Volume II Part 9 (2/2)
I brought the ned the petition ent to the Boussole, where she presented it to the President of the Council In less than a quarter of an hour a bailiff was ordered to repair to the house of the priest with the hter, and of all the furniture, which she would immediately take away
The order was carried into execution to the very letter I ith the ondola as near as possible to the house, and I had provided a large boat in which the sbirri stowed all the furniture found on the preondola, and she was extremely surprised to see me Her mother kissed her, and told her that I would be her husband the very next day She answered that she was delighted, and that nothing had been left in her tyrant's house except his bed and his clothes
When we reached Castello, I ordered the furniture to be brought out of the boat; we had dinner, and I told the three woo back to Lusia, where I would join them as soon as I had settled all aily withwhen the bailiff presented the order of the Council of Ten, with injunctions to allow its free execution under penalty of death; that the abbe finished his toilet, went out to say his htest opposition ”I was told,” she added, ”that ondola, but I did not expect to find you, and I never suspected that you were at the bottoive you of my love”
These words ood supper and some excellent wines, and after we had spent two hours at table in the midst of the joys of Bacchus, I devoted four more to a pleasant tete-a-tete with , after breakfast, I had the whole of the furniture stowed in a peotta, which I had engaged for the purpose and paid for beforehand I gave ten reat delight The affair was completed to my honour as well as to my entire satisfaction, and I returned home
The case had norant of it; the consequence was that, when they saw me, they shewed their surprise and sorrow De la Haye ened feeling--a harlequin's dress, which he had the talent of assuhed heartily, saying to the others that they did not understand the affair, and that it was the forerunner of soreat which was known only to heavenly spirits On norant of the opinion they entertained of the matter, and certain that they were not inforadin, but said nothing I had nothing to fear, and I wanted to amuse myself with all that would be said
We sat down to table, and M Barbaro was the first to tell me in a friendly manner that he hoped at least that this was not the day after
”Then people say that I am married?”
”It is said everywhere and by everybody The ood reason to believe that they are right”
”To be right in believing such a thing, they ought to be certain of it, and those gentlemen have no such certainty As they are not infallible any more than any one, except God, I tell you that they are et pleasure for my money, but not at the expense of my liberty: Whenever you want to know my affairs, recollect that you can receive inforood to aht with the person who is represented as your wife?”
”Quite true, but I have no account to give to anyone respecting what I have done last night Are you not of my opinion, M de la Haye?”
”I wish you would not ask my opinion, for I do not know But I ht not to be despised The deep affection I have for you causes rieve for what the public voice says about you”
”How is it that those reports do not grieve M de Bragadin, who has certainly greater affection for me than you have?”
”I respect you, but I have learned at my own expense that slander is to be feared It is said that, in order to get hold of a young girl as residing with her uncle--a worthy priest, you suborned a woirl's h the authority of which she obtained possession of the girl for you The bailiff sent by the Council swears that you were in the gondola with the false irl joined her It is said that the deed, in virtue of which you caused the worthy ecclesiastic's furniture to be carried off, is false, and you are bla-stone to crime
In fine, it is said that, even if you have irl, and no doubt of it is entertained, the members of the Council will not be silent as to the fraudulent means you have had recourse to in order to carry out your intentions successfully”
”That is a very long speech,” I said to him, coldly, ”but learn from me that a wise man who has heard a criminal accusation related with so many absurd particulars ceases to be hen he makes himself the echo of what he has heard, for if the accusation should turn out to be a calumny, he would himself become the accomplice of the slanderer”
After that sentence, which brought the blood to the face of the Jesuit, but whichvoice, to spare his anxiety about me, and to be quite certain that I knew the laws of honour, and that I had judgues say what they liked about me, just as I did when I heard them speak ill of him
The adventure was the talk of the city for five or six days, after which it was soon forgotten
But threepaid any visit to Lusia, or having answered the letters written toher the money she clais which h they had none whatever in the end
One day, Ignacio, the bailiff of the dreaded tribunal of the State inquisitors, presented hi at table with uests He informed me that the Cavaliere Cantarini dal Zoffo wished to seeat such an hour at the Madonna de l'Orto I rose from the table and answered, with a bow, that I would not fail to obey the wishes of his excellency The bailiff then left us
I could not possibly guess what such a high dignitary of State could ith e made us rather anxious, for Cantarini dal Zoffo was one of the Inquisitors, that is to say, a bird of very ill oadin, who had been Inquisitor while he was Councillor, and therefore knew the habits of the tribunal, told nacio was dressed in private clothes,” he added, ”and therefore he did not coer of the dread tribunal M