himself, in an abominable hole dug undergound.
The first thing he saw when he opened again his eyes, is the wall of a dark prison cell, lighted dimly through some moon rays which fell upon him through narrow interstices from high above. On his side, he finds a meagre bread close to a jug of water and below a stack of hay as a bed.
He stayed in this condition until the following midday when finally from the middle of the tower a panel was opened, and two hands became visible, from which in a hanging basket the same meal which he has found there the day before, will be lifted down to him. Now, since this whole fearsome turn of fortune, for the first time, pain and sadness made him asked the following question: “How did I came here? And what crime have I done?” But no answer came from above; the hands have disappeared, and the panel was closed again.
Without seeing the face of a man, without even only hearing the voice of a man, without knowing the decision about this terrible destiny, about his future, or about his past, left in equally fearsome doubts, not even comforted by any warm ray of light, not even refreshed by any healthy breeze, deprived of any help and forgotten by the general compassion; he counted in this place of damnation four hundred and ninety abominable days with the sorrowful bread which would be given to him one midday after another in sad monotony.
But a discovery which he already made in the first days of his presence there, completed the measure of his misery. He knew this place, it was himself who, motivated by a lower desire for revenge, has ordered its construction, a few months before in order to leave there a despised officer who deserved this fate, who has had the misfortune of attracting his temperament upon himself. With inquisitive terror, he realized that it was him who has given the means to make the stay in this prison so excruciating. He has even made in person, not long ago, a trip in this prison to supervise its construction and to speed its completion. To put his martyrdom to the extreme, it must be remarked that the same officer to whom this cell was originally intended, was an old, dignified high commander who replaced precisely the deceased former commander of the fortification in this office, and after being a victim of his revenge, is now the master of his destiny.
Hence came to him also the last, sad consolation of complaining about his own fate, and no matter how hard it has already treated him, to accuse destiny of unfairness. To the sensible feeling of his misery was still associated a raging self despise and a pain which is the bitterest for proud hearts; that is, to depend on the generosity of the enemy to whom he has showed none.
But this fair Commandant was too noble for a lower revenge. The severity which he instructed against the prisoner hurt his human friendly heart a lot more now; but as an old soldier is used to follow his orders with blind faithfulness, he could nothing else but regret having received and followed such orders.
He found a more active help in the garrison preacher of the prison, who was moved by the imprisoned man's misery, who only received late information and only through dark, incoherent rumours about the prisoner, and took immediately the firm resolution to do something to ease his detention conditions. This remarkable member of the spiritual authority, whose name I do not reveal voluntarily, believed in his duty of a shepherd and would strive to do the best to fulfil it, now, by making it prevail by the unfortunate man to whom no more help was any more to be expected.
As he did not obtain from the prison's Commandant the permission to visit the prisoner; hence, he took upon himself to go to the capital to plead his enterprise immediately with the Prince; he did bow before the same Prince, and poured his compassion for the unfortunate prisoner who, without the good deeds of a Christian, from whom the most terrible crimes could also be expected, will be left helpless and who, maybe, is already close to despair. With all the boldness and dignity which only the conscience of fulfilled duty can confer, he demanded a free access to the prisoner whom as a child, he used to have in confession, and for whose soul he felt responsible before heaven. The good cause for which he spoke, made him eloquent, but the Prince's first unwillingness was already broken by time, anyway. He granted his request, and the preacher could now indulge the prisoner with a spiritual visit.
The first human face which the unfortunate G. saw after a period of sixteen months, was the face of this helper. He owed to his misery the first visit of the unique person who lived in the world and cared for him; his good fortune has not acquired him any real friend. The preacher's visit was for him like the apparition of an angel. I will not describe here his sentiments. However, from this day on, his tears flew more softly, because he saw himself wept by a human creature.
The preacher was seized with horror, as he was lifted down the deadly hole.
His eyes sought a human being, and only a grey man inspiring terror crept from an angle to meet him, a hole which resembled more the den of a wild animal than the living place of a human creature.
The prisoner was just a bleak, dead like skeleton, all the colours of life have disappeared from his face in which sorrow and doubt have imprinted deep wrinkles, his beard and nails have grown through such a long neglect into abomination, his clothing was half torn from a very long use and from total lack of cleaning; the air around him was pestilential; hence he found him, this favourite of luck, and even more surprising to the preacher, he found that the prisoner's iron health has resisted all this ordeal! Still outraged by this sight, the preacher rushed to the commandant's office, to obtain yet a second good deed for the poor, unfortunate person, without which the first one would be accounted for none.
As this one, however, excused himself invoking the express orders he received, he resolved himself generously to a second trip to the capital, to make pretence once again to the Prince's grace. He declared that he could never more, without offending the dignity of the sacrament, undertake any sacred action with his prisoner, if his prisoner would not be given previously the semblance of a human being. This last favour will also be granted, and only from this day on, could the prisoner live again.
G. spent still many years in this fortification; however, in a widely more acceptable condition, as the short summer of the new favourite, Martinengo, has bloomed and faded, and as other favourites who were more human, or simply did not have any revenge to fulfil against him, have replaced Martinengo in his post. Finally, after a ten year imprisonment, the day of liberation came, however without any tribunal proceedings, or formal acquittance. He received his freedom as a gift from the hands of grace; at the same time, it was ordered to him to move outside the country forever. At this point, sufficient information is lacking to me to continue my story as I gathered it completely from oral account; and I see myself forced to skip a period of twenty years in my own account.
G. started anew his career during the same period at the service of a foreign army, which led him, finally, onto the same glowing summit from which he has fallen down so terribly in his fatherland. Time, the friend of the unfortunate man, which exercises a slow, but irrevocable justice, finally took care of the legal matter preventing him for returning to his homeland.
The Prince was over with his years of passion, and humanity started progressively to have a value for him, as his hair became white. As he was closer to death, a nostalgia for the favourite of his youth resurfaced in him. To spare the grey man, wherever possible, of all the vexations which he himself has accumulated upon him, he invited the expelled former favourite friendly back in his country where G.’s heart, already for long, has craved to return.
G.'s homecoming was moving, the Prince's welcoming warm and yet deceiving, they looked as if they have just separated the day before. The Prince looked thoughtfully at the face which was so well known to him and yet, again, so foreign; he noticed the wrinkles which he himself has chiselled onto his former favourite's face. He sought inquisitively in the grey man's face, again, the beloved traits of the young favourite, but what he was looking for, he did not find any more.
They coerced themselves to observe a frosty relatedness to each other. Shame and fear have separated for always
