My Journey to Cesena in Search of Treasure--I Take Up My Quarters in
Franzia's House--His Daughter Javotte
The opera was nearly over when I was accosted by a young man who,
abruptly, and without any introduction, told me that as a stranger--I had
been very wrong in spending two months in Mantua without paying a visit
to the natural history collection belonging to his father, Don Antonio
Capitani, commissary and prebendal president.
"Sir," I answered, "I have been guilty only through ignorance, and if you
would be so good as to call for me at my hotel to-morrow morning, before
the evening I shall have atoned for my error, and you will no longer have
the right to address me the same reproach."
The son of the prebendal commissary called for me, and I found in his
father a most eccentric, whimsical sort of man. The curiosities of his
collection consisted of his family tree, of books of magic, relics, coins
which he believed to be antediluvian, a model of the ark taken from
nature at the time when Noah arrived in that extraordinary harbour, Mount
Ararat, in Armenia. He load several medals, one of Sesostris, another of
Semiramis, and an old knife of a queer shape, covered with rust. Besides
all those wonderful treasures, he possessed, but under lock and key, all
the paraphernalia of freemasonry.
"Pray, tell me," I said to him, "what relation there is between this
collection and natural history? I see nothing here representing the three
kingdoms."
"What! You do not see the antediluvian kingdom, that of Sesostris and
that of Semiramis? Are not those the three kingdoms?"
When I heard that answer I embraced him with an exclamation of delight,
which was sarcastic in its intent, but which he took for admiration, and
he at once unfolded all the treasures of his whimsical knowledge
respecting his possessions, ending with the rusty blade which he said was
the very knife with which Saint Peter cut off the ear of Malek.
"What!" I exclaimed, "you are the possessor of this knife, and you are
not as rich as Croesus?"
"How could I be so through the possession of the knife?"
"In two ways. In the first place, you could obtain possession of all the
treasures hidden under ground in the States of the Church."
"Yes, that is a natural consequence, because St. Peter has the keys."
"In the second place, you might sell the knife to the Pope, if you happen
to possess proof of its authenticity."
"You mean the parchment. Of course I have it; do you think I would have
bought one without the other?"
"All right, then. In order to get possession of that knife, the Pope
would, I have no doubt, make a cardinal of your son, but you must have
the sheath too."
"I have not got it, but it is unnecessary. At all events I can have one
made."
"That would not do, you must have the very one in which Saint Peter
himself sheathed the knife when God said, 'Mitte gladium tuum in
vaginam'. That very sheath does exist, and it is now in the hands of a
person who might sell it to you at a reasonable price, or you might sell
him your knife, for the sheath without the knife is of no use to him,
just as the knife is useless to you without the sheath."
"How much would it cost me?"
"One thousand sequins."
"And how much would that person give me for the knife?"
"One thousand sequins, for one has as much value as the other."
The commissary, greatly astonished, looked at his son, and said, with the
voice of a judge on the bench,
"Well, son, would you ever have thought that I would be offered one
thousand sequins for this knife?"
He then opened a drawer and took out of it an old piece of paper, which
he placed before me. It was written in Hebrew, and a facsimile of the
knife was drawn on it. I pretended to be lost in admiration, and advised
him very strongly to purchase the sheath.
"It is not necessary for me to buy it, or for your friend to purchase the
knife. We can find out and dig up the treasures together."
"Not at all. The rubric says in the most forcible manner that the owner
of the blade, 'in vaginam', shall be one. If the Pope were in possession
of it he would be able, through a magical operation known to me, to cut
off one of the ears of every Christian king who might be thinking of
encroaching upon the rights of the Church."
"Wonderful, indeed! But it is very true, for it is said in the Gospel
that Saint Peter did cut off the ear of somebody."
"Yes, of a king."
"Oh, no! not of a king."
"Of a king, I tell you. Enquire whether Malek or Melek does not mean
king."
"Well! in case I should make up my mind to sell the knife, who would give
me the thousand sequins?"
"I would; one half to-morrow, cash down; the balance of five hundred in a
letter of exchange payable one month after date."
"Ah! that is like business. Be good enough, to accept a dish of macaroni
with us to-morrow, and under a solemn pledge of secrecy we will discuss
this important affair."
I accepted and took my leave, firmly resolved on keeping up the joke. I
came back on the following day, and the very first thing he told me was
that, to his certain knowledge, there was an immense treasure hidden
somewhere in the Papal States, and that he would make up his mind to
purchase the sheath. This satisfied me that there was no fear of his
taking me at my word, so I produced a purse full of gold, saying I was
quite ready to complete our bargain for the purchase of the knife.
"The Treasure," he said, "is worth millions; but let us have dinner. You
are not going to be served in silver plates and dishes, but in real
Raphael mosaic."
"My dear commissary, your magnificence astonishes me; mosaic is, indeed,
by far superior to silver plate, although an ignorant fool would only
consider it ugly earthen ware."
The compliment delighted him.
After dinner, he spoke as follows:
"A man in very good circumstances, residing in the Papal States, and
owner of the country house in which he lives with all his family, is
certain that there is a treasure in his cellar. He has written to my son,
declaring himself ready to undertake all expenses necessary to possess
himself of that treasure, if we could procure a magician powerful enough
to unearth it."
The son then took a letter out of his pocket, read me some passages, and
begged me to excuse him if, in consequence of his having pledged himself
to keep the secret, he could not communicate all the contents of the
letter; but I had, unperceived by him, read the word Cesena, the name of
the village, and that was enough for me.
"Therefore all that is necessary is to give me the possibility of
purchasing the sheath on credit, for I have no ready cash at present. You
need not be afraid of endorsing my letters of exchange, and if you should
know the magician you might go halves with him."
"The magician is ready; it is I, but unless you give me five hundred
sequins cash down we cannot agree."
"I have no money."
"Then sell me the knife:"
"No."
"You are wrong, for now that I have seen it I can easily take it from
you. But I am honest enough not to wish to play such a trick upon you."
"You could take my knife from me? I should like to be convinced of that,
but I do not believe it."
"You do not? Very well, to-morrow the knife will be in my possession, but
when it is once in my hands you need not hope to see it again. A spirit
which is under my orders will bring it to me at midnight, and the same
spirit will tell me where the treasure is buried:"
"Let the spirit tell you that, and I shall be convinced."
"Give me a pen, ink and paper."
I asked a question from my oracle, and the answer I had was that the
treasure was to be found not far from the Rubicon.
"That is," I said, "a torrent which was once a river:"
They consulted a dictionary, and found that the Rubicon flowed through
Cesena. They were amazed, and, as I wished them to have full scope for
wrong reasoning, I left them.
I had taken a fancy, not to purloin five hundred sequins from those poor
fools, but to go and unearth the amount at their expense in the house of
another fool, and to laugh at them all into the bargain. I longed to play
the part of a magician. With that idea, when I left the house of the
ridiculous antiquarian, I proceeded to the public library, where, with
the assistance of a dictionary, I wrote the following specimen of
facetious erudition:
"The treasure is buried in the earth at a depth of seventeen and a half
fathoms, and has been there for six centuries. Its value amounts to two
millions of sequins, enclosed in a casket, the same which was taken by
Godfrey de Bouillon from Mathilda, Countess of Tuscany, in the year 1081,
when he endeavoured to assist Henry IV, against that princess. He buried
the box himself in the very spot where it now is, before he went to lay
siege to Jerusalem. Gregory VII, who was a great magician, having been
informed of the place where it had been hidden, had resolved on getting
possession of it himself, but death prevented him from carrying out his
intentions. After the death of the Countess Mathilda, in the year 1116,
the genius presiding over all hidden treasures appointed seven spirits to
guard the box. During a night with a full moon, a learned magician can
raise the treasure to the surface of the earth by placing himself in the
middle of the magical ring called maximus:"
I expected to see the father and son, and they came early in the morning.
After some rambling conversation, I gave them what I had composed at the
library, namely, the history of the treasure taken from the Countess
Mathilda.
I told them that I had made up my mind to recover the treasure, and I
promised them the fourth part of it, provided they would purchase the
sheath; I concluded by threatening again to possess myself of their
knife.
"I cannot decide," said the commissary, "before I have seen the sheath."
"I pledge my word to shew it to you to-morrow," I answered.
We parted company, highly pleased with each other.
In order to manufacture a sheath, such as the wonderful knife required,
it was necessary to combine the most whimsical idea with the oddest
shape. I recollected very well the form of the blade, and, as I was
revolving in my mind the best way to produce something very extravagant
but well adapted to the purpose I had in view, I spied in the yard of the
hotel an old piece of leather, the remnant of what had been a fine
gentleman's boot; it was exactly what I wanted.
I took that old sole, boiled it, and made in it a slit in which I was
certain that the knife would go easily. Then I pared it carefully on all
sides to prevent the possibility of its former use being found out; I
rubbed it with pumice stone, sand, and ochre, and finally I succeeded in
imparting to my production such a queer, old-fashioned shape that I could
not help laughing in looking at my work.
When I presented it to the commissary, and he had found it an exact fit
for the knife, the good man remained astounded. We dined together, and
after dinner it was decided that his son should accompany me, and
introduce me to the master of the house in which the treasure was buried,
that I was to receive a letter of exchange for one thousand Roman crowns,
drawn by the son on Bologna, which would be made payable to my name only
after I should have found the treasure, and that the knife with the
sheath would be delivered into my hands only when I should require it for
the great operation; until then the son was to retain possession of it.
Those conditions having been agreed upon, we made an agreement in
writing, binding upon all parties, and our departure was fixed for the
day after the morrow.
As we left Mantua, the father pronounced a fervent blessing over his
son's head, and told me that he was count palatine, shewing me the
diploma which he had received from the Pope. I embraced him, giving him
his title of count, and pocketed his letter of exchange.
After bidding adieu to Marina, who was then the acknowledged mistress of
Count Arcorati, and to Baletti whom I was sure of meeting again in Venice
before the end of the year, I went to sup with my friend O'Neilan.
We started early in the morning, travelled through Ferrara and Bologna,
and reached Cesena, where we put up at the posting-house. We got up early
the next day and walked quietly to the house of George Franzia, a wealthy
peasant, who was owner of the treasure. It was only a quarter of a mile
from the city, and the good man was agreeably surprised by our arrival.
He embraced Capitani, whom he knew already, and leaving me with his
family he went out with my companion to talk business.
Observant as usual, I passed the family in review, and fixed my choice
upon the eldest daughter. The youngest girl was ugly, and the son looked
a regular fool. The mother seemed to be the real master of the household,
and there were three or four servants going about the premises.
The eldest daughter was called Genevieve, or Javotte, a very common name
among the girls of Cesena. I told her that I thought her eighteen; but
she answered, in a tone half serious, half vexed, that I was very much
mistaken, for she had only just completed her fourteenth year.
"I am very glad it is so, my pretty child."
These words brought back her smile.
The house was well situated, and there was not another dwelling around it
for at least four hundred yards. I was glad to see that I should have
comfortable quarters, but I was annoyed by a very unpleasant stink which
tainted the air, and which could certainly not be agreeable to the
spirits I had to evoke.
"Madame Franzia," said I, to the mistress of the house, "what is the
cause of that bad smell?"
"Sir, it arises from the hemp which we are macerating."
I concluded that if the cause were removed, I should get rid of the
effect.
"What is that hemp worth, madam?" I enquired.
"About forty crowns."
"Here they are; the hemp belongs to me now, and I must beg your husband
to have it removed immediately."
Capitani called me, and I joined him. Franzia shewed me all the respect
due to a great magician, although I had not much the appearance of one.
We agreed that he should receive one-fourth of the treasure, Capitani
another fourth, and that the remainder should belong to me. We certainly
did not shew much respect for the rights of Saint Peter.
I told Franzia that I should require a room with two beds for myself
alone, and an ante-room with bathing apparatus. Capitani's room was to be
in a different part of the house, and my room was to be provided with
three tables, two of them small and one large. I added that he must at
once procure me a sewing-girl between the ages of fourteen and eighteen,
she was to be a virgin, and it was necessary that she should, as well as
every person in the house, keep the secret faithfully, in order that no
suspicion of our proceedings should reach the Inquisition, or all would
be lost.
"I intend to take up my quarters here to-morrow," I added; "I require two
meals every day, and the only wine I can drink is jevese. For my
breakfast I drink a peculiar kind of chocolate which I make myself, and
which I have brought with me. I promise to pay my own expenses in case we
do not succeed. Please remove the hemp to a place sufficiently distant
from the house, so that its bad smell may not annoy the spirits to be
evoked by me, and let the air be purified by the discharge of gunpowder.
Besides, you must send a trusty servant to-morrow to convey our luggage
from the hotel here, and keep constantly in the house and at my disposal
one hundred new wax candles and three torches."
After I had given those instructions to Franzia, I left him, and went
towards Cesena with Capitani, but we had not gone a hundred yards when we
heard the good man running after us.
"Sir," he said to me, "be kind enough to take back the forty crowns which
you paid to my wife for the hemp."
"No, I will not do anything of the sort, for I do not want you to sustain
any loss."
"Take them back, I beg. I can sell the hemp in the course of the day for
forty crowns without difficulty."
"In that case I will, for I have confidence in what you say."
Such proceedings on my part impressed the excellent man very favourably,
and he entertained the deepest veneration for me, which was increased,
when, against Capitani's advice, I resolutely refused one hundred sequins
which he wanted to force upon me for my travelling expenses. I threw him
into raptures by telling him that on the eve of possessing an immense
treasure, it was unnecessary to think of such trifles.
The next morning our luggage was sent for, and we found ourselves
comfortably located in the house of the wealthy and simple Franzia.
He gave us a good dinner, but with too many dishes, and I told him to be
more economical, and to give only some good fish for our supper, which he
did. After supper he told me that, as far as the young maiden was
concerned, he thought he could recommend his daughter Javotte, as he had
consulted his wife, and had found I could rely upon the girl being a
virgin.
"Very good," I said; "now tell me what grounds you have for supposing
that there is a treasure in your house?"
"In the first place, the oral tradition transmitted from father to son
for the last eight generations; in the second, the heavy sounds which are
heard under ground during the night. Besides, the door of the cellar
opens and shuts of itself every three or four minutes; which must
certainly be the work of the devils seen every night wandering through
the country in the shape of pyramidal flames."
"If it is as you say, it is evident that you have a treasure hidden
somewhere in your house; it is as certain as the fact that two and two
are four. Be very careful not to put a lock to the door of the cellar to
prevent its opening and shutting of itself; otherwise you would have an
earthquake, which would destroy everything here. Spirits will enjoy
perfect freedom, and they break through every obstacle raised against
them."
"God be praised for having sent here, forty years ago, a learned man who
told my father exactly the same thing! That great magician required only
three days more to unearth the treasure when my father heard that the
Inquisition had given orders to arrest him, and he lost no time in
insuring his escape. Can you tell me how it is that magicians are not
more powerful than the Inquisitors?"
"Because the monks have a greater number of devils under their command
than we have. But I feel certain that your father had already expended a
great deal of money with that learned man."
"About two thousand crowns."
"Oh! more, more."
I told Franzia to follow me, and, in order to accomplish something in the
magic line, I dipped a towel in some water, and uttering fearful words
which belonged to no human language, I washed the eyes, the temples, and
the chest of every person in the family, including Javotte, who might
have objected to it if I had not begun with her father, mother, and
brother. I made them swear upon my pocket-book that they were not
labouring under any impure disease, and I concluded the ceremony by
compelling Javotte to swear likewise that she had her maidenhood. As I
saw that she was blushing to the very roots of her hair in taking the
oath, I was cruel enough to explain to her what it meant; I then asked
her to swear again, but she answered that there was no need of it now
that she knew what it was. I ordered all the family to kiss me, and
finding that Javotte had eaten garlic I forbade the use of it entirely,
which order Franzia promised should be complied with.
Genevieve was not a beauty as far as her features were concerned; her
complexion was too much sunburnt, and her mouth was too large, but her
teeth were splendid, and her under lip projected slightly as if it had
been formed to receive kisses. Her bosom was well made and as firm as a
rock, but her hair was too light, and her hands too fleshy. The defects,
however, had to be overlooked, and altogether she was not an unpleasant
morsel. I did not purpose to make her fall in love with me; with a
peasant girl that task might have been a long one; all I wanted was to
train her to perfect obedience, which, in default of love, has always
appeared to me the essential point. True that in such a case one does not
enjoy the ecstatic raptures of love, but one finds a compensation in the
complete control obtained over the woman.
I gave notice to the father, to Capitani, and to Javotte, that each
would, in turn and in the order of their age, take supper with me, and
that Javotte would sleep every night in my ante-room, where was to be
placed a bath in which I would bathe my guest one half hour before
sitting down to supper, and the guest was not to have broken his fast
throughout the day.
I prepared a list of all the articles of which I pretended to be in need,
and giving it to Franzia I told him to go to Cesena himself the next day,
and to purchase everything without bargaining to obtain a lower price.
Among other things, I ordered a piece, from twenty to thirty yards long,
of white linen, thread, scissors, needles, storax, myrrh, sulphur, olive
oil, camphor, one ream of paper, pens and ink, twelve sheets of
parchment, brushes, and a branch of olive tree to make a stick of
eighteen inches in length.
After I had given all my orders very seriously and without any wish to
laugh, I went to bed highly pleased with my personification of a
magician, in which I was astonished to find myself so completely
successful.
The next morning, as soon as I was dressed, I sent for Capitani, and
commanded him to proceed every day to Cesena, to go to the best
coffee-house, to learn carefully every piece of news and every rumour,
and to report them to me.
Franzia, who had faithfully obeyed my orders, returned before noon from
the city with all the articles I had asked for.
"I have not bargained for anything," he said to me, "and the merchants
must, I have no doubt, have taken me for a fool, for I have certainly
paid one-third more than the things are worth."
"So much the worse for them if they have deceived you, but you would have
spoilt everything if you had beaten them down in their price. Now, send
me your daughter and let me be alone with her."
As soon as Javotte was in my room, I made her cut the linen in seven
pieces, four of five feet long, two of two feet, and one of two feet and
a half; the last one was intended to form the hood of the robe I was to
wear for the great operation. Then I said to Javotte:
"Sit down near my bed and begin sewing. You will dine here and remain at
work until the evening. When your father comes, you must let us be alone,
but as soon as he leaves me, come back and go to bed."
She dined in my room, where her mother waited on her without speaking,
and gave her nothing to drink except St. Jevese wine. Towards evening her
father came, and she left us.
I had the patience to wash the good man while he was in the bath, after
which he had supper with me; he ate voraciously, telling me that it was
the first time in his life that he had remained twenty-four hours without
breaking his fast. Intoxicated with the St. Jevese wine he had drunk, he
went to bed and slept soundly until morning, when his wife brought me my
chocolate. Javotte was kept sewing as on the day before; she left the
room in the evening when Capitani came in, and I treated him in the same
manner as Franzia; on the third day, it was Javotte's turn, and that had
been the object I had kept in view all the time.
When the hour came, I said to her,
"Go, Javotte, get into the bath and call me when you are ready, for I
must purify you as I have purified your father and Capitani."
She obeyed, and within a quarter of an hour she called me. I performed a
great many ablutions on every part of her body, making her assume all
sorts of positions, for she was perfectly docile, but, as I was afraid of
betraying myself, I felt more suffering than enjoyment, and my indiscreet
hands, running over every part of her person, and remaining longer and
more willingly on a certain spot, the sensitiveness of which is extreme,
the poor girl was excited by an ardent fire which was at last quenched by
the natural result of that excitement. I made her get out of the bath
soon after that, and as I was drying her I was very near forgetting magic
to follow the impulse of nature, but, quicker than I, nature relieved
itself, and I was thus enabled to reach the end of the scene without
anticipating the denouement. I told Javotte to dress herself, and to come
back to me as soon as she was ready.
She had been fasting all day, and her toilet did not take a long time.
She ate with a ferocious appetite, and the St. Jevese wine, which she
drank like water, imparted so much animation to her complexion that it
was no longer possible to see how sunburnt she was. Being alone with her
after supper, I said to her,
"My dear Javotte, have you been displeased at all I have compelled you to
submit to this evening?"
"Not at all; I liked it very much."
"Then I hope that you will have no objection to get in the bath with me
to-morrow, and to wash me as I have washed you."
"Most willingly, but shall I know how to do it well?"
"I will teach you, and for the future I wish you to sleep every night in
my room, because I must have a complete certainty that on the night of
the great operation I shall find you such as you ought to be."
From that time Javotte was at her ease with me, all her restraint
disappeared, she would look at me and smile with entire confidence.
Nature had operated, and the mind of a young girl soon enlarges its
sphere when pleasure is her teacher. She went to bed, and as she knew
that she had no longer anything to conceal from me, her modesty was not
alarmed when she undressed herself in my presence. It was very warm, any
kind of covering is unpleasant in the hot weather, so she stripped to the
skin and soon fell asleep. I did the same, but I could not help feeling
some regret at having engaged myself not to take advantage of the
position before the night of the great incantation. I knew that the
operation to unearth the treasure would be a complete failure, but I knew
likewise that it would not fail because Javotte's virginity was gone.
At day-break the girl rose and began sewing. As soon as she had finished
the robe, I told her to make a crown of parchment with seven long points,
on which I painted some fearful figures and hieroglyphs.
In the evening, one hour before supper, I got into the bath, and Javotte
joined me as soon as I called her. She performed upon me with great zeal
the same ceremonies that I had done for her the day before, and she was
as gentle and docile as possible. I spent a delicious hour in that bath,
enjoying everything, but respecting the essential point.
My kisses making her happy, and seeing that I had no objection to her
caresses, she loaded me with them. I was so pleased at all the amorous
enjoyment her senses were evidently experiencing, that I made her easy by
telling her that the success of the great magic operation depended upon
the amount of pleasure she enjoyed. She then made extraordinary efforts
to persuade me that she was happy, and without overstepping the limits
where I had made up my mind to stop, we got out of the bath highly
pleased with each other.
As we were on the point of going to bed, she said to me,
"Would it injure the success of your operation if we were to sleep
together?"
"No, my dear girl; provided you are a virgin on the day of the great
incantation, it is all I require."
She threw herself in my arms, and we spent a delightful night, during
which I had full opportunity of admiring the strength of her constitution
as well as my own restraint, for I had sufficient control over myself not
to break through the last obstacle.
I passed a great part of the following night with Franzia and Capitani in
order to see with my own eyes the wonderful things which the worthy
peasant had mentioned to me. Standing in the yard, I heard distinctly
heavy blows struck under the ground at intervals of three or four
minutes. It was like the noise which would be made by a heavy pestle
falling in a large copper mortar. I took my pistols and placed myself
near the self-moving door of the cellar, holding a dark lantern in my
hand. I saw the door open slowly, and in about thirty seconds closing
with violence. I opened and closed it myself several times, and, unable
to discover any hidden physical cause for the phenomenon, I felt
satisfied that there was some unknown roguery at work, but I did not care
much to find it out.
We went upstairs again, and, placing myself on the balcony, I saw in the
yard several shadows moving about. They were evidently caused by the
heavy and damp atmosphere, and as to the pyramidal flames which I could
see hovering over the fields, it was a phenomenon well known to me. But I
allowed my two companions to remain persuaded that they were the spirits
keeping watch over the treasure.
That phenomenon is very common throughout southern Italy where the
country is often at night illuminated by those meteors which the people
believe to be devils, and ignorance has called night spirits, or
will-o'-the-wisps.
Dear reader, the next chapter will tell you how my magic undertaking
ended, and perhaps you will enjoy a good laugh at my expense, but you
need not be afraid of hurting my feelings.