England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [123]
The new arrivals in Sicily were as eager to forget as Ferdinand. They dissipated their fears in balls, gambling, and infidelities. Looking more radiant than ever, Emma dazzled at the card table and on the dance floor, intoxicated by her feelings for Nelson. He sat at her side, wrapped up in her games of faro and hazard, putting up hundreds of pounds for her bets. They gambled long after Sir William had gone to bed. Nelson was wholly absorbed in Emma. Too honorable to seduce a woman under her husband's roof, he began to hint that they might live together as they had in the Palazzo Sessa and share the bills.
Sir William was worried about his finances. He had lost his home and his belongings, and his money was being squandered on Emma's entertainments and on the English hangers-on who streamed through his doors expecting food and amusement. Nelson, he thought, should fund more of Emma's extravagant lifestyle than her losses at faro. The gossips were whispering about the late-night visits of their "dear friend" and about Emma's carriage rides to his residence. Sir William thought that if the three of them lived together, they could split expenses and quell the talk. He accepted that the relationship between his wife and his friend had become deeper in Palermo, and he knew that he was powerless to end it, for the royal family was dependent on Nelson and would ostracize anyone who upset the great hero. If Nelson lived with them, he hoped, Emma might rest at home some evenings to keep him company. It seemed a perfect arrangement: no scandal, profit, and happiness all round. Emma was soon eagerly searching for new lodgings.
Within a few months, the pair moved with Nelson to the Palazzo Pala-gonia, a vast palace of nearly fifty rooms in deep countryside to the east of the city, now in the pleasant, bustling town of Bagheria. Despite years of neglect, the palazzo is still breathtakingly bizarre—a huge stone double-fronted mansion adorned with a sweeping staircase to the front door, covered in gargoyles and strange statues. The walls are a riot of statues of hybrid monsters, half gods and half goats, half sea monsters and half mermaids, and the interior is no less ornate, entirely covered in colored marble and jewels. The bedroom apartments were particularly spectacular, covered in erotic murals of Venus and Leda loving Zeus when he was disguised as a swan. The place was even more amazing, for its owner, the Prince of Palagonia, had adorned it with bulky furniture in dashing colors, a chandelier made from cups and saucers, and secret spikes under the cushions of the chairs. The villa was one of the "must-sees" of Palermo, and when Goethe had visited, he had felt quite faint at its rambling excess.
Nelson, Emma, and Sir William were showing they had arrived in style by choosing the most extravagant and costly house on the whole island after the royal palace, awing their friends with grand rooms and eye-popping decor. They moved into the Palazzo Palagonia along with Mrs. Cadogan and Josiah; Maria Carolina's gardener, John Graefer, and his family; various other English dependents; two English bankers (handy to have on call during gambling parties); and secretaries, musicians, and staff The rental was wildly expensive, as was supporting this newly expanded household, but the Tria were living for the moment, convinced that the government would heap rewards on them. At the Palazzo Palagonia, Emma threw even more lavish entertainments and gambled recklessly, captivating her new Sicilian