that when, on the day before — the 12th — Pope Pignatelli had let himself be convinced to set up the congregation, the three cardinals had already been meeting secretly at the Vessel for a week! Perhaps they were deciding on the tactics to adopt with the Holy Father.
To keep their meetings well hidden, what better cover than the wedding at Villa Spada? No one would become suspicious seeing them together, since Spada was the master of the house and both Albani and Spinola were among the guests. All that without counting the fact that they were so skilful in their manner of slipping away to the Vessel that the Abbot and I had never managed to catch them in flagrante during their meetings there.
All in all, it seemed that the poor old Pope no longer counted for anything, as the three guests had commented the evening before.
I felt bitter about this: alas, it meant that Spada, in his capacity as Secretary of State, was in all probability one of those (together with the Secretary for Breves, Albani, and the Chamberlain, Spinola di San Cesareo) about whom the Pontiff complained that he was denied the dignity due to the Vicar of Christ and treated inconsiderately, as the Connestabilessa had mentioned on no fewer than two separate occasions in her letters to Atto.
What was the Abbot's role in all this? Now that was clear: Melani's purpose was to spy on the trio, not with a view to the conclave but in order to know whether or not what they decided for the Spanish succession was favourable to France; and perhaps to hold himself at the ready to act on his King's behalf. Had I not read his correspondence with Maria, I would have remained in the dark about all this.
Discouraged and humiliated, I continued reading:
… and yet you must not think that His Holiness is in bad hands. From such information as I have been able to gather, he is perfectly and disinterestedly assisted by the Secretary of State, by the Secretary for Breves and by the Chamberlain, who look after all affairs of State with the greatest of care and solicitude. As I have already had occasion to write to you, they have in no way taken the crosier from His Holiness's hand but are only carrying out the difficult task with which the Pontiff has been so good as to entrust them, a task which they accepted humbly and with joy. Fear not.
So tense did I become at this juncture that I came close to crushing the letter between my fingers, leaving the mark of my clandestine reading. Such impudence! Not only did Atto know perfectly well what those three cardinals were up to during their secret meetings at the Vessel (despite the fact that he had never succeeded in finding them there) but he was speaking of it in unctuous, mellifluous terms. And this despite the fact that among the three was Cardinal Albani, in other words one of the Abbot's bitterest enemies: the one who, only the evening before, thanks to Ugonio's information, we had discovered to be in cahoots with Lamberg. The whole thing was really rather strange; what was Abbot Melani hiding?
Continuing my reading, however, I found that the subject changed suddenly:
But enough of this futile chatter! You know all too well how easily I immerse myself in vanities social and political when she who speaks (or writes) to me of such matters is the sweetest, noblest and most enchanting of Princesses one could ever desire to serve. You ought to amuse me with the most superficial of stratagems, even then you would effortlessly ensnare me, for all that issues forth from your mouth, as from your pen, is sublime, enchanting and worthy of love.
But now it is time to pass on to serious matters. Most clement and dearly beloved Madame, how much longer will you deny yourself the delights of Villa Spada? Barely two days remain before the withering away of the festivities, and still I have not been vouchsafed the Grace of kneeling at your feet. Nor do you even tell me now whether you have been restored to health or when you will be arriving. Do you want my death?
But if, with your compassion
All the dear softness which was born with you
Be not extinguished quite, deny me not
This one request (although thy soul be cruel,
'Tis lovely too) to my last farewell sigh
Return but one, and then will death be pleasing.
What envious god causes you to turn your back on Lidio and disdain his requests? You know full well: if I am here, 'tis only because you promised Lidio that you would come.
Here was the truth. How could I have doubted it? He loved her and his love was mingled with that of his king, of whom Atto was but the old messenger. And when he returned to the subject of Eros, the Abbot betrayed the fact that all other things were merely a pretext for conversing, even if only on paper, with the object of his feelings.
No, there was no mystery here, save that of the lasting love that joined three old persons. The Abbot, it was true, had been reticent with me about the question of the Spanish succession, persuading me that the three cardinals were meeting to prepare the next conclave. Yet it was also true that the matter was extremely delicate, and Atto had therefore preferred to keep me in the dark. I well remembered from the days when we had met at the Locanda del Donzello, how the Abbot had been prodigal with the most stupefying revelations concerning events distant in time, while he carefully kept the truth about his manoeuvres and projects of the moment to himself. When all was said and done, what else could I expect of a veteran spy? I had to yield to the facts: Abbot Melani would always keep something from me, if only out of his inborn mistrustfulness and the complicated workings of his mind.
So it was with new eyes that I reconsidered Melani's letter which I had just read, and now I no longer found it so suspect. For example, might not the obsequious tone employed by Atto when speaking of Albani be due to the Abbot's fear that someone might read his letters and realise that he was spying on the three cardinals for the Most Christian King?
Now it was time for me to be on my way. I left the three letters where I had found them, in the Abbot's wig. The love verses, however, by their very nature resistant to all human will, accompanied me far on my way. They perpetuated the motionless dance of the rhymes along the way home to my bed, where I took out one last time the Cavaliere Guarini's Faithful Shepherd and sought those lines. When at length I found them playing on the lips of Silvio and Dorinda, I smiled at that final confirmation of the truth, for once kinder than my fears. Atto, Atto, although thy soul be cruel, 'tis lovely too,
I found myself repeating this in that confused whirlpool which precedes sleep, and later, in the mystery of the night hours when the soul feeds on shadows and vain images and loves to discover itself immortal.
Day the Eighth
14th J ULY, 1700
'And what do you mean to say, That I'm an ignoramus?'
Poor Buvat fell silent at once, shocked by Atto's acid tone.
That morning Abbot Melani was really beside himself. Buvat had just returned from a walk in town and had found us in close conversation, trying to think up a way of getting into the Congregation of the Oratory while eluding the surveillance of the Philippine Brothers. The moment that he attempted to contribute to the discussion, Atto set to berating him.
'Never would I dare suggest such a thing, Signor Abbot,' the secretary hesitantly defended himself, 'only…'
'Only what?'
'Well, there's simply no reason to elude the surveillance of the Philippine Brothers because, as I was saying, there is none.'
Abbot Melani and I looked at one another in consternation.
'What is more,' Buvat continued, 'Virgilio Spada himself arranged for his collection to be displayed in an accessible place. It is indeed a genuine museum, so arranged as to satisfy the curiosity of many visitors.'
Buvat went on to explain that Virgilio Spada, although he had in his youth soldiered under the Spanish flag, was a most religious, cultivated and erudite man, a good friend of the great architect Borromini whom he had introduced to the court of Pope Innocent X half a century previously. Spada had at the time been instructed by the Pontiff to restore order to the great hospital of Santo Spirito in Saxia, and had subsequently been appointed Privy Almoner to His Holiness. Besides this he had, thanks to his spiritual qualities, been invited to join the pious
