Chapter V

A Third Character in the Action

- We have the honour to present you Miss Bianca, the inimitable, the audacious, the intrepid queen of the air, in the most perilous exercise of her life, that exercise that she already had the honour of performing in front of His Majesty the Emperor Mélénik and the Mikado of Japan. Her courage equals her charm and beauty: she will fall off at 1300 meters – I said 1300 meters –in the air and will land safely.

Father Barretti had put on his best clue coat for the occasion. He waved the silver knob of his cane with his initial engraved and a black silky ribbon. In the other hand, he ruffled his hair with the greatest care, paying attention to be hatless when he mentioned the name of great figures who had witnessed this unforgettable performance, besides completely imaginary.

- Watch with all your eyes!

A thousand people surrounded the balloon, half inflated, which was already swaying in the air like a half full goatskin. In an excavation, the circus prop men were burning some dry wood to fill up with hot air the robust canvas envelope.

Tito kept an eye on the work. He didn't trust anybody except himself to check the strength of the rings and apparatus. For the twentieth times perhaps, he checked the robustness of the knots. Bianca's trapeze was hooked to an iron circle. The young maid would fly up in the air with the balloon and as long as she will be in the public's sight, she would accomplish her usual exercises.

- You'll let it go as soon as you'll see the steeple of Santa Maria La Grande, had advised Tito in a low voice, as he didn't want her to perform too many acrobatics at such a height.

It was quite enough to kill herself; but, Tito, while he didn't fear any danger in the exercise, thought he would diminish the chances of failure by the limiting the height of the performance. The heart, it's true, doesn't always reason like the mind. It's got its inconsistencies and reason has nothing to do with it. Bianca in her costume did her best to cheer Tito.

- What are you talking about? Said she. I am perfectly sure of my wrists and my tendons.

She showed him her fist, slim but strong, where under the skin circulated a vivacious blood which was visible through it.

- Does your thumb "catch" well? You had a sprain last year.

- He "catches" admirably. But, I can simply count on my other fingers. I can hold on to the trapeze without the thumb, I tried yesterday evening.

- What did you say?

- The truth. During my number, I held on with only four fingers. You didn't even notice it from the ring.

All this would have been mysterious to anybody unaccustomed to acrobatics. It's the thumb in general that supports the whole effort; it holds onto the ring or the trapeze. It's a weakness of the thumb that causes a lot of accidents. Tito shook his head, surprised and delighted. Bianca deserved to be admired and he thought that if Bianca attempted such work at 500 or 1200 meters high, it's because she was absolutely sure of herself. The girl's composure always astonished him.

- Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the moment approaching. Moderate the beatings of your heart; you're going to see something you've never seen before.

The hot-air balloon was forming a swaying dome, moving a bit and growing before their very eyes. It seemed to be impatient to join the little white clouds in the sky which attracted it. They had to take advantage of the internal air temperature, overheated to perfection, and not to miss the appropriate moment for the flight. Father Barretti turned towards Tito and, because the public shouldn't be mixed with the private trade conversation, asked in a low voice with an arched highbrow:

- Is she ready?

Tito nodded.

- Make her come.

Tito made a sign with his hand. Bianca, who had covered her shoulders with a heavy cloak, left it in the hands of two ring hands in a blue coat. Mr Barretti had done things very well with great majesty in the details of the ceremony to bring some pomp in this solemnity. He took three steps backwards and rising his cane in the air, he removed his hat and shouted:

- Miss Bianca is going to take the trapeze. Please, notice that she will hold only though the strength of her wrists. Nothing attaches her.

All eyes were on the young girl, sure of herself. She moved bravely towards her trapeze, picked it up and held it firmly with her usual commercial smile which gave her so many admirers.

- Let it go!

Tito and one prop man cut the cables that held the balloon on the ground. The gigantic balloon went up at an unexpected speed in the sky. Freed from its moorings, it went straight up as if it could reach the zenith in just one jump. But at twenty meters, it swung caught by the wind and started to pitch from left to right, uncertain about its direction.

However, it still rose and suddenly at fifty meters, headed straight for the south. Tito, so far, had staid besides Barretti looking up, ran towards a cart which was waiting outside the crowd. It had been arranged that he would go towards the balloon to pick up Bianca after she jumped with her parachute. He found the harnessed cart and the horse held by a young boy. He checked the direction and set off immediately at a gallop as the wind was pretty strong and he feared he would loose sight of the balloon sometimes hidden by the trees. A bit scared, he wondered why Bianca didn't let her parachute go. She was only a small white dot in the air, still doing her pull-ups.

- What is she doing?

And he sighed with relief: Bianca had just jumped. He stopped his horse to see if the parachute had opened normally. It was the most agonising moment of his life. The young girl first fell like a ball. There was an outcry from the crowd; women turned back and some men moved forwards as if they could stop her fall. And suddenly the parachute opened graciously like a jellyfish blooming in the air as if by magic. Then, held like a ball on a wire, Bianca stopped her staggering descent; she swung slowly and started to go down in slow motion while, above her, the large spreaded envelope, open like a dome, reflected the sunlight.

Then, the crowd's enthusiasm exploded and thunderous applause erupted. Father Barretti, lifting his hat and cane in the air, shouted three hurrahs with an American accent. It was one of his weaknesses. After that, turning towards the first row of spectators, he noticed a child, gaping and looking up, not missing one piece of the show and told him:

- Hey kid! It was worth it, wasn't it? Especially when you didn't have anything to pay.

He was proud as if he had executed the trapeze number himself. He rubbed his hands, repeating:

- What an excellent day!

He already calculated the receipts for tonight's show.

Tito wasn't there any more. As soon as he saw the direction taken by the parachute, he dashed towards Bianca, as we said earlier, and now his horse was on the trot and he push him to a gallop. While it was a plough horse, not accustomed to racing, he wanted to be there when the girl would land on the ground. He wanted to help her to remove her apparatus, and do everything possible so that she wasn't dragged onto a ground covered with gravel and prickly bushes.

And yet, in spite of his diligence, and the lashes of his whip on the horse's back, he was overtaken by a more powerful vehicle which was following the same road before he could reach the landing site. It was a powerful open-topped car with a monstrous bonnet painted sky blue without a single speckle of dust on it. A young man drove it; he held the wheel in these clear gloves and hardly had the time to hoot to overtake the cart. Tito, anyway, didn't notice him. He was to absorbed par Bianca's descent and wanted to spot the terrain. During a brief instant, he didn't see her anymore and he thought she had landed behind some huge pine trees which masked his view on the right.

Bianca, actually, had landed safely in a small dip of the plain, and, thankfully, her parachute was not caught up by the wind. It was lying beside her on the grass, like rags which have accomplished their service and are beyond reproach.

- If I am not there in time, Tito had told her, hurry and remove the knots attached to the braces of your waist.

This is precisely what she was doing to avoid being carried away by the wind. Unfortunately, she had held her trapeze so tightly with her fingers, her muscles had been under so much tension, and she had cramps in her joints and couldn't untie the knots of the parachute. Kneeling, she was so absorbed in her difficult task, taking her time, happy to be away from the crowd and avoiding thus all the smiles and bows necessary in front of the spectators who had witnessed her taking off with the hot-air balloon.

- Madam, do you allow me to offer you my help?

Bianca looked up, startled. She hadn't heard anybody coming and all of a sudden, this strange man was there. She looked at him astounded.

- Sir?

The man bowed.

- My respects!

She looked at him a bit more closely and was even more dumbfounded. It wasn't his gentlemanly attire that astonished her so much. The man was dressed with extreme elegance. He greeted her with his neatly gloved hands and Bianca could see his sky blue car by the road side.

What really astonished her was his extraordinary likeness to Tito, especially the face. If he had not been wearing such an elegant suit, and if in his manners had not been so distinguished and refined unlike Barretti's clown, she could have taken him for Tito as his face had all the distinctive marks of the clown's physical personality. Like him, he had thick dark curly hair, dark eyes and a hard expression in his eyes. His head was square and massive, rather strong, one of these heads like that of a stubborn animal sure of its strength. Athletic shoulders, looking a bit wild, strong hands that must have held tightly when he grabbed something, but, above all – and Bianca was looking at his eyes again – an implacable will in his glance. Only, while Tito's clothes were ordinary without any fancy cut and had the ordinary smell of a circus which is only nice to people who live there, from his driving suit, his linen, perhaps his skin, came a very subtle perfume, which the young girl didn't know but left an imprint in her memory.

Without sharing any of these thoughts with the stranger, she answered somewhat dryly:

- I don't need any help, thank you, Sir.

He insisted, attentive and gentlemanly:

- I can drive you back.

He stared at Bianca with an ironic and absorbed glance which seemed to refute all his delicate distinction. Those glances proved to the young acrobat better than any excessive compliment that her interlocutor found her pretty and wanted her to know it.

She repeated, embarrassed and angry:

- Sir, I don't need anything. I just want to be left alone.

The man leaned back slightly and laughed discourteously. Indeed, this man, without a doubt educated, knew he was talking to a circus girl and in spite of his good education and his manners, showed clearly he didn't always behave with women as if they were from good society.

He even made the mistake to add:

- Don't put on such airs! –his tone became aggressive– I would like to know you better. When can I see you?

She looked down, red with fury, ready to get angry. Then, he took his wallet and removed a card that he forced in Bianca's hand, thinking it would probably ease this difficult conversation.

Mechanically, she read:

- Count Carlo Cassatti.

This aristocratic title, unknown to her, did nothing for her and if it wasn't for her manners, she would have replied:

- Count Cassatti, you're a cad!

But, she judged it was better not to say anything, because, just at this moment, Tito's cart had just stopped behind the Count's car. Neglecting completely Cassatti, she waved to her comrade and cried gaily:

- Over here!

Carlo Cassatti turned his head and taking advantage of the few minutes left to talk freely with the young girl, he said swiftly:

- You cannot go back to the city in this cart; allow me to give you a lift. My car is more comfortable.

Bianca had a bit more assurance since Tito was near her, she could reply more audaciously and suitably to the Count. She felt protected. She looked him up and down and teasing, after a half curtsy that ended in a shrug, she replied:

- Goodbye, Sir! I hope I'll have the pleasure never to see you again.

After that, she ran to Tito and he received her in his arms. It wasn't their first kiss, but it was delicious nevertheless.