THE FOOL ERRANT - World eBook Library - World Public Library

On Monday evening, just as I was about to leave the yard, Virginia, with a hood over her head, came into it. This was
extraordinary, and so did she appear—vividly coloured, with the eyes of one in a fever, but not alarmed; elated rather, and full
of strong resolve. Before I could speak she put her finger to her lip, and said, "Hush! Come with me to the ramparts instead of
going home. I have something to tell you." I followed her at once. The ramparts were very empty, as it was nearly dark. She
took my arm and began to walk slowly under the trees, speaking calmly, mastering the excitement which she evidently suffered.
She said, "At noon to-day, after the dinner-hour, the padrona gave me three baskets of linen, and told me to carry them to their
owners, with the bills which were pinned upon them. I put all three on my head and went away. The first errand was to the
apartment of that old colonel of artillery, where I have often been before. I delivered the basket, unpacked it in his presence,
received the money and my buona mano, and departed. The second took me to Don Filiberto, the parroco of Santa Lucia. As
usual, he inquired after you, asked me that certain question which you know, gave me two whites, patted my cheek, and hoped
for better news next week. When I came to look at my third basket, judge my dismay to find that it was addressed to the
Cavaliere Aquamorta, at the Albergo del Sole. It was the largest by far—and that was why I had put it at the bottom—and had
a substantial bill upon it, including the arrears of three weeks. I suppose he had planned it with the padrona, for I had never
been to him before, and did not even know that we washed for him. However, there was no help for it. I must go.
"He received me with a grin, expressing surprise, which I knew he had not, and pleasure, which I fear he had. I was as
unconcerned as I knew how to be, and began unpacking the linen; but he came behind me at once, and, kneeling beside me on
one knee, began to be unpleasantly attentive, praising my beauty extravagantly, talking, joking, whispering—and worse—doing
all he could, in fact, to make me as bad as he was. He owned that he had laid this 'little stratagem of love,' as he called it, and
that the bill, far from being in arrear, had been paid, and twice paid. There, then, was the price of my betrayal. Then he spoke
of you, Francis, asking whether I had discovered the cause of your recent distemperature. 'I have given him some news of his
Aurelia of late,' he said, 'which may have inclined him to neglect a far more charming nymph.' I replied to that, that if he had put
himself to the trouble of telling you lies of Donna Aurelia, there was no wonder that you were unhappy; for, says I, 'To have her
name, which you held sacred, tripped off lips which you knew to be profane was a horrible thing.' He laughed at me, and called
me his incorrigible charmer, his dearest tease, delight and provocation. He grew very attentive, and would have embraced me;
whereupon, biding my time, I gave him such a slap in the left eye as he won't soon recover from. Then, while he was cursing me
and calling for his servant, I made my escape."
I praised her warmly, as she deserved. She had done what became her with the only weapon she possessed. "The rest," I said,
"is mine. I shall know how to maintain your honour and my own. This very night I shall send a friend to the cavaliere, and leave
him the choice of weapons."
She stopped our walk, and faced me with agitation. "Dio mio, my lord, what are you saying?" I repeated my words, and she
became dry, as she always did when she disapproved.
"Good, my lord," she said; "and may your handmaid know the name of the friend whom you propose to send with your cartel to
the Cavaliere Aquamorta?"
I said that I should ask Gioiachino, our fellow-lodger, to oblige me.
"Excellent," said Virginia with irony, "excellent indeed! Gioiachino, a cat's-meat man, waits upon the Cavaliere Aquamorta on
behalf of his friend Francesco, a journeyman carpenter!"
This made me more angry than I had any business to be, for she was perfectly right from the cavaliere's view of the thing. I said,
"Virginia, my condition in this world has never been hidden from you. Apart from my birthright, which is an advantage not of my
own making, I hope I have never been to you other than an honourable man. Gioiachino, who has been a good friend to you
and me, certainly deserves no less credit. If a gentleman, as I claim to be, is condescending enough to send a person perfectly
honest to a vulgar, libidinous, lying bully and cheat, who happens to have robbed to better purpose than I have worked— then,
I say, you should agree with me that I am paying more honour to a thief than he can hope to deserve. I am sorry to have to
speak so plainly to you, but it is not for you, any more than for me, to reproach Gioiachino with being an honest man."
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