Kate Ross - The Devil in Music (Julian Kestrel Mystery)

TheDevil in Music by Kate Ross

Alsoby Kate Ross

Cutto the Quick

ABroken Vessel

Whomthe Gods Love

THEDEVIL IN MUSIC

KateRoss

Hodder& Stoughton

Copyright1997 Kate Ross

Firstpublished in the United States of America in 1997

byViking Penguin, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.

Firstpublished in Great Britain in 1997 by Hodder and Stoughton

Adivision of Hodder Headline PLC

Theright of Kate Ross to be identified as the Author of the Work hasbeen asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs andPatents Act 1988.

10987654321

Allrights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by anymeans without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor beotherwise ckculated in any form of binding or cover other than thatin which it is published and without a similar condition beingimposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Allcharacters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance toreal persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ACIP catalogue record for this title is available from the BritishLibrary

ISBN0 340 64925 9

Printedand bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham PLC, Chatham, Kent

Hodderand Stoughton

Adivision of Hodder Headline PLC

338Euston Road

LondonNW1 3BH

ANOTE ON THE MILANESE DIALECT

Formuch of this book, readers are asked to pretend that the charactersare speaking Italian or, more precisely, Milanese, the old dialect ofLombardy. A few Milanese words are used, such as signor for signore,popola for signorina, and palazz for palazzo. But by and large I'vechosen not to throw foreign words into the dialogue, except when theyare mixed into an otherwise English conversation. My reasoning wasthat those of the characters who speak Milanese would not sound"foreign" to one another.

CHARACTERS

TheMalvezzi family

LODOVICOMALVEZZI .....................a Milanese marquis (marchese)

BEATRICEMALVEZZI his wife

RINALDOMALVEZZI ........................Lodovico's son by a previousmarriage FRANCESCA ARGENTI MALVEZZI his wife

NICCOLOMALVEZZI}

BIANCAMALVEZZI} .........................their children

CARLOMALVEZZI............................Lodovico's younger brother, acount (come)

Malvezziservants

ERNESTOTORELLI ..........................Lodovico's manservant

GUIDOGENNARO ............................Carlo's manservant

NINACASSERA................................Beatrice's maid

BRUNOMONTI}

TOMMASOAGOSTI}.........................footmen

MATTEOLANDI............gardener of Villa Lealta

LUCIALANDIhis daughter

ABBMOROSI.................................tutor to Niccolo and Bianca

Themusical world

"ORFEO".........................................an English tenor

PIETROBRAN DOLING

VALERIANO")......... male soprano

MAESTROFILIPPO DONATI ..............a singing teacher and composer ANTONIOFARE SE ToN io Maestro Donati's "Eyes"

(1821)SEBASTIANO BORDA Maestro Donati's "Eyes"

(1825)GASTON DE LA MARQUE....a dilettante music scholar

Britishvisitors to Lombardy

JULIANKESTREL...a gentleman

THOMASSTOKES DIPPER" his manservant

DUNCANMACGREGOR....................MT. Kestrel's friend; a surgeon THEHON. BEVERLEY ST. CARR........a young man on the Grand

TourHUGO FLETCHER his tutor

Inhabitantsof Solaggio

FRBEDRICHVON KRAUSS garrison commander

BENEDETTORUGA. mayor (podesta)

DONCRiSTOFORO...........................parish priest

LUIGICURIONI ...............................physician

MARIANNAFRASCANI ......................landlady of the Nightingale

ROSAFRASCANI ..............................her daughter

Miscellaneous

GIANGALEAZZO RAVERSI ................a Milanese count (come),

friendof Lodovico Malvezzi CAM ILLO PALMIERIthe Malvezzi family lawyer

ALFONSOGRiMANi..........................a police official commissa rio

PAOLOZANETnhis clerk and interpreter

PART

ONE

March1821

Heloves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays withme; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty.

WilliamBlake Song

LodovicoMalvezzi signed his name with a flourish and sat back to read what hehad written:

CastelloMalvezzi 13 March 1821 Signora,

Myson has very properly passed your letter on to me. Neither he nor Ican be moved by such appeals. I swear by God and the Madonna thatyou will not see Niccolo and Bianca or hold any communication withthem, as long as you remain with Signor Valeriano. I think you knowthat I am a man of my word.

Yousay that they are your children that in charity to them, if not toyou, I should not keep them from their mother. I say that they nowhave only one parent: my son, who has not disgraced them. My God, doyou think I would allow those precious children the blood of myblood, the sole hopes of my line to fall into the hands of a womanwho has brought infamy on their name? My one consolation is that,situated as you are, you cannot bring into the world bastards whomthey must own as brothers or sisters.

Imight have known that, as soon as Rinaldo returned from his travels,you would turn up and try to come round him with your prayers andpersuasions. I understand that you and your friend have even had theaudacity to take up residence just across the lake from my castle. (I use the word "friend," not out of any consideration foryour feelings, but because to call him your lover

wouldbe an outrage against nature.) Your hopes are vain, and your journeyfrom Venice useless. Rinaldo will not see you, and my servants knowthat anyone who admits you to my house or breathes a word to you ofthe children will feel the full weight of my displeasure.

Ifyour punishment seems harsh, ask yourself or better still, ask apriest if it is any more than you have deserved. It is never wo lateto repent, this side of Heaven. Renounce Signor Valeriano and returnto my son. Otherwise, your children are as dead to you as if you hadburied them with your own hands.

Iremain, to my lasting shame and regret, your father-in-law,

LodovicoMalvezzi

Lodovicosmiled with satisfaction. It would do. He folded the letter,addressed it, and went to the window, where he had left a stick ofwax to warm in the sun. A candle-flame would have melted the wax farmore quickly, but Lodovico would have thought it a shockingextravagance to keep a candle burning in broad daylight, just to seala letter. He placed a dollop of wax on the letter and ground hisseal into it. The seal left a bold, clear imprint of his familydevice: a sword pointing upward, with a serpent coiled around theblade.

Hewas about to ring for a servant to take the letter. Then a frowngathered on his brow, and he took a turn about the room. His studywas on the topmost floor of the castle's largest tower. One windowfaced west, over the castle courtyard with its high, spiked curtainwall, toward an expanse of tree-covered hills dotted with hardy stonecottages. In the distance rose a range of purple Alps, mantled inmist and crowned with snow. The window opposite looked out on thesilver-blue ribbon of the Lake of Como, and the jagged promontories,plunging ravines, and wooded slopes that lined its shores. Lodovicowas master of all he surveyed: what he did not own outright, hedominated by virtue of his rank, wealth, and high standing withMilan's Austrian overlords.

Andyet his daughter-in-law a mere woman, hardly more than a girl! haddefied him for nearly two years, cleaving steadfastly to hermonstrous lover and resisting all his threats. Her infidelity wasthe least of her crimes: in Milan, many a married lady of rank hadher cavalier, and society viewed them both with an indulgent eye, ifthe lover was well born, and the affair was conducted discreetly. But Francesca had attached herself to a singer one who could not evenbe