Milan and Mantua | Page 7

my innocence, but
everyone smiled. The archpriest and the beadle, who had just arrived,
would not bury the arm which was lying there, and they told me that I
had been guilty of a great crime.
"I am astonished, reverend sir," I said to the priest, "at the hasty
judgment which is thus passed upon me, when there is no proof to

condemn me."
"You have done it," exclaimed all the guests, "you alone are capable of
such an abomination; it is just like you. No one but you would have
dared to do such a thing!"
"I am compelled," said the archpriest, "to draw up an official report."
"As you please, I have not the slightest objection," I answered, "I have
nothing to fear."
And I left the room.
I continued to take it coolly, and at the dinner-table I was informed that
M. Demetrio had been bled, that he had recovered the use of his eyes,
but not of his tongue or of his limbs. The next day he could speak, and I
heard, after I had taken leave of the family, that he was stupid and
spasmodic. The poor man remained in that painful state for the rest of
his life. I felt deeply grieved, but I had not intended to injure him so
badly. I thought that the trick he had played upon me might have cost
my life, and I could not help deriving consolation from that idea.
On the same day, the archpriest made up his mind to have the arm
buried, and to send a formal denunciation .against me to the episcopal
chancellorship of Treviso.
Annoyed at the reproaches which I received on all sides, I returned to
Venice. A fortnight afterwards I was summoned to appear before the
'magistrato alla blasfemia'. I begged M. Barbaro to enquire the cause of
the aforesaid summons, for it was a formidable court. I was surprised at
the proceedings being taken against me, as if there had been a certainty
of my having desecrated a grave, whilst there could be nothing but
suspicion. But I was mistaken, the summons was not relating to that
affair. M. Barbaro informed me in the evening that a woman had
brought a complaint against me for having violated her daughter. She
stated in her complaint that, having decoyed her child to the Zuecca, I
had abused her by violence, and she adduced as a proof that her
daughter was confined to her bed, owing to the bad treatment she had

received from me in my endeavours to ravish her. It was one of those
complaints which are often made, in order to give trouble and to cause
expense, even against innocent persons. I was innocent of violation, but
it was quite true that I had given the girl a sound thrashing. I prepared
my defence, and begged M. Barbaro to deliver it to the magistrate's
secretary.
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that, on such a day, having met the woman with her
daughter, I accosted them and offered to give them some refreshments
at a coffee-house near by; that the daughter refused to accept my
caresses, and that the mother said to me,--
"My daughter is yet a virgin, and she is quite right not to lose her
maidenhood without making a good profit by it."
"If so," I answered, "I will give you ten sequins for her virginity."
"You may judge for yourself," said the mother.
Having assured myself of the fact by the assistance of the sense of
feeling, and having ascertained that it might be true, I told the mother
to bring the girl in the afternoon to the Zuecca, and that I would give
her the ten sequins. My offer was joyfully accepted, the mother brought
her daughter to me, she received the money, and leaving us together in
the Garden of the Cross, she went away. When I tried to avail myself of
the right for which I had paid, the girl, most likely trained to the
business by her mother, contrived to prevent me. At first the game
amused me, but at last, being tired of it, I told her to have done. She
answered quietly that it was not her fault if I was not able to do what I
wanted. Vexed and annoyed, I placed her in such a position that she
found herself at bay, but, making a violent effort, she managed to
change her position and debarred me from making any further attempts.
"Why," I said to her, "did you move?"
"Because I would not have it in that position."

"You would not?"
"No."
Without more ado, I got hold of a broomstick, and gave her a good
lesson, in order to get something for the ten sequins which I had been
foolish enough