Valeria did not quickly fall asleep; there was a faint and languid fever in
her blood and a slight ringing in her ears ... from that strange wine, as
she supposed, and perhaps too from Muzzio’s stories, from his playing on
the violin ... towards morning she did at last fall asleep, and she had an
extraordinary dream.
She dreamt that she was going into a large room with a low ceiling.... Such
a room she had never seen in her life. All the walls were covered with tiny
blue tiles with gold lines on them; slender carved pillars of alabaster
supported the marble ceiling; the ceiling itself and the pillars seemed
half transparent ... a pale rosy light penetrated from all sides into the
room, throwing a mysterious and uniform light on all the objects in it;
brocaded cushions lay on a narrow rug in the very middle of the floor,
which was smooth as a mirror. In the corners almost unseen were smoking
lofty censers, of the shape of monstrous beasts; there was no window
anywhere; a door hung with a velvet curtain stood dark and silent in a
recess in the wall. And suddenly this curtain slowly glided, moved aside
... and in came Muzzio. He bowed, opened his arms, laughed.... His fierce
arms enfolded Valeria’s waist; his parched lips burned her all over.... She
fell backwards on the cushions.
* * * * *
Moaning with horror, after long struggles, Valeria awaked. Still not
realising where she was and what was happening to her, she raised herself
on her bed, looked round.... A tremor ran over her whole body ... Fabio was
lying beside her. He was asleep; but his face in the light of the brilliant
full moon looking in at the window was pale as a corpse’s ... it was sadder
than a dead face. Valeria waked her husband, and directly he looked at
her. ‘What is the matter?’ he cried. ‘I had--I had a fearful dream,’ she
whispered, still shuddering all over.
But at that instant from the direction of the pavilion came floating
powerful sounds, and both Fabio and Valeria recognised the melody Muzzio
had played to them, calling it the song of blissful triumphant love. Fabio
looked in perplexity at Valeria ... she closed her eyes, turned away, and
both holding their breath, heard the song out to the end. As the last
note died away, the moon passed behind a cloud, it was suddenly dark in
the room.... Both the young people let their heads sink on their pillows
without exchanging a word, and neither of them noticed when the other fell
asleep.
V
The next morning Muzzio came in to breakfast; he seemed happy and greeted
Valeria cheerfully. She answered him in confusion--stole a glance at
him--and felt frightened at the sight of that serene happy face, those
piercing and inquisitive eyes. Muzzio was beginning again to tell some
story ... but Fabio interrupted him at the first word.
‘You could not sleep, I see, in your new quarters. My wife and I heard you
playing last night’s song.’
‘Yes! Did you hear it?’ said Muzzio. ‘I played it indeed; but I had been
asleep before that, and I had a wonderful dream too.’
Valeria was on the alert. ‘What sort of dream?’ asked Fabio.
‘I dreamed,’ answered Muzzio, not taking his eyes off Valeria, ‘I was
entering a spacious apartment with a ceiling decorated in Oriental fashion,
carved columns supported the roof, the walls were covered with tiles, and
though there were neither windows nor lights, the whole room was filled
with a rosy light, just as though it were all built of transparent stone.
In the corners, Chinese censers were smoking, on the floor lay brocaded
cushions along a narrow rug. I went in through a door covered with a
curtain, and at another door just opposite appeared a woman whom I once
loved. And so beautiful she seemed to me, that I was all aflame with my old
love....’
Muzzio broke off significantly. Valeria sat motionless, and only gradually
she turned white ... and she drew her breath more slowly.
‘Then,’ continued Muzzio, ‘I waked up and played that song.’
‘But who was that woman?’ said Fabio.
‘Who was she? The wife of an Indian--I met her in the town of Delhi.... She
is not alive now--she died.’
‘And her husband?’ asked Fabio, not knowing why he asked the question.
‘Her husband, too, they say is dead. I soon lost sight of them both.’
‘Strange!’ observed Fabio. ‘My wife too had an extraordinary dream last
night’--Muzzio gazed intently at Valeria--‘which she did not tell me,’
added Fabio.
But at this point Valeria got up and went out of the room. Immediately
after breakfast, Muzzio too went away, explaining that he had to be in
Ferrara on business, and that he would not be back before the evening.