Joseph Balsamo (62 page)

” She is some poor, erring creature of the world in which I once lived and reigned. Admit her.”

The nun made a movement to retire.

‘ ‘ Ah ! By the bye, what is her name ? ” asked the princess.

” Lorenza Feliciani.”

“I know of no one of that name,” said
Mme.
Louise, reflecting ; ” no matter, introduce her.”

The superior seated herself in the chair of state, which was of carved oak, made in the reign of Henry JL, and had been used by the last nine abbesses of the Carmelites. It was a formidable judgment-seat, before which had trembled many a poor novice caught on the slippery path between spiritual and temporal things.

A moment afterward the nun entered, leading in the strange lady, who was covered from head to foot with the long veil we have before mentioned.

The Princess Louise possessed the piercing eye peculiar to her family, and as Lorenza Feliciani appeared before her, she fastened a stem and searching glance on her. But she saw in the young woman’s demeanor so much humility, grace and beauty, and in the large eyes, filled with tears, which she turned on her, such an innocent and supplicating expression, that her feeling of harshness gave place immediately to one of compassion and kindness.

“Draw near, madame,” said the princess.

The stranger advanced hesitatingly, and was about to kneel, when the princess prevented her.

” Is not your name, madame,” said she, ” Lorenza Feliciani ? “

” Yes, madame.”

*’ And you wish to confide a secret to me ? “

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“Oh ! I burn to do so.”

” But why had you not recourse to the tribunal of pen-ance ? I have only power to console ; a priest cannot only console, but pardon.”

” I require only consolation, madame,” replied Lorenza ; ” and besides, it is to a woman alone that I dare relate what I have to tell you.”

” Then it is a strange story which you are about to nar-rate ?”

” Yes, strange indeed. But hear me patiently, ma-dame ; it is to you alone, I repeat, that I dare confide it, both because you are a woman, and because you are all-powerful to protect me.”

” Protect you ? Are you pursued, then ? Are you in danger ? “

” Oh, yes, madame, yes ! ” cried the stranger, with wild alarm.

” But reflect, madame,” said the princess, “that this is a convent, and not a fortress, that those worldly thoughts Avhich agitate the breasts of men, penetrate not here ; that strife and combat are here extinguished ; that this is not a house of justice, of force, or repression, but simply the house of God.”

” Oh ! that is what I seek ! ” said Lorenza. ” Yes, I seek the house of God, for there alone can I find shelter and repose.”

“But God admits not of revenge. How then do you ask his servant to avenge you ? Address yourself to the magistrates.”

” They can do nothing against him whom I dread.”

” Who is he, then ? ” asked the abbess, with a mysterious and involuntary dread.

Lorenza approached close to the princess in a nervous and excited manner.

“Who is he, madame ? ” said she.

“He is, I firmly believe, one of those demons who war against man, and whom Satan, their prince, has gifted with superhuman power.”

” How ? what mean you ! ” exclaimed the princess, re-

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coiling as if to satisfy herself that she was not addressing a lunatic.

” And I I wretch that I am ! ” continued Lorenza, writhing her snow-white and rounded arms, which seemed modeled from those of some antique statue, ” I crossed the path of that man and now I am I am “

“What? What?”

Lorenza again approached the princess, and, as if terrified herself at what she was about to utter, she whispered, hoarsely, ” I am possessed by the demon ! “

” Possessed ? ” cried the princess. ” Take care, ma-dame ! Are you sure you are in your senses ? Are you not “

” Mad you would say no, no, I am not mad but I may become so if you abandon me.”

” But, madame,” said the princess, recovering her firmness, ” permit me to observe that you seem to me in all respects one of the favored of Heaven ; you are rich and beautiful, you express yourself rationally, and I see in your countenance nothing betokening that terrible and mysterious disease called possession ‘

” Madame, it is in my life, it is in the adventures which have befallen me, that the baleful secret lies which I would willingly conceal even from myself.”

” Explain yourself calmly. Am I the first to whom you have disclosed your sufferings ? your parents, your friends “

” My parents ! ” exclaimed the young woman, clasping her hands with agony, ” my poor parents ! Shall I never see you again? Friends?” added she, bitterly, “alas! madame, have I any friends ? “

” Come, let us proceed regularly, my poor child,” said
Mme.
Louise, endeavoring to restore order to the stranger’s incoherent words ; ” tell me all. Who are your parents ? How came you to abandon them ?”

” Madame, I am a native of Rome, and I lived in Rome, with them. My father belongs to the ancient nobility, but, like all our patricians, he is poor. I have also a mother, aud a brother older than myself. In France, I

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believe, when a, family such as mine has a son and daughter, the portion of the daughter is sacrificed to purchase the son’s sword ; with us the daughter is sacrificed to put the sou forward in the church. Consequently I received no education, as all our patrimony was required to pay for my brother’s edn cation, that, as my poor brother innocently said, he might one day be a cardinal ; and for this purpose my parents submitted to every privation, and decided on making me take the veil in the Carmelite Convent at Subiaco.”

” And you what did you say ? “

” Nothing, madame. From childhood I had been taught to look forward to such an event as inevitable. Besides, I was not consulted ; my parents commanded I had only to obey.”

“But yet “

” Oh ! madame, we Roman girls are helpless instruments in the hands of others. Almost all my young friends, who had brothers, had paid this debt for the advancement of their families. I had therefore no reason to complain ; all that was done was in the ordinary course of things. My mother merely caressed me a little more than nsual as the time for my leaving her approached. At last the day for the commencement of my novitiate arrived ; my father prepared his five hundred crowns, my dowry for the convent, and we set out for Subiaco. It is only about nine leagues from Rome to Subiaco, but the roads are bad, and our journey was slow and fatiguing. Nevertheless, it pleased me. I welcomed it as a last enjoyment, and whispered adieu to the trees, the shrubs, the rocks, and even to the withered grass which lined the road. How could I tell if at the convent I should see trees, rocks, or shrubs ? Suddenly, in the midst of my fancies, as we wound along between a wood and a mass of overhanging rock, the carriage stopped. My mother shrieked my father seized his pistols. My thoughts descended suddenly to earth, for those who had stopped us were bandits.”

” My poor child ! ” said the princess, becoming more and more interested in the narrative.

470 JOSEPH BALSAMO.

” Well shall I confess it, madame ? I was not much terrified, for these men had stopped us to take our money, and this money was the sum destined for my dowry to the convent. Consequently, if there was no dowry, my entrance into the convent would be delayed until my father could collect five hundred crowns more, and I knew well the time and trouble it had taken to amass these. But when the robbers, after having shared their booty, instead of permitting us to continue our journey, turned and seized me, regardless of the tears of my mother and the efforts of my father to defend me, I was struck with a sort of nameless terror, and shrieked aloud. They bound my hands in spite of my struggles, and held me there while they threw the dice to ascertain to whom I should belong. I had abandoned all hope ; my mother had fainted away, and my father ]&y writhing on the earth. At this moment a man mounted on horseback appeared among the robbers. He had spoken in a low voice to one of the sentinels on passing him, and the man had allowed him to proceed, exchanging a sign with him as he did so. He was of the middle height, of commanding features, and with a fixed and resolute glance ; he continued to advance calmly at the usual pace of his steed, and when he had arrived opposite me he stopped. The bandit who was holding me bound, turned suddenly at the first blast which the stranger gave on a little whistle fixed to the end of his whip, and allowed me to slip from his hands. ‘ Come hither,’ said the unknown ; and, as the man appeared to hesitate, he leaned forward, and whispering in his ear the single word ‘ Mac,’ ‘ Benac replied the bandit ; and then, like a lion subdued and crouching under the lash, he proceeded to untie my hands, as well as those of my father and mother. Then, as the money had been already divided, each man of the troop came forward in his turn to lay his share on a stone. Not a crown of the entire sum was wanting. ‘ Now, go ! ‘ said he to the banditti, and instantly every man disappeared among the surrounding woods.

” ‘ Lorenza Feliciana,’ said the stranger then, addressing

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me, and fixing on me a look which had more than human power in it, ‘ proceed on your way, you are free ! ‘ My father and mother thanked this stranger, who knew me, bnt whom we did not know, and entered the carriage again. I accompanied them with a sort of regret ; for some strange, irresistible power seemed to attract me to the man who had thus saved me. He remained immovable in the same spot, as if to protect our retreat, and as long as I could distinguish his form my eyes were fixed on him, and it was only when he was lost to view that the oppressive feeling which weighed upon my bosom was removed.”

“But who was this extraordinary man?” asked the princess, interested by the simplicity of the narrative.

“Deign to hear me further, madame,” said Lorenza. ” Alas ! all is not yet told.”

” I listen,” said M me. Louise.

The young woman proceeded :

” Two hours afterward we reached Subiaco. During the rest of the journey we never ceased conversing about this mysterious protector, who had come so suddenly, like an angelic messenger, to our assistance, and whose power seemed so inexplicable and unbounded. My father, less credulous than I, thought that he must be the captain of one of the numerous troops of robbers which infest the neighborhood of Home ; but in this I could not agree, although I dared not openly oppose my opinion to my father’s, which was the result of years and experience. My instinctive feeling of gratitude toward this man who had so wonderfully saved me, revolted against the idea that he was a bandit ; and every evening, in my devotions, I offered up a prayer to the Virgin for my unknown protector.

” The same day I entered the convent. I felt sadder, but also more resigned. An Italian, and consequently superstitious, I believed that God, by delivering me from the bandits, had wished to preserve me pure and unsullied for His service. I therefore gave myself up with ardor to the fulfilment of every duty of religion ; and my father, learning this, drew up a petition to the sovereign pontiff to entreat him to shorten the period of my novitiate. I

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signed this document, which was expressed in terms so warm and earnest, that his holiness, seeing in it only the aspirations of a soul disgusted with the world, granted me a dispensation which fixed the term of my noviciate at a month instead of a year.

” This news, when announced to me, inspired me with neither joy nor grief. I was like one already dead to the world. For fifteen days I was kept closely confined, lest any worldly desires might arise in my breast. At the end of that time I was allowed to descend with the other sisters to the chapel. I entered and took my place behind the curtain which separated, or affected to separate, the nuns from the congregation. Looking through one of the openings, which seemed to me, as it were, a loophole from which I could obtain a last glance at the world I was leaving, I saw a man standing up alone in the middle of the kneeling crowd. He seemed to devour me with his eyes, and I felt again that strange sensation of uneasiness which I had before experienced, and which seemed to draw me, as it were, away from myself, as I had seen my brother draw a needle after a loadstone, even through a leaf of paper or a piece of wood.

” Overcome, subdued, without force to struggle against my feelings, I leaned forward, and with clasped hands I murmured, Thanks, thanks ! ‘ The nuns looked at me with surprise. They could not comprehend my words or gestures, and, following my glance, they rose on their seats, and gazed down the body of the church. I also gazed, trembling. The stranger had disappeared. They questioned me, but I only turned pale and red by turns, and stammered out some incoherent words. From that mo-ment, madame,” cried Lorenza, in a despairing voice, ” the demon possessed me ! “

” Nevertheless,” replied the princess, smiling, ” I see nothing supernatural in all that you have related. Calm yourself, my sister, and proceed.”

” Ah, madame ! it is because you cannot understand what I felt. Heart, soul, mind the demon possessed all!”

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” My sister, I fear greatly that this demon was only love,” said
Mme.
Louise.

” Oh, love could not have me suffer thus ! Love would not have so oppressed my heart it would not have shaken my frame as the storm shakes a slender reed ! Love would not have whispered in my ear the sinful thought which haunted me at that moment.”

” What thought, my child ? “

“Ought not I to have disclosed all to my confessor, madame ? “

“Doubtless.”

” Well, the demon that possessed me whispered me, on the contrary, to keep it secret. I feared what he would think of me.”

” An evil thought, indeed ; but it is often a very innocent demon which puts such thoughts in the heart of a woman. Proceed.”

” On the following day I was summoned to the parlor. I found there one of my neighbors of the Via Frattiua at Eome, a young married lady, who regretted very much the loss of my society, because every evening we used to meet to talk and sing together. Behind her, close to the door, stood a man wrapped in a cloak, who seemed her servant. He did not turn toward me, but I turned toward him? he did not speak, yet I knew him. He was my unknown protector. The same thrilling sensation I had already experienced shot through my frame. I felt my whole being subdued by the power of this man. Had it not been for the bars which held me captive, I should certainly have followed him. Although enveloped closely in his mantle, rays of light seemed to shoot from him which dazzled me ; profound as was his silence, it had sounds which spoke to me a harmonious language. I made a violent effort to subdue my feelings, and asked my friend who the man was who accompanied her. She did not know him. Her husband, who had purposed accompanying her, had been prevented by some engagement, and had brought this friend of his, a stranger to her, to be her companion.