Crucial Instances | Page 9

relics from the crypt to a
place beneath the altar.'
"'True!' cried the Duke, 'and it shall be done at once.'
"But thereat the Duchess rose to her feet with a terrible look.
"'No,' she cried, 'by the body of God! For it shall not be said that, after
your excellency has chosen to deny every request I addressed to him, I
owe his consent to the solicitation of another!'
"The chaplain turned red and the Duke yellow, and for a moment
neither spoke.
"Then the Duke said, 'Here are words enough, Madam. Do you wish
the relics brought up from the crypt?'
"'I wish nothing that I owe to another's intervention!'
"'Put the image in place then,' says the Duke furiously; and handed her
grace to a chair.
"She sat there, my grandmother said, straight as an arrow, her hands
locked, her head high, her eyes on the Duke, while the statue was
dragged to its place; then she stood up and turned away. As she passed
by Nencia, 'Call me Antonio,' she whispered; but before the words were

out of her mouth the Duke stepped between them.
"'Madam,' says he, all smiles now, 'I have travelled straight from Rome
to bring you the sooner this proof of my esteem. I lay last night at
Monselice and have been on the road since daybreak. Will you not
invite me to supper?'
"'Surely, my lord,' said the Duchess. 'It shall be laid in the dining-parlor
within the hour.'
"'Why not in your chamber and at once, Madam? Since I believe it is
your custom to sup there.'
"'In my chamber?' says the Duchess, in disorder.
"'Have you anything against it?' he asked.
"'Assuredly not, sir, if you will give me time to prepare myself.'
"'I will wait in your cabinet,' said the Duke.
"At that, said my grandmother, the Duchess gave one look, as the souls
in hell may have looked when the gates closed on our Lord; then she
called Nencia and passed to her chamber.
"What happened there my grandmother could never learn, but that the
Duchess, in great haste, dressed herself with extraordinary splendor,
powdering her hair with gold, painting her face and bosom, and
covering herself with jewels till she shone like our Lady of Loreto; and
hardly were these preparations complete when the Duke entered from
the cabinet, followed by the servants carrying supper. Thereupon the
Duchess dismissed Nencia, and what follows my grandmother learned
from a pantry-lad who brought up the dishes and waited in the cabinet;
for only the Duke's body-servant entered the bed-chamber.
"Well, according to this boy, sir, who was looking and listening with
his whole body, as it were, because he had never before been suffered
so near the Duchess, it appears that the noble couple sat down in great

good humor, the Duchess playfully reproving her husband for his long
absence, while the Duke swore that to look so beautiful was the best
way of punishing him. In this tone the talk continued, with such gay
sallies on the part of the Duchess, such tender advances on the Duke's,
that the lad declared they were for all the world like a pair of lovers
courting on a summer's night in the vineyard; and so it went till the
servant brought in the mulled wine.
"'Ah,' the Duke was saying at that moment, 'this agreeable evening
repays me for the many dull ones I have spent away from you; nor do I
remember to have enjoyed such laughter since the afternoon last year
when we drank chocolate in the gazebo with my cousin Ascanio. And
that reminds me,' he said, 'is my cousin in good health?'
"'I have no reports of it,' says the Duchess. 'But your excellency should
taste these figs stewed in malmsey--'
"'I am in the mood to taste whatever you offer,' said he; and as she
helped him to the figs he added, 'If my enjoyment were not complete as
it is, I could almost wish my cousin Ascanio were with us. The fellow
is rare good company at supper. What do you say, Madam? I hear he's
still in the country; shall we send for him to join us?'
"'Ah,' said the Duchess, with a sigh and a languishing look, 'I see your
excellency wearies of me already.'
"'I, Madam? Ascanio is a capital good fellow, but to my mind his chief
merit at this moment is his absence. It inclines me so tenderly to him
that, by God, I could empty a glass to his good health.'
"With that the Duke caught up his goblet and signed to the servant to
fill the Duchess's.
"'Here's to the cousin,' he cried, standing, 'who has the good taste to
stay away when he's not wanted. I drink to