Madame Serpent (5 page)

‘The Pope calls you niece, but the relationship is not as close as that. People say that the relationship of the Pope and Alessandro is very close indeed.’

‘You cannot mean―?’

Ippolito laughed and placed his hands on her shoulders; their faces were

close and he whispered: ‘The blackamoor is the son of the Holy Father!’

‘And his mother?’ whispered Caterina.

‘Some low serving-girl.’

‘But the Pope himself!’

‘Popes are human.’

‘But they are said to be holy.’

Ippolito laughed gaily. ‘But you and I know differently, eh?’

Caterina was so happy that she threw off completely the restraint of years.

This was wonderful news brought to her by the most wonderful person in the world. She danced round the room; then collapsed on to her stool. Guido

jumped on to her lap and started licking her face.

Ippolito laughed aloud to see them. So this was the little cousin whom, until now, he had thought so plain and solemn. He was delighted that his bit of gossip had been able to bring about this transformation.

Caterina made her way down to that chamber of mysteries where Bartolo,

the astrologer, spent most of his nights and days. She ran swiftly and silently down the great staircase; she was afraid that she would meet someone and be called upon to explain her presence in this part of the palace.

At this hour of the day, Bartolo took his exercise in the palace grounds; solitary he walked, in his flowing black robes, his white hair flying from beneath the round cap he wore. Embroidered on the cap were the signs of the zodiac; the magician’s person carried with it that odour of his magic room― the scent of herbs and blood of animals, musk, verdigris, civet, and the ingredients from which he made perfumes and lotions, potions and poisons. Few dared

approach Bartolo. If any of the serving men and women saw him walking in the grounds, they would look away quickly, and try to forget that they had seen him.

But at this hour, Caterina felt she must be safe. Bartolo was not in the magic chamber, but others were. These were the young brothers, Cosmo and Lorenzo Ruggieri, whom Bartolo was training to become seers and astrologers as he was himself. The boys would be there among the charts, the cauldrons, skeletons of various animals, the perfumes, the bottles and powders. They would be awaiting the coming of their little Duchess, and they would have ready for her that which she asked them to prepare for her.

The staircase narrowed and turned. Now she was in a stone corridor, and she could already smell the sickly sweet odour of the magician’s rooms. She

reached a door which led to a passage the end of which was another door that would open into the room itself. She knocked.

‘Enter!’ said the high-pitched voice of Cosmo Ruggieri.

She went into the vaulted room on the walls of which hung parchments

decorated with mysterious characters. She glanced at the big chart of the heavens, at the cauldrons standing among the rushes on the floor, and the skeleton of a cat on the bench.

The Ruggieri boys bowed low. They were faithful servants of their little

Duchess. Often they had given her charms to protect from the wrath of her aunt and the sorrow of the Cardinal― and all unknown to old Bartolo. Caterina, whose respect for the occult was one of the greatest emotions in her life, admired these two boys who were learning to be magicians.

‘You have it?’ she asked.

Cosmo said: ‘We have. Get it, Lorenzo.’

‘Yes, give it to me quickly,’ said Caterina. ‘It would not do for me to be caught here.’

Lorenzo took a waxen figure from the pocket of his flowing gown. There

was no mistaking whom it was meant to represent. The brothers had cunningly reproduced the ugly face and squat figure of Alessandro.

And he will die within three days?’ asked Caterina.

‘Yes,
Duchessina
, if you pierce the heart at midnight and say:
Die,
Alessandro! Die!
’

The lovely dark eyes were opened wide in horror. ‘Cosmo― Lorenzo― it is

a bad thing to do. I am afraid.’

‘There are many in this palace, Lady Duchess,’ said Cosmo, ‘who would say it is a good thing to do.’

‘He is going to kill my dog. I know he will― if I do not kill him first.’

‘He will surely die if you pierce the heart of this waxen image,’ said

Lorenzo.

‘It is not wrong for me to do this?’ She looked from one to the other.

‘It would not be wrong,’ they chanted simultaneously.

‘Then I will do it.’ She took the figure and, wrapping it in a kerchief, put it into her pocket.

‘
Duchessina
,’ said Lorenzo, ‘if any should discover the figure, I beg of you, do not tell whence it came.’

Poor Lorenzo! He could not hide his thoughts. He was terrified of the ugly Moor. He was picturing what would happen to him and his brother if Alessandro discovered that they had supplied the figure.

But Cosmo was bolder. ‘It will not be discovered,’ he said.

‘I swear I would tell none where I found it,’ Caterina assured them. I must go,’ she went on. ‘I shall never forget what I owe you both.’

Hurriedly she made her way to the upper regions of the palace.

In her own apartments she took the image from her pocket and studied it.

But for its size it might have been Alessandro himself that she held in the palm of her hand.

She must do this thing. If she did not, poor Guido would surely die― die

agonizingly of poison. Ippolito was her dear friend, but he could not always be at her side to protect her from the cruel Moor, any more than she could always be with Guido. It seemed to her that the only way to save the dog― and at the same time to make life happier for those poor slaves of Alessandro’s― was to remove him from this world altogether.

There was no harm in this, only good.

―――――――

Caterina was frightened. At midnight, when she had gone to that drawer

where she had carefully hidden the figure, it was no longer there. Alessandro had his spies everywhere. They obeyed him because not to obey him meant they would suffer those hideous tortures which he was always inventing.

She was waiting now for Alessandro’s revenge. She knew that it would be

terrible, for the Moor would know why she had acquired that figure; he would know exactly what her intentions.

She was startled when a serving-girl came to her room to tell her that her cousin Ippolito wished to see her. Caterina was surprised, for she had thought Ippolito was out hunting. He must have returned sooner than usual. She was glad. Now she could tell her cousin what she had done ; she could ask for his advice and his protection.

When she knocked on his door, there was no answer, so she went in. There

were some books on the table, but no sign of Ippolito. He would come soon, she was sure; and she felt at peace. She need not be afraid of Alessandro while Ippolito was in the palace.

And then suddenly she heard the swish of a curtain; she turned with a joyful smile of welcome on her lips, and there, peeping between the curtains which he grasped with his ugly hands, grinning at her, was the hideous face of

Alessandro.

She jumped up and gave a little cry of horror; but Alessandro did not look angry; he was smiling; he put a finger to his lips. ‘It is a surprise I have for you,
Duchessina
.’

She stammered, ‘I― I had not thought to see you here.’

‘No? You thought to find handsome Ippolito. But there are some, Caterina, in this palace, who think me as handsome as Ippolito.’

She gripped the table. She wanted to run, but her legs seemed to have lost their power. Yet she could not control her tongue. She had not really learned those lessons which the Cardinal and her aunt had taken such pains to teach her.

She cried out: ‘Then they say so because they dare say nothing else. You

force them to lie.’

He advanced slowly towards her. ‘You are not pleased to see me, Caterina,’

he said mockingly. ‘It was to be a surprise. A most happy surprise. I have something to show you.’ He took the figure from his pocket and held it up.

‘Where did you get this, Caterina?’

She kept her lips tightly shut.

‘Answer me,’ he said slowly. ‘Where did you get it?’

‘I shall never tell you,’ she said, and she smiled suddenly. He was afraid of the magicians, so he would not dare try his tricks on Bartolo or the boys.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘You are so fond of me that you wanted an image of me, that you might look at it when I was absent. Never mind now. Come with me, and see what else I have to show you.’

She knew now that she was about to suffer Alessandro’s revenge; she had

known it must come because Alessandro never failed to take revenge. He drew aside the curtain and as she approached, he pointed to the floor. There lay the body of Fedo. It was stiffening, but the legs were contorted and she knew that Alessandro had poisoned the dog in a way calculated to give the maximum of suffering to the poor animal.

Caterina sank on to her knees and touched Fedo’s body. Tears came to her

eyes and ran down her cheeks. She sobbed bitterly. Alessandro stood very still, smiling at her.

‘Most unseemly!’ he murmured. ‘What would Aunt Clarissa say if she could

see Caterina now?’

Caterina lifted her reddened eyes to his jeering face; and then suddenly she lost control as she never had before. She forgot everything but that her beloved dog had been cruelly done to death by this wicked boy.

She flew at him; she did what she had often longed to do. She kicked him; she bit him; she pulled at that stiff, ugly black hair. She screamed: ‘I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!’

That Alessandro stood calmly laughing at her she did not notice; she was

blinded by her rage.

A woman came running in. Alessandro said: ‘Bring the Cardinal or my lady.

The
Duchessina
has gone mad.’

And still he stood there calmly, though it was not his nature to be calm; and he smiled at the blood which was flowing from the wound her teeth had made in his hand.

‘She has sharp teeth, this savage
Duchessina
!’ he murmured as though to himself.

And then, suddenly, Caterina was aware of the tall figure of the Cardinal and with him her aunt, Clarissa Strozzi. Caterina turned from Alessandro and looked at them in horror. The Cardinal’s tired eyes in his cadaverous face expressed disbelief of what those eyes had witnessed; but Clarissa Strozzi was never at a loss for words.

‘Caterina Maria Romola de’ Medici!’ she said. ‘I would not have believed, after all our care, that you could behave thus.’

Caterina saw that on Alessandro’s face was the same shocked expression as was on those of her aunt and the Cardinal. She burst out angrily: ‘But― he poisoned my dog― my little Fedo. He poisoned Fedo― most cruelly. He is too much of a coward to hurt me, so he hurts my little dog―’ Her voice broke and she began to cry miserably.

‘Be silent!’ commanded Clarissa. ‘Let us hear no more of this. Go to your room at once. There you will stay until summoned.’

Caterina, only too glad to escape, ran from the room. Miserable and

bewildered, she did not stop running until she reached her own apartment.

Guido greeted her and she fell upon him weeping bitterly. He licked her face; the loss of Fedo was his well as hers.

―――――――

Caterina was summoned to the apartments of the Cardinal, and taken to that room which was like a cell in its austerity. Not the Cardinal made much

personal use of this room; it was kept for occasions such as this; the rest of the Cardinal’s apartments were sumptuously furnished, as fit for a man of his rank.

On chairs that were like thrones sat the Cardinal, Clarissa Strozzi and

Caterina. Caterina’s feet did not touch the floor, her face was solemn and expressionless. She dared show no emotion, for Aunt Clarissa’s eyes would be upon her until this ordeal was over. On the floor Guido lay stretched out. He had just eaten what had been given to him, and he was there that his mistress might watch his death agonies. This was her punishment. She had loved her dogs; she had loved then much that she had been trapped into a low-bred display of

violent emotion. So now, she must watch, unmoved, the terrible suffering of a beloved friend.

Caterina knew what was in Aunt Clarissa’s mind. This was the necessary

lesson. All emotion must be suppressed, for emotion was childish. Caterina must be made to realize that there was only one thing that really mattered in her life―

the advancement of a great and noble house. Alessandro was responsible for this trouble, but, in Aunt Clarissa’s mind, Alessandro, the bastard of very uncertain parentage, was of no importance whatever. He could be ignored, while Caterina must learn her lessons.

Poor Guido! He was beginning to suffer cruelly now. Caterina wanted to

scream: ‘Stop! Stop! Kill him quickly. Do not let him suffer like this. Hurt me―

but not Guido. What has Guido done?’

Be still!
she admonished herself. She pressed her lips tightly together. Show nothing
. Oh, foolish little Caterina, if you had not shown Alessandro that you
cared for your dogs he would not have thought of hurting you through them; if
you had hidden your feelings about Fedo’s murder, Guido would now be in
your arms, not lying there in agony. Silly Caterina! At least learn your lesson
now.

They watch you now: Aunt Clarissa, who has no feeling but determination
that a great house shall continue great; the Cardinal, who cares for nothing but
that he keeps the goodwill of the Medici.

If she showed emotion now it would be her favourite horse next. She must

not cry. She must watch this horror; she might be wretched, heartbroken, but she must show nothing.

She sat clenching her hands; she was white and her lips trembled a little; but the eyes that were lifted to Aunt Clarissa’s face were dry and devoid of

expression. Aunt Clarissa was satisfied.