A thunderstorm routed the procession, sending the candle-bearers helter-skelter into doorways1, covered alleys2, under the awnings3 of the shops. At the first flash and report of the sky’s artillery4 Andrea deserted5 his push-cart and its royal occupant. But the dauntless leader of the election district was at hand. With heroic calm he lifted the Queen in his arms and unaided carried her into the Caffè of the Beautiful Sicilian. Mulberry had but few men who could do that—she was of solid Carrara—and thoughtful voters saw in the feat6 a new mark of his fitness for political chieftainship. She was placed on a marble-top table in the corner and the crown straightened on her spotless [Pg 293]brow. All night she held court, and until the vender7 songs of the morning market were heard in the streets. Bottle after bottle joined the dead men, the rude quips and quibbles grew noisy, quarrelsome, yet no man drained a glass without first tipping it in homage8 to the snub-nosed damsel whose hollow eyes stared at every one all the time.
An hour before midnight Bertino and Armando returned to Casa Di Bello to report to Carolina the lodging9 place of the Last Lady. Hardly had the bell sounded when the door flew open, and Carolina came out, finger at lips, with a great air of mystery, and drawing to the panelled oak behind her.
“Be off at once!” she said, her voice fluttering. “Here is money. Go anywhere to-night—anywhere out of Mulberry. You, Bertino, must not come back until—until I am ready for you. If she saw you it would ruin all. Go! Ask no questions. To-morrow Armando will tell me where you are, and we shall meet. Away!”
[Pg 294]
With puzzled faces and mystified shakes of the head Armando and Bertino took themselves off, and Carolina re-entered at the moment that Signor Di Bello was mounting the staircase to his bedroom. A few minutes before he had taunted11 her with the failure of her scheme to cheat him of a wife, and proclaimed again the idiocy12 of the priest and all others who asserted that there was a bust13 or a husband of Juno. A pretty show they had made of him. All Mulberry was laughing. But his time would come. Next Sunday he would turn the tide, for she would be his in spite of them all. Carolina could do as she liked, go or stay; but a wedding there must and should be, for that alone could save his good name as a merchant and a signore.
He had spent a busy night with the flasks15 of the Three Gardens along with some choice comrades of the Genovese, and the years had told Carolina that with her brother it was always in vino veritas. Wherefore she knew that he had spoken naught16 less [Pg 295]than a secret of his heart—that a wish to wipe out the stain of ridicule17 was an added spur to his determination to marry. And this knowledge sparked an idea that keyed her cunning to its highest pitch. Without an instant’s delay she began to put the idea into practice. Her first move was to keep mum about the return of Bertino, although she had waited up to flaunt18 in her brother’s face the news that his bride’s husband would stand before him in a few minutes. But the new design that her crafty19 wits had seized upon made that petty triumph seem not worth while—at least not until the tragic20 moment she was preparing. Her next step, as we have seen, was to get Bertino out of the way. The corners of her closed mouth curved in a smile of wily content as she watched Signor Di Bello going up to his room in blank ignorance of the little society drama that was in her head.
“Good night, my dear brother,” she said. “To-morrow I will begin to make ready for the wedding.”
[Pg 296]
“Good night.”
On the morrow she gave Angelica orders to prepare a wedding feast that should be the equal of the one that had gone to Father Nicodemo’s poor. She ordered her as well to keep her mouth shut about the turning up of Bertino, and the same command she issued to Marianna. Neither the girl nor the cook was able to fathom21 the purpose of Carolina, but Marianna could not shake off a besetting22 fear that it boded23 no good for her.
It was a bright morning, and bright were the spirits of Signor Di Bello, and springy his step, as he walked to his shop in Paradise Park. To his view there was not a speck24 on the matrimonial prospect25, and he exulted26 in the promise of laughing last at those who were now laughing at him. It was the day that the proofs were to be presented to Father Nicodemo, and he chuckled27 serenely28 over the plight29 that the banker must be in.
[Pg 297]
He had gone less than a block when Armando rang the bell of Casa Di Bello, and Marianna, who had been watching for him eagerly at the window, threw open the door. Breathlessly she fell to telling him of the plans for the wedding and her consequent sense of impending30 disaster; how Carolina knew that Juno had one husband, and was helping31 her to get another! She had closed her and Angelica’s lips. What did it all mean? Something dreadful, she was sure. If Armando would only take her away. If——
The interview was cut off by the voice of Carolina, who appeared with her bonnet33 on and took charge of Armando.
“Not a word,” she admonished34 him, “about Bertino’s return or his marriage to that baggage. Mind you do not tell a living soul. My reasons you will know at the proper time. Now, lead me to the—Last Lady.”
Together they walked to the Caffè of the Beautiful Sicilian. On the threshold they [Pg 298]came face to face with the ex-banker. He was in a fine frenzy35 of indignation. At daybreak that morning he had started from what was left of the iron villa36 with a push-cart load of dandelion leaves. After visiting the rectory and making to Father Nicodemo the humiliating report that the proofs had vanished, there had come to his ear news of the marble Queen of Springtide, and the talk, current on a thousand tongues, of her strong resemblance to the Neapolitan who sang at La Scala, and whom the priest had refused to marry to Signor Di Bello. And here was the bust of which he had been robbed. Oh, the money it had cost him! One hundred and forty dollars for duty. Ah! yes; it was the cause of his ruin. But for that cursed marble he would be still a signore and one of the influential37 bankers of Mulberry. He had demanded his property, but the foreman would not surrender it until he had proved his ownership. What an outrage38! But it mattered not now, for they, Armando and Signorina [Pg 299]Di Bello, would be his witnesses. “Who well does climb is helped in time.”
“Excuse me, signore,” remarked Armando; “this bust does not belong to you.”
“No; it is mine.”
“Yours?”
“I made it.”
“You made it, eh?” the banker snapped. “Very good. But who paid for it? Eh, who paid for it? Answer that. Who paid the one hundred and forty dollars of Dogana—you or I? Give me back the duty money and you may have the infernal thing! Ugly yellow snout!”
Now, Carolina had a lively desire to possess the bust, for she needed it in the avenging40 play that she had begun to construct. Nevertheless, her Italian thrift41 had not been swamped by the wave of worldly purpose that had of late come over her churchly qualities. To pay the sum Signor Tomato asked would necessitate42 an inroad upon her savings-bank hoard43, an act to which she [Pg 300]nerved herself only in the last resort. So she exerted the might of her tongue in behalf of Armando’s claim, holding with primordial44 logic45 that the Last Lady belonged to the sculptor46 by divine right of creation. But the foreman, in his rôle of thief, custodian47 of the stolen goods, and judge in equity48, had a homelier code of ethics49 for his guide. It took him not a moment to decide. He awarded the bust to the banker on the ground that it was in his wife’s possession at the time of the theft, and must therefore belong to her husband. It was only the reductio ad maritum to which all questions are subject in Mulberry. The upshot was that in the afternoon Carolina paid the one hundred and forty dollars.
To Signor Tomato it seemed as if some fairy wand had touched the world and made it a garden of joy. Now they might take away the other pipe any time, and he did not care. His Bridget and the little Tomatoes would not be homeless. In his transport of gladness the rude life about him took on [Pg 301]a poetic50 beauty. The fragrance51 of Sorrentine orange groves52 filled the squalid streets; there was rapturous music in the shrieks53 of the parrots on the fire escapes and window sills; the raucous54 notes of the hucksters enchanted55 his ear. To dear old Mulberry he could return now and resume his proper estate of banker and signore. Long live the day in his thankfulness! Never more would he quarrel with his lot. Ah! the grand truth in the proverb, “Blind eyes lose their night when gold is in sight.” Straightway he went to the landlord, got the key of the old shop, and, when darkness had fallen, Bridget and her brood were eating cabbage soup behind the nankeen sail in the revivified Banca Tomato.
But the Last Lady was still with them, to the hearty56 disgust of Bridget. Not yet had the hour arrived for Carolina to bring the bust on the scene, and Signor Tomato, with many a word and grimace57 of reluctance58, consented, under an oath of secrecy59, to keep it in his place until the supreme60 moment. [Pg 302]Pains were taken that it should not be traced to its new biding61 place. Armando had pushed it away in a cart, taking a round-about course from the Caffè of the Beautiful Sicilian to Paradise Park. Thus it happened that when Signor Di Bello, to whose ears had come the gossip of a bust that imaged his lost bride, went to the caffè that morning to see for himself, the bird had again flown.
“Bah! Another stupid jest!” he muttered, and thrashed out of the room amid the titters of a group of Sicilians.
Soon afterward62 Juno, an unwonted air of wide-awake desire about her, entered the caffè and asked to be shown the Queen of Springtide. Before Signora Crispina, the proprietor’s peachblow wife, could answer, there came from a half dozen throats the merry chorus:
“Long live the Queen of Springtide!”
“Where is it?” Juno asked.
“She is here, signorina,” said the wit of the company, rising and tipping his hat. [Pg 303]“The lifeless Queen has just left us, but her living Majesty63 is here.—It is yourself, beautiful signorina.”
“Bah! Where is the bust?”
No one could answer. Armando was unknown in Mulberry, and only three persons—Carolina, the banker, and himself—were in the secret of his destination when he pushed away from the caffè with the Last Lady in the cart. Juno went back to her lodgings64 greatly disappointed. A dread32 had settled upon her that this marble ghost would spring up in her path somehow, and foil her plans, after the manner of all well-ordered avenging spirits. It had been her intention, when she hurried to the caffè to sound the rumour65 about the bust, to get Signor Di Bello to buy it and give it to her. Once in her hands, she would have seen to it that the thing retired66 to a safe obscurity. The bottom of the East River seemed to her a particularly fit place for Armando’s masterpiece. She doubted no longer that the bust had arrived in Mulberry, and the [Pg 304]mystery of its whereabouts gave her no peace.
But it was not so with Signor Di Bello. To the mind of the grocer, put upon so hard by recent events, the talk about the Queen’s resemblance to his lost bride appeared now as a hoax67 which had accomplished68 its purpose of drawing him to the caffè only to be laughed at. If not, where was the bust? Surely he knew his people too well to misinterpret this latest prank69. He knew. It was the first joke of a practical turn that any one had dared play on him since the blunder at the church marked him for the colony’s ridicule. And he saw therein a sure omen10 that flat insult would quickly succeed the coarse raillery. Before long women would spit at him in the street and taunting70 youngsters tag at his heels. Others that he knew of had tasted the strange persecution71. But it should not be his lot, by the tail of Lucifer! On the Feast of Sunday his marriage must silence every idle tongue. For then he would cease [Pg 305]to be that despised of all creatures, a bridegroom without a bride.
That his lively taste for Juno’s grace of person had become second to a desire to avert72 the rising gale73 of mockery, Carolina understood very well. And upon this change of his nuptial74 motive75 she rested full confidence of success for her own designs. No bar to her project showed itself until she visited Bertino, at the cheap hotel on the East Side, whither he and Armando had taken themselves. Then she found that the leading man of her drama had notions of his own about his part that would wreck76 the plot. He was for killing77 the feminine villain78 before the curtain rose. To her directions that he keep out of sight until Sunday he demurred79 vehemently80. How could he wait so long when the vendetta81 was boiling in his veins82? His wife had done him a deadly wrong, and, per Dio! deadly should be the accounting83.
“See the grand trouble she has caused to me, to my friend, and to poor Marianna!”
[Pg 306]
“To Marianna?” she asked, in genuine wonder. “What wrong has she done her?”
“Were not she and Armando to wed14 when his Presidentessa should be sold? A long time they must wait now. Thundering heavens! But she shall pay.”
“You are mistaken,” rejoined Carolina, with a note of authority. “It would have made no difference to Marianna. She was not to wed Armando in any case.”
“I know better. Anyway, I shall not sit here biting my lips until the Feast of Sunday, and perhaps be cheated of my right. Who knows when she may fly?”
“No fear of that.”
“No? Why not? I tell you she knows what to expect from me, and is no simpleton.” Then he lowered his voice to a stage whisper, first opening the door and making sure that there was no listener in the hall. “Twice I would have killed her, but once I deceived myself, and the other time she gammoned me with a lie that made me try to kill my uncle. Don’t you [Pg 307]see that I can not wait here while she may be getting away?”
“I promise you she will not leave Mulberry. Do you wish to know why? Well, it is because she thinks you have fled from America and that she is free to become your uncle’s wife. Ah! don’t you see the fine vendetta I am hatching for you? On the Feast of Sunday you appear and stop the wedding. The Neapolitan beast is kicked out of Casa Di Bello. You follow her and—claim your rights. Is it not a sweet vendetta?”
“Yes,” said Bertino after a pause. “I will wait.”
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1
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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3
awnings
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| 篷帐布 | |
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4
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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5
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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6
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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7
vender
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| n.小贩 | |
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8
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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9
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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10
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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11
taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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12
idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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13
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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14
wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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15
flasks
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| n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 ) | |
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16
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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17
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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18
flaunt
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| vt.夸耀，夸饰 | |
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19
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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20
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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21
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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22
besetting
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| adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌 | |
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23
boded
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| v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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24
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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25
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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29
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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30
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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33
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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34
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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35
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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36
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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38
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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39
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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41
thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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42
necessitate
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| v.使成为必要，需要 | |
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hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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45
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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46
sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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47
custodian
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| n.保管人，监护人；公共建筑看守 | |
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48
equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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49
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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50
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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51
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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52
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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53
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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54
raucous
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| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
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55
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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56
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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57
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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58
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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59
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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60
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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61
biding
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| v.等待，停留( bide的现在分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
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62
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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63
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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64
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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65
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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66
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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67
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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68
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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69
prank
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| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
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70
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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71
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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72
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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73
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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74
nuptial
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| adj.婚姻的，婚礼的 | |
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75
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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76
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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77
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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78
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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79
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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81
vendetta
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| n.世仇，宿怨 | |
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82
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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83
accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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