Looking down upon Genoa through the blue reaches of the upper crests1 is an Apennine peak which the people, high and low, call Our Lady of the Windows. Ever mantled2 in snow, and a fit emblem3 of icy virtue4, she has for ages inspired a negative chord for that region’s lyres of passion. The princeling in his hillside palazzo sings of his dream lady—always an angel as fervid5 as the glacial Madonna is cold; the red waterman, in his moonlight barcarole, swears his love would melt that frozen heart. But she bears no kinship to this chronicle save that Signor Di Bello, on the afternoon of the pregnant Feast of Sunday, when all was primed for [Pg 315]the wedding, thus addressed his sister, who sat by a front casement6:
“Ha! my Lady of the Windows, it is time to go and fetch my bride.”
Carolina gave back only a silent nod and a closer pressure of the lips, and he made off to the Santa Lucia, crowing to himself over the timely bite of his pleasantry. Hour after hour she had been at that window watching for Bertino, ready to spring to the door and drive him away should he appear too soon. She was determined7 that the play should not be spoiled by the untimely entrance of her star actor. His cue, as agreed upon, was the exit of Signor Di Bello, but the fear had haunted her that his itching8 vendetta9 might make him forget the book. That danger was past now, and before his uncle had gone a block, Bertino was at the door. She bundled him upstairs to her sanctum, and, turning the key, left him looking out blankly on the graveyard10. “In a little while I shall call you,” she said, after explaining gravely that she locked him in [Pg 316]that his uncle might be kept out. Then she descended11 to the street door and waved her hand, a signal that brought a push-cart out of a near-by alley12, with Armando and the banker at its shafts13. Of course, their load was the Last Lady, but no eye could see her face, for Bridget had given her best and only bed coverlet to veil it. No easy task to lug14 the weighty dame15 upstairs, but they managed it without mischance, while Carolina stood by imploring16 care, and all with an ado of deepest secrecy17. At length the bust18 was set up in the back room of the second floor. In this room the bride and groom19 were to wait before going down to the parlour for the ceremony. A dressing20 case near the window answered for a pedestal. In the bright light that fell upon it the snowy features of Juno showed bold to the eye, while the mirror rendered back in softer tone her sturdy neck and shoulders. With a spotless sheet Carolina covered the bust, and with the others left the room and locked the door.
Repeated jangling of the bell and a low [Pg 317]drone in the parlour told of arriving guests. Marianna had been cast for the part of door-opener and welcomer to the first families. Armando, in the best attire21 he could muster22, had only a meditative23 rôle. Thus far he had done naught24 but sit in the parlour and exchange confident glances with Marianna whenever she ushered25 in a distinguished26 Calabriano, Siciliano, or Napolitano.
A cab bearing Signor Di Bello and Juno drew up betimes, and word was passed to Carolina. Instantly she unlocked the door that shut in Bertino, and bade him be ready for her summons. Then she called Marianna and Armando to the room where the bust was, leaving Angelica to let in the bridal pair. Up the staircase they rustled27, Juno first, her skirts held free of the yellow boots, and Signor Di Bello smiling after her with a quivering bunch of muslin roses.
“They are here,” said the guests, craning their necks and whispering. “No fiasco this time.”
[Pg 318]
“This way, signorina,” piped Carolina, with a spidery smile, stepping aside and waving her fly into the web.
They entered the room prepared for them, and Signor Di Bello regarded in wonder the white shape on the dressing case. “Soul of a camel!” he cried. “What is that?”
“A little surprise that we have for the bride,” answered Carolina, advancing and raising the window shade. “A wedding present, in fact. Eccolo!”
She drew off the veil quickly, and the Last Lady stood revealed in the streaming sunlight.
“By the Egg of Columbus!”
Every eye turned from the marble Juno to the Juno of flesh and blood. She had let fall the counterfeit28 blossoms that the signore had just placed in her hand, but gave no other token of disquiet29. A glow of admiration30 lit up her face as she gazed steadily31 at her double in stone.
“It is really beautiful,” she said calmly, [Pg 319]moving nearer. “I knew I should look well in marble.”
She passed one hand behind the bust as though to judge it by the sense of touch, but before any one could hinder she lifted it to the window sill and sent it somersaulting into the rear court. The crash brought a score of heads to the lower windows, and the guests set up a cry that disaster had again visited the wedding of Signor Di Bello.
“Infame! infame!” chorused Carolina, Armando, and Marianna when they looked out and beheld32 the Last Lady in a dozen pieces on the flagstones, while the bridegroom merely laughed, for it seemed to him a capital joke.
Juno was quick to follow her prompt action with suitable words. “You dogs of Genovese!” she said, sweeping33 the company with her flashing eyes. “Do you like the bust now? Did you think I would stand still and be made a fool of, or that I would fall down and weep?” Then, turning to [Pg 320]Carolina, “And you, Signorina Old Maid, you are a large piece of stupidity.”
“Ha! You do not like my present!” said Carolina, ready for the combat. “That is a grand pity. But, mark you, on her wedding day a married maid must be suited to her heart’s full desire. I will give you another present—yes, a present that every married maid must have. Do you guess? No? How strange!” She went into the hall and called, “Bertino!” Instantly he darted34 in and stood panting before his wife. “Here is the other present, my married maid—your husband!”
At the same moment there arose from the parlour a tumult35 of voices, and Angelica entered and said that the priest had arrived.
“Yes,” Bertino answered, glaring at Juno. “She is my wife, the viper37! She put me up to stabbing you, my uncle. She told me you annoyed her; that she did not [Pg 321]want you. But she shall pay!” he cried, waving his hand above his head. “Do you hear, you Neapolitan thief? You shall pay. After that to inferno38 with you, and may you remain there as long as it takes a crab39 to go round the world! Figlia of a priest! Wolf of——”
“Stop!” broke in Signor Di Bello. Going up to Juno, he asked mournfully, “Is he your husband?”
She answered, tossing her head: “He says so. Let him prove it.”
Signor Di Bello grasped the other end of the straw. “Ah, yes; prove it,” he roared, while Carolina smiled snugly40, for she had looked to it that the properties for this scene were not lacking.
“You want proof?” asked Bertino. “Well, it is here.” He drew a marriage certificate from his pocket.
Signor Di Bello seized the document and cast his eye over it. The disorder41 below had redoubled, and with the noisy demands for the bride and groom were [Pg 322]mingled derisive42 shouts of “Long live the Genovese bachelor!” and “Another fiasco!”
“Bah!” returned Juno, moving near to him and putting her hand on his arm. “You believe that?”
“Believe me, then, signori,” spoke45 up a strange voice, in grammatical but English-bred Italian. It was the priest from over the border of Mulberry, who had come upstairs to learn the reason of the delay and heard the last few lines of the dialogue—the priest whom Signor Di Bello had engaged because he would not meddle46. Turning to Juno he continued: “I had the honour, signora, of marrying you to this man.”
“Padre!” exclaimed Bertino, who knew him at once for the clergyman he had sought out so hurriedly at the rectory in Second Avenue that day when, to outwit his uncle—black the hour!—he had taken Juno to wife.
“I know him not,” said Juno, turning to [Pg 323]Signor Di Bello, who had dropped into a chair. But her game of bluff47 was lost. “Go!” the grocer said to her, pointing to the door.
She moved to the threshold, turned about, spat48 into the room, and said, “May you all die cross-eyed!”—a Neapolitan figure that means “Be hanged to you!” since the gallows49 bird squints50 when the noose51 tightens52. Then she rustled downstairs, mindful of her purple skirts. Bertino would have been at her heels but for Carolina, who caught his arm.
“Wait,” she whispered. “This is not the time or place.”
“No matter!” he cried, shaking off her hold. “She shall pay, she shall pay!”
The sight of Juno’s yellow boots on the staircase served to quiet the troubled parlour for a brief moment, the people thinking that the bride and groom were coming at last. But she had seen the stiletto in her husband’s eye, and was out of the door, into the waiting coupé, and driving off at high speed before the first families had wholly grasped [Pg 324]the scandalous fact. Next moment there was another flying exit, and Bertino went tearing after the carriage. This was the signal for unheard-of insults to Casa Di Bello. The men set up a sirocco of hisses53, and the women shouted mock bravoes for the twice-brideless groom. During the uproar54 Alessandro the Macaroni Presser led a push-and-grab attack on a side table heaped with the kaleidoscopic55 dainties with which Mulberry loves to tickle56 its eye as well as its gullet.
“Dio tremendo!” whimpered Signor Di Bello, the tumult downstairs assailing57 his ears. “What a disgrace! what a disgrace!”
It was Carolina’s cue, and she snapped it up. In a few quick words she unmasked the marital58 climax59 her drama was meant to produce.
“Disgrace?” she said. “What need of disgrace, my brother? Are not the guests here, is the feast not waiting, also the priest, and the bride ready?”
“The bride?”
“Yes, and one that is worth a hundred—nay,[Pg 325] a thousand—of the baggage that you have lost; the bride that I have brought you all the way from Cardinali. Hear those cattle below, how they bellow60 and stamp on your name! But my bride can shut their ugly mouths. Here is the young and sympathetic Marianna.”
She turned slightly and beckoned61 Marianna to her side, but the girl remained where she was, hand in hand with Armando.
“Bah! She is young, my brother, and does not know what she wants. Can’t you see that if you are not married at once the colony will always despise you? Never again shall you hold up your head.”
“But the people will know just the same that I have been put in a sack,” groaned Di Bello.
“Listen,” said Carolina, putting a finger beside her nose shrewdly. “Those people are fools. They will believe anything you say, if only you go before them with a bride. Let it be one of your famous jokes. A little [Pg 326]surprise you have prepared for your dear friends. Naturally, they had you betrothed63 to the wrong woman, for that was all a part of the joke. You laugh at them then. You laugh last. How silly they will feel! What merriment! Ah! they will say it is Signor Di Bello’s grandest joke!”
“By the stars of heaven, I will!” cried the grocer.—“Here, my pretty Marianna, do you wish to be a happy wife?”
“Yes,” the girl answered, nestling closer to Armando, “but—but not yours.”
The priest, looking out of the window, shook his sides.
“You must be his!” said Carolina, catching64 hold of her arm and striving to drag her away from Armando.
“She shall not!” cried the sculptor65, placing an arm about Marianna, authority in his eye and voice. “Take off your hand. No one else shall have her.”
“Bravo!” exclaimed Signor Di Bello. “Let the pigs squeal66. I am not a man to marry a girl against her will.”
[Pg 327]
Carolina’s colour ran the scale of red and white, her fingers writhed67, and her eyes set upon Armando’s curling hair. She saw the curtain ringing down on her self-serving drama, and the cherished dénouement left out. In her fury she would have tested the roots of the sculptor’s locks, but the priest stepped between them, and raised his hand.
“Signorina,” he said, his voice a distinct note of calm above the storm below, “if you sincerely desire to save your brother from the contempt of his neighbours it may be done better by the union of these young hearts than by tearing them asunder68. Let us consider. You speak of the merry jest.” Here the good man’s eyes twinkled his zest69 in the wholesome70 trick to be played. “Would it not be a greater joke if the people found that they had betrothed not alone the wrong bride, but the wrong groom as well; in fact, had come to the marriage of one couple only to find another walk into the parlour with the priest?”
[Pg 328]
For a moment no one caught his meaning. Then he went on, with equal countenance71: “What I mean is that you silence the tongue of scandal by having a wedding at once, with this pair of turtle-doves as the bride and groom.”
“Bravo!” Signor Di Bello whooped72, grasping the priest’s hand. “Indeed a famous joke. I will tell them that it was all fun about my getting married; that it was to be my foster niece and her sweetheart all the time. Ah, the side-splitting joke!”
“Come, then,” said the priest, without waiting for Carolina’s approval; and the joyous73 Armando and Marianna, with Signor Di Bello last in the procession, followed him to the parlour.
Carolina did not go downstairs, but turned into her sanctum, and with flooding eyes looked out on San Patrizio’s graveyard. She heard the muffled74 outburst of wonder that greeted the bridal twain in the parlour, and alert was her ear to the growing quiet that became silence when the priest began [Pg 329]the nuptial75 rites76. Soon the merriment of the feast rang beneath her feet. Plainly the lying joke was a great success. Ah! what a fine vendetta it would be to go down there and tell them all the truth—even now while her brother was cracking walnuts77 on his head and making the table roar! But no; of strife78 she was weary. She longed for peace—for the peace that lay beyond that gray forest of mortuary shafts; the peace beyond that rectory door, to which the latch79 string beckoned and a soft voice, clear above the revelry, seemed calling: “Perpetua, perpetua, riposo, pace.”
When Armando, with one hundred dollars in his pocket—the grateful tribute of Signor Di Bello—went to Banca Tomato to buy two second-class tickets for Genoa, the banker led him behind the nankeen sail—sewed together again by Bridget—and whispered that Bertino would be on the same ship in the steerage.
“Did she pay?” asked the sculptor.
[Pg 330]
“No, not all: a cut on the cheek; a clumsy thrust, dealt in a dark alley, where he waited for her all night. But mark you, the fool wanted to stay, to go back—to make her pay more—to pay all. He is not satisfied; and in truth I do not blame him. She ought to pay all.”
“Si—all.”
“But how could he go back to her, where a dozen man-hunters are waiting? They have been here, the loons, to see if he bought a ticket. They will not find him. He will stay where he is until—until it is time to go on the ship. Ah, my friend, it was grand trouble to make him do this. He was for going back to her—to the man-hunters. But I gave him the light of a wise proverb, and he saw: Better an egg to-day than a hen to-morrow.”
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1
crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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mantled
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| 披着斗篷的，覆盖着的 | |
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emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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fervid
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| adj.热情的；炽热的 | |
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6
casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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9
vendetta
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| n.世仇，宿怨 | |
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graveyard
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| n.坟场 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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12
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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13
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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14
lug
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| n.柄，突出部，螺帽；(英）耳朵；（俚）笨蛋；vt.拖，拉，用力拖动 | |
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15
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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18
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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19
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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20
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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21
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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22
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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23
meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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24
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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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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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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29
disquiet
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| n.担心，焦虑 | |
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30
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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31
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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32
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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33
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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34
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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35
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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36
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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37
viper
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| n.毒蛇；危险的人 | |
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inferno
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| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
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crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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40
snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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41
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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42
derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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43
crunching
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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44
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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45
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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46
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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47
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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48
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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49
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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50
squints
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| 斜视症( squint的名词复数 )； 瞥 | |
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51
noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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52
tightens
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| 收紧( tighten的第三人称单数 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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53
hisses
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| 嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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54
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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55
kaleidoscopic
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| adj.千变万化的 | |
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56
tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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57
assailing
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| v.攻击( assail的现在分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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58
marital
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| adj.婚姻的，夫妻的 | |
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59
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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60
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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61
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
recoiling
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| v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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63
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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64
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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66
squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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67
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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71
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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72
whooped
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| 叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 )； 高声说； 唤起 | |
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73
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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74
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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nuptial
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| adj.婚姻的，婚礼的 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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77
walnuts
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| 胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木 | |
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78
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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