III

Checco led us to a smaller room, at some distance from the great hall of

the reception; then, turning to a man I did not know, he said, 'Did you

hear the Piacentini?'

'Yes!' he answered; and for a moment they looked at one another

silently.

'He would not have been so bold without good cause,' added the man.

I was told that his name was Lodovico Pansecchi, and that he was a

soldier in the Count's pay.

Checco turned round and looked at me sharply. Matteo understood what he

meant, and said, 'Have no fear of Filippo; he is as safe as myself.'

Checco nodded, and made a sign to a youth, who immediately rose and

carefully closed the door. We sat still for a while; then Checco stood

up and said impatiently, 'I cannot understand it.' He walked up and down

the room, stopping at last in front of me.

'You had never seen that man before?'

'Never!' I answered.

'The quarrel was brought on solely by Ercole himself,' said the youth,

whom I found to be Alessandro Moratini, a brother of Giulia dall' Aste.

'I know,' said Checco, 'but he would never have dared to behave thus

unless he knew of some design of Girolamo.' He paused a moment to think,

then turning to me again, 'You must not challenge him.'

'On the contrary,' I replied, 'I must challenge him; he has insulted

me.'

'I don't care about that. I will not have you challenge him.'

'This concerns myself alone.'

'Nonsense! You are a guest of my house, and for all I know it is just

such an opportunity as this that Girolamo is seeking.'

'I don't understand,' I said.

'Listen,' said Checco, sitting down again. 'When Sixtus obtained

possession of Forli for his nephew, Girolamo Riario, I, like the fool I

was, did all I could to bring the town to his allegiance. My father was

against the plan, but I bore down his opposition and threw the whole

power of my house on his side. Without me he would never have been Lord

of Forli.'

'I remember,' said Matteo. 'You used Sixtus to keep the Ordelaffi out;

and you thought Girolamo would be a catspaw in our hands.'

'I did not give the city for love of a person I had never seen in my

life.... Well, this was eight years ago. Girolamo took off the heaviest

taxes, granted favours to the town and entered in solemn state with

Caterina.'

'Amid shouts and cheers,' remarked Alessandro.

'For a while he was more popular than ever the Ordelaffi had been, and

when he went out the people ran to kiss the hem of his garment. He spent

the great part of his time in Rome, but he employed the riches of the

Pope in beautifying Forli, and when he came it was one round of feasts

and balls and gaiety.

'Then Pope Sixtus died, and Girolamo settled here for good in the palace

which he had commenced building on his accession. The feasts and balls

and gaiety continued. Whenever a distinguished stranger passed through

the town, he was welcomed by the Count and his wife with the most lavish

hospitality; so that Forli became renowned for its luxury and riches.

'The poets ransacked Parnassus and the ancients for praises of their

rules, and the people echoed the panegyrics of the poet....

'Then came the crash. I had often warned Girolamo, for we were intimate

friends--then. I told him that he could not continue the splendour which

he had used when the wealth of Christendom was at his command, when he

could spend the tribute of a nation on a necklace for Caterina. He would

not listen. It was always, "I cannot be mean and thrifty," and he called

it policy. "To be popular," he said, "I must be magnificent." The time

came when the Treasury was empty, and he had to borrow. He borrowed in

Rome and Florence and Milan--and all the time he would not retrench, but

rather, as his means became less, the extravagance became greater; but

when he could borrow no more outside, he came to the citizens of Forli,

first, of course, to me, and I repeatedly lent him large sums. These

were not enough, and he sent for the richest men of Forli and asked them

to lend him money. Naturally they could not refuse. But he squandered

their money as he had squandered his own; and one fine day he assembled

the Council.'

'Ah, yes,' said Alessandro, 'I was there then. I heard him speak.'

Checco stopped as if for Alessandro.

'He came to the Council chamber, clad as usual in the richest robes, and

began talking privately to the senators, very courteously--laughing with

them, shaking their hands. Then, going to his place, he began to speak.

He talked of his liberality towards them, and the benefits he had

conferred on the town; showed them his present necessities, and finally

asked them to re-impose the taxes which he had taken off at the

beginning of his reign. They were all prejudiced against him, for many

of them had already lent him money privately, but there was such a charm

in his discourse, he was so persuasive, that one really could not help

seeing the reasonableness of his demand. I know I myself would have

granted him whatever he asked.'

'He can make one do anything he likes when he once begins talking,' said

Lodovico.

'The Council unanimously voted the re-imposition of the taxes, and

Girolamo offered them his thanks in his most gracious manner.'

There was a silence, broken by Matteo.

'And then?' he asked.

'Then,' answered Checco, 'he went to Imola, and commenced spending

there the money that he was gathering here.'

'And what did they think of it in Forli?'

'Ah, when the time came to pay the taxes they ceased their praises of

Girolamo. First they murmured beneath their breath, then out loud; and

soon they cursed him and his wife. The Count heard of it and came back

from Imola, thinking, by his presence, to preserve the town in its

allegiance. But the fool did not know that the sight of him would

redouble the anger of the populace. They saw his gorgeous costumes, the

gold and silver dresses of his wife, the jewels, the feasting and

riotry, and they knew that it came out of their pockets; the food of

their children, all that they had toiled and worked for, was spent on

the insane luxury of this papal favourite and his bastard wife.'

'And how has he treated us?' cried Lodovico, beating his fist violently

down on the table. 'I was in the pay of the Duke of Calabria, and he

made me tempting offers, so that I left the armies of Naples to enter

the papal service under him. And now, for four years, I have not

received a penny of my salary, and when I ask him, he puts me aside with

gentle words, and now he does not even trouble to give me them. A few

days back I stopped him in the piazza, and, falling on my knees, begged

for what he owed me. He threw me violently away, and said he could not

pay me--and the jewel on his breast was worth ten times the money he

owed me. And now he looks at me with frowns, me who have served him

faithfully as a dog. I will not endure it; by God! I will not.' He

clenched his fists as he spoke, trembling with rage.

'And you know how he has served me,' said Checco. 'I have lent him so

much that he has not the face to ask for more; and how do you think he

has rewarded me? Because I have not paid certain dues I owe the

Treasury, he sent a sheriff to demand them, and when I said I would not

pay them at that moment, he sent for me, and himself asked for the

money.'

'What did you do?'

'I reminded him of the money he owed me, and he informed me that a

private debt had nothing to do with a debt to the State, and said that I

must pay or the law should take its course.'

'He must be mad,' said Matteo.

'He is mad, mad with pride, mad in his extravagance.'

'I tell you,' said Lodovico, 'it cannot be endured.'

'And they tell me that he has said my tongue must be silenced,' added

Checco. 'The other day he was talking to Giuseppe Albicina, and he said

"Let Checco beware; he may go too far and find the hand of the master

not so gentle as the hand of the friend!"'

'I, too, have heard him say things which sounded like threats,' said

Alessandro.

'We have all heard it,' added Lodovico. 'When his temper overcomes him,

he cares not what he says, and one discovers then what he and his silent

wife have been plotting between them.'

'Now, sir,' interrupted Checco, speaking to me, 'you see how things

stand: we are on thin ground, and the fire is raging beneath us. You

must promise not to seek further quarrel with this countryman of yours,

this Ercole Piacentini. He is one of Girolamo's chiefest favourites, and

he would not bear to see him touched; if you happened to kill him, the

Count would take the opportunity to have us all arrested, and we should

suffer the fate of the Pazzi at Florence. Will you promise?'

'I promise,' I answered, smiling, 'to defer my satisfaction to a fitter

opportunity.'

'Now, gentlemen,' said Checco, 'we can separate.'

We bade one another Good-night; Alessandro, as he was going, said to

Matteo, 'You must bring your friend to my sister to-morrow; she will be

glad to see you both.'

We said we should be enchanted, and Alessandro and Lodovico Pansecchi

left us.

Matteo looked at Checco meditatively.

'Cousin,' he said, 'all this looks very like conspiracy.'

Checco started.

'I cannot help it, if the people are dissatisfied with Girolamo.'

'But you?' pursued Matteo. 'I imagine you do not greatly care whether

the people are taxed or no. You knew the taxes would have to come on

again sooner or later.'

'Has he not insulted me by sending a sheriff to demand his dues?'

'Is there nothing further than that?' asked Matteo, looking at his

cousin steadily.

Checco lifted his eyes and gazed back into Matteo's.

'Yes,' he said at last; 'eight years ago I was Girolamo's equal, now I

am his servant. I was his friend, he loved me like a brother--and then

his wife came, the daughter of Francesco Sforza, the bastard--and

gradually he has lifted himself up from me. He has been cold and

reserved; he begins to show himself master; and now I am nothing more

than a citizen among citizens--the first, but not the equal of the

master.'

Checco kept silence for a moment, and in his quietness I could see the

violence of his emotion.

'This concerns you as well as me, Matteo. You are an Orsi, and the Orsi

are not made to be servants. I will be no man's servant. When I think of

this man--this bastard of a pope--treating me as beneath him, by God! I

cannot breathe. I could roll on the floor and tear my hair with rage. Do

you know that the Orsi have been great and rich for three hundred years?

The Medici pale before them, for they are burghers and we have been

always noble. We expelled the Ordelaffi because they wished to give us a

bastard boy to rule over us, and shall we accept this Riario? I swear I

will not endure it.'

'Well said!' said Matteo.

'Girolamo shall go as the Ordelaffi went. By God! I swear it.'

I looked at Matteo, and I saw that suddenly a passion had caught hold of

him; his face was red, his eyes staring wide, and his voice was hoarse

and thick.

'But do not mistake again, Checco,' he said; 'we want no foreign rulers.

The Orsi must be the only Lords of Forli.'

Checco and Matteo stood looking at one another; then the former, shaking

himself as if to regain his calmness, turned his back on us and left

the room. Matteo strode up and down for a while in thought, and then,

turning to me, said, 'Come.'

We went out and returned to our hostelry.