_A true Love Story_.
In the height of the animosities between the factions of the Guelfs and
Ghibellines, a party of Venetians had made an inroad into the
territories of the Viscontis, sovereigns of Milan, and had carried off
the young Orondates, then at nurse. His family were at that time under a
cloud, though they could boast of being descended from Canis Scaliger,
lord of Verona. The captors sold the beautiful Orondates to a rich widow
of the noble family of Grimaldi, who having no children, brought him up
with as much tenderness as if he had been her son. Her fondness
increased with the growth of his stature and charms, and the violence of
his passions were augmented by the signora Grimaldi's indulgence. Is it
necessary to say that love reigned predominantly in the soul of
Orondates? Or that in a city like Venice a form like that of Orondates
met with little resistance?
The Cyprian queen, not content with the numerous oblations of Orondates
on her altars, was not satisfied while his heart remained unengaged.
Across the canal, overagainst the palace of Grimaldi, stood a convent of
Carmelite nuns, the abbess of which had a young African slave of the
most exquisite beauty, called Azora, a year younger than Orondates. Jet
and japan were tawny and without lustre, when compared to the hue of
Azora. Afric never produced a female so perfect as Azora; as Europe
could boast but of one Orondates.
The signora Grimaldi, though no bigot, was pretty regular at her
devotions, but as lansquenet was more to her taste than praying, she
hurried over her masses as fast as she could, to allot more of her
precious time to cards. This made her prefer the church of the
Carmelites, separated only by a small bridge, though the abbess was of a
contrary faction. However, as both ladies were of equal quality, and had
had no altercations that could countenance incivility, reciprocal
curtsies always passed between them, the coldness of which each
pretended to lay on their attention to their devotions, though the
signora Grimaldi attended but little to the priest, and the abbess was
chiefly employed in watching and criticising the inattention of the
signora.
Not so Orondates and Azora. Both constantly accompanied their mistresses
to mass, and the first moment they saw each other was decisive in both
breasts. Venice ceased to have more than one fair in the eyes of
Orondates, and Azora had not remarked till then that there could be more
beautiful beings in the world than some of the Carmelite nuns.
The seclusion of the abbess, and the aversion between the two ladies,
which was very cordial on the side of the holy one, cut off all hopes
from the lovers. Azora grew grave and pensive and melancholy; Orondates
surly and intractable. Even his attachment to his kind patroness
relaxed. He attended her reluctantly but at the hours of prayer. Often
did she find him on the steps of the church ere the doors were opened.
The signora Grimaldi was not apt to make observations. She was content
with indulging her own passions, seldom restrained those of others; and
though good offices rarely presented themselves to her imagination, she
was ready to exert them when applied to, and always talked charitably of
the unhappy at her cards, if it was not a very unlucky deal.
Still it is probable that she never would have discovered the passion of
Orondates, had not her woman, who was jealous of his favour, given her a
hint; at the same time remarking, under affectation of good will, how
well the circumstances of the lovers were suited, and that as her
ladyship was in years, and would certainly not think of providing for a
creature she had bought in the public market, it would be charitable to
marry the fond couple, and settle them on her farm in the country.
Fortunately madame Grimaldi always was open to good impressions, and
rarely to bad. Without perceiving the malice of her woman, she was
struck with the idea of a marriage. She loved the cause, and always
promoted it when it was honestly in her power. She seldom made
difficulties, and never apprehended them. Without even examining
Orondates on the state of his inclinations, without recollecting that
madame Capello and she were of different parties, without taking any
precautions to guard against a refusal, she instantly wrote to the
abbess to propose a marriage between Orondates and Azora.
The latter was in madame Capello's chamber when the note arrived. All
the fury that authority loves to console itself with for being under
restraint, all the asperity of a bigot, all the acrimony of party, and
all the fictitious rage that prudery adopts when the sensual enjoyments
of others are concerned, burst out on the helpless Azora, who was unable
to divine how she was concerned in the fatal letter. She was made to
endure all the calumnies that the abbess would have been glad to have
hurled at the head of madame Grimaldi, if her own character and the rank
of that offender would have allowed it. Impotent menaces of revenge were
repeated with emphasis, and as nobody in the convent dared to contradict
her, she gratified her anger and love of prating with endless
tautologies. In fine, Azora was strictly locked up and bread and water
were ordered as sovereign cures for love. Twenty replies to madame
Grimaldi were written and torn, as not sufficiently expressive of a
resentment that was rather vociferous than eloquent, and her confessor
was at last forced to write one, in which he prevailed to have some holy
cant inserted, though forced to compound for a heap of irony that
related to the antiquity of her family, and for many unintelligible
allusions to vulgar stories which the Ghibelline party had treasured up
against the Guelfs. The most lucid part of the epistle pronounced a
sentence of eternal chastity on Azora, not without some sarcastic
expressions against the promiscuous amours of Orondates, which ought in
common decorum to have banished him long ago from the mansion of a
widowed matron.
Just as this fulminatory mandate had been transcribed and signed by the
lady abbess in full chapter, and had been consigned to the confessor to
deliver, the portress of the convent came running out of breath, and
announced to the venerable assembly, that Azora, terrified by the
abbess's blows and threats, had fallen in labour and miscarried of four
puppies: for be it known to all posterity, that Orondates was an Italian
greyhound, and Azora a black spaniel.