"My daughter's beauty is cheerful, sweet, and gentle; that of Sophia is
proud and haughty. She will be happy after my death. The man who will
marry her will find her a virgin."
I gave an account of my adventure to M. de Bonneval, somewhat
exaggerating the danger I had run in trying to raise the veil of the
handsome daughter of Scio.
"She was laughing at you," said the count, "and you ran no danger. She
felt very sorry, believe me, to have to deal with a novice like you. You
have been playing the comedy in the French fashion, when you ought to
have gone straight to the point. What on earth did you want to see her
nose for? She knew very well that she would have gained nothing by
allowing you to see her. You ought to have secured the essential point.
If I were young I would perhaps manage to give her a revenge, and to
punish my friend Yusuf. You have given that lovely woman a poor opinion
of Italian valour. The most reserved of Turkish women has no modesty
except on her face, and, with her veil over it, she knows to a certainty
that she will not blush at anything. I am certain that your beauty keeps
her face covered whenever our friend Yusuf wishes to joke with her."
"She is yet a virgin."
"Rather a difficult thing to admit, my good friend; but I know the
daughters of Scio; they have a talent for counterfeiting virginity."
Yusuf never paid me a similar compliment again, and he was quite right.
A few days after, I happened to be in the shop of an Armenian merchant,
looking at some beautiful goods, when Yusuf entered the shop and praised
my taste; but, although I had admired a great many things, I did not buy,
because I thought they were too dear. I said so to Yusuf, but he remarked
that they were, on the contrary, very cheap, and he purchased them all.
We parted company at the door, and the next morning I received all the
beautiful things he had bought; it was a delicate attention of my friend,
and to prevent my refusal of such a splendid present, he had enclosed a
note stating that, on my arrival in Corfu, he would let me know to whom
the goods were to be delivered. He had thus sent me gold and silver
filigrees from Damascus, portfolios, scarfs, belts, handkerchiefs and
pipes, the whole worth four or five hundred piasters. When I called to
thank him, I compelled him to confess that it was a present offered by
his friendship.
The day before my departure from Constantinople, the excellent man burst
into tears as I bade him adieu, and my grief was as great as his own. He
told me that, by not accepting the offer of his daughter's hand, I had so
strongly captivated his esteem that his feelings for me could not have
been warmer if I had become his son. When I went on board ship with the
Bailo Jean Dona, I found another case given to me by him, containing two
quintals of the best Mocha coffee, one hundred pounds of tobacco leaves,
two large flagons filled, one with Zabandi tobacco, the other with
camussa, and a magnificent pipe tube of jessamine wood, covered with gold
filigrane, which I sold in Corfu for one hundred sequins. I had not it in
my power to give my generous Turk any mark of my gratitude until I
reached Corfu, but there I did not fail to do so. I sold all his
beautiful presents, which made me the possessor of a small fortune.
Ismail gave me a letter for the Chevalier de Lezze, but I could not
forward it to him because I unfortunately lost it; he presented me with a
barrel of hydromel, which I turned likewise into money. M. de Bonneval
gave me a letter for Cardinal Acquaviva, which I sent to Rome with an
account of my journey, but his eminence did not think fit to acknowledge
the receipt of either. Bonneval made me a present of twelve bottles of
malmsey from Ragusa, and of twelve bottles of genuine scopolo--a great
rarity, with which I made a present in Corfu which proved very useful to
me, as the reader will discover.
The only foreign minister I saw much in Constantinople was the lord
marshal of Scotland, the celebrated Keith, who represented the King of
Prussia, and who, six years later was of great service to me in Paris.
We sailed from Constantinople in the beginning of September in the same
man-of-war which had brought us, and we reached Corfu in fourteen days.
The Bailo Dona did not land. He had with him eight splendid Turkish
horses; I saw two of them still alive in Gorizia in the year 1773.
As soon as I had landed with my luggage, and had engaged a rather mean
lodging, I presented myself to M. Andre Dolfin, the proveditore-generale,
who promised me again that I should soon be promoted to a lieutenancy.
After my visit to him, I called upon M. Camporese, my captain, and was
well received by him. My third visit was to the commander of galleases,
M. D---- R-----, to whom M. Antonio Dolfin, with whom I had travelled from
Venice to Corfu, had kindly recommended me. After a short conversation,
he asked me if I would remain with him with the title of adjutant. I did
not hesitate one instant, but accepted, saying how deeply honoured I felt
by his offer, and assuring him that he would always find me ready to
carry out his orders. He immediately had me taken to my room, and, the
next day, I found myself established in his house. I obtained from my
captain a French soldier to serve me, and I was well pleased when I found
that the man was a hairdresser by trade, and a great talker by nature,
for he could take care of my beautiful head of hair, and I wanted to
practise French conversation. He was a good-for-nothing fellow, a
drunkard and a debauchee, a peasant from Picardy, and he could hardly
read or write, but I did not mind all that; all I wanted from him was to
serve me, and to talk to me, and his French was pretty good. He was an
amusing rogue, knowing by heart a quantity of erotic songs and of smutty
stories which he could tell in the most laughable manner.
When I had sold my stock of goods from Constantinople (except the wines),
I found myself the owner of nearly five hundred sequins. I redeemed all
the articles which I had pledged in the hands of Jews, and turned into
money everything of which I had no need. I was determined not to play any
longer as a dupe, but to secure in gambling all the advantages which a
prudent young man could obtain without sullying his honour.
I must now make my readers acquainted with the sort of life we were at
that time leading in Corfu. As to the city itself, I will not describe
it, because there are already many descriptions better than the one I
could offer in these pages.
We had then in Corfu the 'proveditore-generale' who had sovereign
authority, and lived in a style of great magnificence. That post was then
filled by M. Andre Dolfin, a man sixty years of age, strict, headstrong,
and ignorant. He no longer cared for women, but liked to be courted by
them. He received every evening, and the supper-table was always laid for
twenty-four persons.
We had three field-officers of the marines who did duty on the galleys,
and three field-officers for the troops of the line on board the
men-of-war. Each galeass had a captain called 'sopracomito', and we had
ten of those captains; we had likewise ten commanders, one for each
man-of-war, including three 'capi di mare', or admirals. They all
belonged to the nobility of Venice. Ten young Venetian noblemen, from
twenty to twenty-two years of age, were at Corfu as midshipmen in the
navy. We had, besides, about a dozen civil clerks in the police of the
island, or in the administration of justice, entitled 'grandi offciali di
terra'. Those who were blessed with handsome wives had the pleasure of
seeing their houses very much frequented by admirers who aspired to win
the favours of the ladies, but there was not much heroic love-making,
perhaps for the reason that there were then in Corfu many Aspasias whose
favours could be had for money. Gambling was allowed everywhere, and that
all absorbing passion was very prejudicial to the emotions of the heart.
The lady who was then most eminent for beauty and gallantry was Madame
F----. Her husband, captain of a galley, had come to Corfu with her the
year before, and madam had greatly astonished all the naval officers.
Thinking that she had the privilege of the choice, she had given the
preference to M. D---- R-----, and had dismissed all the suitors who
presented themselves. M. F---- had married her on the very day she had
left the convent; she was only seventeen years of age then, and he had
brought her on board his galley immediately after the marriage ceremony.
I saw her for the first time at the dinner-table on the very day of my
installation at M. D---- R-----'s, and she made a great impression upon
me. I thought I was gazing at a supernatural being, so infinitely above
all the women I had ever seen, that it seemed impossible to fall in love
with her She appeared to me of a nature different and so greatly superior
to mine that I did not see the possibility of rising up to her. I even
went so far as to persuade myself that nothing but a Platonic friendship
could exist between her and M. D---- R-----, and that M. F---- was quite
right now not to shew any jealousy. Yet, that M. F---- was a perfect fool,
and certainly not worthy of such a woman. The impression made upon me by
Madame F---- was too ridiculous to last long, and the nature of it soon
changed, but in a novel manner, at least as far as I was concerned.
My position as adjutant procured me the honour of dining at M.
D---- R-----'s table, but nothing more. The other adjutant, like me, an
ensign in the army, but the greatest fool I had ever seen, shared that
honour with me. We were not, however, considered as guests, for nobody
ever spoke to us, and, what is more, no one ever honoured us with a look.
It used to put me in a rage. I knew very well that people acted in that
manner through no real contempt for us, but it went very hard with me. I
could very well understand that my colleague, Sanzonio, should not
complain of such treatment, because he was a blockhead, but I did not
feel disposed to allow myself to be put on a par with him. At the end of
eight or ten days, Madame F----, not having con descended to cast one
glance upon my person, began to appear disagreeable to me. I felt piqued,
vexed, provoked, and the more so because I could not suppose that the
lady acted in that manner wilfully and purposely; I would have been
highly pleased if there had been premeditation on her part. I felt
satisfied that I was a nobody in her estimation, and as I was conscious
of being somebody, I wanted her to know it. At last a circumstance
offered itself in which, thinking that she could address me, she was
compelled to look at me.
M. D---- R---- having observed that a very, very fine turkey had been
placed before me, told me to carve it, and I immediately went to work. I
was not a skilful carver, and Madame F----, laughing at my want of
dexterity, told me that, if I had not been certain of performing my task
with credit to myself, I ought not to have undertaken it. Full of
confusion, and unable to answer her as my anger prompted, I sat down,
with my heart overflowing with spite and hatred against her. To crown my
rage, having one day to address me, she asked me what was my name. She
had seen me every day for a fortnight, ever since I had been the adjutant
of M. D---- R----; therefore she ought to have known my name. Besides, I
had been very lucky at the gaming-table, and I had become rather famous
in Corfu. My anger against Madame F was at its height.
I had placed my money in the hands of a certain Maroli, a major in the
army and a gamester by profession, who held the faro bank at the
coffee-house. We were partners; I helped him when he dealt, and he
rendered me the same office when I held the cards, which was often the
case, because he was not generally liked. He used to hold the cards in a
way which frightened the punters; my manners were very different, and I
was very lucky. Besides I was easy and smiling when my bank was losing,
and I won without shewing any avidity, and that is a manner which always
pleases the punters.
This Maroli was the man who had won all my money during my first stay in
Corfu, and finding, when I returned, that I was resolved not to be duped
any more, he judged me worthy of sharing the wise maxims without which
gambling must necessarily ruin all those who meddle with it. But as
Maroli had won my confidence only to a very slight extent, I was very
careful. We made up our accounts every night, as soon as playing was
over; the cashier kept the capital of the bank, the winnings were
divided, and each took his share away. Lucky at play, enjoying good
health and the friendship of my comrades, who, whenever the opportunity
offered, always found me generous and ready to serve them, I would have
been well pleased with my position if I had been a little more considered
at the table of M. D---- R-----, and treated with less haughtiness by his
lady who, without any reason, seemed disposed to humiliate me. My
self-love was deeply hurt, I hated her, and, with such a disposition of
mind, the more I admired the perfection of her charms, the more I found
her deficient in wit and intelligence. She might have made the conquest
of my heart without bestowing hers upon me, for all I wanted was not to
be compelled to hate her, and I could not understand what pleasure it
could be for her to be detested, while with only a little kindness she
could have been adored. I could not ascribe her manner to a spirit of
coquetry, for I had never given her the slightest proof of the opinion I
entertained of her beauty, and I could not therefore attribute her
behaviour to a passion which might have rendered me disagreeable in her
eyes; M. D---- R---- seemed to interest her only in a very slight manner,
and as to her husband, she cared nothing for him. In short, that charming
woman made me very unhappy, and I was angry with myself because I felt
that, if it had not been for the manner in which she treated me, I would
not have thought of her, and my vexation was increased by the feeling of
hatred entertained by my heart against her, a feeling which until then I
had never known to exist in me, and the discovery of which overwhelmed me
with confusion.
One day a gentleman handed me, as we were leaving the dinner-table, a
roll of gold that he had lost upon trust; Madame F---- saw it, and she
said to me very abruptly,--
"What do you do with your money?"
"I keep it, madam, as a provision against possible losses."
"But as you do not indulge in any expense it would be better for you not
to play; it is time wasted."
"Time given to pleasure is never time lost, madam; the only time which a
young man wastes is that which is consumed in weariness, because when he
is a prey to ennui he is likely to fall a prey to love, and to be
despised by the object of his affection."
"Very likely; but you amuse yourself with hoarding up your money, and
shew yourself to be a miser, and a miser is not less contemptible than a
man in love. Why do you not buy yourself a pair of gloves?"
You may be sure that at these words the laughter was all on her side, and
my vexation was all the greater because I could not deny that she was
quite right. It was the adjutant's business to give the ladies an arm to
their carriages, and it was not proper to fulfil that duty without
gloves. I felt mortified, and the reproach of avarice hurt me deeply. I
would a thousand times rather that she had laid my error to a want of
education; and yet, so full of contradictions is the human heart, instead
of making amends by adopting an appearance of elegance which the state of
my finances enabled me to keep up, I did not purchase any gloves, and I
resolved to avoid her and to abandon her to the insipid and dull
gallantry of Sanzonio, who sported gloves, but whose teeth were rotten,
whose breath was putrid, who wore a wig, and whose face seemed to be
covered with shrivelled yellow parchment.
I spent my days in a continual state of rage and spite, and the most
absurd part of it all was that I felt unhappy because I could not control
my hatred for that woman whom, in good conscience, I could not find
guilty of anything. She had for me neither love nor dislike, which was
quite natural; but being young and disposed to enjoy myself I had become,
without any wilful malice on her part, an eye-sore to her and the butt of
her bantering jokes, which my sensitiveness exaggerated greatly. For all
that I had an ardent wish to punish her and to make her repent. I thought
of nothing else. At one time I would think of devoting all my
intelligence and all my money to kindling an amorous passion in her
heart, and then to revenge myself by treating her with contempt. But I
soon realized the impracticability of such a plan, for even supposing
that I should succeed in finding my way to her heart, was I the man to
resist my own success with such a woman? I certainly could not flatter
myself that I was so strong-minded. But I was the pet child of fortune,
and my position was suddenly altered.
M. D---- R---- having sent me with dispatches to M. de Condulmer, captain
of a 'galeazza', I had to wait until midnight to deliver them, and when I
returned I found that M. D---- R---- had retired to his apartment for the
night. As soon as he was visible in the morning I went to him to render
an account of my mission. I had been with him only a few minutes when his
valet brought a letter saying that Madame F----'s adjutant was waiting
for an answer. M. D---- R---- read the note, tore it to pieces, and in his
excitement stamped with his foot upon the fragments. He walked up and
down the room for a little time, then wrote an answer and rang for the
adjutant, to whom he delivered it. He then recovered his usual composure,
concluded the perusal of the dispatch sent by M. de Condulmer, and told
me to write a letter. He was looking it over when the valet came in,
telling me that Madame F---- desired to see me. M. D---- R---- told me that
he did not require my services any more for the present, and that I might
go. I left the room, but I had not gone ten yards when he called me back
to remind me that my duty was to know nothing; I begged to assure him
that I was well aware of that. I ran to Madame F-----'s house, very eager
to know what she wanted with me. I was introduced immediately, and I was
greatly surprised to find her sitting up in bed, her countenance flushed
and excited, and her eyes red from the tears she had evidently just been
shedding. My heart was beating quickly, yet I did not know why.
"Pray be seated," she said, "I wish to speak with you."
"Madam," I answered, "I am not worthy of so great a favour, and I have
not yet done anything to deserve it; allow me to remain standing."
She very likely recollected that she had never been so polite before, and
dared not press me any further. She collected her thoughts for an instant
or two, and said to me:
"Last evening my husband lost two hundred sequins upon trust at your faro
bank; he believed that amount to be in my hands, and I must therefore
give it to him immediately, as he is bound in honour to pay his losses
to-day. Unfortunately I have disposed of the money, and I am in great
trouble. I thought you might tell Maroli that I have paid you the amount
lost by my husband. Here is a ring of some value; keep it until the 1st
of January, when I will return the two hundred sequins for which I am
ready to give you my note of hand."
"I accept the note of hand, madam, but I cannot consent to deprive you of
your ring. I must also tell you that M. F---- must go himself to the bank,
or send some one there, to redeem his debt. Within ten minutes you shall
have the amount you require."
I left her without waiting for an answer, and I returned within a few
minutes with the two hundred ducats, which I handed to her, and putting
in my pocket her note of hand which she had just written, I bowed to take
my leave, but she addressed to me these precious words:
"I believe, sir, that if I had known that you were so well disposed to
oblige me, I could not have made up my mind to beg that service from
you."
"Well, madam, for the future be quite certain that there is not a man in
the world capable of refusing you such an insignificant service whenever
you will condescend to ask for it in person."
"What you say is very complimentary, but I trust never to find myself
again under the necessity of making such a cruel experiment."
I left Madame F-----, thinking of the shrewdness of her answer. She had
not told me that I was mistaken, as I had expected she would, for that
would have caused her some humiliation: she knew that I was with M.
D---- R---- when the adjutant had brought her letter, and she could not
doubt that I was aware of the refusal she had met with. The fact of her
not mentioning it proved to me that she was jealous of her own dignity;
it afforded me great gratification, and I thought her worthy of
adoration. I saw clearly that she could have no love for M. D---- R-----,
and that she was not loved by him, and the discovery made me leap for
joy. From that moment I felt I was in love with her, and I conceived the
hope that she might return my ardent affection.
The first thing I did, when I returned to my room, was to cross out with
ink every word of her note of hand, except her name, in such a manner
that it was impossible to guess at the contents, and putting it in an
envelope carefully sealed, I deposited it in the hands of a public notary
who stated, in the receipt he gave me of the envelope, that he would
deliver it only to Madame F-----, whenever she should request its
delivery.
The same evening M. F---- came to the bank, paid me, played with cash in
hand, and won some fifty ducats. What caused me the greatest surprise was
that M. D---- R---- continued to be very gracious to Madame F----, and
that she remained exactly the same towards him as she used to be before.
He did not even enquire what she wanted when she had sent for me. But if
she did not seem to change her manner towards my master, it was a very
different case with me, for whenever she was opposite to me at dinner,
she often addressed herself to me, and she thus gave me many
opportunities of shewing my education and my wit in amusing stories or in
remarks, in which I took care to blend instruction with witty jests. At
that time F---- had the great talent of making others laugh while I kept a
serious countenance myself. I had learnt that accomplishment from M. de
Malipiero, my first master in the art of good breeding, who used to say
to me,--
"If you wish your audience to cry, you must shed tears yourself, but if
you wish to make them laugh you must contrive to look as serious as a
judge."
In everything I did, in every word I uttered, in the presence of Madame
F----, the only aim I had was to please her, but I did not wish her to
suppose so, and I never looked at her unless she spoke to me. I wanted to
force her curiosity, to compel her to suspect nay, to guess my secret,
but without giving her any advantage over me: it was necessary for me to
proceed by slow degrees. In the mean time, and until I should have a
greater happiness, I was glad to see that my money, that magic talisman,
and my good conduct, obtained me a consideration much greater than I
could have hoped to obtain either through my position, or from my age, or
in consequence of any talent I might have shewn in the profession I had
adopted.
Towards the middle of November, the soldier who acted as my servant was
attacked with inflammation of the chest; I gave notice of it to the
captain of his company, and he was carried to the hospital. On the fourth
day I was told that he would not recover, and that he had received the
last sacraments; in the evening I happened to be at his captain's when
the priest who had attended him came to announce his death, and to
deliver a small parcel which the dying man had entrusted to him to be
given up to his captain only after his death. The parcel contained a
brass seal engraved with ducal arms, a certificate of baptism, and a
sheet of paper covered with writing in French. Captain Camporese, who
only spoke Italian, begged me to translate the paper, the contents of
which were as follows:
"My will is that this paper, which I have written and signed with my own
hand, shall be delivered to my captain only after I have breathed my
last: until then, my confessor shall not make any use of it, for I
entrust it to his hands only under the seal of confession. I entreat my
captain to have me buried in a vault from which my body can be exhumed in
case the duke, my father, should request its exhumation. I entreat him
likewise to forward my certificate of baptism, the seal with the armorial
bearings of my family, and a legal certificate of my birth to the French
ambassador in Venice, who will send the whole to the duke, my father, my
rights of primogeniture belonging, after my demise, to the prince, my
brother. In faith of which I have signed and sealed these presents:
Francois VI. Charles Philippe Louis Foucaud, Prince de la Rochefoucault."
The certificate of baptism, delivered at St. Sulpice gave the same names,
and the title of the father was Francois V. The name of the mother was
Gabrielle du Plessis.
As I was concluding my translation I could not help bursting into loud
laughter; but the foolish captain, who thought my mirth out of
place, hurried out to render an account of the affair to the
proveditore-generale, and I went to the coffee-house, not doubting for
one moment that his excellency would laugh at the captain, and that the
post-mortem buffoonery would greatly amuse the whole of Corfu.
I had known in Rome, at Cardinal Acquaviva's, the Abbe de Liancourt,
great-grandson of Charles, whose sister, Gabrielle du Plessis, had been
the wife of Francois V., but that dated from the beginning of the last
century. I had made a copy from the records of the cardinal of the
account of certain circumstances which the Abbe de Liancourt wanted to
communicate to the court of Spain, and in which there were a great many
particulars respecting the house of Du Plessis. I thought at the same
time that the singular imposture of La Valeur (such was the name by which
my soldier generally went) was absurd and without a motive, since it was
to be known only after his death, and could not therefore prove of any
advantage to him.
Half an hour afterwards, as I was opening a fresh pack of cards, the
Adjutant Sanzonio came in, and told the important news in the most
serious manner. He had just come from the office of the proveditore,
where Captain Camporese had run in the utmost hurry to deposit in the
hands of his excellency the seal and the papers of the deceased prince.
His excellency had immediately issued his orders for the burial of the
prince in a vault with all the honours due to his exalted rank. Another
half hour passed, and M. Minolto, adjutant of the proveditore-generale,
came to inform me that his excellency wanted to see me. I passed the
cards to Major Maroli, and went to his excellency's house. I found him at
supper with several ladies, three or four naval commanders, Madame F----,
and M. D---- R-----.
"So, your servant was a prince!" said the old general to me.
"Your excellency, I never would have suspected it, and even now that he
is dead I do not believe it."
"Why? He is dead, but he was not insane. You have seen his armorial
bearings, his certificate of baptism, as well as what he wrote with his
own hand. When a man is so near death, he does not fancy practical
jokes."
"If your excellency is satisfied of the truth of the story, my duty is to
remain silent."
"The story cannot be anything but true, and your doubts surprise me."
"I doubt, monsignor, because I happen to have positive information
respecting the families of La Rochefoucault and Du Plessis. Besides, I
have seen too much of the man. He was not a madman, but he certainly was
an extravagant jester. I have never seen him write, and he has told me
himself a score of times that he had never learned."
"The paper he has written proves the contrary. His arms have the ducal
bearings; but perhaps you are not aware that M. de la Rochefoucault is a
duke and peer of the French realm?"
"I beg your eminence's pardon; I know all about it; I know even more, for
I know that Francois VI. married a daughter of the house of Vivonne."
"You know nothing."
When I heard this remark, as foolish as it was rude, I resolved on
remaining silent, and it was with some pleasure that I observed the joy
felt by all the male guests at what they thought an insult and a blow to
my vanity. An officer remarked that the deceased was a fine man, a witty
man, and had shewn wonderful cleverness in keeping up his assumed
character so well that no one ever had the faintest suspicion of what he
really was. A lady said that, if she had known him, she would have been
certain to find him out. Another flatterer, belonging to that mean,
contemptible race always to be found near the great and wealthy of the
earth, assured us that the late prince had always shewn himself cheerful,
amiable, obliging, devoid of haughtiness towards his comrades, and that
he used to sing beautifully. "He was only twenty-five years of age," said
Madame Sagredo, looking me full in the face, "and if he was endowed with
all those qualities, you must have discovered them."
"I can only give you, madam, a true likeness of the man, such as I have
seen him. Always gay, often even to folly, for he could throw a
somersault beautifully; singing songs of a very erotic kind, full of
stories and of popular tales of magic, miracles, and ghosts, and a
thousand marvellous feats which common-sense refused to believe, and
which, for that very reason, provoked the mirth of his hearers. His
faults were that he was drunken, dirty, quarrelsome, dissolute, and
somewhat of a cheat. I put up with all his deficiences, because he
dressed my hair to my taste, and his constant chattering offered me the
opportunity of practising the colloquial French which cannot be acquired
from books. He has always assured me that he was born in Picardy, the son
of a common peasant, and that he had deserted from the French army. He
may have deceived me when he said that he could not write."
Just then Camporese rushed into the room, and announced that La Veleur
was yet breathing. The general, looking at me significantly, said that he
would be delighted if the man could be saved.
"And I likewise, monsignor, but his confessor will certainly kill him
to-night."
"Why should the father confessor kill him?"
"To escape the galleys to which your excellency would not fail to send
him for having violated the secrecy of the confessional."
Everybody burst out laughing, but the foolish old general knitted his
brows. The guests retired soon afterwards, and Madame F-----, whom I had
preceded to the carriage, M. D---- R---- having offered her his arm,
invited me to get in with her, saying that it was raining. It was the
first time that she had bestowed such an honour upon me.
"I am of your opinion about that prince," she said, "but you have
incurred the displeasure of the proveditore."
"I am very sorry, madam, but it could not have been avoided, for I cannot
help speaking the truth openly."
"You might have spared him," remarked M. D---- R-----, "the cutting jest
of the confessor killing the false prince."
"You are right, sir, but I thought it would make him laugh as well as it
made madam and your excellency. In conversation people generally do not
object to a witty jest causing merriment and laughter."
"True; only those who have not wit enough to laugh do not like the jest."
"I bet a hundred sequins that the madman will recover, and that, having
the general on his side, he will reap all the advantages of his
imposture. I long to see him treated as a prince, and making love to
Madame Sagredo."
Hearing the last words, Madame F-----, who did not like Madame Sagredo,
laughed heartily, and, as we were getting out of the carriage, M.
D---- R---- invited me to accompany them upstairs. He was in the habit of
spending half an hour alone with her at her own house when they had taken
supper together with the general, for her husband never shewed himself.
It was the first time that the happy couple admitted a third person to
their tete-a-tete. I felt very proud of the compliment thus paid to me,
and I thought it might have important results for me. My satisfaction,
which I concealed as well as I could, did not prevent me from being very
gay and from giving a comic turn to every subject brought forward by the
lady or by her lord.
We kept up our pleasant trio for four hours; and returned to the mansion
of M. D---- R---- only at two o'clock in the morning. It was during that
night that Madame F---- and M. D---- R---- really made my acquaintance.
Madame F---- told him that she had never laughed so much, and that she had
never imagined that a conversation, in appearance so simple, could afford
so much pleasure and merriment. On my side, I discovered in her so much
wit and cheerfulness, that I became deeply enamoured, and went to bed
fully satisfied that, in the future, I could not keep up the show of
indifference which I had so far assumed towards her.
When I woke up the next morning, I heard from the new soldier who served
me that La Valeur was better, and had been pronounced out of danger by
the physician. At dinner the conversation fell upon him, but I did not
open my lips. Two days afterwards, the general gave orders to have him
removed to a comfortable apartment, sent him a servant, clothed him, and
the over-credulous proveditore having paid him a visit, all the naval
commanders and officers thought it their duty to imitate him, and to
follow his example: the general curiosity was excited, there was a rush
to see the new prince. M. D---- R---- followed his leaders, and Madame
Sagredo, having set the ladies in motion, they all called upon him, with
the exception of Madame F----, who told me laughingly that she would not
pay him a visit unless I would consent to introduce her. I begged to be
excused. The knave was called your highness, and the wonderful prince
styled Madame Sagredo his princess. M. D---- R---- tried to persuade me to
call upon the rogue, but I told him that I had said too much, and that I
was neither courageous nor mean enough to retract my words. The whole
imposture would soon have been discovered if anyone had possessed a
peerage, but it just happened that there was not a copy in Corfu, and the
French consul, a fat blockhead, like many other consuls, knew nothing of
family trees. The madcap La Valeur began to walk out a week after his
metamorphosis into a prince. He dined and had supper every day with the
general, and every evening he was present at the reception, during which,
owing to his intemperance, he always went fast asleep. Yet, there were
two reasons which kept up the belief of his being a prince: the first was
that he did not seem afraid of the news expected from Venice, where the
proveditore had written immediately after the discovery; the second was
that he solicited from the bishop the punishment of the priest who had
betrayed his secret by violating the seal of confession. The poor priest
had already been sent to prison, and the proveditore had not the courage
to defend him. The new prince had been invited to dinner by all the naval
officers, but M. D---- R---- had not made up his mind to imitate them so
far, because Madame F---- had clearly warned him that she would dine at
her own house on the day he was invited. I had likewise respectfully
intimated that, on the same occasion, I would take the liberty of dining
somewhere else.
I met the prince one day as I was coming out of the old fortress leading
to the esplanade. He stopped, and reproached me for not having called
upon him. I laughed, and advised him to think of his safety before the
arrival of the news which would expose all the imposture, in which case
the proveditore was certain to treat him very severely. I offered to help
him in his flight from Corfu, and to get a Neapolitan captain, whose ship
was ready to sail, to conceal him on board; but the fool, instead of
accepting my offer, loaded me with insults.
He was courting Madame Sagredo, who treated him very well, feeling proud
that a French prince should have given her the preference over all the
other ladies. One day that she was dining in great ceremony at M.
D---- R-----'s house, she asked me why I had advised the prince to run
away.
"I have it from his own lips," she added, "and he cannot make out your
obstinacy in believing him an impostor."
"I have given him that advice, madam, because my heart is good, and my
judgment sane."
"Then we are all of us as many fools, the proveditore included?"
"That deduction would not be right, madam. An opinion contrary to that of
another does not necessarily make a fool of the person who entertains it.
It might possibly turn out, in ten or twelve days, that I have been
entirely mistaken myself, but I should not consider myself a fool in
consequence. In the mean time, a lady of your intelligence must have
discovered whether that man is a peasant or a prince by his education and
manners. For instance, does he dance well?"
"He does not know one step, but he is the first to laugh about it; he
says he never would learn dancing."
"Does he behave well at table?"
"Well, he doesn't stand on ceremony. He does not want his plate to be
changed, he helps himself with his spoon out of the dishes; he does not
know how to check an eructation or a yawn, and if he feels tired he
leaves the table. It is evident that he has been very badly brought up."
"And yet he is very pleasant, I suppose. Is he clean and neat?"
"No, but then he is not yet well provided with linen."
"I am told that he is very sober."
"You are joking. He leaves the table intoxicated twice a day, but he
ought to be pitied, for he cannot drink wine and keep his head clear.
Then he swears like a trooper, and we all laugh, but he never takes
offence."
"Is he witty?"
"He has a wonderful memory, for he tells us new stories every day."
"Does he speak of his family?"
"Very often of his mother, whom he loved tenderly. She was a Du Plessis."
"If his mother is still alive she must be a hundred and fifty years old."
"What nonsense!"
"Not at all; she was married in the days of Marie de Medicis."
"But the certificate of baptism names the prince's mother, and his
seal--"
"Does he know what armorial bearings he has on that seal?"
"Do you doubt it?"
"Very strongly, or rather I am certain that he knows nothing about it."
We left the table, and the prince was announced. He came in, and Madame
Sagredo lost no time in saying to him, "Prince, here is M. Casanova; he
pretends that you do not know your own armorial bearings." Hearing these
words, he came up to me, sneering, called me a coward, and gave me a
smack on the face which almost stunned me. I left the room very slowly,
not forgetting my hat and my cane, and went downstairs, while M.
D---- R---- was loudly ordering the servants to throw the madman out of
the window.
I left the palace and went to the esplanade in order to wait for him. The
moment I saw him, I ran to meet him, and I beat him so violently with my
cane that one blow alone ought to have killed him. He drew back, and
found himself brought to a stand between two walls, where, to avoid being
beaten to death, his only resource was to draw his sword, but the
cowardly scoundrel did not even think of his weapon, and I left him, on
the ground, covered with blood. The crowd formed a line for me to pass,
and I went to the coffee-house, where I drank a glass of lemonade,
without sugar to precipitate the bitter saliva which rage had brought up
from my stomach. In a few minutes, I found myself surrounded by all the
young officers of the garrison, who joined in the general opinion that I
ought to have killed him, and they at last annoyed me, for it was not my
fault if I had not done so, and I would certainly have taken his life if
he had drawn his sword.
I had been in the coffee-house for half an hour when the general's
adjutant came to tell me that his excellency ordered me to put myself
under arrest on board the bastarda, a galley on which the prisoners had
their legs in irons like galley slaves. The dose was rather too strong to
be swallowed, and I did not feel disposed to submit to it. "Very good,
adjutant," I replied, "it shall be done." He went away, and I left the
coffee-house a moment after him, but when I reached the end of the
street, instead of going towards the esplanade, I proceeded quickly
towards the sea. I walked along the beach for a quarter of an hour, and
finding a boat empty, but with a pair of oars, I got in her, and
unfastening her, I rowed as hard as I could towards a large caicco,
sailing against the wind with six oars. As soon as I had come up to her,
I went on board and asked the carabouchiri to sail before the wind and to
take me to a large wherry which could be seen at some distance, going
towards Vido Rock. I abandoned the row-boat, and, after paying the master
of the caicco generously, I got into the wherry, made a bargain with the
skipper who unfurled three sails, and in less than two hours we were
fifteen miles away from Corfu. The wind having died away, I made the men
row against the current, but towards midnight they told me that they
could not row any longer, they were worn out with fatigue. They advised
me to sleep until day-break, but I refused to do so, and for a trifle I
got them to put me on shore, without asking where I was, in order not to
raise their suspicions. It was enough for me to know that I was at a
distance of twenty miles from Corfu, and in a place where nobody could
imagine me to be. The moon was shining, and I saw a church with a house
adjoining, a long barn opened on both sides, a plain of about one hundred
yards confined by hills, and nothing more. I found some straw in the
barn, and laying myself down, I slept until day-break in spite of the
cold. It was the 1st of December, and although the climate is very mild
in Corfu I felt benumbed when I awoke, as I had no cloak over my thin
uniform.
The bells begin to toll, and I proceed towards the church. The
long-bearded papa, surprised at my sudden apparition, enquires whether I
am Romeo (a Greek); I tell him that I am Fragico (Italian), but he turns
his back upon me and goes into his house, the door of which he shuts
without condescending to listen to me.
I then turned towards the sea, and saw a boat leaving a tartan lying at
anchor within one hundred yards of the island; the boat had four oars and
landed her passengers. I come up to them and meet a good-looking Greek, a
woman and a young boy ten or twelve years old. Addressing myself to the
Greek, I ask him whether he has had a pleasant passage, and where he
comes from. He answers in Italian that he has sailed from Cephalonia with
his wife and his son, and that he is bound for Venice; he had landed to
hear mass at the Church of Our Lady of Casopo, in order to ascertain
whether his father-in-law was still alive, and whether he would pay the
amount he had promised him for the dowry of his wife.
"But how can you find it out?"
"The Papa Deldimopulo will tell me; he will communicate faithfully the
oracle of the Holy Virgin." I say nothing and follow him into the church;
he speaks to the priest, and gives him some money. The papa says the
mass, enters the sanctum sanctorum, comes out again in a quarter of an
hour, ascends the steps of the altar, turns towards his audience, and,
after meditating for a minute and stroking his long beard, he delivers
his oracle in a dozen words. The Greek of Cephalonia, who certainly could
not boast of being as wise as Ulysses, appears very well pleased, and
gives more money to the impostor. We leave the church, and I ask him
whether he feels satisfied with the oracle.
"Oh! quite satisfied. I know now that my father-in-law is alive, and that
he will pay me the dowry, if I consent to leave my child with him. I am
aware that it is his fancy and I will give him the boy."
"Does the papa know you?"
"No; he is not even acquainted with my name."
"Have you any fine goods on board your tartan?"
"Yes; come and breakfast with me; you can see all I have."
"Very willingly."
Delighted at hearing that oracles were not yet defunct, and satisfied
that they will endure as long as there are in this world simple-minded
men and deceitful, cunning priests, I follow the good man, who took me to
his tartan and treated me to an excellent breakfast. His cargo consisted
of cotton, linen, currants, oil, and excellent wines. He had also a stock
of night-caps, stockings, cloaks in the Eastern fashion, umbrellas, and
sea biscuits, of which I was very fond; in those days I had thirty teeth,
and it would have been difficult to find a finer set. Alas! I have but
two left now, the other twenty-eight are gone with other tools quite as
precious; but 'dum vita super est, bene est.' I bought a small stock of
everything he had except cotton, for which I had no use, and without
discussing his price I paid him the thirty-five or forty sequins he
demanded, and seeing my generosity he made me a present of six beautiful
botargoes.
I happened during our conversation to praise the wine of Xante, which he
called generoydes, and he told me that if I would accompany him to Venice
he would give me a bottle of that wine every day including the
quarantine. Always superstitious, I was on the point of accepting, and
that for the most foolish reason-namely, that there would be no
premeditation in that strange resolution, and it might be the impulse of
fate. Such was my nature in those days; alas; it is very different now.
They say that it is because wisdom comes with old age, but I cannot
reconcile myself to cherish the effect of a most unpleasant cause.
Just as I was going to accept his offer he proposes to sell me a very
fine gun for ten sequins, saying that in Corfu anyone would be glad of it
for twelve. The word Corfu upsets all my ideas on the spot! I fancy I
hear the voice of my genius telling me to go back to that city. I
purchase the gun for the ten sequins, and my honest Cephalonian, admiring
my fair dealing, gives me, over and above our bargain, a beautiful
Turkish pouch well filled with powder and shot. Carrying my gun, with a
good warm cloak over my uniform and with a large bag containing all my
purchases, I take leave of the worthy Greek, and am landed on the shore,
determined on obtaining a lodging from the cheating papa, by fair means
or foul. The good wine of my friend the Cephalonian had excited me just
enough to make me carry my determination into immediate execution. I had
in my pockets four or five hundred copper gazzette, which were very
heavy, but which I had procured from the Greek, foreseeing that I might
want them during my stay on the island.
I store my bag away in the barn and I proceed, gun in hand, towards the
house of the priest; the church was closed.
I must give my readers some idea of the state I was in at that moment. I
was quietly hopeless. The three or four hundred sequins I had with me did
not prevent me from thinking that I was not in very great security on the
island; I could not remain long, I would soon be found out, and, being
guilty of desertion, I should be treated accordingly. I did not know what
to do, and that is always an unpleasant predicament. It would be absurd
for me to return to Corfu of my own accord; my flight would then be
useless, and I should be thought a fool, for my return would be a proof
of cowardice or stupidity; yet I did not feel the courage to desert
altogether. The chief cause of my decision was not that I had a thousand
sequins in the hands of the faro banker, or my well-stocked wardrobe, or
the fear of not getting a living somewhere else, but the unpleasant
recollection that I should leave behind me a woman whom I loved to
adoration, and from whom I had not yet obtained any favour, not even that
of kissing her hand. In such distress of mind I could not do anything
else but abandon myself to chance, whatever the result might be, and the
most essential thing for the present was to secure a lodging and my daily
food.
I knock at the door of the priest's dwelling. He looks out of a window
and shuts it without listening to me, I knock again, I swear, I call out
loudly, all in vain, Giving way to my rage, I take aim at a poor sheep
grazing with several others at a short distance, and kill it. The
herdsman begins to scream, the papa shows himself at the window, calling
out, "Thieves! Murder!" and orders the alarm-bell to be rung. Three bells
are immediately set in motion, I foresee a general gathering: what is
going to happen? I do not know, but happen what will, I load my gun and
await coming events.
In less than eight or ten minutes, I see a crowd of peasants coming down
the hills, armed with guns, pitchforks, or cudgels: I withdraw inside of
the barn, but without the slightest fear, for I cannot suppose that,
seeing me alone, these men will murder me without listening to me.
The first ten or twelve peasants come forward, gun in hand and ready to
fire: I stop them by throwing down my gazzette, which they lose no time
in picking up from the ground, and I keep on throwing money down as the
men come forward, until I had no more left. The clowns were looking at
each other in great astonishment, not knowing what to make out of a
well-dressed young man, looking very peaceful, and throwing his money to
them with such generosity. I could not speak to them until the deafening
noise of the bells should cease. I quietly sit down on my large bag, and
keep still, but as soon as I can be heard I begin to address the men. The
priest, however, assisted by his beadle and by the herdsman, interrupts
me, and all the more easily that I was speaking Italian. My three
enemies, who talked all at once, were trying to excite the crowd against
me.
One of the peasants, an elderly and reasonable-looking man, comes up to
me and asks me in Italian why I have killed the sheep.
"To eat it, my good fellow, but not before I have paid for it."
"But his holiness, the papa, might choose to charge one sequin for it."
"Here is one sequin."
The priest takes the money and goes away: war is over. The peasant tells
me that he has served in the campaign of 1716, and that he was at the
defence of Corfu. I compliment him, and ask him to find me a lodging and
a man able to prepare my meals. He answers that he will procure me a
whole house, that he will be my cook himself, but I must go up the hill.
No matter! He calls two stout fellows, one takes my bag, the other
shoulders my sheep, and forward! As we are walking along, I tell him,--
"My good man, I would like to have in my service twenty-four fellows like
these under military discipline. I would give each man twenty gazzette a
day, and you would have forty as my lieutenant."
"I will," says the old soldier, "raise for you this very day a body-guard
of which you will be proud."
We reach a very convenient house, containing on the ground floor three
rooms and a stable, which I immediately turned into a guard-room.
My lieutenant went to get what I wanted, and particularly a needlewoman
to make me some shirts. In the course of the day I had furniture,
bedding, kitchen utensils, a good dinner, twenty-four well-equipped
soldiers, a super-annuated sempstress and several young girls to make my
shirts. After supper, I found my position highly pleasant, being
surrounded with some thirty persons who looked upon me as their
sovereign, although they could not make out what had brought me to their
island. The only thing which struck me as disagreeable was that the young
girls could not speak Italian, and I did not know Greek enough to enable
me to make love to them.
The next morning my lieutenant had the guard relieved, and I could not
help bursting into a merry laugh. They were like a flock of sheep: all
fine men, well-made and strong; but without uniform and without
discipline the finest band is but a herd. However, they quickly learned
how to present arms and to obey the orders of their officer. I caused
three sentinels to be placed, one before the guardroom, one at my door,
and the third where he could have a good view of the sea. This sentinel
was to give me warning of the approach of any armed boat or vessel. For
the first two or three days I considered all this as mere amusement, but,
thinking that I might really want the men to repel force by force, I had
some idea of making my army take an oath of allegiance. I did not do so,
however, although my lieutenant assured me that I had only to express my
wishes, for my generosity had captivated the love of all the islanders.
My sempstress, who had procured some young needlewomen to sew my shirts,
had expected that I would fall in love with one and not with all, but my
amorous zeal overstepped her hopes, and all the pretty ones had their
turn; they were all well satisfied with me, and the sempstress was
rewarded for her good offices. I was leading a delightful life, for my
table was supplied with excellent dishes, juicy mutton, and snipe so
delicious that I have never tasted their like except in St. Petersburg. I
drank scopolo wine or the best muscatel of the Archipelago. My lieutenant
was my only table companion. I never took a walk without him and two of
my body-guard, in order to defend myself against the attacks of a few
young men who had a spite against me because they fancied, not without
some reason, that my needlewomen, their mistresses, had left them on my
account. I often thought while I was rambling about the island, that
without money I should have been unhappy, and that I was indebted to my
gold for all the happiness I was enjoying; but it was right to suppose at
the same time that, if I had not felt my purse pretty heavy, I would not
have been likely to leave Corfu.
I had thus been playing the petty king with success for a week or ten
days, when, towards ten o'clock at night I heard the sentinel's
challenge. My lieutenant went out, and returned announcing that an
honest-looking man, who spoke Italian, wished to see me on important
business. I had him brought in, and, in the presence of my lieutenant, he
told me in Italian:
"Next Sunday, the Papa Deldimopulo will fulminate against you the
'cataramonachia'. If you do not prevent him, a slow fever will send you
into the next world in six weeks."
"I have never heard of such a drug."
"It is not a drug. It is a curse pronounced by a priest with the Host in
his hands, and it is sure to be fulfilled."
"What reason can that priest have to murder me?"
"You disturb the peace and discipline of his parish. You have seduced
several young girls, and now their lovers refuse to marry them."
I made him drink, and thanking him heartily, wished him good night. His
warning struck me as deserving my attention, for, if I had no fear of the
'cataramonachia', in which I had not the slightest faith, I feared
certain poisons which might be by far more efficient. I passed a very
quiet night, but at day-break I got up, and without saying anything to my
lieutenant, I went straight to the church where I found the priest, and
addressed him in the following words, uttered in a tone likely to enforce
conviction:
"On the first symptom of fever, I will shoot you like a dog. Throw over
me a curse which will kill me instantly, or make your will. Farewell!"
Having thus warned him, I returned to my royal palace. Early on the
following Monday, the papa called on me. I had a slight headache; he
enquired after my health, and when I told him that my head felt rather
heavy, he made me laugh by the air of anxiety with which he assured me
that it could be caused by nothing else than the heavy atmosphere of the
island of Casopo.
Three days after his visit, the advanced sentinel gave the war-cry. The
lieutenant went out to reconnoitre, and after a short absence he gave me
notice that the long boat of an armed vessel had just landed an officer.
Danger was at hand.
I go out myself, I call my men to arms, and, advancing a few steps, I see
an officer, accompanied by a guide, who was walking towards my dwelling.
As he was alone, I had nothing to fear. I return to my room, giving
orders to my lieutenant to receive him with all military honours and to
introduce him. Then, girding my sword, I wait for my visitor.
In a few minutes, Adjutant Minolto, the same who had brought me the order
to put myself under arrest, makes his appearance.
"You are alone," I say to him, "and therefore you come as a friend. Let
us embrace."
"I must come as a friend, for, as an enemy, I should not have enough men.
But what I see seems a dream."
"Take a seat, and dine with me. I will treat you splendidly."
"Most willingly, and after dinner we will leave the island together."
"You may go alone, if you like; but I will not leave this place until I
have the certainty, not only that I shall not be sent to the 'bastarda',
but also that I shall have every satisfaction from the knave whom the
general ought to send to the galleys."
"Be reasonable, and come with me of your own accord. My orders are to
take you by force, but as I have not enough men to do so, I shall make my
report, and the general will, of course, send a force sufficient to
arrest you."
"Never; I will not be taken alive."
"You must be mad; believe me, you are in the wrong. You have disobeyed
the order I brought you to go to the 'bastarda; in that you have acted
wrongly, and in that alone, for in every other respect you were perfectly
right, the general himself says so."
"Then I ought to have put myself under arrest?"
"Certainly; obedience is necessary in our profession."
"Would you have obeyed, if you had been in my place?"
"I cannot and will not tell you what I would have done, but I know that
if I had disobeyed orders I should have been guilty of a crime:"
"But if I surrendered now I should be treated like a criminal, and much
more severely than if I had obeyed that unjust order."
"I think not. Come with me, and you will know everything."
"What! Go without knowing what fate may be in store for me? Do not expect
it. Let us have dinner. If I am guilty of such a dreadful crime that
violence must be used against me, I will surrender only to irresistible
force. I cannot be worse off, but there may be blood spilled."
"You are mistaken, such conduct would only make you more guilty. But I
say like you, let us have dinner. A good meal will very likely render you
more disposed to listen to reason."
Our dinner was nearly over, when we heard some noise outside. The
lieutenant came in, and informed me that the peasants were gathering in
the neighbourhood of my house to defend me, because a rumour had spread
through the island that the felucca had been sent with orders to arrest
me and take me to Corfu. I told him to undeceive the good fellows, and to
send them away, but to give them first a barrel of wine.
The peasants went away satisfied, but, to shew their devotion to me, they
all fired their guns.
"It is all very amusing," said the adjutant, "but it will turn out very
serious if you let me go away alone, for my duty compels me to give an
exact account of all I have witnessed."
"I will follow you, if you will give me your word of honour to land me
free in Corfu."
"I have orders to deliver your person to M. Foscari, on board the
bastarda."
"Well, you shall not execute your orders this time."
"If you do not obey the commands of the general, his honour will compel
him to use violence against you, and of course he can do it. But tell me,
what would you do if the general should leave you in this island for the
sake of the joke? There is no fear of that, however, and, after the
report which I must give, the general will certainly make up his mind to
stop the affair without shedding blood."
"Without a fight it will be difficult to arrest me, for with five hundred
peasants in such a place as this I would not be afraid of three thousand
men."
"One man will prove enough; you will be treated as a leader of rebels.
All these peasants may be devoted to you, but they cannot protect you
against one man who will shoot you for the sake of earning a few pieces
of gold. I can tell you more than that: amongst all those men who
surround you there is not one who would not murder you for twenty
sequins. Believe me, go with me. Come to enjoy the triumph which is
awaiting you in Corfu. You will be courted and applauded. You will
narrate yourself all your mad frolics, people will laugh, and at the same
time will admire you for having listened to reason the moment I came
here. Everybody feels esteem for you, and M. D---- R---- thinks a great
deal of you. He praises very highly the command you have shewn over your
passion in refraining from thrusting your sword through that insolent
fool, in order not to forget the respect you owed to his house. The
general himself must esteem you, for he cannot forget what you told him
of that knave."
"What has become of him?"
"Four days ago Major Sardina's frigate arrived with dispatches, in which
the general must have found all the proof of the imposture, for he has
caused the false duke or prince to disappear very suddenly. Nobody knows
where he has been sent to, and nobody ventures to mention the fellow
before the general, for he made the most egregious blunder respecting
him."
"But was the man received in society after the thrashing I gave him?"
"God forbid! Do you not recollect that he wore a sword? From that moment
no one would receive him. His arm was broken and his jaw shattered to
pieces.
"But in spite of the state he was in, in spite of what he must have
suffered, his excellency had him removed a week after you had treated him
so severely. But your flight is what everyone has been wondering over. It
was thought for three days that M. D---- R---- had concealed you in his
house, and he was openly blamed for doing so. He had to declare loudly at
the general's table that he was in the most complete ignorance of your
whereabouts. His excellency even expressed his anxiety about your escape,
and it was only yesterday that your place of refuge was made known by a
letter addressed by the priest of this island to the Proto-Papa Bulgari,
in which he complained that an Italian officer had invaded the island of
Casopo a week before, and had committed unheard-of violence. He accused
you of seducing all the girls, and of threatening to shoot him if he
dared to pronounce 'cataramonachia' against you. This letter, which was
read publicly at the evening reception, made the general laugh, but he
ordered me to arrest you all the same."
"Madame Sagredo is the cause of it all."
"True, but she is well punished for it. You ought to call upon her with
me to-morrow."
"To-morrow? Are you then certain that I shall not be placed under
arrest?"
"Yes, for I know that the general is a man of honour."
"I am of the same opinion. Well, let us go on board your felucca. We will
embark together after midnight."
"Why not now?"
"Because I will not run the risk of spending the night on board M.
Foscari's bastarda. I want to reach Corfu by daylight, so as to make your
victory more brilliant."
"But what shall we do for the next eight hours?"
"We will pay a visit to some beauties of a species unknown in Corfu, and
have a good supper."
I ordered my lieutenant to send plenty to eat and to drink to the men on
board the felucca, to prepare a splendid supper, and to spare nothing, as
I should leave the island at midnight. I made him a present of all my
provisions, except such as I wanted to take with me; these I sent on
board. My janissaries, to whom I gave a week's pay, insisted upon
escorting me, fully equipped, as far as the boat, which made the adjutant
laugh all the way.
We reached Corfu by eight o'clock in the morning, and we went alongside
the 'bastarda. The adjutant consigned me to M. Foscari, assuring me that
he would immediately give notice of my arrival to M. D---- R-----, send my
luggage to his house, and report the success of his expedition to the
general.
M. Foscari, the commander of the bastarda, treated me very badly. If he
had been blessed with any delicacy of feeling, he would not have been in
such a hurry to have me put in irons. He might have talked to me, and
have thus delayed for a quarter of an hour that operation which greatly
vexed me. But, without uttering a single word, he sent me to the 'capo di
scalo' who made me sit down, and told me to put my foot forward to
receive the irons, which, however, do not dishonour anyone in that
country, not even the galley slaves, for they are better treated than
soldiers.
My right leg was already in irons, and the left one was in the hands of
the man for the completion of that unpleasant ceremony, when the adjutant
of his excellency came to tell the executioner to set me at liberty and
to return me my sword. I wanted to present my compliments to the noble M.
Foscari, but the adjutant, rather ashamed, assured me that his excellency
did not expect me to do so. The first thing I did was to pay my respects
to the general, without saying one word to him, but he told me with a
serious countenance to be more prudent for the future, and to learn that
a soldier's first duty was to obey, and above all to be modest and
discreet. I understood perfectly the meaning of the two last words, and
acted accordingly.
When I made my appearance at M. D---- R-----'s, I could see pleasure on
everybody's face. Those moments have always been so dear to me that I
have never forgotten them, they have afforded me consolation in the time
of adversity. If you would relish pleasure you must endure pain, and
delights are in proportion to the privations we have suffered. M.
D---- R---- was so glad to see me that he came up to me and warmly
embraced me. He presented me with a beautiful ring which he took from his
own finger, and told me that I had acted quite rightly in not letting
anyone, and particularly himself, know where I had taken refuge.
"You can't think," he added, frankly, "how interested Madame F---- was in
your fate. She would be really delighted if you called on her
immediately."
How delightful to receive such advice from his own lips! But the word
"immediately" annoyed me, because, having passed the night on board the
felucca, I was afraid that the disorder of my toilet might injure me in
her eyes. Yet I could neither refuse M. D---- R-----, nor tell him the
reason of my refusal, and I bethought myself that I could make a merit of
it in the eyes of Madame F---- I therefore went at once to her house; the
goddess was not yet visible, but her attendant told me to come in,
assuring me that her mistress's bell would soon be heard, and that she
would be very sorry if I did not wait to see her. I spent half an hour
with that young and indiscreet person, who was a very charming girl, and
learned from her many things which caused me great pleasure, and
particularly all that had been said respecting my escape. I found that
throughout the affair my conduct had met with general approbation.
As soon as Madame F---- had seen her maid, she desired me to be shewn in.
The curtains were drawn aside, and I thought I saw Aurora surrounded with
the roses and the pearls of morning. I told her that, if it had not been
for the order I received from M. D---- R---- I would not have presumed to
present myself before her in my travelling costume; and in the most
friendly tone she answered that M. D---- R-----, knowing all the interest
she felt in me, had been quite right to tell me to come, and she assured
me that M. D---- R----- had the greatest esteem for me.
"I do not know, madam, how I have deserved such great happiness, for all
I dared aim at was toleration."
"We all admired the control you kept over your feelings when you
refrained from killing that insolent madman on the spot; he would have
been thrown out of the window if he had not beat a hurried retreat."
"I should certainly have killed him, madam, if you had not been present."
"A very pretty compliment, but I can hardly believe that you thought of
me in such a moment."
I did not answer, but cast my eyes down, and gave a deep sigh. She
observed my new ring, and in order to change the subject of conversation
she praised M. D---- R----- very highly, as soon as I had told her how he
had offered it to me. She desired me to give her an account of my life on
the island, and I did so, but allowed my pretty needlewomen to remain
under a veil, for I had already learnt that in this world the truth must
often remain untold.
All my adventures amused her much, and she greatly admired my conduct.
"Would you have the courage," she said, "to repeat all you have just told
me, and exactly in the same terms, before the proveditore-generale?"
"Most certainly, madam, provided he asked me himself."
"Well, then, prepare to redeem your promise. I want our excellent general
to love you and to become your warmest protector, so as to shield you
against every injustice and to promote your advancement. Leave it all to
me."
Her reception fairly overwhelmed me with happiness, and on leaving her
house I went to Major Maroli to find out the state of my finances. I was
glad to hear that after my escape he had no longer considered me a
partner in the faro bank. I took four hundred sequins from the cashier,
reserving the right to become again a partner, should circumstances prove
at any time favourable.
In the evening I made a careful toilet, and called for the Adjutant
Minolto in order to pay with him a visit to Madame Sagredo, the general's
favourite. With the exception of Madame F---- she was the greatest beauty
of Corfu. My visit surprised her, because, as she had been the cause of
all that had happened, she was very far from expecting it. She imagined
that I had a spite against her. I undeceived her, speaking to her very
candidly, and she treated me most kindly, inviting me to come now and
then to spend the evening at her house.
But I neither accepted nor refused her amiable invitation, knowing that
Madame F---- disliked her; and how could I be a frequent guest at her
house with such a knowledge! Besides, Madame Sagredo was very fond of
gambling, and, to please her, it was necessary either to lose or make her
win, but to accept such conditions one must be in love with the lady or
wish to make her conquest, and I had not the slightest idea of either.
The Adjutant Minolto never played, but he had captivated the lady's good
graces by his services in the character of Mercury.
When I returned to the palace I found Madame F---- alone, M.
D---- R---- being engaged with his correspondence. She asked me to sit
near her, and to tell her all my adventures in Constantinople. I did so,
and I had no occasion to repent it. My meeting with Yusuf's wife pleased
her extremely, but the bathing scene by moonlight made her blush with
excitement. I veiled as much as I could the too brilliant colours of my
picture, but, if she did not find me clear, she would oblige me to be
more explicit, and if I made myself better understood by giving to my
recital a touch of voluptuousness which I borrowed from her looks more
than from my recollection, she would scold me and tell me that I might
have disguised a little more. I felt that the way she was talking would
give her a liking for me, and I was satisfied that the man who can give
birth to amorous desires is easily called upon to gratify them it was the
reward I was ardently longing for, and I dared to hope it would be mine,
although I could see it only looming in the distance.
It happened that, on that day, M. D---- R---- had invited a large company
to supper. I had, as a matter of course, to engross all conversation, and
to give the fullest particulars of all that had taken place from the
moment I received the order to place myself under arrest up to the time
of my release from the 'bastarda'. M. Foscari was seated next to me, and
the last part of my narrative was not, I suppose, particularly agreeable
to him.
The account I gave of my adventures pleased everybody, and it was decided
that the proveditore-generale must have the pleasure of hearing my tale
from my own lips. I mentioned that hay was very plentiful in Casopo, and
as that article was very scarce in Corfu, M. D---- R---- told me that I
ought to seize the opportunity of making myself agreeable to the general
by informing him of that circumstance without delay. I followed his
advice the very next day, and was very well received, for his excellency
immediately ordered a squad of men to go to the island and bring large
quantities of hay to Corfu.
A few days later the Adjutant Minolto came to me in the coffee-house, and
told me that the general wished to see me: this time I promptly obeyed
his commands.