A FEARFUL ACCUSATION.
Fair and beauteous art thou, O City of Flowers! with thy domes and
spires, and turrets overlooking the Arno's silver stream, and crowding
together in that river's classic pale; surrounded, too, by oak-covered
hills, and cypress groves, and gardens of olives and evergreens, and
presenting to the view of the spectator who stands on the lofty summit
of Monte Senario, so vast an assemblage of palaces as to justify the
saying of Ariosto, that it seemed as if the very soil produced them!
Or seen from the olive-crowned hill of Fesole, consecrated by the genius
of Milton, how glorious is thy rich combination of beauty, thou Athens
of Etruria!
The sun dawned upon the eventful night, the incidents of which have
occupied so many chapters. The golden flood poured upon the Florentine
scene, so fair even in winter, bathing in yellow luster the mighty dome
of the cathedral of St. Mary, the ducal palace on its left, and the
cupola of the Medicean chapel on its right, and bringing out into strong
relief against the deep foliage of the evergreens the marble fronts of
palaces, villas, and convents, seated amidst the hills, or scattered
through the vale--the whole affording a rich and varied view, as if
eternal summer reigned in that delightful region and beneath the purple
canopy of that warm Italian sky!
Alas! that the selfish interests, dark passions, conflicting feeling,
clashing aims, and black, black crimes of men should mar the serenity
and peace which ought to maintain an existence congenial to this scene!
Scarcely had the orient beams penetrated through the barred casements of
the Jew Isaachar's house in the suburb of Alla Croce, when the old man
was awakened from a repose to which he had only been able to withdraw a
couple of hours previously, by a loud and impatient knocking at his
gate.
Starting from his couch, he glanced from the window, and, to his dismay,
beheld the lieutenant of police, accompanied by half a dozen of his
terrible sbirri, and by an individual in the plain, sober garb of a
citizen.
A cold tremor came over the unhappy Israelite, for he knew that this
official visit could bode him no good: and the dread of having
encountered the resentment of the Count of Arestino, immediately
conjured up appalling scenes of dungeons, chains, judgment-halls and
tortures, to his affrighted imagination.
The dark hints which Manuel d'Orsini had dropped relative to the
possibility of the count's discovering the affair of the diamonds, and
the certain vengeance that would ensue, flashed to the mind of Isaachar
ben Solomon; and he stood, as it were, paralyzed at the window, gazing
with the vacancy of despair upon the armed men, on whose steel morions
and pikes the morning sunbeams now fell in radiant glory.
The knocking was repeated more loudly and with greater impatience than
before; and Isaachar, suddenly restored to himself, and remembering that
it was dangerous as well as useless to delay the admittance of those who
would not hesitate to force a speedy entry, huddled on his garments, and
descended to the door.
The moment it was opened, the sbirri and the citizen entered; and the
lieutenant, turning shortly round upon the Jew, said, "His Excellency
the Count of Arestino demands, through my agency, the restoration of
certain diamonds which his lordship has good reason to believe are in
your possession. But think not that his lordship is desirous of
plundering you of these jewels which you hold as security for certain
moneys advanced, for here is the gold to repay thee."
Thus speaking, the lieutenant produced from beneath his cloak a heavy
bag of gold; and Isaachar, now considerably relieved of his
apprehensions, led the way into the apartment where he had received the
Marquis of Orsini and Stephano de Verrina during the past night.
"Hast thou heard my message, Israelite?" demanded the lieutenant.
"Yes, yes; and his lordship is a worthy man--an estimable man. No
oppressor of the poor defenseless Jew is he! Would that Florence
abounded in such nobles as the Count of Arestino!"
"Cease thy prating, Jew, and let us dispatch this business," cried the
officer. "You see," he added, glancing toward his men, "that with these
at my disposal, the ransacking of your dwelling would be a light and
easy matter."
"I will not render it necessary," returned the Jew. "Tarry ye here a few
moments and the diamonds shall be delivered up."
Isaachar proceeded into another apartment, the lieutenant following him
as far as the passage to see that he did not escape. When the old man
returned, he had a small rosewood case in his hand: and from this box he
produced the stones which had been extracted from the settings the very
day the jewels were first mortgaged to him.
"Now, signor," said the lieutenant, turning to the citizen in the plain
sober garb, "as you are the diamond merchant of whom his lordship the
count originally purchased the precious stones which have been traced to
the possession of Isaachar, it is for you to declare whether those be
the true diamonds or not."
The citizen examined the stones, and having pronounced them to be the
genuine ones, took his departure, his services being no longer required.
The lieutenant secured the rosewood case with its valuable contents
about his person, and then proceeded to settle with interest the amount
claimed by the Jew, as the sum which he had advanced on the jewels.
While this transaction was in progress, the notice of one of the sbirri
was attracted by the marks of blood which appeared on the floor, and
which, as the reader will recollect, had been caused by the wound that
the Marquis of Orsini had received from the robber Stephano.
"It is decidedly blood," whispered the sbirro to one of his companions.
"Not a doubt of it," observed another. "We must mention it to the
lieutenant when he has done counting out that gold."
"Do you know what I have heard about the Jews?" asked the first speaker,
drawing his comrades still further aside.
"What?" was the general question.
"That they kill Christian children to mix the blood in the dough with
which they make the bread used at their religious ceremonies," answered
the sbirro.
"Depend upon it. Isaachar has murdered a Christian child for that
purpose!" said one of his companions.
This atrocious idea gained immediate belief among the ignorant sbirri;
and as the Jew now quitted the room for a few moments to secure the gold
which he had just received, in his coffer in the adjacent apartment, the
police officers had leisure to point out to their superior the traces of
blood which they had noticed, and the suspicion which these marks had
engendered.
The lieutenant was not further removed beyond the influence of popular
prejudice and ridiculous superstition than even his men: and though by
no means of a cruel disposition, yet he thought it no sin nor injustice
to persecute the Hebrew race, even when innocent and unoffending. But,
now that suspicion, or what he chose to consider suspicion, pointed at
Isaachar ben Solomon as a dreadful criminal, the lieutenant did not
hesitate many moments how to act.
Thus, when the Jew returned to the room with the fond hope of seeing his
visitors take their speedy departure, he was met by the terrible words,
uttered by the officer of the sbirri. "In the name of the most high
inquisition, Isaachar, do I make you my prisoner!"
The unhappy Jew fell upon his knees, stunned, terrified by the appalling
announcement; and although he assumed this attitude of supplication, he
had not the power to utter a syllable of intercession or of prayer.
Horror had for the moment stricken him dumb: and a thousand images of
terror, conjured up by the fearful words, "the inquisition," suddenly
sprung up to scare, bewilder and overwhelm him.
"Bind him, gag him!" ejaculated the lieutenant: and this order was
immediately obeyed: for whenever a prisoner was about to be conveyed to
the dungeons of the inquisition, he was invariably gagged, in order that
no questions on his part might evoke answers at all calculated to afford
him a clew to the cause of his arrest.
This precaution was originally adopted in reference to those only who
were ignorant of the charges laid against them: but it had subsequently
become common in all cases of arrest effected in the name or on the part
of the holy brotherhood.
The Palazzo del Podesta, or ducal palace, was one of the most celebrated
edifices in Florence. In strong contrast with the various beautiful
specimens of composite Tuscan, combined with a well-assimilated portion
of the Grecian character, which abounded in Florence, the ducal palace
was remarkable for the stern and gloomy character of its architecture.
Its massive and heavy tower, crowned with embattled and overhanging
parapets, seemed to frown in sullen and haughty defiance at the lapse of
Time. The first range of windows were twelve feet from the ground, and
were grated with enormous bars of iron, producing a somber and ominous
effect. Within were the apartments of the duke's numerous dependents;
and the lower portion of the palace had been rendered thus strong to
enable the edifice to withstand a siege in those troublous times, when
the contentions of the Guelphs and Ghibelines desolated Florence. On the
second floor there was in front a plain and simple architrave, and on
that story the windows were high and arched; for those casements
belonged to the ducal apartments. The upper stories were in the same
style; but the general aspect was stern and mournful to a degree.
The palace was built, as indeed nearly all the Florentine mansions then
were, and still are, in the form of a square; and around this court,
which was of an antique and gloomy cast, were numerous monumental
stones, whereon were inscribed the names of the nobles and citizens who
had held high offices in the state previous to the establishment of the
sway of the Medici.
It was beneath the Palazzo del Podesta that the dungeons of the criminal
prison and also those of the inquisition were situated.
In a cell belonging to the former department, Fernand Wagner was already
a captive; and Isaachar ben Solomon now became the inmate of a narrow,
cold, and damp stone chamber, in that division of the subterrane which
was within the jurisdiction of the holy office.