We were glad when the bishop concluded the ritual, the fundamental part of which was simple enough; but I could very well have dispensed with all that Italian superstition had added to it: yet I behaved with such decorum, that the bishop believed me as stanch a Catholic as ever kissed cross, and fain would gentle Bianca have thought me so too. The moment we left the altar a bright circle of young ladies clustered round her, covering her with kisses, while the people shouted, "O giorno felice! Viva il capitano! Viva la capitanessa!"
All blessed her, and muttered, "Bell' Idolo!" as she passed forth: indeed, she appeared as enchanting as beauty of the most delicate caste, the richest attire, and most splendid diamonds could make her; and if always lovely, even in the plainest garb, imagine how she must have shone in her magnificent bridal dress, when her eyes beamed with delight and her soft cheek turned alternately deep red and deadly pale, as the blood came and went with the varying thoughts that agitated her—awe and modesty, love and exultation!
"Giorno felice, indeed!" thought I; and springing into the carriage beside her, we drove off for the castello, as fast as four galloping horses could take us. The sonorous organ, the chanting priests, the ringing bells, the shouts and discharge of fire-arms, died away behind us; and accompanied by a gay cavalcade of the fairest and noblest in the province, our marriage train swept through the solitary vale of the Angistola at full speed, towards the castle: where a lordly fête awaited us, and from the tall windows of its hall a blaze of light was shed on the darkening scenery and winding river as we rode up the gloomy avenue.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TEMPEST—THE LAST OF THE HUNCHBACK.
Leaving Santugo and his bride with the duchess, we set out next day for Scylla; our calesso having an escort, without which, it was impossible to travel in such a country. Gask occupied the rumble beside Annina, while a chasseur with ten sbirri sent by the duchess, rode five in front and five in the rear; their leader riding some hundred yards in advance. All these men wore the duke's livery; they were well mounted, and armed with carbines, sabres, and pistols. The calesso was furnished with a loop-hole, opening under the rumble, through which I could blaze away with my pistols, in case of having to retreat skirmishing.
The scenery was now beginning to assume the brown warm tints of autumn; but the savage mountain gorges, the deep woods, the winding shore and beetling cliffs, through which the road lay, were not less beautiful than when I passed them before, with poor Castelermo. The ramparts of Monteleone, the bosky forest of Burello, the silver windings of Metramo, the famous vineyards of Rossarno and Gioja were all passed rapidly; and plunging down into the wilderness, between the Apennines and the sea, we had accomplished half our journey, when a tremendous storm overtook us.
Our hearts were so full of happiness, and each was so much absorbed in the presence of the other, that we marked not the flight of time; and though our carriage rolled on through the most beautiful scenery of that wild province, we bestowed scarce a glance or a thought upon it. Yet we conversed very little; for an overwhelming sense of happiness had quite subdued Bianca's vivacity.
I deemed myself the luckiest member of our Calabrian army. Hundreds had come only to find a tomb on the plains of Maida, before the ramparts of Crotona, or in the trenches of Scylla. A few had gained a step of promotion and a little honour; the general a great deal—the title of count, and from the city of London a substantial dinner at the Mansion-house, with the present of a splendid sword: but I had gained Bianca d'Alfieri, who had last season turned half the heads in Palermo. "Bravo Claude!" thought I; "it is quite a regimental triumph, and deserves to be borne on our colours. At Syracuse, the mess will drink deep when they hear of it!"
The darkening of the sky, across the azure surface of which dense columns of cloud were moving in rapid succession, and the exhalation of a chilly vapour and malaria from the stagnant pools of a dismal swamp in which we suddenly became entangled, all foreboded a coming storm. The sea, when seen at intervals between the opening hills, was black as ink, and fleckered with masses of foam. Vessels were making all snug aloft and getting close under the lee of the shore to avoid the threatened tempest, which was soon to sweep over the bosom of the trackless ocean. The rumbling of the carriage, and the hoofs of our galloping escort sounded deep and hollow between the echoing hills.