The good nurse was not very capable of sympathizing with sentiments like these. Even had their characters been more alike, their disparity of age would have rendered such sympathy impossible. What but youth can echo back the soul of youthall the music of its wild vanities and romantic follies? The good nurse did not sympathize with the sentiments of her young lady, but she sympathised with the deep earnestness with which they were expressed. She thought it wondrous silly, but wondrous moving; she wiped her eyes with the corner of her veil, and hoped in her secret heart that her young charge would soon get a real husband to put such unsubstantial fantasies out of her head. There was a short pause in their conversation, when, just where two streets crossed one another, there was heard a loud noise of laughing voices and trampling feet. Torches were seen on high affronting the pale light of the moon; and, at a very short distance from the two females, in the cross street, advanced a company of seven or eight men, bearing, as seen by the red light of the torches, the formidable badge of the Orsini.
Amidst the other disorders of the time, it was no unfrequent custom for the younger or more dissolute of the nobles, in small and armed companies, to parade the streets at night, seeking occasion for a licentious gallantry among the cowering citizens, or a skirmish at arms with some rival stragglers of their own order. Such a band had Irene and her companion now chanced to encounter.
Holy mother! cried Benedetta, turning pale, and half running, what curse has befallen us? How could we have been so foolish as to tarry so late at the lady Ninas! Run, Signora,run, or we shall fall into their hands!
But the advice of Benedetta came too late,the fluttering garments of the women had been already descried: in a moment more they were surrounded by the marauders. A rude hand tore aside Benedettas veil, and at sight of features, which, if time had not spared, it could never very materially injure, the rough aggressor cast the poor nurse against the wall with a curse, which was echoed by a loud laugh from his comrades.
Thou hast a fine fortune in faces Giuseppe!
Yes; it was but the other day that he seized on a girl of sixty.
And then, by way of improving her beauty, cut her across the face with his dagger, because she was not sixteen!
Hush, fellows! whom have we here? said the chief of the party, a man richly dressed, and who, though bordering upon middle age, had only the more accustomed himself to the excesses of youth; as he spoke, he snatched the trembling Irene from the grasp of his followers. Ho, there! the torches! Oh che bella faccia! what blusheswhat eyes!nay, look not down, pretty one; thou needst not be ashamed to win the love of an Orsiniyes; know the triumph thou hast achievedit is Martino di Porto who bids thee smile upon him!
For the blest Mothers sake release me! Nay, sir, this must not beI am not unfriendedthis insult shall not pass!
Hark to her silver chiding; it is better than my best hounds bay! This adventure is worth a months watching. What! will you not come?restiveshrieks too!Francesco, Pietro, ye are the gentlest of the band. Wrap her veil around her,muffle this music;so! bear her before me to the palace, and tomorrow, sweet one, thou shalt go home with a basket of florins which thou mayest say thou hast bought at market.
But Irenes shrieks, Irenes struggles, had already brought succour to her side, and, as Adrian approached the spot, the nurse flung herself on her knees before him.
Oh, sweet signor, for Christs grace save us! Deliver my young mistressher friends love you well! We are all for the Colonna, my lord; yes, indeed, all for the Colonna! Save the kin of your own clients, gracious signor!
It is enough that she is a woman, answered Adrian, adding, between his teeth, and that an Orsini is her assailant. He strode haughtily into the thickest of the group; the servitors laid hands on their swords, but gave way before him as they recognised his person; he reached the two men who had already seized Irene; in one moment he struck the foremost to the ground, in another, he had passed his left arm round the light and slender form of the maiden, and stood confronting the Orsini with his drawn blade, which, however, he pointed to the ground.
For shame, my lordfor shame! said he, indignantly. Will you force Rome to rise, to a man, against our order? Vex not too far the lion, chained though he be; war against us if ye will! draw your blades upon men, though they be of your own race, and speak your own tongue: but if ye would sleep at nights, and not dread the avengers gripe,if ye would walk the market-place secure,wrong not a Roman woman! Yes, the very walls around us preach to you the punishment of such a deed: for that offence fell the Tarquins,for that offence were swept away the Decemvirs,for that offence, if ye rush upon it, the blood of your whole house may flow like water. Cease, then, my lord, from this mad attempt, so unworthy your great name; cease, and thank even a Colonna that he has come between you and a moments frenzy!
So noble, so lofty were the air and gesture of Adrian, as he thus spoke, that even the rude servitors felt a thrill of approbation and remorsenot so Martino di Porto. He had been struck with the beauty of the prey thus suddenly snatched from him; he had been accustomed to long outrage and to long impunity; the very sight, the very voice of a Colonna, was a blight to his eye and a discord to his ear: what, then, when a Colonna interfered with his lusts, and rebuked his vices?
Pedant! he cried, with quivering lips, prate not to me of thy vain legends and gossips tales! think not to snatch from me my possession in another, when thine own life is in my hands. Unhand the maiden! throw down thy sword! return home without further parley, or, by my faith, and the blades of my followers(look at them well!)thou diest!
Signor, said Adrian, calmly, yet while he spoke he retreated gradually with his fair burthen towards the neighbouring wall, so as at least to leave only his front exposed to those fearful odds: Thou will not so misuse the present chances, and wrong thyself in mens mouths, as to attack with eight swords even thy hereditary foe, thus cumbered, too, as he is. Butnay hold!if thou art so proposed, bethink thee well, one cry of my voice would soon turn the odds against thee. Thou art now in the quarter of my tribe; thou art surrounded by the habitations of the Colonna: yon palace swarms with men who sleep not, save with harness on their backs; men whom my voice can reach even now, but from whom, if they once taste of blood, it could not save thee!
He speaks true, noble Lord, said one of the band: we have wandered too far out of our beat; we are in their very den; the palace of old Stephen Colonna is within call; and, to my knowledge, added he, in a whisper, eighteen fresh men-of-armsay, and Northmen toomarched through its gates this day.
Were there eight hundred men at arms length, answered Martino furiously, I would not be thus bearded amidst mine own train! Away with yon woman! To the attack! to the attack!
Thus saying, he made a desperate lunge at Adrian, who, having kept his eye cautiously on the movements of his enemy, was not unprepared for the assault. As he put aside the blade with his own, he shouted with a loud voiceColonna! to the rescue, Colonna!
Nor had it been without an ulterior object that the acute and self-controlling mind of Adrian had hitherto sought to prolong the parley. Even as he first addressed Orsini, he had perceived, by the moonlight, the glitter of armour upon two men advancing from the far end of the street, and judged at once, by the neighbourhood, that they must be among the mercenaries of the Colonna.