The Rape of Venice (7 page)

He pondered the matter further while Malderini made the passes necessary to bring the Princess back to normal, and it struck him that as the Venetian had spoken to her throughout in her own language, although he appeared to have been giving her only a translation of the written questions, he might instead quite well have been furnishing her with the answers she should make to them. But that did not account for the fact that she had given the answers in four languages of which she was supposed to be entirely ignorant. That meant that, if a deception had been practised, she was as fluent in them as Malderini himself; and it was difficult to believe that if she could speak them she deliberately cut herself off from communication with everyone except her husband, solely to be able to aid him in occasional hoaxes such as this. Furthermore it did not appear,
at first sight, that the couple had anything to gain by practising this type of deception.

That amicable but hardened materialist, Colonel Thursby, also had his suspicions. When the Princess had fully recovered, he said in Italian: ‘We all owe you our thanks, Signora, for having aided your husband in his demonstration.'

He had hoped that by a spontaneous reply she would give herself away, but her face remained expressionless. Not even a slight movement of her lips suggested that she had been near falling into the trap.

Malderini turned angrily on the Colonel: ‘You know very well, Sir, that in her normal state my wife understands no language but her own. And I resent your use of the word “aided”. She was no more than an unconscious instrument of which I made use to display my powers.'

‘Your pardon, Signor; your pardon.' The older man waved an airy hand. ‘Having but a few moments back heard her speak Italian with such fluency, I had temporarily forgot that she was not one. As for my use of the word “aided”, I meant only to thank her for having allowed you to throw her into a fit so that you might attempt to prove your assertions.'

‘Attempt!' repeated Malderini. ‘Again, Sir, you are ambiguous. Do you suggest that I have failed to do so?'

‘You can hardly claim to have brought about the seemingly impossible by the sole use of your will-power.'

‘How else do you suggest that the Princess Sirisha was able to speak in tongues unknown to her, and reply to questions normally beyond the range of her knowledge, except as a puppet animated by my will?'

‘There are other ways in which ...'

‘Papa!' Georgina interrupted anxiously. ‘I pray you carry this discussion no further.'

‘Oh, come!' countered Beckford. ‘Surely your Ladyship will not insist on our terminating so promising a debate.'

‘I was about to say,' went on the Colonel, ‘that it would ill become me to challenge the integrity of my daughter's guest; but, as a scientific man, my conscience permits me to go no further than adopt a course at times resorted to by the Scottish Courts. That is to declare that I must continue to regard the existence of occult power as—“Not proven”.'

Malderini hunched his bulky shoulders and glared at the Colonel. ‘You have said either too much or too little. Sir. You must either withdraw your implication or frankly accuse me of
having used ventriloquism to deceive you.'

For Georgina's sake, Roger stepped quickly into the breach. In the honeyed accents of sweet reason, he said: ‘You are mistaken, Signor. Colonel Thursby implied only what, I think, several of us feel. Astounding as your demonstration has been, its nature was not of the kind we expected. There was, I recall, some talk of moving mountains or molehills, solely by the use of will-power, and you must agree that we have not been witnesses to a substitution of will-power for physical force.'

‘Well said,' murmured Droopy Ned, and Beckford chimed in, ‘I, too, am of that opinion.'

‘Ladies and Gentlemen'; the Venetian made a slight bow to the company in general. He seemed to have suddenly become quite amiable again. ‘I must admit there is something to be said for the point Mr. Brook has made. Very well. I am prepared to give you proof that will-power can be substituted for physical force. You will no doubt have heard of levitation, as practised by the mystics of India. If, while standing at some distance from the Princess Sirisha. I can cause her to leave the ground and cross a room without visible means of support, I take it you will acknowledge my claim to occult power?'

There was a nodding of heads and excited murmur of assent; then he went on: ‘To perform such an operation is no light undertaking. I must spend several hours preparing myself, and to fast before it is essential. If it is to take place tonight the Princess Sirisha and I must deny ourselves the pleasure of dining with you. Moreover, I feel that I am entitled to some compensation for the doubts which some of you have cast on my powers.' Turning to Colonel Thursby, he added: ‘What will you wager me that I prove unable to carry out this undertaking?'

‘Providing we can agree conditions,' the Colonel replied, ‘anything in reason. Would a hundred guineas suit you?'

Malderini shrugged, ‘I had been told, Sir, that you were a rich man, and I have ample funds. The sum you suggest is a paltry one.'

Taking a pinch of snuff. Colonel Thursby flicked the spilt grains from his cravat with a lace handkerchief, and said casually, ‘Make it five hundred if you wish.'

‘I'd be happy to share the stake,' said Beckford eagerly.

‘And I,' nodded Droopy Ned, raising his quizzing glass.

‘I will take each of you for that sum in addition to my five
hundred with Colonel Thursby,' Malderini replied to them with a confident smile.

Sheridan's red face had been getting still redder with suppressed excitement. Suddenly he burst out, ‘I, too, must be in on this. 'Tis a feat unheard of outside travellers' tales. I'll stake five hundred that you'll not succeed in it.'

His young wife threw him an agonised glance. Her parents had been most averse to her marrying a man of Sheridan's reputation and more than double her age. As a condition they had stipulated that he should produce fifteen thousand pounds to be tied up with five thousand that had been previously settled on her, believing that he could not possibly lay his hands on such a sum. To their consternation he had managed to do so; but the whole of the jointure had since gone into the property at Polesden and, large as his income was, his unbridled extravagance kept them perpetually hard up. But he was an inveterate gambler, and now ignored her silent appeal not to join in the wager.

Malderini took his bet, then looked at Roger. ‘And you, Mr. Brook?'

Roger shook his head. The canniness inherited from his Scottish mother had saved him from the vice of gambling, and he rarely risked money on chance, except for comparatively modest sums at friendly games of cards. With a bow, he said:

‘I thank you, no. The two thousand guineas already wagered should surely be sufficient to compensate you for missing your dinner. And someone must act as an unprejudiced observer to ensure that the conditions agreed are correctly carried out. Let that be my part.'

There ensued a discussion on conditions. Malderini asked that a room should be entirely cleared of furniture, that its walls should be stripped of pictures, and any chandelier taken down from its ceiling; then that its floor should be swept clean of every particle of dust. Later, he conceded that sufficient chairs for the party should be brought back into the room, but he was adamant on the point that the curtains of the windows must be drawn and no artificial light allowed. He stated that the Princess would wear a pure white sari, and they could not contest his argument that, as it was high summer, the light filtering between the drawn curtains would still be ample for them to follow her movements. He stipulated that in no circumstances should anyone attempt to touch her, and protested that, without undergoing a fast of several days' duration,
he could not expect to raise her more than about nine inches from the ground. But he agreed to remain at least three feet distant from her throughout, and was prepared to accept Roger, Georgina and Clarissa as judges. Finally, it was settled that if two of the judges were satisfied that, while travelling three yards in a straight line, from right to left in front of them, the Princess' feet had been clear of the floor, he should be declared the winner of the wager.

Georgina said she thought the small yellow drawing-room would be the most suitable place to hold the séance, then she asked Roger, as one of the umpires, to give the necessary instructions to the servants and later assure himself that they had been fully carried out. Soon afterwards the party broke up, and dispersed to rest or to write letters until it was time to get themselves ready for dinner.

Having found the groom of the chambers and given him his orders, Roger decided that he would pay his postponed visit to the children; so he made his way upstairs and along to the East Wing which, after years of disuse, had, with the advent of the baby Earl, become again a hive of activity.

The day-nursery was large enough for a dozen children to romp in, yet on Roger's entering it the room seemed quite crowded. The two babies had just been brought in from their afternoon airing and each was having its outer garments removed by its own nursemaid. A smiling mulatto woman who had acted as foster-mother to little Susan since her birth was preparing to give her the breast, and near one of the windows plump, bustling Nanny Bellows, who ruled this domain with a rod of iron, was discussing some point of infant régime with Clarissa.

All five women stopped what they were doing as Roger came in, and bobbed him a curtsey, but the moment Mrs. Bellows straightened up she shook an admonitory finger at him. ‘I've told you afore, Sir, this is no time to come pestering my little ones. It's in the morning you must make your visits, or when they've woke up from their sleep in the afternoon; not when we're getting them ready to have their suppers.'

Mr. Pitt's despatch, having relieved Roger of all responsibility in the Venetian business, had put him in a high good humour. With a laugh, he cried, ‘It's not them I come to see, but you. Surely you must know that.' Then he threw an arm about her shoulders and gave her a resounding kiss on her apple-red cheek.

‘For shame, Mr. Brook!' she exclaimed, torn between a desire to laugh with him and to preserve her dignity in front of the grinning maids. ‘One day you'll have to answer for such taradiddles; and to put wrong ideas into the heads of these lazy baggages is no way for a gentleman to behave.'

‘Forgive me, Nanny,' he smiled. ‘'Twas no fault of mine that my visit was delayed. I'll do no more than wish them good appetite, then relieve you of my presence.'

‘Be quick about it, then. What an outcry you would make did a clowning bear break in on you while sitting over your port of an evening; but for the babes 'tis every bit as bad a thing that you should peer and posture at them just before their meal.'

Roger went first to his daughter. She was just six months old, a fine healthy child, with his blue eyes and Amanda's auburn hair, which gave her a good prospect of beauty. But she was a solemn little thing, and when he chucked her gently under the chin she gave no more than the suggestion of a smile.

He turned to his godson. The ten-month-old Earl of St. Ermins was a sturdy fellow, and with a tipsy rush of feet could already stagger a few paces unaided. Like Georgina and his father he was dark, and from them he had inherited both gipsy blood and that of King Charles II. The combination almost certainly predestined him to become a rake, but Roger felt that to be no great matter for concern, provided that the boy also inherited the good humour, generosity and sound common sense of his mother and his royal ancestor. He already gave signs of a merry nature, for when prodded in the stomach he uttered gurgles of delight and gamely strove to clutch at Roger's offending finger.

Clarissa laid a hand on Roger's arm. ‘Please Roger! Desist, I beg. If you excite him so he'll not be able to keep down his supper.'

‘Very well, then'; he turned to smile at her. ‘But what are you doing in Nanny Bellows's domain?'

‘I still count myself responsible for Susan,' she replied quickly, ‘and about that I'd like speech with you, when you have the leisure.'

In his more cheerful mood, he now felt that he might as well get the interview over that he had been shirking; so he said, ‘I am at your disposal now, M'am, if you wish.'

‘I'm mightily obliged, Sir'; she lowered her eyes, and added, ‘In that case, let us leave the children to be fed and bedded.'

After a word or two with Nanny Bellows, she led the way from the room and Roger, giving a gay little wave which included all the nurses, followed. Side by side they walked away from the nursery regions, then along a broad corridor. Suddenly Clarissa threw open a door and signed to him to pass her. Till then, he had had no idea whereabouts in the house she slept, but this was obviously her bedroom. Before he had time to turn she had given him a push and closed the door behind them.

‘M'dear!' he protested lightly, as he turned to face her, ‘Is it really necessary to compromise yourself like this? Strap me! Despite the fact that you are looked on much as though you were my niece, tongues would wag mightily did it become known that we'd chosen your bedroom as a place to talk in.'

She was probably unconscious of it, but the dark mahogany of the door against which she stood made a perfect background for her. The pale gold hair fell in heavy ringlets on one side of her oval face. The purity of her milk and roses complexion was almost dazzling in the strong light thrown from the window opposite. Her arrogant little nose stood out imperiously above her tilted chin and long slender throat. Beneath the crossed fichus of her bodice, the corset that gave her an absurdly small waist, and the voluminous skirts of sprigged muslin, was a figure that Roger knew to be perfection; for less than six months earlier he had seen her naked.