I slung2 my gun over my shoulder, for I perceived that I should soon need both hands to assist me. As for my friend, he continued to press forward with the same easy gait, and did not appear to be at all inconvenienced by the difficult nature of the ground.
After some minutes’ climbing over rocks, aided by bushes and roots, we reached a species of platform surmounted3 by some ruined walls. These ruins were those of the Castle of Vicentello d’Istria, our destination.
In about five minutes we had climbed up to the last terrace, Lucien in advance, and as he extended his hand to assist me he said:—
“Well done, well done; you have not climbed badly for a Parisian.”
“Supposing that the Parisian you have assisted has already had some little experience in mountain scrambling5?”
“Ah, true!” said Lucien, laughing. “Have you not a mountain near Paris called Montmartre?”
“Yes, but there are others beside Montmartre which I have ascended6. For instance, the Rigi, the Faulhorn, the Gemmi, Vesuvius, Stromboli and Etna.”
“Indeed! Now I suppose you will despise me because I have never done more than surmount4 Monte Rotundo! Well, here we are! Four centuries ago my ancestors would have opened the portal to you and bade you welcome to the castle. Now their descendants can only show you the place where the door used to be, and say to you, ‘Welcome to the ruins!’ ”
“I suppose the chateau7 has been in possession of your family since the death of Vicentello d’Istria?” I said, taking up the conversation at the point at which we had dropped it previously8.
“No, but before his birth. It was the last dwelling-place of our famous ancestress Savilia, the widow of Lucien de Franchi.”
“Is there not some terrible history connected with this woman?”
“Yes; were it daylight I could now show you from this spot the ruins of the Castle of Valle. There lived the lord of Guidice, who was as much hated as she (Savilia) was beloved, as ugly as she was beautiful. He became enamoured of her, and as she did not quickly respond to his desires, he gave her to understand that if she did not accept him in a given time he would come and carry her off by force. Savilia made pretence9 of consenting, and invited Guidice to come to dinner at the castle. Guidice was overcome with joy at this, and forgetting that the invitation had only been extorted10 by menace, accepted it, and came attended only by a few body servants. The gate was closed behind them, and in a few minutes Guidice was a prisoner, and cast into a dungeon11, yonder.”
I passed on in the direction indicated, and found myself in a species of square court.
The moonlight streamed through the apertures12 time had made in the once solid walls, and threw dark and well-defined shadows upon the ground. All other portions of the ruins remained in the deep shade of the overhanging walls round about.
Lucien looked at his watch.
“Ah! we are twenty minutes too soon,” he exclaimed. “Let us sit down; you are very likely tired.”
We sat down; indeed, we extended ourselves at full length upon the grassy13 sward, in a position facing the great breach14 in the wall.
“But,” said I to my companion, “it seems to me that you have not finished the story you began just now.”
“No,” replied Lucien. “Every morning and every evening Savilia came down to the dungeon in which Giudice was confined, and then separated from him only by a grating, she would undress herself, and expose herself naked to him, a captive.’
“ ‘Giudice,’ she would say, ‘how do you expect that such an ugly man as you are can ever hope to possess all this?’
“This trial lasted for three months, and was repeated twice a day. But at the end of that period, thanks to a waiting woman whom he had bribed15, Guidice was enabled to escape. He soon returned with all his men, who were much more numerous than those Savilia could assemble, and took the castle by assault, and having first possessed16 himself of Savilia, he subsequently exposed her naked in an iron cage at the cross roads in the Bocca di Cilaccia, offering, himself, the key to any passer by who might be tempted17 to enter. After three days of this public prostitution Savilia died.”
“Well,” I said, “it seems to me that your ancestors had a very pretty idea of revenging themselves, and that in finishing off their enemies with dagger18 or gunshot their descendants have in a manner degenerated19!”
“Without mentioning that the day may come when we shall not kill them at all!” replied Lucien. “But it has not come to that yet. The two sons of Savilia,” he continued, “who were at Ajaccio with their uncle, were true Corsicans, and continued to make war against the sons of Guidice. This war lasted for four hundred years, and only finished, as you saw, by the dates upon the carbines of my parents, on the 21st September, 1819, at eleven o’clock A.M.”
“Oh, yes, I remember the inscription20; but I had not time to inquire its meaning, as just then we were summoned to supper.”
“Well, this is the explanation: Of the family of Guidice there remained, in 1819, only two brothers. Of the de Franchi family there remained only my father, who had married his cousin. Three months after that the Guidice determined21 to exterminate22 us with one stroke. One of the brothers concealed23 himself on the road to Olmedo to await my father’s coming home to Sartène—while the other, taking advantage of his absence, determined to attack our house. This plan[Pg 46] was carried out, but with a different result to what had been anticipated. My father, being warned of the plot, was on his guard; my mother, who had also got a hint of the affair, assembled the shepherds, &c., so that when the attack was made the intended victims were prepared for it—my father on the mountains, my mother in the mansion24. The consequence was that the two Guidici fell, one shot by my father, the other by my mother. On seeing his foe25 fall, my father drew out his watch and saw it was eleven o’clock. When my mother shot her assailant she turned to the timepiece and noticed that it was also eleven o’clock. The whole thing had taken place exactly at the same moment. There were no more Guidici left, the family was extinct, and our victorious26 family is now left in peace; and considering we carried on a war for four hundred years, we didn’t want to meddle27 with it any more. My father had the dates engraved28 upon the carbines, and hung the pieces up on each side of the clock, as you saw. Seven months later my mother gave birth to twins, of whom one is your very humble29 servant, the Corsican Lucien; the other, the philanthropist, Louis, his brother.”
The shadows were those of the bandit Orlandi and his friend Diamond.
At that moment the village clock of Sullacaro was heard striking nine with measured strokes.
Evidently the Orlandi was of Louis XV.’s opinion, that punctuality is the politeness of kings!
It would have been impossible to have been more exact than was that king of the mountain, with whom Lucien had appointed a meeting at nine o’clock.
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1
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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2
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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3
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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4
surmount
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| vt.克服；置于…顶上 | |
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5
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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6
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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8
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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9
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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10
extorted
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| v.敲诈( extort的过去式和过去分词 )；曲解 | |
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11
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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12
apertures
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| n.孔( aperture的名词复数 )；隙缝；（照相机的）光圈；孔径 | |
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13
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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14
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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15
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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16
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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17
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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18
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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19
degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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21
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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22
exterminate
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| v.扑灭，消灭，根绝 | |
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23
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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24
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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25
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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26
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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27
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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28
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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29
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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30
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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31
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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