(2 of 2)
At Cremona Il Duce paused a moment to cement his recent reconciliation with potent Roberto Farinacci who had been Party Secretary before Starace's ascendency.
Glowing with loving-kindness Il Duce sped to Gardone Riviera where at the gate of his elaborate villa, egg-headed, effete Hero-Poet Gabriele d'Annunzio awaited, no longer sulky. Poet and Premier hugged each other, and made a gracious courtesy of getting through the gate. Insisted the Poet: "You first. Duce. I am in my own house. It is I who give orders here." Whereupon, 21 guns boomed a salute from the prow of the warship which Poet d'Annunzio had mounted on a cliff. Toward the house the pair moved, the host exclaiming: "I have so much to show you."
He had indeed. Il Duce's knees would bend perforce to the Muse as he passed through the five-foot door to the sword-hung study where the Poet, in cloth of gold and purple velvet, summons servants garbed like monks from their surrounding "cells." D'Annunzio might permit so distinguished a guest to enter his sacred Adriatic Room, lined with stalls from an abandoned church. He would surely show Il Duce where he spends his days of solitary contemplation, the chamois-lined Chamber of the Leper which it sometimes pleases him to call the Cell of Pure Dreams. Here on a simple bier the Poet plans to die.