"I have come from Paris expressly to look at a manuscript of the Legende Doree, which you informed me was in your possession."At these words he threw up his arms, opened his mouth and eyes to the widest possible extent, and betrayed every sign of extreme nervousness.
"Oh! the manuscript of the 'Golden Legend!' A pearl, Excellence!
a ruby, a diamond! Two miniatures so perfect that they give one the feeling of glimpses of Paradise! What suavity! Those colours ravished from the corollas of flowers make a honey for the eyes!
Even a Sicilian could have done no better!""Let me see it, then," I asked; unable to conceal either my anxiety or my hope.
"Let you see it!" cried Polizzi."But how can I, Excellence? Ihave not got it any longer! I have not got it!"And he seemed determined to tear out his hair.He might indeed have pulled every hair in his head out of his hide before I should have tried to prevent him.But he stopped of his own accord, before he had done himself any grievous harm.
"What!" I cried out in anger--"what! you make me come all the way from Paris to Girgenti, by promising to show me a manuscript, and now, when I come, you tell me you have not got it! It is simply infamous, Monsieur! I shall leave your conduct to be judged by all honest men!"Anybody who could have seen me at that moment would have been able to form a good idea of the aspect of a furious sheep.
"It is infamous! it is infamous!" I repeated, waving my arms, which trembled from anger.
Then Michel-Angelo Polizzi let himself fall into a chair in the attitude of a dying hero.I saw his eyes fill with tears, and his hair--until then flamboyant and erect upon his head--fall down in limp disorder over his brow.
"I am a father, Excellence! I am a father!" he groaned, wringing his hands.
He continued, sobbing:
"My son Rafael--the son of my poor wife, for whose death I have been mourning fifteen years--Rafael, Excellence, wanted to settle at Paris;he hired a shop in the Rue Lafitte for the sale of curiosities.Igave him everything precious which I had--I gave him my finest majolicas; my most beautiful Urbino ware; my masterpieces of art;what paintings, Signor! Even now they dazzle me with I see them only in imagination! And all of them signed! Finally, I gave him the manuscript of the 'Golden Legend'! I would have given him my flesh and my blood! An only son, Signor! the son of my poor saintly wife!""So," I said, "while I--relying on your written word, Monsieur--was travelling to the very heart of Sicily to find the manuscript of the Clerk Alexander, the same manuscript was actually exposed for sale in a window in the Rue Lafitte, only fifteen hundred yards from my house?""Yes, it was there! that is positively true!" exclaimed Signor Polizzi, suddenly growing calm again; "and it is there still--at least I hope it is, Excellence."He took a card from a shelf as he spoke, and offered it to me, saying, "Here is the address of my son.Make it known to your friends, and you will oblige me.Faience and enameled wares; hangings; pictures.
He has a complete stock of objects of art--all at the fairest possible prices--and everything authentic, I can vouch for it, upon my honour!
Go and see him.He will show you the manuscript of the 'Golden Legend.' Two miniatures miraculously fresh in colour!"I was feeble enough to take the card he held out to me.
The fellow was taking further advantage of my weakness to make me circulate the name of Rafael Polizzi among the Societies of the learned!
My hand was already on the door-knob, when the Sicilian caught me by the arm; he had a look as of sudden inspiration.
"Ah! Excellence!" he cried, "what a city is this city of ours! It gave birth to Empedocles! Empedocles! What a great man what a great citizen! What audacity of thought! what virtue! what soul!
At the port over there is a statue of Empedocles, before which Ibare my head each time that I pass by! When Rafael, my son, was going away to found an establishment of antiquities in the Rue Lafitte, at Paris, I took him to the port, and there, at the foot of that statue of Empedocles, I bestowed upon him my paternal benediction! 'Always remember Empedocles!' I said to him.Ah!
Signor, what our unhappy country needs to-day is a new Empedocles!
Would you not like me to show you the way to his statue, Excellence?
I will be your guide among the ruins here.I will show you the temple of Castor and Pollux, the temple of the Olympian Jupiter, the temple of the Lucinian Juno, the antique well, the tomb of Theron, and the Gate of Gold! All the professional guides are asses; but we--we shall make excavations, if you are willing--and we shall discover treasures! I know the science of discovering hidden treasures--the secret art of finding their whereabouts--a gift from Heaven!"I succeeded in tearing myself away from his grasp.But he ran after me again, stopped me at the foot of the stairs, and said in my ear, "Listen, Excellence.I will conduct you about the city; I will introduce you to some Girgentines! What a race! what types! what forms! Sicilian girls, Signor!--the antique beauty itself!""Go to the devil!" I cried at last, in anger, and rushed into the street, leaving him still writhing in the loftiness of his enthusiasm.
When I had got out of his sight, I sank down upon a stone, and began to think, with my face in my hands.
"And it was for this," I said to myself--"it was to hear such propositions as this that I came to Sicily! That Polizzi is simply a scoundrel, and his son another; and they made a plan together to ruin me." But what was their scheme? I could not unravel it.Meanwhile, it may be imagined how discouraged and humiliated I felt.
A merry burst of laughter caused me to turn my head, and I saw Madame Trepof running in advance of her husband, and holding up something which I could not distinguish clearly.
She sat down beside me, and showed me--laughing more merrily all the while--an abominable little paste-board box, on which was printed a red and blue face, which the inscription declared to be the face of Empedocles.
