Julius Zeyer

“ He pictured the condition of the poor little orphans dying of hunger, whom Archangelo so magnanimously had taken as his own: the agony of the old mother, half crazed with want and despair: the energy of the young wife pursued by so dark a fate! . . . The vision of pale Phenicia with those large eyes, that calm voice, with her unbounded self denial, that did not hesitate to offer even her soul as a sacrifice to duty and love—that vision was before their eyes. That blessed lie of hers, so evident and yet so touching, saved Archangelo. ”

“ Nevertheless, there was not so much happiness in the palace of Corvejo as had at first appeared. True, Venera held her head higher than ever before, and prosperity smiled upon them to such an extent that Archangelo was enabled to send the two orphans, Anibal and Ettor, to Messina to learn a trade, when once his neighbor, godfather Masi, went there to visit his brother, the carpenter. But the pallor that had settled upon the face of Phenicia during the days of their adversity never left it; day by day she grew thinner, and her eyes glowed like eternally burning lamps. ”

“ Sprinkled with blood and crazy with terror, Marie rushed screaming into the street, which was soon in an uproar. But a few moments and the noise reached the fountain where the women were dipping water into their earthen and wooden buckets. "Murder! murder!" resounded from every side, the news flying in every direction till it came to the fig tree where Nunziata sat spinning, and finally to the arched gateway of the palace of Corvejo, where Carmenio, weak with hunger, was feebly beating his copper kettles. ”

“ The reliefs represented Eve in Paradise, her temptation and fall, and the subsequent punishment. "Sorrow and labor is our lot," he murmured, glancing at old Nunziata sitting beneath the fig tree spinning. Like him, she came from Mola, that white nest perched high above Taormin, on a rock near the clouds, and looking down on the town below, just as Taormin itself, from its airy height, overlooks Giardini, bathing itself white in the blue sea, and concealed among gardens, as if crouching there to hide from the Olympic majesty of towering Ætna. ”

“ The neighbor kept her word. Leaning upon her staff, in the scorching heat of the sun, she limped up the precipitous, rocky road leading to Taormin, and led the two boys, Anibal and Ettor, almost smothered with dust, into the gloomy shadow of Corvejo. They were received by their grandmother with a wail of despair. She tore her hair, as she complained to Nunziata: "To support children now, when there is no work! Does not God know any more justice? He has left us nothing but our eyes, that we may weep over our misery." ”

“ Nanni will gladly lend you the mule . . . to testify!"
Phenicia thanked her, and, entering the house, said to Venera:
"To-morrow I go to Messina. Nanni is a good boy; he will lend me his mule again . . . I will testify." She sat down upon the edge of the bed.
Venera sprang up, and standing before her daughter-in-law, and piercing her pale face with her eyes, asked between closely set teeth: "What will you testify?"
"What else but the truth?" replied Phenicia, and her lips trembled like an aspen leaf. She raised her eyes to the crucifix, but instantly dropped them. ”

“ Nunziata was right when she said that the sun was our best physician, and cold and dark ness our worst enemies.
And one morning when the whole sky seemed one mass of roses, and the air interwoven with gold and diamonds, Phenicia suddenly appeared before the house with some color in her cheeks and a smile upon her lips as she said to Carmenio:
"It has occurred to me, Carmenio, that Passion Week is approaching. How beautiful it used to be up in Mola! . . . I'd like to know if the passion flowers still grow upon Aunt Pina's balcony, and whether she still keeps so much poultry. ”

“ It now seemed to Archangelo that the whole of that wide expanse of country that any one, standing at the Catania gate and facing Ætna, could see was his own.
Don Agostino went to Riporta, where he had a brother; and, having an opportunity to buy a vineyard there, he never returned to Taormin. Marie and her husband, the lame tailor, also soon disappeared from the town; but Marie first laid away her infant to sleep under the cypress in that quiet graveyard that dreams above the sea, and into whose bosom white Mola gazes from her rocky height. ”

“ In a short time all the people of Taormin looked upon Archangelo as a public enemy, trying to enrich himself at the expense of the town. It did not occur to any one that the community also had duties toward the individual. Archangelo was despised by all. Not a single pair of shoes was brought to the little shop to be repaired, and gaunt poverty soon stared upon the inmates of Corvejo palace, from every nook and corner.
Archangelo wandered about like a spirit; Carmenio, who still got a little work, banged away at his copper kettles as if he were possessed ”

“ In the evening, when it is very quiet, one may hear the music of the spring there, as it falls ringing against the rocks, and losing itself in the green grass.
After Phenicia's death, Archangelo placed his lamenting mother upon a mule, and moved to Messina. He would live no longer in Taormin. Other people moved to the Corvejo palace. That pale Christ, upon whom Phenicia's eyes had gazed in mortal agony, was bought by that same English woman to whom, years before, Venera had refused to sell it. ”

“ Of course, of course. He cannot appear to us poor, unfortunate ones, can He? He never comforted those whom the world scorned? He broke the bruised reed, did He not? An illusion, an illusion, when Phenicia saw Him." And he bangs away at the kettle.
"Who can say that it is not so?" says old Nunziata, taking his part.
I agreed with old Nunziata, still sitting, I hope, beneath her fig tree, and with her dry, faded fingers, spinning an uneven thread. ”

“ Phenicia again relapsed into silence; but now Venera smiled craftily; she began to comprehend what was the question at issue.
"A Solomon, a very Solomon, that attorney of yours! "she exclaimed." What more did he say?"
"′A witness was needed,′ went on Phenicia, in a voice almost inaudible. ′No one but yourself can be that important witness, Mistress Phenica. According to law, no one can compel you to testify in your husband's suit; no one can make you take the oath; but the law will admit your testimony, if you offer it of your own accord. If you wish, you will be taken under oath′ . ”

“ The lips were blue. Aunt Pina placed her hand upon Phenicia's forehead.
"Like a stone," she said. "It is all over." Nevertheless, after a short interval, she sent for a priest. He came,—not the monk Father Philip,—but Father Ambrosio, their pastor. Hardly had he entered the room when Phenicia's body gave a slight tremor and she slowly opened her eyes.
"You have brought her a happy death, Father Ambrosio," said Aunt Pina, giving him a chair and leaving the room. Carmenio remained. The priest took her hand; he had known her from childhood, and was deeply moved. ”

“ The following day they went to Archangelo, who indignantly declined the proposal. He had a right to the whole; why, then, should he be content with a part? They said he was greedy, which caused bitterness on both sides.
Venera dug her nails into her cheeks, and ran as usual to complain to Nunziata.
"We will seek justice to the last extremity!" she exclaimed. "God and all his angels must be with us."
Nunziata sympathized with them deeply. Nevertheless, she said: "Let not the poor seek for justice, it does not grow for them. ”

“ He still sits before the Corvejo palace, beating at his kettles, and thinking of Phenicia. They say that since her death he is somewhat deranged. They shake their heads dubiously when he, at times, begins to relate to them how Christ appeared to his sister, beneath the blossoming almond trees.
"She expected the lightnings of his wrath, and he threw her a rose," is the usual end of his story. Thus a legend has been formed in his poor, weak head. If he notices an incredulous smile he grumbles out," You think with that old priest up in Mola, that it was merely an illusion? ”

“ As for the silver, it does not seem that he is troubled as to what he shall do with it."
"Evil reports ring out like bells, but they do not bring people to church," replied Venera. "The one thing certain is that now we have the syndic against us,—a plague upon his soul! "And she hurried home.
Time passed on as rapidly as before this conversation, but the dispute concerning the estate beyond the Messina gate came no nearer to its settlement. But aside from Venera, no one at the palace of Corvejo seemed to be concerned about it. ”

“ And when the worst comes, when I'm tired and hungry, overcome with the burning heat of the sun, or the bitter cold winds of the winter, I always find some comfort by raising my eyes and looking at the sculptures upon the stairs and balustrade. ”

“ The road leading from Taormin to Mola is precipitous and rocky, in fact, hewn out of the rock itself. On one side, towering high above one, are almost perpendicular walls, and on the other, one can look down into deep valleys, the bottoms of which are covered with fields and vineyards, and the sides with almond and fig trees. ”

“ Besides a son, Venera had also a married daughter, who lived down in Girardini, at the foot of the hills on which Taormin was situated. Lucia had little love either for her mother or brother, and they had not seen each other for years. Her husband was a laborer upon the railroad track, and Lucia helped him whenever she could. They had three children, the youngest still an infant when the great misfortune over took them. One day, Lucia was sitting by the seashore, cooling her feet in the water and looking for a shell for her babe, her husband at work upon the track near by. ”