Beati Paoli
by Luigi Natoli
part four, chapter 8
| Italiano | English |
In the morning, after breakfast, Blasco went to Coriolano; he was so pale and serious that he arrested on his friend's lips the motto that easily stood out there.
"What's the matter with you?... You have a dead face!..."
"My dear, I dare to find a man with whom fate is pissed off in the most treacherous way as with me!"
"Have you therefore fallen into the snares of righteousness?"
"It is not what I complain about; I am still grateful to Gabriella woman, and I feel I have for her the esteem and devotion that I have always had for her!"
"This is something that doesn't surprise me, but that already says a lot, let's take care, as long as you don't lose, towards the Duchess that respect you used for all the beautiful ladies. So is it serious this time?"
"Yes, I confess that I was wrong in judging Gabriella. His love for me today is what he was five years ago, deep and unaltered... She moved me..."
"He won you!..."
"Maybe. Who cares? Mine is one of those defeats that do not displease anyone..."
"Do you love her? Tell the truth..."
"I don't know. In some moments, yes, I seem to love her deeply, with tenderness; in other moments, no, or rather, I feel something that oppresses me like a kind of dismay... But this is not what gives me the air of death, as you say; nor is it for this that I accuse fate..."
"Well, what happens to you then?"
Blasco told him everything that had happened during the night and the violent scene with Emanuele: His voice had the tone of bitterness that filled his heart.
"Do you understand, my friend? And he's my brother and I can't grab him by the feet and smash his head against the wall!... I wouldn't have any debt to him, and maybe suppress him would be the same as to purify the society of a reptile who, growing up, will poison him... would also be the liberation of a poor creature that I myself, myself who had for her, and I still have a real affection, I have destined him! And yet he is an Albamont, and he is the head of the house, the chief known.
Coriolano, who had listened to the story with the greatest astonishment, knew nothing but to say; a slight tremble of the nostrils and the corrugare of the lashes, were the only clues of his disgust and his anger. After a while he asked:
"What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing."
"Emanuele does not seem to me to resign; he will think of revenge..."
"I know; I expect it..."
"And not only of you..."
"I know; this worries me more because, as you do not ignore, I am forced to leave..."
"If that's why, you don't have to tell yourself that you can be quiet: Gabriella will be guarded and defended..."
"Thank you, Coriolano; you lift my heart... Oh, you can't believe how I suffered tonight, and how I froze my blood on the accident."
"I believe it; but what do you want to do with it? You are now accustomed to the strokes of fortune and you should expect them of all kinds. Be a little philosopher, my friend. And rather than what has already happened, think about what It has to happen. I say you must, because you seem to forget that you have a regular relationship with the Count of Gisia."
"Toh! It's true..."
"Behind which, as you may suppose, there is your old knowledge: the prince of Iraki..."
"I figured it out. Well, did you agree?..."
"Perfectly..."
"And will we fight?..."
"At the end of the war..."
"How? At the end of the war?"
"Yeah, damn it! Do you want me to work to steal a soldier like you from his Catholic majesty? It would be a mistake; and the godparents of the Count, who are faithful subjects, agree with me, that it is right and proper to postpone the duel..."
"But why did you do this?..."
"Why? But... to have some fun behind those gentlemen's backs. When I see such funny types of overwhelmers and bullies, I feel a certain satisfaction in patullarizing them. Let go; so much, after what you have done, they will not believe that you lack your soul; we will put them to sleep; when it is time, we will wake them up to spank them and that's it. In the meantime, you have less trouble. Do you mind?"
"What you guys do, I don't feel sorry for you. Maybe I'd like to hurry soon... And then, imagine that a ball will send me to the other world; I would go with an unsolved debt to that loving count..."
"But in that case, which I do not wish you and which I do not foresee, I will pay those gentlemen; do not think about it. Will you choose with me today?"
"No, thank you; I can't..."
"I get it; wedding lunch!"
"Maybe yours isn't a motto, Coriolano..."
"Huh? What do you say?"
"I tell you what I haven't told you yet, that after what happened tonight, I felt almost driven by a heap of feelings, to a solemn promise. Only, for my decorum, I will not give the wedding ring, unless I have at least one company at my command..."
"God damn it! So it's more serious than I thought... But if you have believed, as a good gentleman, to take this step, I will not blame you and give you my compliments. Go, then, I do not wish to incur the wrath of the Duchess."
After returning his uniform and leaving Coriolano, Blasco went to the neighborhood and, having to travel the Cassaro, passed in front of the palace of the prince of Geraci, on whose door two or three servants spoke loudly. He noticed that there was an unusual movement, as for something extraordinary and he could not prevent the curiosity of knowing it; but he thought that turning to the servants would have the air of wanting to provoke them."
At that point came out of the palace a leather porter, carried by porters of the square, who was guessed to belong to a doctor.
He approached and politely asked the old doctor if there was any sick in the palace.
"The little prince... A bile transfer."
"Is it serious?"
"Eh!"
That "eh" had such a clear meaning, that Blasco, thanked the doctor, went a little curled up on his face.
"He wanted it, he thought; why push me to this point?"
He kept this news to a woman Gabriella, and perhaps he would keep it even without having the intention, for the Duchess that day was so wonderfully beautiful and fascinating, that he, on entering, could not help but exclaim with sincere admiration:
"How beautiful you are!..."
Oh, yes; she also noticed it as she stood in front of the toilet to dress. His face had a sweet pallor of pearl, with very slight pink and blue veils and his eyes in the blue that searched for them, they had a damp languor and full of flashes, desires and promises; and in all the whole there was a certain enchanting abandonment full of a serene and deep joy. And that morning she had armed herself with all the seductions, choosing a light silk dress with a screaming color, rich in lace and veils, which pinning on the wide neckline, cealed as in a white cloud and light the top of the white breast, on which some more indiscreet vein marked lines barely visible. He didn't put any jewelry around his neck: He had left him naked in the beauty of his fleshy lines. There was in the whole a harmony of colours and shapes and in the gesture a grace full of desires, and in the eyes and in the smile so invincible charms, that Blasco felt the empire up to the intimate depths of life, and after that exclamation, he could not contain himself from kissing the hand of woman Gabriella with passionate warmth.
"Do you like me?" she asked him, with an insinuating and vibrant voice of happiness.
For him kisses answered.
"Oh, you don't know," said Gabriella, as they desinated in front of each other, smiling and sometimes holding their hands "you don't know how your love transmutes me. I feel good, willing to pity everyone, even for those who have hurt me; I feel almost a desire to embrace everyone, to give everyone a part of the joy that floodes me... Is happiness, then, the one that places souls in goodness?... And remembering the past... a bad past... it seems almost impossible for me sometimes to be bad... How happy I am!... And you were the one who operated on this miracle!... You... My lonely, unique, great love!... Don't you think you're my one and only love?..."
"Yes, yes, I do," Blasco replied intoxicated.
He forgot everything before that wonderful figure of a woman, which seemed to be created by love: Violant, Emanuele, war, everything. He was on the limit of a life woven with joys from the hands of voluptuousness on the plot of dreams; a life still new to him, who also had touched thirty years; and in a moment of supreme joy he said to her:
"All my life, Gabriella, is not enough to reward you for these moments!"
But a few hours later the drums were heard in the streets beating the general. Blasco got up.
"What is it?" asked Gabriella, pale and pale.
"Don't you feel it? The general. We have to break up..."
"So soon?... How?..."
"Unfortunately. Tonight my squadron for Termini leaves."
"Do you leave?... You... But no, that's not possible! I don't want to!... You have to stay with me..."
"I can't!... I'm a soldier!..."
"But I'll go to the captain, to the colonel... I'll talk to the general... Who is it? Lucchese? Montemar?... I'll say you're sick... I don't want to, you know I don't want to? I found you, I got you back, and you want me to lose you again? Now?"
"No, Gabriella, you don't lose me... After all, I don't go far; in four hours you get back from Termini, and I'll come... I'll come... But I have to leave. Listen to me, I made you a solemn promise... I have to keep it... But I have my pride too... I don't have a title. I don't have a name. I'm a dark soldier. Let me earn my captain's scarf."
"What do I care? What do I care about all this? I love you!... Aren't you an Albamonte? What do I care about the rest? No, no... Don't go, I beg you... I beg you... I will die of it..."
He tied his neck with his arms, sobbing. Blasco suffered, but he resisted. He asked her:
"If I were a vile man, would you believe me worthy of you?"
She looked at him with lost air, not knowing what to answer.
"Do you see?" he replied; "but you want me to pass through a vile man in the eyes of all, and I will be ashamed and accused as a deserter..."
"But if I lose you! if I lose you!..." he sobbed.
"Don't be afraid... You know the balls haven't learned the way to hit me yet. And then, surrounded and defended by your love, I feel invulnerable."
Donna Gabriella tried to hold Blasco a little longer, but he, gently freed himself from the tender snare that girded him, kissed her long and crowned her, left. Before separating, the Duchess asked him:
"At least let me say goodbye to you from afar when you leave. I'll wait for you on the road... at the Admiral's Bridge, in a carriage..."
As soon as Blasco left she let herself fall over a chair, sobbing violently, and that crisis of pain had a truce only towards the evening, when, approaching the time of departure, she ordered her carriage and went to wait for the passage of the dragons going to Termini.
He saw Blasco and, protruding his hand out of the tendons, greeted him. Instead, he approached the carriage and kissed that hand. "Whatever you may need during my absence," she said, "he relies on my one and faithful friend."
"The Knight of Floresta?..."
"Yes. Coriolano."
The squadron was in a mess, followed by chariots and curious: Under the horses' irons and the chariots' wheels the bridge sounded loudly. Donna Gabriella looked with curiosity and also with a certain sense of regret at that bunch of people, who no longer had anything in common with the cavalry of the past centuries, of which she heard narrating. Uniform lacerations and adapted to the best, flaunted faces, raptors, briganteschi; rare some aspect of gentleman, if not among the officers.
She with a narrow heart saw Blasco among those people and thought it was necessary to draw him out... For who was more worthy than him to command that squadron? Wasn't he an Albamonte? Oh! He should have girded the ducal crown, which adorned instead the forehead of Emanuele!...
He followed the squadron with his eyes until for the distance, for the darkness and only for the dust he lifted did not lose sight of him; only then did he return thoughtful and painful, ruminating some idea that had settled in her brain.
And Sonava the Hail, and commanded him to go home: and he commanded the servants to receive no man, not even their friends, nor that day, nor the days after: except those who, expressly, would have indicated herself; she locked herself in her room that still seemed full of sweet words and the scent of her love. She spent the days in an even more rigorous solitude, also forbidding herself to go to the Navy to get some air; she only went out to go to the early Mass in the nearby church of St. Dominic. Her solitude was delighted by the letters that came to her from the camp of Termini, with which Blasco informed her of what was happening; she read them several times, moved and happy with the tender words, in which Blasco poured out her heart and really seemed to be reborn and to make a new life.
