A Creature of the Night: An Italian EnigmaHume, Fergus
Philosophy
A Creature of the Night: An Italian Enigma
Hume, Fergus
British -- Italy -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Meanwhile the fiacre had left the Via Pallone, crossed over the
Ponte Aleardi, and was now being driven rapidly along the left bank of
the Adige, past the Campo Marzo. We speedily arrived at the old
burial-ground, and Peppino, stopping his horse near the gate, assisted
me to alight from the carriage.
"Peppino," I said, when this was done, "tie your horse up somewhere
and come with me into the cemetery."
"Diamine!" replied Peppino, crossing himself with superstitious
reverence. "I like not these fields of the dead."
"It's broad daylight, you coward; besides, I wish you to tell me about
the tombs."
"But why does not the Signor go to the beautiful new cemetery?" said
Peppino, leading his horse to the wall and fastening him to a heavy
stone; "the statues there are beautiful. This is old, very old; no one
is buried here now."
"When was the last person buried, Peppino?"
"Dio! I don't know--eh, oh, yes, Signore, last year an illustrious was
buried in his own vault; but he was mad. Ecco!"
"Why did he have a vault built in such an old cemetery?"
"Oh, the vault was old--as old as the Trezza. All the signori of his
family had been buried there for many days."
"Since the Republic?"
"Dio! yes, and before."
"What is the name of this family?"
"I don't know, Signore, I forget!"
"Well, come along, Peppino. As you know so much about one tomb, you
will probably know something about another."
"Command me, Illustrious."
I did not enter the burial-ground by the gate, as I wanted to go the
same way as on the previous night, in order to be certain of finding
the tomb I was in search of, so, with some little difficulty, and the
help of Peppino, I managed to climb over the broken wall, and soon
found myself in my old hiding-place. Peppino looked at me with
considerable curiosity, as he could not conceive my object in coming
to this dreary locality; but ultimately, shrugging his shoulders, he
put it down to a freak on the part of a mad Englishman, and waited for
me to speak.
The tomb looked scarcely less forbidding and gloomy in the daytime
than it did at night, with its massive-looking architecture, and the
stern-faced angel guarding the iron door. Advancing through the long
grass which grew all round it, I looked every where for a name, but
could find none, then tried to open the iron door, to the great dismay
of Peppino.
"Signore," he said in a faltering voice, "do not let out the ghosts."
"There are no ghosts here, Peppino. They have all departed," I
replied, finding the door locked.
"Dio! I'm not so sure of that, Illustrious. Many dead are in there."
"Oh, they've been dead so long that their ghosts must have grown weary
of this gloomy sepulchre."
"Yes, Signore, but the ghost of the mad Count buried last year!"
"Oh!" I cried with lively curiosity, "is this the vault where he was
buried?"
"Yes, Illustrious!"
"And the name, Peppino? What was his name?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account