The Bravo (24 page)

"Oh! the days that we have seen."
SHELTON.

A pause like that which accompanies self-contemplation, and perhaps
conscious distrust of purpose, succeeded. Then the Three arose together,
and began to lay aside the instruments of their disguise. When the masks
were removed, they exposed the grave visages of men in the decline of
life, athwart which worldly cares and worldly passions had drawn those
deep lines, which no subsequent ease or resignation can erase. During
the process of unrobing neither spoke, for the affair on which they had
just been employed, caused novel and disagreeable sensations to them
all. When they were delivered from their superfluous garments and their
masks, however, they drew near the table, and each sought that relief
for his limbs and person which was natural to the long restraint he had
undergone.

"There are letters from the French king intercepted," said one, after
time had permitted them to rally their thoughts;—"it would appear they
treat of the new intentions of the emperor."

"Have they been restored to the ambassador? or are the originals to go
before the senate?" demanded another.

"On that we must take counsel at our leisure. I have naught else to
communicate, except that the order given to intercept the messenger of
the Holy See hath failed of its object."

"Of this the secretaries advertised me. We must look into the negligence
of the agents, for there is good reason to believe much useful
knowledge would have come from that seizure."

"As the attempt is already known and much spoken of, care must be had to
issue orders for the arrest of the robbers, else may the Republic fall
into disrepute with its friends. There are names on our list which might
be readily marked for punishment, for that quarter of our patrimony is
never in want of proscribed to conceal an accident of this nature."

"Good heed will be had to this, since, as you say, the affair is
weighty. The government or the individual that is negligent of
reputation, cannot expect long to retain the respect of its equals."

"The ambition of the House of Hapsburgh robs me of my sleep!" exclaimed
the other, throwing aside some papers, over which his eye had glanced in
disgust. "Holy St. Theodore! what a scourge to the race is the desire to
augment territories and to extend an unjust rule, beyond the bounds of
reason and nature! Here have we, in Venice, been in undisputed
possession of provinces that are adapted to our institutions, convenient
to our wants, and agreeable to our desires, for ages; provinces that
were gallantly won by our ancestors, and which cling to us as habits
linger in our age: and yet are they become objects of a covetous
ambition to our neighbor, under a vain pretext of a policy that I fear
is strengthened by our increasing weakness. I sicken, Signori, of my
esteem for men, as I dive deeper into their tempers and desires, and
often wish myself a dog, as I study their propensities. In his appetite
for power, is not the Austrian the most rapacious of all the princes of
the earth?"

"More so, think you, worthy Signore, than the Castilian? You overlook
the unsatiated desire of the Spanish king to extend his sway in Italy."

"Hapsburgh or Bourbon; Turk or Englishman, they all seem actuated by the
same fell appetite for dominion; and now that Venice hath no more to
hope, than to preserve her present advantages, the least of all our
enjoyments becomes a subject of covetous envy to our enemies. There are
passions to weary one of an interference with governments, and to send
him to his cord of penitence and the cloisters!"

"I never listen to your observations, Signore, without quitting the
chamber an edified man! Truly, this desire in the strangers to trespass
on our privileges, and it may be well said, privileges which have been
gained by our treasures and our blood, becomes more manifest daily.
Should it not be checked, St. Mark will be stripped, in the end, of even
a landing-place for a gondola on the main."

"The leap of the winged lion is much curtailed, excellent Sir, or these
things might not be! It is no longer in our power to persuade, or to
command, as of old; and our canals begin to be encumbered with slimy
weeds, instead of well freighted argosies and swift-sailing feluccas."

"The Portuguese hath done us irretrievable harm, for without his African
discoveries we might yet have retained the traffic in Indian
commodities. I cordially dislike the mongrel race, being, as it is, half
Gothic and half Moorish!"

"I trust not myself to think of their origin or of their deeds, my
friends, lest prejudice should kindle feelings unbecoming a man and a
Christian. How now, Signor Gradenigo; thou art thoughtful?"

The third member of the secret council, who had not spoken since the
disappearance of the accused, and who was no other than the reader's old
acquaintance of the name just mentioned, slowly lifted his head from a
meditative position at this address.

"The examination of the fisherman hath recalled scenes of my boyhood,"
he answered, with a touch of nature that seldom found place in that
chamber.

"I heard thee say he was thy foster-brother," returned the other,
struggling to conceal a gape.

"We drank of the same milk, and, for the first years of life, we spoiled
at the same games."

"These imaginary kindred often give great uneasiness. I am glad your
trouble hath no other source, for I had heard that the young heir of
your house hath shown a prodigal disposition of late, and I feared that
matter might have come to your knowledge, as one of the council, that a
father might not wish to learn."

The selfish features of the Signor Gradenigo instantly underwent a
change. He glanced curiously, and with a strong distrust, but in a
covert manner, at the fallen eyes of his two companions, anxious to
penetrate their secret thoughts ere he ventured to expose his own.

"Is there aught of complaint against the youth?" he demanded in a voice
of hesitation. "You understand a father's interest, and will not conceal
the truth."

"Signore, you know that the agents of the police are active, and little
that comes to their knowledge fails to reach the ears of the council.
But, at the worst, the matter is not of life or death. It can only cost
the inconsiderate young man a visit to Dalmatia, or an order to waste
the summer at the foot of the Alps."

"Youth is the season of indiscretion, as ye know, Signori," returned the
father, breathing more freely—"and as none become old that have not
been young, I have little need to awaken your recollection of its
weaknesses. I trust my son is incapable of designing aught against the
Republic?"

"Of that he is not suspected." A slight expression of irony crossed the
features of the old senator as he spoke. "But he is represented as
aiming too freely at the person and wealth of your ward; and that she
who is the especial care of St. Mark is not to be solicited without the
consent of the Senate, is an usage well known to one of its most
ancient and most honorable members."

"Such is the law, and none coming of me shall show it disrespect. I have
preferred my claims to that connexion openly, but with diffidence; and I
await the decision of the state in respectful confidence."

His associates bowed in courteous acknowledgment of the justice of what
he said, and of the loyalty of his conduct, but it was in the manner of
men too long accustomed to duplicity to be easily duped.

"None doubt it, worthy Signor Gradenigo, for thy faith to the state is
ever quoted as a model for the young, and as a subject for the
approbation of the more experienced. Hast thou any communications to
make on the interest of the young heiress, thyself?"

"I am pained to say that the deep obligation conferred by Don Camillo
Monforte, seems to have wrought upon her youthful imagination, and I
apprehend that, in disposing of my ward, the state will have to contend
with the caprice of a female mind. The waywardness of that age will give
more trouble than the conduct of far graver matters."

"Is the lady attended by suitable companions in her daily life?"

"Her companions are known to the Senate. In so grave an interest, I
would not act without their authority and sanction. But the affair hath
great need of delicacy in its government. The circumstance that so much
of my ward's fortune lies in the states of the church, renders it
necessary to await the proper moment for disposing of her rights, and of
transferring their substance within the limits of the Republic, before
we proceed to any act of decision. Once assured of her wealth, she may
be disposed of as seemeth best to the welfare of the state, without
further delay."

"The lady hath a lineage and riches, and an excellence of person, that
might render her of great account in some of these knotty negotiations
which so much fetter our movements of late. The time hath been when a
daughter of Venice, not more fair, was wooed to the bed of a sovereign."

"Signore, those days of glory and greatness exist no longer. Should it
be thought expedient to overlook the natural claims of my son, and to
bestow my ward to the advantage of the Republic, the most that can be
expected through her means, is a favorable concession in some future
treaty, or a new prop to some of the many decaying interests of the
city. In this particular, she maybe rendered of as much, or even more
use, than the oldest and wisest of our body. But that her will may be
free and the child may have no obstacles to her happiness, it will be
necessary to make a speedy determination of the claim preferred by Don
Camillo. Can we do better than to recommend a compromise, that he may
return without delay to his own Calabria?"

"The concern is weighty, and it demands deliberation."

"He complains of our tardiness already, and not without show of reason.
It is five years since the claim was first preferred."

"Signor Gradenigo, it is for the vigorous and healthful to display their
activity—the aged and the tottering must move with caution. Were we in
Venice to betray precipitation in so weighty a concern, without seeing
an immediate interest in the judgment, we should trifle with a gale of
fortune that every sirocco will not blow into the canals. We must have
terms with the lord of Sant' Agata, or we greatly slight our own
advantage."

"I hinted of the matter to your excellencies, as a consideration for
your wisdom; methinks it will be something gained to remove one so
dangerous from the recollection and from before the eyes of a love-sick
maiden."

"Is the damsel so amorous?"

"She is of Italy, Signore, and our sun bestows warm fancies and fervent
minds."

"Let her to the confessional and her prayers! The godly prior of St.
Mark will discipline her imagination till she shall conceit the
Neapolitan a Moor and an infidel. Just San Teodoro, forgive me! But thou
canst remember the time, my friends, when the penance of the church was
not without service on thine own fickle tastes and truant practices."

"The Signore Gradenigo was a gallant in his time," observed the third,
"as all well know who travelled in his company. Thou wert much spoken of
at Versailles and at Vienna; nay, thou canst not deny thy vogue to one
who, if he hath no other merit, hath a memory."

"I protest against these false recollections," rejoined the accused, a
withered smile lighting his faded countenance; "we have been young,
Signori, but among us all, I never knew a Venetian of more general
fashion and of better report, especially with the dames of France, than
he who has just spoken."

"Account it not—account it not—'twas the weakness of youth and the use
of the times!—I remember to have seen thee, Enrico, at Madrid, and a
gayer or more accomplished gentleman was not known at the Spanish
court."

"Thy friendship blinded thee. I was a boy and full of spirits; no more,
I may assure thee. Didst hear of my affair with the mousquetaire when at
Paris?"

"Did I hear of the general war? Thou art too modest to raise this doubt
of a meeting that occupied the coteries for a month, as it had been a
victory of the powers! Signor Gradenigo, it was a pleasure to call him
countryman at that time; for I do assure thee, a sprightlier or more
gallant gentleman did not walk the terrace."

"Thou tellest me of what my own eyes have been a witness. Did I not
arrive when men's voices spoke of nothing else? A beautiful court and a
pleasant capital were those of France in our day, Signori."

"None pleasanter or of greater freedom of intercourse. St. Mark aid me
with his prayers! The many pleasant hours that I have passed between the
Marais and the Chateau! Didst ever meet La Comtesse de Mignon in the
gardens?"

"Zitto, thou growest loquacious, caro; nay, she wanted not for grace and
affability, that I will say. In what a manner they played in the houses
of resort at that time!"

"I know it to my cost. Will you lend me your belief, dear friends? I
arose from the table of La Belle Duchesse de——, the loser of a
thousand sequins, and to this hour it seemeth but a moment that I was
occupied."

"I remember the evening. Thou wert seated between the wife of the
Spanish ambassador and a miladi of England. Thou wert playing at
rouge-et-noir in more ways than one; for thy eyes were on thy neighbors,
instead of thy cards. Giulio, I would have paid half the loss, to have
read the next epistle of the worthy senator thy father!"

"He never knew it—he never knew it. We had our friends on the Rialto,
and the account was settled a few years later. Thou wast well with
Ninon, Enrico?"

"A companion of her leisure, and one who basked in the sunshine of her
wit."

"Nay, they said thou wert of more favor—"

"Mere gossip of the saloons. I do protest, gentlemen—not that others
were better received—but idle tongues will have their discourse!"