_Euthanasia joins the Conspiracy.--Tripalda
a Member._
During this festivity at Lucca, every thing wore the face of sorrow and
depression at Florence. The only circumstance that raised them from
their ruin, was the commerce of the city; for, by means of the
merchants, corn was brought from the neighbouring states, and the
magistrates distributed it among the poorer peasantry.
Euthanasia had listened to the intelligence of Castruccio's triumph with
unwilling ears. It seemed to her like the pomp of his funeral; and she
dreaded lest his person, exposed during the ceremonial, should be
attempted by some of his bolder enemies. But they worked with a closer
design.
The tide of her sensations turned, when the conclusion of that day's
pomp brought nothing with it, but the account of its splendour and
success; and, when she heard that the prince was personally safe, she
found fresh reason for regret, in the want of that delicate and
honourable feeling on his part, which above all her other virtues
characterised her own mind.
But, if she were disgusted by the low pride that Castruccio manifested
in his treatment of Cardona, her feelings of horror and of hatred were
called forth by the occurrences that followed. Four days after this
scene Bondelmonti entered her apartment: his manner was abrupt; his face
pale; he could not speak.--When he had somewhat recovered, his first
words were a torrent of execrations against Antelminelli.
"Oh, cease!" cried Euthanasia, "you hate, and would destroy, but do not
curse him!"
"Bid me rather add tenfold bitterness to my weak execrations; but all
words man can pronounce are poor. He has done that which, if he had
before been an angel, would blot and disfigure him for ever. He is the
worst of tyrants, the most cruel and atrocious wretch that breathes! But
earth shall soon be rid of the monster. Read that writing!"
He put into her hand a dirty scrap of paper, on which she deciphered
these words:
"For holy Jesu's sake, save me! My mother does not send my ransom. I was
put to the torture this morning. I suffer it again on Thursday, if you
do not send six hundred golden florins.
"Pity your FRANCESCO BONDELMONTI."
The paper dropt from her hands. "This comes from my cousin Francesco,"
said Bondelmonti; "others are in the same situation. Those who have not
been ransomed, he has thrown into the most loathsome dungeons, and
starves and tortures them to quicken their appetite for freedom. Shall
such a one reign?"
"No," cried Euthanasia, her cheek burning with indignation, and her lips
quivering with excessive pity; "No, he shall not reign; he were unworthy
to live, if it be not to repent. Bondelmonti, here is my hand; do with
me what you please; let his life be saved; but let him be torn from the
power which he uses more like a fiend than a human creature."
"Thank you, dear cousin, for this generous feeling: now I know you
again. I know my Euthanasia, who had forgotten herself awhile, only to
awake again with new vigour. Call up all your spirits, Madonna;
recollect all of noble, and wise, and courageous, that your excellent
father taught you. This is no may-day trick, or the resolution of
momentary indignation; it is the firm purpose of those, who see an evil
beyond imagination pregnant with destruction and horror. Your quick
concession merits my utmost confidence; and you shall have it. To-night
I will see you again. Now I must endeavour to borrow money to liberate
Francesco. My purse has been emptied by the ransom of my three brothers,
and his mother has three hundred florins only."
"I can supply the rest," said Euthanasia. "Poor fellow, send them
immediately; that with the shortest delay he may be rescued from the
power of one more remorseless than the rack on which he suffers.
To-night I see you again."
Euthanasia spent the intervening hours in great agitation. She did not
shrink from her purpose; she had given her word, and she did not dream
of recalling it. But all was turmoil and confusion in her mind. She
figured to herself the scenes that would ensue; she imagined the downfal
of him she had loved, his life saved only through her intervention,--and
he perhaps, knowing that she also had joined the conspiracy to despoil
him of the power he had laboured to attain, would turn from her in
abhorrence.
As she thought of this, a few natural tears fell; she cast her deep blue
eyes up to heaven; and tried to collect all her fortitude. Night came,
and with it the hour when she expected Bondelmonti; but all was tumult
and uneasiness in her heart: and to all other regrets she added the
startling doubt whether she were not on the present occasion quitting
the path of innocence, for the intricate and painful one of error. Then
she knelt down, and prayed fervently for a wisdom and judgement that
might guide her aright.
Euthanasia was now advanced to the very prime of life. Ten years had
elapsed since she had first interchanged vows with Antelminelli in her
castle of Valperga; but her mind was of that youthful kind, that, ever,
as it were, renewing itself from her own exhaustless treasure of wisdom
and sentiment, never slept upon the past, forgetful of the changes that
took place around her. Her character was always improving, always adding
some new acquirements, or strengthening those which she possessed
before; and thus for ever enlarging her sphere of knowledge and feeling.
She often felt as if she were not the same being that she had been a few
years before; she often figured to herself, that it was only from such
or such a period that she obtained a true insight into the affairs of
life, and became initiated in real wisdom; but these epochs were
continually changing, for day by day she experienced the acquisition of
some new power, the discovery of some new light which guided her through
the labyrinth, while another of the thousand-folded veils which hide the
sun of reality from the ardent spirit of youth, fell before her piercing
gaze. Yet the change that she felt in her faculties was greater than
that which had really taken place; it was only the disclosure of another
petal of the blowing rose, but the bud had contained the germ of all
that appeared as if new-created.
With this matured judgement and depth of feeling, she was called upon to
take an arduous part in a most doubtful and perilous undertaking. The
enthusiasm that distinguished her, had ever induced her to place a great
confidence in her own sentiments, and the instantaneous decision of any
doubtful point; and now she did not hesitate in resolving to become one
in the conspiracy: her refusal would not stop its progress; her consent
would enable her to judge of, and regulate its measures. She no longer
loved the prince; his cruelty had degraded him even from the small place
that he had still kept in her heart. But such was the force of early
feeling, that she desired to restore her affections to him, when he
should again become gentle and humane, as he appeared when she first
knew him. Adversity might bring about this change.
Bondelmonti appeared. He appeared with a face of satisfaction and even
of joy, as he claimed her promise of the morning. She renewed it
solemnly, while her serious countenance, and the touching modulation of
her voice, told how from the depth of her heart she felt the extent and
force of the engagement into which she entered. Bondelmonti then
detailed to her the circumstances of the conspiracy.
The family of the Quartezzani had been that which had most assisted
Castruccio in his rise to power, and had stood by him long with
fidelity. But, as his tyranny became more secure, he feared their power,
more than he was pleased by their support, and supected that they only
looked upon him as an instrument to fight their battles awhile, and then
to be put aside at the first opportunity. He changed his demeanour
towards them, from that of friendliness, to the coldest distrust, and
took the earliest opportunity to banish the chief among them from Lucca.
Disgusted by this ingratitude, they withdrew from court, and tempted by
the emissaries of Bondelmonti, now entered into a conspiracy against
him, joining with the Avogadii, his professed enemies, to despoil him of
power, perhaps of life.
Bondelmonti explained to Euthanasia all the circumstances of the plan
they had concerted to get the city into their hands. The present
governor of Pisa, who remembered, and hated the prince on account of the
treason he had fomented against him, was to advance in a hostile manner
to Ripafrata; and, while the shew of force on that side should attract
Castruccio and his army, a detachment was to cross the hill of St.
Giuliano, and come suddenly on the city, whose gates would be opened to
them by one of the conspirators. The Florentine force would hover on the
banks of the Guisciana; and, taking advantage of the confusion which the
seizure of Lucca would occasion, would pass the river, and march
directly towards the city, declaring liberty to the peasant, and
attacking the partizans of the tyrant alone. King Robert of Naples had a
fleet already in the gulph of Spezia, which, on the news of the breaking
out of the conspiracy, would disembark its soldiers on the Lucchese
territory, and thus add to the general confusion.
This was the outline of the plan; there were many smaller circumstances
which Bondelmonti detailed. He then named their associates in the plot.
In calling over the list he mentioned Tripalda; Euthanasia's eyes
flashed angrily at the sound of that name.
"Tripalda!" she cried, "Battista Tripalda! Is he one of your associates?
Nay then, I am truly sorry that I am now numbered among you."
"Why this passion, my fair cousin? Tripalda is a man of infinite talent:
his counsels have been of the greatest benefit to us. I do not think
that our plot would ever have ripened into maturity, had it not been for
him. Of what consequence is the virtue or vice of a man on such an
occasion? Edged tools are what we want; it matters little the evil name
with which they may be branded."
"You reason ill, my friend; and, if you persist, I foresee the failure
of our plan, and the destruction of those engaged in it. I have promised
my assistance, nor will I shrink from the task imposed upon me; but I
can no longer have faith in our success, if one so treacherous and
unprincipled as Tripalda be admitted into a participation of our
counsels. Accident has made me acquainted with the full extent of his
crimes; it is the knowledge of them that has caused his expulsion from
the palace and society of the prince, his crimes alone impel him to
associate in this conspiracy, and they also ought to induce us to reject
him; that cause must be bad, which requires the assistance of one so
wicked as this infidel priest."
"You are strangely prejudiced, methinks, against this man," replied
Bondelmonti, "but indeed, my dear cousin, such as he is, we must now
tolerate him. He is not only acquainted with every circumstance of the
conspiracy, but has been its most active member. Many of our most
valuable partizans have been gained over by him alone; he is the tie
which binds those who are personally at variance one with the other, and
the stay which fixes the fluctuating."
"And this then is the trap into which we are about to fall? This man
hates the prince, because Castruccio is fully acquainted with the extent
of his iniquity; for the same reason he detests me----"
"This expression of yours," interrupted Bondelmonti, "proves the excess
of your misapprehension. So far from disliking, he esteems and admires
you, and it was at his instigation that I first named our purpose to
you."
"All that you say, unfortunately increases my distrust. But, if, as I
believe, I have done well in promising my assistance, fear shall not
withhold me from exerting my powers, and giving my whole heart to the
undertaking. My dear Bondelmonti, you are the oldest of my friends, you
were the friend of my father, I trust much to your judgement; I confide
greatly in the sense of right which nature has implanted in my own
heart; I hope no false view, no veiled passion, misleads me now, when
most I desire to act well, justly towards others, and towards myself:
the catastrophe is in the hands of that irresistible Power which guides
us all; and, if we fail, no weakness, no vain reproach, or worse
treachery, shall tarnish my defeat. Trust in me to the death."