“Then, my friend,” sneered Alfonso, “yours must have been a singularly unexciting life.”
Strozzi smiled lightly and condescendingly. His favor with the Duke absolved him from paying much respect to his uncouth son. It was true that one day Alfonso would be Duke of Ferrara, but it was no use Strozzi’s trying to curry favor with him; he would never achieve it however much he tried. He and Alfonso were so very different in outlook that there could never be harmony between them.
“I would not call it that,” said Strozzi, still keeping his eyes on Lucrezia, “yet would I insist this is its greatest moment.”
Alfonso guffawed. “Strozzi’s a courtier, or fancies he is. Poet too. Do not take his words too seriously, Lucrezia. Well, Strozzi, what are your latest verses, eh? Ode to a red rose or a pale primrose?”
“You are pleased to mock,” said Strozzi. “And while you may mock me as much as you wish, I confess it grieves me that you should speak slightingly of poetry.”
“I am an uncouth fellow, as you know full well,” said Alfonso. He looked round the company. “So elegant, these ladies and gentlemen! These artists! What right have I to be here among them with the odor of the foundry upon me?”
“You are very welcome here,” said Lucrezia quickly. “We should be gratified if you came more often.”
He chucked her under the chin, for he took a great delight in calling attention to his crude manners in such company. “Come, wife,” he said, “let us have the truth. You’ll be glad to see me gone. Truth is more interesting to a plain man like me than your precious poetry.”
He put a hand on Strozzi’s shoulder with such force that the poet almost lost his balance and was forced to lean heavily on his crutch.
“It is not so,” began Lucrezia, but he interrupted her.
“Adieu, wife. I’ll leave you to your art. I’m off to those pastures more suited to my animal tastes and spirits. Adieu to you all.” And, laughing, he left the apartment.
There was a brief silence which Strozzi was the first to break.
“I fear my coming is the cause of his departure.”
“You must not blame yourself,” said Lucrezia. “I blame no one. He rarely comes here and, apart from the time when he plays his viol, seems to have little interest in what goes on.”
“He will never like me,” said Strozzi.
“It may be because he does not know you.”
“He knows much of me which he does not like. I am a poet for one thing. A cripple for another.”
“Surely he could not hate you for these reasons?”
“To a maker of cannons poetry seems a foolish thing. He is strong, never having known a day’s sickness in his life. He regards with horror any person who is not physically perfect. It is often so with those who have physical perfection and something less in their mental powers.”
A faint smile twisted the handsome lips, and Lucrezia was aware of a stab of pity, which was what Strozzi intended. Strozzi was not in the least sorry for himself; he would not have changed places with Alfonso. Strozzi was so mentally brilliant that he had quickly learned to turn his physical disability to advantage. His love affairs were conducted with a finesse which would have seemed incomprehensible to Alfonso d’Este, but they were as numerous and satisfactory as he wished. He had come now to charm Lucrezia and to win for himself a Cardinal’s hat.
He stayed at her side throughout the evening, and he was not long in assuring Lucrezia that in him she had found a friend who would compensate her for all the hostility she had met with at the Este court.
He could not dance. He indicated his crutch.
“I was born with a deformed foot,” he told her. “In my youth this caused me pain and discomfiture. It no longer does, because I have realized that those who would despise me for my deformity are not worthy of my friendship. I think of my deformity as a burden which for a long time I carried on my back, until I suddenly realized that through it I had developed other qualities; then it was as though the load had burst open to disclose a pair of wings.”
“You are a philosopher, as well as a poet,” said Lucrezia. “And I like your philosophy.”
“Have I your permission to come to your apartment often? I feel that you and I could have a great deal to say to each other.”
“I shall look for you tomorrow,” Lucrezia told him.
When Alfonso visited her that night, he was unusually talkative. She was in bed when he entered the apartment in his brisk manner.
“So the Strozzi has found his way to your apartments, eh?” he said. “The greatest moment of his life!” Alfonso burst into loud laughter. “You understand what that means, eh? At last he has a chance—so he thinks—to get his Cardinal’s hat. The Pope’s own daughter! How could he get nearer the Pope than that?” Alfonso wagged a finger at her. “Mark you, he’ll be asking for the hat before long.”
“I think you are wrong, Alfonso,” she said. “You judge everyone by … by the people you know here. There was a delicacy in his manner.”
That made Alfonso laugh still more. “He knows how to manage the ladies, eh? Not the women … but the ladies. Strozzi wouldn’t look at a mere serving-woman. What good could she bring to him? I tell you a Cardinal’s hat means more to him than any of your gracious smiles. He wouldn’t as much as see a kitchen girl. He wouldn’t see what she could offer. He’d only know she hadn’t Cardinals’ hats to give away.”
“It might be more comfortable for us all if you were less interested in the gifts of kitchen girls,” began Lucrezia. “It might be that if you made some pretence of living a life more in keeping with your rank …”
But Alfonso was in bed and no longer interested in conversation.
Under the cover of music Strozzi talked.
“I make no secret of the fact, my dear Duchessa, that it has been the ambition of my life to possess a Cardinal’s hat.”
“It is a worthy ambition,” Lucrezia told him.
“And knowing of the love your father bears you, I feel that, should you consider me worthy, you would be able to convince His Holiness that I should not disgrace the Sacred College.”
“I am certain that you would grace the Sacred College,” Lucrezia assured him.
Strozzi bent nearer to her. “I would be willing to spend as much as 5,000 ducats to attain my desire.”
“It is a great sum,” said Lucrezia.
“My family is rich, and I feel that I must go out into the world. I have my life to live in places beyond Ferrara.”
“I will write to my father. I believe the friendship that you have shown to me will please him more than 5,000 ducats.”
“I am grateful.” His beautiful eyes were eloquent. She smiled at him. She was realizing that, in spite of her chilly reception in Ferrara, she was at last making her own court, and life was becoming interesting.
“How you must miss Rome!” he said suddenly.
“More than I can say.”
“Ferrara seems dull to you doubtless?”
“It is so different from Rome. In Rome there was so much to do. There were so many shops full of wonderful things.”
“So you think the shops of Rome the best in Italy?”
“Indeed yes. Those of Naples are exquisite, but I think Rome holds the palm.”
“You have not seen the shops of Venice?”
“No.”
“Then I must tell you they have goods therein … jewels … cloth … to outshine anything you ever saw in Rome.”
“Is this really so?”
“Indeed yes. Venice is the traders’ center. They congregate there from the north and the south; and all that is best in their merchandise is bought by the merchants of Venice and displayed in the shops there. I see that you have exquisite taste. May I say that I have never seen gowns of such style? Your velvets and brocades are very beautiful; I have never seen better outside Venice.”