“I know not how to preface what I want to say,” Luca began, looking about him confusedly. “May I ask you, in the first place, if the work-girl named Nanina was here yesterday?”
“She was,” said the doctor.
“Did she speak in private with any one?”
“Yes; with me.”
“Then you know everything?”
“Absolutely everything.”
“I am glad at least to find that my object in wishing to see the count can be equally well answered by seeing you. My brother, I regret to say—” He stopped perplexedly, and drew from his pocket a roll of papers.
“You may speak of your brother in the plainest terms,” said the doctor. “I know what share he has had in promoting the infamous3 conspiracy4 of the Yellow Mask.”
“My petition to you, and through you to the count, is, that your knowledge of what my brother has done may go no further. If this scandal becomes public it will ruin me in my profession. And I make little enough by it already,” said Luca, with his old sordid5 smile breaking out again faintly on his face.
“Pray do you come from your brother with this petition?” inquired the doctor.
“No; I come solely6 on my own account. My brother seems careless what happens. He has made a full statement of his share in the matter from the first; has forwarded it to his ecclesiastical superior (who will send it to the archbishop), and is now awaiting whatever sentence they choose to pass on him. I have a copy of the document, to prove that he has at least been candid7, and that he does not shrink from consequences which he might have avoided by flight. The law cannot touch him, but the Church can—and to the Church he has confessed. All I ask is, that he may be spared a public exposure. Such an exposure would do no good to the count, and it would do dreadful injury to me. Look over the papers yourself, and show them, whenever you think proper, to the master of this house. I have every confidence in his honor and kindness, and in yours.”
He laid the roll of papers open on the table, and then retired8 with great humility9 to the window. The doctor looked over them with some curiosity.
The statement or confession10 began by boldly avowing11 the writer’s conviction that part of the property which the Count Fabio d’Ascoli had inherited from his ancestors had been obtained by fraud and misrepresentation from the Church. The various authorities on which this assertion was based were then produced in due order; along with some curious particles of evidence culled12 from old manuscripts, which it must have cost much trouble to collect and decipher.
The second section was devoted13, at great length, to the reasons which induced the writer to think it his absolute duty, as an affectionate son and faithful servant of the Church, not to rest until he had restored to the successors of the apostles in his day the property which had been fraudulently taken from them in days gone by. The writer held himself justified14, in the last resort, and in that only, in using any means for effecting this restoration, except such as might involve him in mortal sin.
The third section described the priest’s share in promoting the marriage of Maddalena Lomi with Fabio; and the hopes he entertained of securing the restitution15 of the Church property through his influence over his niece, in the first place, and, when she had died, through his influence over her child, in the second. The necessary failure of all his projects, if Fabio married again, was next glanced at; and the time at which the first suspicion of the possible occurrence of this catastrophe16 occurred to his mind was noted17 with scrupulous18 accuracy.
The fourth section narrated19 the manner in which the conspiracy of the Yellow Mask had originated. The writer described himself as being in his brother’s studio on the night of his niece’s death, harassed20 by forebodings of the likelihood of Fabio’s marrying again, and filled with the resolution to prevent any such disastrous21 second union at all hazards. He asserted that the idea of taking the wax mask from his brother’s statue flashed upon him on a sudden, and that he knew of nothing to lead to it, except, perhaps, that he had been thinking just before of the superstitious22 nature of the young man’s character, as he had himself observed it in the studio. He further declared that the idea of the wax mask terrified him at first; that he strove against it as against a temptation of the devil; that, from fear of yielding to this temptation, he abstained23 even from entering the studio during his brother’s absence at Naples, and that he first faltered24 in his good resolution when Fabio returned to Pisa, and when it was rumored25, not only that the young nobleman was going to the ball, but that he would certainly marry for the second time.
The fifth section related that the writer, upon this, yielded to temptation rather than forego the cherished purpose of his life by allowing Fabio a chance of marrying again—that he made the wax mask in a plaster mold taken from the face of his brother’s statue—and that he then had two separate interviews with a woman named Brigida (of whom he had some previous knowledge ), who was ready and anxious, from motives26 of private malice27, to personate the deceased countess at the masquerade. This woman had suggested that some anonymous28 letters to Fabio would pave the way in his mind for the approaching impersonation, and had written the letters herself. However, even when all the preparations were made, the writer declared that he shrank from proceeding29 to extremities30; and that he would have abandoned the whole project but for the woman Brigida informing him one day that a work-girl named Nanina was to be one of the attendants at the ball. He knew the count to have been in love with this girl, even to the point of wishing to marry her; he suspected that her engagement to wait at the ball was preconcerted; and, in consequence, he authorized31 his female accomplice32 to perform her part in the conspiracy.
The sixth section detailed33 the proceedings34 at the masquerade, and contained the writer’s confession that, on the night before it, he had written to the count proposing the reconciliation35 of a difference that had taken place between them, solely for the purpose of guarding himself against suspicion. He next acknowledged that he had borrowed the key of the Campo Santo gate, keeping the authority to whom it was intrusted in perfect ignorance of the purpose for which he wanted it. That purpose was to carry out the ghastly delusion36 of the wax mask (in the very probable event of the wearer being followed and inquired after) by having the woman Brigida taken up and set down at the gate of the cemetery37 in which Fabio’s wife had been buried.
The seventh section solemnly averred38 that the sole object of the conspiracy was to prevent the young nobleman from marrying again, by working on his superstitious fears; the writer repeating, after this avowal39, that any such second marriage would necessarily destroy his project for promoting the ultimate restoration of the Church possessions, by diverting Count Fabio’s property, in great part, from his first wife’s child, over whom the priest would always have influence, to another wife and probably other children, over whom he could hope to have none.
The eighth and last section expressed the writer’s contrition40 for having allowed his zeal41 for the Church to mislead him into actions liable to bring scandal on his cloth; reiterated42 in the strongest language his conviction that, whatever might be thought of the means employed, the end he had proposed to himself was a most righteous one; and concluded by asserting his resolution to suffer with humility any penalties, however severe, which his ecclesiastical superiors might think fit to inflict43 on him.
Having looked over this extraordinary statement, the doctor addressed himself again to Luca Lomi.
“I agree with you,” he said, “that no useful end is to be gained now by mentioning your brother’s conduct in public—always provided, however, that his ecclesiastical superiors do their duty. I shall show these papers to the count as soon as he is fit to peruse44 them, and I have no doubt that he will be ready to take my view of the matter.”
This assurance relieved Luca Lomi of a great weight of anxiety. He bowed and withdrew.
The doctor placed the papers in the same cabinet in which he had secured the wax mask. Before he locked the doors again he took out the flat box, opened it, and looked thoughtfully for a few minutes at the mask inside, then sent for Nanina.
“Now, my child,” he said, when she appeared, “I am going to try our first experiment with Count Fabio; and I think it of great importance that you should be present while I speak to him.”
He took up the box with the mask in it, and beckoning45 to Nanina to follow him, led the way to Fabio’s chamber46.
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1
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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6
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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8
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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avowing
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的现在分词 ) | |
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culled
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| v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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restitution
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| n.赔偿；恢复原状 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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21
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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abstained
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| v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票） | |
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24
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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25
rumored
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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26
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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27
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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28
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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30
extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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31
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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35
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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36
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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37
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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38
averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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39
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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40
contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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41
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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42
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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peruse
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| v.细读，精读 | |
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45
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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46
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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