Florence to Trieste | Page 9

middle of December.
Lord Lincoln, a young man of eighteen, fell in love with a Venetian
dancer named Lamberti, who was a universal favourite. On every night
when the opera was given the young Englishman might be seen going
to her camerino, and everyone wondered why he did not visit her at her
own house, where he would be certain of a good welcome, for he was
English, and therefore rich, young, and handsome. I believe he was the
only son of the Duke of Newcastle.
Zanovitch marked him down, and in a short time had become an
intimate friend of the fair Lamberti. He then made up to Lord Lincoln,
and took him to the lady's house, as a polite man takes a friend to see
his mistress.
Madame Lamberti, who was in collusion with the rascal, was not
niggardly of her favours with the young Englishman. She received him
every night to supper with Zanovitch and Zen, who had been presented

by the Sclav, either because of his capital, or because Zanovitch was
not so accomplished a cheat.
For the first few nights they took care to let the young nobleman win.
As they played after supper, and Lord Lincoln followed the noble
English custom of drinking till he did not know his right hand from his
left, he was quite astonished on waking the next morning to find that
luck had been as kind to him as love. The trap was baited, the young
lord nibbled, and, as may be expected, was finally caught.
Zen won twelve thousand pounds of him, and Zanovitch lent him the
money by installments of three and four hundred louis at a time, as the
Englishman had promised his tutor not to play, on his word of honour.
Zanovitch won from Zen what Zen won from the lord, and so the game
was kept up till the young pigeon had lost the enormous sum of twelve
thousand guineas.
Lord Lincoln promised to pay three thousand guineas the next day, and
signed three bills of exchange for three thousand guineas each, payable
in six months, and drawn on his London banker.
I heard all about this from Lord Lincoln himself when we met at
Bologna three months later.
The next morning the little gaming party was the talk of Florence.
Sasso Sassi, the banker, had already paid Zanovitch six thousand
sequins by my lord's orders.
Medini came to see me, furious at not having been asked to join the
party, while I congratulated myself on my absence. My surprise may be
imagined, when, a few days after, a person came up to my room, and
ordered me to leave Florence in three days and Tuscany in a week.
I was petrified, and called to my landlord to witness the unrighteous
order I had received.
It was December 28th. On the same date, three years before, I had
received orders to leave Barcelona in three days.
I dressed hastily and went to the magistrate to enquire the reason for
my exile, and on entering the room I found it was the same man who
had ordered me to leave Florence eleven years before.
I asked him to give me his reasons, and he replied coldly that such was
the will of his highness.
"But as his highness must have his reasons, it seems to me that I am
within my rights in enquiring what they are."

"If you think so yqu had better betake yourself to the prince; I know
nothing about it. He left yesterday for Pisa, where he will stay three
days; you can go there."
"Will he pay for my journey?"
"I should doubt it, but you can see for yourself."
"I shall not go to Pisa, but I will write to his highness if you will
promise to send on the letter."
"I will do so immediately, for it is my duty."
"Very good; you shall have the letter before noon tomorrow, and before
day-break I shall be in the States of the Church."
"There's no need for you to hurry yourself."
"There is a very great hurry. I cannot breathe the air of a country where
liberty is unknown and the sovereign breaks his word; that is what I am
going to write to your master."
As I was going out I met Medini, who had come on the same business
as myself.
I laughed, and informed him of the results of my interview, and how I
had been told to go to Pisa.
"What! have you been expelled, too?"
"Yes."
"What have you done?"
"Nothing."
"Nor I. Let us go to Pisa."
"You can go if you like, but I shall leave Florence tonight."
When I got home I told my landlord to get me a carriage and to order