the memories of casanova 106

the memories of casanova 106

"Everyone has his own principles and his own way of thinking: I have a

sufficiently good opinion of you to believe that you would act exactly

as I do, for I have heard you say that in all secret matters one ought

to guard against surprise."

 

"I am incapable of taking such an advantage of a friend; but as a

general rule your maxim is a right one; I like prudence. I will tell you

the whole affair. You are aware that Madame Tripolo has been left a

widow, and that M. Dandolo is courting her assiduously, after having

done the same for fourteen years during the life of the husband. The

lady, who is still young, beautiful and lovely, and also is very

respectable, wishes to become his wife. It is to me that she has

confided her wishes, and as I saw nothing that was not praiseworthy,

either in a temporal or in a spiritual point of view, in that union, for

after all we are all men, I took the affair in hand with real pleasure.

I fancied even that M. Dandolo felt some inclination for that marriage

when he told me that he would give me his decision this morning. I am

not astonished at his having asked your advice in such an important

affair, for a prudent man is right in asking the opinion of a wise

friend before taking a decisive step; but I must tell you candidly that

I am astonished at your disapproval of such a marriage. Pray excuse me

if, in order to improve by the information, I ask why your opinion is

exactly the reverse of mine."

 

Delighted at having discovered the whole affair, at having arrived in

time to prevent my friend who was goodness itself contracting an absurd

marriage, I answered the hypocrite that I loved M. Dandolo, that I knew

his temperament, and that I was certain that a marriage with a woman

like Madame Tripolo would shorten his life.

 

"That being my opinion," I added, "you must admit that as a true friend

I was right in advising him against your proposal. Do you recollect

having told me that you never married for the very same reason? Do you

recollect your strong arguments in favour of celibacy while we were at

Parma? Consider also, I beg, that every man has a certain small stock of

selfishness, and that I may be allowed to have mine when I think that if

M. Dandolo took a wife the influence of that wife would of course have

some weight, and that the more she gained in influence over him the more

I should lose. So you see it would not be natural for me to advise him

to take a step which would ultimately prove very detrimental to my

interests. If you can prove that my reasons are either trifling or

sophistical, speak openly: I will tell M. Dandolo that my mind has

changed; Madame Tripolo will become his wife when we return to Venice.

But let me warn you that thorough conviction can alone move me."

 

"I do not believe myself clever enough to convince you. I shall write to

Madame Tripolo that she must apply to you."

 

"Do not write anything of the sort to that lady, or she will think that

you are laughing at her. Do you suppose her foolish enough to expect

that I will give way to her wishes? She knows that I do not like her."

 

"How can she possibly know that?"

 

"She must have remarked that I have never cared to accompany M. Dandolo

to her house. Learn from me once for all, that as long as I live with my

three friends they shall have no wife but me. You may get married as

soon as you please; I promise not to throw any obstacle in your way; but

if you wish to remain on friendly terms with me give up all idea of

leading my three friends astray."

 

"You are very caustic this morning."

 

"I lost all my money last night.

 

"Then I have chosen a bad time. Farewell."

 

From that day, De la Haye became my secret enemy, and to him I was in a

great measure indebted, two years later, for my imprisonment under The

Leads of Venice; not owing to his slanders, for I do not believe he was

capable of that, Jesuit though he was--and even amongst such people

there is sometimes some honourable feeling--but through the mystical

insinuations which he made in the presence of bigoted persons. I must

give fair notice to my readers that, if they are fond of such people,

they must not read these Memoirs, for they belong to a tribe which I

have good reason to attack unmercifully.

 

The fine marriage was never again alluded to. M. Dandolo continued to

visit his beautiful widow every day, and I took care to elicit from

Paralis a strong interdiction ever to put my foot in her house.

 

Don Antonio Croce, a young Milanese whom I had known in Reggio, a

confirmed gambler, and a downright clever hand in securing the favours

of Dame Fortune, called on me a few minutes after De la Haye had

retired. He told me that, having seen me lose all my money the night

before, he had come to offer me the means of retrieving my losses, if I

would take an equal interest with him in a faro bank that he meant to

hold at his house, and in which he would have as punters seven or eight

rich foreigners who were courting his wife.

 

"If you will put three hundred sequins in my bank," he added, "you shall

be my partner. I have three hundred sequins myself, but that is not

enough because the punters play high. Come and dine at my house, and you

will make their acquaintance. We can play next Friday as there will be

no opera, and you may rely upon our winning plenty of gold, for a

certain Gilenspetz, a Swede, may lose twenty thousand sequins."

 

I was without any resources, or at all events I could expect no

assistance except from M. de Bragadin upon whom I felt ashamed of

encroaching. I was well aware that the proposal made by Croce was not

strictly moral, and that I might have chosen a more honourable society;

but if I had refused, the purse of Madame Croce's admirers would not

have been more mercifully treated; another would have profited by that

stroke of good fortune. I was therefore not rigid enough to refuse my

assistance as adjutant and my share of the pie; I accepted Croce's

invitation.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XIV

 

 

I Get Rich Again--My Adventure At Dolo--Analysis of a Long Letter From

C. C.--Mischievous Trick Played Upon Me By P. C.--At Vincenza--A Tragi-

comedy At the Inn

 

Necessity, that imperious law and my only excuse, having made me almost

the partner of a cheat, there was still the difficulty of finding the

three hundred sequins required; but I postponed the task of finding them

until after I should have made the acquaintance of the dupes of the

goddess to whom they addressed their worship. Croce took me to the Prato

delta Valle, where we found madame surrounded with foreigners. She was

pretty; and as a secretary of the imperial ambassador, Count Rosemberg,

had attached himself to her, not one of the Venetian nobles dared court

her. Those who interested me among the satellites gravitating around

that star were the Swede Gilenspetz, a Hamburger, the Englishman Mendez,

who has already been mentioned, and three or four others to whore Croce

called my attention.

 

We dined all together, and after dinner there was a general call for a

faro bank; but Croce did not accept. His refusal surprised me, because

with three hundred sequins, being a very skilful player, he had enough

to try his fortune. He did not, however, allow my suspicions to last

long, for he took me to his own room and shewed me fifty pieces of

eight, which were equal to three hundred sequins. When I saw that the

professional gambler had not chosen me as his partner with the intention

of making a dupe of me, I told him that I would certainly procure the

amount, and upon that promise he invited everybody to supper for the

following day. We agreed that we would divide the spoils before parting

in the evening, and that no one should be allowed to play on trust.

 

I had to procure the amount, but to whom could I apply? I could ask no

one but M. de Bragadin. The excellent man had not that sum in his

possession, for his purse was generally empty; but he found a usurer--a

species of animal too numerous unfortunately for young men--who, upon a

note of hand endorsed by him, gave me a thousand ducats, at five per

cent. for one month, the said interest being deducted by anticipation

from the capital. It was exactly the amount I required. I went to the

supper; Croce held the bank until daylight, and we divided sixteen

hundred sequins between us. The game continued the next evening, and

Gilenspetz alone lost two thousand sequins; the Jew Mendez lost about

one thousand. Sunday was sanctified by rest, but on Monday the bank won

four thousand sequins. On the Tuesday we all dined together, and the

play was resumed; but we had scarcely begun when an officer of the

podesta made his appearance and informed Croce that he wanted a little

private conversation with him. They left the room together, and after a

short absence Croce came back rather crestfallen; he announced that by

superior orders he was forbidden to hold a bank at his house. Madame

fainted away, the punters hurried out, and I followed their example, as

soon as I had secured one-half of the gold which was on the table. I was

glad enough it was not worse. As I left, Croce told me that we would

meet again in Venice, for he had been ordered to quit Padua within

twenty-four hours. I expected it would be so, because he was to well

known; but his greatest crime, in the opinion of the podesta, was that

he attracted the players to his own house, whilst the authorities wanted

all the lovers of play to lose their money at the opera, where the

bankers were mostly noblemen from Venice.

 

I left the city on horseback in the evening and in very bad weather, but

nothing could have kept me back, because early the next morning I

expected a letter from my dear prisoner. I had only travelled six miles

from Padua when my horse fell, and I found my left leg caught under it.

My boots were soft ones, and I feared I had hurt myself. The postillion

was ahead of me, but hearing the noise made by the fall he came up and

disengaged me; I was not hurt, but my horse was lame. I immediately took

the horse of the postillion, to which I was entitled, but the insolent

fellow getting hold of the bit refused to let me proceed. I tried to

make him understand that he was wrong; but, far from giving way to my

arguments, he persisted in stopping me, and being in a great hurry to

continue my journey I fired one of my pistols in his face, but without

touching him. Frightened out of his wits, the man let go, and I galloped

off. When I reached the Dolo, I went straight to the stables, and I

myself saddled a horse which a postillion, to whom I gave a crown,

pointed out to me as being excellent. No one thought of being astonished

at my other postillion having remained behind, and we started at full

speed. It was then one o'clock in the morning; the storm had broken up

the road, and the night was so dark that I could not see anything within

a yard ahead of me; the day was breaking when we arrived in Fusina.

 

The boatmen threatened me with a fresh storm; but setting everything at

defiance I took a four-oared boat, and reached my dwelling quite safe

but shivering with cold and wet to the skin. I had scarcely been in my

room for a quarter of an hour when the messenger from Muran presented

herself and gave me a letter, telling me that she would call for the

answer in two hours. That letter was a journal of seven pages, the

faithful translation of which might weary my readers, but here is the

substance of it:

 

After the interview with M. de Bragadin, the father of C---- C---- had

gone home, had his wife and daughter to his room, and enquired kindly

from the last where she had made my acquaintance. She answered that she

had seen me five or six times in her brother's room, that I had asked

her whether she would consent to be my wife, and that she had told me

that she was dependent upon her father and mother. The father had then

said that she was too young to think of marriage, and besides, I had not

yet conquered a position in society. After that decision he repaired to

his son's room, and locked the small door inside as well as the one

communicating with the apartment of the mother, who was instructed by

him to let me believe that she had gone to the country, in case I should

call on her.

 

Two days afterwards he came to C---- C----, who was beside her sick

mother, and told her that her aunt would take her to a convent, where

she was to remain until a husband had been provided for her by her

parents. She answered that, being perfectly disposed to submit to his

will, she would gladly obey him. Pleased with her ready obedience he

promised to go and see her, and to let his mother visit her likewise, as

soon as her health was better. Immediately after that conversation the

aunt had called for her, and a gondola had taken them to the convent,