The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato [70]
He changes every time so completely, like the fabled lizards of the Indies who can dissemble as a leaf or a rock. I feel that I live in a dream, or a commedia played out by actors in San Marco.
But Duparcmieur was no comic muse - he dealt in Death. Today they were here to plan Corradino's demise, although the Frenchman's opening gambit seemed to belie the seriousness of their business.
`Romeo e Giulietta?' Corradino was bemused. But he had learned in their conversations that it were best to answer the Frenchman literally - apart from anything else, it saved time.
Although Corradino's formal education was halted at ten when Monsieur Loisy was wrested from him, Giacomo had done right by him and continued the boy's tutelage as best he could. So Corradino was able to reply with some confidence. `It's an old tale, supposedly true, from Verona during the Italian wars, about two tragic lovers from opposing families. It was written up into a story, and embellished, by a monk; Matteo Bandello.'
`Very good.' Duparcmieur's voice passed clearly through the grille, dry as sand, and low enough not to be overheard through the thick frontal drapes of the confessional.
`You may be interested to know that it was lately made into a play in England by one Master William Shakespeare. It was written in the time of La Reine Elizabeth, but I believe its popularity continues at court even now. It is the final act of the tragedy that concerns us; or, more specifically, you.'
Corradino waited. He had learned, too, that interruptions were fruitless.
`In the play, Giulietta takes a Mantuan poison in order to avoid an unwelcome marriage. The draught makes the body mimic death in every particular - the countenance grows paler, the pulses slow to an imperceptible rate, the fires of the humours are damped - but not extinguished. Pain is never felt - even attempts to bleed the victim yield no flow of blood, and give no pain. In the drama, Giulietta wakes, some days later, unharmed as if from a deep sleep. Of course by then, her beau has taken his own life and all is for nought. But this is not the burden of our tale.' Duparcmieur dismissed the fates of the longdead lovers in a manner Corradino found chilling. `The point is, my dear Corradino, that one thing your little city states make rather well - for it certainly isn't the food or wine,' he sniffed fastidiously, `is poison.' He took a breath. `I suppose that in all those years of internecine strife, your Guelfs and Ghibbelines, your Borgias and Medicis, the art became somewhat,' he searched for a phrase, `more developed than in my own more civilized nation:
This Corradino would not have. `Perhaps you are forgetting the wonderful artistic heritage of our states, sponsored by those very warring families? Is art not civilization? Does France boast a Leonardo, or a Michelangelo? And perhaps you also forget that you have come to me to ask for my expertise to help your King?'
He heard the impossible man chuckling through the grille. `You have fire in your belly, Corradino. That's good. But you must learn to love France, you know, it will be your country too soon enough, with the will of God. Now, to business.' The Frenchman's voice changed abruptly. `When we leave this confessional, kneel and kiss my hand. In it I hold the draught I have procured for you. Not, it is true, from Mantua, but from somewhere in your own fair Republic. Take it tonight, and but three hours later you will fall into a deep state of sleep, and never wake in the morning. Instead you will sleep the day through. That night, you will wake one day exactly, almost to the moment, from the time you fell asleep.'
`And where will I be then?'
`Well, here you must inform me, Corradino. Who is it that will find your body?'
Corradino shivered at the term - Duparcmieur spoke as if he were already dead. He thought for a moment but needed no longer - he knew that if he did not appear at the fornace for the first time in ten years save for the time he had the water sickness, Giacomo would come to his house as he had that day too.