Volume I Part 6 (1/2)
Cordiani's letter was perfectly explicit; it gave the strongest evidence that she was in the habit of receiving hiht, and therefore the story she had prepared to deceivedisposed to calm her anxiety as far as I could, I went to her bedside in the , and I placed in her hands Cordiani's note and irl's spirit and talent had won er despise her; I saw in her only a poor creature seduced by her natural temperament She loved man, and was to be pitied only on account of the consequences Believing that the view I took of the situation was a right one, I had resigned , and not like a disappointed lover The shame was for her and not for me I had only one wish, namely, to find out whether the two brothers Feltrini, Cordiani's companions, had likewise shared Bettina's favours
Bettina put on throughout the day a cheerful and happy look In the evening she dressed herself for the ball; but suddenly an attack of sickness, whether feigned or real I did not know, cohtened everybody in the house As forthe whole affair, I was prepared for new scenes, and indeed for sad ones, for I felt that I had obtained over her a power repugnant to her vanity and self-love I must, however, confess that, in spite of the excellent school in which I found ht to have given h the whole of o, if it had not been for , thoughtless girl, hom I had fallen in love: Now that I aer susceptible of such follies; but, alas! that is the very thing which causes me to be rieved because the devil of whom Bettina was possessed had made himself master of her reason Doctor Gozzi told me that there could not be the shadow of a doubt that his unfortunate sister was possessed, as, if she had only been mad, she never would have so cruelly ill-treated the Capuchin, Prospero, and he determined to place her under the care of Father Mancia
This Mancia was a celebrated Jacobin (or Do failed to cure a girl possessed of the deood dinner, but she had been frantic all through the day TowardsTasso as usual, and so drunk that he could not stand He went up to Bettina's bed, and after kissing her affectionately he said to her: ”Thou art not irl”
Her ansas that he was not drunk
”Thou art possessed of the devil, my dear child”
”Yes, father, and you alone can cure me”
”Well, I aical discourse, expatiating upon the power of faith and upon the virtue of the paternal blessing He throws off his cloak, takes a crucifix with one hand, places the other over the head of his daughter, and addresses the devil in such an arained old woh till the tears came down her cheeks The two perfor, and their serious countenance added to the fun of the performance I ood laugh) having sufficient control over herself to reiven way to ed that the farce should come to an end, for he deemed that his father's eccentricities were as ainst the sacredness of exorcism At last the exorcist, doubtless tired out, went to bed saying that he was certain that the devil would not disturb his daughter during the night
On the morrow, just as we had finished our breakfast, Father Mancia made his appearance Doctor Gozzi, followed by the whole family, escorted him to his sister's bedside As for me, I was entirely taken up by the face of the ure was tall and ht hair and blue eyes; his features were those of Apollo, but without his pride and assu white, was pale, but that paleness see off the red coral of his lips, through which could be seen, when they opened, ts of pearls He was neither thin nor stout, and the habitual sadness of his countenance enhanced its sweetness His gait was slow, his air tireat modesty of his mind
When we entered the room Bettina was asleep, or pretended to be so
Father Mancia took a sprinkler and threw over her a few drops of holy water; she opened her eyes, looked at the monk, and closed theain, had a better look at hiently, and with her head prettily bent on one side she fell into the sweetest of slu by the bed, took out his pocket ritual and the stole which he put round his neck, then a reliquary, which he placed on the bosoed all of us to fall on our knees and to pray, so that God should let hi under a natural disease He kept us kneeling for half an hour, reading all the time in a low tone of voice Bettina did not stir
Tired, I suppose, of the performance, he desired to speak privately with Doctor Gozzi They passed into the next rooht back by a loud peal of laughter froirl, hen she saw them, turned her back on them Father Mancia save us all a generous shower, and took his leave
Doctor Gozzi told us that the exorcist would coain on the morrow, and that he had promised to deliver Bettina within three hours if she were truly possessed of the demon, but that he made no promise if it should turn out to be a case of madness The mother exclaimed that he would surely deliver her, and she poured out her thanks to God for having allowed her the grace of beholding a saint before her death
The following day Bettina was in a fine frenzy She began to utter the ine, and did not stop when the char exorcist came into her room; he seemed to enjoy her foolish talk for a few ged us to withdraw His order was obeyed instantly; we left the chamber, and the door remained open But what did it o in?
During three long hours we heard nothing; the stillness was unbroken At noon the monk called us in Bettina was there sad and very quiet while the exorcist packed up his things He took his departure, saying he had very good hopes of the case, and requesting that the doctor would send hiot up for supper, and the next day behaved herself rationally; but the following circuthened my opinion that she had been neither insane nor possessed
It o days before the Purification of the Holy Virgin Doctor Gozzi was in the habit of giving us the sacrament in his own church, but he always sent us for our confession to the church of Saint-Augustin, in which the Jacobins of Padua officiated At the supper table, he told us to prepare ourselves for the next day, and his ht, all of you, to confess to Father Mancia, so as to obtain absolution froo to hireed to the proposal; I remained silent, but as the idea was unpleasant to , with a full determination to prevent the execution of the project
I had entire confidence in the secrecy of confession, and I was incapable of ht to choose my confessor, I most certainly never would have been so simple as to confess to Father Mancia what had taken place between irl could be no other but Bettina Besides, I was satisfied that Cordiani would confess everything to the , Bettina broughtletter: ”Spurn me, but respect my honour and the shadow of peace to which I aspire No one from this house must confess to Father Mancia; you alone can prevent the execution of that project, and I need not suggest the way to succeed It will prove whether you have some friendshi+p for irl, as I read that note In spite of that feeling, this is what I answered: ”I can well understand that, notwithstanding the inviolability of confession, your reat anxiety; but I cannot see why, in order to prevent its execution, you should depend upon me rather than upon Cordiani who has expressed his acceptance of it All I can proo to Father Mancia; but I have no influence over your lover; you alone can speak to him”
She replied: ”I have never addressed a word to Cordiani since the fatal night which has sealed ain, even if I could by so doing recover my lost happiness To you alone I wish to be indebted for irl appeared to me more wonderful than all the heroines of who sport of ht she was trying to fetter h I had no inclination for them, I made up my mind to render her the service she claimed at my hands, and which she believed I alone could compass She felt certain of her success, but in what school had she obtained her experience of the hu of a certain class of novels causes the ruin of a great ood roe of society