Page 331 - The Grotesque Children's Book

Chapter 51.

Antidotes

Three weeks after the marriage of Francesco and Bianca, that is to say

September 16, 1578

Zaccario had been lying in wait for Bianca. He had seen her grow paler and more
distracted over the past few months, and he knew that her private doctor -- that overly-serious
fellow Dr. Valerius -- was not curing her quickly enough. It was just a matter of time before
Bianca de’ Medici would begin to turn to more drastic remedies, such as those offered by an
alchemist. So when one day she slid silently into his private office, shut the door and whispered,
“I want a secret supply of antidotes to poison, on hand, Zaccario, nearby, where I can get at it in
a moment's notice,” he was prepared for this moment. He knew it was a night of a full moon; he
had been expecting her though she had not announced her intentions to visit. He was going to
use this occasion to lure Bianca into advancing him a very large sum of money. The first part of
the lure involved leading her to give him an initial smaller sum of money. If he was successful
in extracting the smaller sum, then a larger would follow. Watch, and learn.

“My Lady,” soothed Zaccario, “First of all, I am honored and flattered that you trust me
sufficiently to confide in me.” This conversation was taking place a mere days after Zaccario's
unsettling conversation with the Duke in which it had been so clear the Duke's confidence was
fading, so it was odd that the Duchess now was reiterating her trust. Schemer that Zaccario was,
a part of him wondered whether in fact the newly-wed Duke and Duchess were working in
consort with each other in some sort of ploy, with one withdrawing confidence just as the other
increased it. These Medicis! thought Zaccario, not without anger or suspicion, professional
conspirators! Why can't they simply hire me to do my alchemical work and let all of the cat-and-
mouse games go? But instead of articulating any of that, he said merely, “I am happy to grant
your request for antidotes, but you are so beloved and adored, I can assure you there's no one in
the palace who had any interest in poisoning you.”

“Well flattered, Zaccario,” said Bianca with a great smile, “and I'm sure you're right.
Who can resist my charming, sunny,. winning disposition? They'd be fools to kill me. Who'd be
the center of attention at their parties...you?! However, Zaccario, I won't, in fact can't, tell you
all the reasons why there might be someone who'd want to poison me, but you must take my
word for it that an intense life, however fortunately unconscious, and without perceptible
reflexes, centuries in combat -- which is the purgatory of the religions -- “ here she gave a
disturbing twitch of the head, as though an insect had invaded her ear canal, “that my own
private thoughts, distilled, sublimated, transmuted and vaporized by the action of the sun, surge
up to the amorphous plane of my Venetian heritage!”

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