Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

peared.
It was Victor Morren, accompanied by Maso di Roccabianca,
who thus attracted the notice of the young girls. They
seemed to be coming from the Lungera quarter and going in
the direction of the Porta San Pancrazio. The young
Romans, grouped under the shadow of the arches, followed
them for a moment with their eyes, and then promptly resumed
their pleasant chat.
" But why did Nunziata fly away BO hastily?"
"
Carlotta. See, she was in such a hurry, that she
observed
has forgotten
her pitcher near the basin."
" Who can know what's on her mind ?" replied Giannia.
"
She's a singular child, that Nunziata. At one time she's
pensive, grave, and almost Bad ; at another she's gossiping
and singing, laughing and joking.
derstand her."
Really I could never un-
"
Yes, indeed, she's a strange creature" said Julia.
"
Sometimes she's as meek and kind as an angel, and at other
times rash, irritable, and untractable as a demon. You remember
at the last fire that took place in the Trastevere, how
courageously she rushed into the , midst of the flames and
burning ruins, where even men did not dare to venture,
afraid of sacrificing their lives, and, at the danger of hers,
succeeded in saving a poor little child whote parents had
perished, devoured by the flames. And with what glad affection,
what loving emotion she afterwards pressed the dear
little innocent to her heart, as a done !"
sister, a mother wou.d have
" Do I remember?" retorted Carlotta
A DOUBLE ,v.irA'//7r '/:. 17
fVo what a handsome soldier, and what a noble dignified,
courage -us air he has?"
Nuuzi.ita, turning round, joyfully exclaimed :
"
Loi:g live the ZituavcH, those generous and valiant dofenders
of the Holy Father !"
But hardly had sho glanced at the young Zouave and his
young companion than, without even waiting to bid adieu to
Lor companions or stooping to lift up the pitcher left near the
fountain, she dashed off rapidly in the direction of the narrow
streets adjoining the Trastevere, where she began their walk.
"
What's be.como of my father ?" he asked.
" How is he ?"
"
His health is always good, but he's really inconsolable at
your departure. Listen to mr, Victor,
instantly disap-
" resumed Maso, after a
moment, and with
"
apparent hesitation; your father gave me
a message for yon, in case I should meet you; but, truly, I
"
don't know whether it's right to make
"Don't let anything embarrass you; apeak frankly," the
" I should think so ;
"Stay!" resumed Julia; "there's Stefano, Nimziata's
brother. What can he have to do at this hour outside the
gates of the city that he should be hurrying so ? Really, one
would think he was running for his life."
All this time Victor and his companion, conversing uninterruptedly,
had passed the Porta San Pancrazio and were
rambling in the direction of the Via Vitellia. Maso had met
the young Pontifical volunteer in the Lungara, and had cordially
shaken hands with him. He came from Belgium, he
said, anxious to revisit his country, whose dearest interests
were actually at stake. At the same time he had not told Victor
that for two days ho had been looking for him in every
corner of Rome. But he feigned a lively interest and deep
sympathy for the young stranger, and hastened to give him
news of his friends at Antwerp whom he had recently quitted.
" And where do you intend going now ?" he asked.
"
I purposed visiting the Church of San Pancrazio to-day,''
responded Victor,
"
I'm delighted," said Maso, " 'Twill be a real pleasure to
accompany you. There is a delightful walk to it. I'll show
you, on the way, the Vascellos and the Villa Corsini, where
the French opened a way to the ramparts of Rome in 1849.
Besides we can talk more at leisure of your country and your
family. "
Victor could not expect to find very much pleasure in Maso's
y; npvertheloRH. he received him cordially, and they both
generous young man at once interposed.
" Well, since you wish it, pray don't be annoyed with m
then, and believe me that, in acting thus, I'm guided only by
the interest I have in yov.rself, your respectable father, and all
your family. Your father, conquered by your entreaties, at
last allowed you to take service in the Pontifical army ;
but after your departure, after seriously reflecting on the sub-
ject of your resolution, he charged me with speaking to you
in his name, and sparing no efforts to get you to renounce this
deplorable determination."
Now Maso, in speaking thus, was guilty of an odious and
flagrant imposture. Since Victor's departure he had not ex-
changed a single word with M. Morren, then at his Schambeck
villa. So Victor was by no means convinced of the truth
of tliis assertion.
" "
Monsieur di Roccabianca he replied, "I don't believo
my father ever retracts his word solemnly given; such conduct
would be in direct opposition to his principles, his acts,
his entire life. Besides I would dishonor and despise myself
if I were ever capable of failing in my engagement. No, Maso,
:
father him-
nothing could ever make me betray my duty; my
self wouldn't wish I should break my oath in so shameful a
manner. Spare yourself then the trouble of urging it any
longer you'll never persuade me."
"But, my friend," replied Maso, who was resolved to draw
nway Victor by his perfidious arguments, or, in case all his
ruses should fail, to wreak upon him, the ferocious vengeanoe
he had so long pondered "but, my friend, how can you feel
yourself engaged by a decision taken haphazard, in haste, in
complete ignorance of the situation, the circumstances, the
cause you had embraced ? Don't you see how this cause is
I saw the child last Sunday walking with her. She placed it
in the orphanage of the Immaculate unworthy
Conception, where she had
it maintained at her own expense. The poor little child loves
her beyond anything and calls her his mother. You bhould
see her dance with joy when he gives her that name !"
Just at this moment a young man quitting the Trastevere
passed by the fountain, making for the Porta San Paucrazio in
all. haste.
of you, unworthy of the constancy and devotion of
brave men ? Don't you perceive, in fact, that our age of progress
and enlightenment is thoroughly resolved to bear no
longer the tyrannous and odious yoke the Papacy imposes on
the ancient city of the proud Romans, a free people ?"
" Listen to me, Maso," here interrupted Victor, flushed with
anger, indignation and disdain; "the subject to which you
have just alluded is one that cannot be discussed between us ;
the words you have uttered profane and sully this august and
justly blessed land. The glorious cause I defend is the cause
of my conscience, the cause of all Catholicity, in brief, the
cause of my God !"
" A very glorious cause, indeed I" retorted the Carbonaro,
with an ironical smilo "that of a decrepit old man, a few
bigoted monks, and some credulous or idiotic women. What
honor will yon owe it, if you die for it ? With what glory
would it crown you even if it triumphed which it never will"?
Do you wish to embrace a noble and a just cause, to exhibit a
sublime aud generous devotion ? Fight for Italy. It is a
grand aud noble cause, that of a people breaking its chains
it is the cause of liberty opposed to the cause of slavery.
Followme, Victor; join those generous and intrepid combatants
who came from all parts to do battle and triumph in holy
patriotic combats; cast away from you fanaticism and error
those Tain idols of your fathers; break the shameful bonds of
that gross superstition in which a fatal education has too long
enchained you. You have a grand and generous soul, a soul
capable of understanding and appreciating the
sublimity of
such an aim, the beauty of such devotion. Come then, abandon
those crumbling altars, those decrepit dogmas ; hasten to
ranga yourself under the flag of Italy to be revivified at our
sides by the breath of liberty !"
"
Enough !" replied Victor, in a firm voice, interrupting th
tempter with a motion of the hand; " believe me, I know those