"I am quite sure! How many times have you asked me that absurd question? What can I say, what can I do--to make you believe me?"
"Nothing," I answered, and answered truly, for certainly nothing she could say or do would make me believe her for a moment. "But HOW do you love me--for myself or for my wealth?"
She raised her head with a proud, graceful gesture.
"For yourself, of course! Do you think mere wealth could ever win MY affection? No, Cesare! I love you for your own sake--your own merits have made you dear to me."
I smiled bitterly. She did not see the smile. I slowly caressed her silky hair.
"For that sweet answer, carissima mia, you shall have your reward. You called me a fairy prince just now--perhaps I merit that t.i.tle more than you know. You remember the jewels I sent you before we ever met?"
"Remember them!" she exclaimed. "They are my choicest ornaments. Such a parure is fit for an empress."
"And an empress of beauty wears them!" I said, lightly. "But they are mere trifles compared to other gems which I possess, and which I intend to offer for your acceptance."
Her eyes glistened with avarice and expectancy.
"Oh, let me see them!" she cried. "If they are lovelier than those I already have, they must be indeed magnificent! And are they all for me?"
"All for you!" I replied, drawing her closer, and playing with the small white hand on which the engagement-ring I had placed there sparkled so bravely. "All for my bride. A little h.o.a.rd of bright treasures; red rubies, ay--as red as blood-diamonds as brilliant as the glittering of crossed daggers--sapphires as blue as the lightning--pearls as pure as the little folded hands of a dead child--opals as dazzlingly changeful as woman"s love! Why do you start?" for she had moved restlessly in my embrace. "Do I use bad similes? Ah, cara mia, I am no poet! I can but speak of things as they seem to my poor judgment. Yes, these precious things are for you, bellissima; you have nothing to do but to take them, and may they bring you much joy!"
A momentary pallor had stolen over her face while I was speaking--speaking in my customary hard, harsh voice, which I strove to render even harder and harsher than usual--but she soon recovered from whatever pa.s.sing emotion she may have felt, and gave herself up to the joys of vanity and greed, the paramount pa.s.sions of her nature.
"I shall have the finest jewels in all Naples!" she laughed, delightedly. "How the women will envy me! But where are these treasures? May I see them now--immediately?"
"No, not quite immediately," I replied, with a gentle derision that escaped her observation. "To-morrow night--our marriage night--you shall have them. And I must also fulfill a promise I made to you. You wish to see me for once without these," and I touched my dark gla.s.ses--"is it not so?"
She raised her eyes, conveying into their l.u.s.trous depths an expression of melting tenderness.
"Yes," she murmured; "I want to see you as you ARE!"
"I fear you will be disappointed," I said, with some irony, "for my eyes are not pleasant to look at."
"Never mind," she returned, gayly. "I shall be satisfied if I see them just once, and we need not have much light in the room, as the light gives you pain. I would not be the cause of suffering to you--no, not for all the world!"
"You are very amiable," I answered, "more so than I deserve. I hope I may prove worthy of your tenderness! But to return to the subject of the jewels. I wish you to see them for yourself and choose the best among them. Will you come with me to-morrow night? and I will show you where they are."
She laughed sweetly.
"Are you a miser, Cesare?--and have you some secret hiding-place full of treasure like Aladdin?"
I smiled.
"Perhaps I have," I said. "There are exceptional cases in which one fears to trust even to a bank. Gems such as those I have to offer you are almost priceless, and it would be unwise, almost cruel to place such tempting toys within the reach of even an honest man. At any rate, if I have been something of a miser, it is for your sake, for your sake I have personally guarded the treasure that is to be your bridal gift.
You cannot blame me for this?"
In answer she threw her fair arms round my neck and kissed me. Strive against it as I would, I always shuddered at the touch of her lips--a mingled sensation of loathing and longing possessed me that sickened while it stung my soul.
"Amor mio!" she murmured. "As if _I_ could blame you! You have no faults in my estimation of you. You are good, brave and generous--the best of men; there is only one thing I wish sometimes--" Here she paused, and her brow knitted itself frowningly, while a puzzled, pained expression came into her eyes.
"And that one thing is?" I inquired.
"That you did not remind me so often of Fabio," she said, abruptly and half angrily. "Not when you speak of him, I do not mean that. What I mean is, that you have ways like his. Of course I know there is no actual resemblance, and yet--" She paused again, and again looked troubled.
"Really, carina mia," I remarked, lightly and jestingly, "you embarra.s.s me profoundly! This fancy of yours is a most awkward one for me. At the convent where I visited you, you became quite ill at the contemplation of my hand, which you declared was like the hand of your deceased husband; and now--this same foolish idea is returning, when I hoped it had gone, with other morbid notions of an oversensitive brain, forever.
Perhaps you think I am your late husband?"
And I laughed aloud! She trembled a little, but soon laughed also.
"I know I am very absurd," she said, "perhaps I am a little nervous and unstrung: I have had too much excitement lately. Tell me more about the jewels. When will you take me to see them?"
"To-morrow night," I answered, "while the ball is going on, you and I will slip away together--we shall return again before any of our friends can miss us. You will come with me?"
"Of course I will," she replied, readily, "only we must not be long absent, because my maid will have to pack my wedding-dress, and then there will be the jewels also to put in my strong box. Let me see! We stay the night at the hotel, and leave for Rome and Paris the first thing in the morning, do we not?"
"That is the arrangement, certainly," I said, with a cold smile.
"The little place where you have hidden your jewels, you droll Cesare, is quite near then?" she asked.
"Quite near," I a.s.sented, watching her closely.
She laughed and clapped her hands.
"Oh, I must have them," she exclaimed. "It would be ridiculous to go to Paris without them. But why will you not get them yourself, Cesare, and bring them here to me?"
"There are so many," I returned, quietly, "and I do not know which you would prefer. Some are more valuable than others. And it will give me a special satisfaction--one that I have long waited for--to see you making your own choice."
She smiled half shyly, half cunningly.
"Perhaps I will make no choice," she whispered, "perhaps I will take them ALL, Cesare. What will you say then?"
"That you are perfectly welcome to them," I replied.
She looked slightly surprised.
"You are really too good to me, caro mio," she said; "you spoil me."
"CAN you be spoiled?" I asked, half jestingly. "Good women are like fine brilliants--the more richly they are set the more they shine."
She stroked my hand caressingly.
"No one ever made such pretty speeches to me as you do!" she murmured.
"Not even Guido Ferrari?" I suggested, ironically.
She drew herself up with an inimitably well-acted gesture of lofty disdain.
"Guido Ferrari!" she exclaimed. "He dared not address me save with the greatest respect! I was as a queen to him! It was only lately that he began to presume on the trust left him by my husband, and then he became too familiar--a mistake on his part, for which YOU punished him--as he deserved!"