Valperga (42 page)

Euthanasia wept when she heard of the blood that had been spilt
for her; and self-reproach, who is ever ready to thrust in his
sharp sting, if he find that mailed conscience has one weak part,
now tormented her that she had not yielded, before one human life
had been lost in so unhappy a cause. "Do not evil that good
may come," thought she. "Are not those the words of the
Teacher? I have done infinite evil, in spilling that blood whose
each precious drop was of more worth than the jewels of a kingly
crown; but my evil has borne its fitting fruit; its root in death,
its produce poison."

In the course of the day, Arrigo Guinigi came to visit her. He
came with a message from Castruccio, who intreated her to remain
quietly in the palace provided for her, until he should return to
Lucca, which would be in a few days, when he would learn from her
own lips what her wishes were with regard to her future life.
Arrigo said all this with downcast eyes and a heaving breast,
hardly daring to speak, and much less raise his eyes upon the
countess; who replied that she would obey; that she had much rather
not see the prince; but that if he commanded it, she was ready to
submit. "You see me, my dear Arrigo, a prisoner, despoiled of
my possessions, a slave to your lord's will. Yet I hope and
trust, that these events would not have created the deep sorrow
with which I feel that my soul is filled, did not bitter sentiments
of lost affections, disappointed expectations, and utter
hopelessness, fill up the measure of my infelicity. My good youth,
we are born to misery; so our priests tell us, and there is more
sooth in that lesson, than in early youth we are willing to
believe; yet fortitude is the virtue with which my father
endeavoured principally to imbue me, and I would fain not disgrace
his counsels; but indeed a poisoned barb has entered my heart, and
I cannot draw it out."

Arrigo endeavoured to comfort her.--"Your state is far from
hopeless; the prince has promised, and intends to keep his promise,
that your revenues shall not be injured by the loss of your castle.
At Florence you will be surrounded by friends, and every luxury and
pleasure of life; and there you may again be happy."

Autumn was now far advanced, and the rains came on. The
Florentine and Lucchese armies, which had remained looking at each
other from opposite sides of the river, were now further divided by
the overflowing of its waters; so each retreated to their several
towns, and the campaign of that year ended. Castruccio returned to
Lucca. His first concern was a long and private conversation with
Castiglione; and immediately after he dispatched Arrigo to prepare
Euthanasia for a conference.

Poor girl! her heart beat, and the blood mounted to her before
pale cheeks, when she heard that she was to see him whom she had
loved, and to whose memory, as of what had been, she clung with
tenacious affection. It was a cruel task for her to behold his
form, graceful as it had been when she gazed on it in happier days,
and his countenance, which, but that more pride were mingled in the
expression, was as gloriously beautiful, as when it beamed love
upon her; and more than all, to hear his voice, whose soft and
mellow cadences had wrapped her soul in Elysium, now to be heard as
the voice of an alien. But indignation mingled itself with these
feelings, and enabled her to support the coming trial with greater
courage; so, calling up all of pride with which her delicacy might
arm her, and all of fortitude which her philosophy had taught, she
awaited with patience the expected moment.

She sat on a low sofa; her dress was dark; the vest, formed of
purple silk, and fastened at her waist by a silken cord, fell in
large folds to her feet; a cloak of sables hung on her shoulder;
and her golden hair, partly clustered on her neck, and partly
confined by a ribbon, covered with its ringlets her fair brow. When
she heard the step of Castruccio approaching, she became pale; her
very lips lost their colour; and her serious eyes, shorn of their
beams, were as the deep azure of midnight, where the stars shine
not. He entered. When he had seen her last, he had been haughty and
imperious; but now his manner was all softness, gentleness and
humility; so that, when he spoke, in spite of the high nobility of
her spirit, her eyes were weighed down by the unshed tears.

"Countess," he said, "pardon me, if my intrusion
upon you appear ungenerous; but persons, that, like myself, are
occupied in the affairs of government, are apt to leave too much to
underlings, who never do or say that which it were exactly right to
have said or done. Your future peace is too dear to me, to permit
me to hear from any but yourself what are your wishes and your
expectations."

He paused, waiting for an answer, and fixed on her his soft and
full eyes, which seemed to read her soul, while a gentle smile of
compassion and love played on his lips. After collecting her
thoughts, she raised her eyes to reply, and met those of her former
lover, whose expression seemed fraught with all that affection he
had once vowed to her. She was unable to speak; but then, angry at
her own weakness, she rallied her spirits, and replied,--"I
have but one favour to intreat, which is your permission to remove
instantly to Florence."

"Your wishes in this respect, Madonna, are commands; yet I
could have desired that you would consent to stay awhile in Lucca.
I know the judgement that you have formed of me; you look on me as
a wild beast ravenous for blood, as a lawless monster, despoiled of
all the feelings of humanity. I could have desired that you would
stay awhile, to find and to avow your injustice; I could wish you
to stay, until the deep respect, and if you will permit the word,
the love I feel for you, should make such impression on your heart,
that you would allow me to assuage those sorrows of which I have
unhappily been the cause."

"My lord, do not speak thus to me," replied
Euthanasia, with a voice which at first trembled, but which gained
firmness as she continued; "We are divided; there is an
eternal barrier between us now, sealed by the blood of those
miserable people who fell for me. I cannot, I do not love you; and,
if a most frivolous and reprehensible weakness could make me listen
now, the ghosts of the slain would arise to divide us. My lord, I
cannot reason with you, I can hardly speak; the blood of the
slaughtered, the tears of the survivors, the scathed ruins of my
castle, are all answers, louder than words, to your present offers.
If these have been your acts of courtship, pardon me if I say, that
I had rather woo the lion in his den to be my husband, than become
the bride of a conqueror. But this is useless cavilling, painful to
both of us; it awakens in me the indignation I would fain repress;
and it may kindle resentment in your heart, which is already too
apt to be inflamed with that sentiment. You came, you say, to learn
my wishes; you have now heard them; let us part; we part in that
peace every Christian believer owes to his brother; I forgive you
from my inmost heart; do not you hate me; and thus
farewell."

"You forgive me, Euthanasia? Is then your soul so pure? me,
who indeed have grievously wronged you; and, however, necessary my
actions have been, yet have they been destructive to you. But, if
indeed you forgive me, and part in Christian amity, allow me once
more to take your hand, that I may know that it is not a mere form
of words, but that you express a feeling of the heart."

Euthanasia held out her hand, which he took in both his, and
holding it thus, he said: "Hear me, my loved girl; you whom
alone in the world I have ever loved. You despise, repulse, and
almost hate me; and yet, God knows, I still cherish you as
tenderly, as when we told each other's love-tale first in
yonder unhappy castle. I do not ask you to love me, you
cannot;--but you are still young, very young, Euthanasia; and
fortune yet may have many changes in store for you. Remember, that,
through them all, I am your friend; and if ever in any misery you
want a protector, one to save and preserve you, Castruccio, the
neglected, mistaken, but most faithful Castruccio, will ever be
ready to use his arm and his power in your service. Now,
Euthanasia, farewell."

"Oh God!" cried the unhappy girl, moved to her inmost
heart, "could you not have spared me this? leave me; farewell
for ever!"

He kissed her hand, and left her; while she, her delicate frame
yielding under the many emotions she experienced, sank almost
lifeless on the couch. She had suffered much, and borne up through
all. But this last interview overcame her: her health, which had
been weakened by watching, and agitation, and tears, now entirely
gave way. A fever followed,--delirium, and utter deprivation of
strength. The disease seemed to feed on her very vitals; and death
already tainted her cheek with his fingers. But youth, and a
constitution, nourished and strengthened among mountains, and
healthful exertions of body and mind, saved her; and, after a
confinement of several months, she again crept forth, to see the
sun of spring smile on his children, who laughingly welcomed his
genial beams.

Where during this time was the prophetess of Ferrara?

WHEN Bindo had been released by the command of Castiglione from
the hands of the Lucchese soldiers, he fled across the country;
and, possessed with horror and despair at the issue of all his
predictions, hastened to the only human being to whom he ever spoke
his real sentiments, or in whom he placed any confidence.

To the north of Lucca, where the mountains rise highest, and the
country is most wild, there was, at the period those people lived
concerning whom I write, an immense ilex wood, which covered the
Apennines, and was lost to sight in the grey distance, and among
the folds and declivities of the hills. In this forest there lived
a witch; she inhabited a cottage built partly of the trunks of
trees, partly of stones, and partly was inclosed by the side of the
mountain against which it leaned. This hut was very old; that part
of it which was built of stone was covered with moss, lichens and
wall-flowers, whose beauty and scent appeared alien to the gloom
around; but, amidst desolation and horror, Nature loves to place
the lovely and excellent, that man, viewing the scene, may not
forget that she, the Mother, dwells every where. The trees were
covered with ivy, many of them hollow and decaying, while around
them the new sprouts arose, and refreshed the eye with an
appearance of youth. On a stone near the cabin door sat the witch;
she was very old; none knew how old: men, verging on decrepitude,
remembered their childish fears of her; and they all agreed that
formerly she appeared more aged and decrepit than now. She was bent
nearly double; there was no flesh on her bones; and the brown and
wrinkled skin hung loosely about her cheeks and arms. She was
short, thin and small; her hair was perfectly white, and her red
eyes, the only part about her that appeared to have life, glared
within their sunken sockets; her voice was cracked and shrill.

"Well, son," said she, when she saw Bindo arrive,
"What news? Are thine, or my predictions most true?"

Bindo threw himself on the ground, and tore his hair with rage,
but he answered not a word.

"You would not believe my words," continued she, with
a malicious laugh; "but the stars are not truer to their
course, than I to fate; tomorrow not one stone will lie upon
another of the castle of Valperga."

"This must not be," cried Bindo, starting up
furiously; "it shall not be! Are you not a witch? and if you
have sold your soul to the devil, will he not obey your
will?"

"I sold my soul to the devil!" she replied in a tone,
which bordered on a scream; "I tell thee, thou wert happy, if
thy soul were as certain to be saved as mine. I rule the spirits,
and do not serve them; what can angels do more? But one thing I
cannot do; I cannot impede the star of Castruccio: that must
rise."

"Aye,--you are all alike;--you can lame cattle, strangle
fowls, and milk cows; but, when power is wanted, you are as weak as
this straw. Come, if you are a witch, act as one."

"What would you that I should do? I can cover the sky with
clouds; I can conjure rain and thunder from the blue empyrean; the
Serchio will obey me; the winds from the north and the south know
my call; the mines of the earth are subject to me; I can call the
dead from their graves, and command the spirits of air to obey me.
The fortunes of men are known to me; but man himself is not to be
ruled, unless he consent to obey. Castruccio is set above men; his
star is highest in the sky, and the aspect of the vast heaven
favours him; I can do nothing with him."

"Then farewell; and may the curses of hell cling to you,
and blight you! I want no conjurer's tricks,--but man shall do
for me what the devil cannot."

"Stay, son," cried the witch; "now you say right;
now you are reasonable. Though the star of Castruccio be high, it
will fall at last, burst and fall like a dead stick upon the
ground. Be it for us to hasten this moment; man may help you, and
be that your task; watch all that happens, and tell me all; let no
act or word escape your notice; and something will happen which I
may wind to my purpose. We have both vowed to pursue the prince of
Lucca to the death. There are no means now; but some will arise,
and we shall triumph. Keep in mind one thing; do not let your
mistress depart. I know that she desires to go to Florence; she
must remain at Lucca, until the destined time be fulfilled; be it
your task to keep her."

"I do not like these slow measures," replied the
Albinois sullenly; "and, methinks, his waxen image at the
fire, or his heart stuck full of pins, might soon rid the earth of
him; surely if curses might kill a man, he were dead; tell me, in
truth is he not a fiend? Is he not one of the spirits of the damned
housed in flesh to torment us?"