The Rape of Venice (65 page)

Roger went to bed feeling soberly satisfied with the progress he had made to date. It was a great relief to have got his report off to Mr. Pitt, as there could be no telling when, if ever, he would be able to send another. But he kept on examining his plan from every angle, for one could never be quite sure that every possibility had been thought of, or that some unforeseen factor would not suddenly arise to throw everything out of gear. And he had one very serious cause for worry. Boneparte had stipulated ‘no scandal', but to make certain of getting Malderini into the trap he had been compelled to have rumours circulated that the General was making a visit incognito to Venice, and take steps to ensure that when the Princess Sirisha was kidnapped his name should be linked with hers. To have used the authority Boneparte had given him over Villetard for his own ends, and entirely contrary to the General's interests, was a flagrant breach of trust. When the little Corsican learned about that, as he was bound to do, unless it could be justified by a motive that he would accept, he would fly into one of his terrible rages and Roger might find himself back in the Leads.

Another matter that worried Roger considerably was the fate of Malderini's co-conspirators. The great majority of the Venetian upper class had conclusively proved themselves to be spineless decadents, but these people must surely be the exception to the rule. Some might be ambitious men, prepared to gamble their lives against a chance of power should they succeed in bringing about a restoration of the old regime; others, no doubt, were fanatics, egged on by their father-confessors to strike a blow at the new government of atheists; but among them there must be a number of real patriots, and all of them must be accounted men of courage. That they, of all Venetians—just because they had allowed themselves to be caught in the web of the treacherous Malderini, and because Roger, in the hope of serving his country and to revenge himself, had to smash it—should be the ones who had to be sacrificed, seemed a gross injustice. He could see no way to avoid that and the thought of it plagued his conscience severely.

Yet, as so often happens, sleep brought a possible solution to the problem. Soon after waking next morning, an idea in connection with the carnival took form in his mind, and by developing it there seemed a chance that when Malderini's associates had served their purpose he might be able to save them from the worst consequences of their attempt upon Boneparte.

To put it in train, as soon as he had dressed and breakfasted, he donned his cloak and mask and went out shopping. His purchases consisted of one of the huge gold-laced hats that Boneparte had taken to wearing and the smallest sizes available in the second-hand shops of hessian boots, white breeches and plain uniform coat, by which the General's figure had become so well known. To these he added a tricolour sash, white stock, spurs, cloak and one of the grotesque carnival masks.

With all these packed in two boxes, he returned to the Embassy where he found a small party ready to accompany him to Portillo. It consisted of Villetard's steward, Citizen Crozier, a valet, a porter and two cleaning women, all of whom, as was the case with the whole of the staff at the Embassy, were French. Roger transferred his packages to the six-oared barge in which they were waiting, and it pulled away.

Leaving the Grand Canal it turned into the Canal San Felice, which led into the basin of the Misericordia on the northern waterfront of the city, then headed north through one of the
pole-marked channels across the open water. As Venice and its innumerable adjacent islands lie in a thirty-mile-long lagoon, they are protected from the rollers of the Adriatic and, being a fine sunny day, the inland sea was as smooth as a mill-pond. A half-mile out they passed the island of San Michele, the cemetery of Venice, above the walls of which the tall cypresses rose like green candles, then some distance farther on the much bigger island of Murano with its quite considerable town, famous for its centuries-old glass factories. Beyond it, in the distance, lay another large but less-populous island. Barano, and between them to either side were scattered a number of small islets. Crozier pointed out one of these to Roger as Portillo, and the barge's crew soon brought them to it.

The islet was about an acre in extent and the only building on it was the casino, a charming little one-storeyed pavilion set picturesquely among cypress trees. They landed on a wide stone wharf and at Crozier's shout a bent old man, who was the caretaker, hobbled out to meet them. He let them in through the front door and Roger set about making a thorough inspection of the place.

It had only two main rooms, a salon and a bedroom; both were spacious and lofty. Beyond the former lay a kitchen and two small bedrooms for servants. To that side of the main building, a short distance from it, was a big woodshed well stocked with fuel, and on the other a boat-house, in the rear part of which was stored garden furniture. Behind the casino, surrounded by cypresses, lay a small garden containing only some flowering shrubs and a few pieces of statuary. The furniture in the main rooms had been stacked in their centres under dust sheets and the place smelt musty from disuse; but, even so, Roger saw at a glance that when in proper order it made a perfect retreat for lovers.

All the windows were thrown open, and Crozier began to unpack, from hampers he had brought, bed-linen, plate, glasses and bottles; his men set about unstacking the furniture, and the women about their cleaning. Having satisfied himself that the place could be made entirely suitable for his purpose, Roger returned to the barge and had himself rowed the four miles into Mestre.

On landing he took off his mask, hired a carrotza to take him to the French headquarters just outside the town and introduced himself to the garrison Commander's adjutant. At
that officer's desk he wrote a note for Bourrienne informing him that everything had been arranged for the visit of the General-in-Chief on the following night, and had it sent off by galloper.

As he watched the man go he realised that he had burnt his boats and that, although his own arrangements for trapping Malderini were well in train, that was by no means the case with the entertainment he had promised Boneparte; as he had yet to kidnap the Princess Sirisha. But to have done so before the day of the
coup
might have ruined his own plan, and if he had delayed in sending his despatch to Boneparte, there were no means of getting him to the rendezvous by the night of the 14th.

At the adjutant's invitation, he dined that afternoon in the mess, then had himself rowed back to Portillo. During his absence a most pleasing transformation had taken place. The big rooms had been thoroughly cleaned, the air scented, and the fine gilt and ormolu furniture of the period of Louis XV set out. As he looked at the magnificent bed, with its silk curtains falling gracefully from a coronet held by two gilded cupids, his imagination swiftly conjured up the images of the satin-clad, powdered-haired nobleman who must, in the past, have led beautiful women in crinolines and patches to give and receive amorous joys in it. For a moment he wondered if the skinny, lank-haired little Corsican would succeed, after the
coup
was over on the following night, in persuading the lovely Indian Princess to let him have his way with her there. But that was a matter for them.

An hour later all the preparations, except for the supper which must be brought next day, were completed; so the party returned to Venice, taking the old caretaker with them.

That evening Roger arranged through Villetard that next morning at nine o'clock a fast barge, with at least eight oarsmen, should be at the Embassy steps. It was to be manned by French sailors and carry six troopers, all picked men who could be relied on to keep their mouths shut and under orders to obey him without question.

Later that night, Villetard told him that he had again seen Malderini, and that his side of the affair was all in order. The hotheads among the conspirators had shown immediate enthusiasm at this chance to kidnap their great enemy, and even the more cautious had soon been persuaded that, if he could be coerced into ordering the evacuation of Venice by the French,
the fact that a few civilians had done so would be sufficient hold over him to ensure that he did not rescind the order after they had released him.

They had decided to take him to one of the distant islands about twelve miles away at the south end of the lagoon, as from it he could not possibly escape, and that, too, would eliminate any risk of the French finding him should they institute a house-to-house search throughout the city. One of Malderini's lieutenants was a lawyer named Ottoboni, an inveterate talker, who also prided himself on his ability as a negotiator; so when Malderini expressed some misgivings about being capable of arguing such a forceful character as Boneparte into doing as they wished, the lawyer had promptly volunteered to handle that side of the business, which would leave the arch-conspirator free to keep out of personal danger in the rear of the party.

Malderini had pressed Villetard to tell him whereabouts Boneparte was lodging in the city, so that the conspirators could make detailed plans for their
coup
. But Villetard had replied that he was actually in Mestre and coming over only from time to time. It was, however, certain that he would sup in Venice the following night, although where was not yet definitely settled. That would be known by about seven o'clock; so Malderini was to come to the Embassy shortly before half-past, and Villetard would be able to give him full particulars of the General-in-Chief's plans for the evening.

By this arrangement, Roger reckoned that the kidnappers could not arrive at Portillo much before nine o'clock, by which time he expected to have Napoleon and Sirisha comfortably settled down at supper. Only one fence now remained to be got over—the kidnapping of the Princess; but everything else had so far gone according to plan and, buoyed up by his natural optimism, Roger went cheerfully to bed.

Next morning, punctually at nine o'clock, he went out to the French-manned barge, which had been brought to the Embassy under the command of a tough-looking middle-aged naval lieutenant named Bouvard. First, Roger made sure that its crew and the half-dozen soldiers had been warned that they were to be engaged in a special undertaking and that in no circumstances were they to talk about it afterwards; then he explained what he intended to do. As he proceeded, broad grins spread over the faces of most of the men and a few began to mutter ribald comments; but he soon reduced them to order
by saying that this was no affair of gallantry—it was a step that had to be taken in the political interests of the Republic.

Having made certain that the Lieutenant fully understood what was required of him, he gave the order to cast off and had the barge rowed down the Grand Canal as far as the Canal de Duca, which was on the opposite side to the Malderini Palace and about two hundred yards below it. He then had the barge backed into the Duca Canal and made fast to one side of its entrance, so that all of it except its bow was concealed by the house on the corner. Climbing across the thwarts he settled down in the bow to keep watch on the Palace.

It was by then twenty-past nine, and it had been the Princess Sirisha's custom to go out for her morning walk at about ten o'clock; so he had taken up his position to watch for her to come out of the Palace in ample time—provided that she had not changed her habits. On that point Villetard had been unable to give him any information, and the possibility that she had made his wait an anxious one. Now that autumn was here, she might not go out for a walk every day, and he was working to a strict time-table. To have abducted her the day before would have sprung his mine under Malderini too early and perhaps have provoked him into some act which would have upset everything previously agreed on; but Sirisha had to be given time to recover from the shock she would sustain, so must be carried off by midday at the latest. Fortunately it was again a lovely sunny day, so the prospect of her coming out seemed good; but Roger was uncomfortably aware that, should she fail to do so, he would have to go in and get her.

His uncertainty about how matters would develop made his forty-minute wait seem very much longer, but at last the many bells of Venice chimed ten, and he sat forward with renewed eagerness, his eyes riveted on the portico of the Palace two hundred yards away.

Five minutes passed, ten, but there were no signs of activity. The gondola was tied up to one of the mooring poles striped like a gargantuan barber's pole, with the Malderini colours, but the gondoliers had not come out to it. On the other hand, the Princess had not come onto her balcony, which would have suggested that she meant to take the morning air up there instead of during a walk.

Suddenly the panic thought struck Roger that she might no longer be living in the Palace. Perhaps, by having those rumours spread about Boneparte's expressing an interest in
her, he had overplayed his hand. It was just possible that Malderini had decided to remove her temporarily to some place where the General-in-Chief would see her no more and so be deprived of any opportunity of endeavouring to make her acquaintance. If so, he was in the very devil of a mess. The rage that Boneparte would fly into that evening when he learned that he had been brought all the way down to Venice for nothing was something that Roger did not care to dwell upon.

It looked now as if he would have to force his way into the Palace anyhow. If she was there, with six strong troopers to aid him he did not doubt his ability to carry her off. If she was not, then he would have to do his utmost to bribe or terrify the servants into telling him where she had been taken. The minutes, instead of dragging, were racing now, and he had just decided that, in case he had to go some distance to find her, he dare not put off raiding the Palace after half-past, when the bells tolled the quarter. At that moment the gondoliers appeared, and the Princess and Pietro followed them out almost immediately afterwards.