It was a beautiful apartment that Dmitry had found for them on the Grand
Canal in Venice, in an old palace looking southwest. A convenient door in
a side canal cloaked the exit and entry of its inhabitants from curious
eyes--had there been any to indulge in curiosity; but in Venice there is a
good deal of the feeling of live and let live, and the _dolce far niente_
of the life is not conducive to an over-anxious interest in the doings of
one's neighbours.
Money and intelligence can achieve a number of things in a short space of
time, and Dmitry had had both at his command, so everything, including a
_chef_ from Paris and a retinue of Italian servants, was ready when on the
Tuesday evening Paul arrived at the station.
What a wonderland it seemed to him, Venice! A wonderland where was
awaiting him his heart's delight--more passionately desired than ever
after three days of total abstinence.
As after the Friday afternoon he had spent more or less in hiding in the
terrace-room, his lady had judged it wiser for him not to come at all to
Lucerne, and on the Saturday had met him at a quiet part of the shore of
the lake, beyond the landing-steps of the _funiculaire,_ and for a few
short hours they had cruised about on the blue waters--but her sweetest
tenderness and ready wit had not been able entirely to eliminate the
feeling of unrest which troubled them. And then there were the nights, the
miserable evenings and nights of separation. On the Sunday she had
departed to Venice, and after she had gone, Paul had returned for one day
to Lucerne, leaving again on the Monday, apparently as unacquainted with
Madame Zalenska as he had been the first night of his arrival.
He had not seen her since Saturday. Three whole days of anguishing
longing. And now in half an hour at least she would be in his arms. The
journey through the beautiful scenery from Lucerne had been got through at
night--all day from Milan a feverish excitement had dominated him, and
prevented his taking any interest in outward surroundings. A magnetic
attraction seemed drawing him on--on--to the centre of light and joy--his
lady's presence.
Dmitry and an Italian servant awaited his arrival; not an instant's delay
for luggage called a halt. Tompson and the Italian were left for that, and
Paul departed with his trusty guide.
It was about seven o'clock, the opalescent lights were beginning to show
in the sky, and their reflection in the water, as he stooped his tall head
to enter the covered gondola. It was all too beautiful and wonderful to
take in at once, and then he only wanted wings the sooner to arrive, not
eyes to see the passing objects. Afterwards the strange soft cry of the
gondoliers and the sights appealed to him; but on this first evening every
throb of his being was centred upon the one moment when he should hold his
beloved one to his heart.
He could hardly contain his impatience, and walk sedately beside Dmitry
when they ascended the great stone staircase--he felt like bounding up
three steps at a time. Dmitry had been respectfully silent. Madame was
well--that was all he would say. He opened the great double door with a
latch-key, and Paul found himself in vast hall almost unfurnished but for
some tapestry on the walls, and a huge gilt marriage-chest, and a couple
of chairs. It was ill lit, and there was something of decay and gloom in
its aspect.
On they went, through other doors to a salon, vast and gloomy too, and
then the glory and joy of heaven seemed to spring upon Paul's view when
the shrine of the goddess was reached--a smaller room, whose windows faced
the Grand Canal, now illuminated by the setting sun in all its splendour,
coming in shafts from the balcony blinds. And among the quaintest and most
old-world surroundings, mixed with her own wonderful personal notes of
luxury, his lady rose from the tiger couch to meet him.
His lady! His Queen!
And, indeed, she seemed a queen when at last he held her at arms'-length
to look at her. She was garbed all ready for dinner in a marvellous
garment of shimmering purple, while round her shoulders a scarf of
brilliant pale emerald gauze, all fringed with gold, fell in two long
ends, and on her neck and in her ears great emeralds gleamed--a
pear-shaped one of unusual brilliancy fell at the parting of her waves
of hair on to her white smooth forehead. But the colour of her eyes he
could not be sure of--only they were two wells of love and passion
gazing into his own.
All the simplicity of the Bürgenstock surroundings was gone. The flowers
were in the greatest profusion, rare and heavy-scented; the pillows of the
couch were more splendid than ever; cloths of gold and silver and
wonderful shades of orange and green velvet were among the purple ones he
already knew. Priceless pieces of brocade interwoven with gold covered the
screens and other couches; and, near enough to pick up when she wanted
them, stood jewelled boxes of cigarettes and bonbons, and stands of
perfume.
Her expression, too, was altered. A new mood shone there; and later, when
Paul learnt the history of the wonderful women of _cinquecento_ Venice, it
seemed as if something of their exotic voluptuous spirit now lived in her.
This was a new queen to worship--and die for, if necessary. He dimly felt,
even in these first moments, that here he would drink still deeper of the
mysteries of life and passionate love.
_"Beztzenny-moi,"_ she said, "my priceless one. At last I have you again
to make me _live_. Ah! I must know it is really you, my Paul!"
They were sitting on the tiger by now, and she undulated round and all
over him, feeling his coat, and his face, and his hair, as a blind person
might, till at last it seemed as if she were twined about him like a
serpent. And every now and then a narrow shaft of the glorious dying
sunlight would strike the great emerald on her forehead, and give forth
sparks of vivid green which appeared reflected again in her eyes. Paul's
head swam, he felt intoxicated with bliss.
"This Venice is for you and me, my Paul," she said. "The air is full of
love and dreams; we have left the slender moon behind us in Switzerland;
here she is nearing her full, and the summer is upon us with all her
richness and completeness--the spring of our love has passed."
Her voice fell into its rhythmical cadence, as if she were whispering a
prophecy inspired by some presence beyond.
"We will drink deep of the cup of delight, my lover, and bathe in the
wine of the gods. We shall feast on the tongues of nightingales, and rest
on couches of flowers. And thou shalt cede me thy soul, beloved, and I
will give thee mine--"
But the rest was lost in the meeting of their lips.
* * * * *
They dined on the open loggia, its curtains drawn, hiding them from the
view of the palaces opposite, but not preventing the soft sounds of the
singers in the gondolas moored to the poles beneath from reaching their
ears. And above the music now and then would come the faint splash of
water, and the "Stahi"--"Premé" of some moving gondolier.
The food was of the richest, beginning with strange fishes and quantities
of _hors d'oeuvres_ that Paul knew not, accompanied by _vodka_ in several
forms. And some of the _plats_ she would just taste, and some send
instantly away.
And all the while a little fountain of her own perfume played from a group
of sportive cupids in silver, while the table in the centre was piled with
red roses. Dmitry and two Italian footmen waited, and everything was done
with the greatest state. A regal magnificence was in the lady's air and
mien. She spoke of the splendours of Venice's past, and let Paul feel the
atmosphere of that subtle time of passion and life. Of here a love-scene,
and there a murder. Of wisdom and vice, and intoxicating emotion, all
blended in a kaleidoscope of gorgeousness and colour.
And once again her vast knowledge came as a fresh wonder to Paul--no
smallest detail of history seemed wanting in her talk, so that he lived
again in that old world and felt himself a Doge.
When they were alone at last, tasting the golden wine, she rose and drew
him to the loggia balustrade. Dmitry had drawn back the curtains and
extinguished the lights, and only the brilliant moon lit the scene; a
splendid moon, two nights from the full. There she shone straight down
upon them to welcome them to this City of Romance.
What loveliness met Paul's view! A loveliness in which art and nature
blended in one satisfying whole.
"Darling," he said, "this is better than the Bürgenstock. Let us go out on
the water and float about, too."
It was exceedingly warm these last days of May, and that night not a
zephyr stirred a ripple. A cloak and scarf of black gauze soon hid the
lady's splendour, and they descended the staircase hand in hand to the
waiting open gondola.
It was a new experience of joy for Paul to recline there, and drift away
down the stream, amidst the music and the coloured lanterns, and the
wonderful, wonderful spell of the place.
The lady was silent for a while, and then she began to whisper passionate
words of love. She had never before been thus carried away--and he must
say them to her--as he held her hand--burning words, inflaming the
imagination and exciting the sense. It seemed as if all the other nights
of love were concentrated into this one in its perfect joy.
Who can tell of the wild exaltation which filled Paul? He was no longer
just Paul Verdayne, the ordinary young Englishman; he was a god--and this
was Olympus.
"Look, Paul!" she said at last. "Can you not see Desdemona peeping from
the balcony of her house there? And to think she will have no happiness
before her Moor will strangle her to-night! Death without joys. Ah! that
is cruel. Some joys are well worth death, are they not, my lover, as you
and I should know?"
"Worth death and eternity," said Paul. "For one such night as this with
you a man would sell his soul."
It was not until they turned at the opening of the Guidecca to return to
their palazzo that they both became aware of another gondola following
them, always at the same distance behind--a gondola with two solitary
figures in it huddled on the seats.
The lady gave a whispered order in Italian to her gondolier, who came to a
sudden stop, thus forcing the other boat to come much nearer before it,
too, arrested its course. There a moonbeam caught the faces of the men as
they leant forward to see what had occurred. One of them was Dmitry, and
the other a younger man of the pure Kalmuck type whom Paul had never seen.
"Vasili!" exclaimed the lady, in passionate surprise. "Vasili! and they
have not told me!"
She trembled all over, while her eyes blazed green flames of anger and
excitement. "If it is unnecessary they shall feel the whip for this."
Her cloak had fallen aside a little, disclosing a shimmer of purple
garment and flashing emeralds. She looked barbaric, her raven brows knit.
It might have been Cleopatra commanding the instant death of an offending
slave.
It made Paul's pulses bound, it seemed so of the picture and the night.
All was a mad dream of exotic emotion, and this was just an extra note.
But who was Vasili? And what did his presence portend? Something fateful
at all events.
The lady did not speak further, only by the quiver of her nostrils and the
gleam in her eyes he knew how deeply she was stirred.
Yes, one or the other would feel the whip, if they had been over-zealous
in their duties!
It seemed out of sheer defiance of some fate that she decided to go on
into the lagoon when they passed San Georgio. It was growing late, and
Paul's thoughts had turned to greater joys. He longed to clasp her in his
arms, to hold her, and prove her his own. But she sat there, her small
head held high, and her eyes fearless and proud--thus he did not dare to
plead with her.
But presently, when she perceived the servants were no longer following,
her mood changed, the sweetness of the serpent of old Nile fell upon her,
and all of love that can be expressed in whispered words and tender
hand-clasps, she lavished upon Paul, after ordering the gondolier to
hasten back to the palazzo. It seemed as if she, too, could not contain
her impatience to be again in her lover's arms.
"I will not question them to-night," she said when they arrived, and she
saw Dmitry awaiting her on the steps. "To-night we will live and love at
least, my Paul. Live and love in passionate bliss!"
But she could not repress the flash of her eyes which appeared to
annihilate the old servant. He fell on his knees with the murmured words
of supplication:
_"O Imperatorskoye!"_ And Paul guessed it meant Imperial Highness, and a
great wonder grew in his mind.
Their supper was laid in the loggia again, and under the windows the
musicians still played and sang a gentle accompaniment to their sighs of
love.
But later still Paul learnt what fiercest passion meant, making other
memories as moonlight unto sunlight--as water unto wine.