by Gian Bordin
"Oh, no, I didn’t mean it that way."
"So we do Amphitruo. Orlando, I count on you to stage it."
* * *
Jacomo, Veronica, and Chiara spent the next two days prompting the other three, and then they started rehearsing. Signor Benincasa sent out invitations to friends and acquaintances, many of them nobles, some as far away as Mont Elcino and Siena. The number who accepted was so large that they had to shift the stage into the piazza between Palazzo Benincasa and the Franciscan Abbey on the other side.
A mild breeze had cooled the worst of the afternoon heat and little white clouds floated across the sky when they took the stage in front of more than three hundred spectators seated on benches in a half-circle. The abbot had allowed his monks to attend. He could hardly do less since he himself was sitting in the front row next to Signor Benincasa. As usual, their props were minimal — several dark colored sheets of cloth onto which Alda had drawn features with white chalk — trees, the corner of a house, an interior, only hinting at the subject, rather than giving it detail.
As Chiara entered the stage, a nightingale began his song from the roof of Palazzo Benincasa. On the spur of the moment, she changed her opening lines to thank the bird for the song and implore it to continue regaling the valued audience with more of the same. She got a big hand for this, which scared away the bird, to more amused chuckles from the spectators. There were a few minor hiccups. Pepe twice forgot his line and Chiara improvised, starting it, pretending to read his mind. She doubted that anyone even noticed. They were called back four times to accept the applause.
Cold refreshments and a good drop of local wine got the spectators to mingle with the players in the piazza after the performance. There was usually a small circle of people around each, eager to talk to them. Chiara left Veronica to fend for herself — she had purposely allowed herself to be drawn away. The girl needed to gain confidence. She occasionally observed her and was reassured when she saw her animated face and heard her clear laughs that had the quality of a bird song.
Many of the spectators were disappointed that the troupe had not shown the knife act beforehand, and Chiara promised that they would do it the following day on Piazza Grande. Signor Benincasa invited the guest to visit the Etruscan display, taking them into the palazzo in small groups.
She only learned later on that he had invited the spectators to add to his own purse. The troupe was staggered when Jacomo, as usual, counted its content — fifty eight florins, in gold and silver coins. Even Orlando was mollified when she handed out eight florins to each. He proposed a toast to the corago, and she felt that it was genuine.
* * *
Responding to Signor Benincasa, she visited the palazzo the following morning. He again thanked her for the privilege to have been the first to hear the play, and then he asked her, what she guessed was the real reason for the invitation, whether she intended to sell the Etruscan artifacts.
"I have not given it much thought yet."
"It would fulfil my dearest dream to buy it, provided the price is within my reach. I guess you have had other offers already. Casa Medici showed keen interest."
"Yes, Signor di Bicci has approached me, but right now I am not ready to part with it yet. I want to weigh it carefully and there are other things that require my attention in the near future. So, I would appreciate if I could leave it in your safe hands for another while, maybe till next year, if this is agreeable with you."
"Lady Chiara, I feel honored that you are willing to leave it in my trust. I admit that each morning I wander through it, admire it, discover new aspects, new enchanting details, even about the way you asked me to arrange the pieces — that is how you found them in the vault, isn’t it?"
"Yes, exactly, except that there they were closer together since the vault was very small."
"I am the envy of all my acquaintances and more. I don’t think that I have met so many important people in my whole life as these last few months. They come from all over, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Piombino; recently Lord Baglione from Perugia came with Lady Amelia and Master Luigi, the young man you brought to us when Contessa d’Appiano was here. His Lord was full of praise for you."
"Was he? Signore, would you permit me to admire my little treasure once more. I am also curious to hear about your discoveries."
"Oh, Lady Chiara, you do not have to ask. I would be flattered to show you. Your company is always one of my greatest pleasures."
* * *
The next day they moved into Castello Gianbucca near Chianciano. Ser Gianbucca promised Chiara that he would think about selling the property to her and what price would be fair.
After a few days of rest, they offered shows three times a week to the visitors at the Aqua Santa baths — rotating the knife act with skits, Phormio, and Amphitruo. Rather than simply ask for donations, they charged admission, one silver coin. Children were admitted free.
"We will play to empty seats," Orlando predicted.
"I’ll bet a florin that you are wrong," exclaimed Jacomo. "How few would you consider to mean empty seats?"
"Don’t be a fool, Orlando," cried Alda. "You’re going to lose."
"Orlando, I’m willing to bet that we get more than forty people to our first show, each one paying a silver coin."
"No, I won’t bet against you. It would be unfair to take a florin from you. You need your money for your studies."
"Getting cold feet, Orlando," said Chiara, winking to Jacomo. "Or are you willing to take my florin?"
"With your luck? I would be foolish to bet against you. Anyway, you would simply invent some trick to get the people there."
"You don’t have much confidence in your corago, do you?"
"Forget that I ever said it, Chiara. I should know by now that your crazy schemes always work."
In fact, when it became known that I Magnifici were in town, people flocked to their first show, willingly paying the silver coin. And it did not stop there. Every show drew more than eighty people. Some even attended the same play more than once. They netted four to eight florins per show, little compared to what they got for private performances, but a huge amount when compared to the small takes of a few solidi other traveling troupes managed to collect.
August turned into September. On one of her weekly visits to Monte Pulciano, a letter with the Casa Salimbeni seal awaited her. What could they want from her, she wondered as she broke the wax? In flattering tones, Signor Salimbeni wrote that he had heard nothing but praise about I Magnifici’s new play Amphitruo and would be honored if she accepted his invitation to offer it at the loggia of Casa Salimbeni in Siena.
The second paragraph intimated in rather veiled language that Casa Salimbeni would also be interested in exploring a closer union with Casa da Narni and that it was his understanding that Contessa d’Appiano very much approved of this possibility.
Gaetano! Not again! was her instant reaction. Even if the offer to play in Siena was tempting, the prospect of having to fend off a marriage proposal with Gaetano made it impossible for her to take up the invitation. Lady Maria would put her under immense pressure to agree to a betrothal to Gaetano. Moreover, she was again in exactly the same position as last time. She had a task to complete that would require all her energies, nor would she go to Siena unless she had a written assurance from the current Podestà that no legal steps would be initiated against her over the Sanguanero affair. However, she felt that she had to tell the other players. Even Orlando for once sided with her. He definitely had no desire to set foot into Siena again in the foreseeable future.
She agonized long on how to turn down the offer without offering insult. In the end, she decided that partial openness was the best strategy. She answered that she felt greatly honored by the invitation and regretted not being able to take it up for reasons of safety for herself and the troupe, in view of the affair with Casa Sanguanero, and that other urgent matters required her to travel to Perugia and beyond.
* * *
> End of September, they stopped their shows. The number of people visiting the baths was dwindling and the time had arrived for Jacomo to prepare for his law studies in Perugia. Chiara had the impression that deep down he had always feared it would not happen. He, the orphan of poor tenant farmers, attending one of the most prestigious universities? And now that the moment had arrived, he suddenly showed pangs of regret to leave the people that had become his family — more of a family than the one he grew up with near Cagli.
Chiara was to accompany him to Perugia. She felt it was important to help him get settled in, that he needed her moral support for this new phase of his life. Veronica begged that she be allowed to go along and Chiara welcomed her company. So on the last day of September, four of them said goodbye to Alda and Pepe. She and Veronica for no more than two weeks, Orlando for good. He had bought a horse so he could accompany them to Perugia before continuing to Florence, while they had rented a horse for Jacomo, since the one that Lord Baglione had given to Chiara awaited him there — they had left it in the care of Luigi before going to Rome.
Alda was crying and repeatedly hugged Jacomo and the young man shed a few tears too. She made him repeat his promise that he would visit them during the summer break, no matter where they were.
They traveled via Chiusi, crossing the Chiana by ferry, and late the following day arrived in Perugia, where Orlando made his farewell, while Chiara and her two charges called on Palazzo Baglione.
Lord Baglione and his family had just returned from their summer retreat in the hills. He welcomed them in person and then let his wife make the arrangements for their stay. Chiara did not plan to stay more than a week. While Jacomo was assigned the room next to Luigi, she and Veronica shared one.
* * *
It was on the fourth day when Lady Teresa requested that Chiara accompany her to her apartment after the midday meal. She did not have to wait long for her curiosity to be satisfied.
"Chiara — I may call you Chiara," began the old lady and Chiara replied: "Lady Teresa, I would be honored."
"Well Chiara, I now have had ample opportunity to observe your young charge, Signorina Veronica, and I find her a delightful young woman. You have done marvelously with her. There is none of the silliness or haughtiness that beautiful young woman often display. On the contrary, she is respectful and modest, but when one engages her in conversation her intelligence and remarkable education, so rare in a girl, clearly come to the fore."
"Yes, I have been fortunate to have her as my sister. Like Jacomo, she is eager to learn and so quick. After less than a year, she is already reasonably fluent in Latin and reads it aloud like few do."
"I noticed that she masters it better than Luigi. But to come back to the purpose of having asked you to my apartment, I think it would put the final touches on her education and courtly manners if she spent an extended period as the attendant of a Lady at court, as is the custom for young girls and young women of high standing, as you did with Contessa d’Appiano."
Is she going to offer that one of Lord Baglione’s retainers take her? Or even Lady Amelia? I wouldn’t let her be exposed to that woman’s inevitable jealousy, went through Chiara’s mind, but her face betrayed none of these thoughts. "I must admit, Lady Teresa, to my shame, that I was remissly in this respect —"
"Chiara, I do not blame you. You did a remarkable job, and with the plague and your own … let me say ‘quest for justice’, it was understandable. But these are now behind you and you should think about Veronica’s future. In fact, I have a proposal that I hope you will look upon favorably. I would be willing to have her as one of my personal attendants… You seem surprised."
"I am, Lady Teresa, I truly am. I would not have dared to hope that you would bestow such honor on me by training her yourself."
"Chiara, I may as well be frank with you, since you will already have figured out that I am the winner in this bargain. A girl like Veronica is so rare that I could not pass her up. With my eyesight not being what it was, I will again have somebody who can read properly to me and, what’s more, with whom I can have intelligent discussions about what we read. And besides, it would make Luigi happy. I make it no secret. If I approve of her, I will do my best to convince my son to let Luigi marry her. You said that she has a sizeable dowry, didn’t you?"
Chiara responded with a smile. "Yes, I will guarantee twelve hundred florins in gold."
"That is very generous. So you agree that she joins me."
"Lady Teresa, I will talk to Veronica and impress upon her the honor that you bestow on both of us, that you offer her a unique opportunity, but she will have to make her own decision."
"I should have known that this would be your answer. It is entirely true to your character, and if this is how you trained the girl, it will be an even greater privilege to have her with me."
Veronica’s face showed that she was torn between her need to be with Chiara and her desire to be near her brother and Luigi.
"I don’t want to leave you. Please, Chiara, I want to be with you and Alda and Pepe. You are my family, and I’m frightened by the very thought of being the attendant of a noble lady. I’m just the daughter of poor tenants. I’m a nobody."
"First, you’re not a nobody. You’re a highly intelligent person, possibly more intelligent than Lady Teresa, just less experienced and still lacking her wisdom, but I’m confident that you’ll gain that in time too. Second, we’re still your family, even if you’re not with us. Anyway, sooner or later you’ll get married and will live away from us. And third, you won’t be alone. You’ll have Jacomo. Just think that you’ll be able to look after him. And then, there is Luigi." The girl blushed. "It’s obvious that you love him. It’s also obvious that he loves you. And this is your chance. If you can show that you’re up to be a courtly lady, there will be no obstacle to a marriage between you. He’s not a first born, so the parents aren’t looking for a prestigious marriage. Look, many noble houses don’t even contemplate marriage for their second or third born sons a serious prospect, because they don’t want to split up their patrimony. So, if a girl with a good dowry comes along and their parents are willing to let her marry such a penniless son, they’re usually agreeable to the marriage."
"But I only have a small dowry."
"You have over six hundred florins of your own right now, and I’m willing to double that. Twelve hundred florins is a dowry that even the Baglione would consider acceptable. Furthermore, remember that you’re now Veronica da Narni. You carry a name to be proud of. And you’re always welcome to come back to us if you feel that you can’t stay."
Veronica broke into tears.
"Why are you crying?"
"Because you’re always so good to me. I —"
"You’re my sister. I love you and I will sorely miss you, but this is one of those times where you have to take control of your life. Being the attendant to Lady Teresa will bestow much honor on you and will bring you closer to Luigi."
"You think I should?"
"Yes, that’s my advice, but, Veronica, you must decide for yourself. I can’t, neither would I, make that decision for you." Chiara held out her arms. "Come, little sister, let’s hold each other. Think about it and let me know by tomorrow."
* * *
Three days later, Chiara left Perugia — alone. Veronica had agreed to become Lady Teresa’s attendant. Jacomo admitted that he was glad to have his sister near, and he promised Chiara to look after her and to immediately let her know if things did not work out. She would come and get her without delay. She also impressed on him to include her in his life, maybe even share with her some of what he learned and that she might in fact be able to help both him and Luigi in their studies. Veronica was to keep the horse she had ridden.
Veronica took up her duties immediately, and Chiara had the opportunity to observe her. When she took her leave from Lady Teresa on the eve of her departure, the old matron told her how delighted she was. She had even discovered that Veronica gave a w
onderful shoulder massage. The girl had offered it to her the first evening.
On the eve of her departure, Chiara had another long talk to Veronica, boosting her confidence and making her aware that Lord Baglione flirted with most pretty women and that this invariably attracted Lady Amelia’s anger on them, rather than on him.
Chiara started out alone, as dawn was breaking, taking Luigi’s hired horse along. While keeping a constant vigil for anything that could mean danger, she pondered on how to go about her new quest to gain back Elba. As a first line of attack, she would try to use the law of contracts. Since Casa Baglione had not even tried to deny her claim of rape, maybe she could contest the validity of the contract her father had been forced to sign. It clearly had been obtained under false pretenses. Maybe, she should approach Professor Barbarigo and ask him to represent her. She figured that, since Elba was under the dominion of Piombino and, furthermore, Niccolo had sworn allegiance to Count d’Appiano, any challenge would have to be lodged with the latter. Her first step should be to write to Professor Barbarigo and set out her case in full detail.
Changing mounts regularly, she reached Castello Gianbucca without any difficulties by late evening.
"Where is Veronica?" was Alda’s alarmed greeting. "What happened?"
"Salve, mamina, salve Pepe," she replied, letting go of the horses’ leads, embracing first Alda and then Pepe. "Yes, you could say that something happened to her, but it’s nothing bad."
She explained.
"That must have come as a shock to the poor girl, because deep down, and in spite of all your efforts, she still thinks of herself as a peasant orphan," mused Alda. "I’ll miss her, but I’m also happy for her. She’s very close to Jacomo and would have pined for him… The house will feel empty with both of them gone."
"Yes, but she’s so clever; I’m sure she’ll do well," said Pepe. "I guess I should look after the horses. I can see that you have ridden them hard."