They did not scruple to send messages into the country
towns and villas, demanding certain sums of money, or articles of dress
and luxury; with menaces of vengeance in case of refusal. They had
plundered carriages; carried people of rank and fortune into the
mountains and obliged them to write for heavy ransoms; and had
committed outrages on females who had fallen in their power.
The police exerted its rigor in vain. The brigands were too numerous
And powerful for a weak police. They were countenanced and cherished by
several of the villages; and though now and then the limbs of
malefactors hung blackening in the trees near which they had committed
some atrocity; or their heads stuck upon posts in iron cages made some
dreary part of the road still more dreary, still they seemed to strike
dismay into no bosom but that of the traveller.
The dark, handsome young man; and the Venetian lady, whom I have
mentioned, had arrived early that afternoon in a private carriage,
drawn by mules and attended by a single servant. They had been recently
married, were spending the honeymoon in travelling through these
delicious countries, and were on their way to visit a rich aunt of the
young lady's at Naples.
The lady was young, and tender and timid. The stories she had heard
along the road had filled her with apprehension, not more for herself
than for her husband; for though she had been married almost a month,
she still loved him almost to idolatry. When she reached Terracina the
rumors of the road had increased to an alarming magnitude; and the
sight of two robbers' skulls grinning in iron cages on each side of the
old gateway of the town brought her to a pause. Her husband had tried
in vain to reassure her. They had lingered all the afternoon at the
inn, until it was too late to think of starting that evening, and the
parting words of the estafette completed her affright.
"Let us return to Rome," said she, putting her arm within her
husband's, and drawing towards him as if for protection - "let us return
to Rome and give up this visit to Naples."
"And give up the visit to your aunt, too," said the husband.
"Nay - what is my aunt in comparison with your safety," said she,
looking up tenderly in his face.
There was something in her tone and manner that showed she really was
Thinking more of her husband's safety at that moment than of her own;
and being recently married, and a match of pure affection, too, it is
very possible that she was. At least her husband thought so. Indeed,
any one who has heard the sweet, musical tone of a Venetian voice, and
the melting tenderness of a Venetian phrase, and felt the soft witchery
of a Venetian eye, would not wonder at the husband's believing whatever
they professed.
He clasped the white hand that had been laid within his, put his arm
round her slender waist, and drawing her fondly to his bosom - "This
night at least," said he, "we'll pass at Terracina."
Crack! crack! crack! crack! crack!
Another apparition of the road attracted the attention of mine host and
his guests. From the road across the Pontine marshes, a carriage drawn
by half a dozen horses, came driving at a furious pace - the postillions
smacking their whips like mad, as is the case when conscious of the
greatness or the munificence of their fare. It was a landaulet, with a
servant mounted on the dickey. The compact, highly finished, yet
proudly simple construction of the carriage; the quantity of neat,
well-arranged trunks and conveniences; the loads of box coats and upper
benjamins on the dickey - and the fresh, burly, gruff-looking face at
the window, proclaimed at once that it was the equipage of an
Englishman.
"Fresh horses to Fondi," said the Englishman, as the landlord came
bowing to the carriage door.
"Would not his Excellenza alight and take some refreshment?"
"No - he did not mean to eat until he got to Fondi!"
"But the horses will be some time in getting ready - "
"Ah. - that's always the case - nothing but delay in this cursed
country."
"If his Excellenza would only walk into the house - "
"No, no, no! - I tell you no! - I want nothing but horses, and as quick
as possible. John! see that the horses are got ready, and don't let us
be kept here an hour or two. Tell him if we're delayed over the time,
I'll lodge a complaint with the postmaster."
John touched his hat, and set off to obey his master's orders, with the
taciturn obedience of an English servant. He was a ruddy, round-faced
fellow, with hair cropped close; a short coat, drab breeches, and long
gaiters; and appeared to have almost as much contempt as his master for
everything around him.
In the mean time the Englishman got out of the carriage and walked up
and down before the inn, with his hands in his pockets: taking no
notice of the crowd of idlers who were gazing at him and his equipage.
He was tall, stout, and well made; dressed with neatness and precision,
wore a travelling-cap of the color of gingerbread, and had rather an
unhappy expression about the corners of his mouth; partly from not
having yet made his dinner, and partly from not having been able to get
on at a greater rate than seven miles an hour. Not that he had any
other cause for haste than an Englishman's usual hurry to get to the
end of a journey; or, to use the regular phrase, "to get on."
After some time the servant returned from the stable with as sour a
look as his master.
