Part 26

"But, Signor Mazza," he said, at length, "we must remember that these affairs also concern the princess. She is responsible for the administration of the property until Donna Bianca attains her majority. I do not doubt, indeed, I am convinced, that her excellency is badly advised. But if this is the case, she is not likely to listen to wiser counsels at a moment's notice. It must be proved to her absolutely, and beyond a possibility of doubt, that those whom she trusts are not competent to advise her. You, my friends, declare that you wish well to the Principessina Bianca and to Casa Acorari. If that is the case, do not let us forget that though the princess is a foreigner, she is, nevertheless, in a sense, the _principessa madre_, and as such is entitled to respect and consideration. It will be a strange method of showing your loyalty to Casa Acorari if you present yourselves with threats and violence at the gates of the castle of Montefiano. Nor, believe me, will you be doing yourselves any good by such a proceeding. If the princess is a woman of any spirit, and if those who have advised her are not cowards, she will only persist the more firmly in the course she has adopted. The increase in the rents will be enforced, and our friend Signor Fontana's dismissal will certainly not be recalled. Moreover, it is scarcely likely that her excellency would be disposed to allow Donna Bianca to be interviewed by those who had threatened to dispute the authority of Donna Bianca's guardian."

As Don Agostino proceeded with his arguments, the faces of his audience gradually became more lowering, and more than once murmurs of disapproval and impatience were audible. Sor Stefano himself looked at first disconcerted, and then suspicious.

"Your reverence appears to be very anxious to defend the princess," he said, "but we Montefianesi want no foreigners. If her excellency has evil counsellors round her, it is because she listens to strangers in preference to trusting her husband's people. No, _reverendo_, we do not forget that she is, as you say, the late prince's wife--but she is not the _principessina's_ mother. And by all accounts she is not acting by the _principessina_ as a mother would act by her child. We have approached her excellency with fair words, and in a respectful and legitimate manner. She has thought fit to answer us--in the way she has answered us."

Sor Stefano stopped abruptly; then, turning from Don Agostino to the crowd, ever growing more and more dense in the street, he raised his voice yet louder.

"His reverence," he exclaimed, "does not quite understand us, my friends! Oh, it is natural; for, after all, he is a priest, and it is a priest who is at the bottom of the whole business! _Si capisce!_ the Church must support the Church. But Don Agostino does not understand us. He thinks that we are considering our interests only--that our only object in going to the castle is to insist on the rents remaining as they were, and on Sor Beppe being recalled to his post. If that were all, _reverendo_, we should not take the trouble to go to the castle--_niente affato_! The rents would not be paid--and as to the new _fattore_ whom the foreign priest has appointed--well, he would be a brave man to remain long in Montefiano. He would receive hints--oh, that the air of Montefiano was unhealthy for strangers. And if he did not take the hints and remove himself, the air would no doubt prove fatal. No, we go to the castle because we wish to see and to speak with the _principessina_--because we wish to know what truth there is in certain stories we have heard--that the _principessina_ is, as it were, a prisoner here at Montefiano until she gives herself up to the lust of an old foreigner instead of to the love of a Roman youth she wants to marry. We wish to learn if it is true that the Abbe Roux is in reality the lessee of the rents on the Montefiano _latifondo_, and that he means to force the _principessina_ to marry her uncle for reasons of his own. These are our reasons, _reverendo_, for insisting on seeing the _principessina_ herself, and for being determined to force our way into the castle, if we are compelled to do so. Have I spoken well, or ill?"

A shout from the crowd answered Sor Stefano's speech.

"_Al castello--andiamo al castello! Fuori gli stranieri--evviva la Principessina Bianca!_"

Sor Stefano looked at Don Agostino. "You hear, _reverendo_?" he asked.

"I hear," Don Agostino replied, quietly, and then, drawing himself up to his full height, he added, "And I repeat, with you, '_Evviva la Principessina Donna Bianca Acorari!_' You, Signor Mazza, have spoken, and much that you have said is just. But you have also said what is not just. If I defend the princess, it is because I believe that lady to be innocent of the conduct towards her step-daughter which you impute to her. I believe her to be influenced by dishonest persons who have succeeded in gaining her entire confidence, and in persuading her that she is doing her duty by Donna Bianca. It makes no difference to me that one of these dishonest persons--the chief among them--happens to be a priest. I have not defended his conduct, but merely that of the princess, who has, I believe, been deceived by his advice. It is true, Signor Mazza, that the Church must support the Church; and concerning the Abbe Roux as a priest, I have nothing to say. It is with the Abbe Roux as a man of business that I am concerned--and I have already expressed my opinion of him in that respect. But these things are beside the point. I came here to learn your intentions, my friends, as regards the action of the deputation of which I consented to be a member. I speak frankly. If that action is to be such as you seem to be bent upon, I will not be a party to it. To give my approval to a course which must almost inevitably lead to disorder, if not to worse, would not be consistent with my duty either to you as my parishioners or to myself as a priest. I tell you that you will gain nothing by threats and demonstrations, and the position of the _principessina_ will certainly not be improved by any interference of such a character. All that will happen will be that the princess--who, remember, is within her rights and has the law behind her--will call upon the authorities to assist her and to maintain order at Montefiano. You, Signor Mazza, know as well as I do what would be the result of continued resistance under such circumstances. They are not results which any one who wishes well to Montefiano cares to contemplate, and certainly not results which I, a priest, can assist in bringing about. No, my friends, let us be reasonable! You have done me the honor to say that you trust me. Well, I am going to ask you to trust me a little longer--for a few hours longer. I told you that I had one or two suggestions to make to you, and I should like to make my second suggestion."

Don Agostino's audience was apparently undecided. The younger and more excited among the crowd seemed eager for instant action, but the older heads were evidently ready to listen to the _parroco's_ advice.

At this juncture no less a person than the _sindaco_ intervened. The _avvocato_ Ricci had taken no part in the proceedings, though he had been present when Don Agostino entered the _caffe_. He was, indeed, in a lamentable position of embarrassment and difficulty, what with his fear of offending Sor Stefano on the one hand, and his anxiety lest he should be compromised in the eyes of the authorities on the other. Don Agostino's last sentences, however, had given him the courage to open his lips and to join the _parroco_ in dissociating himself from a movement which threatened to become prolific of disorder. Don Agostino's allusion to the danger of so acting as to oblige the princess and her advisers to seek the aid of the authorities had finally decided the _sindaco_ of Montefiano to brave the resentment of the man who held so much of his paper locked away in his strong-box.

"In my opinion," he said, "his reverence is right. If it is inconsistent with his duty as _parroco_ of Montefiano to associate himself with a movement which tends to create disorder, it is equally inconsistent that I who, as _sindaco_, am responsible to the civil authorities for the maintenance of law and order in the commune should in any way countenance a course which, as Don Agostino justly says, might lead to very deplorable consequences. His reverence, however, has some other suggestion to offer. Is it not so?" he added, turning to Don Agostino.

The intervention was opportune, and Don Agostino felt it to be so. He was determined to prevent, if possible, the proposed march upon the castle by an angry and excited crowd of uneducated peasants and petty farmers. It was not that he feared any violence or excesses on their part, beyond that of perhaps forcing an entrance into the courtyard of the castle, if they found the gates barred against them. He dreaded lest a further blunder should be committed by the Princess Montefiano and those who were advising her. The refusal to receive the deputation and the manner of that refusal were blunders enough; but a still graver error in judgment would be committed were the princess to allow the matter to pass out of her own hands into those of the authorities, civil or military. Don Agostino was determined that if more blunders were committed, he would at all events do all that lay in his power to prevent the people themselves from furnishing any excuse for these blunders.

"Yes, my friends," he said, after considering for a few moments, "I have another suggestion to make to you. It is this. It is possible that the princess, although unwilling to receive a deputation, would consent to receive your _sindaco_ and myself, and listen to our representations on your behalf. I think, indeed, that her excellency could scarcely decline to receive us under the circumstances; and we could request that the Principessina Donna Bianca should be present at the interview and hear what we have to say on behalf of her people. At least, no reasonable objection could be taken to this step by her excellency's advisers, and it is possible that we might succeed in demonstrating to the princess that these advisers have misled her. I am ready to go to the castle this afternoon," he continued. "and ask to see her excellency and Donna Bianca. Doubtless, Signor Sindaco, you will accompany me," he added.

The _avvocato_ Ricci glanced nervously at Sor Stefano, then he shook his head. "I think not, Don Agostino," he said. "That you should go and attempt to arrange matters with her excellency is very right and proper. But I am not inclined to interfere unless I should be called upon to do so in my official capacity--a thing which I trust may not happen. No, _signori_," he added, turning to the listening crowd, "I feel sure that your interests are safe in Don Agostino's hands, and his advice is good. Let him go this afternoon to the castle as your representative. The princess has the reputation of being a very devout lady. She will doubtless, therefore, be pleased to receive a visit from the _parroco_ of Montefiano. In the mean time, my friends, let us be calm and patient, and await the result of his reverence's interview with the princess and Donna Bianca."

It was evident that Don Agostino's suggestion, seconded as it was by the official influence of the _sindaco_, found favor with the majority of the assembly both within and outside the Caffe Garibaldi. There were a few dissentient voices, and Sor Stefano himself seemed to sympathize with those who were clamoring for more immediate and united action.

Don Agostino took Stefano Mazza aside for a minute or two and spoke earnestly with him. He pointed out how imprudent it would be to encourage the people to go to the castle in their present excited frame of mind. Delay, he argued, was everything, for it would also afford those at the castle time to realize their mistake; and very likely he, Don Agostino, would be able to bring matters at any rate to a compromise, which should satisfy both parties.

To his great relief, Sor Stefano yielded to his persuasions, although he did so with a bad grace. For some reason or other it was clear that Sor Stefano was anxious that matters should come to a crisis; and Don Agostino had throughout wondered what his object might be in so openly supporting the peasants and the more violent faction of the community in their desire to present themselves in person at the castle and force the princess to give way.

A few words from Sor Stefano were sufficient to silence the objections of the minority to the _parroco's_ proposal, and after promising that he would go that very afternoon to the castle, Don Agostino left the _caffe_, saluted as he made his way through the crowd by friendly cheers from his parishioners.

*XXX*

It was not to be expected that the excitement and ill-feeling produced by Princess Montefiano's curt refusal to receive the deputation which had been formed to wait upon her should be unknown in the castle. The Abbe Roux, indeed, was not without his means of information as to what was going on in the _paese_; but it so happened that the intelligence supplied to him was not infrequently both inaccurate and misleading. As he had said to Monsieur d'Antin, he was aware that the dismissal of the agent Fontana had aroused a certain amount of opposition and even of indignation; but he was certainly ignorant of the extent and depth of the feeling his action had excited in the commune. In his opinion, the ill-feeling that he had been told was being manifested by the peasants was merely the result of an attempt on the part of the dismissed _fattore_ and his friends to frighten the princess and lead her to recall Fontana to his post and to give way on the question of the raising of the rents. He was persuaded that it was only necessary to be firm, and not to listen to any attempt on the part of the _contadini_ to discuss the matter with the administration of Casa Acorari, and in a few days things would quiet down. He had not, therefore, thought fit to tell Princess Montefiano more than was absolutely necessary of the state of affairs prevailing in the _paese_, and he had represented the whole matter as a trifle which was not worthy of her consideration. It is possible that had the abbe been better informed he would have regarded the situation in a different light. If he had known, for instance, of the stories assiduously circulated throughout the district during the last few weeks concerning Donna Bianca Acorari, and the treatment to which she was being subjected--stories which certainly had lost nothing in the process of diffusion--if he had suspected that it was being openly asserted that he and none other was the new lessee of the Montefiano rents, that mysterious _affittuario_, who had never hitherto been seen in the flesh, he would doubtless have proceeded more cautiously. But the Abbe Roux was not well informed. Indeed, could he but have known it, he was being wilfully misled by those whom he believed to be his friends, not only at Montefiano, but also at Palazzo Acorari in Rome, where the business of Casa Acorari was transacted. Long as he had lived in Italy, he had got to learn that he was no match for a certain class of Italians, and more especially of Romans, at petty intrigue. Not a syllable had reached his ears which could lead him to suspect that not only was his actual position with regard to the Acorari estates known, but that the entire scheme by which he hoped to retain that position for a period long enough to enable him to make a considerable sum of money out of it was known also.

It was natural, therefore, that the letter announcing to Princess Montefiano that a deputation from the peasantry proposed to wait upon her, and stating that its members were commissioned particularly to request a personal interview with the Principessina Donna Bianca, should have caused both its recipient and the Abbe Roux considerable surprise. It had been surprise only, however, and that feeling had been quickly followed by one of contemptuous indifference. The princess, indeed, was not a little indignant. The pointed request that her step-daughter should be personally approached by the tenantry of Montefiano seemed to her to be a reflection upon herself and her position; a stone, as it were, cast against her authority. The Abbe Roux had certainly not attempted to soothe her ruffled feelings. He had, on the contrary, inveighed against the insolence of the peasantry in venturing to send such a document to her excellency, and against the obvious disrespect towards her rule conveyed in the request that the deputation should speak with Donna Bianca in person. He had assured the princess and Monsieur d'Antin, to whom she had shown the letter, that the whole affair was a trifle--a mere _ballon d'essai_ on the part of Fontana and his friends to intimidate her excellency with a view to regaining his post. As to the grievance about the rents, that was nonsense. The holdings in question had been for many years under-rented; and the tenants could perfectly well afford to pay the trifling addition imposed. Had he, the abbe, not gone thoroughly into the question, he would not have counselled any increase, but Fontana had been very lax, very behind the times, and he had evidently thought more of keeping on good terms with the _contadini_ than of the legitimate interests of his employers.

Monsieur d'Antin had shrugged his shoulders and declined to give an opinion. He did not understand Italian peasants, and he did not want to understand them. He was quite convinced in his own mind that the abbe was making a purse for himself, but doubtless the abbe knew what he was about, and it was no part of Baron d'Antin's programme to interfere in the priest's little arrangements. His sister's indignation at the allusion to Bianca rather amused him. Jeanne was certainly tenacious of her rights. She would have made an admirable mother-superior--yes, admirable.

The princess, who did not lack spirit, had required no advice as to the manner in which she should reply to the letter in question. To do her justice, she was not a woman to be intimidated by what she fully believed to be a blow levelled at her authority by a body of uneducated peasants, instigated to disaffection by a dismissed servant.

The Abbe Roux had scornfully pointed out to her the name of Don Agostino Lelli as being one of the proposed deputation. It was quite sufficient, he declared, that such an individual should be one of its leaders to prove the real character of the movement. The _parroco_ of Montefiano had persistently interfered, as Madame la Princesse well knew, in affairs that were quite outside his province, and no doubt he and the dismissed agent were acting in concert. Besides, a priest who had so notoriously fallen into disgrace at Rome was certainly not a fitting person to be received by the princess at the bidding of a few peasants.

In this latter sentiment Monsieur d'Antin had heartily supported the abbe. It was decidedly not advisable that Monsignor Lelli should succeed in obtaining even a single interview with Bianca Acorari. Monsieur d'Antin and the abbe had exchanged a rapid but significant glance when they observed that among those whom the peasants had designated to represent their cause was the name of Don Agostino Lelli; and both of them had resolved that Monsignor Lelli should have no opportunity of even seeing Bianca.

Princess Montefiano had wished to despatch her reply at once to the signatories of the letter she had received, but the abbe counselled delay. Although he affected to regard the whole matter with contempt, he was not quite easy in his mind as to what the effects of so curt a refusal to receive the peasants' deputation might be. He had persuaded the princess, therefore, to keep back her answer until the following morning. He wished to ascertain the exact state of public opinion in Montefiano, and also to prepare for possible emergencies. It had not been without some difficulty that he had succeeded in persuading the princess not at once to send her reply, and it was only when her brother added his representations to those of the abbe that Princess Montefiano had finally consented to any delay. In the mean time, all knowledge of what was happening was carefully kept from Bianca Acorari. The Abbe Roux found it easy enough to point out the advisability of not allowing the fact of there being any difficulty with the people to transpire to Donna Bianca, and more especially that a personal interview with her had been sought by their representatives. The princess had no desire to bring her step-daughter forwards, since by so doing, she would only diminish her own authority to which she was legally entitled. It was absurd to suppose that Bianca could possibly understand business matters; and, as the abbe pointed out, the endeavor to drag an inexperienced girl into such questions was only another proof that the whole agitation had been formed with a view to intimidation. It would be wiser, Monsieur l'Abbe argued, to leave Donna Bianca in complete ignorance of the situation; and so, by common consent, not a word was said in her presence that could lead her to suspect that anything unusual was taking place.

In the mean time, the Abbe Roux sent a private note to the _sindaco_ of Montefiano, begging that official to come to see him that evening after dusk at the castle, and enjoining him to keep his visit a secret, as, for obvious reasons, it would not be advisable that it should be known in the _paese_ that they had conferred together.

The _sindaco's_ report had certainly not diminished the Abbe Roux's growing apprehensions. It was evident that the _avvocato_ Ricci regarded the agitation as wide-spread and likely to assume serious proportions. It was headed, as he assured the abbe, by influential members of the community, whose support would undoubtedly encourage the _contadini_ to persist in their attitude. He himself had been approached, and it was true that he had consented to join the proposed deputation to the princess; but he had done so in the hope of exerting his official influence to keep the agitation within legitimate bounds. Among the chief supporters of the peasantry he could assure the abbe that the _parroco_, Don Agostino Lelli, was one of the most active, and, by virtue of his position, perhaps the most influential. It was, of course, well known that the _parroco_ was taking this part out of friendship for and sympathy with the _fattore_, Giuseppe Fontana. The Abbe Roux made a gesture of impatience and anger.

"Don Agostino Lelli had better confine himself to his duties," he exclaimed, "otherwise he will find himself removed from Montefiano, as, years ago, he was removed from his post in Rome. You are of opinion, then," he continued, "that this affair is likely to become serious; that disorders, in short, might break out if her excellency the princess refuses to receive this deputation?"

The _sindaco_ hesitated. "It depends," he replied.

"And upon what?" asked the abbe, sharply.

"Upon--well, upon whether her excellency is prepared to stand firm, and to take the possible consequences of her refusal. After all, she has the force of the law on her side--"

"And the force of public opinion on the other side," interrupted the abbe.