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Davis turned for information to Prince Minotti, sitting next to her; who, as he was not especially welcomed by the Romans, much affected the society of Americans, since to them, as a rule, a prince is a prince, and the name that follows of comparative unimportance. "Torre Sansevero," he said pompously, "is one of the finest estates we have in Italy.
Minotti and Allegro were both tense and keen, the former arrogant, the latter flushed and excited. John Derby, like the Countess Kate, played exactly as he used to play Jack Straws or besique, on rainy days in the country. From where she had been standing Nina could see only the top of Tornik's head and, obeying an idle impulse of curiosity, she crossed to the opposite side of the table.
To the latter a train had been laid, and, seizing a blazing torch, his "last and stern resource," Darkly, sternly, and all alone, Minotti stands o'er the altar-stone, and awaits the last attack of his foes. It soon comes. So near they came, the nearest stretched To grasp the spoil he almost reached, When old Minotti's hand Touched with the torch the train 'Tis fired!
A duke or a prince may be a parvenu. For me to accept a title Non! It would mean that the name of Carpazzi," he lingered on the pronunciation "could be improved! The name of Minotti, for instance, what does it say? Nothing! It is the name of a peasant. It may be dressed up to masquerade as noble, if it has 'Principe' pushed along before it. But it could not deceive a Roman.
"Does a Principe Minotti" he pronounced the word "Principe" with a sneering curl of the lips "dare to criticize a Carpazzi?" He threw back his head with a jerk. "What is he?" whispered Nina to Tornik, who was sitting next her. "Is he a duke?" "A Don, that is all, I believe." Softly as the question was put and answered, Carpazzi heard.
But "Shut up, Jenkins, you ass!" was all the latter got for a retort courteous. On the evening of the first court ball, the Sanseveros gave a small dinner, after which they went to the opera. The guests were the Count and Countess Olisco, Count Tornik, Don Cesare Carpazzi, and Prince Minotti. Don Cesare Carpazzi, a thin swarthy youth, sat just across the corner of the table from Nina.
And then Carpazzi hoped she liked Rome and this very harmless subject was tossed gently back and forth, until Prince Minotti gave it an unexpectedly violent fling by remarking, "I suppose Signorina, that you have been impressed" he held the pause with evident satisfaction "with the great history of the Carpazzi, without which there would be no Rome!"
Historians tell us that the garrison, weakened by several unsuccessful attacks, opened negotiations for a surrender; but, while these were in progress, the accidental firing of a magazine in the Turkish camp so enraged the infidels that they at once broke off the negotiations, stormed and captured the city, and put most of the garrison, with Signor Minotti, the commander, to the sword.
Minotti, though an old man, has an "arm full of might," and he disputes, foot by foot, the successful and deadly onslaughts of the Turks. He finally retires, with the remnant of his gallant band, to the fortified church, where lie the last and richest spoils sought by the infidels, and in the vaults beneath which, lined with the dead of ages gone, was also "the Christians' chiefest magazine."
All that Carpazzi said was perfectly true. There was little therefore that Minotti could have answered. He was a man of plebeian origin. His father, a rich speculator, had bought a piece of property and assumed the title that went with it. To a Roman the name Carpazzi was a great deal higher than that of any number of dukes and princes.
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