Newspaper Page Text
FOURTH PAGE
THE SUtiXY SOUTH
JULY IS, 1905.
&f)e Long' Night ^ ^ By Stanley J Weyman ^ ^
Author: “Under the lied Robe,"
'A Gentleman of France
r The House of the Wolf.
ILENCE! Silence again:
What were they doing?
Claude, full of suspicion,
turned slowly to see what
It meant; turned to learn
what it was on which the
greedy eyes of his table-
fellow were fixed so In
tently. And now he saw,
more or less. The stour
man and Grio had thei' -
don’t understand. What Is this? I^ist t derstand our humors. He will come to
night ” j them in time, in time,” liis voice almost
"I want not to rake up bygones if you fawning, '•and see that we
will let them be.” Claude answered with
a sulky air half assumed. ”lt was you
who attacked me.”
“You puppy!” Grio roared. “Do you
think •” ,
“Enough!” Basterga said again: and | more and more puzzled by the change in
his eyes, leaving the young man fixed j Basterga. s manner. Was the big man a
themselves on his companion. "I
mean no
harm. Did I understand,” he continued,
| addressing Claude directly, “that your
father knew Messer Blondel?”
“Who is now Syndic? My uncle did.”
Claude answered, rather curtly. He was
gin to understand.” he murmured, his
heads together and their! voice low, but not the less menacing
faces bent over the girl’s j for that, or for the cat-like purr in it.
hand, which the former
them, however, Claude
held. On
scarcely bestowed a glance. It was the
girl’s face which caught and held Ills
eyes, nay, made them burn. Had it
“I begin to comprehend. This is one of
your tricks, Messer Grio. One of the
clever tricks you play in your cups!
Some day you’ll do that in them wi.’l—
No!” repressing the bully as he attempted
to rise. “Have done now and let
blushed, had it showed white, he had! understand. The Bible and Hand, < 1.
•Twa.fl there, I suppose, you and this
borne the thing more lightly, he had
understood it better. But her face
showed dull and apathetic; as she stood
looking down at the men, suffering them
to do what they would with her hand,
a strange passivity was Us sole expres
sion. When the big man (whose name
Claude learned later was Bnsterga), af
ter Inspecting the palm, kissed it with
mock passion, and so surrendered it to
Grio. who also pressed his coarse old tips
to it, while the young man beside Claude
laughed—no change came over her. Re
leased she turned again to the hearth.
youth met. and
“Quarrelled,”
“That Is all.”
“And you followed him hithci .
“No, 1 did not.”
“No? Then how come you here?" has-
terga asked, liis eyes still watchful, “lu
this house, I mean? Eh?
to find.’
:aid Claude sullenly.
•Tis not easy
poltroon whom the bold front shown to
Grio brought to heel? Or was there some,
thing behind, some secret upon which his
words had unwittingly touched?
"11c is a good man,” Basterga said.
"And of the first in Geneva. His brother,
too, who is Procureur General. The**’
■father died for the state, and the sons,
tin- Syndic in particular, served with high
honor in the late war. Savoy lias no
stouter foe than Philibert Blondel, nor
Geneva a more devoted son.” And he
drank as if lie drank a toast to them.
Claude nodded.
"A man of great parts, too. Probably
you will wait on him?”
“Next week. I was near waiting on
him after another fashion,” Claude con
tinued rather grimly. “Between him and
yo-ur friend there,” with a glance at Grio,
who lrud relapsed into a moody glaring
My father lodged here.” Claude vouch- | " kC l ° m ° re 8yves
safed. And he shrugged iiis shoulders,
thinking that with that, the matter was
clear.
continued to eye him with
But Basterga
'That is it
lmpassive. And Claude, his heart beat- J s ,, met ning that was not far removed from
Ing, recognized that this was the hun- 1
dredth performance; that so far from
being a new thing it was a thing so o’d
as to be staled to her, moving her lees,
though there were insult and derision
In every glance of the men's eyes, than
it moved him.
And noting this he began in a dim way
to understand. This was the thing which
Tissot had not been able to bear; which
in the end had driven the young man
Tli e big man laughed. “Our friend here
has served the state,” he remarked, "and
does what another may not. Come, Messer
Grio,” lie continued, clapping him on the
shoulder, as lie rose from his heat. "\\ e
have sat long enough. If the young
ones will not stir, it becomes the old
lim ‘s to set an example. Will you to
while { m - v room and view the precipitation of
which i told you?’’
*“?'io gave a snarling assent, and got
cord I tu his feet; and the party broke up with
■with the small chin from the house, j i had not had a letter for him.
suspicion. “Oh.'’ he said,
is it? Your father lodged here. And the
Syndic—Blondel, was it you said? How
comes In' into it? Grio was prating of
him, 1 suppose?” For an instant
lie waited the answer to the question, ills |
eyes shrank again to pin-points.
"He came in and found us i
play ” Claude answered. ”Or just fall- D ° more wor ”'- Claude took his cap
ing to it. And though iheTault was not 1 and prepared to withdraw, well content
mine, he would have sent me to prison if
Oh!'’ And then returning with a
manifest effort to the tone and manner of
a few minutes be £ ire.
This was the pleasantry to which his
feeble, resistance, his outbursts of anger,
of jealousy, or ..f protest had but added
piquancy, the ultimate sting of pleas
ure to the jaded palate of the perform
ers. This was the obsession under which
she lay, the trial and persecution which I
she had warned him lie would find it j he hummed. “1 doubt if such manners
hard to witness. j will be appreciated in Geneva, young
Hard? lie believed her. trifling as was! man,” and furtively lie wiped his brow,
the thing ho had seen. For behind it j "To old stagers like my friend here wh
“Impiger, Iraeundus, Inexorabilis acer
Jura neget sibi nata, nibil non arroget
armis,**
■he had a glimpse of other and worse
things, and behind ail of some shadowy
brooding mystery which compelled her
to suffer and forbade her to complain.
What that was he could not conceive,
what it could be he could not conceive;
has given his proofs of fidelity to the
state, some indulgence is granted—”
“t see that,'’ Claude answered with
sarcasm.
"I am saying it. But you, if you vCT*
not be warned, will soon find or make the
nor had he long to consider the que«- j town .too hot for you.’
tion. He found the shifty eyes of his j “He will find this house too hot for
table-fellow fixed upon him, and, though J him!" growled his companion, who had
the moment Ills own eyes met them taey
were averted, he fancied that they sped
a glance of intelligence to the table be
hind him, and he hastened to curb, if
not his feelings, at least the show of
them. He had his warning. It was not
as Tissot he must act if he would help
her, but more warily, more patiently,
biding her time, and letting the blow,
when the time came, precede the word.
Unwarned he had acted, it is probib.e,
as Tissot had acted, weakly and storrn-
lly: warned, lie had no excuse if he
failed her. Young as he was he saw
this. The fault lay with him if he made
the position worse instead of better.
Whether, do what he would. Ills feel
ings trTade themselves known—for the
shoulders can speak, and eloquently, on
occasion—or the reverse was the case,
and his failure' to rise to the bait dis
appointed the tormentor, the big man
Basterga presently resumed the attack.
"Tissotius pereat, TIssotianus adest!”
■he muttered with a sneer. “But perhaps,
young sir, Latinity is not one of your
subjects. The tongue of the Immortal
Cicero ”
“I speak it a little,” Claude answered
quietly. "It were foolish to approach
the door of learning without the key."
“Oh, you are a wit, young sir! Well,
with your wit and your Latinity can you
construe this:
*• ’Stultitiam expeJlas, furca tamen usqu
recurret
Tissotius perin terque quarter qui
redit!’ ”
“I think so.” Claude replied gravely.
“Good, if it please you! And the mean
ing ?”
“Tissot w'as a fool, and you are an
other!” the young man returned. “Will
you now solve me one, reverend sir,
with.all seamisslon?”
“Said and done!" the big man answerei
disdainfully.
made, more than one vain attempt to
assert himself. “And that today! To
day! Perdition, 1 know him now,” lie
continued, fixing Ills blood-shot eyes or.
the young man, "and if he crows here
as he crowed last night, his comb snail
be cut, and as well soon as late, foi
there will be no living with him! There,
don’t hold me, man! Let me at him!”
Ainl he tried to rise.
“Fool, have done!" Basterga replied,
still restraining him, but only by the
exertion of considerable force. And then
in a lower tone, but one partially audi
ble, “Do you want to draw the eyes
of all Geneva this way?” he continued.
“Do you want the house marked and
watched and every gossip's tongue wag
ging about it? You did harm enough last
night, 1 11 answer, and well if no worse
comes of it! Have done, I say, or l
shall speak, you know to whom!”
“Why does he come here? Why does
he follow me?” the sot complained.
“Cannot you hear that his father lodged
here?”
"A lie!" Grio cried vehemently. "lie is
spying on us! First a; th e ‘Bible and
Hand’ last night, and then here! It is
you who are the fool. man. Let me go!
Let me at lilm, I sayT”
“I shall not!” the big man answered
firmly. And he whispered in the other's
ear something wiii.-ii Claude could not
catch. Whatever it was it cooled Gilo's
rage. He ceased to struggle, nodded
sulkily and sat back. He stretched out
his. hand, took a long draught, and hav
ing emptied his jug, “Here's Geneva!”
he said, wiping his lips with the air of
a man who had given a toast. “Only
don't let him' cross me! That is all.
Where is the wench?”
“She litis gone upstairs," Basterga an
swered with one eye. on Claude. He
seemed to be unable to shake off a se
cret doubt of him.
“Then let her come down,” Grio an
swered with a grin, half drunken, half
with himself and the line he had taken.
But lie did not leave the house until
liik ears assured him that the two who
had ascended i*ne stairs together had
actually repaired to Basterga’s- room on
the first floor, and there shut themselves
up.
CHAPTER IV.
Caesar BasttAga.
Had it been Claude H- rcier’s eye in
place of 1 is ear which attended the two
men to the upper room, he would have
remarked—perhaps with surprise, since
lie had gained some knowledge of Grio’s
temper—that in proportion as- they mount
ed the staircase, the toper's crest dropped,
and his arrogance ebbed away; until
at the door of Basterga's chamber, it
was but a sneaking and awkward man
who crossed the threshold.
Nor was the reason far to seek. What-:
ever the standpoint of the two men in
public, their relations to one another in
private were delivered up. stamped ar.d
sealed, in that moment of entrance.
While Basterga, leaving the other to
close the door, strode across the room
to the window and stood gazing out, his
very back stern ar.d contemptuous, Grio
fidgeted and frowned, waiting with ill-
cuncealed penitence, until the other!
chose to address him. At length Bas-
“It will not be the first time Geneva
cloak has covered Genoa velvet!”
“Velvet!” Basterga repeated with a
sneer. "Rags rather!” And then more
quickly, “But that Is not all, nor the
half. Do you think Blondel, who is on
the point, Blondel, who will a.nd will
r.ut and on whom all must turn, Blondel
the upright, the impeccable, the patri
otic, without whom we can do nothing,
and who, I tell you, hangs in the bal
ance—do you think he likes it, block
head? Or is the more inclined to trust
his life with us when he sees us brawl-
larn, toss-pots, cpmmion swillers? Do
you think he on whom I am bring-
inf to bear all the resources of '
brain—this!”—and again the big man
tapped his forehead with tragic earnest
ness—“and whom you could as much
move to side with us as you could move
yonder peak of the Jura from its base—
do you thiiii? lie will' deem better of our
part for tlntsT*
“Well, not."
“No! No, a thousand times!”
“But I count drunk tne same as sober
for that!” Grio cried, plucking up spirit
and speaking with a gleam of defiance in
his eye. “For 7? is my opinion that
you have no more chance of moving
him than I have! And so to be plain
you have **, Messrs Basterga. For how
are you going} to move him? Willi
what? Tell me that!”
"Ah!”
"With money?” Grio continued with a
fluency which showed that he spoke on
a subject to which lie had given much
thought, "lie is rich and ten thousand
crowns would not buy him. -»nd the
Grand Duke, much as tie craves Geneva,
will not spend over boldly.”
“No, I shall not move him with
money."
“With power and rank, then? Will the
Grand Duke make him Governor of Ge
neva? No, for lie dare not trust him.
And less than that, what is it to Syndic
Blondel, whose word touay is all but
law lu Geneva?”
“No, nor with power,” Basterga an
swered quietly.
“Is it with revenge, then? There are
men 1 know who love revenge. But ue
Is not of the south, and at such a risk
revenge were dearly bought.”
“No, nor with revenge,” Basterga re
plied.
“A woman, then? For that is all that
is left,” Grio rejoined in triumph. Once
lie had spoken out, Tie had put himself
on a level with his master; he had
worsted hint, or he was much mistaken.
“Perhaps, from tub way you have played
with the little prude below, it is a wom
an. But they are plenty, even in Gene
va, and he is rich and old.”
“No. nor with i woman.”
“Then with what?”
“With this!” Basterga replied. And
for the third time, drawing himself up
to his full height, he tapped Ills brow,
"Do you doubt its power?”
For answer Grio shrugged his shoul
ders, his manner sullen and contemptu
ous.
“You do?”
I don't see how it works, Messer Bas
terga turned, and his gleaming eyes, his j terga,” the veteran muttered. “I say
moon-face pale with anger, withered his ! not you have not good wits. You have,
companion. j I grant it. But the best of wits must
“Again! Again!” he growled—it seem- ! have their means and method. It is not
ed he dare not lift his voice. "Will you i by wishing and willing—”
•never be satiefiod until we are broken j “How know you that.’
on the wheel? You dog, you! The soon- j “Eh?”
er you are broken the better, were that j “How know you that?” Basterga re-
| all! Ay, and were that ail, I could i pealed with sudden energy, and he shook j “Ay, but the lead is the poor Alchem-
| watch the bar fan with pleasure! But I a massive finger before the other s eyes. J . f ^ who gets gold from his patron by
: do you think I will see the fruit of years | "But how know you anytiling, he con- And the gold is the poor fool
i of planning, do you think that I will j tinued with disdain, as he dropped the 1
see the reward of this brain—this! this
•for it was no common room, either in
aspect or furnishing. It boasted, it is
true, none of the weird properties, the
skull and corpse-lights, dead hands, and
waxen masks with which the necroman
cer of that <Jay sought to impress the
vulgar mind. But in place of these a
multitude of objects, quaint, curious or
valuable, tilled that half of the room
which was farther from the fire-hearth..
On the waif, flanked by a lute and some
odd-looking rubrical calendars, were
three or four silver discs, engraved with
the signs of the Zodiac; these were hung
in such a position as to catch the light,
which entered through the heavily lead
ed casement. On the window seat below
them a pile of Plan.tins and Elzevirs
threatened to bury a steel casket. On
the table several rolls oF vellum and
papyrus, peeping From metal cylinders,
leant against- a row of brass-bound fo
lios. A handsome fur covering masked
the truckle bed, but this, too, bore its
share of books, as did two or three
long trunks covered with stamped and
gilded leather which stood against the
wall and were so long that the ladfes
of The day had the credit of hiding their
gallants in them. On stools lay more
books, and yet more books, with a med
ley of other things: a silver flagon, ana
some weapons, a chessboard, an en
ameled triptych and the like.
In a word, this half of the room wore
the aspect of a library, low-roofed and
richly furnished. The other half, partly
divided from it by a curtain, struck the
eye differently., A stove of peculiar
fashion, equipped with a powerful bel
lows', cumbered the hearth; and befjre
this on a. long table were ranged a pro
fusion of phials and retorts, glass ves
sels of odd shapes, and earthen pots.
Crucibles and alembics stood in the ashes
before the stove, and on a sideboard
placed under the window were scattered
a set of silver scales, a chemist's mask,
and a number of similar objects. Cards
bearing abstruse calculations hung
everywhere on the walls; and over tn»
fireplace, inscribed in gold and black
letters, the Greek weird “EUREKA’*
was conspicuous.
The existence of such a room in the
quiet house in the Corraterie was lit'le
suspected oy the neighbors, and if known
would have struck them with amazement.
To Grio its aspect was familiar; but in
this case familiarity had not removed
his awe of the unknown and the magi
cal. He looked about him now. and
after a pause,
“I suppose you do it—with these,” he
murmured, and with an almost imper
ceptible shiver he pointed to the cruci
bles.
“With lho.se?” Basterga exclaimed, and
had the other ascribed supernatural vir
tues to the cinders or the hellows he
could not have thrown greater scorn
into his words. "Do you think I ply this,
base mechanic art for aught bu! to
profit by the ignorance or the vulgar?
Or think by pots and pans and mixing
vile substances to nun ko this, which
by nature is this, into that which by na
ture it is not! I, a scholar? A scholar’
No. I tell you, there v«ss never alchemist
yet could .ransmute but one thing—
poor into rich, rich Into poor!”
“But,” Grio murmured with a look
and in a voice of disappointment, “is not
that the true transmutation which a
thousanu have died seeking, and one
here and there, It is rumored has- found?
From lead to gold, Messer Basterga?”
Morus, the Englishman, was the right I place. a clay figure of Minerva set up
arm of a king. And I, Caesar Basterga I in another, completed the picture,
of Padua, bred in the pure Latinity of j His next proceeding was less intelligl-
our Master Manucius, yield to none of j b’®- He unearthed from the pile of
these. Yet am I, If I would live, forced I duodecimos on the window seat the steel
to stoop ‘ad vulgus capbtindum!' I must j casket which has been mentioned. It
kneel that i may rise! I must wade was about 12 inches long and as many
through the mire of this base pursuit J V'lrte; and as deep as it was broad,
that r may reach the. firm ground of j Wrought in high^relhrf on the front ap-
wealth and learned ease. But think you j an
elaborate representation .,f
Christ healing the sick; on each end.
below a massive ring, appeared a sim
ilar design. The box had a.n appear
ance of strength out of proportion to its
size; and was furnished with two locks,
protected and partly hidden by tiny
shields.
„ ... Basterga handling it gently polished it
hould supply me for life, once P< r- j q whIle with a cIo h , and then bearing
.’t to the inner end of the room he
that I am the dupe of the art wherewith
I dupe others? Or, that once I have
my foot on firm ground I will stoop
again to the things of matter and tense.
No, by Hercules!” the big man continued,
his eye kindling, his form dilating. “This
scheme once successful, this feat that
formed, Caesar Basterga of I’adua will
know" how to add, to those laurels which
he has already gained,
“ ‘The bays of Seala and the wreath of
More,
Erasmus’ palm and that which Lipsius
wore.’ ”
And in a kind of frenzy of enthusiasm
tlie scholar fell to pacing the floor, now
and again mouthing hexameters, now
and again spurning with his foot a not
or an alembic which had the ill luck
to lie in his patch. Grio watched him
and watching him, grew only more puz
set it on a bracket beside the hearth
This place was evidently made for it.
for on either side of the bracket hung
a steel chain and padlock; with whioii.
and the rings, the scholar proceeded to
j secure the casket to the wall. This
' done, he stepped back and contem
plated the arrangement with a smile oi
c. ntemptous amusement.
"It is neither so large as the florae
oi Troy,” be murmured complacently,
“nor so small as the Wafer that pur
chased Paris. It is neither so deep as
I hell, nor so high as heaven, nor so
craftily fastened a wise man may not
open it, nor so strong a fool may not
zied—and more puzzled. He could h.iv
understood a moral shrinking from the j “mash 'V” But it may suffice. Messer
enterprise on which they were ynt i < m- j,j on( i e l is no Solomon, and may swal-
barked—the betrayal of ti ■ city lh.it yn i . j ow this as well as another thing. In
“Nee volueres plumae faciunt nee I brutal, “and make her show sport. Here,
cuspls Achlllem! Construe me that thPi
if you will!"
Basterga shrugged Ills shoulders. “Fine
leathers, do not make fine birds,” he
Said. “If you apply it to me.” he con
tinued with a contemptuous face—"I ”
“Oh, no. to your company," Claude an
swered. Self-control comes hardly to *he
Doling, and he had already forgotten hts
foie. “Ask him what happened last
night at the ‘Bible and Hand,’ he con
tinued, pointing to Grio, “and how h.
Stands now with his friend the Syndic!”
"The Syndic?”
“The Syndic Blondel!”
The moment the words had passed hi?
41 ps, Claude repented. He saw that he
had struck a note more serious than he
Intended. The big man did not move,
but over his fat face crept a watching
expression; he was startled. His, eyes,
reduced almost to pin-points, seemed for
an Instant the eyes of a cat about to
aprlng. The effect was so plain that it
bewildered Claude; and so far diverted
his attention from Grio. the real target,
that when the bully, who had listened
atupidly to the exchange of wit, prove 1
by a brutal oath his comprehension of
the reference to himself, the young man
scarcely heard him.
“The Syndic Blondel?” Basterga mut
tered after a pregnant pause. “What
know you of him, pray?"
Before the young nfan could answer.
Orio broke in. “So you have followed
*ne here, have you?” he cried striking his
tug on the table and glaring across the
board at the offender. "You weren't
Content to esoape last night It seems.
Kow ”
"Enough!" Basterga muttered, the
keen expression of his face unchanged.
“Softly! Softly! Where are we? I
You there," to the young man who shared
Claude's table, "call her down and—’’
"Sit still!" Basterga growled, and he
trod—Claude was almost sure of it—on
the bully's foot. "It is too late, and these
young gentlemen should be at their
themes. Theology, young sir,” he
turned to Claude with the slightest shade
of over-civility in his pompous tone, “like
the pursuit of the Alcahest, which some
call the Quintessence of the Elements,
allows no rival near its throne!’’
"I attend my first lecture tomorrow,"
Claude answered drily. And he kept his
seat. His face was red and his hand
trembled. They would call her down for
their sport, would they! Not in liis pres,
ence, nor again In his absence, if he
could avoid it.
Grio struck the table. “Call her down!”
he ordered in a tone which bestruyed
the lnlluence of his last draught. “Do
you hear!” And lie looked fiercely at
Louis Gentilis i the young man who sat
opposite Claude.
But Louis only looked at Basterga and
grinned.
you brainless idiot, who know not what
a brain is—” and he tapped his brow
repeatedly with an earnestness almost '
grotesque—“do you think that I will see i
this cast away, because you swill, swine j
that you are! Swill, and prate in your
cups!”
’"'Fore God. 1 said nothing!” Grio
whined. “I said nothing! It was. only
that he would nut drink and 1 ”
“Made him?"
“No, he would not, I say, and we were
coming to blows. And then ”
“He gave back, did he?"
“No, Messer Blondel came in.”
Caesar Basterga stretched out his huge
arms. “Fool! Fool’. Fool!” he hissed,
with a gesture of despair. “There it is!
And Blondel, who should have sent you
to the whipping post, or out of Geneva,
has to cloak you! And men ask why,
and what there is between our most up
right Syndic, and a drunken, orag-
ging •’’
"Softly,” Grio muttered with a flash
of sullen resentment. “Softly, Messer
Basterga! I ”
“A drunken, swilling, pirating pig!”
the other persisted. “A broken soldier
living on an hour of chance service?
Boor, man.” with contempt, "do not
threaten me! Do you think that J do
not know you more than half craven?
The lad below there would cut vour
comb yet, did I suffer it. But that is
not the point. The point is that you
must needs advertise the world that you
and the Syndic, who has charge of the
walls, are hail-fellows, and tne world
will ask why! Or he must deal with
you as you deserve and out yon go
from Geneva’”
“Per Bacco! I am not the only sol-
dicr,” Grio muttered, “who rufffles it
here!”
“No! And is not that half our battle?”
Basterga rejoined, gazing on him with
massive scorn. "To make use of them
and their grumbling, and their distaste
for the Venerable Company of Pastors
who rule us! Such men are our tools;
but tools only, and senseless tools, for
Geneva won for the Grand Duke, and
And Basterga, It was plain, was not in what will they be the better, save in the
the mood to amuse himself. Whatever i way of a little more license and a lit-
the reason, the big man was no longer He more drink? But for you I had
at his ease in Mereier’s company. Some
unpleasant thought, some suspicion, born
of the incident at the "Bible and Hand,”
continued to rankle in his mind, and,
something better! Is the little farm in
Piedmont not wortli a month's absti
nence? Is drink-money for your old
age. when else you must starve or stab
strive as he would, betrayed its pres- ! in the purlieus of Genoa, not worth one
ence in thA. tone of his voice and the j month's sobriety? But you must r.eeda
glance of his eye. He was uneasy, nor | for the sake of a single night's debauch
could he hide his uneasiness. To the) ruin me and get yourself broken on the
look which “Genlliis shot at him he re
plied by one which imperatively bade the
young man keep Ills seat. And “Enough
fooling for today,” he said, and stealthi
ly he repressed Grlo's resistance.
“Enotfih! Enough! I see that ’the
young gentleman does not altogether un
wheel!”
Grio shrank under hie eye. “There is
no harm done,” lie muttered at las’
“Nobody suspects what is between us.”
“Hpw do you know that?” came the
retort. “What? You think it is natural
Blondel should favor such as you?”
hand again, and turned on his heel,
“dolt, imbecile, rudiment that you are.'
Ay, and blind to boot, for it was but the
other day I worked a miracle before
you, and you learned nothing from it.”
“It is no question of miracles,” the
other muttered doggedly. "But of how
you will persuade the Syndic Blonaei
to betray Geneva to Savoy!”
“Is it so? Then tell me this: the
girl below who smacked your face a
month back because you laid a hanu
upon her wrist, and who would have
had you put to the Hoor the same -ay
—how did I tame her? Can you answer
me that?”
GrlcVs face fell remarkably. ,.o, mas
ter,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. ' 1
grant it. I cannot. A wilder filly was
never handled.”
"So! And yet I tamed her. and she
suffers you! She's sport for us with.n
bounds. Yet do you think she likes it
when you paw her hand or lay your
dirty arm about her waist, or steal a
kiss? Think you the blood mounts and
ebbs for nothing? Or the tears rise and
the lfp trembles and the limbs shake
for sheer pleasure? 1 tell you, if eyes
could slay, you had breathed your last
some weeks ago.”
“1 know," Grio answered, nodding
thoughtfully. “I have wondered and
wondered, ay, many a time, how you
did It.”
“Yet I did it? You grant that?”
“Yes.”
“And you do not understand—with
what?”
Grio shook his head.
“Then why mistrust me now, block-
liy.id," the other retorted, “when I say
that as I charmed her, I can charm
Blondel? Ay, and more easily. You
know not how 1 did the one, nor how
I shall do the other,” the big man con
tinued. "But what of that?” And in
a louder voice, and witli a gusto wh.ch
showed ho* genuine was his delight in
tlie meter—
“Pauci quos aequus amavit
Jupiter aut ardens evex.it afl aethera
virtus
Dis geniti potuere.”
he mouthed. “But that,” he added, look
ing scornfully at his confederate, “is
Greek to you!”
Grlo's altered aspect, his crestfallen air
owned the virtue of the argument if not
of the citation; whioh he did not und?r-
stand. He drew a deep breath. “Per
Bacco,” he said, “If you do do it, Messer
Basterga—”
“1 shall do It,” Basterga retorted, if
you do not spoil all with your drunken
tricks!”
Grio was silent a moment, sunk plain
ly in refiection. Presently his blood
shot eyes began to travel respectful!’-
and even timidly over the objects about
him. In truth, the room in which he
found himself was worthy of inspection,
who finds him in his living, and being
sucked, turns to lead! There you have
your transmutation.”
"Yet ”
“There is no yet!”
“But Agrippa,” Grio persisted, “Cor
nelius Agrippa, who sojourned here in
Geneva and of whom, master, you speak
daily—was he not a learned man?”
"Ay. even as I am!” Caesar Basterga
answered, swelling visibly with pride.
“But constrained, even as I am to p'y
the baser trade and stoop to that we
see and touch an . smell! Faugh! What
lot more cursed than to quit the pure
ether of Latinity for the lower reglm
of matter? And in place of cultivating
the 'iiterae humaniores,’ which is the
true cultivation of the mind, and sets a
man, mark you, on a level with princes,
to stoop to handle virgin milk and
dragon’s blood, as they style their v.'le
mixtures; or else grope in dead men’s
bodies for the thing which killed them.
Which is a pure handicraft and chirui-
gcon, unworthy a scholar, who stoops
of right to naught but the goose-quill!’
And yet, master, by these same things
"Men grow rich,” Basterga cried witn
a sneer, “and get power? Ay. and the
bastard sits in the chair of the legiti
mate; and pure learning goes bare while
the seekers after the Stone and the
Elixir (who, in these days, are descend
ing to invent even lesser things and
smaller advantages that in the learned
tongues have not so much as names)
grow in princes’ favor and draw on their
treasuries' But what says Seneca? ‘It
is not the office of Philosophy to teach
men to use their Jj;inds. The object of
her lessons is to form the soul and the
■taste.’ And Aldus. Manucius, vir doc-
tissimus, inagister noster,” here he
raised his hand to his head ias if he
would uncover, “says also the same,
but in a Latinity more pure and trans
lucent, as is his custom.”
Grio scratched his head. The other's
veTIemence whether he sneered or prais
ed, flew high above his. dull understan.!-
ing. He had his share of the reverence
for learning which marked the ignorant
of that age, but to what better end, he
pondered stupidly, could learning be di
rected than to the discovery of ’hat
which ?.. hst 1hake Its owner the most
enviable of mortals, the master of wealth
and youth and pleasure! It was not to
this, however, that he directed his. ob
jection: the argumentum ad hominenj
came more easily to him. “But you do
this?” he said, pointing to the parapher
nalia about the stove.
“Ay,” Basterga rejoined with vehem
ence. ’’And why, my friend? Because
the noble rewards and the considera'ion
which former times bestowed on learning
are today diverted to barer pursuits!
Erasmus was the friend of princes, and
the corespondent of kings. Della Soala
was the companion of Jan Emperor,
them shelter. He could have understood
—he hud superstition enough—a moral
distaste for alchemy and those practices
of the black art which his mind con
nected wtlh it. But this superiority of
the scholar, this aloofness, not from the
treachery, but from the handicraft, war.
beyond him. And for that reason it im
posed on him the more.
Not the less, however, was he impor
tunate to know wherein Basterga trust
ed. To rave of Scholarship and Scaligor
was one thing, to bring Blondel into the
plot v hich was to transfer Geneva
to Savoy and strike the heaviest
blow at the Reformed hat
had been struck in that gen
eration was another thing, and one re
mote. The Syndic was something dis
contented and inclined to intrigue; that
was true; Grio knew it. But to par
ley with the Grand Duke’s emissaries,
and strive to get and give not, that
was oiTU thing; while, to betray the
town and deliver it tied and bound
into the hands of its Arch-Enemy was
another, and a far more weighty mat
ter. One, too, to wtiich in Grio’s judg
ment—and In the dark lanes of life he
had seen and meiglied many men—the
magistrate would never be brought.
“Shall you need my aid with him?”
he asked, after a while, seeing the
scholar still wrapt in thought. The
question was not lacking in craft.
“Your aid? With whom?”
“With Messer Blondel.”
“Pshaw, man,” Basterga answered,
rousing himself from his reverie. “I
had forgotten him and was thinking
of that villain Scinppius and liis tract
against Joseph Justus. Do you know.”
1.3 continued, with a snort of indigna
tion, “that in his ‘Hyperbaolimaeus,’
net content with the statement that Jo
seph Justus left his laundress’ bill at
I auvain unpaid, he alleges that I—I.
Caesar Basterga, of Padua—was broken
cn the wheel at Munster a year ago
for the murder of a gentleman!”
Grio turned a shade paler. “If this
business n*.lscarry,“' he said, “the state-
men: may prove within a year of the
mark. Or nearer, at any rate, than
nay please us.”
Basterga smiled disdainfully. “Think
It not!” he answered, extending his
arms and yawning with unaffected sin
cerity. “Hlere was never scholar yet
died on the wheel.”
“No?”
“No, friend, no. Nor will, unless it
be Scioppius, and he is unworthy the
name of scholar. No, we have our
disease, and die of ii, but it is not that.
Nevertheless,” he continued with mag
nanimity, "I will not deny that when
Master Pert-Tongue downstairs put our
names together so pat, it scared me. It
scared me. For how many chances were
there against such an accident? Or
what room to think it an accident, when
he spoke clearly with the animus pug-
nandi? No, I'll not deny he touched
me home.”
Grio nodded grimly. “I would we
were rid of him!" he growled. “The
young viper! I foresee danger from
him ”
“Possibly,” Basterga replied. “Possi
bly. In that case measures must be
taken. Bui I hope there may be no ne-
c#esity. And now, I expect Messer Blon
de! In an hour, and have need, my
friend, of thought and solitude before
lie comes. Knock at my door at 8 this
evening and I may have news for
jr.u.”
“You don’t think to resolve him to
night?” Grio muttered with a look of
incredulity.
“It may be. I do not know. In the
meantime silence, and keep sober!”
"Ay, ay!”
“But it Is more than ay, ay!” Bas-
teiga retorted with iritation; with some
thing of the temper, indeed, which he
bad betrayed at the beginning of the In
terview. “Scholars die otherwise, but
many a broken soldier has come to the
wheel! So do you have a care of it!
If you do not—”
"I have said I will!” Grio cried sharp
ly. “Enough scolding, master. I’ve a
rctlon you'll find your own task a little
beyond yirfir hand. See if I am not
right!” he added. And with this show
of temper on his side also, he went out
and shut the door loudly behind him.
Basterga stood a few moments in
thought. At length
"Dimidium facti, qui bene caepit, habet!”
he muttered. And shrugging his shoul
ders, he looked about him, judging with
ar .artistic eye the effect which the
room would have on a stranger. Appar
ently. he was not perfectly content with
it, for. stepping to one of the long
which event, Ave atque vale. Genev.
But here he crimes. And now to ca,
the bait.'"
(To Be Continued.)
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