The Fortunes Of Glencore Part 32

"And the poniards found at the Bocca di Magra?"

"Found by those who placed them there."

"And the proclamations?"

"Blundering devices. See, here is one of them, printed on the very paper supplied to the Government offices. There 's he water-mark, with the crown and your own cipher on it."

"_Per Bacco!_so it is. Let me show this to Landelli."

"Wait awhile, your Highness; let us trace this a little farther. No arrests have been made?"

"None."

"Nor will any. The object in view is already gained; they have terrified you, and secured the next move."

"What do you mean?"

"Simply, that they have persuaded you that this state is the hotbed of revolutionists; that your own means of security and repression are unequal to the emergency; that disaffection exists in the army; and that, whether for the maintenance of the Government or your safety, you have only one course remaining."

"Which is--"

"To call in the Austrians."

"_Per Bacco!_ it is exactly what they have advised. How did you come to know it? Who is the traitor at the Council-board?"

"I wish I could tell you the name of one who was not such. Why, your Highness, these fellows are not _your_ Ministers, except in so far as they are paid by you. They are Metternich's people; they receive their appointments from Vienna, and are only accountable to the cabinet held at Schonbrunn. If wise and moderate counsels prevailed here, if our financial measures prospered, if the people were happy and contented, how long, think you, would Lombardy submit to be ruled by the rod and the bayonet? Do you imagine that _you_ will be suffered to give an example to the Peninsula of a good administration?"

"But so it is," broke in the Prince; "I defy any man to a.s.sert the opposite. The country _is_ prosperous, the people _are_ contented, the laws justly administered, and, I hesitate not to say, myself as popular as any sovereign of Europe."

"And I tell your Highness, just as distinctly, that the country is ground down with taxation, even to export duties on the few things we have to export; that the people are poor to the very verge of starvation; that if they do not take to the highways as brigands, it is because some traditions as honest men yet survive amongst them; that the laws only exist as an agent of tyranny, arrest and imprisonment being at the mere caprice of the authorities. Nor is there a means by which an innocent man can demand his trial, and insist on being confronted with his accuser. Your jails are full, crowded to a state of pestilence with supposed political offenders, men that, in a free country, would be at large, toiling industriously for their families, and whose opinions could never be dangerous, if not festering in the foul air of a dungeon.

And as to _your own_ popularity, all I say is, don't walk in the Piazza at Carrara after dusk. No, nor even at noonday."

"And you dare to speak thus to _me_, Stubber!" said the Prince, his face covered with a deadly pallor as he spoke, and his white lips trembling, but less in pa.s.sion than in fear.

"And why not, sir? Of what value could such a man as I am be to your service, if I were not to tell you what you 'll never hear from others,--the plain, simple truth? Is it not clear enough that if I only thought of my own benefit, I 'd say whatever you'd like best to hear?--I'd tell you, like Landelli, that the taxes were well paid, or say, as Cerreccio did t'other day, that your army would do credit to any state in Europe, when he well knew at the time that the artillery was in mutiny from arrears of pay, and the cavalry horses dying from short rations!"

"I am well weary of all this," said the Duke, with a sigh. "If the half of what I hear of my kingdom every day be but true, my lot in life is worse than a galley-slave's. One a.s.sures me that I am bankrupt; another calls me a va.s.sal of Austria; a third makes me out a Papal spy; and _you_ aver that if I venture into the streets of my own town, in the midst of my own people, I am almost sure to be a.s.sa.s.sinated!"

"Take no man's word, sir, for what, while you can see for yourself, it is your own duty to ascertain," said Stubber, resolutely. "If you really only desire a life of ease and indolence, forgetting what you owe to yourself and those you rule over, send for the Austrians. Ask for a brigade and a general. You 'll have them for the asking. They 'd come at a word, and try your people at the drum-head, and flog and shoot them with as little disturbance to you as need be. You may pension off the judges; for a court-martial is a far speedier tribunal, and a corporal's guard is quite an economy in criminal justice. Trade will not, perhaps, prosper with martial law, nor is a state of siege thought favorable to commerce. No matter. You 'll sleep safe so long as you keep within doors, and the band under your window will rouse the spirit of nationality in your heart, as it plays, 'G.o.d preserve the Emperor!'"

"You forget yourself, sir, and you forget _me!_" said the Duke, sternly, as he drew himself up, and threw a look of insolent pride at the speaker.

"Mayhap I do, your Highness," was the ready answer; "and out of that very forgetfulness let your Highness take a warning. I say, once more, I distrust the people about you; and as to this conspiracy at Carrara, I'll wager a round sum on it that it was hatched on t 'other side of the Alps, and paid for in good florins of the Holy Roman Empire. At all events, give me time to investigate the matter. Let me have till the end of the week to examine into it, and, if I find nothing to confirm my views, I 'll say not one word against all the measures of precaution that your Council are bent on importing from Austria."

"Take your own way; I promise nothing," said the Duke, haughtily; and, with a motion of his hand, dismissed his adviser.

CHAPTER XXVII. CARRARA

To all the luxuriant vegetation and cultivated beauty of Ma.s.sa, glowing in the "golden glories" of its orange-groves,--steeped in the perfume of its thousand gardens,--Carrara offers the very strongest contrast.

Built in a little cleft of the Apennines, it is begirt with great mountains,--wild, barren, and desolate. Some, dark and precipitous, have no traces in their sides but those of the torrents which are formed by the melting snows; others show the white caves, as they are called, of that pure marble which has made the name of the spot famous throughout Europe. High in the mountain sides, escarped amidst rocks, and zig-zagging over many a dangerous gorge and deep abyss, are the rough roads trodden by the weary oxen,--trailing along their ma.s.sive loads and straining their stout chests to drag the great white blocks of glittering stone. Far down below, crossed and recrossed by splashing torrents, sprinkled with the spray of a hundred cataracts, stands Carrara itself,--a little marble city of art, every house a studio, every citizen a sculptor. Hither are sent all the marvellous conceptions of genius,--the models which mighty imaginations have begotten,--to be converted into imperishable stone. Here are the grand conceptions gathered for every land and clime, treasures destined to adorn the great galleries of nations, or the splendid palaces of kings.

Some of these studios are of imposing size and vast proportions, and not devoid of a certain architectural pretension,--a group, a figure, or a bas-relief usually adorning the s.p.a.ce over the door, and by its subject giving some indication of the tastes of the proprietor. Thus, Madonnas and saints are of frequent occurrence; and the majority of the artists display their faith by an image of the saint whose patronage they claim.

Others exhibit some ideal conception; and a few denote their nationality by the bust of their sovereign, or some prince of his house.

One of these buildings, a short distance from the town, and so small as to be little more than a mere crypt, was distinguished by the chaste and simple elegance of its design, and the tasteful ornament with which its owner had decorated the most minute details of the building. He was a young artist who had arrived in Carrara friendless and unknown, but whose abilities had soon obtained for him consideration and employment.

At first, the tasks intrusted to him were the humbler ones of friezes and decorative art; but at length, his skill becoming acknowledged, to his hands were confided the choicest conceptions of Danneker, the most rare creations of Canova. Little or nothing was known of him; his habits were of the strictest seclusion,--he went into no society, he formed no friendships. His solitary life, after a while, ceased to attract any notice; and men saw him pa.s.s, and come and go, without question,--almost without greeting; and, save when some completed work was about to be packed off to its destination, the name of Sebastian Greppi was rarely heard in Carrara.

His strict retirement had not, however, exempted him from the jealous suspicions of the authorities; on the contrary, the seeming mystery of his life had sharpened their curiosity and aroused their zeal; and more than once was he summoned to the Prefecture to answer some frivolous questions about his pa.s.sport or his means of subsistence.

It was on one of these errands that he stood one morning in the antechamber of the Podesta's court, awaiting his turn to be called and interrogated. The heat of a crowded chamber, the wearisome delay,--perhaps, too, some vexation at the frequency of these irritating calls,--had partially excited him; and when he was at length introduced, his manner was confused, and his replies vague and almost wandering.

Two strangers, whose formal permission to reside were then being filled up by a clerk, were accommodated with seats in the room, and listened with no slight interest to a course of inquiry so strange and novel to their ears.

"Greppi!" cried the harsh voice of the President, "come forward;" and a youth stood up, dressed in the blue blouse of a common workman, and wearing the coa.r.s.e shoes of the very humblest laborer; but yet, in the calm dignity of his mien and the mild character of his sad but handsome features, already proclaiming that he came of a cla.s.s whose instincts denote good blood.

"Greppi, you have a servant, it would seem, whose name is not in your pa.s.sport. How is this?"

"He is an humble friend who shares my fortunes, sir," said the artist.

"They asked no pa.s.sport from him when we crossed the Tuscan frontier; and he has been here some months without any demand for one."

"Does he a.s.sist you in your work?"

"He does, sir, by advice and counsel; but he is not a sculptor. Poor fellow! he never dreamed that his presence here could have attracted any remark."

"His tongue and accent betray a foreign origin, Greppi?"

"Be it so,--so do mine, perhaps. Are we the less submissive to the laws?"

"The laws can make themselves respected," said the Podesta, sternly.

"Where is this man,--how is he called?"

"He is known as Guglielmo, sir. At this moment he is ill; he has caught the fever of the Campagna, and is confined to bed."

"We shall send to ascertain the fact," was the reply.

"Then my word is doubted!" said the youth haughtily.

The Podesta started, but more in amazement than anger. There was, indeed, enough to astonish him in the haughty e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of the poorly clad boy.

"I am given to believe that you are not--as your pa.s.sport would imply--a native of Capri, nor a Neapolitan born," said the Podesta.

"If my pa.s.sport be regular and my conduct blameless, what have you or any one to do with my birthplace? Is there any charge alleged against me?"

"You are forgetting where you are, boy; but I may take measures to remind you of it," said the Podesta, whispering to a sergeant of the gendarmes at his side.

"I hope I have said nothing that could offend you," said the boy, eagerly; "I scarcely know what I have said. My wish is to submit myself in all obedience to the laws; to live quietly and follow my trade. If my presence here give displeasure to the authorities, I will, however sorry, take my departure, though I cannot say whither to." The last words were uttered falteringly, and in a kind of soliloquy, and only overheard by the two strangers, who now, having received their papers, arose to withdraw.