the memories of casanova 139

the memories of casanova 139

"Ah, you are here; you know, of course, that the secret must be kept?"

 

Murray laughed and calmly asked him to be seated, and he enquired, with

the lady's pistols in his hands, where he was going to take her before

day-break.

 

"Home."

 

"I think you may be mistaken, as it is very possible that when you leave

this place you will both of you be provided with a bed in prison."

 

"No, I am not afraid of that happening; the thing would make too much

noise, and the laugh would not be on your side. Come," said he to his

mate, "put on your cloak and let us be off."

 

The ambassador, who like an Englishman kept quite cool the whole time,

poured him out a glass of Chambertin, and the blackguard drank his

health. Murray seeing he had on a fine ring set with brilliants, praised

it, and shewing some curiosity to see it more closely he drew it off the

fellow's finger, examined it, found it without flaw, and asked how much

it was worth. Capsucefalo, a little taken aback, said it cost him four

hundred sequins.

 

"I will hold it as a pledge for that sum," said the ambassador, putting

the ring into his pocket. The other looked chop-fallen, and Murray

laughing at his retiring manners told the girl to put on her cloak and

to pack off with her worthy acolyte. She did so directly, and with a low

bow they disappeared.

 

"Farewell, nun procurer!" said the ambassador, but the count made no

answer.

 

As soon as they were gone I thanked Murray warmly for the moderation he

had shewn, as a scandal would have only injured three innocent people.

 

"Be sure," said he, "that the guilty parties shall be punished without

anyone's knowing the reason"

 

I then made Tonine come upstairs, and my English friend offered her a

glass of wine, which she declined with much modesty and politeness.

Murray looked at her with flaming glances, and left after giving me his

heartiest thanks.

 

Poor little Tonine had been resigned, and obedient for many hours, and

she had good cause to think I had been unfaithful to her; however, I

gave her the most unmistakable proofs of my fidelity. We stayed in bed

for six hours, and rose happy in the morning.

 

After dinner I hurried off to my noble M---- M----, and told her the

whole story. She listened eagerly, her various feelings flitting across

her face. Fear, anger, wrath, approval of my method of clearing up my

natural suspicions, joy at discovering me still her lover--all were

depicted in succession in her glance, and in the play of her features,

and in the red and white which followed one another on her cheeks and

forehead. She was delighted to hear that the masker who was with me in

the parlour was the English ambassador, but she became nobly disdainful

when I told her that he would gladly give a hundred guineas a month for

the pleasure of visiting her in the parlour. She was angry with him for

fancying that she had been in his power, and for finding a likeness

between her and a portrait, when, so she said, there was no likeness at

all; I had given her the portrait. She added, with a shrewd smile, that

she was sure I had not let my little maid see the false nun, as she

might have been mistaken.

 

"You know, do you, that I have a young servant?"

 

"Yes, and a pretty one, too. She is Laura's daughter, and if you love

her I am very glad, and so is C---- C----. I hope you will let me have a

sight of her. C---- C---- has seen her before."

 

As I saw that she knew too much for me to be able to deceive her, I took

my cue directly and told her in detail the history of my amours. She

shewed her satisfaction too openly not to be sincere. Before I left her

she said her honour obliged her to get Capsucefalo assassinated, for the

wretch had wronged her beyond pardon. By way of quieting her I promised

that if the ambassador did not rid us of him within the week I would

charge myself with the execution of our common vengeance.

 

About this time died Bragadin the procurator, brother of my patron,

leaving M. de Bragadin sufficiently well off. However, as the family

threatened to become extinct, he desired a woman who had been his

mistress, and of whom he had had a natural son, to become his wife. By

this marriage the son would have become legitimate, and the family

renewed again. The College of Cardinals would have recognized the wife

for a small fee, and all would have gone admirably.

 

The woman wrote to me, asking me to call on her; and I was going to,

curious to know what a woman, whom I did not know from Adam, could want

with me, when I received a summons from M. de Bragadin. He begged me to

ask Paralis if he ought to follow De la Haye's advice in a matter he had

promised not to confide to me, but of which the oracle must be informed.

The oracle, naturally opposed to the Jesuit, told him to consult his own

feelings and nothing else. After this I went to the lady.

 

She began by telling me the whole story. She introduced her son to me,

and told me that if the marriage could be performed, a deed would be

delivered in my favour by which, at the death of M. de Bragadin, I

should become entitled to an estate worth five thousand crowns per

annum.

 

As I guessed without much trouble that this was the same matter which De

la Haye had proposed to M. de Bragadin, I answered without hesitation

that since De la Haye was before me I could do nothing, and thereupon

made her my bow.

 

I could not help wondering at this Jesuit's continually intriguing to

marry my old friends without my knowledge. Two years ago, if I had not

set my face against it, he would have married M. Dandolo. I cared not a

whit whether the family of Bragadin became extinct or not, but I did

care for the life of my benefactor, and was quite sure that marriage

would shorten it by many years; he was already sixty-three, and had

recovered from a serious apoplectic stroke.

 

I went to dine with Lady Murray (English-women who are daughters of

lords keep the title), and after dinner the ambassador told me that he

had told M. Cavalli the whole story of the false nun, and that the

secretary had informed him, the evening before, that everything had been

done to his liking. Count Capsucefalo had been sent to Cephalonia, his

native country, with the order never to return to Venice, and the

courtezan had disappeared.

 

The fine part, or rather the fearful part, about these sentences is that

no one ever knows the reason why or wherefore, and that the lot may fall

on the innocent as well as the guilty. M. M. was delighted with the

event, and I was more pleased than she, for I should have been sorry to

have been obliged to soil my hands with the blood of that rascally

count.

 

There are seasons in the life of men which may be called 'fasti' and

'nefasti'; I have proved this often in my long career, and on the

strength of the rubs and struggles I have had to encounter. I am able,

as well as any man, to verify the truth of this axiom. I had just

experienced a run of luck. Fortune had befriended me at play, I had been

happy in the society of men, and from love I had nothing to ask; but now

the reverse of the medal began to appear. Love was still kind, but

Fortune had quite left me, and you will soon see, reader, that men used

me no better than the blind goddess. Nevertheless, since one's fate has

phases as well as the moon, good follows evil as disasters succeed to

happiness.

 

I still played on the martingale, but with such bad luck that I was soon

left without a sequin. As I shared my property with M. M. I was obliged

to tell her of my losses, and it was at her request that I sold all her

diamonds, losing what I got for them; she had now only five hundred

sequins by her. There was no more talk of her escaping from the convent,

for we had nothing to live on! I still gamed, but for small stakes,

waiting for the slow return of good luck.

 

One day the English ambassador, after giving me a supper at his casino

with the celebrated Fanny Murray, asked me to let him sup at my casino

at Muran, which I now only kept up for the sake of Tonine. I granted him

the favour, but did not imitate his generosity. He found my little

mistress smiling and polite, but always keeping within the bounds of

decency, from which he would have very willingly excused her. The next

morning he wrote to me as follows:

 

"I am madly in love with Tonine. If you like to hand her over to me I

will make the following provision for her: I will set her up in a

suitable lodging which I will furnish throughout, and which I will give

to her with all its contents, provided that I may visit her whenever I

please, and that she gives me all the rights of a fortunate lover. I

will give her a maid, a cook, and thirty sequins a month as provision

for two people, without reckoning the wine, which I will procure myself.

Besides this I will give her a life income of two hundred crowns per

annum, over which she will have full control after living with me for a

year. I give you a week to send your answer."

 

I replied immediately that I would let him know in three days whether

his proposal were accepted, for Tonine had a mother of whom she was

fond, and she would possibly not care to do anything without her

consent. I also informed him that in all appearance the girl was with

child.

 

The business was an important one for Tonine. I loved her, but I knew

perfectly well that we could not pass the rest of our lives together,

and I saw no prospect of being able to make her as good a provision as

that offered by the ambassador. Consequently I had no doubts on the

question, and the very same day I went to Muran and told her all.

 

"You wish to leave me, then," said she, in tears.

 

"I love you, dearest, and what I propose ought to convince you of my

love."

 

"Not so; I cannot serve two masters."

 

"You will only serve your new lover, sweetheart. I beg of you to reflect

that you will have a fine dowry, on the strength of which you may marry

well; and that however much I love you I cannot possibly make so good a

provision for you."

 

"Leave me to-day for tears and reflection, and come to supper with me

to-morrow."

 

I did not fail to keep the appointment.

 

"I think your English friend is a very pretty man," she said, "and when

he speaks in the Venetian dialect it makes me die with laughter. If my

mother agrees, I might, perhaps, force myself to love him. Supposing we

did not agree we could part at the end of a year, and I should be the richer by an income of two hundred crowns."