Her monogram was displayed, as though by accident, upon the principal transparencies.
The young Clelia, although slightly pensive, was pleasant in the way in which she spoke of the little adventure by the Lake, and of her warm gratitude.
She was said to be deeply religious and very fond of solitude.
"I would wager," said the Conte, "that she has enough sense to be ashamed of her father."
The Duchessa made a friend of this girl; she felt attracted towards her, she did not wish to appear jealous, and included her in all her pleasure parties; after all, her plan was to seek to diminish all the enmities of which the Conte was the object.
Everything smiled on the Duchessa; she was amused by this court existence where a sudden storm is always to be feared; she felt as though she were beginning life over again.
She was tenderly attached to the Conte, who was literally mad with happiness.
The pleasing situation had bred in him an absolute impassivity towards everything in which only his professional interests were concerned. And so, barely two months after the Duchessa's arrival, he obtained the patent and honours of Prime Minister, honours which come very near to those paid to the Sovereign himself.
The Conte had complete control of his master's will; they had a proof of this at Parma by which everyone was impressed.
To the southeast, and within ten minutes of the town rises that famous citadel so renowned throughout Italy, the main tower of which stands one hundred and eighty feet high and is visible from so far.
This tower, constructed on the model of Hadrian's Tomb, at Rome, by the Farnese, grandsons of Paul III, in the first half of the sixteenth century, is so large in diameter that on the platform in which it ends it has been possible to build a palazzo for the governor of the citadel and a new prison called the Farnese tower.
This prison, erected in honour of the eldest son of Ranuccio-Ernesto II, who had become the accepted lover of his step-mother, is regarded as a fine and singular monument throughout the country.
The Duchessa was curious to see it; on the day of her visit the heat was overpowering in Parma, and up there, in that lofty position, she found fresh air, which so delighted her that she stayed for several hours.
The officials made a point of throwing open to her the rooms of the Farnese tower.
The Duchessa met on the platform of the great tower a poor Liberal prisoner who had come to enjoy the half-hour's outing that .was allowed him every third day.
On her return to Parma, not having yet acquired the discretion necessary in an absolute court, she spoke of this man, who had told her the whole history of his life.
The Marchesa Raversi's party seized hold of these utterances of the Duchessa and repeated them broadcast, greatly hoping that they would shock the Prince.
Indeed, Ernesto IV was in the habit of repeating that the essential thing was to impress the imagination.
"Perpetual is a big word," he used to say, "and more terrible in Italy than elsewhere": accordingly, never in his life had he granted a pardon.
A week after her visit to the fortress the Duchessa received a letter commuting a sentence, signed by the Prince and by his Minister, with a blank left for the name.
The prisoner whose name she chose to write in this space would obtain the restoration of his property, with permission to spend the rest of his days in America.
The Duchessa wrote the name of the man who had talked to her.
Unfortunately this man turned out to be half a rogue, a weak-kneed creature; it was on the strength of his confession that the famous Ferrante Palla had been sentenced to death.
The unprecedented nature of this pardon set the seal upon Signora Sanseverina's position.
Conte Mosca was wild with delight; it was a great day in his life and one that had a decisive influence on Fabrizio's destiny. He, meanwhile, was still at Romagnano, near Novara, going to confession, hunting, reading nothing, and paying court to a lady of noble birth, as was laid down in his instructions.
The Duchessa was still a trifle shocked by this last essential.
Another sign which boded no good to the Conte was that, while she would speak to him with the utmost frankness about everyone else, and would think aloud in his presence, she never mentioned Fabrizio to him without first carefully choosing her words.
"If you like," the Conte said to her one day, "I will write to that charming brother you have on the Lake of Como, and I will soon force that Marchese del Dongo, if I and my friends in a certain quarter apply a little pressure, to ask for the pardon of your dear Fabrizio.
If it be true, as I have not the least doubt that it is, that Fabrizio is somewhat superior to the young fellows who ride their English thoroughbreds about the streets of Milan, what a life, at eighteen, to be doing nothing with no prospect of ever having anything to do!
If heaven had endowed him with a real passion for anything in the world, were it only for angling, I should respect it; but what is he to do at Milan, even after he has obtained his pardon?
He will get on a horse, which he will have had sent to him from England, at a certain hour of the day; at another, idleness will take him to his mistress, for whom he will care less than he will for his horse… . But, if you say the word, I will try to procure this sort of life for your nephew."
"I should like him to be an officer," said the Duchessa.
"Would you recommend a Sovereign to entrust a post which, at a given date, may be of some importance to a young man who, in the first place, is liable to enthusiasm, and, secondly, has shewn enthusiasm for Napoleon to the extent of going to join him at Waterloo?
Just think where we should all be if Napoleon had won at Waterloo!
We should have no Liberals to be afraid of, it is true, but the Sovereigns of ancient Houses would be able to keep their thrones only by marrying the daughters of his Marshals.
And so military life for Fabrizio would be the life of a squirrel in a revolving cage: plenty of movement with no progress.
He would have the annoyance of seeing himself cut out by all sorts of plebeian devotion.
The essential quality in a young man of the present day, that is to say for the next fifty years perhaps, so long as we remain in a state of fear and religion has not been re-established, is not to be liable to enthusiasm and not to shew any spirit.
"I have thought of one thing, but one that will begin by making you cry out in protest, and will give me infinite trouble for many a day to come: it is an act of folly which I am ready to commit for you.
But tell me, if you can, what folly would I not commit to win a smile?"
"Well?" said the Duchessa.
"Well, we have had as Archbishops of Parma three members of your family: Ascanio del Dongo who wrote a book in sixteen-something, Fabrizio in 1699, and another Ascanio in 1740.
If Fabrizio cares to enter the prelacy, and to make himself conspicuous for virtues of the highest order, I can make him a Bishop somewhere, and then Archbishop here, provided that my influence lasts.
The real objection is this: shall I remain Minister for long enough to carry out this fine plan, which will require several years?
The Prince may die, he may have the bad taste to dismiss me.
But, after all, it is the only way open to me of securing for Fabrizio something that is worthy of you."
They discussed the matter at length: the idea was highly repugnant to the Duchessa.
"Prove to me again," she said to the Conte, "that every other career is impossible for Fabrizio."
The Conte proved it.
"You regret," he added, "the brilliant uniform; but as to that, I do not know what to do."