Corvo's Death in Venice                             5

after him. To avoid such pursuit from both the Raggs and Lady
Layard, whom Rolfe designated as the Queen of England in Ven¬
ice, he warned them of his financial "disabilities" and urged them
to "drop" him.

Once again Rolfe appealed to Barnard & Taylor for a loan or
an allowance. But be had failed to send back corrected proofs of
Don Renato as he had agreed to do, and the solicitors held the
rights to that book owing to a pre-Venetian transaction. Now they
denied bis tequest.

At almost the same time, Rolfe turned down help from Benson
and Pirie-Gordon. They offered £15 for travel expenses and ask¬
ed Barnard & Taylor to arrange for the British consul to send
Rolfe home. He objected to transactions through the Consulate,
however, and urged Pirie-Gordon to leave everything in the
hands of Barnard & Taylor. F'ven though his position was deteri¬
orating rapidly, Rolfe meanr to appear solvent to Barbieri and to
the English in Venice. Rolfe even asked Dawkins to expose none
of his lies.

By mid-December, however, Barbieri had grown suspicious,
and he could no longer ignore the hotel bills Rolfe had simply
destroyed because he could not pay them. Barbieri consulted
Ragg, who tried to reassure the hotel keeper with talk of Rolfe's
books and then agreed to pay for Rolfe's meals over the Christmas
season. Since the room Rolfe occupied was without heat and gen¬
erally undesirable, Barbieri decided to take no action, but he told
Rolfe what had happened.

Almost at once, Rolfe gave Ragg an impassioned account of the
sufferings Dawkins and Benson had caused him. Thereafter rela¬
tions between the Raggs and Rolfe expanded. They often had
their after-dinner coffee together, and Rolfe helped Ragg correct
and revise his book The Church of the Apostles. When he and
Mrs. Ragg urged Rolfe to accept invitations from the British,
however, Rolfe held back. He offered his services to the English
Hospital, Lady Layard's special charity, and he boasted to Pirie-