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need I might equal this myself. Thou shouldst relate that which is less
probable, while it is more true."
"Signore, we prophets like to sleep in whole skins. If it be your
eccellenza's pleasure and that of your noble company to listen to the
truly wonderful, I will tell some of these honest people matters touching
their own interests that they do not know themselves, and yet it shall be
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as clear to every body else as the sun in the heavens at noon-day."
"Thou wilt, probably, tell them their faults?"
"Your eccellenza has a right to my place, for no prophet could have better
divined my intention;" answered the laughing knave. "Come nearer, friend,"
he added, beckoning to the Bernois; "thou art Nicklaus Wagner, a fat
peasant of the great canton, and a warm husbandman, that fancies he has a
title to the respect of all he meets because some one among his fathers
bought a right in the buergerschaft. Thou hast a large stake in the
Winkelried, and art at this moment thinking what punishment is good enough
for an impudent soothsayer who dares dive so unceremoniously into the
secrets of so warm a citizen, while all around thee wish thy cheeses had
never left the dairy, to the discomfort of our limbs and to the great
detriment of the bark's speed."
This sally at the expense of Nicklaus drew a burst of merriment from the
listeners; for the selfish spirit he had manifested throughout the day had
won little favor with a majority of his fellow travellers, who had all the
generous propensities that are usually so abundant among those who have
little or nothing to bestow, and who were by this time so well disposed to
be merry that much less would have served to stimulate their mirth.
"Wert thou the owner of this good freight friend, thou might find its
presence less uncomfortable than thou now appearest to think," returned
the literal peasant, who had no humour for raillery, and to whom a jest on
the subject of property had that sort of irreverend character that popular
opinion and holy sayings have attached to waste. "The cheeses are well
enough where they find themselves; if thou dislikest their company thou
hast the alternative of the water."
"A truce between us, worshipful burgher! and let our skirmish end in
something that may be useful to both. Thou hast that which would be
acceptable to me, and I have that which no owner of cheeses would refuse,
did he know the means by which it might be come at honestly."
Nicklaus growled a few words of distrust and indifference, but it was
plain that the ambiguous language of the juggler, as usual, had succeeded
in awakening interest. With the affectation of a mind secretly conscious
of its own infirmity, he pretended to be indifferent to what the other
professed a readiness to reveal, while with the rapacity of a grasping
spirit he betrayed a longing to know more.
"First I will tell thee," said Pippo, with a parade of good-nature, "that
thou deservest to remain in ignorance, as a punishment of thy pride and
want of faith; but it is the failing of your prophet to let that be known
which he ought to conceal. Thou flatterest thyself this is the fattest
cargo of cheeses that will cross the Swiss waters this season, on their
way to an Italian market? Shake not thy head.--'Tis useless to deny it to
a man of my learning!"
"Nay, I know there are others as heavy, and, it may be, as good; but this
has the advantage of being the first, a circumstance that is certain to
command a price."
"Such is the blindness of one that nature sent on earth to deal in
cheeses!"--The Herr Von Willading and his friends smiled among themselves
at the cool impudence of the mountebank--"Thou fanciest it is so; and at
this moment, a heavily laden bark is driving before a favorable gale, near
the upper end of the lake of the four cantons, while a long line of mules
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is waiting at Flueellen, to bear its freight by the paths of the St.
Gothard, to Milano and other rich markets of the south. In virtue of my
secret power, I see that, in despite of all thy cravings, it will arrive
before thine."
Nicklaus fidgeted, for the graphic particularity of Pippo almost led him
to believe the augury might be true.
"Had this bark sailed according to our covenant," he said, with a
simplicity that betrayed his uneasiness, "the beasts bespoken by me would
now be loading at Villeneuve; and, if there be justice in Vaud, I shall
hold Baptiste responsible for any disadvantage that may come of the
neglect."
"Luckily, the generous Baptiste is asleep," returned Pippo, "or we might
hear objections to this scheme. But, Signiori, I see you are satisfied
with this insight into the character of the warm peasant of Berne, who, to
say truth, has not much to conceal from us, and I will turn my searching
looks into the soul of this pious pilgrim, the reverend Conrado, whose
unction may well go near to be a leaven sufficient to lighten all in the
bark of their burthens of backslidings. Thou earnest the penitence and
prayers of many sinners, besides some merchandise of this nature of thine
own."
"I am bound to Loretto, with the mental offerings of certain Christians,
who are too much occupied with their daily concerns to make the journey in
person," answered the pilgrim, who never absolutely threw aside his
professional character, though he cared in general so little about his
hypocrisy being known. "I am poor, and humble of appearance, but I have
seen miracles in my day!"
"If any trust valuable offerings to thy keeping, thou art a living miracle
in thine own person! I can foresee that thou wilt bear nought else beside
aves."
"Nay, I pretend to deal in little more. The rich and great, they that
send vessels of gold and rich dresses to Our Lady, employ their own
favorite messengers; I am but the bearer of prayer and the substitute for
the penitent. The sufferings that I undergo in the flesh are passed to the
credit of my employers, who get the benefit of my aches and pains. I
pretend to be no more than their go-between, as yonder manner has so
lately called me."
Pippo turned suddenly, following the direction of the other's eye, and
cast a glance at the self-styled Il Maledetto. This individual, of all
the common herd, had alone forborne to join the gaping and amused crowd
near the juggler. His forbearance, or want of curiosity, had left him in
the quiet possession of the little platform that was made by the stowage
of the boxes, and he now stood on the summit of the pile, conspicuous by
his situation and mein, the latter being remarkable for its unmoved
calmness, heightened by the understanding manner that is so peculiar to a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]