The Betrothed Part 20

"On the square of the cathedral."

"Yes, very well. And something shall be done, something shall be done."

"Which of these good gentlemen will show me an inn, where I may obtain refreshment and repose for the night?" said Renzo.

"I am the one for your service, worthy youth," said one, who had listened to the sermon very attentively, but had not yet opened his mouth; "I know an inn, that will suit you exactly; I will recommend you to the keeper, who is my friend, and moreover a very honest man."

"Near by?"

"Not very far off."

The a.s.sembly dissolved; and Renzo, after many shakes of the hand, from persons unknown, followed his guide, adding many thanks for his courtesy.

"It is nothing, it is nothing," said he; "one hand washes the other, and both the face. We ought to oblige our neighbour." As they walked along, he put many questions to Renzo, by way of discourse.

"It is not from curiosity, nor to meddle with your affairs, but you appear to be fatigued. From what country do you come?"

"All the way from Lecco, all the way from Lecco."

"All the way from Lecco! Are you from Lecco?"

"From Lecco; that is to say, from the province."

"Poor youth! From what I have understood of your discourse, it appears you have been hardly treated."

"Ah! my dear and worthy man, I have been obliged to use much skill in speaking, not to make the public acquainted with my affairs; but--it is enough that they will one day be known, and then---- But I see here a sign, and, by my faith, I don't wish to go farther."

"No, no; come to the place I told you of, it is but a short distance off. You will not be well accommodated here."

"Oh yes. I am not a gentleman accustomed to delicacies; any thing to satisfy my hunger; and a little straw will answer my purpose: that which I have most at heart is to find them both very soon, under Providence!"

And he entered a large gate, from which hung a sign of the _Full Moon_.

"Well, I will conduct you here, since you desire it," said the unknown; and Renzo followed him.

"There is no necessity for troubling you longer," replied Renzo; "but,"

he added, "do me the favour to go in, and take a gla.s.s with me."

"I accept your obliging offer," said he; and preceding Renzo as being more accustomed to the house, he entered a little court-yard, approached a gla.s.s door, and opening it, advanced into the kitchen with his companion.

It was lighted by two lamps suspended from the beam of the ceiling. Many people, all busy, were seated on benches which surrounded a narrow table, occupying almost all one side of the apartment; at intervals napkins were spread, and dishes of meat; cards played, and dice thrown; and bottles and wine-gla.s.ses amid them all. _Berlinghe_, _reali_, and _parpagliole_[26], were also scattered in profusion over the table, which, could they have spoken, would probably have said, "We were this morning in a baker's counter, or in the pocket of some spectator of the tumult, who, occupied with public affairs, neglected the care of private affairs." The confusion was great; a boy ran to and fro busily engaged in attending to the dinner and gaming tables; the host was seated on a low bench under the mantle-tree of the chimney, apparently occupied in tracing figures in the ashes with the tongs, but in reality deeply attentive to all that pa.s.sed around him. He raised his head at the sound of the latch, and turned towards the new comers. When he saw the guide, "Curse the fellow," said he to himself, "he must always be under my feet, when I wish him at the devil!" Casting a rapid glance towards Renzo, he continued, "I know you not; but if you come with such a hunter, you are either a dog or a hare. When you shall have spoken a few words, I shall know which of the two you are."

[26] Different coins.

Nothing of this mute soliloquy could be traced, however, in the countenance of the host, who was motionless as a statue: his eyes were small and without expression, his face fat and shining, and his short and thick beard of a reddish hue.

"What are your orders, gentlemen?" said he.

"First, a good flagon of wine," said Renzo, "and then something to eat."

So saying, he threw himself on a bench at one end of the table, and uttered a loud and sonorous _Ah!_ as if to say, "It is a good thing to sit down after having been so long on one's feet." But recollecting the table at which he had been seated the evening before with Agnes and Lucy, he sighed deeply. The host brought the wine; his companion had seated himself opposite to him; Renzo filled a gla.s.s for him, saying, "To wet your lips," and another for himself, which he swallowed at a draught.

"What can you give me to eat?" said he, addressing the host.

"A good piece of stewed meat," replied he.

"Well, sir, a good piece of stewed meat."

"You shall be served immediately," said the host, and calling to the boy, "Serve this gentleman. But," resumed he, turning again to Renzo, "I have no bread to-day."

"As for bread," said Renzo, in a loud voice, and laughing, "Providence has provided that." And he drew forth the third and last loaf, picked up under the cross of _St. Dionigi_, and holding it up, cried, "Here is the bread of Providence!"

At this exclamation many of the company turned round, and seeing this trophy in the air, one of them cried, "Bread for ever at a low price!"

"At a low price!" said Renzo; "_gratis et amore_."

"Better still, better still."

"But," added he, "I do not wish these gentlemen to think evil of me. I have not stolen it--I found it on the ground; and if I could find the owner, I am ready to pay him."

"Bravo, bravo!" cried they, laughing louder still, not imagining that he was in earnest.

"They think that I jest, but it is really so," said Renzo to his guide, and turning the bread in his hand; "see how they have formed it--you would call it a cake, but they were so packed one on the other. If there were any with the crust a little tender, one might know they were fresh." Then devouring three or four mouthfulls of the bread, he washed them down with another gla.s.s of wine, adding, "The bread will not go down alone--my throat was never so dry--a glorious uproar we made!"

"Prepare a good bed for this young man," said the guide; "he is going to pa.s.s the night here."

"Do you wish to sleep here?" said the host to Renzo, approaching the table.

"Certainly; I shall be content with any bed, provided the sheets are white; for although poor, I am accustomed to cleanliness."

"Oh, as to that----" said the host. So saying, he went to his counter, which was in a corner of the kitchen, and returned, bringing in his hand paper, pen, and ink.

"What does this mean?" swallowing a piece of the stew which had been placed before him, and smiling with an air of surprise; "is that the white sheet?"

The host, without replying, placed the paper on the table, and himself in an att.i.tude to write, and with the pen in his hand, leaning towards Renzo, he said, "Do me the favour to tell me your name and country."

"What!" said Renzo, "what has this to do with the bed?"

"I do my duty," said the host, looking at the guide. "We are obliged to give an exact account of all who lodge at our house. _Name and surname, and from what country they are; why they are here; if they have arms; and how long they expect to remain in the city._ These are the very words of the proclamation."

Before answering, Renzo emptied another gla.s.s; it was the third, but I fear for the future we shall not find it possible to count them. "Ah, ah!" exclaimed he, "you have the proclamation. Well, I pride myself on being a doctor of laws, and I know what importance is attached to proclamations."

"I speak in earnest," said the host, looking again at the mute companion of Renzo; and returning to his desk, he drew from it a large sheet of paper, which he unfolded before Renzo, as an exact copy of the proclamation.

"Ah! there it is!" cried he, quickly emptying the contents of the gla.s.s which he held in his hand. "Ah! there it is! the fine sheet! I rejoice to see it. I know these arms; I know what this pagan head means with a noose around its neck." (The proclamations of that time were headed by the arms of the governor, and in those of Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova was seen a Moorish king, chained by the throat.) "This face means, Command who can, and obey who will. When the Signor Don----shall have been sent to the galleys--well, well, I know what I would say--I have seen another leaf just like this. When he shall have so taken measures that an honest young man can, without molestation, marry her to whom he is betrothed, and by whom he is beloved, then I will tell my name to this face, and will give him a kiss in the bargain. I may have very good reasons for not telling my name; it's a fine thing, truly! And if a robber, who might have under his command a band of villains, because if he were alone----" He hesitated a moment, finishing the phrase with a gesture, and then proceeded, "If a robber wished to know who I was, in order to do me some evil turn, I ask you if that face would move from the paper to help me. Am I obliged to tell my business?

Truly, this is something new. Suppose, for instance, that I have come to Milan to confess--I would wish to do it to a capuchin father, and not to the landlord of an inn."

The host kept silence, looking at the guide, who appeared not to notice any thing that pa.s.sed. Renzo, it grieves us to say, swallowed another gla.s.s, and continued, "I will give you reasons enough to satisfy you, my dear host; if those proclamations which speak favourably of good Christians are worth nothing, those which speak unfavourably are worth less than nothing. Take away, then, all these enc.u.mbrances, and bring in exchange another flagon, because this one is broken." So saying, he struck it lightly with his hand, adding, "Don't you hear how it is cracked?"

The discourse of Renzo had again attracted the general attention of the company, and when he concluded, there was a general murmur of applause.