NISIDA AND THE CARMELITE ABBESS.
Punctually at midday, the Lady Nisida of Riverola proceeded, alone and
unattended, to the Convent of Carmelite Nuns, where she was immediately
admitted into the presence of the abbess.
The superior of this monastic establishment, was a tall, thin,
stern-looking woman, with a sallow complexion, an imperious compression
of the lips, and small, grey eyes, that seemed to flicker with malignity
rather than to beam with the pure light of Christian love.
She was noted for the austerity of her manners, the rigid discipline
which she maintained in the convent, and the inexorable disposition
which she showed toward those who, having committed a fault, came within
her jurisdiction.
Rumor was often busy with the affairs of the Carmelite Convent; and the
grandams and gossips of Florence would huddle together around their
domestic hearths, on the cold winter's evenings, and venture mysterious
hints and whispers of strange deeds committed within the walls of that
sacred institution; how from time to time some young and beautiful nun
had suddenly disappeared, to the surprise and alarm of her companions;
how piercing shrieks had been heard to issue from the interior of the
building, by those who passed near it at night,--and how the inmates
themselves were often aroused from their slumbers by strange noises
resembling the rattling of chains, the working of ponderous machinery,
and the revolution of huge wheels.
Such food for scandal as those mysterious whispers supplied, was not
likely to pass without exaggeration; and that love of the marvelous
which inspired the aforesaid gossips, led to the embellishment of the
rumors just glanced at--so that one declared with a solemn shake of the
head, how spirits were seen to glide around the convent walls at
night--and another averred that a nun, with whom she was acquainted, had
assured her that strange and unearthly forms were often encountered by
those inmates of the establishment who were hardy enough to venture into
the chapel, or to traverse the long corridors or gloomy cloisters after
dusk.
These vague and uncertain reports did not, however, prevent some of the
wealthiest families in Florence from placing their daughters in the
Carmelite Convent. A nobleman or opulent citizen who had several
daughters, would consider it a duty to devote one of them to the service
of the church; and the votive girl was most probably compelled to
perform her novitiate and take the veil in this renowned establishment.
It was essentially the convent patronized by the aristocracy; and no
female would be received within its walls save on the payment of a
considerable sum of money.
There was another circumstance which added to the celebrity and
augmented the wealth of the Carmelite Convent. Did a young unmarried
lady deviate from the path of virtue, or did a husband detect the
infidelity of his wife, the culprit was forthwith consigned to the care
of the abbess, and forced to take up her abode in that monastic
institution. Or, again--did some female openly neglect her religious
duties, or imprudently express an opinion antagonistic to the Roman
Catholic Church, the family to which she belonged would remove her to
the spiritual care of the abbess.
The convent was therefore considered to be an institution recognized by
the state as a means of punishing immorality, upholding the Catholic
religion, persuading the skeptical,--confirming the wavering, and
exercising a salutary terror over the ladies of the upper class, at that
period renowned for their dissolute morals. The aristocracy of Florence
patronized and protected the institution--because its existence afforded
a ready means to get rid of a dishonored daughter, or an unfaithful
wife; and it was even said that the abbess was invested with
extraordinary powers by the rescript of the duke himself, powers which
warranted her interference with the liberty of young females who were
denounced to her by their parents, guardians, or others who might have a
semblance of a right to control or coerce them.
Luther had already begun to make a noise in Germany; and the thunders of
his eloquence had reverberated across the Alps to the Italian states.
The priesthood was alarmed; and the conduct of the reformer was an
excuse for rendering the discipline of the monastic institutions more
rigid than ever. Nor was the Abbess Maria a woman who hesitated to avail
herself of this fact as an apology for strengthening her despotism and
widening the circle of her influence.
The reader has now heard enough to make him fully aware that the Carmelite
Convent was an establishment enjoying influence, exercising an authority,
and wielding a power, which--if these were misdirected--constituted an
enormous abuse in the midst of states bearing the name of a republic.
But the career of the Medici was then hastening toward a close; and in
proportion as the authority of the duke became more circumscribed, the
encroachments of the ecclesiastical orders grew more extensive.
The Abbess Maria, who was far advanced in years, but was endowed with
one of those vigorous intellects against which Time vainly directs his
influence, received the Lady Nisida in a little parlor plainly
furnished. The praying desk was of the most humble description; and
above it rose a cross of wood so worm-eaten and decayed that it seemed
as if the grasp of a strong hand would crush it into dust. But this
emblem of the creed had been preserved in the Carmelite Convent since
the period of the Second Crusade, and was reported to consist of a piece
of the actual cross on which the Saviour suffered in Palestine.
Against the wall hung a scourge, with five knotted thongs, whereon the
blood-stains denoted the severity of that penance which the abbess
frequently inflicted upon herself. On a table stood a small loaf of
coarse bread and a pitcher of water; for although a sumptuous banquet
was every day served up in the refectory, the abbess was never known to
partake of the delicious viands nor to place her lips in contact with
wine.
When Nisida entered the presence of the abbess, she sank on her knees,
and folded her arms meekly across her bosom. The holy mother gave her a
blessing, and made a motion for her to rise. Nisida obeyed, and took a
seat near the abbess at the table.
She then drew forth her tablets, and wrote a few lines, which the
superior read with deep attention.
Nisida placed a heavy purse of gold upon the table, and the abbess
nodded an assent to the request contained in the lines inscribed on the
tablet.
The interview was about to terminate, when the door suddenly opened, and
an elderly nun entered the room.
"Ursula," said the lady abbess, in a cold but reproachful tone, "didst
thou not know that I was engaged? What means this abrupt intrusion?"
"Pardon me, holy mother!" exclaimed the nun: "but the rumor of such a
frightful murder has just reached us----"
"A murder!" ejaculated the abbess. "Oh! unhappy Florence, when wilt thou
say farewell to crimes which render thy name detestable among Italian
states?"
"This indeed, too, holy mother, is one of inordinate blackness,"
continued Sister Ursula. "A young and beautiful lady----"
"We know not personal beauty within these walls, daughter," interrupted
the abbess, sternly.
"True, holy mother! and yet I did but repeat the tale as the porteress
ere now related it to me. However," resumed Ursula, "it appears that a
young female, whom the worldly-minded outside these sacred walls
denominate beautiful, was barbarously murdered this morning--shortly
after the hour of sunrise----"
"Within the precincts of Florence?" inquired the abbess.
"Within a short distance of the convent, holy mother," answered the nun.
"The dreadful deed was accomplished in the garden attached to the
mansion of a certain Signor Wagner, whom the worldly-minded style a
young man wondrously handsome."
"A fair exterior often conceals a dark heart, daughter," said the
abbess. "But who was the hapless victim?"
"Rumor declares, holy mother----"
The nun checked herself abruptly, and glanced at Nisida, who, during the
above conversation, had approached the windows which commanded a view of
the convent garden, and whose back was therefore turned toward the
abbess and Ursula.
"You may speak fearlessly, daughter," said the abbess; "that unfortunate
lady hears you not--for she is both deaf and dumb."
"Holy Virgin succor her," exclaimed Ursula, crossing herself. "I was
about to inform your ladyship," she continued, "that rumor represents
the murdered woman to have been the sister of this Signor Wagner of whom
I spoke; but it is more than probable that there was no tie of
relationship between them--and that----"
"I understand you, daughter," interrupted the abbess. "Alas! how much
wickedness is engendered in this world by the sensual, fleshly passion
which mortals denominate love! But is the murderer detected?"
"The murderer was arrested immediately after the perpetration of the
crime," responded Ursula; "and at this moment he is a prisoner in the
dungeon of the palace."
"Who is the lost man that has perpetrated such a dreadful crime?"
demanded the abbess, again crossing herself.
"Signor Wagner himself, holy mother," was the reply.
"The pious Duke Cosmo bequeathed gold to this institution," said the
abbess, "that masses might be offered up for the souls of those who fall
beneath the weapon of the assassin. See that the lamented prince's
instructions be not neglected in this instance, Ursula."
"It was to remind your ladyship of this duty that I ventured to break
upon your privacy," returned the nun, who then withdrew.
The abbess approached Nisida, and touched her upon the shoulder to
intimate to her that they were again alone together.
She had drawn down her veil, and was leaning her forehead against one of
the iron bars which protected the window--apparently in a mood of deep
thought.
When the abbess touched her, she started abruptly round--then, pressing
the superior's hand with convulsive violence, hurried from the room.
The old porteress presented the alms-box as she opened the gate of the
convent; but Nisida pushed it rudely aside, and hurried down the steps
as if she were escaping from a lazar-house, rather than issuing from a
monastic institution.