WE LIVE HAPPILY IN LUCCA
Whatever trick Virginia may have designed for the humiliation of the
cavaliere--and I never inquired of her what it was--it failed of any
apparent effect. He presented himself before us in the morning with
undisturbed serenity, and the same elaborate professions of good-will.
He was going, he said, to spend the day in my rehabilitation. "Be of
good cheer, my dear Don Francis," were his comfortable words, "for I
never yet failed a friend. It would, indeed--to put it at its lowest--be
a deplorable want of policy on my part, for since I wish to be thought a
gentleman, every act of my life must be more gentlemanlike than that of
the greatest gentleman in Europe. As you have found me hitherto, so you
shall find me now. Make me your banker at the tailor's, the
perruquier's, the barber's, the shirtmaker's, the hosier's, and the
hatter's. Add the shoemaker to your list, to oblige me. I go out to beat
at every influential door in Lucca in your favour. Before nightfall, you
shall have papers of identity and safe-conduct which will take you all
over our peninsula."
I thanked him, but declined any assistance whatsoever. I had money
enough for my needs; my wife was prepared to share the fortunes of her
husband. I said that I intended to take a small lodging, to settle
myself there, and by honest industry to make my way in the world. Both
of us could work; we had no desire for fine society; and as for
credentials, the excellency of our handiwork and our obedience to the
laws would be the best in the world.
He was vexed, and showed that he was. "As for your handiwork, my dear
sir," says he, "all that I have seen of it is that it has left you with
scarce a shirt to your back. Your respect for the law has induced you to
shoot a Capuchin in broad daylight, and forced you to leave Florence
disguised as a manservant. However, these things are no concern of mine.
Go your own way, young gentleman, consider me your friend, and permit me
to kiss your lady's hand, vowing myself her grateful and obliged servant
for more favours than perhaps you would care to hear recounted."
Scorning such insinuations as they deserved, Virginia held him out her
hand, which he kissed as if he would have bitten it. I ought to have
been warned by the glitter in his hard black eyes, but being conscious
of my moral altitude above the base wretch, I took no further notice of
him.
I had still in my possession my fifty guineas, with which, judiciously
laid out, I had no doubt but that we could make our way good in Lucca.
Full of hope, and fortified by all the privileges which the Church can
bestow upon a Christian, or a complaisant wife upon her husband, I set
about my business, which was to secure honourable employment for both of
us. After much discussion with Virginia and the exhibition of reasons on
my part with which I shall be less particular to trouble the reader,
since I have dwelt upon them more than once already, I decided to begin
in one of the humblest positions a man can take up. I would do
journeyman's work of any sort or kind until I had won what in the finer
walks of life we call the spurs. Not to be behind me in effort, Virginia
would work also. I hesitated for some time between the carpenter's and
the gardener's profession, for both of which I had always had an
aptitude; but the former had my choice. Virginia ultimately chose for
laundry-work, because that took her more into the open air, which she
dearly loved.
I remember that we came to these decisions, after a day or two of talk
about them, upon the grassy ramparts which overlooked the beautiful city
on one side and the green meads of the Serchio, with their background of
purple hills, on the other. It was there that Virginia, holding my hand
in hers, spoke in this manner. "Francis," said she, "my lord and master,
I have never yet asked you why you paid me the extreme honour of making
me your wife, when, as you know very well, I was yours to dispose of in
any other way you pleased; and I shall never ask you. It is enough for
me that you have raised a poor girl out of the mire and made her a proud
woman. But proud as I am--or because I am proud--I shall not forget to
be humble. Don't suppose that I think myself raised to your degree
because you have taken me in your arms; no, indeed, I am a little
peasant and shall always be a little peasant. If I was found good in
your eyes--as I am bound to believe I was--it was for that reason. Such
as I am, for such as you have taken me, I shall never fail you. I will
work the flesh off my bones for you, I will lie, cheat, steal, commit
any sin under the sky if you bid me. I am utterly yours to take or put
away, to live or die, for Heaven or Hell--you have only to require of
me. It is in my power to sink for your pleasure, for we can always go
lower than our best; but I cannot rise without you. If you ask me to set
up for a lady, I tell you plainly I cannot. Have patience with me,
Francis; do not condemn me to fail you. If I cannot rise, you must
stoop. If I cannot be a fine lady, you must be content to do without
your gentlehood. If I am a peasant, you must be a peasant. As such I
shall please you--I am certain of it. In any other way you will stab me
at every turn of your head. I shall break my back for you--and do well
in my own way; but in yours I shall break my heart--and not advantage
you one inch. Remember this too, that you may abandon me whenever you
please, and get no reproaches from me."
She spoke modestly, courageously, and well. I kissed her, saying, "You
are a good wife to me, Virginia. I agree with everything you say. Come,
my dear, kiss me. I think we shall be happy."
She dashed her hand across her eyes as if to fend off a sudden storm of
tears; then threw her arms round my neck and pressed me close to her
bosom. She kissed me a thousand times, eagerly and warmly. "I love you,
my lord, I love you, my saviour and king. If you are kind to me, I shall
die. Beat me, misuse me, neglect me, be unfaithful--it is your right--
and I shall serve you the better for it. But if you love me I cannot
bear it. I shall suffocate with joy--my heart will crack. O Francis,
Francis, wilt thou never understand thy poor girl?" All this time she
was straining me to her with frenzy, kissing me, almost blind with
tears. She was frantic, panting and struggling for breath. I had seen
her before in possession of this dangerous ecstasy of love, and though I
could not but love her for it in my turn, it was not the kind of
happiness I wished her to enjoy. Her scene ended in a very passion of
weeping, distressing to witness, but no doubt soothing; after which,
moaning like one sore beaten, she lay lax and languid in my arms. Deeply
touched, I laid her down upon the grass and watched her fade off into a
quieter sleep. In this state she lay for an hour of more, and awoke
refreshed, her usual shrewd and reticent self.
Therefore, loving, and being passionately loved in return, working
diligently at a clean trade, living in the sweat of my brow, owing no
man anything, the next few months of my life--few as they were, not more
than six all told--were some of the happiest I have ever spent. They
recalled those weeks at Pistoja, but only to excel them; for then I was
idle and Virginia not satisfied. Then I had none of the sweet uses of
domestic life--the hearth in common, and the heart too; the nuptial
sacraments of kiss and embrace, the united outlook, the rational hope of
increase. We forgot the world, which had forgotten us; our appetites
were simple and easily satisfied; we fed each other and knew deep
content. Happy, happy days at Lucca, too soon ended! We shared the uses
of a single room with a couple as young and newly wedded as ourselves,
rose at five in the morning, and worked at our employment until late in
the evening. We ate frugally, drank a little wine and water, loved
temperately, and slept profoundly. On Sundays and festivals we went to
Mass together, and spent our leisure in excursions in the fields and
pleasant groves with which Lucca is engirdled. We never ventured outside
the territory of the Republic, but felt secure within it, trusting to
our honest intentions, our simplicity and complete insignificance. Ah,
blessed content! Blessed, thrice blessed obscurity! Would to God that
you had been assured to us for ever! On rare occasions one or other of
us had sight of the Cavaliere Aquamorta, who maintained the same
magnificence at the Albergo del Sole, and was reputed to be making large
sums with his faro-bank. A new scheme of his for a State lottery upon a
scale never before conceived by this thrifty little State was said to be
under the consideration of the Senators. Working in my master's yard, I
used to see him now and again being carried in his chair to this great
house or that, half a dozen link-boys before him, and his valet behind
carrying his sword and gloves. Virginia often met him in the course of
her errands, but, as she said, was never recognised by him. We nattered
ourselves that he had forgotten our co-existence with him upon this
planet. Hope never stooped to falser cozenage; we were to be rudely
undeceived.