Read Ebook: The Piccinino Volume 1 (of 2) by Sand George Cortazzo Oreste Illustrator Ives George Burnham Translator

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Ebook has 583 lines and 43419 words, and 12 pages

Michel thought that his uncle had gone a little too far, for the Piccinino resumed his recumbent attitude with a gesture of profound indignation, stretched himself on his back, puffed away at his cigarette, and maliciously left to the good priest the embarrassing necessity of continuing the conversation.

But Fra Angelo was perfectly sure that the idea of a supply of ducats had appealed to the young bandit's unsentimental mind, and he continued without the slightest hesitation:

"I give you half an hour, my son, if you absolutely need it; half an hour is a long while for the blood that flows in your veins! then we will all three start."

"Who is this youngster, pray?" said the Piccinino, indicating Michel with the end of his finger, but without removing his eyes from the wall.

"He is my nephew, as I have told you; and Fra Angelo's nephew is to be relied on. But he doesn't know the country, and has not the necessary connections for an affair of this sort."

"No, signor!" cried Michel, irritated beyond endurance, and unable to bear longer the bandit's insolence and the restraint which his uncle imposed upon him. The bandit turned, looked him in the face with his long eyes, which seemed to turn up a little toward the temples, and whose mocking expression was sometimes intolerable. But when he saw Michel's animated face and pale lips, he assumed a more amiable expression, albeit a little suspicious still, and said, offering him his hand:

"Let us be friends, at all events, until we have no other enemies on our hands; that is our wisest course."

As Michel was seated at some distance, he would have had to rise to take that hand, extended with a kingly gesture. He smiled and did not move, at the risk of displeasing his uncle and losing the fruit of their expedition.

But the monk was not sorry to see Michel adopt that attitude with respect to the bandit. The latter understood that he had no weak-spirited creature to deal with, and, rising with an effort, he went to him and took his hand.

"You are cruel, my young master," he said, "to refuse to take two steps toward a man who is completely tired out. You haven't travelled twenty leagues to-day, and you insist upon my starting off again when I have had barely two hours' rest!"

"At your age," said the unrelenting monk, "I used to walk twenty leagues a day, and not take time to sup before starting again. Well, have you decided? Shall we start?"

"You care a good deal about it, don't you? Are you personally interested in the affair?"

"I care about it as I do about my everlasting salvation, and the affair is of the deepest interest to the persons who are dearer to me than anybody else on earth since your father died. My brother is in danger, as well as this excellent young man, for whom I demand your sincere and loyal friendship."

"Have I not shaken his hand?"

"Therefore I count upon you. When I see that you are ready, I will tell you something that will be a more enticing bait to you than gold or glory."

"I am ready. Is it an enemy of the country who is to be killed?"

"I told you that there is nobody to be killed; you forget that I serve the God of peace and mercy. But there is some one to be thwarted, some one whose treacherous plans must be utterly foiled; and that man is a spy and a traitor."

"His name?"

"Will you come?"

"Am I not on my feet?"

"Abb? Ninfo."

The Piccinino began to laugh, a silent laugh in which there was something ghastly.

"May I be permitted to thwart him?" he asked.

"Morally, yes. But not a drop of blood must be shed!"

"Morally! good, I will exert my wits. Courage is not current coin with that fellow; but as we have made our bargain, or nearly so, it is time to explain to me the motive of this abduction."

"I will explain it to you, and you can reflect upon it as we walk."

"Impossible. I cannot do two things at once. I reflect only when my body is at rest."

And he coolly lay down again after relighting his cigarette.

Fra Angelo saw clearly enough that he would not allow himself to be led into action with his eyes closed.

"You know," he said, with no indication of impatience, "that Ninfo is the tool, the spy, the inseparable companion of a certain cardinal?"

"Hieronymo de Palmarosa?"

"You know also that my older brother, Pier-Angelo, was forced to leave Sicily eighteen years ago?"

"I know it. It was his own fault! My father was still alive. He might have joined him instead of abandoning his country."

"You are mistaken; your father was dead. You were an infant, I was a monk! There was nothing to be done here."

"Go on."

"My brother returned, as you know, a year ago; and his son, Michelangelo here, returned a week ago."

"What for?"

"To assist his father in his trade and his country on occasion. But there is already a denunciation hanging over him as well as over his father. The cardinal still has his memory, and does not forgive. Ninfo is prepared to act in his name."

"What are they waiting for?"

"I don't know why the cardinal is waiting so long before dying, but I can say that Ninfo is waiting for the cardinal's death."

"Why?"

"In order to seize his papers before there is time to put seals on them and notify his heiress."

"Who is the heiress?"

"Princess Agatha de Palmarosa."

"Ah! yes," said the bandit, changing his position, "a beautiful woman, so they say."

"That has nothing to do with the affair. But do you understand now why it is necessary that Abb? Ninfo should disappear during the cardinal's last moments?"

"She is very rich, so that it is a great opportunity for you, for she is no less generous than rich."

"I understand. And then, she is a very beautiful woman!"

His insistence upon that consideration sent a shudder of anger through Michel's veins; the bandit's impertinence seemed intolerable to him; but Fra Angelo was not disturbed by it. He believed that it was simply a trick of the Piccinino's, to conceal his rapacity beneath an air of gallantry.

"So I am to act for your brother and nephew incidentally," continued the bandit, "while in reality I am to rescue the Princess of Palmarosa's future fortune by laying hands upon the suspicious person of Abb? Ninfo? Is that it?"

"That is it," the monk replied. "The signora has to look out for her interests, and I for my family. That is why I have advised her to seek your assistance, and why I consented to convey her request."

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