CHAPTER XXXVIII. If thou dost slander her and torture me, Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed ; Greater than this SHAKSPEARE. WHEN Waldegrave arrived at Como, he immediately enquired for the Commandant, and was directed to his house, which stood on the water's brink. Having requested an interview with him, Waldegrave was conducted up stairs, where he found this momentous personage surrounded by a chaos of papers, some of which he was inspecting with a most portentous countenance, as our hero was announced. The Commandant rose, bowed courteously, and invited him to a seat Waldegrave apologized for the interruption, and gave him Rathallan's letter. The Commandant having put on his spectacles, and twice read it, observed, “Mr. Rathallan is a most zealous person; he writes to me with great energy and fire about this unfortunate affair." "You do not think, Sir," said Waldegrave, "that it can implicate Sir Ralph Vivian's family." The Commandant shrugged his shoulders, and answered that there was no means of judging when these things began, where they might end, or who they might touch; but as yet there appeared to be no evidence that the Cavaliere had maintained any connexion with the deluded people. But it may go hard, unless he has made his escape with the young Duca di Villanza; he has been very imprudent, and it is supposed that he knows too much of these misguided people, who seek to set the country in a flame, with no earthly hope of aught but their own inevitable ruin. Waldegrave, who knew that he could gain no information from the Austrian, and was impatient to be within commuVOL. II.-10 nication of Rathallan, having executed his commission, rose to leave, offering to be the bearer of an answer, if the Commandant desired to send one. The Commandant smiled archly, thanked him, but said the letter required no answer, and hoped Mr. Waldegrave would resume his seat. "I am very sorry," said Waldegrave," that my time will not allow me to lengthen my visit." "Mais comment donc ?" said the Commandant. 66 "Mr. Waldegrave, I am extremely sorry, but it is absolutely impossible that you can move out of my house till you set off to Milan." "Set off for Milan ?" said Waldegrave, in amazement. "What can you mean, Sir? Surely you are not going to make me your prisoner." "Is it possible," said the Commandant, "that you can have repaired to my house just at this moment, with any other view but that of surrendering yourself?" "I can only say," replied Waldegrave," that I am totally ignorant of any charge against me. The Commandant then turned to a mass of papers, from which he abstracted one, and tendered it to Waldegrave. It was a small printed notice, formally desiring Henry Waldegrave, Anglois, suspected of having been in negotiation with the Waldenburgs, to surrender himself to justice, with a severe penalty against all such as might harbour or conceal him after the promulgation of this order, signed by the authorities of Milan. "This order," said the Commandant, "arrived at twe o'clock this morning, and I am at a loss to conjecture how you could have remained in ignorance of it, as I sent a copy to Sir Ralph's immediately, in case you should be there." "It never met my sight," said Waldegrave, "I assure you, but I hope, Sir, you will be able to do something for me, as I have no knowledge of, or connexion with this case, and it would be extremely inconvenient and disagreeable to me to be detained just at this moment." "I will write to Count Osnabruck, my dear Sir," said the Commandant, "but more I cannot do; only I will offer you this consolation, that if you can prove your innocence, you will not be detained long." "But why I am fixed on more than any other individual of Sir Ralph's household, I cannot understand." 66 Probably," said the Commandant, "you have been guilty of some imprudent actions, such as associating with some of the Carbonari; you have, perhaps, been seen with Villanza." 66 "I have been here only two days," said Waldegrave, during which time I have seen Villanza once for an hour, in the midst of society. My former acquaintance with him was slight, and arose from our meeting at my uncle's. Till this morning I never knew what were his politics." "Well, Mr. Waldegrave," said the Commandant, "you will state all this to his Imperial Majesty's servants at Milan, and I doubt not but that you will be treated with the utmost deference due to your situation; only I would impress on you, that any evasion to which you might have recourse, would not ameliorate your fate; his Imperial Majesty's police being so vigorous and unparalleled in the execution of their high duties, that it is equally impossible to elude or deceive them." Here a quaint writhing of the muscles below the eye suggested that the worthy Commandant had not dwelt so long among a noble and oppressed people without some secret peril to his Metternichism, though in all ostensible forms and words his loyalty to that great man was unimpeachable. Waldegrave requested that he might be permitted to make a short visit at Casa Viviana, which the Commandant regretted was impossible; his orders to deliver him into the care of the gentlemen who would conduct him to Milan were imperative; moreover, he advised our hero to show a promptitude in obeying such orders, as that would be the most effectual manner of ensuring a lenient attention to his "Yet one thing I must mention," said Waldegrave; "you will probably attribute my anxiety that no delay should unnecessarily spin out my case, to the natural impatience which all must feel at an unjust confinement, but I solemnly assure you that such a thought does not now cross my mind. There is danger hanging over a young lady whom I highly value, which makes it peculiarly desirable that I should be at liberty to protect her." "Has the young lady no parents, no friends ?" asked the Commandant. "Yes," replied Waldegrave, "but they are not sufficiently aware of the importance." "Ah bah, bah! my dear Sir," said the Commandant, "the young lady's friends will take very good care of her; quelque jalousie," he muttered to himself. "Indeed, Sir," said Waldegrave, with earnestness, which increased as he endeavoured to speak, and blushing deeply, "indeed you are mistaken; and if you can give me your attention for a moment, I will briefly state the circumstances of her case to you." They resumed their seats, and Waldegrave having first cautioned his new acquaintance against making the disclosure permaturely public, told him without disguise the story of Montara's villanous schemes. He produced, however, little impression on the Austrian, who assured him that those tales were coined solely with a view to depreciate the evidence given by Montara against the Waldenburgs, and entreated Waldegrave not to let them dwell on his mind. But the eagerness of Henry's manner, while it revealed the state of his heart to the Commandant, at last procured from him a promise to institute a watch over Montara, and to protect Miss Vivian to the utmost extent of his power. Waldegrave thanked him warmly, and promised to remember his advice in the smallest particulars. As no passport was necessary, Waldegrave proposed to set off as soon as the Commandant's letter to Count Osnabruck was ready. This being accomplished, the Commandant prepared to accompany him to the inn, and at a sign, the two gens d'armes, who waited below stairs, joined them. To one of them, who looked like a genuine Austrian, that is, rather rough in his exterior, plain in his manner and carriage, very sturdy, yet very civil, the Commandant addressed himself in German, "Here, Steinbach," said he, "this is the gentleman whom you must accompany to Milan; see that he meets with every attention and civility at your hands consistent with your duty." Steinbach touched his cap, and with his comrade followed them. The Commandant escorted Waldegrave to the inn, regretting that their acquaintance had originated under such unpropitious circumstances, but hoping that he would soon - be relieved from his irksome situation. "You will find Count Osnabruck a most honourable man, who will be punctilious in fulfilling the most trivial duty of courtesy and ceremony towards you; and you, on the other hand, should draw on your memory for such information as may be required of you." Waldegrave assured the Commandant that he had no motive for concealing any circumstance affecting himself. Wishing our hero a prosperous journey, and a short detention, the Commandant took leave of him, and Waldegrave, impatient to be gone, lost no time in making the small preparations necessary for so short a journey, and in less than half an hour was lodged in his carriage with one of his friends on the box and the other on horseback. The distance from Como to Milan is about five-andtwenty miles. The postillions, inspired by the sight of the gentlemen de compagnie, urged their unfortunate horses to the fullest speed, yet Waldegrave imagined that they hardly moved, so vehemently he longed to arrive at his journey's end. 66 They cannot keep me many hours," thought he; 66 they have not a shadow of right to detain me who have breathed their air scarce fifty hours. To-morrow I shall be here again yet, Edith, when every moment teems with danger, what may that morrow bring? May all the powers of mercy shield you! yet to be fettered now-now to be borne from the spot where all who love you should rally round to guard you from a fiend!" The horror of his mind, as he thought of Montara's desperation, which seemed boiling to the brim, when last his voice struck Waldegrave's ear, was such, that twice the prisoner's hand was on the door, but the sight of his incorruptible jailors, reminded him, that an impotent attempt to recover his liberty, would but aggravate suspicion, and render his captivity more obdurate. But the image of Edith in the ruffian's power still hovered round his senses, while he clung to the hope that Rathallan would still have power to save her. Rathallan, inexplicable Rathallan, whose conduct was so mysterious; he must have known of the warrant for Waldegrave, probably had it in his own hands, yet he had delivered him into the jaws of justice. Could this have been the effect of accident? Had the |