The room which the Earl of Gowrie entered was a small one of an
octagonal shape, having tall lancet windows on every side but one. It
had probably, at some period long past, been the interior of one of
those small projecting turrets which we still occasionally see
ornamenting the angles of the ancient castellated houses of the
Italian nobility. The bridge leading towards the Treviso gate, and the
small canal were underneath; the city walls rose up black beyond; but
the turret was high above, and through the windows, on every side but
that next to the city, were seen twinkling the bright and
multitudinous stars of heaven. In the centre of the room was a large
oaken table bearing a lamp, the flame of which was peculiarly bright
and perfectly white in colour, and over the rest of the table were
cast in strange confusion a number of curious objects. There were
books--some closed, but some open, and displaying characters with
which the young earl was perfectly unacquainted. One page was covered
all over with cyphers alternately of red and blue; and one was traced
with many mathematical figures, which, although the earl was well
versed in that science, seemed to him strange and new. Another
manuscript lay near, which he saw at once was written in Hebrew, but
there were others in which the lines ran from corner to corner of the
page, with such a multitude of strokes and flourishes, that the
letters themselves could hardly be distinguished. Scientific
instruments were there too, tossed about amongst the papers, with the
uses of many of which the young lord was unacquainted. There were
triangular glasses filled with sand, and glass globes, connected
together by a tube of the same substance, half filled with mercury.
Squares and triangles of brass covered over with curious signs were
there likewise; and round about the room, beneath shelves loaded with
ponderous volumes, were several globes, and instruments of a rude
construction for observing the stars. In one corner stood a small
furnace, with crucibles and retorts, and various other implements of
chemical or alchemical science; and on a small pedestal of black
marble between two of the windows was raised a crucifix of ebony and
ivory, supported by two heads of cherubim, exquisitely sculptured in
white marble, the one looking up towards the cross with a bright
smile, the other with the eyes bent down, as if weeping, and the whole
expression sad. At the foot of the crucifix lay a human skull.
At the moment the earl entered, the old man, Manucci, was seated on
the side of the table opposite to the door, with a reading desk
bearing up a large vellum-covered book before him, and a paper covered
with a strange-looking diagram on the table. He had a pen in one hand,
and a pair of compasses in the other; and without noticing, even by a
look, the young earl's entrance, he turned his eyes from time to time
to the book and then to the paper again, and once or twice inscribed a
figure of a curious form at the side of the diagram. Twice he paused
and listened, as if in expectation of some sound, and then laying down
the pen, he leaned his head upon his hand, and remained in silent
meditation.
At length the large bell of the Franciscan church of St. Antony struck
the hour of midnight, and all the other clocks in the city proclaimed
that a day was ending and beginning.
"Now," said Manucci, addressing the earl, "come hither, and sit beside
me. Here is the scheme of your nativity, drawn out carefully according
to the dates that you have given me. Of the past I will not speak;
for, as you have often told me the events which have occurred to you
at various periods of your life, perhaps in drawing deductions from
the aspect of the stars, my judgment might be somewhat guided by the
knowledge I already possessed. It is sufficient, however, that to any
one who is acquainted, even superficially, with this science, it would
plainly appear, that the aspect of the stars in the month of October,
1593, menaced you with great danger, and that in '94, towards the end
of the year, you were clearly destined to quit your native land. Of
the future, however, I must speak more strongly; for times of great
trial to you are coming. Look at these menacing aspects, and judge for
yourself."
"I know so little of the science," replied the earl, "that I cannot
pretend to form a just opinion; but it seems to me, from the little I
do know, that here," and he laid his finger on a part of the diagram,
"is the promise of much happiness, honour, and peace, and love."
"Ay," said Manucci, "but look farther. Here is honour, and peace, and
love, but hardly has the sun of next year touched his extreme point
north, when see what menacing aspects appear. Almost every planet is
in opposition in your house. Do you not see?"
"I do, indeed," answered the earl; "but yet it is nearly
unintelligible to me. I beseech you read it, according to your skill."
"It is dark and yet clear," said the old man. "This, however, I can
tell with certainty, that the greatest point of peril in your whole
life, lies between the end of June next year and the anniversary of
this day. The danger shall come upon you in the midst of peace and
tranquillity, when all things seem to promise fair. If you escape that
period, the rest of existence shall be bright and happy, your life
shall be long and prosperous, and fortune shall smile upon you to the
end; but there is great peril there."
"But how shall I avoid it?" asked the earl. "Can you give me no
indication for my guidance? Can you not tell me what is the nature of
the peril, from whom or whence it comes?"
Manucci mused. "It is not war," he said, "for Mars is low down. I
should say that policy had to do with it, that the danger is more of
conspiracy than of war."
The young earl smiled; but Manucci went on, in the same sort of musing
way. "Love, too," he said, "has a share in the evil, though indirect;
but conspiracy assuredly, from the menacing aspect of Saturn. Avoid, I
beseech you, avoid all meddling with the politics of your native land;
scrupulously and carefully eschew treason, or anything that may be so
construed; listen not even to the words of conspirators, take no part
in their counsels, drive them forth from your presence if they seek to
tempt you, and so I trust you may escape the peril; but if not, you
will certainly fall, for the anger of a king evidently threatens you;
and the cause of danger is conspiracy, goaded on by love."
"Safely and surely can I promise," answered the earl, "for I have long
made up my mind to avoid all plots, and to take no share of any kind
in aught but the ordinary business of the day. My family have suffered
too much already from their dealings with that foul fiend, Policy,
which ever proves the ruin of those who give themselves up to her, who
soothes them with hopes but to deceive them, and raises them up but to
dash them down. Neither have I ever seen or heard of one benefit
procured for the country by the blood of all the patriots who have
fallen in defending their fellow citizens' rights, still less by that
of those who have suffered base personal ambition to lead them into
schemes of treason and disloyalty under the pretence of redressing
grievances. There comes a pitch of tyranny sometimes, it is true, when
it is necessary to dare all and to risk all for security, liberty, and
repose; but it very, very seldom happens, in the ordinary course of
events, that anything can be gained by revolt, which can compensate
even for a few days of turbulence, anarchy, or civil war. Nothing of
the kind exists at present, or is likely to exist, to justify anything
like conspiracy or rebellion. Make your mind easy then, as far as I am
concerned; for I can safely promise to avoid everything which can
afford even a reasonable cause of suspicion."
"Thank God that it is so," answered Manucci, solemnly; "but ever keep
in mind what I have said. Think of it every day. Remember it on every
occasion; for I have told you that the peril will come suddenly, and
probably, therefore, the temptation also. If you attend to my warning,
and thus escape the danger, you will have to thank me for long years
afterwards. Therefore now sit down here in my seat, and copy
accurately that which is there written. Keep it constantly about you,
refer to it often, and thus will you ever be upon your guard."
"If your warning prove effectual," replied Lord Gowrie, "I shall owe
you, my dear friend, much indeed; and I only wish you would tell me
how I can repay the service."
"Perhaps I may--perhaps I may," said the old man; "but copy that
quickly, then we will talk more."
Lord Gowrie sat down to copy the paper; but it occupied him during a
longer time than he had imagined, and in the meantime, a little scene
had taken place in the kitchen of the house, which ultimately took a
direction towards the same subjects which closed his conference with
Manucci.
Left alone in the dark, worthy Austin Jute waited with exemplary
patience till the old woman who had opened the door, returned with a
lamp, and invited him to come and take some supper with her in the
kitchen.
"One cannot have too much of a good thing," said the Englishman, for
such he was, in his own tongue; "but then again, another proverb says,
'Enough is as good as a feast;' and to speak the truth, I have supped;
but 'a full bag is better than an empty sack;' and, for that matter,
no one knows when he has had enough, and therefore I cannot be
supposed to be a judge in a case of conscience."
This reasoning was addressed to himself rather than to the old lady
who stood by his side, listening to all he had to say with an air of
the most perfect unconsciousness, waiting for the time when it should
be his pleasure to explain himself in Italian.
"Well, ma'am, I will come," he replied, in the latter language, which,
by the way, he spoke remarkably well. "My stomach says it would not
object to any reasonable quantity of good food, and still less to a
cup or two of good wine. I will follow you, and if----"
But the servant, accustomed to see many strange people, and to hear
many foreign languages, seemed to comprehend his meaning as much by
his looks as his words, and beckoning him to come on before he had
ended his sentence, she led the way towards her refectory. The fare
she spread before him was not very abundant nor very rich, but it was
refreshing, for fruit was ever cheap at Padua, and of such consisted
the principal part of their meal. Austin Jute was a man to make
himself easily at home wherever he came, and though, to say truth, he
might have been well pleased if his companion had been younger and
prettier, nevertheless he was soon in full talk with the old woman;
and when a little bell rang above for refreshments there, he helped
her to arrange the dishes and place the glasses with their long
stalks, as willingly and cheerily as if she had been sixteen.
"There now, Tita," he said, as she lifted the tray, "put the other
side with the bottles next to you. Always, in life and on a tray,
place the load where it is easiest borne. Two hands are enough when we
know how to use them, but four are better when work is plenty: so I'll
go and open the doors for you, for there seem many in your house."
As may well be supposed, Master Austin was now in high favour with the
good dame; for age receives as a boon what youth exacts as a tribute;
and when she rejoined him after carrying in the supper, she said, in a
low voice, "Well, your lord is certainly one of the handsomest,
noblest-looking cavaliers I ever saw; and so frank and friendly in his
way. He always speaks to me as if I were an old friend, and not a poor
servant."
"Like master, like man, my dear," replied Austin Jute; "birds of a
feather flock together. Like sticks to like. That is the reason my
master and I are so fond of each other; but I hope there is somebody
else fond of him too, for I saw, as you came out, such a beautiful
pair of eyes outshining the lamp, that I now understand very well why
my lord came back to Padua, and why he used to come hither almost
every night when he was here before, with that dull-looking fellow,
Martini, after him, like an ill-conditioned cur running at the heels
of a fine horse."
"I never liked that man," said the old woman, seating herself on her
stool in the kitchen. "I am glad your lord has not brought him
to-night."
"He could not bring him if he had wished it," replied Austin; "he
would have tumbled to pieces by the way. He was hanged two months ago
at Geneva, for robbing a gentleman who was in the same inn with us. My
master would never believe he was a rogue till he saw him hanging,
though, when he fell out of the ferry-boat into the Po, and floated
like a bad egg, I told the noble earl, that he who is born to be
hanged will never be drowned. They hanged him at last, however, and
made the proverb good."
"I dare say they were quite right," said the old woman, in a
moralizing mood; "though people who are set to do justice, often do
great injustice. Do you know, they came and wanted to drag my good old
master away, who is as honest a man and as good a Christian as any in
Padua; and they would have done it, too, and most likely put him to
the rack, if it had not been for the courage and kindness of one of
your countrymen, a student here, called Hume, and the wit and
lightness of the Signora Julia."
"Yes, I heard of all that Signor Hume did," replied Jute, "for he told
my master while I was sitting in the ante-room, with nothing but a
thin door between; for you know, Tita, though everything is made for
one purpose, most of them will serve two. But what did the young lady
do?"
"The moment she heard the noise," replied the old woman, "she ran and
shut the door across the passage which leads to the study. So they
found nothing but some scraps of old papers that were in the room
where my poor master was ill in bed; for that door shuts so close that
no one can tell it from the wainscot, and having no keyhole, but a
spring lock, they thought the passage ended there. If they had got
into the study there would have been fine to do, for there are all
manner of strange things there, which are as innocent and as holy as
the _bambino_, I will vow; but nobody understands them but my master,
and everything people don't understand they think wicked."
This sage and just observation did not lead Austin Jute from the track
he was following; for, to say sooth, curiosity was one of his
failings, and the sight of so beautiful a face as he had seen in the
room above, had stimulated that very ticklish quality till he could
not resist it. "Ah, she is a charming creature, I am sure," he said;
"it is true, all is not gold that glitters; and handsome is who
handsome does. The devil will take an angel's form at times. The frock
does not make the monk; but still she looked so sweet and sad, I am
sure she is very amiable. Many a one, Donna Tita, looks gay and
cheerful, and many a one looks pleasant and merry, and is but a sour
devil after all; but it is a good heart that looks sad for other
people's sorrows. Besides, my master would not be so fond of her if
she were not an angel. But who is she? Is she the old signor's
daughter?"
"And is your master so fond of her, then?" said the old woman, without
answering his question. "Are you sure he has never been straying after
other women, all this long time while he has been away?"
"Not once, upon my word," replied Austin, with a solemn air, laying
his hand upon his left breast. "Lord bless you, since he knew the
signora, he has become as discreet as a bell-wether. Why, he sent me
out of Genoa for six weeks, just for pinching the cheek of Ninette
Bar, the daughter of the innkeeper, and putting my lips too near those
of Rosalie, the smith's niece. It is true that I had to break the head
of Jerome, and whack Rosalie's lover in self-defence; for it came to
crabstick. But as for my lord, he passed all his time at the house of
an old gentleman called Beza, where fewer women got in than get into a
monkery--though he used to have as gay a heart as the gayest once on a
time."
"Then why did he go away, and stay away so long, if he is so fond of
her?" asked the old lady, who had her own share of curiosity as well
as Austin Jute.
"Nay! gads my life! you must ask that of the earl himself," replied
the man, "for I am not his father confessor. Perhaps the lady was
cold, for you women will have your whimsies. Dear creatures, you would
not be half so charming without."
The compliment oblique is almost always sure to go deeper than the
direct; and good Tita, though she had long lost any external claims to
the title of a charming creature, included herself comfortably in the
general category, and felt her heart open towards her companion. "No,
no," she answered, "she is not cold--to him, at least; and how should
she be, when she scarcely ever saw a young man before? He is not so
bad looking either, and a kind heart too; and as for whimsies, dear
child, she has none, and never had. She lay in my arms when she was
two years old, and that is sixteen years since."
"Upon my life, the old gentleman must have taken to matrimony late in
life, to have a daughter of eighteen, when he is eighty," said Austin
Jute, laughing.
The shot took effect.
"His daughter, you foolish knave!" cried the old lady, "she is not his
daughter!--His daughter's daughter, if you will."
"Well, there would be no great harm in it, if she were his daughter,"
answered Jute; "so you need not look so angry, my dear; many a man
marries at sixty for the consolation of life, or at least of the
little bit of life that remains. Better late than never, men say. I
would rather come in at the end of the dinner than see no dinner at
all. It is never too dark to see one's way, if one has but a lantern;
and if we have gone on wrong from the beginning, why should we not try
to get right at the end?--And so the young lady's name is not Manucci,
after all?"
"Her mother's was," answered Tita. "Poor thing, I remember her well.
When she gave the child into my hands," she said, "Take care of her,
Tita, for she will soon have no mother to do so, and no father has she
ever known."
"Oh, ho!" said Austin Jute, with a peculiar expression of countenance;
but the old woman's black eyes flashed fire. "Out, knave!" she said,
without allowing him to finish the sentence; "would you slander a
saint in heaven?"
The next moment, however, her face resumed its ordinary expression,
and she said, "I spoke foolishly. I should have told you, the babe's
father died on the day that she was born. The mother never held her
head up after; and she kept her word with me too truly; for scarcely
four months were gone by, ere we laid her in Campo Santo."
"Poor thing!" said Austin Jute, in so natural a tone of pity, that all
remains of anger were banished from Tita's heart. "How did the lady's
husband die? Was it in battle or of disease?"
"By the axe, young man--by the axe," replied Tita, sharply; "a
plaything with which people in your country sport even more than we do
here in Italy--at least I have heard so; for I know nothing of any
other land but my own; but I have heard the Signor say that there has
been sufficient innocent blood shed upon the scaffold in England and
Scotland to bring down a curse upon the country."
"Upon my life, he said true," replied Austin Jute; "for I have seen a
few heads roll in my own day, and have always thought it a pity that
people cannot find some other means of putting those out of the way
who stand in their light, but by cutting them on the back of the neck.
Were men's heads no better than turnips, we could not treat them more
carelessly than we do in our little island. Poor child, her
misfortunes came early; and I hope and trust that she got over them
all at once. People must eat black bread, they say, at one time of
their life; and it is better to swallow it before we have tasted any
other, than to eat the white bread first, and then have the other
after."
"God send that it be so with her," said the old woman, "for a dearer,
sweeter girl never lived."
"And, after all, what is her name?" said Austin Jute, in that quiet
sort of easy tone which so often leads on confidence; but good old
Tita answered quietly, with a shrewd glance of the eye, "Julia, to be
sure--the Lady Julia. That has been enough for me all my life; and it
should be enough for you too, I think."
"Enough is as good as a feast," answered Austin Jute; but as he saw he
could gain no more information he dropped the subject, and began to
wonder at the length of his lord's visit.