'On the contrary,' I replied, 'I must challenge him; he has insulted me.'
'I don't care about that. I will not have you challenge him.'
'This concerns myself alone.'
'Nonsense! You are a guest of my house, and for all I know it is just such an opportunity as this that Girolamo is seeking.'
'I don't understand,' I said.
'Listen,' said Checco, sitting down again. 'When Sixtus obtained possession of Forli for his nephew, Girolamo Riario, I, like the fool I was, did all I could to bring the town to his allegiance. My father was against the plan, but I bore down his opposition and threw the whole power of my house on his side. Without me he would never have been Lord of Forli.'
'I remember,' said Matteo. 'You used Sixtus to keep the Ordelaffi out; and you thought Girolamo would be a catspaw in our hands.'
'I did not give the city for love of a person I had never seen in my life. Well, this was eight years ago. Girolamo took off the heaviest taxes, granted favours to the town and entered in solemn state with Caterina.'
'Amid shouts and cheers,' remarked Alessandro.
'For a while he was more popular than ever the Ordelaffi had been, and when he went out the people ran to kiss the hem of his garment. He spent the great part of his time in Rome, but he employed the riches of the Pope in beautifying Forli, and when he came it was one round of feasts and balls and gaiety.
'Then Pope Sixtus died, and Girolamo settled here for good in the palace which he had commenced building on his accession. The feasts and balls and gaiety continued. Whenever a distinguished stranger passed through the town, he was welcomed by the Count and his wife with the most lavish hospitality; so that Forli became renowned for its luxury and riches.
'The poets ransacked Parnassus and the ancients for praises of their rules, and the people echoed the panegyrics of the poet.
'Then came the crash. I had often warned Girolamo, for we were intimate friendsthen. I told him that he could not continue the splendour which he had used when the wealth of Christendom was at his command, when he could spend the tribute of a nation on a necklace for Caterina. He would not listen. It was always, "I cannot be mean and thrifty," and he called it policy. "To be popular," he said, "I must be magnificent." The time came when the Treasury was empty, and he had to borrow. He borrowed in Rome and Florence and Milanand all the time he would not retrench, but rather, as his means became less, the extravagance became greater; but when he could borrow no more outside, he came to the citizens of Forli, first, of course, to me, and I repeatedly lent him large sums. These were not enough, and he sent for the richest men of Forli and asked them to lend him money. Naturally they could not refuse. But he squandered their money as he had squandered his own; and one fine day he assembled the Council.'
'Ah, yes,' said Alessandro, 'I was there then. I heard him speak.'
Checco stopped as if for Alessandro.
'He came to the Council chamber, clad as usual in the richest robes, and began talking privately to the senators, very courteouslylaughing with them, shaking their hands. Then, going to his place, he began to speak. He talked of his liberality towards them, and the benefits he had conferred on the town; showed them his present necessities, and finally asked them to reimpose the taxes which he had taken off at the beginning of his reign. They were all prejudiced against him, for many of them had already lent him money privately, but there was such a charm in his discourse, he was so persuasive, that one really could not help seeing the reasonableness of his demand. I know I myself would have granted him whatever he asked.'
'He can make one do anything he likes when he once begins talking,' said Lodovico.
'The Council unanimously voted the reimposition of the taxes, and Girolamo offered them his thanks in his most gracious manner.'
There was a silence, broken by Matteo.
'And then?' he asked.
'Then,' answered Checco, 'he went to Imola, and commenced spending there the money that he was gathering here.'
'And what did they think of it in Forli?'
'Ah, when the time came to pay the taxes they ceased their praises of Girolamo. First they murmured beneath their breath, then out loud; and soon they cursed him and his wife. The Count heard of it and came back from Imola, thinking, by his presence, to preserve the town in its allegiance. But the fool did not know that the sight of him would redouble the anger of the populace. They saw his gorgeous costumes, the gold and silver dresses of his wife, the jewels, the feasting and riotry, and they knew that it came out of their pockets; the food of their children, all that they had toiled and worked for, was spent on the insane luxury of this papal favourite and his bastard wife.'
'And how has he treated us?' cried Lodovico, beating his fist violently down on the table. 'I was in the pay of the Duke of Calabria, and he made me tempting offers, so that I left the armies of Naples to enter the papal service under him. And now, for four years, I have not received a penny of my salary, and when I ask him, he puts me aside with gentle words, and now he does not even trouble to give me them. A few days back I stopped him in the piazza, and, falling on my knees, begged for what he owed me. He threw me violently away, and said he could not pay meand the jewel on his breast was worth ten times the money he owed me. And now he looks at me with frowns, me who have served him faithfully as a dog. I will not endure it; by God! I will not.' He clenched his fists as he spoke, trembling with rage.
'And you know how he has served me,' said Checco. 'I have lent him so much that he has not the face to ask for more; and how do you think he has rewarded me? Because I have not paid certain dues I owe the Treasury, he sent a sheriff to demand them, and when I said I would not pay them at that moment, he sent for me, and himself asked for the money.'
'What did you do?'
'I reminded him of the money he owed me, and he informed me that a private debt had nothing to do with a debt to the State, and said that I must pay or the law should take its course.'
'He must be mad,' said Matteo.
'He is mad, mad with pride, mad in his extravagance.'
'I tell you,' said Lodovico, 'it cannot be endured.'
'And they tell me that he has said my tongue must be silenced,' added Checco. 'The other day he was talking to Giuseppe Albicina, and he said "Let Checco beware; he may go too far and find the hand of the master not so gentle as the hand of the friend!"'
'I, too, have heard him say things which sounded like threats,' said Alessandro.
'We have all heard it,' added Lodovico. 'When his temper overcomes him, he cares not what he says, and one discovers then what he and his silent wife have been plotting between them.'
'Now, sir,' interrupted Checco, speaking to me, 'you see how things stand: we are on thin ground, and the fire is raging beneath us. You must promise not to seek further quarrel with this countryman of yours, this Ercole Piacentini. He is one of Girolamo's chiefest favourites, and he would not bear to see him touched; if you happened to kill him, the Count would take the opportunity to have us all arrested, and we should suffer the fate of the Pazzi at Florence. Will you promise?'
'I promise,' I answered, smiling, 'to defer my satisfaction to a fitter opportunity.'
'Now, gentlemen,' said Checco, 'we can separate.'
We bade one another Goodnight; Alessandro, as he was going, said to Matteo, 'You must bring your friend to my sister tomorrow; she will be glad to see you both.'
We said we should be enchanted, and Alessandro and Lodovico Pansecchi left us.
Matteo looked at Checco meditatively.
'Cousin,' he said, 'all this looks very like conspiracy.'
Checco started.
'I cannot help it, if the people are dissatisfied with Girolamo.'
'But you?' pursued Matteo. 'I imagine you do not greatly care whether the people are taxed or no. You knew the taxes would have to come on again sooner or later.'
'Has he not insulted me by sending a sheriff to demand his dues?'
'Is there nothing further than that?' asked Matteo, looking at his cousin steadily.
Checco lifted his eyes and gazed back into Matteo's.
'Yes,' he said at last; 'eight years ago I was Girolamo's equal, now I am his servant. I was his friend, he loved me like a brotherand then his wife came, the daughter of Francesco Sforza, the bastardand gradually he has lifted himself up from me. He has been cold and reserved; he begins to show himself master; and now I am nothing more than a citizen among citizensthe first, but not the equal of the master.'
Checco kept silence for a moment, and in his quietness I could see the violence of his emotion.
'This concerns you as well as me, Matteo. You are an Orsi, and the Orsi are not made to be servants. I will be no man's servant. When I think of this manthis bastard of a popetreating me as beneath him, by God! I cannot breathe. I could roll on the floor and tear my hair with rage. Do you know that the Orsi have been great and rich for three hundred years? The Medici pale before them, for they are burghers and we have been always noble. We expelled the Ordelaffi because they wished to give us a bastard boy to rule over us, and shall we accept this Riario? I swear I will not endure it.'
'Well said!' said Matteo.
'Girolamo shall go as the Ordelaffi went. By God! I swear it.'
I looked at Matteo, and I saw that suddenly a passion had caught hold of him; his face was red, his eyes staring wide, and his voice was hoarse and thick.
'But do not mistake again, Checco,' he said; 'we want no foreign rulers. The Orsi must be the only Lords of Forli.'
Checco and Matteo stood looking at one another; then the former, shaking himself as if to regain his calmness, turned his back on us and left the room. Matteo strode up and down for a while in thought, and then, turning to me, said, 'Come.'
We went out and returned to our hostelry.
IV
Next day we went to Donna Giulia's.
'Who is she?' I asked Matteo, as we walked along.
'A widow!' he answered shortly.
'Further?' I asked.
'The scandal of Forli!'
'Most interesting; but how has she gained her reputation?'
'How do I know?' he answered, laughing; 'how do women usually gain their reputations? She drove Giovanni dall' Aste into his grave; her rivals say she poisoned himbut that is a cheerful libel, probably due to Claudia Piacentini.'
'How long has she been a widow?'
'Five or six years.'
'And how has she lived since then?'
Matteo shrugged his shoulders.
'As widows usually live!' he answered. 'For my part, I really cannot see what inducement a woman in that position has to be virtuous. After all, one is only young once, and had better make the best use of one's youth while it lasts.'
'But has she no relations?'
'Certainly; she has a father and two brothers. But they hear nothing or care nothing. Besides, it may be only scandal after all.'
'You talked as if it were a fact,' I said.
'Oh, no; I only say that if it is not a fact she is a very foolish woman. Now that she has a bad reputation, it would be idiotic not to live up to it.'
'You speak with some feeling,' I remarked, laughing.
'Ah,' answered Matteo, with another shrug of the shoulders, 'I laid siege to the fort of her virtueand she sallied and retired, and mined and countermined, advanced and drew back, so that I grew weary and abandoned the attack. Life is not long enough to spend six months in politeness and flattery, and then not be sure of the reward at the end.'
'You have a practical way of looking at things.'
'With me, you know, one woman is very like another. It comes to the same in the end; and after one has kicked about the world for a few years, one arrives at the conclusion that it it does not much matter if they be dark or fair, fat or thin.'
'Did you tell all this to Donna Giulia?' I asked.
'More or less.'
'What did she think of it?'
'She was cross for a while. She wished she had yielded sooner, when it was too late; it served her right!'
We had arrived at the house, and were ushered in. Donna Giulia greeted us very politely, gave me a glance, and began talking again to her friends. One could see that the men round her were more or less in love, for they followed every motion with their eyes, disputing her smiles, which she scattered in profusion, now upon one, now upon another. I saw she delighted in adulation, for the maker of any neat compliment was always rewarded with a softer look and a more charming smile.
Matteo surpassed the others in the outrageousness of his flattery; I thought she must see that he was laughing at her, but she accepted everything he said quite seriously, and was evidently much pleased.
'Are you not glad to be back in Forli?' she said to him.
'We all delight to tread the ground you walk on.'
'You have grown very polite during your absence.'
'What other result could have been, when I spent my time thinking of the lovely Giulia.'
'I am afraid you had other thoughts in Naples: they say that there the women are all beautiful.'
'Naples! My dear lady, I swear that during all the time I have been away I have never seen a face to compare with yours.'
Her eyes quite shone with pleasure. I turned away, finding the conversation silly. I thought I would do without the pleasant looks of Madonna Giulia, and I decided not to come to her again. Meanwhile, I began talking to one of the other ladies in the room and passed the time agreeably enough. In a little while Giulia passed me, leaning on the arm of one of her admirers. I saw her glance at me, but I took no notice. Immediately afterwards she came again, hesitating a moment, as if she wished to say something, but passed on without speaking. I thought she was piqued at my inattention to her, and, with a smile, redoubled my attentions to the lady with whom I was talking.
'Messer Filippo!' Donna Giulia called me, 'if you are not too engaged, will you speak to me for one moment?'
I approached her smiling.
'I am anxious to hear of your quarrel with Ercole Piacentini. I have heard quite ten different stories.'
'I am surprised that the insolence of an illbred fellow should rouse such interest.'
'We must talk of something in Forli. The only thing I hear for certain is that he insulted you, and you were prevented from getting satisfaction.'
'That will come later.'
She lowered her voice and took my arm.
'But my brother tells me that Checco d'Orsi has made you promise to do nothing.'
'I shall get my revengehaving to wait for it will only make it sweeter.'
Then, supposing she had nothing further to say to me, I stood still, as if expecting her to leave me. She looked up suddenly.
'Am I incommoding you?' she said.
'How could you!' I replied gallantly.
'I thought you wanted to get rid of me.'
'How can such an idea have entered your head? Do you not see that all men lie humble at your feet, attentive to every word and gesture?'