At length, as the light of dawn began to mark with a white line the tops of the trees in her garden, she forced herself into a state of composure.
"In a few hours from now," she told herself, "I shall be on the field of battle; it will be a case for action, and if anything should occur to irritate me, if the Prince should take it into his head to say anything to me about Fabrizio, I am by no means certain that I can keep myself properly in control.
I must therefore, here and now, make plans.
"If I am declared a State criminal, Rassi will seize everything there is in this palazzo; on the first of this month the Conte and I burned, as usual, all papers of which the police might make any improper use; and he is Minister of Police! That is the amusing part of it.
I have three diamonds of some value; to-morrow, Fulgenzio, my old boatman from Grianta, will set off for Geneva, where he will deposit them in a safe place.
Should Fabrizio ever escape (Great God, be Thou propitious to me!" She crossed herself), "the unutterable meanness of the Marchese del Dongo will decide that it is a sin to supply food to a man pursued by a lawful Sovereign: then he will at least find my diamonds, he will have bread.
"Dismiss the Conte … being left alone with him, after what has happened, is the one thing I cannot face.
The poor man!
He is not bad really, far from it; he is only weak.
That commonplace soul does not rise to the level of ours.
Poor Fabrizio!
Why cannot you be here for a moment with me to discuss our perils?
"The Conte's meticulous prudence would spoil all my plans, and besides, I must on no account involve him in my downfall… .
For why should not the vanity of that tyrant cast me into prison?
I shall have conspired … what could be easier to prove?
If it should be to his citadel that he sent me, and I could manage, by bribery, to speak to Fabrizio, were it only for an instant, with what courage would we step out together to death!
But enough of such follies: his Rassi would advise him to make an end of me with poison; my appearance in the streets, riding upon a cart, might touch the hearts of his dear Parmesans… .
But what is this?
Still romancing?
Alas! These follies must be forgiven a poor woman whose actual lot is so piteous!
The truth of all this is that the Prince will not send me to my death; but nothing could be more easy than to cast me into prison and keep me there; he will make his people hide all sorts of suspicious papers in some corner of my palazzo, as they did with that poor L——. Then three judges—not too big rascals, for they will have what is called documentary evidence—and a dozen false witnesses will be all he needs. So I may be sentenced to death as having conspired, and the Prince, in his boundless clemency, taking into consideration the fact that I have had the honour of being admitted to his court, will commute my punishment to ten years in a fortress.
But I, so as not to fall short in any way of that violent character which has led the Marchesa Raversi and my other enemies to say so many stupid things about me, will poison myself bravely.
So, at least, the public will be kind enough to believe; but I wager that Rassi will appear in my cell to bring me gallantly, in the Prince's name, a little bottle of strychnine, or Perugia opium.
"Yes, I must quarrel in the most open manner with the Conte, for I do not wish to involve him in my downfall—that would be a scandalous thing; the poor man has loved me with such candour!
My mistake lay in thinking that a true courtier would have sufficient heart left to be capable of love.
Very probably the Prince will find some excuse for casting me into prison; he will be afraid of my perverting public opinion with regard to Fabrizio.
The Conte is a man of perfect honour; at once he will do what the sycophants of this court, in their profound astonishment, will call madness, he will leave the court.
I braved the Prince's authority on the evening of the note; I may expect anything from his wounded vanity: does a man who is born a Prince ever forget the sensation I gave him that evening?
Besides, the Conte, once he has quarrelled with me, is in a stronger position for being of use to Fabrizio.
But if the Conte, whom this decision of mine must plunge in despair, should avenge himself? … There, now, is an idea that would never occur to him; his is not a fundamentally base nature like the Prince's; the Conte may, with a sigh of protest, countersign a wicked decree, but he is a man of honour.
And besides, avenge himself for what?
Simply because, after loving him for five years without giving the slightest offence to his love, I say to him: 'Dear Conte, I had the good fortune to be in love with you: very well, that flame is burning low; I no longer love you, but I know your heart through and through; I retain a profound regard for you and you will always be my best friend."
"What answer can a galantuomo make to so sincere a declaration?
"I shall take a new lover, or so at least people will suppose; I shall say to this lover:
'After all, the Prince does right to punish Fabrizio's folly; but on the day of his festa, no doubt our gracious Sovereign will set him at liberty.'
Thus I gain six months.
The new lover whom prudence suggests to me would be that venal judge, that foul hangman of a Rassi… . He would find himself ennobled and, as far as that goes, I shall give him the right of entry into good society. Forgive me, dear Fabrizio; such an effort, for me, is beyond the bounds of possibility.
What!
That monster, still all bespattered with the blood of Conte P——— and of D———!
I should faint with horror whenever he came near me, or rather I should seize a knife and plunge it into his vile heart. Do not ask of me things that are impossible!
"Yes, that is the first thing to do: forget Fabrizio!
And not the least trace of anger with the Prince; I must resume my ordinary gaiety, which will seem all the more attractive to these souls of mud, in the first place because I shall appear to be submitting with good grace to their Sovereign's will, secondly because, so far from laughing at them, I shall take good care to bring out all their pretty little qualities; for instance, I shall compliment Conte Zurla on the beauty of the white feather in his hat, which he has just had sent him from Lyons by courier, and which keeps him perfectly happy.
"Choose a lover from the Raversi's party… .
If the Conte goes, that will be the party in office; there is where the power will lie. It will be a friend of the Raversi that will reign over the citadel, for Fabio Conti will take office as Minister.
How in the world will the Prince, a man used to good society, a man of intelligence, accustomed to the charming collaboration of the Conte, be able to discuss business with that ox, that king of fools, whose whole life has been occupied with the fundamental problem: ought His Highness's troops to have seven buttons on their uniform, in front, or nine?
It is all those brute beasts thoroughly jealous of myself, and that is where you are in danger, dear Fabrizio, it is those brute beasts who are going to decide my fate and yours!
Well then, shall I not allow the Conte to hand in his resignation? Let him remain, even if he has to submit to humiliations.
He always imagines that to resign is the greatest sacrifice a Prime Minister can make; and whenever his mirror tells him he is growing old, he offers me that sacrifice: a complete rupture, then; yes, and reconciliation only in the event of its being the sole method of prevailing upon him not to go.
Naturally, I shall give him his dismissal in the friendliest possible way; but, after his courtierlike omission of the words unjust proceedings in the Prince's note, I feel that, if I am not to hate him, I need to spend some months without seeing him.
On that decisive evening, I had no need of his cleverness; he had only to write down what I dictated to him, he had only to write those words which I had obtained by my own strength of character: he was led away by force of habit as a base courtier. He told me next day that he could not make the Prince sign an absurdity, that we should have had letters of grace; why, good God, with people like that, with those monsters of vanity and rancour who bear the name Farnese, one takes what one can get."