The Rape of Venice Page 5

  ‘I take it, Sir, that you are drawing on your imagination to supplement your theories as an antiquary about what may have taken place here,’ remarked Colonel Thursby, drily.

  Malderini turned sharply upon him. ‘Not at all! Not at all! Certain people have the power to see beyond the veil, and I am one of them. Given propitious circumstances I can both look back into the past and foresee the future.’

  Georgina, on her mother’s side, had gipsy blood, and had inherited the gift of telling fortunes. She said to the Venetian: ‘I, too, have often secured accurate glimpses of the future, but seen outside their context such glimpses can, at times, be pestiferously misleading.’

  ‘More frequent practice should enable your Ladyship to assess their meaning with greater accuracy. What vehicle do you use to make contact with the unseen powers?’

  ‘I used to gaze into a goblet filled with pure spring water; but, some years ago, I suffered an experience with regard to my own future which was so unnerving that I decided to abandon such seeking after hidden knowledge.’

  ‘Few decisions could be harder to justify,’ Malderini replied somewhat rudely. ‘Psychic gifts are rare and should be cherished by those who have them. You should renew your contact with the spirit-world and would be well advised to do so through a human medium. I studied in Paris under the famous Doctor Mesmer and learned from him how to turn the minds of others into far more potent vehicles than crystals, cards and such impedimenta. It is a fundamental of the Secret Art that all occult operations require the exertion of will, and you would find your powers greatly increased if you brought under your control the subconscious mind of some lesser personality.’

  ‘You speak as though you would have us believe you to be a magician,’ Sheridan said in a slightly mocking tone.

  ‘If, my friend, by that designation you imply a person who by will-power can cause phenomena to occur which are ordinarily regarded as impossible, then I may certainly claim to be one.’

  ‘My daughter has compelled me to recognise that some people are gifted with second sight,’ the Colonel remarked, ‘but I still cannot believe it possible to bring about material happenings solely through the exercise of will, even if given the help of the Devil.’

  ‘Then, Sir, it is high time that someone showed you to be in error,’ the Venetian retorted, ‘and if you wish, on our return to Stillwaters, I will prove my point by a demonstration.’

  ‘You shall, Sir, by all means,’ replied the Colonel quickly. ‘I have ever taken the greatest interest in all forms of science, and surely the moving of mountains, or even of molehills, without the application of physical force, must be counted a scientific triumph.’

  No more was said on the subject, at the time, but they had hardly descended from the carriages before Beckford raised it again by saying, ‘I can hardly contain my impatience to witness the demonstration that Signor Malderini has promised us. When and where is it to take place?’

  ‘Without preparations of an involved nature, and an opportunity to refresh my memory on certain rituals, it can be no more than a simple one,’ replied the Venetian, ‘but that I will give you whenever and wherever you wish.’

  Georgina was loath to pursue the matter. She had an uneasy feeling that no good would come of it; but, in view of Beckford’s eagerness and that others in the party were backing him up, she had little option; so she said, ‘Now that we are returned, a syllabub will shortly be served in the Orangery for our refreshment. Let us go there and drink it while Signor Malderini performs his promised marvels.’

  In the lofty Orangery a semi-circle of basket chairs was set among the brass-bound tubs in which grew the bushes with their small, unripe, but decorative fruit. Malderini asked for some slips of paper to be brought, then, as they sipped from their cups of well-iced wine beaten up with thick cream, he said:

  ‘Four or five of you will oblige me by writing questions on these pieces of paper. They must be questions the answers to which might reasonably be supposed to come within my knowledge. I shall then mesmerise the Princess Sirisha and, when her mind has become completely under my control, put your questions to her. As you are aware, in her normal state she has the unhappiness to be deprived of the pleasure of conversing with you because she can speak no tongue other than her own. But, while she is in a state of trance, I shall imbue her with powers which she does not ordinarily possess. Having written your questions add to them the word French, English, Italian or German, and she will give you the answer in which ever language you have selected.’

  There was a subdued murmuring as the papers were passed round, Colonel Thursby, Beckford, Sheridan, his wife, and Droopy Ned all wrote out questions. Malderini glanced through them and agreed them to be reasonable ones, then he led his wife to a vacant chair at one end of the semi-circle, stepped a few paces back from her, and asked that complete silence should be observed. As the hush fell, he lifted his plump, heavily be-ringed hands, and began to make a succession of slow complicated passes in front of his wife’s face.

  After a few minutes her eyelids drooped and closed, her breathing became irregular, her limbs jerked spasmodically and her head rolled about on her shoulders. Suddenly she became rigid, remained so for several moments, then as suddenly relaxed. She gave a heavy sigh and sat up. Her eyes opened again but they now held only a blank stare.

  Taking one of the papers from his pocket, Malderini gave her in her own language a translation of the question written upon it. There was a tense moment while the muscles of her throat contracted and her mouth opened and shut soundlessly, as though in a desperate but futile effort to speak; then the words came, slowly at first but coherently, and in Italian she gave a perfectly sensible answer to the question.

  The Venetian repeated the process with the other questions and to each she replied in the language requested on the paper. Her English and German were noticeably less good than her Italian and French, but Malderini had clearly implied that the power with which he intended to imbue her came from himself; so it was natural that her vocabulary in these languages should be limited to his own.

  It was a most impressive performance and, when the last question had been answered, Clarissa exclaimed, ‘How truly marvellous! Could you, Signor, perform such miracles with any of us?’

  Malderini regarded her fixedly for a moment, then he shook his head. ‘Not with anyone. Signorina. I need to be in close rapport with my subject. But, with people who are psychic, such a bond is not difficult to form, and I can tell at a glance anyone who would prove a suitable subject.’

  ‘May one ask how?’

  ‘By their aura. It was not without reason that the old Masters always depicted the Saints with golden haloes. All of us carry with us such an indication of our basic characteristics, as auras vary in colour. Those of born warriors are bright red, those for whom all things grow readily, apple-green. A yellow aura denotes a religious nature and a magenta aura a person given over to evil.’

  ‘Do you really mean that you can see such auras—that we have them now, about our heads, at the present moment?’

  ‘Yes; with what is termed “the third eye”. That is the focal point of psychic perception, and it lies beneath the bone in the centre of the forehead. Everyone has it but in most people it is rudimentary. Very few develop it, as I have done by long training, to a state at which I can use it consciously. Both Lady Georgina’s aura and yours are blue, indicating the possession of psychic qualities. Hers is the stronger but, with either of you, I could, in quite a short while, establish a rapport.’

  Clarissa’s blue eyes lit up. ‘I find the subject fascinating. Would it be asking too much that before you leave Stillwaters you will experiment upon me?’

  He bowed. ‘If you will later name a time and place, I shall be happy to do so, Signorina. But now I must arouse the Princess Sirisha from her trance.’

  Roger had watched the proceedings with a jaundiced eye. His conviction that the Venetian had made use of his wife the previous evening to sw
indle them at cards filled him with a lively suspicion that this was another case of secret collaboration between the couple; yet he had to admit to himself that the whole procedure had followed the pattern of a skilled mesmerist operating on a medium. In any case, having seen exhibitions of hypnotism by disciples of Dr. Mesmer in Paris, and on one occasion a woman who, while in a trance, had made a shocking spectacle of herself by writhing about in what were obviously erotic paroxysms, he was fully determined to prevent Clarissa exposing herself to anything of that kind.

  He pondered the matter further while Malderini made the passes necessary to bring the Princess back to normal, and it struck him that as the Venetian had spoken to her throughout in her own language, although he appeared to have been giving her only a translation of the written questions, he might instead quite well have been furnishing her with the answers she should make to them. But that did not account for the fact that she had given the answers in four languages of which she was supposed to be entirely ignorant. That meant that, if a deception had been practised, she was as fluent in them as Malderini himself; and it was difficult to believe that if she could speak them she deliberately cut herself off from communication with everyone except her husband, solely to be able to aid him in occasional hoaxes such as this. Furthermore it did not appear, at first sight, that the couple had anything to gain by practising this type of deception.

  That amicable but hardened materialist, Colonel Thursby, also had his suspicions. When the Princess had fully recovered, he said in Italian: ‘We all owe you our thanks, Signora, for having aided your husband in his demonstration.’

  He had hoped that by a spontaneous reply she would give herself away, but her face remained expressionless. Not even a slight movement of her lips suggested that she had been near falling into the trap.

  Malderini turned angrily on the Colonel: ‘You know very well, Sir, that in her normal state my wife understands no language but her own. And I resent your use of the word “aided”. She was no more than an unconscious instrument of which I made use to display my powers.’

  ‘Your pardon, Signor; your pardon.’ The older man waved an airy hand. ‘Having but a few moments back heard her speak Italian with such fluency, I had temporarily forgot that she was not one. As for my use of the word “aided”, I meant only to thank her for having allowed you to throw her into a fit so that you might attempt to prove your assertions.’

  ‘Attempt!’ repeated Malderini. ‘Again, Sir, you are ambiguous. Do you suggest that I have failed to do so?’

  ‘You can hardly claim to have brought about the seemingly impossible by the sole use of your will-power.’

  ‘How else do you suggest that the Princess Sirisha was able to speak in tongues unknown to her, and reply to questions normally beyond the range of her knowledge, except as a puppet animated by my will?’

  ‘There are other ways in which ...’

  ‘Papa!’ Georgina interrupted anxiously. ‘I pray you carry this discussion no further.’

  ‘Oh, come!’ countered Beckford. ‘Surely your Ladyship will not insist on our terminating so promising a debate.’

  ‘I was about to say,’ went on the Colonel, ‘that it would ill become me to challenge the integrity of my daughter’s guest; but, as a scientific man, my conscience permits me to go no further than adopt a course at times resorted to by the Scottish Courts. That is to declare that I must continue to regard the existence of occult power as—“Not proven”.’

  Malderini hunched his bulky shoulders and glared at the Colonel. ‘You have said either too much or too little. Sir. You must either withdraw your implication or frankly accuse me of having used ventriloquism to deceive you.’

  For Georgina’s sake, Roger stepped quickly into the breach. In the honeyed accents of sweet reason, he said: ‘You are mistaken, Signor. Colonel Thursby implied only what, I think, several of us feel. Astounding as your demonstration has been, its nature was not of the kind we expected. There was, I recall, some talk of moving mountains or molehills, solely by the use of will-power, and you must agree that we have not been witnesses to a substitution of will-power for physical force.’

  ‘Well said,’ murmured Droopy Ned, and Beckford chimed in, ‘I, too, am of that opinion.’

  ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’; the Venetian made a slight bow to the company in general. He seemed to have suddenly become quite amiable again. ‘I must admit there is something to be said for the point Mr. Brook has made. Very well. I am prepared to give you proof that will-power can be substituted for physical force. You will no doubt have heard of levitation, as practised by the mystics of India. If, while standing at some distance from the Princess Sirisha. I can cause her to leave the ground and cross a room without visible means of support, I take it you will acknowledge my claim to occult power?’

  There was a nodding of heads and excited murmur of assent; then he went on: ‘To perform such an operation is no light undertaking. I must spend several hours preparing myself, and to fast before it is essential. If it is to take place tonight the Princess Sirisha and I must deny ourselves the pleasure of dining with you. Moreover, I feel that I am entitled to some compensation for the doubts which some of you have cast on my powers.’ Turning to Colonel Thursby, he added: ‘What will you wager me that I prove unable to carry out this undertaking?’

  ‘Providing we can agree conditions,’ the Colonel replied, ‘anything in reason. Would a hundred guineas suit you?’

  Malderini shrugged, ‘I had been told, Sir, that you were a rich man, and I have ample funds. The sum you suggest is a paltry one.’

  Taking a pinch of snuff. Colonel Thursby flicked the spilt grains from his cravat with a lace handkerchief, and said casually, ‘Make it five hundred if you wish.’

  ‘I’d be happy to share the stake,’ said Beckford eagerly.

  ‘And I,’ nodded Droopy Ned, raising his quizzing glass.

  ‘I will take each of you for that sum in addition to my five hundred with Colonel Thursby,’ Malderini replied to them with a confident smile.

  Sheridan’s red face had been getting still redder with suppressed excitement. Suddenly he burst out, ‘I, too, must be in on this. ’Tis a feat unheard of outside travellers’ tales. I’ll stake five hundred that you’ll not succeed in it.’

  His young wife threw him an agonised glance. Her parents had been most averse to her marrying a man of Sheridan’s reputation and more than double her age. As a condition they had stipulated that he should produce fifteen thousand pounds to be tied up with five thousand that had been previously settled on her, believing that he could not possibly lay his hands on such a sum. To their consternation he had managed to do so; but the whole of the jointure had since gone into the property at Polesden and, large as his income was, his unbridled extravagance kept them perpetually hard up. But he was an inveterate gambler, and now ignored her silent appeal not to join in the wager.

  Malderini took his bet, then looked at Roger. ‘And you, Mr. Brook?’

  Roger shook his head. The canniness inherited from his Scottish mother had saved him from the vice of gambling, and he rarely risked money on chance, except for comparatively modest sums at friendly games of cards. With a bow, he said:

  ‘I thank you, no. The two thousand guineas already wagered should surely be sufficient to compensate you for missing your dinner. And someone must act as an unprejudiced observer to ensure that the conditions agreed are correctly carried out. Let that be my part.’

  There ensued a discussion on conditions. Malderini asked that a room should be entirely cleared of furniture, that its walls should be stripped of pictures, and any chandelier taken down from its ceiling; then that its floor should be swept clean of every particle of dust. Later, he conceded that sufficient chairs for the party should be brought back into the room, but he was adamant on the point that the curtains of the windows must be drawn and no artificial light allowed. He stated that the Princess would wear a pure white sari, and they could not contest his argument
that, as it was high summer, the light filtering between the drawn curtains would still be ample for them to follow her movements. He stipulated that in no circumstances should anyone attempt to touch her, and protested that, without undergoing a fast of several days’ duration, he could not expect to raise her more than about nine inches from the ground. But he agreed to remain at least three feet distant from her throughout, and was prepared to accept Roger, Georgina and Clarissa as judges. Finally, it was settled that if two of the judges were satisfied that, while travelling three yards in a straight line, from right to left in front of them, the Princess’ feet had been clear of the floor, he should be declared the winner of the wager.

  Georgina said she thought the small yellow drawing-room would be the most suitable place to hold the séance, then she asked Roger, as one of the umpires, to give the necessary instructions to the servants and later assure himself that they had been fully carried out. Soon afterwards the party broke up, and dispersed to rest or to write letters until it was time to get themselves ready for dinner.

  Having found the groom of the chambers and given him his orders, Roger decided that he would pay his postponed visit to the children; so he made his way upstairs and along to the East Wing which, after years of disuse, had, with the advent of the baby Earl, become again a hive of activity.

  The day-nursery was large enough for a dozen children to romp in, yet on Roger’s entering it the room seemed quite crowded. The two babies had just been brought in from their afternoon airing and each was having its outer garments removed by its own nursemaid. A smiling mulatto woman who had acted as foster-mother to little Susan since her birth was preparing to give her the breast, and near one of the windows plump, bustling Nanny Bellows, who ruled this domain with a rod of iron, was discussing some point of infant régime with Clarissa.