happy he has found socompetent a person to execute them."

  Signora Orsola made a feeble attempt to point out that she was notherself the artist who was to make the copies in question; but what withher awe of the grand seigneur to whom she was speaking, and what withthe strangeness of her Venetian tones to her hearer's ear, and what withthe Marchese's hurry, her explanation failed to reach his comprehension.

  "Yes! You and your companion will need to find a suitable lodging, thefirst thing. We must see to it for you. But the fact is, SignoraFoscarelli, that I am more than usually busy this morning. I amexpecting some gentlemen here on business every minute. If you willexcuse me, therefore, I will entrust the commission of finding a properquartiere for you to my nephew. He will be more likely than I am to knowwhere what you require is likely to be found. He shall call upon youthis morning. Where are you? At the locanda de' Tre Re! Very good. Ofcourse you don't want to remain in an inn longer than can be helped. Iwill tell my nephew to go to you this morning."

  So Signora Steno returned to the "Tre Re;" a little alarmed at thethought that she had passed herself off for another person and asomewhat different one, but charmed with the courtesy and kindness ofthe Marchese. And in less than an hour the strangers from Venice heardtwo voices below in the entrance of the locanda inquiring for twoVenetian ladies who had recently arrived in Ravenna.

  Two voices!--for it had so happened that when the servant, whom theMarchese Lamberto had sent to his nephew to request him to undertakethis little commission for him, found the Marchese Ludovico at the doorof the Circolo, the Signore Conte Leandro Lombardoni was lounging therewith him.

  "Bah! what a bore? My uncle is always making himself the maestro dicasa, the manager, the protector, the servant of all the world. Tell theMarchese I'll go directly," he said to the servant; then added to hiscompanion, "Come, Leandro, don't desert me! Let's go together and seewhat these Venetian women want."

  "I ought to go to the Contessa Giulia at two. She'll be waiting for me,and will be furious if I disappoint her. Never mind, what must be, mustbe! I Tre Re! Ugh, what a distance; why, it is at the other end of thetown?"

  "Never mind, come along; it will do you good to walk half a mile foronce and away," returned Ludovico, who knew perfectly well how much tobelieve about the Contessa Giulia's despair at his friend'snon-appearance.

  Thus the two young men went together to the locanda de' Tre Re toexecute the commission entrusted to his nephew by the Marchese Lamberto.

  "Yes," said a slatternly girl, who came forth from some back region atthe call of the two young men, and who stared at them with an offensivemixture of surprise and understanding interest, when they inquired forthe ladies recently arrived from Venice. "Yes, they were upstairs, onthe right hand, in No. 13." So they climbed the stairs, knocked at No.13, were told to passare by the voice of Signora Orsola, and in the nextinstant were in the room with the two strangers.

  The first glance at the occupants of the chamber produced a shock ofsurprise, which manifested itself in so sudden a change of manner andbearing in the two young men, that it would have been ludicrous to anylooker-on. The two hats came down from the two heads with a spring-likesuddenness and quickness; and both the young men bowed lowly.

  "Ladies," said Ludovico, addressing himself mainly to the elder, butturning also towards the younger as he spoke, while the Conte Leandrostared unmitigatedly at Paolina; "we come to you, sent by my uncle theMarchese di Castelmare, and charged by him to assist you in finding aconvenient quartiere for your residence in Ravenna. Permit me to say onmy own behalf," he added, turning more entirely towards Paolina, "that Ihope it may not be a short one!"

  "If the Signorina would make her stay among us as long as we would wishit, she would never leave Ravenna any more," said the Conte Leandro,with a glance from his sharp little eyes, and a bow of his fat person,that were meant to be quite killing.

  "It is this young lady, I conclude, who has undertaken to copy some ofour mosaics for the Englishman, who writes to my uncle, then?" saidLudovico with a good-humoured and bright smile.

  "That is it, Signor--though she is but such a slip of a thing to lookat. I was afraid the Signor Marchese had taken it into his head that Iwas Paolina Foscarelli. Lord love you! I could not make, nor yet copy apicture, if it were to save my life!"

  "My uncle will be equally happy to have it in his power to oblige eitherlady," rejoined Ludovico.

  "I am sure the Marchese is too good," said Signora Steno; "we remainhere till the Signorina Foscarelli has finished the job she hasundertaken, and no longer, nor no shorter. And some place we must findto live in the while. And if your lordship could tell us where we wouldbe likely to find a couple of bedrooms, a bit of a sitting-room, and theuse of a kitchen, it would be very kind."

  "There will be no difficulty about that, I think, Signora," said theMarchese Ludovico; "I will go at once and inquire! I think I know wherewhat we want may be had. If you will permit me, I will return to youhere in less than half an hour."

  "Troppo garbato, Signor Marchese!" said Orsola.

  "If the Signorina will permit me," said Leandro, "I think I know of justsuch a little quartierino as would suit her, snug, quiet, andparfettamente libero."

  To this offer, Paolina felt herself constrained to reply by a silentlittle bow. His former speech had received no reply whatsoever.

  "I think I had better do what my uncle has told me to do, Leandro," saidthe Marchese Ludovico, drily.

  And Paolina felt sufficiently grateful to him for the amount of snubbingcontained in his accent to say the first words she had spoken since theyentered the room. "We shall be exceedingly obliged to you, Signore, ifyou will do so. Any quartiere which the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmarecould recommend to us," she added, with a significant emphasis on thewords, "would be sure to suit us."

  "But perhaps the Marchese Lamberto may not know half as much about suchmatters as I do, bella Signorina. People forget so many things by thetime they come to the age of the Marchese," said the Conte Leandro, witha leering smile, which was meant to establish a confidentialunderstanding between him and Paolina. But the young girl's only answerwas to turn in her chair a little more away from him towards the window.

  "I think we had better leave the ladies, and see if we can find for themwhat they require. I should prefer d
oing myself what my uncle hasentrusted to me," said Ludovico, with a frown on his brow.

  "Very good--do so. You say you shall be back here in half an hour; ifthese ladies will permit me I will remain with them till you come back,and then we can all go and look at the quartiere you have foundtogether," said the Conte Leandro.

  Poor Paolina, though perfectly determined not to acquiesce in thisarrangement, was quite at a loss what to say or do to prevent it frombeing carried out.

  "But you forget your engagement to the Contessa Giulia," said Ludovico;"surely you had better make haste to keep it."

  He had no belief whatever in any such engagement, and had a very fainthope that any care for consistency would avail to induce his friend theConte Leandro to affect the necessity of keeping it. But he also wasperfectly determined not to leave him in the room with the strangers,though almost as much at a loss as Paolina how to prevent it.

  "Oh, hang the Contessa Giulia! In any case, it is too late to go to hernow, and I am sure I shall like much better to stay here," said Leandro.

  "Very likely. But you forget that it may not be equally agreeable tothese ladies that you should remain here, and they just arrived from ajourney too," said the Marchese Ludovico, who was inwardly cursing hisfolly in having brought his friend with him on this errand, which heunquestionably would not have done had he had the remotest idea whatmanner of ladies they were that his uncle had deputed him to attend on.

  "By-the-by, Leandro," he said, suddenly, as he was moving towards thedoor, "you must come with me--after all; for now I remember that therooms I had in my mind were let a short time since, and the best thingwe can do will be to go and look at those you spoke of."

  "Oh! I will tell you where they are--" said Leandro.

  "No, no! that won't do at all; come--come along. I won't go therewithout you. Come!" said the Marchese.

  And this was said in a manner that had the effect of making Leandro takeleave of the ladies, with many hopes that they might meet again erelong.

  Very soon after the two young men were in the street together, Ludovicoprotested that he must call at the Circolo before attending to thebusiness they were on; and when he got there he pretended to be obligedto run home for a minute to the Palazzo Castelmare, which was hard by,saying that he would return and rejoin the Conte Leandro in less thanfive minutes. And very heartily did that deceived gentleman abuse hisfriend, when he had waited an hour, and found that he did not return atall. Then, poor gentleman! he knew that he had been bamboozled,--cruellytreated, as he said himself. And he perfectly well understood his dearfriend's object, too!

  "Such an intolerable, abominable coxcomb as that Ludovico is! As if hefancied that nobody was to have a chance of speaking to that pretty girlbut himself. As if he thought that he had the ghost of a chance with awoman, if I thought it worth while to cut him out!" grumbled thegallant, gay Leandro to himself.

  The Marchese Ludovico, meanwhile, the instant he had succeeded infreeing himself from his companion, darted off in search of anapartment, which he thought would just suit his fair clients; hurriedback to them, at the inn; and had them installed in their new quartersby that evening.

  "I am sure I do not know how to thank you enough for all your kindness,Signor Marchese. I do not know what we should have done without it,"said the Signora Orsola.

  "For all your kindness!" repeated Paolina, with a look and an emphasiswhich, while it expressed her gratitude, left him at no loss tounderstand what part of all he had done for them had chiefly seemed tothe pretty Paolina to merit her special thanks.

  And these were the facts and the circumstances that had brought about astate of matters which left the Marchese Lamberto and the gossips of theCircolo in no doubt where the young Marchese Ludovico had gone to passhis evening, when his uncle sent for him to the club for the purposewhich the reader wots of, and failed to find him there.