The times., 1898-03-06
LUCREZIA BORGIA'S GHOST

AldObrandi.'
Ever since my childhood | had seen,
hanging in my fathers library, a por-
trait Of a beautiful woman, with a
wreath of ivy on her head and a tiger
skin thrown carelessly over her should
ers. on the back was written Rome.
Is" l had often asked my father:
Who is that lady?" and he would al
ways say: 1t is fancy sketch a
bacchante." But the answer never sat
istied me; nor, apparently, did it my
mother, for she would always compress
her lips when she heard it. | was a
shrewd stripping. and | could not help
connecting the sealed letter with the
portrait
When I arrived at Rome the first Iet-
ter that | presented was to he mar
quise. A liveried servant received my
letter and card. and while | was wait
ing, / examined the paintings, of~yhich
the drawing room room was full.
Among them was one which impressed
me as being from the brush Of Leon
ardo de Finci 1t was evidently a pOr-
tralt-that of a woman of striking
beauty; a woman with arched eye
brOws, which almost met; full, voluptu-
Gus lips, and an expression which was
at once careSSing and naughty.
While / was examining the portrait,
the marquise entered.
"Ah, exactly like his fatherrshe cried
as she advanced; and admiring Lu-
crez!a Borgia, too
/ fastened to introduce myself. and
asked ii the portrait was not a Leo
nardo.
Yes" she replied, .it is a portrait of
the too famous Lucrezia. And it is the
one of all of my paintings which your
father admired the most. How is your
father? Well, 1 hope. You are the per-
feet image of him as he was at twenty
five.
Although the marquise wore neither
ivy wreath nor tiger skin. l detected at
once that she was the original of my
fathers bacchante. The fight of years
had not deprived her of her beauty, al
though it had given her a double chin.
! Her expression, however, was entirely
different. and her sober dress betrayed
| the fact that she had become a devotee.
Il want you to look upon me as a
mother" she said: and Immediately be-
/ gan to warn me of the dangers to which
/ young men were exposed in Rome
Nov" she continued, Il want to pre-
/ sent you TO my son, Ottavio, who is
! studying for the priesthood and who
/ will one day be cardinal, I hope" She
! sent for her son. You are about the
/ same age as he, and, as you both are
+ good young men, l hope you Will be
friends"
| When Ottavio entered. saw that he
was a tall. melancholy looking young
man, and that he kept his eyes contin-
/ ually cast down. 1t was agreed that he
should call for me the next day, and
! after taking me down to see the sights.
! that | should dine at the Aldobrandi
! Palace
l had scarcely quilted the palace when
1 heard some one calling after me:
Where are you going at this hour,
Ottavio?"
l turned and saw fat priest, who was
! Fastening after me.
Il am not OttaViO," | replied.
The priest begged my pardon, excus-
ing himself by the resemblance which
he said | bore to Ottavio. He left me,
and | saw him enter the gate of the Pa
laZZo AIdobrandi
On the next day the fat priest, who
proved to be Ottavio's preceptor, and
Ottavio called for me, and we started
out to view the city. We had hitherto
| spoken Italian, but he began to speak
! in French. His first words were:
My preceptor does not understand a
word Of your language. Speak French,
chen-we shall be more at ease"
1t seems as though the change of Ian
! guage had transformed the young man.
The snuffing whine in which he had be-
fore INDUCED in disappeared, and his
conversation was viyacity itself. From
time to time he would resume the mo-
| notonCus style, to lull the suspicious Of
Father Negroni
Nearly every day / would go out with
/ Father NegrOni and Don Ottavio, and
frequently I would spend the evening
in the palace. 1t was not very interest
ing, though. The society was most
/ clerical and the conversation heavy.
One evening, however, there was Ger
! man lady there who told blood curdl-
ing tale about a relative of hers who
had learned the death of her lover by
the eyes moving in his portrait. AS she
finished. | pointed to the portrait of Luz
creZia Borgia, and said:
Look, One can almost fancy her eyes
are moving nOwi"
The two ladies shrieked. and Father
NeGroni took pinch of snuff and re-
marked:
Yes, these things are done by the
devil. If he could make the pagan
oracies speak, he could certainly make
the eyes of q portrait move. Why, some
years ago, at Tivoli there was an Eng
lishman StrangIed by statue
BY a statue" / cried.
Yes. He was excavating there and
he found the statue of a Roman en-
press-Agrippina ] think. He became
enamoured of it-so much so that final
~ he became mad. All those Protest
ants are half crazy anyhow. Well, one
fine morning our Englishman was
found dead in his bed. Stark and Iivid
there he lay-the statue had strangled
him
When people commence this sort OF
stories they never know when to stop
We kept it up to a late hour, and sep
| arated with a somewhat uneasy feel
ing and considerable respect for the
power of the devil.
| | went home on foot, and in order tC
reach my dwelling sooner ! struck into
a narrow, tortuous street which | haC
never before traversed. The bells had
just changed midnight. The sombel
street was silent and deserted. AS
walked with hasty steps through the
narrow way, ! heard a faint call over
my head and that moment a rose fel
at my feet. 1 lifted my eyes, and. de-
spite the darkness, ! disceTned at the
window a woman's form clad in white
her arms extended toward me I was
young, conceited, and a Frenchman-l
picked up the rose.
Madame | said in low voice 'you
have dropped your bouquet"
But she had disappeared and the win
dow was silently closed. | did what any
one else would have done-I sought the
door / found it, and waited for her tc
open it Five minutes passed. No one
came. l coughed. A profound silence
/ tapped softly The door did not open
looked for the key, and found, to my
establishment, a heavy paddock on the
outside. / picked up a pebble and toss
ed it at the window. 1t struck the shut
ter, and fell at my feet.
l waited for some time, but it was
useless. Several times / detected 9
faint trembling of the shutter, as il