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

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Ciarihaldiau Wands thoroughly ;
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value. I consider, then, as an iusult, any propo. d to
engage me to join those adventurers and cmHlrtttii-ri "f our
c^poch, lialf soldiers, half bandits. ! Enough I tell you ; you
have perhaps spoken without a bad intention, Such solicitations
are, nevertheless, enough to bring the blush of shame to
my face."
At these words the irritated Carbonaro bit his lips so angrily
that his blood tinged his white teeth clinched with rage. Thou
he slipped- his hand under his coat as if looking for a weapon;
but the road they were then walking on doubtless did not
appear to him deserted enough for the accomplishment of Ids
Teugoance; so ho pursued with apparent calmness:
"Very well, sir, let there be no more talk about it. Believe
me, however, I had no intention of offending you. Haven't I
told you at the outset, that my interest and sympathy in yourself
as well as your respectable parents was my sole and only
motive ? "
" I believe so " replied Victor, " but you arc strangely mis-
taken if you think that earthly honor, thr.t fleeting, fragile
and contemptible glory, of which you spoke to mo just now,
is the sacred end to which I aspire, the motive that determined
me to this resolution. Other careers more peaceable, more
brilliant, in which I wouldn't have to sacrifice my blood, my
life, are open to me; but I have preferred sacrificing my whole
future, all my hopes, to the august and sacred cause for which
I have offered myself, and I will gladly persist in this supreme
resolution, even if shame and death were to be my only reward
faith and satisfied
my conscience, and my conscience and my faith are the
"
sole judges at the tribunal to which I am summoned.
A profound silence followed this solemn avowal. Victor had
ceased to speak, aud, absorbed in his thoughts, kept h's eyes
fixed on the ground. As to the guilty Maso, lie knit his dark
brows, and his eyes, riveted on his young companion, seemed
to dart flames.
There was a lonely, silent csuntry around them; not a murmur,
not a sound no breath of wind waving the branches, no
sweet song of birds among the leaves, no cricket chirping
among the tall grass; nothing but a deep, sinister silence.
Our two promenaders had left the Vascello and the Villa Corsini
behind,- and without Victor perceiving it, had quitted the
high road and penetrated into a solitary path which Maso
knew well.
They were approaching a dense copse where the young
trunks grew thickly, and the branches interlaced. Suddenly
a light bref ze made the leaves gently rustle, and then died
here, for I should have at least confessed my
away without leaving a trace, like the icy breath, the last sigh
of one dying. And that fault sound gone, everything relapsed
into silence.
"
Listen, Victor," resumed Maso ki a strange accent, and
designedly laying stress upon his words, as it were to give
"
them a sinister (significance. Listen to me. There's nothing
before you but defeat and death if you persist iu this deplorable
disastrous design. Poor dupe that you are," he
continued, with a disdainful smile, " how could you have
to die unknown
thus abandoned your father and your country
and dishonored, iu some laud."
forgotten corner oj this foreign
"Maso, Maso, stop, be silent," cried the incensed Victor.
" You blaspheme, you insult the Divine Majesty audaciously;
you make me blush with shame and indignation for you.
Know well that th.it death with which you threaten me in your
blind rage has no terrors for me, for I am prepared for it,
ever since the day God inspired me with this pious resolution.
I shall behold it as a benefactress, as a friend supporting on
its wings those green palms of victory, a thousand times
more pleasing and more glorious than all the crowns lavished
on earthly conquerors. Far from me such weakness far
;
from me such terrors !
Who could fear to die fighting for the
holy cause of God and the Church ?"
"
Well," cried Mato, no longer restraining his fury, "as
you wish it, here is that benefactress, that friend ! She'll
not keep you long waiting, wretched fanatic, pitiful maniac.
It is come at length, the hour of thy death with the hour of
my vengeance !"
And before the astonished Victor had time to def< nd himself,
the robust arm of the Carbonaro had seized him i;iid
clasped him in its iron grasp.
The young volunteer, however, did not lose his braver
self-possession. He had first grown pale, but at once r;
his eyes to heaven as it were to offer his last sacrifice to
"Ah !
v
accursed," continued the Carbonaro, " I haven
turned in vain to this fatal city.
If I've consented to cim>.% it
was because I hoped to rejoin thee, to be ;
revenged !
coward ! die, maniac ! and may all the enemies of Taly pi
like thee !
"
Aud Maso raised his arm, and over the young Zouave's
head flashed the glittering blade of a poniaid.
But a cry of paiu and distress suddenly resounded aloi
an 1 the terrified Carbonaro let his arm fall.
path,
"Genuaro, Gennaro !" cried the voice, drawing near.
assuming a beseeching tone.
" " Who calls me ? murmured the assassin. " Who's here,
tken, that knows my name ? Who dares name Gennaro without
dreading his '' "
vengeance
Suddenly, as if iu answer to his question, a man wit'n
bevelled hair, dusty clothes and flashing eyes, emerged from
the thicket and met his gaze, arriving at the supreme moment
like a messenger of fear and justice. This man was Stefano
Nunziata's brother.
At the s ght of him the Carbonaro grew dreadfully pale,
trembled all over, as if a thunderbolt, hurled by the hand of
God, struck him.
" Stefooo," he murmured in a feeble voice, "Stefano, is it
really you ? Ho'.v did you come here ?"
" Gennaro," answered the uew-comer.
" At least I see you
still recognize me. Whatever power has guided my foot-steps,
I'm fortunately come in time to spare you a crime. Genuaro,
are all traces of that blood clinging to your hands then effaced,
that already you're thinking of soiling them with a second
murder ?"
The guilty Maso or Gennaro, for henceforward we know
him under his real name seemed totally disarmed, humiliated,
vanquished by the voice of that stranger who thus spoke so
bitterly to him. His still flashing eyes were coul'usr
averted, then fixed on the ground ; it was easy to see so
secret influence ai rested and overpowered the blind fury that
boiled iu his breast.
As to Victor, scarcely had the vigorous arm of tbe assassin
relaxed its grasp, when he fell upon his knees, thanking God
with all his heart for his sudden deliverance. Then he re-
garded with surprise the strange and unexp<
him. He could not understand by what singular chance if
indeed there was really nothing but chance in all this this unknown
liberator had appeared so suddenly, and just at the
supreme moment, nor what were the circumstances that pave
this stranger such a mysterious influence over the mind f the
assassin.
Meanwhile Stefano conversed rapidly with the Carbonaro in
a mixed dialect utterly unknown to Victor. He spoku with
evident solicitation, entreaty, and, at the same time, author-
ity which did not prevent him lowering his voice and gazing
anxiously around him, as if he feared some one iu tho depth
the thicket could have overheard him. As to Gennaro he
only murmured in an irritated undertone some words that did
not appear to calm Stefano's indignation. The latter at
length this time iu Italian, without being any longer afraid
that Victor would overhear him replied :
" Well, let it be BO, as you wish it, God knows, despite all,
I don't desire your ruin and your shame. Ouly, listen to me
and don't despise my advice. Quit Rome immediately, or <
I declare, Gennaro, nothing shall restr.-.in rne. It' tomorrow's
sun shall find you under our wall, neither the affection ti.
the laws of nature inspire me with toward.-, you, nor (
thought of the dishonor that would full on our name,
;;', all