as mad as the eldest and most grateful of Tonio’s lovers had ever appeared. He had no pride. He hadn’t the haughtiness of the laborer Tonio had picked up in the streets.
Tonio reached for the door, but his passion was rising, making him reckless and as half mad as this man.
He turned around and let the breath hiss between his lips as the Count caught hold of him, and held him against the door.
It was rare, exquisitely rare, because he could not command himself.
And for so long it seemed all his passion had been at his command! Be it with Guido, or with any of those he selected for himself like so many cups of wine, and now he was lost in this, knowing full well that he was under the Count’s roof, in his power, as he had never been in the power of any young and unrestrained lover before.
The Count ripped off his own shirt, and slipping his hand down the front of his own breeches broke them open as well. His dark stubble of a beard actually caused Tonio pain as he mouthed Tonio’s neck, and then he pulled almost like a child on Tonio’s coat, tearing loose his sword.
The weapon clattered to the floor.
But when the Count pressed his naked body against Tonio and felt me stiletto in Tonio’s shirt, he left it there. He pulled Tonio to him moaning, his organ rising stout and cloven at the tip.
“Give it to me, let me have it,” Tonio breathed, and going down on his knees, took the organ into his mouth.
It was midnight when Tonio rose to go, and nothing stirred in the house. The Count lay naked on the white sheets except for the gold rings on the fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand.
Tonio, looking down at him, touched the mask of silky skin that overlay his nose and cheeks, and silently went out.
He ordered his carriage to the Piazza di Spagna.
And when he arrived at the base of the high Spanish Steps, he sat for a long time gazing out of the window at those who passed in the dark. High above him against the moonlit sky were many lighted windows, but he knew no houses here, no names.
A passing lantern shone for a moment in his face before the man who carried it turned the beam politely away.
It seemed he slept for a while, he did not know. He awoke suddenly, feeling her presence, tried to recapture a dream in which they had been together in fast conversation, he trying vainly to explain something to her, and she saddened and threatening to draw away.
He realized he was in the Piazza di Spagna He had to go home. And just for a moment he was not certain where that was.
He smiled. He gave the driver the word, and wondering in a half sleep why Bettichino had not come, he realized with a start the opera would open in less than two weeks.
12
WORD CAME TO THEM on Christmas Day that Bettichino had arrived.
The air was purified with the first touch of frost, and full of the ringing of all the church bells of Rome. Anthems carried from the choir lofts, and children preached from the pulpit as was the custom. And the Baby Jesus, resplendent amid dizzying tiers of candles, lay beaming from a thousand magnificent cribs.
Guido, discovering the violinists at the Teatro Argentina were masterly musicians, had rewritten all the string parts. And he only smiled when Bettichino, claiming a slight indisposition, had begged to be excused the courtesy of a visit. Would Guido merely send him the score?
Guido was ready for all difficulties. He knew the rules of the game, and had given the great singer three arias over and above those given to Tonio, with which Bettichino could well show off his tricks. He wasn’t surprised when in twenty-four hours he had the score returned with all the singer’s graces neatly copied in. He could now adjust the accompaniment. And though there were no compliments on the composition, there were no complaints.
He knew the talk in the cafés had reached its highest pitch. And everyone was frequenting Christina Grimaldi’s new studio, where she talked of nothing but Tonio. The theater would be packed.
Guido’s principal task now was to keep from Tonio his own fear.
* * *
Two days before the first night, the one and only rehearsal for the singers was called.
Tonio and Guido went in midafternoon to the theater to meet