Fortunately for him, the charming little palazzo which Conte M—— had taken for the fair Fausta was situated at the southern extremity of the city of Parma, precisely on the road to Sacca, and Fausta's windows looked out over the fine avenues of tall trees which extend beneath the high tower of the citadel.
Fabrizio was completely unknown in this little frequented quarter; he did not fail to have Conte M—— followed, and one day when that gentleman had just emerged from the admirable singer's door, he had the audacity to appear in the street in broad daylight; it must be admitted that he was mounted upon an excellent horse, and well armed.
A party of musicians, of the sort that frequent the streets in Italy and are sometimes excellent, came and planted their viols under Fausta's window; after playing a prelude they sang, and quite well too, a cantata composed in her honour.
Fausta came to the window and had no difficulty in distinguishing a young man of extremely polite manners, who, stopping his horse in the middle of the street, bowed to her first of all, then began to direct at her a gaze that could have but one meaning.
In spite of the exaggeratedly English costume adopted by Fabrizio, she soon recognised the author of the passionate letters that had brought about her departure from Bologna.
"That is a curious creature," she said to herself; "it seems to me that I am going to fall in love with him.
I have a hundred louis in hand, I can quite well give that terrible Conte M—— the slip; if it comes to that, he has no spirit, he never does anything unexpected, and is only slightly amusing because of the bloodthirsty appearance of his escort."
On the following day Fabrizio, having learned that every morning at eleven o'clock Fausta went to hear mass in the centre of the town, in that same church of San Giovanni which contained the tomb of his great-uncle, Archbishop Ascanio del Dongo, made bold to follow her there.
To tell the truth, Ludovico had procured him a fine English wig with hair of the most becoming red.
Inspired by the colour of his wig, which was that of the flames that were devouring his heart, he composed a sonnet which Fausta thought charming; an unseen hand had taken care to place it upon her piano.
This little war lasted for quite a week; but Fabrizio found that, in spite of the steps he was taking in every direction, he was making no real progress; Fausta refused to see him.
He strained the effect of singularity; she admitted afterwards that she was afraid of him.
Fabrizio was kept going now only by a faint hope of coming to feel what is known as love, but frequently he felt bored.
"Let us leave this place, Signore," Lodovico used to urge him; "you are not in the least in love: I can see that you have the most desperate coolness and common sense.
Besides, you are making no headway; if only for shame, let us clear out."
Fabrizio was ready to go at the first moment of ill-humour, when he heard that Fausta was to sing at the Duchessa Sanseverina's.
"Perhaps that sublime voice will succeed in softening my heart," he said to himself; and he actually ventured to penetrate in disguise into the palazzo where he was known to every eye.
We may imagine the Duchessa's emotion when, right at the end of the concert, she noticed a man in the full livery of a chasseur, standing by the door of the big drawing-room: that pose reminded her of someone.
She went to look for Conte Mosca, who only then informed her of the signal and truly incredible folly of Fabrizio.
He took it extremely well.
This love for another than the Duchessa pleased him greatly; the Conte, a perfect galantuomo, apart from politics, acted upon the maxim that he could himself find happiness only so long as the Duchessa was happy.
"I shall save him from himself," he said to his mistress; "judge of our enemies' joy if he were arrested in this palazzo!
Also I have more than a hundred men with me here, and that is why I made them ask you for the keys of the great reservoir.
He gives out that he is madly in love with Fausta, and up to the present has failed to get her away from Conte M——, who lets the foolish woman live the life of a queen."
The Duchessa's features betrayed the keenest grief; so Fabrizio was nothing more than a libertine, utterly incapable of any tender and serious feeling.
"And not to come and see us!
That is what I shall never be able to forgive him!" she said at length; "and I writing to him every day to Bologna!"
"I greatly admire his restraint," replied the Conte; "he does not wish to compromise us by his escapade, and it will be amusing to hear him tell us about it."
Fausta was too great a fool to be able to keep quiet about what was on her mind; the day after the concert, every melody in which her eyes had addressed to that tall young man dressed as a chasseur, she spoke to Conte M—— of an unknown admirer.
"Where do you see him?" asked the Conte in a fury.
"In the streets, in church," replied Fausta, at a loss for words.
At once she sought to atone for her imprudence, or at least to eliminate from it anything that could suggest Fabrizio: she dashed into an endless description of a tall young man with red hair; he had blue eyes; no doubt he was some Englishman, very rich and very awkward, or some prince.
At this word Conte M——, who did not shine in the accuracy of his perceptions, conceived the idea, deliciously flattering to his vanity, that this rival was none other than the Crown Prince of Parma.
This poor melancholy young man, guarded by five or six governors, under-governors, preceptors, etc., etc., who never allowed him out of doors until they had first held council together, used to cast strange glances at all the passable women whom he was permitted to approach.
At the Duchessa's concert, his rank had placed him in front of all the rest of the audience in an isolated armchair within three yards of the fair Fausta, and his stare had been supremely shocking to Conte M———. This hallucination of an exquisite vanity, that he had a Prince for a rival, greatly amused Fausta, who took delight in confirming it with a hundred details artlessly supplied.
"Your" race," she asked the Conte, "is surely as old as that of the Farnese, to which this young man belongs?"
"What do you mean?
As old?
I have no bastardy in my family, thank you."
As luck would have it, Conte M—— never had an opportunity of studying this pretended rival at his leisure, which confirmed him in the flattering idea of his having a Prince for antagonist.
The fact was that whenever the interests of his enterprise did not summon Fabrizio to Parma, he remained in the woods round Sacca and on the bank of the Po.
Conte M—— was indeed more proud, but was also more prudent since he had imagined himself to be on the way to disputing the heart of Fausta with a Prince; he begged her very seriously to observe the greatest restraint in all her doings.
After flinging himself on his knees like a jealous and impassioned lover, he declared to her in so many words that his honour was involved in her not being made the dupe of the young Prince.
"Excuse me, I should not be his dupe if I cared for him; I must say, I have never yet seen a Prince at my feet."
"If you yield," he went on with a haughty stare, "I may not perhaps be able to avenge myself on the Prince but I will, most assuredly, be avenged"; and he went out, slamming the doors behind him.
Had Fabrizio presented himself at that moment, he would have won his cause.
"If you value your life," her lover said to her that evening as he bade her good night after the performance, "see that it never comes to my ears that the young Prince has been inside your house.
I can do nothing to him, curse him, but do not make me remember that I can do everything to you!"
"Ah, my little Fabrizio," cried Fausta, "if I only knew where to find you!"
Wounded vanity may carry a young man far who is rich and from his cradle has always been surrounded by flatterers.