"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. |
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