Maria Carolina was not exactly insane, but she was entirely unbalanced,
and seemed to have no sane judgment in ordinary matters. Her first
outbursts of grief had subsided into a profound religious melancholy,
and she insisted upon being taken to a convent in which she might end
her days in peace. She seemed utterly regardless of the fact that her
daughter would be left alone until her surviving brother came back, if
he ever returned at all, and that such a man, even as she knew him, was
no fit guardian for a young girl. The doctors said that in all
probability, if she were not allowed to do what she wished, she would
really go mad, in her present state. They suggested that she should
retire to one of the convents where ladies were received who wished to
go into a religious retreat, and that one of the Sisters of the Bon
Secours should obtain permission to live with Vittoria for a few days
until her brother arrived.
Vittoria, worn out with anxiety and sorrow, did not know how to face
this new difficulty. Miss Lizzie Slayback insisted that she should come
and stay with her and her aunt at the hotel. After a little hesitation,
she accepted, for it seemed the only solution of the difficulty. The
American girl had become sincerely attached to her Italian friend, and
felt herself drawn to Vittoria for the sake of having been on the point
of marrying Tebaldo, a state of mind which is natural to some characters
and utterly unnatural to others. It was a generous impulse, at all
events.
Vittoria went with her mother to the convent and helped her to install
herself, and on the same afternoon she moved with her maid to the Hotel
Bristol. She was like a lovely shadow.
'I am so tired,' she said, when she sat down at last beside Miss
Lizzie.
'Rest, dear, rest,' answered the American girl, drawing the weary head
down to her shoulder.
As the hours went by, and she felt the freedom of not being obliged to
go back to the sadness of her mother's society, Vittoria revived a
little. But her life was almost more than she could bear. The papers had
been full of the capture of Mauro's band, and of her brother's share in
it, for the story had spread like wildfire over Sicily. Even the Roman
papers made scathing allusions to Tebaldo's possible relations with the
brigands, and while congratulating the government on its victory, made
sarcastic enquiries into the state of the betrayer's conscience. It was
indeed hard for Vittoria to bear. She had no news of Tebaldo himself,
who seemed to have disappeared mysteriously. Her mother had practically
abandoned her in her selfish and half-insane sorrow. She felt herself
utterly alone in the world.
Orsino gravely read the articles in the papers, and wished that he could
silence them for Vittoria's sake. Had there ever been so much as a
mention of her name, or even of her mother's, he would have taken active
measures to do so. But the editors were careful never to allude to
Tebaldo's family, and it was out of the question to hinder them from
speaking of him as they chose. So far as Orsino knew, the man was quite
able to defend himself.
Sant' Ilario read the accounts aloud to his father and to Corona.
Sometimes Ippolito listened, but Orsino always made an excuse for
leaving the room, preferring to read the news for himself.
There was a perpetual subdued anxiety in the great household, on
Ippolito's account, with an eager expectation that in the course of the
present events the mystery of Francesco's death should be cleared up.
Their friends looked upon the affair very much as though it had taken
place in Africa or the South Seas, for Sicily seems very remote to Roman
society. They laughed at the idea that Ippolito could really ever be
brought to trial. Even the Minister of Justice, who was a friend of
Sant' Ilario's, smiled and said that the law had means of putting off
the trial for a long time in order that satisfactory evidence might be
obtained. But no such evidence was forthcoming. The judge who had heard
the case in Messina had been to Santa Vittoria, but had met with the
most complete substantiation of Tebaldo's own story. He had not even
thought of causing the grating under the altar to be opened. Nothing new
transpired, and Ippolito resolutely held his tongue. In order to avoid
being questioned by his many acquaintances, he saw as few people as he
could, and spent much time over his music in Orsino's room. The two
brothers were as fond of each other as ever, but when they were together
they were much more silent than formerly. The secret preoccupation of
each conflicted with that of the other, and the peace between them
depended upon silence for its security.
Nor did anyone in the household know that Orsino had seen Vittoria
several times at Mrs. Slayback's, still less that the American lady and
her niece always managed to leave the two alone together for a while on
such occasions. Orsino was determined that nothing should come between
him and Vittoria, but at the present juncture it was impossible for him
to insist upon his family's consent to his marriage.
Vittoria, on her side, had given up all hope, though her love gained
upon her sorrows in the struggle for her soul. She was too lonely not to
love her love for its companionship, too weary not to love Orsino for
his strength, and yet too desolate to believe that happiness could wait
for her while the cruel hours and days crawled slowly on.
It had seemed easy long ago--a month or a little more, at most--when
Orsino had first gone to Sicily. It had seemed possible when he had come
back that first time, even though he had killed her own brother in
self-defence. But there was no more possibility now. She felt that this
was the end of her race. Some fearful thing must happen to Tebaldo, and
she should be left alone, the last of the long and evil line of the
Corleone. It would be better for her, too, to go back to the convent, to
the dear old nuns who knew her and had loved her and would take her back
as a sister, now, to end her days in peace and innocence and devotion.
Her name should be forgotten, and while she lived she could pray that
the evil of it might be forgiven and the remembrance of it blotted out
among men.
Once or twice she had spoken in this way to Orsino, but he had stopped
her suddenly and almost roughly. Come what might, he meant to marry her,
and he would. That was all he said, but he meant it, and she had moments
of belief when she heard the words and saw his face.
He admitted, when she pressed him, that neither his father nor his
mother would at present give their consent, and that there was little to
choose between them, and that they were people whose minds being once
made up, would not easily change. And Vittoria sadly answered that they
were right, and that she should feel and act as Corona did, were she in
Corona's place. Yet still Orsino smiled gravely and said that they
should not hinder him at the last, for that he, too, had made up his
mind, and that he was their son and like them, and could be as stubborn
as they. Vittoria could not say that Orsino had once wavered in his
determination since that night when he had kissed her on the bridge
outside the ballroom. He was always the same, and it was small wonder
that her weariness should find rest in his strength. But when he was
gone, her courage sank again.
She was seated alone one afternoon in Mrs. Slayback's drawing-room. The
two ladies were out, but Vittoria would not drive with them in their big
open carriage, to meet her old acquaintances and to feel that she was
pointed out as the sister of Tebaldo Pagliuca, who had betrayed Mauro
and his band. She went for little walks in the morning with Miss Lizzie,
before it was hot, and sometimes in the afternoon she took a closed cab
and drove to the convent to see her mother. To-day she was at home, and
she had come into the drawing-room and established herself in the corner
of a sofa, with a book, trying to read. But she could not care for what
the book said, and the volume dropped upon her lap, while her head fell
back and the low sunlight filtered through the blinds and gilded her
brown hair, leaving her sad young face all in the shadow.
Suddenly the door opened wide, and one of the servants of the hotel
announced a visitor, in a pompous tone.
'The Signorina Basili!' he said, waited for Aliandra to enter, and he
closed the door.
Aliandra came in swiftly and stood before Vittoria, who half rose from
her seat, startled by the singer's sudden appearance. Aliandra held
something in her hand. She had never seen Vittoria, and the sunlight
made the girl's hair look fair. She had ordered the servant to show her
to Miss Slayback's drawing-room without announcing her, and she
naturally took Vittoria for Miss Lizzie. Her handsome face was faintly
flushed with anger and excitement, and her dark eyes gleamed.
'I have brought you this,' she said, holding out the Moscio's parcel,
'from the man who has deceived us both, who wished to marry you and ruin
me, who has come back to marry you now--'
'Who? What?' asked Vittoria, half frightened, but mechanically taking
the parcel.
'Tebaldo Pagliuca,' answered Aliandra, too much excited to notice that
Vittoria spoke in Italian with an Italian's accent. 'Tebaldo Pagliuca,
who betrayed his friends the outlaws to death, Tebaldo Pagliuca, who is
trying to marry you for your fortune, Tebaldo Pagliuca, who killed his
own brother Francesco on the steps of the altar with the knife that is
in that package--'
'Merciful God!' The young girl's voice rang breaking through the room,
as she sank back.
'Tebaldo Pagliuca, who confessed the crime to the priest,' continued
Aliandra, working herself into a fury, 'who accused the priest of the
murder, knowing that he would die with the secret rather than betray a
confession--Tebaldo Pagliuca, the traitor, the betrayer, the false
accuser, the murderer! The story is there, with the knife, in the
paper--read it, and give him his answer when he comes to-day to kiss
your hands--'
'Mercy of Heaven! Mercy of God!' moaned Vittoria, still too strong to
faint or not to hear and understand every word.
Aliandra believed that she had done what she had come to do. She had
foiled Tebaldo effectually and for ever in any attempt he might make to
marry the American heiress. With a glance at the girl's bent head, and
at the soft, brown hair that looked so fair in the flecks of sunshine,
she turned and left the room as quickly as she had entered it.
Vittoria started as she heard the door close, looked up, and then
glanced at the package in her hand. She did not quite remember what she
did after that, till she found herself locked into her own room,
breaking the violet seals from the brown paper, cutting the string with
her nail scissors, tearing the stout paper to pieces with her little
hands, her heart beating with horror and her eyes already frightened by
the expectation of the knife they were to see. She saw it, a moment
later, and then her heart stood still, for she had seen it many times in
Tebaldo's room, during that winter, and once she had borrowed it of him
to cut a strong cord from a parcel.
Then came the letter, and the long and painful reading of the hideous
tale. She spent a terrible half-hour, and then she sat still for a long
time, and her face was almost restful. At last she rose, quite calm and
decided, and began to dress herself to go out. In a quarter of an hour
she was ready, and she went downstairs alone and told the porter to get
her a cab.
'Palazzo Saracinesca,' she said to the cabman, 'and drive under the
gate!'
She went up the great staircase and asked for Corona. The footman
hesitated to say whether the Princess would receive or not. Vittoria
fixed her eyes on him and spoke quietly in a tone he understood.
'Be good enough to take me to the Princess's room,' she said. 'The
matter is urgent.'
She followed the man through the long succession of state drawing-rooms
till he knocked at a side door, and immediately opened it inwards.
Corona was at her table writing a note. She looked up quickly, bending
her brows, and rose rather formally. She had always liked Vittoria for
herself, but she had good cause to hate her name, and she had avoided
the possibility of meeting the lonely girl of late. Vittoria went
forward and spoke first.
'I should not have come to you for a small matter,' she said. 'But I
have come to make a reparation.'
'There is none to make,' answered Corona. 'You have done nothing--' She
paused, not understanding.
'You shall see. Will you sit down? It may take some time to explain--or,
rather, to read. There is only one question which I must ask you first.
Has Don Ippolito been acquitted or not?'
Corona's face darkened.
'He has not,' she answered. 'He is at liberty on San Giacinto's
security.'
'Here are the proofs of his innocence,' said Vittoria, simply, as she
produced her package and laid it on Corona's lap.
Corona opened her eyes in surprise, and her expression changed.
'My brother Tebaldo did it,' continued Vittoria. 'He forced your son, as
a priest, to hear his confession, because Don Ippolito surprised him in
the church. Then he accused him of the murder, knowing that he would
keep the secret.'
Corona stared, realised what the girl meant, and suddenly grasped her
wrist, looking into her face. She saw the truth there, but Vittoria
understood the doubt.
'When you have read, you will understand better,' said the young girl,
pointing to the package.
Corona said nothing, but her fingers were quick to find the letter.
Vittoria rose softly and went to the window and looked out. Her hands
rested on the cold stone sill and twitched nervously from time to time,
but she would not turn round. She knew that what was shame and horror to
her, was the joy of heaven to the mother of the accused man. Corona read
in silence, intently, quickly, almost desperately.
She was a generous woman. When she had finished, and the weight had
fallen from her heart at last, she rose and went to Vittoria. The girl
heard her step and turned. Corona was holding out both hands.
'What shall I do to make you know how grateful I am?' she asked.
'What should you do?' asked Vittoria, sadly. 'It was justice, so I came
at once. The great singer--the Basili--came into the room an hour ago. I
was alone. She took me for Miss Slayback, with whom I am staying, and
before I could speak she had told the truth and given me the package and
was gone. So I brought it to you. I trust you to spare my poor brother
if you can. Keep the secret, if you can, now that you know the truth.
Perhaps something else may prove Don Ippolito innocent long before the
trial. But if nothing else will do--why then, you have his innocence in
your hands.'
'Where is he?' asked Corona. 'Where is your brother?'
'I do not know. It is several days since he has telegraphed. He never
writes. The Basili spoke as though he were in Rome, but I do not think
he is. I will go home, please. I am a little tired. You will keep the
secret if you can, will you not?'
'Yes. No one shall know it unless it is necessary. But you, child--'
She put her arm round Vittoria, for the girl looked shadowy and faint as
she leaned against the table by the window. Vittoria straightened
herself, and opened and shut her eyes once or twice as though waking.
'There is nothing the matter,' she said rather proudly. 'I am very well.
I am glad that you are happy.'
'You have given me back my life,' answered Corona. 'Some day--but there
are no thanks for such things.'
Vittoria began to go towards the door. She wanted no thanks, yet somehow
she had hoped that Corona would speak differently, remembering how she
had once been left by her with Orsino in that very room. The Princess
walked with her to the hall.
'I shall not forget this, my dear,' she said, almost solemnly, as she
pressed the passive little hand. 'I shall come and see you soon.'
As Vittoria drove back to the Piazza Barberini, she felt as though the
very desolation of loneliness were beside her in the shabby little cab.
But Corona had never been a woman of many words, and she meant more than
she said when she told Vittoria that she should not forget.