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Chapter XXXIIIPart II.
Part II.
With new and still deeper anxiety of mind, the youth bent his steps
thitherward, and quickly distinguished the house among others more humble and
unpretending; he approached the closed door, placed his hand on the knocker,
and held it there in suspense, as in an urn, before drawing out the ticket
upon which depends life or death. At length he raised the hammer, and gave a
resolute knock.
In a moment or two a window was slightly opened, and a woman appeared at
it to peep out, looking towards the door with a suspicious countenance, which
seemed to say, - Monatti? robbers? commissaries? poisoners? devils? -
`Signora,` said Renzo, looking upwards, in a somewhat tremulous tone, `is
there a young country girl here at service, of the name of Lucia?`
`She`s here no longer, go away,` answered the woman, preparing to shut
the window.
`One moment, for pity`s sake! She`s no longer here? Where is she?`
`At the Lazzaretto;` and she was again about to close the window.
`But one moment, for Heaven`s sake! With the pestilence?`
`To be sure. Something new, eh? Get you gone.`
`Oh stay! Was she very ill? How long is it? . . .`
But this time the window was closed in reality.
`Oh Signora! Signora! one word, for charity! for the sake of your poor
dead! I don`t ask you for anything of yours: alas! oh!` But he might as well
have talked to the wall.
Afflicted by this intelligence, and vexed with the treatment he had
received, Renzo again seized the knocker, and standing close to the door, kept
squeezing and twisting it in his hand, then lifted it to knock again, in a
kind of despair, and paused, in act to strike. In this agitation of feeling,
he turned to see if his eye could catch any person near at hand, from whom he
might, perhaps, receive some more sober information, some direction, some
light. But the first, the only person he discovered was another woman,
distant, perhaps, about twenty yards; who, with a look full of terror, hatred,
impatience, and malice, with a certain wild expression of eye which betrayed
an attempt to look at him and something else at a distance at the same time,
with a mouth opened as if on the point of shouting as loud as she could; but
holding even her breath, raising two thin, bony arms, and extending and
drawing back two wrinkled and clenched hands, as if reaching to herself
something, gave evident signs of wishing to call people without letting
somebody perceive it. On their eyes encountering each other, she, looking
still more hideous, started like one taken by surprise.
`What the - - -?` began Renzo, raising his fist towards the woman; but
she, having lost all hope of being able to have him unexpectedly seized, gave
utterance to the cry she had hitherto restrained: `The poisoner! seize him!
seize him! seize him! the poisoner!`
`Who? I! ah, you lying old witch! hold your tongue there!` cried Renzo;
and he sprang towards her to frighten her and make her be silent. He
perceived, however, at this moment, that he must rather look after himself. At
the screams of the woman people flocked from both sides; not the crowds,
indeed, which, in a similar case, would have collected three months before;
but still more than enough to crush a single individual. At this very instant,
the window was again thrown open, and the same woman who had shown herself so
uncourteous just before, displayed herself this time in full, and cried out,
`Take him, take him; for he must be one of those wicked wretches who go about
to anoint the doors of gentlefolks.`
Renzo determined in an instant that it would be a better course to make
his escape from them, than stay to clear himself; he cast an eye on each side
to see where were the fewest people; and in that direction took to his legs.
He repulsed, with a tremendous push, one who attempted to stop his passage;
with another blow on the chest he forced a second to retreat eight or ten
yards, who was running to meet him; and away he went at full speed, with his
tightly clenched fist uplifted in the air, in preparation for whomsoever
should come in his way. The street was clear before him; but behind his back
he heard resounding more and more loudly the savage cry: `Seize him! seize
him! a poisoner!` he heard, drawing nearer and nearer, the footsteps of the
swiftest among his pursuers. His anger became fury, his anguish was changed
into desperation; a cloud seemed gathering over his eyes; he seized hold of
his poniard, unsheathed it, stopped, drew himself up, turned round a more
fierce and savage face than he had ever put on in his whole life; and,
brandishing in the air, with outstretched arm, the glittering blade,
exclaimed, `Let him who dares come forward, you rascals! and I`ll anoint him
with this, in earnest.`
But, with astonishment and a confused feeling of relief, he perceived
that his persecutors had already stopped at some distance, as if in
hesitation, and that while they continued shouting after him, they were
beckoning with uplifted hands, like people possessed and terrified out of
their senses, to others at some distance beyond him. He again turned round,
and beheld before him, and a very little way off, (for his extreme
perturbation had prevented his observing it a moment before), a cart
advancing, indeed a file of the usual funeral carts with their usual
accompaniments; and beyond them another small band of people, who were ready,
on their part, to fall upon the poisoner, and take him in the midst; these,
however, were also restrained by the same impediment. Finding himself thus
between two fires, it occurred to him that what was to them a cause of terror
might be for himself a means of safety; he thought that this was not a time
for squeamish scruples; so again sheathing his poniard, he drew a little on
one side, resumed his way towards the carts, and passing by the first,
remarked in the second a tolerably empty space. He took aim, sprang up and lit
with his right foot in the cart, his left in the air, and his arms stretched
forward.
`Bravo! bravo!` exclaimed the monatti with one voice, some of whom were
following the convoy on foot, others were seated on the carts; and others, to
tell the horrible fact as it really was, on the dead bodies, quaffing from a
large flask which was going the round of the party. `Bravo! a capital hit!`
`You`ve come to put yourself under the protection of the monatti: you may
reckon yourself as safe as in church,` said one of the two who were seated on
the cart upon which he had thrown himself.
The greater part of his enemies had, on the approach of the train, turned
their backs upon him and fled, crying at the same time, `Seize him! seize him!
a poisoner!` Some few of them, however, retired more deliberately, stopping
every now and then, and turning with a hideous grin of rage and threatening
gestures towards Renzo; who replied to them from the cart by shaking his fist
at them.
`Leave it to me,` said a monatto; and tearing a filthy rag from one of
the bodies, he hastily tied it in a knot, and taking it by one of its ears,
raised it like a sling towards these obstinate fellows, and pretended to hurl
it at them, crying, `Here, you rascals!` At this action they all fled in
horror; and Renzo saw nothing but the backs of his enemies and heels which
bounded rapidly through the air, like the hammers in a clothier`s mill.
A howl of triumph arose among the monatti, a stormy burst of laughter, a
prolonged `Eh!` as an accompaniment, so to say, to this fugue.
`Aha! look if we don`t know how to protect honest fellows!` said the same
monatto to Renzo: `one of us is worth more than a hundred of those cowards!`
`Certainly, I may say I owe you my life,` replied he; `and I thank you
with all my heart.`
`Not a word, not a word,` answered the monatto: `you deserve it; one can
see you`re a brave young fellow. You do right to poison these rascals; anoint
away, extirpate all those who are good for nothing, except when they`re dead;
for in reward for the life we lead, they only curse us, and keep saying that
when the pestilence is over, they`ll have us all hanged. They must be finished
before the pestilence; the monatti only must be left to chant victory and
revel in Milan.`
`Long live the pestilence, and death to the rabble!` exclaimed the other;
and with this beautiful toast he put the flask to his mouth, and holding it
with both his hands amidst the joltings of the cart, took a long draught, and
then handed it to Renzo, saying, `Drink to our health.`
`I wish it you all, with my whole heart,` said Renzo, `but I`m not
thirsty: I don`t feel any inclination to drink just now.`
`You`ve had a fine fright, it seems,` said the monatto. `You look like a
harmless creature enough; you should have another face than that to be a
poisoner.`
`Let everybody do as he can,` said the other.
`Here, give it me,` said one of those on foot at the side of the car,
`for I, too, want to drink another cup to the health of his honour, who finds
himself in such capital company . . . there, there, just there, among that
elegant carriage - full.`
And with one of his hideous and cursed grins he pointed to the cart in
front of that upon which our poor Renzo was seated. Then, composing his face
to an expression of seriousness still more wicked and revolting, he made a bow
in that direction, and resumed: `May it please you, my lord, to let a poor
wretch of a monatto taste a little of this wine from your cellar? Mind you,
sir: our way of life is only so so: we have taken you into our carriage to
give you a ride into the country; and then it takes very little wine to do
harm to your lordships: the poor monatti have good stomachs.`
And amidst the loud laughs of his companions, he took the flask, and
lifted it up, but, before drinking, turned to Renzo, and fixed his eyes on his
face, and said to him, with a certain air of scornful compassion: `The devil,
with whom you have made agreement, must be very young; for if we hadn`t been
by to rescue you, he`d have given you mighty assistance.` And amidst a fresh
outburst of laughter, he applied the flagon to his lips.
`Give us some! What! give us some!` shouted many voices from the
preceding car. The ruffian, having swallowed as much as he wished, handed the
great flask with both hands into those of his fellow - ruffians, who continued
passing it round, until one of them, having emptied it, grasped it by the
neck, slung it round it the air two or three times, and dashed it to atoms
upon the pavement, crying, `Long live the pestilence!` He then broke into one
of their licentious ballads, and was soon accompanied by all the rest of this
depraved chorus. The infernal song, mingled with the tinkling of the bells,
the rattle of the cart, and the trampling of men and horses, resounded through
the silent vacuity of the streets, and echoing in the houses, bitterly wrung
the hearts of the few who still inhabited them.
But what cannot sometimes turn to advantage? What cannot appear good in
some case or another? The extremity of a moment before had rendered more than
tolerable to Renzo the company of these dead and living companions; and now
the sounds that relieved him from the awkwardness of such a conversation,
were, I had almost said, acceptable, music to his ears. Still half bewildered,
and in great agitation, he thanked Providence in his heart, as he best could,
that he had escaped such imminent danger without receiving or inflicting
injury; he prayed for assistance to deliver himself now from his deliverers;
and for his part kept on the look - out, watching his companions, and
reconnoitring the road, that he might seize the proper moment to slide quietly
down without giving them an opportunity of making any disturbance or uproar,
which might stir up mischief in the passers - by.
And lo! on turning a corner, he seemed to recognize the place along which
they were about to pass: he looked more attentively, and at once knew it by
more certain signs. Does the reader know where he was? In the direct course to
the Porta Orientale, in that very street along which he had gone so slowly,
and returned so speedily, about twenty months before. He quickly remembered
that from thence he could go straight to the Lazzaretto; and this finding of
himself in the right way without any endeavour of his own, and without
direction, he looked upon as a special token of Divine guidance, and a good
omen of what remained. At that moment a commissary came to meet the cars, who
called out to the monatti to stop, and I know not what besides: it need only
be said that they came to a halt, and the music was changed into clamorous
dialogues. One of the monatti seated on Renzo`s car jumped down; Renzo said to
the other, `Thank you for your kindness; God reward you for it!` and sprang
down at the opposite side.
`Get you gone, poor poisoner,` replied the man: `you`ll not be the fellow
that`ll ruin Milan!`
Fortunately there was no one at hand who could overhear him. The party
had stopped on the left hand of the street: Renzo hastily crossed over to the
opposite side; and, keeping close to the wall, trudged onward towards the
bridge; crossed it; followed the well - known street of the Borgo, and
recognized the Convent of the Capuchins; he comes close to the gate, sees the
projecting corner of the Lazzaretto, passes through the palisade, and the
scene outside the enclosure is laid open to his view; not so much an
indication and specimen of the interior, as itself a vast, diversified, and
indescribable scene.
Along the two sides, which are visible to a spectator from this point,
all was bustle and confusion; there was a great concourse; an influx and
reflux of people; sick flocking in crowds to the Lazzaretto; some sitting or
lying on the edge of one or other of the moats that flanked the road, whose
strength had proved insufficient to carry them within their place of retreat,
or, when they had abandoned it in despair, had equally failed to convey them
further away. Others were wandering about as if stupefied; and not a few were
absolutely beside themselves: one would be eagerly relating his fancies to a
miserable creature labouring under the malady; another would be actually
raving; while a third appeared with a smiling countenance, as if assisting at
some gay spectacle. But the strangest and most clamorous kind of so melancholy
a gaiety, was a loud and continual singing, which seemed to proceed from that
wretched assembly, and even drowned all the other voices - a popular song of
love, joyous and playful, one of those which are called rural; and following
this sound by the eye to discover who could possibly be so cheerful, yonder,
tranquilly seated in the bottom of the ditch that washes the walls of the
Lazzaretto, he perceived a poor wretch, with upturned eyes, singing at the
very stretch of his voice!
Renzo had scarcely gone a few yards along the south side of the edifice,
when an extraordinary noise arose in the crowd, and a distant cry of `Take
care!` and `Stop him!` He stood upon tiptoe, looked forward, and beheld a
jaded horse galloping at full speed, impelled forward by a still more wretched
looking rider: a poor frantic creature, who, seeing the beast loose and
unguarded, standing by a cart, had hastily mounted his bare back, and striking
him on the neck with his fists, and spurring him with his heels, was urging
him impetuously onward; monatti were following, shouting and howling; and all
were enveloped in a cloud of dust, which whirled around their heads.
Confounded and weary with the sight of so much misery, the youth arrived
at the gate of that abode where perhaps more was concentrated than had been
scattered over the whole space it had yet been his fortune to traverse. He
walked up to the door, entered under the vaulted roof, and stood for a moment
without moving in the middle of the portico.
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