The Descent of Man and Other Stories Page 16

  Briga relied on her as he did on no one else; but he did not love her, and she knew it. Still, she was young, she was handsome, and he loved no one else: how could she give up hoping? From her intimate friends she made no secret of her feelings: Italian women are not reticent in such matters, and Donna Candida was proud of loving a hero. You will see at once that I had no chance; but if she could not give up hope, neither could I. Perhaps in her desire to secure my services for the cause she may have shown herself overkind; or perhaps I was still young enough to set down to my own charms a success due to quite different causes. At any rate, I persuaded myself that if I could manage to do something conspicuous for Italy I might yet make her care for me. With such an incentive you will not wonder that I worked hard; but though Donna Candida was full of gratitude she continued to adore my rival.

  One day we had a hot scene. I began, I believe, by reproaching her with having led me on; and when she defended herself, I retaliated by taunting her with Briga’s indifference. She grew pale at that, and said it was enough to love a hero, even without hope of return; and as she said it she herself looked so heroic, so radiant, so unattainably the woman I wanted, that a sneer may have escaped me:—was she so sure then that Briga was a hero? I remember her proud silence and our wretched parting. I went away feeling that at last I had really lost her; and the thought made me savage and vindictive.

  Soon after, as it happened, came the Five Days, and Milan was free. I caught a distant glimpse of Donna Candida in the hospital to which I was carried after the fight; but my wound was a slight one and in twenty-four hours I was about again on crutches. I hoped she might send for me, but she did not, and I was too sulky to make the first advance. A day or two later I heard there had been a commotion in Modena, and not being in fighting trim I got leave to go over there with one or two men whom the Modenese liberals had called in to help them. When we arrived the precious Duke had been swept out and a provisional government set up. One of my companions, who was a Modenese, was made a member, and knowing that I wanted something to do, he commissioned me to look up some papers in the ducal archives. It was fascinating work, for in the pursuit of my documents I uncovered the hidden springs of his late Highness’s paternal administration. The principal papers relative to the civil and criminal administration of Modena have since been published, and the world knows how that estimable sovereign cared for the material and spiritual welfare of his subjects.

  Well—in the course of my search, I came across a file of old papers marked: “Taken from political prisoners. A.D. 1831.” It was the year of Menotti’s conspiracy, and everything connected with that date was thrilling. I loosened the band and ran over the letters. Suddenly I came across one which was docketed: “Given by Doctor Briga’s son to the warder of His Highness’s prisons.” Doctor Briga’s son? That could be no other than Fernando: I knew he was an only child. But how came such a paper into his hands, and how had it passed from them into those of the Duke’s warder? My own hands shook as I opened the letter—I felt the man suddenly in my power.

  Then I began to read. “My adored mother, even in this lowest circle of hell all hearts are not closed to pity, and I have been given the hope that these last words of farewell may reach you….” My eyes ran on over pages of plaintive rhetoric. “Embrace for me my adored Candida…let her never forget the cause for which her father and brother perished…let her keep alive in her breast the thought of Spielberg and Reggio. Do not grieve that I die so young… though not with those heroes in deed I was with them in spirit, and am worthy to be enrolled in the sacred phalanx…” and so on. Before I reached the signature I knew the letter was from Emilio Verna.

  I put it in my pocket, finished my work and started immediately for Milan. I didn’t quite know what I meant to do—my head was in a whirl. I saw at once what must have happened. Fernando Briga, then a lad of fifteen or sixteen, had attended his father in prison during Emilio Verna’s last hours, and the latter, perhaps aware of the lad’s liberal sympathies, had found an opportunity of giving him the letter. But why had Briga given it up to the warder? That was the puzzling question. The docket said: ”Given by Doctor Briga’s son”—but it might mean “taken from.” Fernando might have been seen to receive the letter and might have been searched on leaving the prison. But that would not account for his silence afterward. How was it that, if he knew of the letter, he had never told Emilio’s family of it? There was only one explanation. If the letter had been taken from him by force he would have had no reason for concealing its existence; and his silence was clear proof that he had given it up voluntarily, no doubt in the hope of standing well with the authorities. But then he was a traitor and a coward; the patriot of ‘forty-eight had begun life as an informer! But does innate character ever change so radically that the lad who has committed a base act at fifteen may grow up into an honorable man? A good man may be corrupted by life, but can the years turn a born sneak into a hero?

  You may fancy how I answered my own questions….If Briga had been false and cowardly then, was he not sure to be false and cowardly still? In those days there were traitors under every coat, and more than one brave fellow had been sold to the police by his best friend….You will say that Briga’s record was unblemished, that he had exposed himself to danger too frequently, had stood by his friends too steadfastly, to permit of a rational doubt of his good faith. So reason might have told me in a calmer moment, but she was not allowed to make herself heard just then. I was young, I was angry, I chose to think I had been unfairly treated, and perhaps at my rival’s instigation. It was not unlikely that Briga knew of my love for Donna Candida, and had encouraged her to use it in the good cause. Was she not always at his bidding? My blood boiled at the thought, and reaching Milan in a rage I went straight to Donna Candida.

  I had measured the exact force of the blow I was going to deal. The triumph of the liberals in Modena had revived public interest in the unsuccessful struggle of their predecessors, the men who, sixteen years earlier, had paid for the same attempt with their lives. The victors of ‘forty-eight wished to honor the vanquished of ‘thirty-two. All the families exiled by the ducal government were hastening back to recover possession of their confiscated property and of the graves of their dead. Already it had been decided to raise a monument to Menotti and his companions. There were to be speeches, garlands, a public holiday: the thrill of the commemoration would run through Europe. You see what it would have meant to the poor Countess to appear on the scene with her boy’s letter in her hand; and you see also what the memorandum on the back of the letter would have meant to Donna Candida. Poor Emilio’s farewell would be published in all the journals of Europe: the finding of the letter would be on every one’s lips. And how conceal those fatal words on the back? At the moment, it seemed to me that fortune could not have given me a handsomer chance of destroying my rival than in letting me find the letter which he stood convicted of having suppressed.

  My sentiment was perhaps not a strictly honorable one; yet what could I do but give the letter to Donna Candida? To keep it back was out of the question; and with the best will in the world I could not have erased Briga’s name from the back. The mistake I made was in thinking it lucky that the paper had fallen into my hands.

  Donna Candida was alone when I entered. We had parted in anger, but she held out her hand with a smile of pardon, and asked what news I brought from Modena. The smile exasperated me: I felt as though she were trying to get me into her power again.

  “I bring you a letter from your brother,” I said, and handed it to her. I had purposely turned the superscription downward, so that she should not see it.

  She uttered an incredulous cry and tore the letter open. A light struck up from it into her face as she read—a radiance that smote me to the soul. For a moment I longed to snatch the paper from her and efface the name on the back. It hurt me to think how short-lived her happiness must be.

  Then she did a fatal thing. She came up to me, caught my two hand
s and kissed them. “Oh, thank you—bless you a thousand times! He died thinking of us—he died loving Italy!”

  I put her from me gently: it was not the kiss I wanted, and the touch of her lips hardened me.

  She shone on me through her happy tears. “What happiness—what consolation you have brought my poor mother! This will take the bitterness from her grief. And that it should come to her now! Do you know, she had a presentiment of it? When we heard of the Duke’s flight her first word was: ‘Now we may find Emilio’s letter.’ At heart she was always sure that he had written—I suppose some blessed instinct told her so.” She dropped her face on her hands, and I saw her tears fall on the wretched letter.

  In a moment she looked up again, with eyes that blessed and trusted me. “Tell me where you found it,” she said.

  I told her.

  “Oh, the savages! They took it from him—”

  My opportunity had come. “No,” I said, “it appears they did not take it from him.”

  “Then how—”

  I waited a moment. “The letter,” I said, looking full at her, “was given up to the warder of the prison by the son of Doctor Briga.”

  She stared, repeating the words slowly. “The son of Doctor Briga? But that is—Fernando,” she said.

  “I have always understood,” I replied, “that your friend was an only son.”

  I had expected an outcry of horror; if she had uttered it I could have forgiven her anything. But I heard, instead, an incredulous exclamation: my statement was really too preposterous! I saw that her mind had flashed back to our last talk, and that she charged me with something too nearly true to be endurable.

  “My brother’s letter? Given to the prison warder by Fernando Briga? My dear Captain Alingdon—on what authority do you expect me to believe such a tale?”

  Her incredulity had in it an evident implication of bad faith, and I was stung to a quick reply.

  “If you will turn over the letter you will see.”

  She continued to gaze at me a moment: then she obeyed. I don’t think I ever admired her more than I did then. As she read the name a tremor crossed her face; and that was all. Her mind must have reached out instantly to the farthest consequences of the discovery, but the long habit of self-command enabled her to steady her muscles at once. If I had not been on the alert I should have seen no hint of emotion.

  For a while she looked fixedly at the back of the letter; then she raised her eyes to mine.

  “Can you tell me who wrote this?” she asked.

  Her composure irritated me. She had rallied all her forces to Briga’s defence, and I felt as though my triumph were slipping from me.

  “Probably one of the clerks of the archives,” I answered. “It is written in the same hand as all the other memoranda relating to the political prisoners of that year.”

  “But it is a lie!” she exclaimed. “He was never admitted to the prisons.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “How should he have been?”

  “He might have gone as his father’s assistant.”

  “But if he had seen my poor brother he would have told me long ago.”

  “Not if he had really given up this letter,” I retorted.

  I supposed her quick intelligence had seized this from the first; but I saw now that it came to her as a shock. She stood motionless, clenching the letter in her hands, and I could guess the rapid travel of her thoughts.

  Suddenly she came up to me. “Colonel Alingdon,” she said, “you have been a good friend of mine, though I think you have not liked me lately. But whether you like me or not, I know you will not deceive me. On your honor, do you think this memorandum may have been written later than the letter?”

  I hesitated. If she had cried out once against Briga I should have wished myself out of the business; but she was too sure of him.

  “On my honor,” I said, “I think it hardly possible. The ink has faded to the same degree.”

  She made a rapid comparison and folded the letter with a gesture of assent.

  “It may have been written by an enemy,” I went on, wishing to clear myself of any appearance of malice.

  She shook her head. “He was barely fifteen—and his father was on the side of the government. Besides, this would have served him with the government, and the liberals would never have known of it.”

  This was unanswerable—and still not a word of revolt against the man whose condemnation she was pronouncing!

  “Then—” I said with a vague gesture.

  She caught me up. “Then—?”

  “You have answered my objections,” I returned.

  “Your objections?”

  “To thinking that Signor Briga could have begun his career as a patriot by betraying a friend.”

  I had brought her to the test at last, but my eyes shrank from her face as I spoke. There was a dead silence, which I broke by adding lamely: “But no doubt Signor Briga could explain.”

  She lifted her head, and I saw that my triumph was to be short. She stood erect, a few paces from me, resting her hand on a table, but not for support.

  “Of course he can explain,” she said; “do you suppose I ever doubted it? But—” she paused a moment, fronting me nobly—“he need not, for I understand it all now.”

  “Ah,” I murmured with a last flicker of irony.

  “I understand,” she repeated. It was she, now, who sought my eyes and held them. “It is quite simple—he could not have done otherwise.”

  This was a little too oracular to be received with equanimity. I suppose I smiled.

  “He could not have done otherwise,” she repeated with tranquil emphasis. “He merely did what is every Italian’s duty—he put Italy before himself and his friends.” She waited a moment, and then went on with growing passion: “Surely you must see what I mean? He was evidently in the prison with his father at the time of my poor brother’s death. Emilio perhaps guessed that he was a friend—or perhaps appealed to him because he was young and looked kind. But don’t you see how dangerous it would have been for Briga to bring this letter to us, or even to hide it in his father’s house? It is true that he was not yet suspected of liberalism, but he was already connected with Young Italy, and it is just because he managed to keep himself so free of suspicion that he was able to do such good work for the cause.” She paused, and then went on with a firmer voice. “You don’t know the danger we all lived in. The government spies were everywhere. The laws were set aside as the Duke pleased—was not Emilio hanged for having an ode to Italy in his desk? After Menotti’s conspiracy the Duke grew mad with fear—he was haunted by the dread of assassination. The police, to prove their zeal, had to trump up false charges and arrest innocent persons—you remember the case of poor Ricci? Incriminating papers were smuggled into people’s houses—they were condemned to death on the paid evidence of brigands and galley-slaves. The families of the revolutionists were under the closest observation and were shunned by all who wished to stand well with the government. If Briga had been seen going into our house he would at once have been suspected. If he had hidden Emilio’s letter at home, its discovery might have ruined his family as well as himself. It was his duty to consider all these things. In those days no man could serve two masters, and he had to choose between endangering the cause and failing to serve a friend. He chose the latter—and he was right.”

  I stood listening, fascinated by the rapidity and skill with which she had built up the hypothesis of Briga’s defence. But before she ended a strange thing happened—her argument had convinced me. It seemed to me quite likely that Briga had in fact been actuated by the motives she suggested.

  I suppose she read the admission in my face, for hers lit up victoriously.

  “You see?” she exclaimed. “Ah, it takes one brave man to understand another.”

  Perhaps I winced a little at being thus coupled with her hero; at any rate, some last impulse of resistance made me say: “I should be quite convinced, i
f Briga had only spoken of the letter afterward. If brave people understand each other, I cannot see why he should have been afraid of telling you the truth.”

  She colored deeply, and perhaps not quite resentfully.

  “You are right,” she said; “he need not have been afraid. But he does not know me as I know him. I was useful to Italy, and he may have feared to risk my friendship.”

  “You are the most generous woman I ever knew!” I exclaimed.

  She looked at me intently. “You also are generous,” she said.

  I stiffened instantly, suspecting a purpose behind her praise. “I have given you small proof of it!” I said.

  She seemed surprised. “In bringing me this letter? What else could you do?” She sighed deeply. “You can give me proof enough now.”

  She had dropped into a chair, and I saw that we had reached the most difficult point in our interview.

  “Captain Alingdon,” she said, “does any one else know of this letter?”

  “No. I was alone in the archives when I found it.”

  “And you spoke of it to no one?”

  “To no one.”

  “Then no one must know.”

  I bowed. “It is for you to decide.”

  She paused. “Not even my mother,” she continued, with a painful blush.

  I looked at her in amazement. “Not even—?”