"cenci11" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dumas Alexandre)

diabolical purpose, employed all the means at his command. Every
night she was awakened by a concert of music which seemed to come
from Paradise. When she mentioned this to her father, he left her in
this belief, adding that if she proved gentle and obedient she would
be rewarded by heavenly sights, as well as heavenly sounds.

One night it came to pass that as the young girl was reposing, her
head supported on her elbow, and listening to a delightful harmony,
the chamber door suddenly opened, and from the darkness of her own
room she beheld a suite of apartments brilliantly illuminated, and
sensuous with perfumes; beautiful youths and girls, half clad, such
as she had seen in the pictures of Guido and Raffaelle, moved to and
fro in these apartments, seeming full of joy and happiness: these
were the ministers to the pleasures of Francesco, who, rich as a
king, every night revelled in the orgies of Alexander, the wedding
revels of Lucrezia, and the excesses of Tiberius at Capri. After an
hour, the door closed, and the seductive vision vanished, leaving
Beatrice full of trouble and amazement.

The night following, the same apparition again presented itself,
only, on this occasion, Francesco Cenci, undressed, entered his
daughter's roam and invited her to join the fete. Hardly knowing
what she did, Beatrice yet perceived the impropriety of yielding to
her father's wishes: she replied that, not seeing her stepmother,
Lucrezia Petroni, among all these women, she dared not leave her bed
to mix with persons who were unknown to her. Francesco threatened
and prayed, but threats and prayers were of no avail. Beatrice
wrapped herself up in the bedclothes, and obstinately refused to
obey.

The next night she threw herself on her bed without undressing. At
the accustomed hour the door opened, and the nocturnal spectacle
reappeared. This time, Lucrezia Petroni was among the women who
passed before Beatrice's door; violence had compelled her to undergo
this humiliation. Beatrice was too far off to see her blushes and
her tears. Francesco pointed out her stepmother, whom she had lacked
for in vain the previous evening; and as she could no longer make any
opposition, he led her, covered with blushes and confusion, into the
middle of this orgy.

Beatrice there saw incredible and infamous things....

Nevertheless, she resisted a long time: an inward voice told her that
this was horrible; but Francesco had the slaw persistence of a demon.
To these sights, calculated to stimulate her passions, he added
heresies designed to warp her mind; he told her that the greatest
saints venerated by the Church were the issue of fathers and
daughters, and in the end Beatrice committed a crime without even
knowing it to be a sin.