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Chapter XVIIChapter XVII
Chapter XVII
One wish is often enough to allow a man no peace; what, then, must two
have been - one at war with the other? Our poor Renzo, as the reader knows,
had had two such conflicting desires in his mind for several hours; the wish
to make his escape, with the wish to remain undiscovered; and the unfortunate
words of the merchant had increased both one and the other to an extravagant
degree. His adventure, then, had got abroad! There were means, then, employed,
to seize him! Who knew how many bailiffs were in the field to give him chase!
or what orders had been forwarded to keep a watch in the villages, at the inn,
on the roads! He reflected, however, that, after all, there were but two
bailiffs who knew him, and that his name was not written upon his forehead;
but then, again, a hundred stories he had heard rushed into his mind, of
fugitives caught and discovered in many strange ways, recognized by their
walk, by their suspicious air, and other unthought of tokens: everything
excited his alarm. Although, as he left Gorgonzola, the tolling of the
Avemaria sounded in his ears, and the increasing darkness every moment
diminished his danger, yet it was very unwillingly that he took the high road,
proposing to follow the first by - lane which seemed likely to bring him to
the point he was so anxious to reach. At first, he occasionally met a
traveller; but so full was his imagination of direful apprehensions, that he
had not courage to detain any one to inquire his way. - That innkeeper said
six miles, - thought he. - If, by taking these foot - paths and by - lanes, I
make them eight, or even ten, my legs, which have lasted me so far, will
manage these too. I`m certainly not going towards Milan, so I must be going
towards the Adda. Walk away, then; sooner or later, I shall get there. The
Adda has a good voice; and when once I`m near it, I shan`t want anybody to
point it out to me. If any boat is there, I`ll cross directly; if not, I`ll
wait till morning, in a field, or on a tree, like the sparrows: better on a
tree than in prison. -
Very soon, he saw a lane turning down to the left, and he pursued it.
At this hour, if he had met with any one, he would no longer have
hesitated to address him; but he heard not a footstep of living creature. He
followed, therefore, the windings of the lane, indulging, the mean while, in
such reflections as these:
- I play the devil! I murder all the nobility! A packet of letters - I!
My companions keeping guard around me! I`d give something to meet with that
merchant face to face, on the other side of the Adda, (ah, when shall I get
across that blessed Adda?) I`d make him stand, and ask him, at my convenience,
where he had picked up all this fine information. Just please to be informed,
my dear sir, that the thing went so and so; and that all the mischief I played
was helping Ferrer, as if he had been my brother: know, moreover, that those
rascals who to hear you talk, one would think were my friends, because once I
said a word or two, like a good Christian, wanted to play me a very rough
trick; know, too, that while you were taking care of your own shop, I was
endangering my ribs to save your signor, the superintendent of provisions - a
man I never either knew or saw in my life. Wait and see if I ever stir again
to help gentlemen . . . It is true we ought to do it for our soul`s good: they
are neighbours, too. And that great bundle of letters, where all the
conspiracy was revealed, and which you know for certain is in the hands of
government; sure enough, I couldn`t show it you here without the help of the
devil. Would you have any curiosity to see this mighty packet? Look here . . .
A single letter! . . . Yes, my good sir, one letter only; and this letter, if
you`d like to know, was written by a monk capable of instructing you in any
point of doctrine you wish, - a monk, without doing you injustice, a single
hair of whose beard is worth all yours put together; and this letter, I should
like to tell you, is written, you see, to another monk, also a man . . . Just
see, now, who my rascally friends are. Learn, if you please, how to talk
another time, particularly when you are talking about a fellow - creature. -
After a little time, however, these and similar reflections gave way to
others; his present circumstances occupying the whole attention of our poor
traveller. The dread of being pursued and discovered, which had so incessantly
embittered his day`s journey, now no longer gave him any uneasiness; but how
many things made his nightly wanderings sufficiently uncomfortable! -
darkness; solitude; increasing, and now painful, fatigue; a gentle, but steady
and piercing breeze, which would be far from agreeable to a man still dressed
in the same clothes which he had put on to go a short distance to a wedding,
and quickly to return in triumph to his home, only a few steps off; and, what
rendered everything doubly irksome, walking at a venture, in search of a place
of rest and security.
If he happened to pass through a village, he would walk as quietly and
warily as possible, lest any of the doors should be still open; but he saw no
further signs of remaining wakefulness among the inhabitants than occasionally
a glancing light in one of the windows. When on the road, away from every
abode, he would pause, every now and then, and listen eagerly for the beloved
murmur of the Adda; but in vain. He heard no sounds but the distant howling of
dogs at some solitary dwelling, which floated through the air, at once
mournful and threatening. On approaching any of these abodes, the howling was
changed into an irritated, angry bark; and in passing before the door, he
heard, and almost fancied he saw, the fierce creatures, with their heads at
the crack of the door, reiterating their howls. This quickly removed all
temptation to knock and ask shelter, and probably his courage would have
failed had there been no such obstacles in his way. - Who`s there? - thought
he: - what do you want at this hour? How did you come here? Tell who you are.
Isn`t there an inn where you can get a bed? This, at best, is what they will
say to me, If I knock; even if it shouldn`t be a cowardly sleeper, who would
begin to shout out lustily, `Help! Thieves!` I must have something ready for
an answer; and what could I say? If anybody hears a noise in the night,
nothing enters their heads but robbers, villains, and rogues: they never think
that an honest man may be benighted, not to say a gentleman in his carriage. -
He determined, therefore, to reserve this plan as a last resource in case of
necessity, and continued his way, still with the hope of at least discovering
the Adda, if not of crossing it, that night, and not being obliged again to go
in search of it in broad daylight.
On, therefore, he went, till he reached a part where the country changed
from cultivated fields into a heath of ferns and broom. These seemed, if not a
sure indication, at least, a kind of argument that there was a river in the
neighbourhood; and he advanced across the common, pursuing the path which
traversed it. After walking a few paces, he stopped to listen; but in vain.
The tediousness of the journey seemed to be increased by the wildness of the
place; not a mulberry nor a vine was to be seen, nor any other signs of human
culture, which, in the early part of his progress, seemed almost like half -
companions to him. However, he still went forward, beguiling the time, and
endeavouring to drive away the images and apparitions which haunted his mind -
the relics of a hundred wonderful stories he had heard - by repeating, as he
went along, some of the prayers for the dead.
By degrees, he entered among larger patches of brushwood, wild plum -
trees, dwarf oaks, and brambles. Continuing his way, with more impatience than
alacrity, he saw scattered occasionally throughout these patches, a solitary
tree; and, still following the guidance of the footpath, perceived that he was
entering a wood. He felt a kind of reluctance to proceed; but he conquered it,
and unwillingly went forward. The further he went, the more this unwillingness
increased, and the more did everything he saw vex and harass his imagination.
The bushes he discerned before him assumed strange, marvellous, and uncouth
forms; the shadows of the tops of the trees alarmed him, as, slightly agitated
by the breeze, they quivered on his path, illuminated by the pale light of the
moon; the very rustling of the withered leaves, as he trampled them under
foot, had in it something hateful to his ear. His limbs felt a strange impulse
to run, and, at the same time, seemed scarcely able to support him. The cold
night - breeze blew more chilly and sharply against his forehead and throat;
he felt it piercing through his thin clothes to his skin, which shivered in
the blast, and, penetrating more subtilely to his very bones, extinguishing
the last remains of vigour. At one time, the weariness and undefined horror
with which he had so long been struggling, had suddenly almost overwhelmed
him. He nearly lost his self - government; but terrified above all things at
his own terror, he summoned up his former spirits, and by a great effort,
forced them to assume their usual sway. Thus fortified for a moment, he stood
still to deliberate, and resolved to leave the wood by the same path as he had
traversed, to go straight to the last village he had passed, to return once
more among mankind, and there to seek shelter, even at the inn. While he thus
stood, the rustling of his feet among the leaves hushed, and, perfectly silent
around him, a noise reached his ear, a murmur - a murmur of running water. He
listens; assures himself; and exclaims, `It`s the Adda!` It was like the
restoration of a friend, of a brother, of a deliverer. His weariness almost
disappeared, his pulse again beat; he felt his blood circulate freely and
warmly through all his veins; his confidence increased, the gloominess and
oppression of his mind, in great part, vanished away; and he no longer
hesitated to penetrate farther into the wood, towards the friendly murmur.
At last he reached the extremity of the flat, at the edge of a steep
declivity; and, peeping through the bushes that everywhere covered its
surface, he discerned, at the bottom, the glittering of the running water.
Then, raising his eyes, he surveyed the extensive plain on the opposite side,
scattered with villages; beyond this the hills, and on one of these a large,
whitish tract, in which he fancied he could distinguish a city - Bergamo,
undoubtedly. He descended the steep a little way, separating and pushing aside
the brushwood with his hands and arms, and looked down, to see if there were
any boat moving on the water, or to listen if he could hear the splashing of
oars; but he saw and heard nothing. Had it been any thing less than the Adda,
Renzo would have descended at once and attempted to ford it; but this, he well
knew, in such a river, was not a matter of very great facility.
He therefore stood to consult with himself what were best to be done. To
clamber up into a tree, and there await the dawn of morning, in the chill
night - breeze, in a frosty air, and in his present dress, was more than
enough to benumb him; to pace up and down, for constant exercise, all that
time, besides that it would have been a very inefficacious defence against the
severity of the temperature, was also asking too much of those unfortunate
limbs which had already done much more than their duty. Suddenly he remembered
having seen a cascinotto in one of the fields adjoining the uncultivated down.
Thus the peasants of the Milanese plain designate certain little cottages,
thatched with straw, constructed of the trunks and branches of trees, fastened
together and filled up with mud, where they are in the habit of depositing
their harvest during the summer season, repairing thither at night to protect
it: during the rest of the year they are usually unoccupied. He quickly fixed
upon this as his resting - place for the night; and again setting off on his
way, re - passed the wood, the tract of bushes, and the heath; and entering
upon the cultivated land, he quickly espied the cascinotto, and went towards
it. A worm - eaten and tumble - down door, without lock or chain, blocked up
the entrance; Renzo drew it towards him, and on entering, saw a hurdle,
intended to serve the purpose of a hammock, suspended in the air, and
supported by bands formed of little twigs; he did not, however, make use of
it; but seeing a little straw lying on the ground, thought that, even there,
sleep would be very welcome.
Before stretching his weary frame on the bed Providence had prepared for
him, he knelt down to offer up his thanks for this blessing, and for all the
assistance he had received that terrible day. He then repeated his usual
prayers; and, having finished them, begged pardon of God for having omitted
them the evening before, and gone to rest, as he said, like a dog, or even
worse. - And for this reason, - added he to himself, resting his hands upon
the straw, and, from kneeling, changing his posture to that of lying, - for
this reason I was awaked by such agreeable visitors in the morning. - He then
gathered up all the straw that was scattered around, and spread it over him,
so as to make the best covering he could to secure himself from the cold,
which, even there, under shelter, made itself sufficiently felt; and crouching
beneath it, he tried to get a little sleep, thinking that he had purchased it,
that day, more dearly than usual.
Scarcely, however, had he closed his eyes, before visions began to throng
his memory, or his fancy (I cannot undertake to indicate the exact spot) -
visions so crowded, so incessant, that they quickly banished every idea of
sleep. The merchant, the notary, the bailiffs, the sword - cutler, the
landlord, Ferrer, the superintendent, the party at the inn, the crowds in the
streets; then Don Abbondio, then Don Rodrigo: and, among so many, there were
none that did not bring some sad remembrances of misfortune or aversion.
There were but three images that presented themselves to his mind,
divested of every bitter recollection, clear of every suspicion, pleasing in
every aspect; and two, principally - certainly very dissimilar, but closely
connected in the heart of the youth, - the blacklocked Lucia, and the white -
bearded Father Cristoforo. Yet the consolation he felt in contemplating even
these objects, was anything but unmixed and tranquil. In picturing to himself
the good friar, he felt more keenly than ever the disgrace of his faults, his
shameful intemperance, and his neglect of the kind Father`s paternal advice;
and in contemplating the image of Lucia! we will not attempt to describe what
he felt; the reader knows the circumstances, and must imagine it himself.
Neither did he forget the poor Agnese; Agnese, who had chosen him for her son
- in - law, who had considered him almost as one with her only daughter, and
before receiving from him the title of mother, had assumed the language and
affection of one, and demonstrated parental solicitude for him by her actions.
But it was an additional grief to him, and not the least bitter one, that
exactly on account of these affectionate an benevolent intentions, the poor
woman was now homeless, and almost houseless, uncertain of the future, and
reaping sorrows and troubles from those very circumstances, which he had hoped
would be the joy and comfort of her declining years. What a night, poor Renzo!
which was to have been the fifth of his nuptials! What a room! What a
matrimonial couch! And after such a day! And to precede such a morrow, such a
succession of days! - What God wills - replied he, to the thoughts which most
tormented him; - What God wills. He knows what He does! it is for our good
too. Let it be as a penance for my sins. Lucia is so good! God, surely, will
not let her suffer for long - for very long! -
Harassed by such thoughts as these, despairing of obtaining any sleep,
and the piercing cold becoming more and more insufferable, so that from time
to time his whole frame shook, and his teeth chattered in spite of himself,
Renzo longed for the approach of day, and impatiently measured the slow
progress of the hours. I say, measured, because every half - hour he heard
resounding through the deep silence, the strokes of a large clock, probably
that of Trezzo. The first time, the sound reached his ear so unexpectedly,
without his having the least idea whence it came, it brought with it something
solemn and mysterious to his mind; the feeling of a warning uttered in an
unknown voice, by some invisible person.
When, at last, the clock had tolled eleven,^1 - the hour Renzo had
determined to get up, - he rose, half benumbed with the cold, and falling upon
his knees, repeated his matin prayers with more than ordinary devotion; then,
standing up, he stretched his limbs, and shook his body, as if to settle and
unite his members, which seemed almost dissevered from each other, breathed
upon his hands and rubbed them together, and then opened the door of the
cascinotto, first taking the precaution to look warily about him, perchance
any one might be there. No one being visible, he cast his eye round to
discover the path he had followed the preceding evening, and quickly
recognizing it, much clearer and more distinct than his memory pictured it, he
set off in that direction.
[Footnote 1: It must be borne in mind by the reader, that, according to
Italian computation of time, the first hour of the day is seven o`clock in the
morning - two o`clock answerable to eight with us, and so on, till seven
o`clock in the evening becomes one again. This arrangement would make eleven
o`clock, in the text, the same as five o`clock in the morning in England.]
The sky announced a beautiful day: the pale and rayless moon was yet
visible near the horizon, in the spacious field of azure, still softened by a
tinge of morning grey, which shaded gradually towards the east, into a rosy
and primrose hue. Still nearer the horizon, a few irregular clouds stretched
out, in lengthened waves, rather azure than grey, their lower sides edged with
almost a streak of flame, becoming every moment more vivid and sharply
defined; while, higher up, light and fleecy clouds, mingling with each other,
and of a thousand nameless hues, floated on the surface of the placid heavens;
a true Lombard sky, so beautiful when it is beautiful - so brilliant, so calm.
Had Renzo been here to enjoy himself, he would certainly have looked upwards,
and admired a dawn so different to what he had been accustomed to see among
his native mountains; but his eyes were bent to the ground, and he walked on
rapidly, both to regain a little warmth, and to reach the river as quickly as
he could. He retraced the fields, the grove, the bushes; traversed the wood,
with a kind of compassion, as he looked around and remembered the horror he
had felt there a few hours before; reached the edge of the precipitous bank,
and looking down through the crags and bushes, discovered a fisherman`s bark
slowly making its way against the stream, close by the shore. He hastily
descended the shortest way through the bushes, stood upon the bank, and gently
called to the fisherman; and with the intention of appearing to ask a favour
of little importance, but, without being aware of it, in a half - supplicatory
manner, beckoned to him to approach. The fisherman cast a glance along the
shore, looked carefully both up and down the river, and then turning the prow
towards Renzo, approached the side. Renzo, who stood at the very edge of the
stream, almost with one foot in the water, seized the prow as it drew near,
and jumped into the boat.
`Be good enough to take me across to the other side, and I`ll pay you for
it,` said he. The fisherman had already guessed his object, and had turned the
prow to the opposite bank. Renzo, seeing another oar at the bottom of the
boat, stooped down and took it up.
`Softly, softly,` said the owner; but on seeing how dexterously the youth
laid hold of the implement, and prepared to handle it, `Aha!` added he, `you
know your business.`
`A little,` replied Renzo; and he began to row with a vigour and skill
beyond those of an amateur. While thus exerting himself, he cast an occasional
dark glance at the shore he had just left, and then a look of anxiety to the
one they were approaching. He was annoyed at having to go at all down the
stream; but the current here was too rapid to cut directly across it; so that
the bark, partly cleaving and partly following the course of the water, was
obliged to take a diagonal direction. As it happens in all dark and intricate
undertakings, that difficulties present themselves to the mind at first only
in general, but in the execution of the enterprise are more minutely
observable; so, now that the Adda was forded, so to say, Renzo felt a good
deal of disquietude at not knowing for certain whether here it was the
boundary of the two states, or whether, when this obstacle was overcome, there
might not be others still to surmount. Addressing the fisherman, therefore,
and nodding with his head towards the whitish spot which he had noticed the
night before, and which now appeared much more distinct, `Is that Bergamo?`
said he - `that town?`
`The city of Bergamo,` replied the fisherman.
`And that shore, there, does it belong to Bergamo?`
`The territory of St. Mark.`
`Long live St. Mark!` exclaimed Renzo.
The fisherman made no reply.
They reached, at length, the opposite shore; Renzo jumped out upon it,
and, thanking God in his heart, expressed his gratitude in words to the
boatman; then putting his hand in his pocket, he drew out thence a berlinga -
which, considering his circumstances, was no little loss to him - and handed
it to the worthy man, who, giving another glance at the Milanese shore, and
along the river in either direction, stretched out his hand, and received the
gift. He put it into his pocket, and after compressing his lips, at the same
time laying his forefinger across them, with a significant expression of
countenance, said, `A good journey to you!` and turned back.
That the reader may not be surprised at the prompt, yet cautious,
civility of this man towards a perfect stranger, it will be necessary to
inform him that, frequently requested to perform a similar service to
smugglers and banditti, he was accustomed to do so, not so much for the sake
of the trifling and uncertain gains which he might thereby obtain, as to avoid
making himself enemies among these classes. He afforded this assistance
whenever he could assure himself of not being discovered by the custom - house
officers, bailiffs, or spies. Thus, without particularly favouring one party
more than another, he endeavoured to satisfy all, with that impartiality
usually exercised by those who are compelled to deal with a certain set of
people, while liable to give account to another.
Renzo paused a moment on the bank, to contemplate the opposite shore -
that ground which just before had almost burnt beneath his feet. - Ah! I am
really out of it! - was his first thought. - Hateful country that you are! -
was his second, bidding it farewell. But the third recurred to those whom he
had left there. Then he crossed his arms on his breast, heaved a sigh, bent
his eyes on the water which flowed at his feet, and thought, - It has passed
under the bridge! - Thus that at Lecco was generally called among his fellow -
countrymen, by way of eminence. - Ah! hateful world! Enough: whatever God
wills. -
He turned his back upon these mournful objects, and went forward, taking,
for a mark, the white tract on the side of the hill, until he met with some
one to give him more particular directions in his way. It was amusing to see
with what carelessness and disembarrassment he now accosted travellers, and
how boldly he pronounced the name of the village where his cousin resided,
without hesitation or disguise. From the first person who directed him, he
learnt that he had yet nine miles to travel.
His journey was not very blithesome. Independent of his own troubles, his
eyes rested every moment on pitiable objects, which told him that he would
find in the country he was entering the poverty he had left in his own. All
along the way, but more particularly in the villages and large towns, he saw
beggars hastening along, mendicants rather from circumstances than profession,
who revealed their misery more in their countenances than their clothing:
peasants, mountaineers, artisans, entire families, and a mingled murmur of
entreaties, disputes, and infants` cries. Besides the mournful pity that it
awoke in Renzo`s mind, this sight also aroused him to the remembrance of his
own circumstances.
- Who knows, - thought he, as he went along, - if I shall find anything
to do? if there is any work now to be got, as there used to be? Well; Bortolo
is kindly inclined to me; he is a good fellow; he has made some money, and has
invited me very often; he, surely, won`t forsake me. Besides, Providence has
helped me hitherto, and will help me, I hope, for the future. -
In the mean while, his appetite, already considerably sharpened, became,
as he went on his way, more and more craving; and though he felt that he could
manage very well to the end of his journey, which was now only about two
miles, without great inconvenience, yet he reflected that it would not be
exactly the thing to make his appearance before his cousin like a beggar, and
address him with the salutation, `Give me something to eat;` so drawing all
his riches from his pocket, he counted them over on the palm of his hand, to
ascertain the amount. It was an amount that required little calculation, yet
still there was more than enough to make a small meal; he, therefore, entered
an inn to get a little refreshment; and, on paying the account, found that he
had still a few pence remaining.
Just outside, lying in the street, and so close to the door that he would
have fallen over them had he not been looking about him, Renzo saw two women,
one rather elderly, and the other a younger person, with an infant at her
breast, which, after vainly endeavouring to satisfy its hunger, was crying
bitterly; they were all three as pale as death; and standing by them was a
man, in whose face and limbs there might still be discerned tokens of former
robustness, though now broken and almost destroyed by long poverty. The three
beggars stretched out their hands to Renzo, as he left the inn with a free
step and reinvigorated air, but none of them spoke; what more could language
have expressed?
`There`s a God - send for you!` said Renzo, as he hastily thrust his hand
into his pocket, and, taking out his last pence, put them into the hand that
was nearest to him, and went on his way.
The refreshment, and this good work together (since we are made of both
soul and body), had gladdened and cheered all his thoughts. Certain it is that
he felt more confidence for the future from having thus deprived himself of
his last penny, than if he had found ten such. For if Providence had kept in
reserve, for the support of three wretched beggars, almost fainting on the
road, the last farthing of a stranger, himself a fugitive, far from his own
home, and uncertain how to get a living, could he think that that Providence
would leave in destitution him whom He had made use of for this purpose, and
to whom He had given so vivid, so effective, so self - abandoning an
inclination? Such was, in general, the feeling of the youth, though, probably,
not so clearly defined as that which we have expressed in words. During the
remainder of his walk, as his mind recurred to the different circumstances and
contingencies which had hitherto appeared the most dark and perplexing, all
seemed to brighten. The famine and poverty must come to an end, for there was
a harvest every year: in the mean time, he had his cousin Bortolo, and his own
abilities; and, as a help towards his support, a little store of money at
home, which he could easily send for. With this assistance, at the worst, he
could live from day to day as economically as possible, till better times. -
Then, when good times have come at last, - continued Renzo, in his fanciful
dreams, - the demand for work will be renewed; masters will strive who shall
get Milanese weavers, because they know their trade best; the Milanese weavers
will hold their heads high; they who want clever workmen must pay for them; we
shall make something to live upon and still have some to spare; we can then
furnish a cottage, and write to the women to come. And besides, why wait so
long? Shouldn`t we have lived upon my little store at home, all this winter?
So we can live here. There are curates everywhere. Those two dear women might
come now, and we could keep house together. Oh, what a pleasure, to go walking
all together on this very road! to go as far as the Adda, in a cart, and have
a picnic on the shore; yes, just on the shore! and I`d show them the place
where I embarked, the thorny path I came down, and the spot where I stood to
look if there was a boat! -
At length he reached his cousin`s village; and, just at the entrance,
even before he set foot in it, distinguished a house considerably higher than
the rest, with several rows of long windows, one above another, and separated
by a much smaller space than the divisions between the different stories
required: he at once recognized a silkmill; and going in, asked in a loud
voice, so as to be heard amidst the noise of the running water and the
machinery, if Bortolo Castagneri lived there,
`The Signor Bortolo! He`s there.`
- The Signor! that`s a good sign, - thought Renzo; and, seeing his
cousin, he ran towards him. Bortolo turned round, recognized his relation, as
he exclaimed, `Here I am, myself,` and received him with an `Oh!` of surprise,
as they mutually threw their arms round each other`s neck. After the first
welcome, Bortolo took his cousin into another room, apart from the noise of
the machinery and the eyes of the curious, and greeted him with, `I`m very
glad to see you; but you`re a pretty fellow. I`ve invited you so often, and
you never would come; and now you arrive in rather a troubled time.`
`Since you will have me tell you, I`ve not come with my own good will,`
said Renzo; and then, as briefly as possible, and not without some emotion, he
related his mournful story.
`That`s quite another thing,` said Bortolo. `Oh, poor Renzo! But you`ve
depended upon me; and I`ll not forsake you. Certainly, there`s no great demand
for workmen just now; indeed, it`s all we can do not to turn off those we
have, and give up the business; but my master likes me, and he has got some
money. And, to tell you the truth, without boasting, he mostly owes it to me;
he has the capital, and I give my abilities, such as they are. I`m the head
workman, you know; and, besides, between you and me, I`m quite his factotum.
Poor Lucia Mondella! I remember her as it were but yesterday: a good girl she
was! always the best - behaved in church; and whenever one passed her cottage
. . . I see that cottage in my mind`s eye, outside the village, with a fine
fig - tree peeping over the wall . . .`
`No, no; don`t let us talk about it.`
`I was only going to say, that whenever one passed that cottage, there
was the reel always going, going, going. And that Don Rodrigo! even in my time
he was inclined that way, but now he`s playing the devil outright, from what I
hear, so long as God leaves him to take his own course. Well, as I was saying,
here, too, we are suffering a little from the famine . . . Apropos, how are
you for appetite?`
`I got something to eat, a little while ago, on the road.`
`And how are you for money?`
Renzo held out one of his hands, and putting it to his mouth, gently
puffed upon it.
`Never mind,` said Bortolo: `I`ve plenty; pluck up heart, for I hope
things will soon change, please God; and then you can repay me, and lay up
also a little for yourself.`
`I`ve a trifling sum at home, and will send for it.`
`Very well; and, in the mean time, you may depend upon me. God has given
me wealth, that I might give to others; and whom should I serve so soon as my
own relations and friends?`
`I said I should be provided for!` exclaimed Renzo, affectionately
pressing his good cousin`s hand.
`Then, rejoined his companion, `they`ve had a regular uproar at Milan! I
think they`re all a little mad. The rumour had already reached here; but I
want you to tell me things a little more particularly. Ah! we`ve plenty to
talk about. Here, however, you see, we go about it more quietly, and do things
with rather more prudence. The city purchased two thousand loads of corn, from
a merchant who lives at Venice: the corn came from Turkey; but when life
depends upon it, such things are not looked into very narrowly. See now what
this occasioned: the governors of Verona and Brescia stopped up the passes,
and said, `No corn shall pass this way.` What did the Bergamascans do, think
you? They despatched a man to Venice, who knew how to talk. The messenger went
off in haste, presented himself to the Doge, and asked him what was the
meaning of such a trick. And such a speech he made! they say, fit to be
printed. What a thing it is to have a man who knows what to say! An order was
immediately issued for the free transit of corn, requiring the governors not
only to let it pass, but to assist in forwarding it; and now it is on its way.
There is provision also for the surrounding country. Another worthy man gave
the senate to understand that the people in the country were starving; and
they have ordered them four thousand bushels of millet. This helps, you know,
to make bread. And then I needn`t say, that if there isn`t bread for us, we
will eat meat. God has given me wealth, as I told you. Now, then, I`ll take
you to my master: I`ve often mentioned you to him, and I know he`ll welcome
you. He`s a Bergamascan of the old sort, and a kind - hearted man. Certainly,
he doesn`t expect you just now; but when he hears your history . . . And
besides, he knows how to value good workmen; for the famine must come to an
end, and business will go on. But, first of all, I must warn you of one thing.
Do you know what they call us Milanese, in this country?`
`No; what is it?`
`They call us blockheads.`
`That`s not a very nice name.`
`So it is: whoever is born in the territory of Milan, and would make a
living in that of Bergamo, must be content to bear it patiently. It is as
common, among these people, to give the name of "blockhead" to a Milanese, as
"your illustrious lordship" to a cavalier.`
`They only say so, I fancy, to those who will put up with it.`
`My dear fellow, if you are not disposed continually to brook the title,
don`t reckon that you can live here. You would be obliged always to have a
knife in your hand; and when you have killed, we will suppose, two, three, or
four, of your neighbours, you`d meet with somebody who would kill you; and
what a nice prospect, to have to appear before God`s tribunal with three or
four murders on your head!`
`And a Milanese who has a little . . .` here he tapped his forehead with
his forefinger, as he had before done at the sign of the Full Moon. `I mean,
one who understands his business?`
`It`s all the same; he, too, would be a blockhead. Do you know what my
master says when he`s talking of me to his friends? "Heaven has sent me this
blockhead, to conduct my business; if it were not for this blockhead, I should
do very badly." It`s the custom to say so.`
`It`s a very foolish custom, especially considering what we do; for who
was it, in fact, that brought the art here, and now carries it on, but us? Is
it possible there`s no help for it?`
`Not hitherto; there may be, in the course of time, among the young
people who are growing up; but in this generation there is no remedy; they`ve
acquired the habit, and won`t leave it off. After all, what is it? It`s
nothing to the tricks they`ve played upon you, and that most of our precious
fellow - countrymen would still play upon you.`
`Well, that`s true: if there`s no other evil . . .`
`Now that you are persuaded of this, all will go well. Come, let us go to
my master, and be of good heart.`
Everything, in fact, did go well, and so exactly in accordance with
Bortolo`s promises, that it is needless to give any particular description.
And it was truly an ordering of Providence; for we shall soon see how little
dependence was to be placed upon the small savings Renzo had left at home.
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