"I come," said the prince, "to request an explanation of you on two subjects. You owe me the one, and it shall not be to your disadvantage if you grant me the other."
"My part is now acted," replied the Sicilian, "my destiny is in your hands."
"Your sincerity alone can mitigate your punishment.
"Speak, honored prince, I am ready to answer you. I have nothing now to lose."
"You showed me the face of the Armenian in a looking-glass. How was this effected?"
"What you saw was no looking-glass. A portrait in crayons behind a glass, representing a man in an Armenian dress, deceived you. My quickness, the twilight, and your astonishment favored the deception. The picture itself must have been found among the other things seized at the inn."
"But how could you read my thoughts so accurately as to hit upon the Armenian?"
"This was not difficult, your highness. You must frequently have mentioned your adventure with the Armenian at table in the presence of your domestics. One of my accomplices accidentally got acquainted with one of your domestics in the Giudecca, and learned from him gradually as much as I wished to know."
"Where is the man?" asked the prince; "I have missed him, and doubtless you know of his desertion."
"I swear to your honor, sir, that I know not a syllable about it. I have never seen him myself, nor had any other concern with him than the one before mentioned."
"Proceed with your story," said the prince.
"By this means, also, I received the first information of your residence and of your adventures at Venice; and I resolved immediately to profit by them. You see, prince, I am sincere. I was apprised of your intended excursion on the Brenta. I prepared for it, and a key that dropped by chance from your pocket afforded me the first opportunity of trying my art upon you."
"How! Have I been mistaken? The adventure of the key was then a trick of yours, and not of the Armenian? You say this key fell from my pocket?"
"You accidentally dropped it in taking out your purse, and I seized an opportunity, when no one noticed me, to cover it with my foot. The person of whom you bought the lottery-ticket acted in concert with me. He caused you to draw it from a box where there was no blank, and the key had been in the snuff-box long before it came into your possession."
"I understand you. And the monk who stopped me in my way and addressed me in a manner so solemn."
"Was the same who, as I hear, has been wounded in the chimney. He is one of my accomplices, and under that disguise has rendered me many important services."
"But what purpose was this intended to answer?"
"To render you thoughtful; to inspire you with such a train of ideas as should be favorable to the wonders I intended afterwards to show you."
"The pantomimical dance, which ended in a manner so extraordinary, was at least none of your contrivance?"
"I had taught the girl who represented the queen. Her performance was the result of my instructions. I supposed your highness would be not a little astonished to find yourself known in this place, and (I entreat your pardon, prince) your adventure with the Armenian gave me reason to hope that you were already disposed to reject natural interpretations, and to attribute so marvellous an occurrence to supernatural agency."
"Indeed," exclaimed the prince, at once angry and amazed, and casting upon me a significant look; "indeed, I did not expect this."
[Neither did probably the greater number of my readers. The
circumstance of the crown deposited at the feet of the prince, in a
manner so solemn and unexpected, and the former prediction of the
Armenian, seem so naturally and obviously to aim at the same object
that at the first reading of these memoirs I immediately remembered
the deceitful speech of the witches in Macbeth:-
"Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
All hail, Macbeth! that shall he king hereafter!"
and probably the same thing has occurred to many of my readers.
When a certain conviction has taken hold upon a man's mind in a
solemn and extraordinary manner, it is sure to follow that all
subsequent ideas which are in any way capable of being associated
with this conviction should attach themselves to, and in some
degree seem to be consequent upon it. The Sicilian, who seems to
have had no other motive for his whole scheme than to astonish the
prince by showing him that his rank was discovered, played, without
being himself aware of it, the very game which most furthered the
view of the Armenian; but however much of its interest this
adventure will lose if I take away the higher motive which at first
seemed to influence these actions, I must by no means infringe upon
historical truth, but must relate the facts exactly as they
occurred.-Note of the German Editor.]
"But," continued he, after a long silence, "how did you produce the figure which appeared on the wall over the chimney?"
"By means of a magic lantern that was fixed in the opposite window-shutter, in which you have undoubtedly observed an opening."
"But how did it happen that not one of us perceived the lantern?" asked Lord Seymour.
"You remember, my lord, that on your re-entering the room it was darkened by a thick smoke of frankincense. I likewise took the precaution to place the boards which had been taken up from the floor upright against the wall near the window. By these means I prevented the shutter from immediately attracting observation. Moreover, the lantern remained covered by a slide until you had taken your places, and there was no further reason to apprehend that you would institute any examination of the saloon."
"As I looked out of the window in the other pavilion," said I, "I fancied I heard a noise like that of a person placing a ladder against the side of the house. Was I right?"
"Exactly; it was the ladder upon which my assistants stood to direct the magic-lantern."
"The apparition," continued the prince, "had really a superficial likeness to my deceased friend, and what was particularly striking, his hair, which was of a very light color, was exactly imitated. Was this mere chance, or how did you come by such a resemblance?"
"Your highness must recollect that you had at table a snuff-box by your plate, with an enamelled portrait of an officer in a uniform. I asked whether you had anything about you as a memento of your friend, and as your highness answered in the affirmative, I conjectured that it might be the box. I had attentively examined the picture during supper, and being very expert in drawing and not less happy in taking likenesses, I had no difficulty in giving to my shade the superficial resemblance you have perceived, the more so as the marquis' features are very marked."
"But the figure seemed to move?"
"It appeared so, yet it was not the figure that moved but the smoke on which the light was reflected."
"And the man who fell down in the chimney spoke for the apparition?"
"He did."
"But he could not hear your question distinctly."
"There was no occasion for it. Your highness will recollect that I cautioned you all very strictly not to propose any question to the apparition yourselves. My inquiries and his answers were preconcerted between us; and that no mistake might happen, I caused him to speak at long intervals, which he counted by the beating of a watch."