Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 144: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— -—_—_- > ese rr 136 Father Falconara remained silent. “You have evidently seen him,” continued the Minister: “ perhaps you have conversed with bim ?” “It is my duty, my lord, to visit all prisoners with the least possible delay.” * And therefore you visited this one of whom we are speaking P and you conversed with him? Could you not judge from his accents to what country he belongs? Is he an Italian or a Frenchman P” “He is an Englishman,” rejoined the priest. “ But beyond this, my lord } “Oh, of course !” ejaculated Ramorino; “ I am well aware that the rules of those fortresses are most stringent, and that prisoners are not allowed to speak of any affairs beyond a certain sphere.” Then hastening to the spot where Lucrezia was seated, he whispered, “ You have heard that de- scription. Do you happen to know the indivi- dual ?” ** No—I do not recollect any young English- man of that age or description visiting at my house. But Ciprina herself is of English extrac- tion, you know—she may have fallen in with a lover or a relative—she may have met him in her apartment at the moment when the irruption of the sbirrt took place a ““Yes—it must have been so!” said Ramorino. “This is the only possible way of accounting for the capture and carrying-off of that unknown young man along with Ciprina! But if he be really English, the affair is somewhat awkward. These Englishmen are terribly independent—they never brook an insult or an injury in a foreign country: they at once appeal to their ambassa- dors 33 * Ob, that difficulty is nothing in comparison with all the rest!” ejaculated Lucrezia, but still speaking in a voice that was inaudible to Father Falconara. ‘For heaven’s sake take immediate measures !—let Marcellin be arrested !—let Ciprina be recaptured, if she have dared to return to Flo. rence !” “ Trust to me,” said Ramorino: “ the grass shall not grow under my feet!— Holy father, you may retire: but the pledge which I have given you shall be fulfilled, Come to me to-morrow, in the afternoon; and I will give you a letter that shall be perfectly satisfactory to the Governor of Bagno.” Father Falconara took his departure from the private residence of the Minister of Police ; and as he issued forth, nine o’clock was being pro- claimed from the church towers of Florence. “7 will lose not an instant, dear Lucrezia,” said the Count of Ramorino, so soon as he and his bride were left alone together, “ in putting every- thing in a proper train for the purpose of ensuring your complete safety and crushing your enemies. Remain you here, dearest! I shall return as speedily as possible.” The Minister imprinted another kiss upon the brow of his bride; and he then quitted the room. Almost immediately afterwards he left the house, and proceeded towards the Office of the Police. Ono arriving there, he commanded the principal sbirro to whom he had entrusted the expedition to the Mirano mansion, ‘to be summoned into his presenc>. ‘This officer, on his return from Bagno, AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. had simply reported to his master that the two prisoners had been duly consigned to that fortress: he had said nothing in respect to their escapes from the postchaise during the journey into the Apennines: he was afraid of being accused of cowardice or want of vigilance. Neither did he now make any allusion to those matters. The Minister questioned him minutely with regard to the young gentleman who had been carried off along with the young lady. The sbirro repeated the personal description already given by Father Fal- conara,—adding, “If there be anything wrong, my lord, you know that I fully obeyed the orders which were given me.” “There is no blame to be attached to you. But tell me—have you any idea who this young gentle- man can be? for he was carried off by mistake!” * It is strange, my lord,” ejaculated the sbirro, “but from something I heard upon the road, I really fancied there might beanerror. Yet it was not for me to act upon any such assumption: I was obeying the mandates I had received direct from your Excellency.” “But what was it that you heard upon the road?” demanded Ramorino. “That the young gentleman proclaimed himself to be English—that his name is De Vere—and that he is attached to the British Embassy at Naples.” “ Ah!” cried Ramorino, as a thought now struck him. “I remember that the landlord of some hotel called here this morning, in very great trepidation ; but my private secretary took down the notes of what he said.” The Minister hastened to open a memorandum- book which lay upon the table; and after running his eye over the contents of two or three pages, he suddenly ejaculated, ““Ah! thereitis! Yes—this is the entry! ‘De Vere—an Englishman—about twenty years of age—tall—dark-haired—attached to the Neapolitan Embassy: arrived at the —— hotel at seven o’clock in the evening of Novem- ber Ist. Dined, and went out at about eight or nine o'clock : has not been heard of since.’—Then ’tis the same !’’ cried the Minister: “and here is a pretty embarrassment—for he has escaped from Bagno !—and the lady has escaped also!” Ramorino paced three or four times to and fro in his private cabinet where this conversation was taking place: bet suddenly stopping short, he ejaculated, “ Well, we must leave this affair to take its chance—or else I must see into it pre- sently. But now take prompt and immediate measures to effect the arrest of these persons,” continued Ramoriro, handing to the police-agent @ paper on which there was a tolerable amount of writing, divided into three distinct paragraphs. “Edgar Marcellin, a Frenchman—Boernardo, re- cently a groom in the service of the Marchioness of Mirano—and a girl whose Christian name is Antonia, also in the same service. The descriptions are there minutely given. Let them be arrested and gagged onthe spot. If found together, let them be instantaneously separated —and let them be sent off in different conveyances and by different routes to the fortress of Barbarino. Let the Sig- nora Ciprina also be searched for and re-cap- tured !” The Minister issued a few more instructions, which it is not however necessary to lay before (EO books im — (C©) |