The Bravo (5 page)

"Every work of it is as true as if the devil himself had done the office
for me, girl," muttered Gino, uncasing himself from his flowery
vestment, and as rapidly assuming the plainer garment he had
sought—"The cap, Annina, and the mask!"

"One who wears so false a face, in common, has little need of a bit of
silk to conceal his countenance," she answered, throwing him,
notwithstanding, both the articles he required.

"This is well. Father Battista himself, who boasts he can tell a sinner
from a penitent merely by the savor of his presence, would never suspect
a servitor of Don Camillo Monforte in this dress. Cospetto! but I have
half a mind to visit that knave of a Jew, who has got thy golden chain
in pledge, and give him a hint of what may be the consequences, should
he insist on demanding double the rate of interest we agreed on."

"'Twould be Christian justice! but what would become of thy matter of
gravity the while, Gino, and of thy haste to enter on its performance?"

"Thou sayest truly, girl. Duty above all other things; though to
frighten a grasping Hebrew may be as much of a duty as other matters.
Are all thy father's gondolas in the water?"

"How else could he be gone to the Lido, and my brother Luigi to Fusini,
and the two serving-men on the usual business to the islands, or how
else should I be alone?"

"Diavolo! is there no boat in the canal?"

"Thou art in unwonted haste, Gino, now thou hast a mask and jacket of
velvet. I know not that I should suffer one to enter my father's house
when I am in it alone, and take such disguises to go abroad, at this
hour. Thou wilt tell me thy errand, that I may judge of the propriety of
what I do."

"Better ask the Three Hundred to open the leaves of their book of doom!
Give me the key of the outer door, girl, that I may go my way."

"Not till I know whether this business is likely to draw down upon my
father the displeasure of the Senate. Thou knowest, Gino, that I am—"

"Diamine! There goes the clock of San Marco, and I tarry past my hour.
If I am too late, the fault will rest with thee."

"'Twill not be the first of thy oversights which it has been my business
to excuse. Here thou art, and here shalt thou remain, until I know the
errand which calls for a mask and jacket, and all about this matter of
gravity."

"This is talking like a jealous wife instead of a reasonable girl,
Annina. I have told thee that I am on business of the last importance,
and that delay may bring heavy calamities."

"On whom? What is thy business? Why art thou, whom in general it is
necessary to warn from this house by words many times repeated, now in
such a haste to leave it?"

"Have I not told thee, girl, 'tis an errand of great concern to six
noble families, and if I fail to be in season there may be a
strife—aye, between the Florentine and the Republic!"

"Thou hast said nothing of the sort, nor do I put faith in thy being an
ambassador of San Marco. Speak truth for once, Gino Monaldi, or lay
aside the mask and jacket, and take up thy flowers of Sant' Agata."

"Well, then, as we are friends, and I have faith in thy discretion,
Annina, thou shalt know the truth to the extremity, for I find the bell
has only tolled the quarters, which leaves me yet a moment for
confidence."

"Thou lookest at the wall, Gino, and art consulting thy wits for some
plausible lie!"

"I look at the wall because conscience tells me that too much weakness
for thee is about to draw me astray from duty. What thou takest for
deceit is only shame and modesty."

"Of that we shall judge, when the tale is told."

"Then listen. Thou hast heard of the affair between my master and the
niece of the Roman Marchese, who was drowned in the Giudecca by the
carelessness of an Ancona-man, who passed over the gondola of Pietro as
if his felucca had been a galley of state?"

"Who has been upon the Lido the month past without hearing the tale
repeated, with every variation of a gondolier's anger?"

"Well, the matter is likely to come to a conclusion this night; my
master is about to do, as I fear, a very foolish thing."

"He will be married!"

"Or worse! I am sent in all haste and secresy in search of a priest."

Annina manifested strong interest in the fiction of the gondolier.
Either from a distrustful temperament, long habit, or great familiarity
with the character of her companion, however, she did not listen to his
explanation without betraying some doubts of its truth.

"This will be a sudden bridal feast!" she said, after a moment of pause.
"'Tis well that few are invited, or its savor might be spoiled by the
Three Hundred! To what convent art thou sent?"

"My errand is not particular. The first that may be found, provided he
be a Franciscan, and a priest likely to have bowels for lovers in
haste."

"Don Camillo Monforte, the heir of an ancient and great line, does not
wive with so little caution. Thy false tongue has been trying to deceive
me, Gino; but long use should have taught thee the folly of the effort.
Unless thou sayest truth, not only shalt thou not go to thy errand, but
here art thou prisoner at my pleasure."

"I may have told thee what I expect will shortly happen, rather than
what has happened. But Don Camillo keeps me so much upon the water of
late, that I do little besides dream, when not at the oar."

"It is vain to attempt deceiving me, Gino, for thine eye speaketh
truth, let thy tongue and brains wander where they will. Drink of this
cup, and disburden thy conscience, like a man."

"I would that thy father would make the acquaintance of Stefano Milano,"
resumed the gondolier, taking a long breath, after a still longer
draught. "'Tis a padrone of Calabria, who oftentimes brings into the
port excellent liquors of his country, and who would pass a cask of the
red lachryma christi through the Broglio itself, and not a noble of them
all should see it. The man is here at present, and, if thou wilt, he
shall not be long without coming into terms with thee for a few skins."

"I doubt if he have better liquors than this which hath ripened upon the
sands of the Lido. Take another draught, for the second taste is thought
to be better than the first."

"If the wine improve in this manner, thy father should be heavy-hearted
at the sight of the lees. 'Twould be no more than charity to bring him
and Stefano acquainted."

"Why not do it immediately? His felucca is in the port, thou sayest, and
thou canst lead him hither by the secret door and the lanes."

"Thou forgettest my errand. Don Camillo is not used to be served the
second. Cospetto! 'T were a pity that any other got the liquor which I
am certain the Calabrian has in secret."

"This errand can be no matter of a moment, like that of being sure of
wine of the quality thou namest; or, if it be, thou canst first dispatch
thy master's business, and then to the port, in quest of Stefano. That
the purchase may not fail, I will take a mask and be thy companion, to
see the Calabrian. Thou knowest my father hath much confidence in my
judgment in matters like this."

While Gino stood half stupified and half delighted at this proposition,
the ready and wily Annina made some slight change in her outer
garments, placed a silken mask before her face, applied a key to the
door, and beckoned to the gondolier to follow.

The canal with which the dwelling of the wine-dealer communicated, was
narrow, gloomy, and little frequented. A gondola of the plainest
description was fastened near, and the girl entered it, without
appearing to think any further arrangement necessary. The servant of Don
Camillo hesitated a single instant, but having seen that his
half-meditated project of escaping by the use of another boat could not
be accomplished for want of means, he took his worried place in the
stern, and began to ply the oar with mechanical readiness.

"What well appointed leader fronts us here?"
KING HENRY VI.

The presence of Annina was a grave embarrassment to Gino. He had his
secret wishes and limited ambition, like other men, and among the
strongest of the former, was the desire to stand well in the favor of
the wine-seller's daughter. But the artful girl, in catering to his
palate with a liquor that was scarcely less celebrated among people of
his class for its strength than its flavor, had caused a momentary
confusion in the brain of Gino, that required time to disperse. The boat
was in the Grand Canal, and far on its way to the place of its
destination, before this happy purification of the intellects of the
gondolier had been sufficiently effected. By that time, however, the
exercise of rowing, the fresh air of the evening, and the sight of so
many accustomed objects, restored his faculties to the necessary degree
of coolness and forethought. As the boat approached the end of the canal
he began to cast his eyes about him in quest of the well known felucca
of the Calabrian.

Though the glory of Venice had departed, the trade of the city was not
then at its present low ebb. The port was still crowded with vessels
from many distant havens, and the flags of most of the maritime states
of Europe were seen, at intervals, within the barrier of the Lido. The
moon was now sufficiently high to cast its soft light on the whole of
the glittering basin, and a forest composed of lateen yards, of the
slender masts of polaccas, and of the more massive and heavy hamper of
regularly rigged ships, was to be seen rising above the tranquil
element.

"Thou art no judge of a vessel's beauty, Annina," said the gondolier to
his companion, who was deeply housed in the pavilion of the boat, "else
should I tell thee to look at this stranger from Candia. 'Tis said that
a fairer model has never entered within the Lido than that same Greek!"

"Our errand is not with the Candian trader, Gino; therefore ply thy oar,
for time passes."

"There's plenty of rough Greek wine in his hold; but, as thou sayest, we
have naught with him. Yon tall ship, which is moored without the smaller
craft of our seas, is the vessel of a Lutheran from the islands of
Inghilterra. 'Twas a sad day for the Republic, girl, when it first
permitted the stranger to come into the waters of the Adriatic!"

"Is it certain, Gino, that the arm of St. Mark was strong enough to keep
him out?"

"Mother of Diana! I would rather thou didst not ask that question in a
place where so many gondoliers are in motion! Here are Ragusans,
Maltese, Sicilians, and Tuscans without number; and a little fleet of
French lie near each other there, at the entrance of the Giudecca. They
are a people who get together, afloat or ashore, for the benefit of the
tongue. Here we are, at the end of our journey."

The oar of Gino gave a backward sweep, and the gondola was at rest by
the side of a felucca.

"A happy night to the Bella Sorrentina and her worthy padrone!" was the
greeting of the gondolier, as he put his foot on the deck of the vessel.
"Is the honest Stefano Milano on board the swift felucca?"

The Calabrian was not slow to answer; and in a few moments the padrone
and his two visitors were in close and secret conference.

"I have brought one here who will be likely to put good Venetian
sequins into thy pocket, caro," observed the gondolier, when the
preliminaries of discourse had been properly observed. "She is the
daughter of a most conscientious wine-dealer, who is quite as ready at
transplanting your Sicilian grapes into the islands as he is willing and
able to pay for them."

"And one, no doubt, as handsome as she is ready," said the mariner, with
blunt gallantry, "were the black cloud but fairly driven from before her
face."

"A mask is of little consequence in a bargain provided the money be
forthcoming. We are always in the Carnival at Venice; and he who would
buy, or he who would sell, has the same right to hide his face as to
hide his thoughts. What hast thou in the way of forbidden liquors,
Stefano, that my companion may not lose the night in idle words?"

"Per Diana! Master Gino, thou puttest thy questions with little
ceremony. The hold of the felucca is empty, as thou mayest see by
stepping to the hatches; and as for any liquor, we are perishing for a
drop to warm the blood."

"And so far from coming to seek it here," said Annina, "we should have
done better to have gone into the cathedral, and said an Ave for thy
safe voyage home. And now that our wit is spent, we will quit thee,
friend Stefano, for some other less skilful in answers."

"Cospetto! thou knowest not what thou sayest," whispered Gino, when he
found that the wary Annina was not disposed to remain. "The man never
enters the meanest creek in Italy, without having something useful
secreted in the felucca on his own account. One purchase of him would
settle the question between the quality of thy father's wines and those
of Battista. There is not a gondolier in Venice but will resort to thy
shop if the intercourse with this fellow can be fairly settled."

Annina hesitated; long practised in the small, but secret exceedingly
hazardous commerce which her father, notwithstanding the vigilance and
severity of the Venetian police, had thus far successfully driven, she
neither liked to risk an exposure of her views to an utter stranger, nor
to abandon a bargain that promised to be lucrative. That Gino trifled
with her as to his true errand needed no confirmation, since a servant
of the Duke of Sant' Agata was not likely to need a disguise to search a
priest; but she knew his zeal for her personal welfare too well to
distrust his faith in a matter that concerned her own safety.

"If thou distrust that any here are the spies of the authorities," she
observed to the padrone, with a manner that readily betrayed her wishes,
"it will be in Gino's power to undeceive thee. Thou wilt testify, Gino,
that I am not to be suspected of treachery in an affair like this."