Volume II Part 66 (1/2)
”Who are you?” said I
”I aiorin, of Vicenza My father, as a coachman, kept me at school till I was eleven, by which time I had learnt to read and write; I was afterwards apprenticed to a barber, where I learnt hly After that I became valet to the Count of X--- I had been in the service of the noblehter carees I fell in love with her, and inspired her with a reciprocal passion After having sworn a thousand tiave ourselves up to the task of shewing each other marks of our affection, the result of which was that the state of the young countess discovered all An old and devoted servant was the first to find out our connection and the condition of my mistress, and she told her that she felt in duty bound to tell her father, buther pro that in the course of the week she herself would tell hih her confessor She infor to confession we prepared for flight She had laid hands on a good sued to her ht But to-day the count calledme a letter, he told me to start at once and to deliver it with my own hand to the person to whom it was addressed at Venice He spoke to htest suspicion of the fate in store for ood-bye todeeper below the surface than I, and perchance having a presentiment of my misfortune, she was sick at heart I came here in hot haste, and took care to deliver the fatal letter They made me wait for an answer, and in the mean time I went to an inn; but as I cauard-roohtcountess as my wife?”
”You make a mistake”
”But nature---- ”
”Nature, when aelse, takes him from one folly to another, till she puts him under the Leads”
”I am under the Leads, then, a man shed some bitter tears He was a well-made lad, open, honest, and amorous beyond words I secretly pardoned the countess, and condehter to such temptation
A shepherd who shuts up the wolf in the fold should not complain if his flock be devoured In all his tears and laht not of hiaoler would return and bring him some food and a bed; but I undeceived him, and offered him a share of what I had His heart, however, was too full for hiave hih he looked neat and clean enough I did not care to have hi the results of a lover's drealy he had acted, nor how the count was constrained to punish hihter and his house The next day he was given a mattress and a dinner to the value of fifteen sous, which the Tribunal had assigned to him, either as a favour or a charity, for the word justice would not be appropriate in speaking of this terrible body I told the gaoler that my dinner would suffice for the two of us, and that he could etold him that he was lucky to be in arret for half an hour I found this walk an excellent thing for my health and my plan of escape, which, however, I could not carry out for eleven months afterwards At the end of this resort of rats, I saw a nuround to the right and left of two great chests, and in front of a large pile of papers sewn up into separate volumes I helped , and I found the; for I was allowed to read these papers, which had once contained such secrets I found so the seduction of allantries carried a little too far by persons e to confessors who had abused their penitents, schooluardians who had seduced their wards So two or three centuries back, in which the style and the avethe pieces of furniture on the floor I saars, soe From this I concluded that some prisoner of distinction had been allowed to make use of these articles But what interested ht iron bar as thick asHowever, I left everything as it was, as my plans had not been sufficiently ripened by time for me to appropriate any object in particular
One day towards the end of the month my companion was taken away, and Lawrence told me that he had been condemned to the prisons known as The Fours, which are within the sa to the State Inquisitors Those confined in theaoler when they like The prisons are glooives the necessary light, and there is no fear of fire as everything istiiorin was there for five years, and was afterwards sent to Cerigo for ten I do not knohether he ever caood coone, for in a few days I became as melancholy as before Fortunately, I was still allowed an to examine its contents with more minuteness One of the chests was full of fine paper, pieces of cardboard, uncut pens, and clews of pack thread; the other was fastened down A piece of polished black , and three broad, attractedwhat I was going to do with it, and I secreted it init up with one, Lawrence told et another coabbling fool, began to get uneasy at ossip was not altogether appropriate to his office, but where is one to find beings absolutely vile? There are such persons, but happily they are few and far between, and are not to be sought for in the lower orders Thus ht that the reason I asked no questionsthe to prove tosolicited
”I believe you will often have visitors,” said he, ”as the other six cells have each two prisoners, who are not likely to be sent to the Fours” I made him no reply, but he went on, in a few seconds, ”They send to the Fours all sorts of people after they have been sentenced, though they know nothing of that The prisoners whoe of under the Leads are like yourself, persons of note, and are only guilty of deeds of which the inquisitiveIf you knew, sir, what sort of people shared your fate, you would be astonished, It's true that you are called a man of parts; but you will pardon me You know that all men of parts are treated well here You take ive three livres to a citizen, four to a gentleht to know, I think, as everything goes throughhis own praises, which consisted of negative clauses
”I'reedy, nor malicious, nor brutal, as all my predecessors were, and when I have drunk a pint over and above I am all the better for it If my father had sent ht be Messer-Grande to-day, but that's not h opinion of me My wife, who cooks for you every day, and is only twenty-four, goes to see him when she will, and he will have her come in without ceremony, even if he be in bed, and that's more than he'll do for a senator I pro the new-coth of tiot what he wants to know from them, he sends them to their place--to the Fours, to soners they are sent across the frontier, for our Government does not hold itself master of the subjects of other princes, if they be not in its service The clemency of the Court is beyond compare; there's not another in the world that treats its prisoners so well They say it's cruel to disalloriting and visitors; but that's foolish, for what are writing and company but waste of ti to do, but we can't say as ue hich the fellow honouredI saw that if the man had been less of a fool he would most certainly have been ht iorin had been, and I thus found it necessary to buy another ivory spoon, for as the newco on the first day of their imprisonment I had to do all the honours of the cell
My new , was still ure Lawrence often lent me scissors to cut my nails, but he was forbidden, under pain of very heavy punishment, to let me touch my beard I knew not the reason of this order, but I ended by beco
The new-co e rey eyes hidden under thick eyebrows of a red colour, which made him look like an owl; and this picture was set off by a sreeable odour of oil, and by a dress of coarse grey cloth He accepted my offer of dinner, but was reserved, and said not a word the whole day, and I was also silent, thinking he would soon recover the use of his tongue, as he did the next day
Early in the aoler asked him, as he had asked me, what he would have for dinner, and for money to pay for it
”I have no money”
”What! a moneyed man like you have no ood; in that case I will get you so to instructions”
He went out, and returned directly afterwards with a pound and a half of biscuit, and a pitcher, which he set before the prisoner, and then went away
Left alone with this phantoh, and h, sir, you shall sharehere without money”
”I have some, but it does not do to let those harpies know of it:”