Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 67: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. So soon as the postilion had begun to whip his horses and the wheels were rattling over the pave- ment of the street, one of the sbirvi said to Charles De Vere, “ It is now unnecessary, signor, to keep you muffled and muzzled any longer: but I warn - you that silence is expected—orif you like to con- verse, it must only be on the most indifferent topics. You are strictly forbidden to ask any questions in reference to your arrest—or to make any comment upon it—or even to mention the names of any persons in Florence—or to discourse with your female companion there upon any of these interdicted topics.” While the officer was yet speaking, he removed the shawl from off our young hero’s head; and De Vere naturally made immediate use of his eyes by glancing around.. The equipage was still within the streets of Florence—two sbirrt were ceeated opposite to him—Ciprina was lying motionless in the corner of the back seat—or, in other words, by the side of Charles himself. All this was just as he had surmised from what he had been enabled to judge while still blind- folded. “Why did you not render immediate assistance to this lady ?” he demanded. “She has fainted— she may be half suffocated !” * Not she!” ejaculated the sbirvo who had be-~ fore spoken, and who indeed was the officer that had been entrusted with the command of the ex- pedition. “I never yet knew a lady who did not come round again after fainting through sheer fright.” “Brutal!” muttered Charles indignantly ; and he had already removed the muflling shawl from Ciprina’s head. * Ah! wheream I P” exclaimed the young lady, thus suddenly regaining her consciousness; and it was with a quick spasmodic staré that she gave vent to the ejaculation, at the same time making a movement to assure herself that the veil was still over her countenance. “ Some - hideous treachery,” began Charles, “ which I cannot understand ie * Silence!” exclaimed the officer in a stern commanding voice. “ You know, signor, what I just now told you. ‘The orders which I have re- ceived are positive ; and depend upon it they shall be obeyed to the very letter. Do not mistake me —and do not think that I speak in jest, or that I am giving utterance to inflated menaces that are never intended to be executed, You may see that I have a pistol in my hand; and if you neg- leet my advice, I will shoot you through the head!” “And I tell you,” exclaimed Charles, “ despite your threats, that you and your superiors, and every one engaged in this outrage, shall bitterly -Fepent = “Ah! you menace us!” exclaimed the officer of ' police: and the sharp click of a pistol, as the sbirro cocked it, was heard within the post. chaise. “In the name of God,’ murmured Ciprina, as she caught hold of Charles De Vere’s arm and held it with convulsive violence, “do nothing to irritate these oflicers!—their power is immense! For heaven’s sake sf “Tranquillize yourself, signora,” interjected Charles: “I will do nothing to provoke a scene 2 re me ee we TE rte ree ee . 59 that would certainly be replete with rashness on my part, terror on yours, and hideous crime on that of these two armed ruffians.” “ Another insult !” ejaculated the officer fiercely. ‘Be prudent in your language, signor!” “Oh, why irritate them?” murmured Cipriva, who was now labouring under a fearful conster- nation ; for she every moment dreaded lest Charles De Vere should aggravate the officer to the utmost, and that a bloody deed might be the result. “The command of a lady in such circumstances,” said our young hero, “is with me paramount. Pray tell me, signora, how you feel yourself now? You fainted ? “Yes —and all that passed until I just now awoke to consciousness in this chaise, has been a blank. But you, signor “You are not to touch upon the subject of your arrest,” interposed the officer, “nor on the cir- cumstances which immediately ensued thereupon.” “Then, in the name of common sense,” de- manded De Vere, whose blood wasstill boiling with indignation, “ what topic may we touch upon? May I, for instance, expatiate on the unaccountable treatment thus bestowed on a foreigner,—a treat- ment as vile as it is mysterious———” “No, signor!” interrupted the officer; “ you must not touch on any such subject! In short, I see that the best thing I can do is to order you to hold your tongue atonce. The young lady is more prudent es * But at least,’ said Ciprina, in an imploring tone, “tell us whither we are going—what our fate is to be ” “All that Ican tell you,” responded the offi- cer, “is that you have nothing to fear for your lives.” “Then it is our liberty of which we are to ba deprived !” exclaimed De Vere indignantly; “ and if is not a simple expulsion from the Tuscan terri- tory which is now being accomplished for some erroneous or infamous cause or another — but——” “T ordered you to remain silent, signor!” ex- claimed the officer sternly. “If you cannot com- ply with my mandate, I shall again cause you to be muffled and gagged; and if your obstinate and perverse conduct demonstrate itself more sigually than it has yet done, I shall separate you from the lady, put you into another chaise at the first post- ing-house, and send you on by yourself.” “Ah!” thought Charles: “ after all the formi- dable clicking of the pistol and the fulminated menaces, he has abandoned the idea of shooting me through the head !” The reader may easily suppose thet the suspi- cion had just arisen in our young hero’s mind, that the officer of shiv was not quite so desperate and determined a person, as he had at first endea- youred to make himself appear. Indeed, Charies was not very much disinclined to suppose that there was no small amount of braggadocio, vapour, and bluster, in the officer’s conduct, and he further suspected that if this surmise should happen to be correct, the man might have some spice of cowardice in bis disposition. The consequence was that a certain idea sprang up in our hero’s mind ; and he thought within himself, “I will not say any more at present to provoke the fellow to put me into another chaise and uader the guard of (© lNOOLK co S|