marcia passed the afternoon in a state of nervous impatience for her uncle’s return. she said nothing to mrs. copley of the man she had found asleep in the grotto, and the effort to 214 preserve an outward serenity added no little to her inner trepidation. in vain she tried to reason with her fear; it was not a subject which responded to logic. she assured herself over and over again that the man could not be the same neapolitan who had warned her uncle; that he was safely in prison; and that the tattooed crucifix was only the general mark of a secret society. the assurance did not carry conviction. her first startled impression had been too deep to be thrown off lightly, and coming just then, in the midst of the rioting and lawlessness, the incident carried additional force. she had lately heard many stories of lonely villas being broken into, of travellers on the campagna being waylaid and robbed, of the vindictiveness of the camorra, which her uncle had opposed. the stories were not reassuring; and though she resolutely put them out of her mind, she found herself thinking of them again and again. italy’s elaborate police system, she knew, was not merely for show.
mr. copley and the melvilles were due at five, but as they had not appeared by half-past, mrs. copley decided that they had missed their train, and she and marcia sat down to tea—or, more accurately, to iced lemonade—without waiting. the table was set under the shade of the ilex trees where the grove met the upper end of the terrace, and where any slight breeze that chanced to be stirring would find them out. gerald and gervasio swallowed their allotted glassful and two brioches with dispatch, and withdrew to the cool shadows of the ilex grove to play at horse with poor, patient bianca and the streaming ribbons of her cap. mrs. copley and marcia took the repast in more leisurely fashion, with snatches of very intermittent conversation. marcia’s eyes wandered in the pauses to the poppy-sprinkled wheat field and the cypresses beyond.
‘i believe they are coming, after all!’ mrs. copley finally exclaimed, as she shaded her eyes with her hands and looked down across the open stretch of vineyards to where the roman road, a yellow ribbon of dust, divided the fields. ‘yes, that is the carriage!’
marcia looked at the moving speck and shook her head. ‘your eyes are better than mine, aunt katherine, if you can recognize uncle howard at this distance.’
‘the carriage is turning up our road. i am sure it is 215 they. poor things! i am afraid they will be nearly dead after the drive in this heat. rome must have been unbearable to-day.’ and she hastily dispatched pietro to prepare more iced drinks.
ten minutes later, however, the carriage had resolved itself into a jangling campagna wine-cart, and the two resigned themselves to waiting again. by half-past seven marcia was growing frankly nervous. could anything have happened to her uncle? should she have told her aunt and sent some one to meet him with a warning message? surely no one would dare to stop the carriage on the open road in broad daylight. a hundred wild imaginings were chasing through her brain, when finally, close upon eight, the rumble of wheels sounded on the avenue.
both mrs. copley and marcia uttered an exclamation of relief. mrs. copley had been worried on the score of the dinner, and marcia for any number of reasons which disappeared with the knowledge that her uncle was safe. they hurried out to the loggia to meet the new-comers, and as the carriage drew up, not only did the melvilles and mr. copley descend, but laurence sybert as well. at sight of him marcia hung back, asking herself, with a quickly beating heart, why he had come.
mrs. copley, with the first glance at their faces, interrupted her own graceful words of welcome to cry: ‘has anything happened? why are you so late?’
they were visibly excited, and did not wait for greetings before pouring out their news—an attempted assassination of king humbert on the pincian hill that afternoon—rome under martial law—a plot discovered to assassinate the premier and other leaders in control.
the two asked questions which no one answered, and all talked at once—all but sybert. marcia noticed that he was unusually silent, and it struck her that his face had a haggard look. he did not so much as glance in her direction, except for a bare nod of greeting on his arrival.
‘well, well,’ copley broke into the general babel, ‘it’s a terrible business. you should see the excitement in rome! the city is simply demoralized; but we’ll give you the particulars later. let us get into something cool first—we’re all nearly dead. has it been hot out here? rome has been a foretaste of the inferno.’
216 ‘and this young man,’ melville added, laying a hand on sybert’s arm, ‘just got back from the milan riots. hadn’t slept, any to speak of for four days, and what does he do this afternoon but sit down at his desk, determined to make up his back work, sunday or no sunday, with the thermometer where it pleases. your husband and i had to drag him off by main force.’
‘poor mr. sybert! you do look worn out. not slept for four days? why, you must be nearly dead! you may go to bed immediately after dinner, and i shall not have you called till monday morning.’
‘i’ve been sleeping for the last twenty-four hours, mrs. copley, and i really don’t need any more sleep at present,’ he protested laughingly, but with a slight air of embarrassment. it was a peculiar trait of sybert’s that he never liked to be made the subject of conversation, which was possibly the reason why he had been made the subject of so many conversations. this reticence when speaking of himself or his own feelings, struck the beholder as somewhat puzzling. it had always puzzled marcia, and had been one reason why she had been so persistent in her desire to find out what he was really like.
the party shortly assembled for dinner, the women in the coolest of light summer gowns, the men in white linen instead of evening dress. they went into the dining-room without affording marcia a chance to catch her uncle alone. the meal did not pass off very gaily. assassinations were served with the soup, bread riots with the fish, and hypothetical robberies and plots with the further courses; while pietro presided with a sinister obsequiousness which added darkly to the effect. in vain mrs. copley tried to turn the conversation into pleasanter channels. the men were too stirred up to talk of anything else, and the threatened tragedy of the day was rehearsed in all its bearings.
the assassin had dashed out from the crowd that lined the driveway and sprung to the side of the royal carriage before any of the bystanders had realized what was happening. the white-haired aide-de-camp sitting at his majesty’s side was the first to see, and springing to his feet, he struck the man fiercely in the face just as he raised his arm. had it not been for the aide-de-camp’s quick action, the man would have plunged his stiletto into the king’s heart.
217 mrs. copley and mrs. melville shuddered, and marcia leaned forward listening with wide eyes.
‘right on the pincio, mind you.’ melville in his excitement thumped the table until the glasses rang. ‘not a chance of the fellow’s getting off. scarcely a chance of his accomplishing his purpose. he knew he would be taken. shouted, “viva libertà!” as the soldiers grabbed him—i swear it beats me what these fellows are after. “viva libertà!” that’s what they cried when they put the house of savoy on the throne, and now they’re trying to pull it off again with the same cry.’
‘i fear the seeds of revolution are sown pretty thick in italy,’ said copley.
‘where aren’t there the seeds of revolution to-day?’ melville groaned. ‘central africa is only waiting a government in order to overturn it.’
‘by the way,’ interpolated copley, ‘the assassin is a friend of sybert’s.’
‘a friend of sybert’s!’ marcia echoed the words before she considered their form.
sybert caught the expression and smiled slightly.
‘not a very dear friend, miss marcia. i first made his acquaintance, i believe, on the day that you discovered marcellus.’
‘how did that happen?’ mrs. copley asked.
‘i heard him talking in a café.’
‘it’s a pity you didn’t hand him over,’ said melville. ‘you would have saved the police considerable trouble. it seems they have been watching him for some time.’
‘i wasn’t handing people over just then,’ sybert returned dryly. ‘however, i don’t see that the police need complain. it strikes me that he has handed himself over in about as effectual a way as he possibly could; he won’t go about any more sticking stilettos into kings. the italians are an excitable lot when they once get aroused; they talk more than is wise—but when it comes to doing they usually back down. it seems, however, that this fellow had the courage of his convictions. after all, it was, in a way, rather fine of him, you know.’
‘a pretty poor way,’ melville frowned.
‘oh, certainly,’ sybert acquiesced carelessly. ‘umberto’s a gentleman. i don’t care to see him knifed.’
218 ‘what i can’t understand,’ reiterated melville, ‘is the fellow’s point of view. no matter how much he may object to kings, he must know that he can never rid the country of them through assassination; as soon as one king is out of the way, another stands in line to take his place. no possible good could come to the man through humbert’s death, and he must have known that he had not one chance in a hundred of escaping himself—i confess his motive is beyond me. the only thing that explains it to my mind is that the fellow’s crazy, but the police seem to think he’s entirely sane.’
sybert leaned back in his chair and studied the flowers in the centre of the table with a speculative frown.
‘no,’ he said slowly, ‘the man was not crazy. i understand his motive, though i don’t know that i can make it clear. it was probably in part mistaken patriotism—but not entirely that. i heard him state it very clearly, and it struck me at the time that it was doubtless, at bottom, the motive for most assassinations. his words, as i remember them, were something like this: “who is the king? he is only a man. why is he so different from me? am i not a man, too? i am, and before i die the king shall know it.”’
sybert raised his eyes and glanced about the table. copley nodded and melville frowned thoughtfully. the two elder ladies were listening with polite attention, and marcia was leaning forward with her eyes on his face. sybert immediately dropped his own eyes to the flowers again.
‘there you have the matter in a nutshell. why did he wish to assassinate the king? as an expression of his own identity. through a perfectly natural egotistical impulse for self-assertion. the man had been oppressed and trampled on all his life. he was conscious of powers that were undeveloped, of force that he could not use. he was raging blindly against the weight that was crushing him down. the weight was society, but its outward symbol was the king. the king had only one life to lose, and this despised, obscure neapolitan peasant, the very lowest of the king’s subjects, had it in his power to take that life away. it was the man’s one chance of utterance—his one chance of becoming an individual, of leaving his mark on the age. and, in acting as he did, he acted not for himself alone, but 219 for the people; for the inarticulate thousands who are struggling for some mode of expression, but are bound by cowardice and ignorance and inertia.’
sybert paused and raised his eyes to melville’s with a sort of challenge.
‘if that man had been able to obtain congenial work—work in which he could take an interest, could express his own identity; if he could have become a little prosperous, so that he need not fear for his family’s support; why, then—the king’s life would not have been in danger to-day. and as long as there is any man left in this kingdom of italy,’ he added, ‘who, in spite of honest endeavour, cannot earn enough to support his family, just so long is the king’s life in danger.’
‘and there are thousands of such men,’ put in copley.
melville uttered a short laugh. ‘by heavens, it’s true!’ he said. ‘the position of american consul may not carry much glory, but i don’t know that i care to trade it with umberto for his kingdom.’
‘do you suppose the king was scared?’ inquired marcia. ‘i wonder what it feels like to wake up every morning and think that maybe before night you’ll be assassinated.’
‘he didn’t appear to be scared,’ said her uncle. ‘he shrugged his shoulders when they caught the man, and remarked that this was one of the perquisites of his trade.’
‘really?’ she asked. ‘good for umberto!’
‘oh, he’s no coward,’ said sybert. ‘he knows the price of crowns these days.’
‘it’s terrible!’ mrs. melville breathed. ‘i am thankful they caught the assassin at least. society ought to sleep better to-night for having him removed.’
‘ah,’ said sybert, ‘society can’t be protected that way. the point is that he leaves others behind to do his work.’
‘the man was from naples, you say?’ mrs. copley asked suddenly.
her husband read her thoughts and smiled reassuringly. ‘so far as i have heard, my dear, there was no crucifix tattooed upon his breast.’
marcia raised her head quickly. ‘uncle howard,’ she asked, ‘is that the mark of a society or of just that special man?’
220 ‘i can’t say, i’m sure, marcia,’ he returned with a laugh. ‘i suspect that it’s an original piece of blasphemy on his part, though it may belong to a cult.’
‘when is his time up?’ she persisted. ‘to get out of prison, i mean.’
‘i don’t know; i really haven’t figured it up. there are enough things to worry about without troubling over him.’
in her excitement over the king’s attempted assassination she had almost forgotten the man of the grotto, but her uncle’s careless laugh brought back her terror. the man might at that very moment be watching them from the ilex grove. she cast a quick glance over her shoulder toward the open glass doors which led to the balcony. it was moonlight again. in contrast to the soft radiance of the marble-paved terrace, the ilex shadows were black with the sinister blackness of a pall. she looked down at her plate with a little shiver, and she sat through the rest of the meal in an agony of impatience to get up and move about.
once she roused herself to listen to the conversation. they were talking of the soldiers; a large detachment of carabinieri had been stationed at palestrina, and the mountain roads were being patrolled. the carriage that night had passed two men on horseback stationed at the turning where the road to castel vivalanti branches off from the via prænestina. mrs. copley said something about its giving them a feeling of security at the villa to have so many soldiers near, and melville replied that whatever the crimes of the italian government, it at least looked after the safety of its guests, marcia listened with a sigh of relief, and she rose from the table with an almost easy mind. they all adjourned to the salon for coffee, and as soon as she could speak to her uncle without attracting attention she touched him on the arm.
‘come out on the loggia just a moment, uncle howard; i want to tell you something.’
he followed her in some surprise. she went down the steps and paused on the terrace, well out of ear-shot of the salon windows.
‘uncle howard, i saw the tattooed man to-day.’
mr. copley paused with a match in one hand and a cigar in the other. ‘whereabouts?’ he asked.
‘asleep in the ruined grotto.’
221 ‘are you sure?’
‘there was a crucifix tattooed upside down on his breast.’
‘so!’
he examined the pavement in silence a moment, then he raised his head with an excited little laugh such as a hunter might give when hot on the scent.
‘well! i thought i had done for him, but it appears not.’ he strode over to the salon windows. ‘sybert—ah, sybert,’ he called in a low tone, ‘just step out here a moment.’
sybert joined them with a questioning look. copley very deliberately scratched his match on the balustrade and lighted his cigar. ‘tell your story, marcia,’ he said between puffs.
she felt a load of anxiety roll from her shoulders; if he could take the information as casually as this, it could not be very serious. she repeated the account of what she had seen, and the two men exchanged a silent glance. copley gave another short laugh.
‘it appears that his majesty and i are in the same boat.’
‘i warned you that if you let that wheat be sold in your name you could expect the honour,’ sybert growled.
‘what do you mean?’ marcia asked quickly.
‘just at present, miss marcia, i’m afraid that neither your uncle nor myself is as popular as our virtues demand.’
‘oh, there’s no danger,’ said copley. ‘they wouldn’t dare break into the house, and of course i sha’n’t be fool enough to walk the country-side unarmed. the first thing in the morning, i shall send into palestrina for some carabinieri to patrol the place. and on monday the family can move into rome instead of waiting till wednesday. there’s nothing to be afraid of,’ he added, with a reassuring glance at marcia. ‘forewarned is forearmed—we’ll see that the house is locked to-night.’
‘can you trust the servants?’ sybert asked.
copley looked up quickly as a thought struck him.
‘by jove! i don’t know that i can. come to think of it, i shouldn’t trust that pietro as far as i could see him. he’s been acting mighty queer lately.’
marcia’s eyes suddenly widened in terror, and she recalled one afternoon when she had caught pietro in the village talking to gervasio’s stepfather, as well as a dozen other 222 little things that she had not thought of at the time, but which now seemed to have a secret meaning.
sybert saw her look of fear and he said lightly: ‘there’s not the slightest danger, miss marcia. we’ll get the soldiers here in the morning; and for to-night, even if we can’t put much trust in the butler, there are at least three men in the house who are above suspicion and who are armed.’ he touched his pocket with a laugh. ‘when it comes to the point i am a very fair shot, and so is your uncle. you were wishing a little while ago that something exciting would happen—if it gives you any pleasure, you can pretend that this is an adventure.’
‘oh, yes, marcia,’ her uncle rejoined. ‘don’t let the thought of the tattooed man disturb your sleep. he’s more spectacular than dangerous.’
the others had come out on to the loggia and were exclaiming at the beauty of the night.
‘howard,’ mrs. copley called, ‘don’t you want to come and make a fourth at whist?’
‘in a moment,’ he returned. ‘we won’t say anything to the others,’ he said in a low tone to marcia and sybert.
‘there’s no use raising any unnecessary excitement.’
‘marcia, if you and mr. sybert would like to play, we can make it six-handed euchre instead of whist.’
sybert glanced down to see that her hand was trembling, and he decided that to make her sit through a game of cards would be too great a test of her nerves.
‘thank you, mrs. copley,’ he called back; ‘it’s too fine a night to pass indoors. miss marcia and i will stay out here.’
the proposal was a test of his own nerves, but he had schooled himself for a good many years to hide his feelings; it was an ordeal he was used to.
with final exclamations on the beauty of the night, the whist party returned to the salon. sybert brought a wicker chair from the loggia for marcia, and seated himself on the parapet while he lighted a cigar with a nonchalance she could not help but admire. did she but know it, his nonchalance was only surface deep, though the cause for his inward tumult had nothing to do with the man of the ruined grotto. they sat in silence for a time, looking down on the shimmering campagna. the scene was as beautiful as on that other night of the early spring, but 223 now it was full summer. it was so peaceful, so idyllic, so thoroughly the italy of poetry and romance, that it seemed absurd to think of plots and riots in connexion with that landscape. at least marcia was not thinking of them now; she was willing to take her uncle at his word and leave the responsibility to him. the thing that was still burning in her mind was that unexplained moment by the fountain. it was the first time she had been alone with sybert since. how would he act? would he simply ignore it, as if it had never happened? he would, of course; and that would be far worse than if he apologized or congratulated her, for then she would have a chance to explain. what did he think? she asked herself for the hundredth time as she covertly scanned his dark, impassive face. did he think her engaged to paul dessart, or did he divine the real reason why the young man had so suddenly sailed for america? even so, it would not put her in a much better light in his eyes. he would think she had been playing with paul and—her face flushed at the thought—had tried to play with him.
sybert was the one who broke the silence. ‘i think,’ he said slowly, ‘that i could spot your man with the crucifix this very moment.’ he pointed with his cigar toward the hill above them, where little stone-walled castel vivalanti was outlined against the sky. ‘if i am not mistaken, he is in the back room of a trattoria up there, in company with our friend tarquinio of the bed-quilt, who,’ he added meditatively, ‘is a fool. those carabinieri are not guarding the roads for nothing. a number of neapolitans have come north lately who might better have stayed at home—camorrists for the most part—and the government is after them. this fellow with the crucifix is without doubt one of them, and in all probability he just happened into the ruins this afternoon to rest, without having an idea who lived here. at any rate, i strongly suspect that your uncle it not the hare he’s hunting. italy is too busy just at present to take time for private revenge—though,’ he smiled, ‘i have no wish to spoil your adventure.’
marcia breathed a little sigh by way of answer, and another silence fell between them.
‘on such a night as this,’ he said dreamily, ‘did you and i, miss marcia, once take a drive together.’
224 ‘and we didn’t speak a word!’
‘i don’t know that we did,’ he laughed. ‘at least i don’t recall the conversation.’
from the valley below them there came the sound of a man’s voice singing a familiar serenade. only the tune was audible, but the words they knew:
‘open your casement, love.
i come as a robber to steal your heart.’
sybert, listening, watched her from under drooping lids. he was struggling with a sudden temptation which almost overmastered him. he thought her engaged to another man, but—why not come as a robber and steal her heart? in the past few weeks he had seen lifelong hopes come to nothing; he was wounded and discouraged and in need of human sympathy, and he had fought his battles alone. during that time of struggle marcia had come to occupy a large part of his consciousness. he had seen in her character undeveloped possibilities—a promise for the future—and the desire had subtly taken hold of him to be the one to watch and direct her growth. the new feeling was the more intense, in that it had taken the place of hopes and interests that were dying. and then that, too, had been snatched away. since the night of her birthday ball he had not doubted for a moment that she was engaged to paul dessart. it had never occurred to him that the scene he had interrupted was merely her sympathetic fashion of dismissing the young man. a dozen little things had come back to him that before had had no significance, and he had accepted the fact without questioning. it seemed of a piece with the rest of his fate that this should be added just when it was hardest for him to bear. it was the final touch of nemesis that made her work rounded and complete.
and now, as he watched her, he was filled with a sudden fierce rebellion, an impulse to fight against the fate that was robbing him, to snatch her away from paul dessart. every instinct of his nature urged him forward; only honour held him back. he turned away and with troubled eyes studied the distance. she had chosen freely—whether wisely or not, the future would prove. he knew that he could not honourably stretch out so much as his little finger to call her back.
presently he pulled himself together and began to talk 225 fluently and easily on purely impersonal themes—of the superiority of the tyrol over the swiss lakes as a summer resort, of the character of the people in sicily, of books and art and european politics, and of a dozen different subjects that marcia had never heard him mention before. it was the small talk of the diplomat, of the man who must always be ready to meet every one on his own ground. marcia had known that sybert could talk on other subjects than italian politics when he chose, for she had overheard him at dinners and receptions, but he had never chosen when with her. in their early intercourse he had scarcely taken the trouble to talk to her in any but the most perfunctory way, and then suddenly their relations had no longer demanded formal conversation. they had somehow jumped over the preliminary period of getting acquainted and had reached the stage where they could understand each other without talking. and here he was conversing with her as politely and impersonally as if they had known each other only half an hour. she kept up her end of the conversation with monosyllables. she felt chilled and hurt; he might at least be frank. whatever he thought of her, there was no need for this elaborate dissimulation. she had no need to ask herself to-night if he were watching her. his eyes never for a moment left the moonlit campagna.
after half an hour or so mrs. copley stepped to the window of the salon to ask marcia if she did not wish a wrap. it was warm, of course, but the evening dews were heavy. marcia scoffed at the absurdity of a wrap on such an evening, but she rose obediently. they strolled into the house and paused at the door of the salon. the whist-players were studying their cards again with anxious brows; it appeared to be a scientific game.
marcia shook her head and laughed. ‘on such a night as this to be playing whist!’
melville glanced up at her with a little smile. ‘ah, well, miss marcia, we’re growing old—moonlight and romance were made for the young.’
sybert smiled rather coldly as he turned away. it struck him that the remark was singularly malapropos.
marcia went on up to her room, and throwing about her shoulders a chiffon scarf, an absurd apology for a wrap, 226 she paused a moment by the open glass doors of the balcony and stood looking down upon the moonlit landscape. she felt sore and bruised and hopeless. sybert was beyond her; she did not understand him. he had evidently made up his mind, and nothing would move him; he would give her no chance to put herself right. she suddenly threw back her head and stiffened her shoulders. if that were the line he chose to take—very well! she would meet him on his own ground. she turned back, and on her way downstairs paused a second at gerald’s door. it was a family habit to look in on him at all hours of the night to make sure that he was sleeping and duly covered up, though to-night it could scarcely be claimed that cover was necessary. she glanced in, and then, with a quickening of her breath, took a step farther to make sure. the bed was empty. she stood staring a moment, not knowing what to think, and the next she was hurrying down the hall toward the servants’ quarters. she knocked on bianca’s door, and finding no one within, called up granton.
there was no cause for worry, granton assured her. master gerald and that little italian brat were probably in the scullery, stealing raisins and chocolate.
‘oh,’ said marcia, with a sigh of relief; ‘but where’s bianca? she ought to sit by gerald till he goes to sleep.
bianca!—granton sniffed disdainfully—no one could make head or tail of bianca. her opinion was that the girl was half crazy. she had been in there that night crying, and telling her how much she liked the signora and the signorina, and how she hated to leave them.
‘but she isn’t going to leave,’ said marcia. ‘we’ve decided to take her with us.’
granton responded with a disdainful english shrug and the reiterated opinion that the girl was crazy. marcia did not stop to argue the point, but set out for the kitchen by way of the ‘middle staircase,’ creeping along quietly, determined to catch the marauders unawares. her caution was superfluous. the rear of the house was entirely deserted. no sign of a boy, no sign of a servant anywhere about. the doors were open and the rooms were vacant. she hurried upstairs again in growing mystification, and turned toward gervasio’s room. the little fellow was in bed and sound asleep. what did it mean? she asked herself. 227 what could have become of gerald, and where had all the servants gone?
suddenly a horrible suspicion flashed over her. gervasio’s stepfather—could he have stolen gerald by way of revenge? that was why bianca was crying! it was a plot. she had overheard, and they had threatened to kill her if she told. perhaps they would hold him for a ransom. perhaps—as the sound of her uncle’s careless laugh floated up from below she caught her breath in a convulsive sob and stretched out her hand against the wall to steady herself.
