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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:48:27 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16241-8.txt b/16241-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a86e01 --- /dev/null +++ b/16241-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7580 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Barbara's Heritage, by Deristhe L. Hoyt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Barbara's Heritage + Young Americans Among the Old Italian Masters + +Author: Deristhe L. Hoyt + +Illustrator: Homer W. Colby + +Release Date: July 7, 2005 [EBook #16241] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA'S HERITAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: TITIAN. ACADEMY, VENICE + +VIRGIN. FROM ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.] + + + + +BARBARA'S HERITAGE + +OR + +_YOUNG AMERICANS AMONG THE OLD ITALIAN MASTERS_ + +BY + +DERISTHE L. HOYT + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE WORLD'S PAINTERS" + +THIRD EDITION. + +BOSTON AND CHICAGO + +W.A. WILDE COMPANY + +COPYRIGHT, 1899, + +BY W.A. WILDE COMPANY. + +_All rights reserved_. + +BARBARA'S HERITAGE. + + To the Brother and Sister who have been my + companions during many happy sojourns in + Italy. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 13 + +II. ACROSS TWO OCEANS 29 + +III. IN BEAUTIFUL FLORENCE 45 + +IV. A NEW FRIEND APPEARS 61 + +V. STRAWS SHOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS 77 + +VI. LUCILE SHERMAN 93 + +VII. A STARTLING DISCLOSURE 107 + +VIII. HOWARD'S QUESTIONINGS 123 + +IX. THE COMING-OUT PARTY 139 + +X. THE MYSTERY UNFOLDS TO HOWARD 157 + +XI. ON THE WAY TO ROME 171 + +XII. ROBERT SUMNER FIGHTS A BATTLE 189 + +XIII. CUPID LAUGHS 205 + +XIV. A VISIT TO THE SISTINE CHAPEL 221 + +XV. A MORNING IN THE VATICAN 239 + +XVI. POOR BARBARA'S TROUBLE 259 + +XVII. ROBERT SUMNER IS IMPRUDENT 279 + +XVIII. IN VENICE 299 + +XIX. IN A GONDOLA 317 + +XX. RETURN FROM ITALY 335 + +EPILOGUE: THREE YEARS AFTER 355 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +VIRGIN. FROM ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN. TITIAN. +Academy, Venice _Frontispiece_ + +BYZANTINE MAGDALEN. PAGE +Academy, Florence 58 + +GROUP OF ANGELS. FROM CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN. FRA ANGELICO. +Uffizi Gallery, Florence 112 + +CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN. BOTTICELLI. +Uffizi Gallery, Florence 146 + +HEAD OF MADONNA. PERUGINO. +Uffizi Gallery, Florence 186 + +THE DELPHIAN SIBYL. MICHAEL ANGELO. +Sistine Chapel, Rome 226 + +SAINT CECILIA. RAPHAEL. +Academy, Bologna 296 + +MARRIAGE OF SAINT CATHERINE. LUINI. +Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan 350 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT + + +_Pen and Ink Drawings made by Homer W. Colby_ + + PAGE + +BARBARA'S HOME 15 + +A BIT OF GENOA 31 + +CHURCH OF THE ANNUNZIATA, FLORENCE 47 + +DUOMO AND CAMPANILE, FLORENCE 63 + +SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE 79 + +A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE 95 + +CLOISTER, MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE 109 + +PONTE ALLA CARRAJA, FLORENCE 125 + +PALAZZO PITTI, FLORENCE 141 + +SAN MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE 159 + +ORVIETO CATHEDRAL 173 + +SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI 191 + +RUINS OF FORUM, ROME 207 + +SAINT PETER'S AND CASTLE OF SAINT ANGELO, ROME 223 + +LOGGIA OF RAPHAEL, VATICAN, ROME 241 + +A BIT OF AMALFI 261 + +CAMPO SANTO, BOLOGNA 281 + +SAN MARCO, VENICE 301 + +GRAND CANAL AND RIALTO, VENICE 319 + +MILAN CATHEDRAL 337 + + + + +PRELUDE. + + + Each day the world is born anew + For him who takes it rightly; + Not fresher that which Adam knew, + Not sweeter that whose moonlit dew + Entranced Arcadia nightly. + + Rightly? That's simply: 'tis to see + _Some_ substance casts these shadows + Which we call Life and History, + That aimless seem to chase and flee + Like wind-gleams over meadows. + + Simply? That's nobly: 'tis to know + That God may still be met with, + Nor groweth old, nor doth bestow + These senses fine, this brain aglow, + To grovel and forget with. + + --JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + + + +Chapter I. + +The Unexpected Happens. + + _And foorth they passe with pleasure forward led._ + + --SPENSER. + +[Illustration: BARBARA'S HOME.] + + +"O Barbara! _do_ you think papa and mamma will let us go? _Can_ they +afford it? Just to think of Italy, and sunshine, and olive trees, and +cathedrals, and pictures! Oh, it makes me wild! Will you not ask them, +dear Barbara? You are braver than I, and can talk better about it all. +How can we bear to have them say 'no'--to give up all the lovely thought +of it, now that once we have dared to dream of its coming to us--to you +and me, Barbara?" and color flushed the usually pale cheek of the young +girl, and her dark eyes glowed with feeling as she hugged tightly the +arm of her sister. + +Barbara and Bettina Burnett were walking through a pleasant street in +one of the suburban towns of Boston after an afternoon spent with +friends who were soon to sail for Italy. + +It was a charming early September evening, and the sunset glow burned +through the avenue of elm trees, beneath which the girls were passing, +flooding the way with rare beauty. But not one thought did they now give +to that which, ordinarily, would have delighted them; for Mrs. Douglas +had astonished them that afternoon by a pressing invitation to accompany +herself, her son, and daughter on this journey. For hours they had +talked over the beautiful scheme, and were to present Mrs. Douglas's +request to their parents that very night. + +Mrs. Douglas, a wealthy woman, had been a widow almost ever since the +birth of her daughter, who was now a girl of fifteen. Malcom, her son, +was three or four years older. An artist brother was living in Italy, +and a few years previous to the beginning of our story, Mrs. Douglas and +her children had spent some months there. Now the brother was desirous +that they should again go to him, especially since his sister was not +strong, and it would be well for her to escape the inclemency of a New +England winter. + +Barbara and Bettina,--Bab and Betty, as they were called in their +home,--twin daughters of Dr. Burnett, were seventeen years old, and the +eldest of a large family. The father, a great-hearted man, devoted to +his noble profession, and generous of himself, his time, and money, had +little to spare after the wants of his family had been supplied, so it +was not strange that the daughters, on sober second thought, should feel +that the idea of such a trip to the Old World as Mrs. Douglas suggested +could be only the dream of a moment, from which an awakening must be +inevitable. + +But they little knew the wisdom of Mrs. Douglas, nor for a moment did +they suspect that for weeks before she had mentioned the matter to them, +she and their parents had spent many hours in planning and contriving so +that it might seem possible to give this great pleasure and means of +education to their daughters. + +Even now, while they were hesitating to mention the matter, it was +already settled. Their parents had decided that, with the aid of a +portion of a small legacy which Mrs. Burnett had sacredly set aside for +her children, to be used only when some sufficient reason should offer, +enough money could be spared during the coming year to allow them to +accompany Mrs. Douglas. + +As the sisters drew near the rambling, old-fashioned house, set back +from the street, which was their home, a pleasant welcome awaited them. +The father, who had just come from the stable to the piazza, the mother +and younger children,--Richard, Lois, Margaret, and little Bertie,--and +even the old dog, Dandy,--each had an affectionate greeting. + +A quick look of intelligence passed between the parents as they saw the +flushed faces of their daughters, which so plainly told of unusual +excitement of feeling; but, saying nothing, they quietly led the way +into the dining room, where all gathered around the simple supper which +even the youngest could enjoy. + +After the children had been put to bed, and the older ones of the family +were in the library, which was their evening sitting room, Bettina +looked anxiously at Barbara, who, after several attempts, succeeded in +telling the startling proposition which Mrs. Douglas had made, adding +that she should not dare to speak of it had she not promised Mrs. +Douglas to do so. + +Imagine, if you can, the amazement, the flood of joyous surprise that +the girls felt as they realized, first, that to their parents it was not +a new, startling subject which could not for a moment be entertained; +then, that it was not only to be thought of, but planned for; and more, +that the going to Italy with Mrs. Douglas, Malcom, and Margery was to be +a reality, an experience that very soon would come into their lives, for +they were to sail in three weeks. + +After the hubbub of talk that followed, it was a very subdued and quiet +pair of girls who kissed father and mother good night and went upstairs +to the room in which they had slept ever since their childhood. The +certain nearness of the first home-breaking, of the first going away +from their dear ones, and a new conception of the tenderness of the +parents, who were sacrificing so much for them, had taken such +possession of their hearts that they were too full for words. For +Barbara and Bettina were dear, thoughtful daughters and sisters, who had +early learned to aid in bearing the family burdens, and whose closest, +strongest affections were bound about the home and its dear ones. + +Such busy days followed! Such earnest conferences between Mrs. Burnett +and Mrs. Douglas, who was an old traveller, and knew all the ins and +outs of her dear doctor's household! + +It was finally decided that the dark blue serge gowns that had been worn +during the last spring and on cold summer days with the warm spring +jackets, would be just the thing for the girls on the steamship; that +the pretty brown cloth suits which were even then in the dressmaker's +hands could be worn almost constantly after reaching Italy for +out-of-door life; while the simple evening gowns that had done duty at +schoolgirl receptions would answer finely for at-home evenings. So that +only two or three extra pairs of boots (for nothing abroad can take the +place of American boots and shoes), some silk waists, so convenient for +easy change of costume, and a little addition to the dainty +underclothing were all that was absolutely needed. + +Busy fingers soon accomplished everything necessary, and in a few +swiftly passing days the trunks were packed, the tearful good-bys +spoken, and the little party was on its way to New York, to sail thence +for Genoa on the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._ of the North German Lloyd line of +steamships. + +Dr. Burnett had managed to accompany them thus far, and now, as the +great ship is slowly leaving the wharf, and Mrs. Douglas, Malcom, +Margery, Barbara, and Bettina are clustered together on her deck, waving +again and again their good-bys, and straining their eyes still to +recognize the dear familiar form and face among the crowd that presses +forward on the receding pier, we will take time for a full introduction +of the chief personages of our story. + +Mrs. Douglas, who stands between her children, Malcom's arm thrown +half-protectingly about her shoulders, was, or rather is (for our tale +is of recent date and its characters are yet living), a rare woman. +Slender and graceful, clothed in widow's dress, her soft gray hair +framing a still fair and youthful face, she looks a typical American +woman of refinement and culture. And she is all this, and more; for did +she not possess a strong Christian character, wise judgment, and a warm +motherly heart, and were she not ever eager to gain that which is +noblest and best both for herself and her children from every experience +of life, careful Dr. and Mrs. Burnett would never have intrusted their +daughters to her. + +Her husband had been a young Scotchman, well-born, finely educated, and +possessed of ample means, whom she had met when a girl travelling abroad +with her parents, and her brief wedded life had been spent in beautiful +Edinburgh, her husband's native city. Very soon after Margery's birth +came the terrible grief of her husband's death, and lonely Elizabeth +Douglas came across the sea, bringing her two fatherless children to +make a home for herself and them among her girlhood friends. + +Malcom, a well-developed, manly young fellow, has just graduated from +the Boston Latin School. As he stands beside his mother we see the +military drill he has undergone in his fine carriage, straight +shoulders, and erect head. He has the Scotch complexion, an abundance of +fair hair, and frank, steady eyes that win him the instant trust and +friendship of all who look into them. Though full of a boy's enthusiasm +and fun, yet he seems older than he is, as is usually the case with boys +left fatherless who early feel a certain manly responsibility for the +mother and sisters. + +Proud and fond indeed is Malcom Douglas of his mother and "little +Madge," as he calls her, who, petite and slender, with sunny, flowing +curls, the sweetest of blue eyes, and a pure, childlike face, stands, +with parted lips, flushed with animation, by her mother's side. Margery +is, as she looks, gentle and lovable. Not yet has she ever known the +weight of the slightest burden of care, but has been as free and happy +as the birds, as she has lived in her beautiful home with her mother and +brother. + +Barbara and Bettina stand a little apart from the others, with clasped +hands and dim eyes, as the shore, the home-shore, is fast receding from +their sight. They are alike, and yet unlike. People always say "Barbara +and Bettina," never "Bettina and Barbara." They are of the same height, +each with brown hair and eyes. + +Barbara's figure is a little fuller and more womanly, her hair has +caught the faintest auburn hue, her eyes have a more brilliant sparkle, +and the color on her cheeks glows more steadily. She looks at strangers +with a quiet self-possession, and questions others rather than thinks of +herself being questioned. As a child she always fought her own and her +sister's battles, and would do the same to-day did occasion demand. + +Bettina is more timid and self-conscious; her dreamy eyes and quickly +coming and going color betray a keen sensitiveness to thought and +impressions. + +Both are beautiful, and more than one of their fellow-passengers look at +the sisters with interest as they stand together, so absorbed in feeling +that they take no note of what is passing about them. Just now both are +thinking of the same thing--a conversation held with their father as the +trio sat in a corner of the car just before reaching New York. + +Dr. Burnett had explained to them just how he had been enabled to meet +the expense of their coming travel. + +Then he said:-- + +"Now girls, you are, for the first time in your lives, to be away from +the care and advice of your parents. Of course, if you need help in +judging of anything, you are free to go to Mrs. Douglas; but there will +be much that it will be best for you to decide without troubling her. +You will meet all sorts of people, travellers like yourselves, and many +you will see who are spending money freely and for what seems pleasure +only, without one thought of the special education that travel in the +Old World might bring them. Your mother and I have always been actuated +by one purpose regarding our children. We cannot give you money in +abundance, but we are trying to give you a liberal education,--that +which is to us far superior to mere money riches,--and the only +consideration that makes us willing to part from you and to sacrifice +for you now, is our belief that a rare opportunity for gaining culture +and an education that cannot be found at home is open to you. + +"Think of this always, my daughters. Ponder it over while you are gone, +and do your best to come home bringing a new wealth of knowledge that +shall bless your younger brothers and sisters and our whole household, +as well as your own lives. You are not going on a pleasure trip, dear +girls, but to another school,--a thoroughly novel and delightful +one,--but do not forget that, after all, it is a school." + +As the rapidly increasing distance took from them the last sight of the +father's form, Barbara and Bettina turned and looked at each other with +tearful eyes; and the unspoken thought of one was, "We _will_ come home +all that you long for us to be, dear papa!" and of the other, "Oh, I do +hope we shall understand what you wish, and learn what and wherever we +can!" and both thoughts meant the same thing and bore the same earnest +purpose. + +"Come girls," said Mrs. Douglas, who had keenly observed them without +appearing to do so, "it is best for us all to go to our staterooms +directly and unpack our steamer-trunks. Perhaps in even an hour or two +we may not feel so much like doing it as we do now." + +As they passed through the end of the dining-saloon, whose tables were +laden with bouquets of fresh and fragrant flowers, brought by loving +friends to many of the passengers, Malcom's quick eye spied a little +pile of letters on the end of a corner table. + +"I wonder," said he, as he turned back to look them over, "if anybody +thought to write to us." + +Returning with an envelope in his hands, he cried:-- + +"What will you give for a letter from home already, Barbara and Betty?" + +"For us!" exclaimed the girls, "a letter from home for us! Why, we never +thought such a thing could be! How did it get here? Did papa bring one +and put it here?" + +But no, for the letter addressed in the dear mother's handwriting was +clearly stamped, and its appearance testified that it had come through +the mail to New York. + +Hurrying to their stateroom and sitting close to each other on the sofa +under the port-hole, they read Mrs. Burnett's bright, sweet motherly +letter, and a note from each of their brothers and sisters,--even a +crumpled printed one from five-year-old Bertie. So bright and jolly were +they all, that they allayed rather than heightened the first homesick +feelings, and very soon the girls were chattering happily as they busied +themselves with their unpacking. + +The staterooms of the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._ are more commodious than can +be found in most steamships, even those of the same line. It was +delightful to find a small wardrobe in which to hang the warm wrappers +so useful on shipboard, and the thick coats that might be needed, and a +chest of drawers for underclothing, gloves, etc. Toilet articles were +put on the tiny wall-shelves; magazines and books on the top of the +chest of drawers; and soon the little room took on a bit of an +individual and homelike look which was very pleasing. + +Mrs. Douglas and Margery were just opposite them, and Malcom close at +hand, so there was no chance of feeling too much adrift from the old +life. + +"Hello, girls! Are you ready to come upstairs?" in Malcom's voice. + +"How nice your room looks!" cried Margery; and up to the deck they +trooped to find that Malcom had seen that their steamer-chairs were well +placed close together, and that Mrs. Douglas was already tucked in under +her pretty Scotch rug. + +How strange the deck looked now that the host of friends that had +crowded to say good-by were gone! Already many hats and bonnets had been +exchanged for caps, for the wind was fresh, and, altogether, both +passengers and deck struck our party as wearing quite a ship-shape air. +Mrs. Douglas held in her hand a passenger-list, so interesting at just +this time, and was delighted to learn that an old-time travelling +companion was on board. + +"But, poor woman," said she, "she always has to spend the first three or +four days in her berth, so I shall not see her for a time unless I seek +her there. She is a miserable sailor." + +"Oh, dear!" said Bettina, "I had forgotten that there is such a thing as +seasickness. Do you think, Mrs. Douglas, that Barbara and I shall be +seasick? It seems impossible when we feel so well now; and the air is so +fine, and everything so lovely! Are you always seasick, and Malcom, and +Margery?" + +"I have never been really sick, save once, when crossing the English +Channel," replied Mrs. Douglas; "neither has Malcom ever given up to it, +though sometimes he has evidently suffered. But poor Margery has been +very sick, and it is difficult for her to exert enough will-power to +quickly overcome it. It requires a prodigious amount to do this if one +is really seasick." + +"I wonder what it feels like," said Barbara. "I think if will-power can +keep one from it, I will not be seasick." + +"Come and walk, girls," called Margery, who, with Malcom, had been +vigorously walking to and fro on the wide deck, while their mother, +Barbara, and Bettina had been talking. + +So they walked until lunch-time, and then enjoyed hugely the novelty of +the first meal on shipboard. After this, the young people went aft to +look down upon the steerage passengers, and forward to the bow of the +noble ship, while Mrs. Douglas took her little nap downstairs. + +But alas! as the steamship took her course further into the open sea, +and the wind grew more and more fresh, the three girls sank into their +chairs, grew silent, and before dinner-time were among the great +suffering company that every ship carries during the first days and +nights of her voyage. + + + + +Chapter II. + +Across Two Oceans. + + _Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the northwest died away; + Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay: + Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay: + In the dimmest northeast distance dawned Gibraltar grand and gray + ... While Jove's planet rises yonder silent over Africa_. + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: A BIT OF GENOA] + + +"Betty!" called Barbara. + +"What, dear?" answered a weak voice from the berth below. + +"Do you know how much more quiet the water is? and, Betty, I think Mrs. +Douglas looked really disappointed when she saw us still immovable in +our berths." + +It was the third morning at sea. The fresh wind of the first afternoon +had blown a gale before morning. A storm followed, and for two days the +larger part of the passengers had been absent from saloon and deck. + +Among these were Barbara, Bettina, and Margery. Mrs. Douglas and Malcom +had done their best to keep up the spirits of their little party, but +had found it difficult. Now for the third time they had gone to +breakfast alone. + +Barbara was thinking hard; and, as she thought, her courage rose. + +"Betty," said she again, "perhaps if you and I can get up and dress, it +may help Margery to try, and you know how much her mother wishes her to +do so, she so soon loses strength. And Mrs. Douglas is so good to you +and me! I wonder if we can take the salt-water baths that she thinks +help one so much on the sea. You remember how much pains she took as +soon as we came on board to get all our names on the bath-stewardess's +list for morning baths!" + +"I believe I will try!" added she, after a long silence. + +And when the broad-faced, smiling stewardess came to see if the young +ladies would like anything, Barbara gladdened her heart by saying she +would have her bath. + +"Oh, Betty, Betty dear! you have no idea how nice it is! The ship is +quiet, the port is open in the bath-room, and it is just lovely to +breathe the fresh air. Do try it. I feel like a new girl!" + +Before another hour had passed the girls said good-by to poor Margery +after having greatly encouraged her spirits, and climbed the stairs to +the deck, where they found Malcom just tucking his mother into her chair +after their breakfast and morning walk on the deck. Such a bright smile +as Mrs. Douglas gave them! It more than repaid for all the effort they +had made. + +"You are just bricks!" cried Malcom, with a joyous look. "No more +seasickness! Now we will have jolly times, just so soon as Madge can +come up." + +"Go down and persuade her, Malcom, after you have told the deck-steward +to bring some breakfast for these girls. I will help her dress, and you +can bring her up in your arms if she is too weak to walk." + +Before noon, Margery, looking frail as a crushed white lily, lay on a +chair heaped with cushions and rugs close beside her mother; and the +sweet salt air and sunshine did their best to atone for the misery that +had been inflicted by the turbulent sea. + +Bright, happy days followed, and sunsets and moonlight evenings, and the +girls learned to love sea life. They roamed over every part of the ship. +The good captain always had a smile and welcome for young people, and +told them many things about the management of vessels at sea. + +There was no monotony, but every day seemed full of interest. All the +wonders of the great deep were about them--strange fish, sea porpoise, +and whales, by day, and ever-new phosphorescent gleams and starry +heavens by night. Then the wonderful interest of a sail at sea, or a +distant steamship; some other humanity than that on their own ship +passing them on the limitless ocean! + +On the sixth day out the ship passed between Flores and Corvo, two of +the northernmost islands of the Azores; and, through the glass, they +could easily see the little Portuguese homes--almost the very +people--scattered on the sloping hill-sides. + +After two days more, the long line of the distant shore of Cape St. +Vincent came into view, and Malcom, fresh from his history lesson, +recalled the the fact that nearly a hundred years ago, a great Spanish +fleet had been destroyed by the English under Admiral Nelson a little to +the eastward on these very waters. + +The next morning was a momentous one. In the early sunshine the ship +entered the Bay of Gibraltar and anchored for several hours. Boats took +the passengers to visit the town, and to Barbara and Bettina the supreme +moment of travel in a foreign country had arrived; that in which they +found another land and first touched it with their feet; and entering +the streets found strange people and listened to a foreign tongue. + +They drove through the queer, narrow, crooked streets, out upon the +"neutral ground," and up to the gardens; bought an English newspaper; +then, going back to the ship, looked up at the frowning rock threaded by +those English galleries, which, upon occasion, can pour forth from their +windows such a deadly hail. + +Leaving the harbor, the ship passed slowly along between the "Pillars of +Hercules," for so many centuries the western limit of the Old World, and +entered the blue Mediterranean. And was this low dark line on the right +really Africa, the Dark Continent, which until then had seemed only a +dream--a far-away dream? What a sure reality it would ever be after +this! + +Mrs. Douglas had chosen happily when she decided to land at Genoa +instead of at one of the northern ports; for aside from the fact that +the whole Atlantic passage was calmer than it otherwise could have been, +the beauty and interest of the days on the Mediterranean are almost +without parallel in ocean travel. + +The magnificent snow-capped mountains of the Spanish shore; the rugged +northern coasts of the Balearic Islands; the knowledge that out just +beyond sight lies Corsica, where was born the little island boy, so +proud, ambitious, and unscrupulous as emperor, so sad and disappointed +in his banishment and death; and then the long beautiful Riviera coast, +which the steamships for Genoa really skirt, permitting their +passengers to look into Nice, Bordighera, Monaco, San Remo, etc., and to +realize all the picturesque beauty of their mountain background--all +this gave three enchanting days to our little party before the ship +sailed into the harbor of Genoa, _La Superba_, a well-merited title. + +The city seemed now like a jewel in green setting, as its softly colored +palaces, rising terrace above terrace, surrounded by rich tropical +foliage, glowed in the rays of the setting sun. + +Here Mrs. Douglas was to meet her brother; and she, Malcom, and Margery +were full of eager excitement. It was hard to wait until the little +crowd of people collected on the wharf should separate into distinct +individuals. + +"There he is! there is Uncle Robert! I see him!" cried Malcom. "He is +waving his handkerchief from the top of his cane!" + +While Mrs. Douglas and Margery pressed forward to send some token of +recognition across the rapidly diminishing breadth of waters, Barbara +and Bettina sought with vivid interest the figure and face of one whom +they remembered but slightly, but of whom they had heard much. Robert +Sumner was a name often mentioned in their home for, as a boy, and young +man, he had been particularly dear to Dr. Burnett and had been held up +as a model of all excellence before his own boys. + +Some six years before the time of our story he was to marry a beautiful +girl, who died almost on the eve of what was to have been their +marriage-day. Stunned by the affliction, the young artist bade good-by +to home and friends and went to Italy, feeling that he could bear his +loss only under new conditions; and, ever since, that country had been +his home. He had travelled widely, yet had always returned to Italy. +"Next year I will go back to America," he had often thought; but there +was still a shrinking from the coming into contact with painful +associations. Only his sister and her children were left of the home +circle and it were happier if they would come to him; so he had stayed +on, a voluntary exile. + +Not yet thirty years of age, he looked even younger as with shining eyes +he watched the little group on the deck of the big approaching +steamship. Of the strength of his affections no one could be doubtful +who witnessed his warm, passionate embraces when, after long delay, the +ship and shore were at last bound together. + +"And can these be the little Barbara and Betty who used to sit on my +knees?" he asked in wonder, as Mrs. Douglas drew forward the tall girls +that they might share in his greeting. + +"I thought I knew you, but am afraid we shall have to get acquainted +all over again." + +The following morning when, after breakfast, the young people had been +put into a carriage for a drive all about the city, Mrs. Douglas had a +long conversation with her brother. He told her of the pleasant home in +Florence which he had prepared for her, and some of his plans for the +coming months. + +"But will not the care of so many young people be too much for you, my +sister? Have you counted well the cost of added thought and care which +our dear Doctor's daughters will impose? Tell me about them. Are they as +sterling as their father and mother? I must believe they are neither +giddy nor headstrong, else you would never have undertaken the care of +them. Moreover, their faces contradict any such supposition. They are +beautiful and very attractive; but are just at the age when every power +is on the alert to have its fill of interest and enjoyment. Did you +notice how their eyes sparkled as they took their seats in the carriage +and looked out upon the strange, foreign sights?" + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Douglas. "We must do all we can for them that this +visit to the Old World shall be as truly a means of culture as their +parents desire. You know I wrote you that it is difficult for the +Doctor to afford it, but that he felt so earnestly the good that such an +opportunity must bring his girls that he could not bear to refuse it. As +for me, I love Barbara and Betty dearly and delight to care for them as +for my own. Their influence is wholesome, and our little Margery loves +them as if they were indeed sisters. I have thought much about what is +best for all our young people to do during the coming months in Italy. +Of course everything they see and hear will be an education, but I think +we ought to have some definite plan for certainly a portion of their +time. I have wished to talk to you about it. + +"'Help my daughters to study,' said Dr. Burnett, and his feeling has +given me new thoughts regarding my own children. Now there is one great +field of study into which one can enter in this country as nowhere +else--and this is art. Especially in Florence is the world of Italian +painting opened before us--its beginnings and growth. Ought we not to +put all of them, Barbara, Bettina, Malcom, and Margery into the most +favorable conditions for entering upon the study of this great subject, +which may prove a source of so much enjoyment and culture all their +lives? I well remember my own wonder and pleasure when, years ago, our +dear mother called my attention to it; and how much it has been to both +you and me! You can help me here, Robert, for this is so much a part of +your own life." + +"I will think it all over, sister, and we will see what we can do. As +for me, I am too happy just now in having you and the children with me +to give thought to anything else. So talk to me to-day of nothing but +your own dear selves." + +Two days later our travellers were on their way down the western coast +of Italy, threading tunnels, and snatching brief views of the +Mediterranean on one side and smiling vineyards and quaint Italian +cities on the other. + +"We will not stop at Pisa," said Mr. Sumner, "but will come to visit it +some time later from Florence; but you must watch for a fine view from +the railway of its Cathedral, Leaning Tower, Baptistery, and Campo +Santo. The mountains are withdrawing from us now, and I think we shall +reach it soon." + +"Oh! how like the pictures we have seen!" cried Malcom. "How fine! The +tower does lean just as much as we have thought!" + +"How beautiful it all is,--the blue hills, the green plain, and the soft +yellow of the buildings!" said Bettina. + +"Will you tell us something of it all, Mr. Sumner?" asked Barbara. "I +know there is something wonderful and interesting, but cannot remember +just what." + +"There are many very interesting things about this old city," answered +Mr. Sumner. "First of all, the striking changes through which it has +passed. Once Pisa was on the sea, possessed a fine harbor, and in rich +commerce was a rival of Genoa and Venice. She was a proud, eager, +assertive city; of such worth that she was deemed a rich prize, and was +captured by the Romans a few centuries B.C. Now the sea has +left her and, with that, her commerce and importance in the world of +trade. She is to-day so poor that there is nothing to tempt travellers +to come to her save a magnificent climate and this wonderful group of +buildings. The inhabitants are few and humble, her streets are +grass-grown. Everything has stopped in poor old Pisa. Here Galileo was +born, and lived for years; and in the Cathedral is a great swinging lamp +which is said to have first suggested to his mind the motion of the +pendulum, and from the top of the Leaning Tower he used to study the +planets. The Tower is the Campanile, or Bell Tower, of the Cathedral. +With regard to its position, there are different opinions. Some writers +think it only an accident,--that the foundation of one side gave way +during the building, thus producing the effect we see. Others think it +was purposely so built, planned by some architect who desired to gain a +unique effect and so prove his mastery over the subtleties of building. +I confess that since I have seen the leaning towers of Bologna, which +were erected about the same time, I am inclined to agree with the latter +view." + +"I should think, uncle," said Malcom, "that if such defective +foundations had been laid, there would have been further trouble, and +the poor Tower would have fallen long ago." + +"Yes," replied Mr. Sumner, "it does not seem very reasonable to believe +that they would have given way just enough to make the Tower lean as it +does now, and that then it should remain stationary for so many +centuries afterward. The Baptistery, or place for baptism, was formerly +built in Italy separate from the Cathedral, as was the Campanile, just +as we see them here. In northern countries and in more modern Italian +cathedrals, we find all united in one building. The most interesting +thing in this Baptistery is a magnificent marble pulpit covered with +sculptures designed by Nicholas Pisano. To see it alone is worth a visit +to Pisa. The long, low building that you saw beyond the other buildings +is the Campo Santo, a name given to burial places in Italy, which, as +you know, is a Latin term, and means 'holy ground.'" + +"I think it is a beautiful name," said Bettina. + +"Yes, there is a solemn rhythm about the words that pleases the ear +rather more than does our word 'cemetery,'" said Mr. Sumner. + +"But there is something especially interesting about this Campo Santo, +isn't there?" queried Barbara, and added: "I do hope I shall remember +all such things after I have really seen the places!" + +"You surely will, my dear," said Mrs. Douglas; "ever afterward they will +be realities to you, not mere stories." + +Mr. Sumner resumed: "The Campo Santo of Pisa is the first one that was +laid out in Italy, and it is still by far the most beautiful. It +possesses the dimensions of Noah's Ark, and is literally holy ground, +for it was filled with fifty-three shiploads of earth brought from Mount +Calvary, so that the dead of Pisa repose in sacred ground. The inner +sides of its walls were decorated with noble paintings, many of which +are now completely faded. We will come to see those which remain some +day." + +"How strange it all is!" said Bettina. "How different from anything we +see at home! Think of ships sent to the Holy Land for earth from Mount +Calvary, and their coming back over the Mediterranean laden with such a +cargo!" + +"Only a superstitious, imaginative people, such as the Italians are, +would have done such a thing," said Mrs. Douglas; "and only in the +mediæval age of the world." + +"But," she went on with a bright smile, "it is the same spirit that has +reared such exquisite buildings for the worship of God and filled them +with rare, sacred marbles and paintings that are beyond price to the +world of art. I always feel when I come hither and see the present +poverty of the beautiful land that the whole world is its debtor, and +can never repay what it owes." + + + + +Chapter III. + +In Beautiful Florence. + + _For to the highest she did still aspyre; + Or, if ought higher were then that, did it desyre._ + + --SPENSER. + +[Illustration: CHURCH OF THE ANNUNZIATA, FLORENCE.] + + +One afternoon, about two weeks later, Barbara and Bettina were sitting +in their pleasant room in Florence. The wide-open windows looked out +upon the slopes of that lovely hill on whose summit is perched Fiesole, +the poor little old mother of Florence, who still holds watch over her +beautiful daughter stretched at her feet. Scented airs which had swept +all the way from distant blue hills over countless orange, olive, and +mulberry groves filled the room, and fluttered the paper upon which the +girls were writing; it was their weekly letter budget. + +The fair faces were flushed as they bent over the crowded sheets so soon +to be scanned by dear eyes at home. How much there was to tell of the +events of the past week! Drives through the streets of the famous city; +through the lovely Cascine; up to San Miniato and Fiesole; visits to +churches, palaces, and picture-galleries; days filled to overflowing +with the new life among foreign scenes. + +Suddenly Barbara, throwing aside her pen, exclaimed:-- + +"Betty dear, don't you sometimes feel most horribly ignorant?" + +"Why? when?" + +"Oh! I am just writing about our visit to Santa Croce the other day. I +enjoyed so much the fine spaces within the church, the softened light, +and some of the monuments. But when we came to those chapels whose walls +are covered with paintings,--you remember, where we met that Mr. Sherman +and his daughters who came over on the _Kaiser_ with us,--I tried to +understand why they were so interested there. They were studying the +paintings for such a long time, and I heard some of the things they were +saying about them. They thought them perfectly wonderful; and that Miss +Sherman who has such lovely eyes said she thought it worth coming from +America to Italy just to see them and other works by the same artist. +Mr. Sumner, too, heard what she said, and gave her such a pleased, +admiring look. After they had gone out from the chapel where are +pictures representing scenes in the life of St. Francis, I went in and +looked and looked at them; but, try as hard as I could, I could not be +one bit interested. The pictures are so queer, the figures so stiff, I +could not see a beautiful or interesting thing about them. But I know I +am all wrong. I do want to see what they saw, and to feel as they felt!" + +"I liked the pictures because of their subject," said Bettina; "that +dear St. Francis of Assisi who loved the birds and flowers, and talked +to them as if they could understand him. But I did not see any beauty in +them." + +"We must learn what it is; we must do more than just look at all these +early pictures that fill the churches and galleries just as we would +look at wall paper, as so many people seemed to do in the Uffizi gallery +the other day," said Barbara, emphatically. "This must be one of the +things papa meant." + +Just here came a knock on the door. + +"May we come in, Margery and I?" asked Malcom. "Why! what is the matter? +You look as if you had been talking of something unpleasant." + +Bettina told of Barbara's trouble. + +"How strange!" said Margery. "Mamma has just been talking to us about +this very thing. She says that, if you like, Uncle Robert will teach us +about the works of the Italian painters. You know he knows _everything_ +about them! He has even written a book about these paintings in +Florence!" + +"Yes," said Malcom with a comical shrug, "the idea is that we all spend +one or two mornings every week studying stiff old Madonnas and +Magdalenes and saints! I love noble and beautiful paintings as well as +any one, but I wonder if I can ever learn anything that will make me +care to look twice at some of those old things in the long entrance +gallery of the Uffizi. I doubt it. Give me the old palaces where the +Medici lived, and let me study up what they did. Or even Dante, or +Michael Angelo! _He_ was an artist who is worth studying about. Why! do +you know, he built the fortifications of San Miniato and--" + +"But," interrupted Barbara, "you know that whenever Italy is written or +talked about, her _art_ seems to be the very most important thing. I was +reading only the other day an article in which the writer said that +undoubtedly the chief mission or gift of Italy to the world is her +paintings,--her old paintings,--and that this mission is all fulfilled. +Now, if this be true, do we wish to come here and go away without +learning all that we possibly can of them? I think that would be +foolish." + +"And," added Bettina, "I think one of the most interesting studies in +the world is about these same old saints whom you dislike so much, +Malcom. They were heroes; and I think some of them were a great deal +grander than those mythological characters you so dote upon. If your +uncle will only be so good as to talk to us of the pictures! Let us go +at once and thank him. Now, Malcom, you will be enthusiastic about it, +will you not? There will be so much time for all the other things." + +Bettina put her arm affectionately about Margery, and smiled into +Malcom's face, as they all went to seek Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner. + +"Here come the victims, Uncle Rob! three willing ones,--Barbara, who is +ever sighing for new worlds to conquer; Betty, who already dotes upon +St. Sebastian stuck full of arrows and St. Lucia carrying her eyes on a +platter; Madge, who would go to the rack if only you led the way,--and +poor rebellious, inartistic I." + +"But, my boy--" began Mrs. Douglas. + +"Oh! I will do it all if only the girls will climb the Campanile and +Galileo's Tower with me and it does not interfere with our drives and +walks. If this is to become an æsthetic crowd, I don't wish to be left +out," laughed Malcom. + +A morning was decided upon for the first lesson. + +"We will begin at the beginning," said Mr. Sumner; "one vital mistake +often made is in not starting far enough back. In order to realize in +the slightest degree the true work of these old masters, one must know +in what condition the art was before their time; or rather, that there +was no art. So we will first go to the Accademia delle Belle Arti, or +Academy, as we will call it, and from there to the church, Santa Maria +Novella. And one thing more,--you are welcome to go to my library and +learn all you can from the books there. I am sure I do not need to tell +those who have studied so much as you already have that the knowledge +you shall gain from coming into contact with any new thing must be in a +great degree measured by that which you take to it." + +"How good you are to give us so much of your time, Mr. Sumner," said +Barbara, with sparkling eyes. "How can we ever repay you?" + +"By learning to love this subject somewhat as I love it," replied Mr. +Sumner; but he thought as he felt the magnetism of her young enthusiasm +that he might gain something of compensation which it was impossible to +put into words. + + * * * * * + +"Are you not going with us, dear Mrs. Douglas?" asked Bettina, as the +little party were preparing to set forth on the appointed morning. + +"Not to-day, dear, for I have another engagement" + +"I think I know what mamma is going to do," said Margery as they left +the house. "I heard the housemaid, Anita, telling her last evening about +the illness of her little brother, and saying that her mother is so poor +that she cannot get for the child what he needs. I think mamma is going +to see them this morning." + +"Just like that blessed mother of ours!" exclaimed Malcom. "There is +never anybody in want near her about whom she is not sure to find out +and to help! It will be just the same here as at home; Italians or +Americans--all are alike to her. She will give up anything for herself +in order to do for them." + +"I am glad you know her so well," said his uncle, with a smile. "There +is no danger that you can ever admire your mother too much." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Barbara, as after a little walk they entered a square +surrounded by massive buildings, with arcades, all white with the +sunshine. "Look at that building! It is decorated with those dear little +babies, all swathed, whose photographs we have so often seen in the +Boston art stores. What is it? Where are we?" + +"In the Piazza dell' Annunziata," replied Mr. Sumner, "and an +interesting place it is. That building is the Foundling Hospital, a very +ancient and famous institution. And the 'swathed babies' are the work of +Andrea della Robbia." + +"Poor little innocents! How tired they must be, wrapped up like mummies +and stuck on the wall like specimen butterflies!" whispered Malcom in an +aside to Bettina. + +"Hush! hush!" laughed she. "Your uncle will hear you." + +"This beautiful church just here on our right," continued Mr. Sumner, +"is the church of the S.S. Annunziata or the most Holy Annunciation. It +was founded in the middle of the thirteenth century by seven noble +Florentines, who used to meet daily to sing _Ave Maria_ in a chapel +situated where the Campanile of the Cathedral now stands. It has been +somewhat modernized and is now the most fashionable church in Florence. +It contains some very interesting paintings, which we will visit by and +by." + +"Every step we take in this beautiful city is full of interest, and how +different from anything we can find at home!" exclaimed Bettina. "Look +at the color of these buildings, and their exquisite arches! See the +soft painting over the door of the church, and the sculptured bits +everywhere! I begin, just a little, to see why Florence is called the +_art city_." + +"But only a little, yet," said Mr. Sumner, with a pleased look. "You are +just on the threshold of the knowledge of this fair city. Not what she +outwardly is, but what she contains, and what her children have +wrought, constitute her wealth of art. Do you remember, Margery, what +name the poet Shelley gives Florence in that beautiful poem you were +reading yesterday?" + + "O _Foster-nurse_ of man's abandoned glory, + Since Athens, its great mother, sunk in splendor, + Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story, + As ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender," + +dreamily recited Margery, her sweet face flushing as all eyes looked at +her. + +"Yes," smiled her uncle. "Florence, as _foster-nurse_, has cherished for +the world the art-treasures of early centuries in Italy, so that there +is no other city on earth in which we can learn so much of the 'revival +of art,' as it is called, which took place after the barrenness of the +Dark Ages, as in this. But here we are at the Academy. I shall not allow +you to look at much here this morning. We will go and sit in the farther +corner of this first corridor, for I wish to talk a little, and just +here we shall find all that I need for illustration." + +"You need not put on such a martyr-look, Malcom," continued he, as they +walked on. "I prophesy that not one here present will feel more solid +interest in the work we are beginning than you will, my boy." + +When Mr. Sumner had gathered the little group about him, he began to +talk of the beauties of Greek art--how it had flourished for centuries +before Christ. + +"But I thought Greek art consisted of sculptures," said Barbara. + +"Much of it was sculptured,--all of it which remains,--but we have +evidence that the Greeks also produced beautiful paintings, which, could +they have been preserved, might be not unworthy rivals of modern +masterpieces," replied Mr. Sumner. "After the Roman invasion of Greece, +these ancient works of art were mostly destroyed. Rome possessed no fine +art of her own, but imported Greek artists to produce for her. These, +taken away from their native land, and having no noble works around them +for inspiration, began simply to copy each other, and so the art +degenerated from century to century. The growing Christian religion, +which forbade the picturing of any living beauty, gave the death-blow to +such excellence as remained. A style of painting followed which received +the name of Greek Byzantine. In it was no study of life; all was most +strikingly conventional, and it grew steadily worse and worse. A +comparison of the paintings and mosaics of the sixth, seventh, eighth, +and ninth centuries shows the rapid decline of all art qualities. +Finally every figure produced was a most arrant libel on nature. It was +always painted against a flat gold background; the limbs were wholly +devoid of action; the feet and hands hung helplessly; and the eyes were +round and staring. The flesh tints were a dull brick red, and all else a +dreary brown." + +"Come here," said he, rising, "and see an example of this Greek +Byzantine art,--this _Magdalen_. Study it well." + +"Oh, oh, how dreadful!" chorussed the voices of all. + +"Uncle Rob, do you mean to say there was no painting in the world better +than this in the ninth--or thereabouts--century?" asked Malcom, with +wondering eyes. + +"I mean to say just that, Malcom. But I must tell you something more +about this same Greek Byzantine painting, for there is a school of it +to-day. Should you go to Southern Italy or to Russia, you would find +many booths for trading, in the back of which you would see a Madonna, +or some saint, painted in just this style. These pictures have gained a +superstitious value among the lower classes of the people, and are +believed to possess a miraculous power. In Mt. Athos, Greece, is a +school that still produces them. Doubtless this has grown out of the +fact that several of these old paintings, notably Madonnas, are +treasured in the churches, and the people are taught that miracles have +been wrought by them. In the Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, is an example +(the people are told that it was painted by St. Luke), and during the +plague in Rome, and also during a great fire which was most disastrous, +this painting was borne through the city by priests in holy procession, +and the tradition is that both plague and fire were stayed." + +"What a painfully ridiculous figure!" exclaimed Barbara, who had been +silently absorbed in study. "It is painful because every line looks as +if the artist had done his very best, and that is so utterly bad. It +means absolutely nothing." + +"You have fathomed the woful secret," replied Mr. Sumner. "It shows no +evidence of the slightest thought. Only a man's _fingers_ produced this. +All power of originality had become lost; all desire for it was +unknown." + +"Then, how did things ever get better?" asked Malcom. + +"An interesting question. I wish you all would read some before I tell +you any more. Find something, please, that treats of the beginnings of +Christian art in the Catacombs of Rome. Read about the manuscript +illuminations produced by monks of the tenth and eleventh centuries, +which are to be found in some great libraries. In these we find the best +art of that time," + +[Illustration: ACADEMY, FLORENCE. + +BYZANTINE MAGDALEN.] + +"If you find anything about Cimabue and Giotto," he added, "you would +better read that also, for the work of these old painters will be the +subject of our next lesson. For it, we will go to the church Santa Maria +Novella." + +"And Santa Croce?" asked Barbara, more timidly than was her wont. + +"And Santa Croce too," smilingly added Mr. Sumner. + +"And now, Malcom, if you can find a wide carriage, we all will drive for +an hour before going home." + + + + +Chapter IV. + +A New Friend Appears. + + _The first sound in the song of love + Scarce more than silence is, and yet a sound. + Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings + Of that mysterious instrument, the soul, + And play the prelude of our fate._ + + --LONGFELLOW. + +[Illustration: DUOMO AND CAMPANILE. FLORENCE.] + + +One day Malcom met an old fellow-student. Coming home, he told his +mother of him, and asked permission to bring him for introduction. + +"His name is Howard Sinclair. I did not know him very well in the +school, for he was some way ahead of me. He is now in Harvard College. +But his lungs are very weak; and last winter the doctors sent him to +Egypt, and told him he must stay for at least two years in the warmer +countries. He is lonely and pretty blue, I judge; was glad enough to see +me." + +"Poor boy! Yes, bring him here, and I will talk with him. Perhaps we can +make it more pleasant for him. You are sure his character is beyond +question, Malcom?" + +"I think so. He has lots of money, and is inclined to spend it freely, +but I know he was called a pretty fine fellow in the school, though not +very well known by many. He is rather 'toney,' you know,--held his head +too high for common fellows. The teachers especially liked him; for he +is awfully bright, and took honors right along." + +The next day Malcom brought his friend to his mother, whose heart he won +at once by his evident delicate health, his gentlemanly manners, and, +perhaps most of all, because he had been an orphan for years, and was so +much alone in the world. She decided to welcome him to her home, and to +give him the companionship of her young people. + +Howard Sinclair was a young man of brilliant intellectual promise. He +had inherited most keen sensibilities, an almost morbid delicacy of +thought, a variable disposition, and a frail body. Both father and +mother died before he was ten years of age, leaving a large fortune for +him, their only child; and, since then, his home had been with an aged +grandmother. Without any young companions in the home, and lacking +desire for activity, he had given himself up to an almost wholly +sedentary life. The body, so delicate by nature, had always been made +secondary to the alert mind. His luxurious tastes could all be +gratified, and thus far he had lived like some conservatory plant. + +The very darling of his grandmother's heart, it was like death to her to +part from him when the physicians decided that to save his life it was +an imperative necessity that he should live for a a time in a warmer +climate. It was an utter impossibility for her to accompany him. He +shrank from any other companion, therefore had set forth with only his +faithful John, who had been an old servant in the family before he was +born, as valet. He went first to Egypt, where he had remained as long as +the heat would permit, then had gone northwest to the Italian lakes and +Switzerland, whence he had now come to spend a time in Florence. + +Lonely, homesick, and disheartened, it was indeed like a "gift of the +gods" to him when one day, as he was leaving his banker's on Via +Tornabuoni he met the familiar face of Malcom Douglas. And when he was +welcomed to his old schoolmate's home and family circle, the weary young +man felt for the first time in many months the sensation of rest and +peace. + +His evident lack of physical strength, and the quickly coming and going +color in his cheeks, told Mrs. Douglas that he could never know perfect +health; but he said that the change of country and climate had already +done him much good, and this encouraged him to think of staying from +home a year or two in the hope that then all danger of active disease +might have passed. + +He so evidently longed for companionship that Malcom and the girls told +him of their life,--of their Italian lessons,--their reading,--Mr. +Sumner's talks about Italian painting,--Malcom's private college studies +(which he had promised his mother to pursue if she would give him this +year abroad), and all that which was filling their days. He was +especially interested in their lessons on the Italian masters of +painting, and asked if they would permit him to join them. + +"If you will only come to me when you have any trouble with your Greek +and Latin, Malcom," he said, "perhaps I can repay you in the slightest +degree for the wonderful pleasure this would give me." + +So as Mr. Sumner was willing, his little class received the addition of +Howard Sinclair. + +"Why so sober, Malcom?" asked his mother, as she found him alone by +himself. "Is not the arrangement that your friend join you agreeable?" + +"Oh, yes, mother, he is a nice fellow, though a sort of a prig, and I +wish to do all we can for him; only--I do hope he will not monopolize +Betty and Barbara always, as he has seemed to do this afternoon." + +"My boy, beware of that little green imp we read of," laughed Mrs. +Douglas. "You have been too thoroughly 'monarch of all' thus far. Can +you not share your realm with this homesick young man?" + +"But he has always had all for himself, mother. He does not know what it +is to share." + +"Malcom! be yourself." + +The mother's eyes looked straight up into those of her tall boy, and her +hand sought his with a firm, warm pressure that made him fling back his +noble young head with an emphatic "I am ashamed of myself! Thank you, +mother dear." + +That evening, as all were sitting on the balcony watching the soft, rosy +afterglow that was creeping over the hills and turning to glowing points +the domes and spires of the fair city, Mr. Sumner said:-- + +"If you are willing, I would like to talk with you a little before we +make our visits to Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce to-morrow. You +will understand better the old pictures we shall see there if we +consider beforehand what we ought to look for in any picture or other +work of art. Too many go to them as to some sort of recreation,--simply +for amusement,--simply to gratify their love for beautiful color and +form, and so, to these, the most beautiful picture is always the best. +But this is a low estimate of the great art of painting, for it is +simply one of man's means of expression, just as music or poetry is. The +artist learns to compose his pictures, to draw his forms, to lay on his +colors, just as the poet learns the meanings of words, rhetorical +figures, and the laws of harmony and rhythm, or the musician his notes +and scales and harmonies of sound." + +"I see this is a new thought to you," continued he, after a moment spent +in studying the faces about him. "Let us follow it. What is the use of +this preparation of study in art, poetry, or music? Is it solely for the +perfection of itself? We often hear nowadays the expression, 'art for +art's sake,' and by some it is accounted a grand thought and a noble +rallying-cry for artists. And so it truly is if the very broadest and +highest possible meaning is given to the word 'art.' If it means the +embodying of some noble, beautiful, soul-moving thought in a form that +can be seen and understood, and means nothing less than this, then it is +indeed a worthy motto. But to too many, I fear, it means only the +painting of beauty for beauty's sake. That is, the thought embodied, the +message to some soul, which every picture ought to contain, and which +every noble picture that is worthy to live _must_ contain, becomes of +little or no value compared with the play of color and light and form. + +"Let me explain further," he went on, even more earnestly. "Imagine that +we are looking at a picture, and we admire exceedingly the perfection of +drawing its author has displayed,--the wonderful breadth of +composition,--the harmony of color-masses. The moment is full of keen +enjoyment for us; but the vital thing, after all, is, what impression +shall we take away with us. Has the picture borne us any message? Has it +been either an interpretation or a revelation of something? Shall we +remember it?" + +"But is not simple beauty sometimes a revelation, Mr. Sumner?" asked +Barbara,--"as in a landscape, or seascape, or the painting of a child's +face?" + +"Certainly, if the artist has shown by his work that this beauty has +stirred depths of feeling in himself, and his effort has been to reveal +what he has felt to others. If you seek to find this in pictures you +will soon learn to distinguish between those (too many of which are +painted to-day) whose only excellence lies in trick of handling or +cunning disposition of color-masses,--because these things are all of +which the artist has thought,--and those that have grown out of the +highest art-desire, which is to bear some message of the restfulness, +the power, the beauty, or the innocence of nature to the hearts of other +men. + +"And there is one thing more that we must not forget. There may be +pictures with bad _motifs_ as well as good ones--weak and simple ones, +as well as strong and holy ones--and yet they may be full of all +artistic qualities of representation. What is true with regard to +literature is true in respect to art. It is, after all, the _message_ +that determines the degree of nobility. + + "Art was given for that. God uses us to help each other so, + Lending our minds out. + +wrote Mr. Browning, and we should always endeavor to find out whether +the artist has loaned his mind or merely his fingers and his knowledge +of the use of his materials. If we find thought in his picture, we +should then ask to what service he has put it. + +"If a poem consist only of words and rhythms, how long do you think it +ought to live? And if a picture possess merely forms and colors, however +beautiful they may be, it deserves no more fame. And how much worse if +there be meaning, and it be base and unworthy!" + +"Does he not put it well?" whispered Malcom to Bettina from his usual +seat between her and Margery. "I feel as if he were pouring new +thoughts into me." + +"Now, the one thing I desire to impress upon you to-night," continued +Mr. Sumner, "is that these old masters of painting who lived in the +thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries had messages to give +their fellow-men. Their great endeavor was to interpret God's word to +them,--you know that in those days and in this land there was no Bible +open to the common people,--and what we must chiefly look for in their +pictures is to see whether or not they told the message as well as the +limitation of their art-language permitted. + +"At first, no laws of perspective were known. None knew how to draw +anything correctly. No color-harmonies had been thought of. These men +must needs stammer when they tried to express themselves; but as much +greater as thought is than the mere expression of it so much greater are +many of their works, in the true sense, than the mass of pictures that +make up our exhibitions of the present day. + +"Then, also, it is a source of the deepest interest to one who loves +this art to watch its growth in means of expression--its steady +development--until, finally, we find the noblest thoughts expressed in +perfect forms and coloring. This we can do here in Florence as nowhere +else, for the Florentine school of painting was the first of importance +in Italy. + +"So," he concluded, "do not look for beauty in these pictures which we +are first to study; instead of it, you will find much ugliness. But +strive to put yourselves into the place of the old artists, to feel as +they felt. See what impelled them to paint. Recognize the feebleness of +their means of expression. Watch for indications in history of the +effect of their pictures upon the people. Strive to find originality in +them, if it be there, for this quality gives a man's work a certain +positive greatness wherever we find it; and so learn to become worthy +judges of that which you study. Soon, like me, you will look with pity +on those who can see nothing worthy of a second glance in these +treasures of the past. + +"There! I have preached you a sermon, I am afraid. Are you tired?" and +his bright glance searched the faces about him. + +Their expression would have been satisfactory without the eager +protestations that answered his question. + +When, a little later, Barbara and Bettina, each seated before her dainty +toilet-table, were brushing their hair, they, as usual, chatted about +the events of the day. Never had there been so much to talk over and so +little time to do it in as during these crowded weeks, when pleasure and +study were hand in hand. For though they read and studied, yet there +were drives, and receptions in artists' studios, and, because of Robert +Sumner's long residence in Florence, they had even begun to receive +invitations to small and select parties, where they met charming people. + +This very morning they had driven with Mrs. Douglas through some of the +oldest parts of Florence. They were reading together George Eliot's +"Romola," and were connecting all its events with this city in which the +scenes are laid. Read in this way, it seemed like a new book to them, +and possessed an air of reality that awakened their enthusiasm as +nothing else could have done. And then in the afternoon had been the +meeting with the new friend; tea in the little garden behind the house; +and the evening on the balcony. + +Naturally their conversation soon turned to Howard Sinclair. + +"What a strange life for one so young!" said Bettina. "Malcom says there +is no limit to his wealth. He lives in the winter in one of those +grandest houses on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and has summer houses +in two or three places. And yet how poor in many ways!" she continued +after a little pause--"so much poorer than we! No father and mother,--no +brothers and sisters,--and forced to leave his home because he is so +ill! Poor fellow! How do you like him, Bab? He seemed to admire you +sufficiently, for he hardly took his eyes from you." + +"Like him?" slowly returned Barbara. "To tell the truth, Betty, I hardly +know. Somehow I feel strangely about him. I like him well enough so far, +but I believe I am a bit afraid, and whether it is of him or not, I +cannot tell. Somehow I feel as if things are going to be different from +what they have been, and--I don't know--I believe I almost wish Malcom +had not known him." + +"Why, Bab dear! what do you mean? Don't be nervous; that is not like +you. Nothing could happen to make us unhappy while we are with these +dear people,--nothing, that is, if our dear ones at home are well. I +wish he had not stared at you so much with those great eyes, if it makes +you feel uncomfortable, but how he could have helped admiring you, +sister mine, is more than I know,--for you were lovely beyond everything +this afternoon;" and Betty impulsively sprang up to give her sister a +hug and a kiss. + +"To change the subject," she added, "how did you like Mr. Sumner's talk +this evening?" + +"Oh! more than words can tell! Betty, I believe, next to our own dear +papa, he is the grandest man alive. I always feel when he talks as if +nothing were too difficult to attempt; as if nothing were too beautiful +to believe. And he is so young too, in feeling; so wise and yet so full +of sympathy with all our young nonsense. He is simply perfect." And she +drew a long breath. + +"I think so too; and he practises what he preaches in his own painting. +For don't you remember those pictures we saw in his studio the other +day? How he has painted those Egyptian scenes! A perfect tremor ran over +me as I felt the terrible, solemn loneliness of that one camel and his +rider in the limitless stretch of desert. I felt quite as he must have +felt, I am sure; and the desert will always seem a different thing to me +because I looked at that picture. And then that sweet, strong, +overcoming woman's face! How much she had lived through! What a lesson +of triumph over all weakness and sorrow it teaches! I am so thankful +every minute that dear Mrs. Douglas asked us to come with her, that our +darling papa and mamma allowed us to come, and that everything is so +pleasant in this dear, delightful Florence." + +And Bettina fell asleep almost the minute her head rested on her +pillow, with a happy smile curving her beautiful lips. + +But Barbara tossed long on the little white bed in the opposite corner +of the room. It was difficult to go to sleep, so many thoughts crowded +upon her. Finally she resolutely set herself to recall Mr. Sumner's +words of the evening. Then, as she remembered the little lingering of +his eyes upon her own as he bade his group of listeners good night, the +glad thought came, "He knows I am trying to learn, and that I appreciate +all he is doing for me," and so her last thought was not for the new +friend the day had brought, but for Robert Sumner. + + + + +Chapter V. + +Straws Show which Way the Wind Blows. + + _Give these, I exhort you, their guerdon and glory + For daring so much before they well did it_. + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE.] + + +It was a charming morning in early November when Mr. Sumner and his +little company of students of Florentine art gathered before the broad +steps which lead up to the entrance of Santa Maria Novella. The Italian +sky, less soft than in midsummer, gleamed brightly blue. The square +tower of the old Fiesole Cathedral had been sharply defined as they +turned to look at it when leaving their home; and Giotto's Campanile, of +which they had caught a glimpse on their way hither, shone like a white +lily in the morning sunlight. The sweet, invigorating air, the bustle of +the busy streets, the happiness of youth and pleasant expectancy caused +all hearts to beat high, and it was a group of eager faces that turned +toward the grand old church whose marble sides show the discoloration of +centuries. + +At Mr. Sumner's invitation all sat on the steps in a sunny corner while +he talked of Cimabue,--the first great name in the history of Italian +painting,--the man who was great enough to dare attempt to change +conditions that existed in his time, which was the latter part of the +thirteenth century. He told them how, though a nobleman possessing +wealth and honor, he had loved painting and had given his life to it; +and how, having been a man arrogant of all criticism, he was fitted to +be a pioneer; to break from old traditions, and to infuse life into the +dead Byzantine art. + +He told them how the people, ever quick to feel any change, were +delighted to recognize, in a picture, life, movement, and expression, +however slight. How, one day six hundred years ago, a gay procession, +with banners and songs, bore a large painting, the _Madonna and Child_, +from the artist's studio, quite a distance away, through the streets and +up to the steps on which they were sitting; and how priests chanting +hymns and bearing church banners came out to receive the picture. + +"And through all these centuries it has here remained," he continued. +"It is, of course, scarred by time and dark with the smoke of incense. +When you look upon it I wish you would remember what I told you the +other evening about that for which we should look in a picture. Be +sympathetic. Put yourself in old Cimabue's place and in that of the +people who had known only such figures in painting as the _Magdalen_ you +saw last week in the Academy. Then, though these figures are so stiff +and almost lifeless, though the picture is Byzantine in character, you +will see beyond all this a faint expression in the Madonna's face, a +little life and action in the Christ-child, who holds up his tiny hand +in blessing. + +"If you do not look for this you may miss it,--miss all that which gives +worth to Cimabue and his art. As thoughtful a mind as that of our own +Hawthorne saw only the false in it, and missed the attempt for truth; +and so said he only wished 'another procession would come and take the +picture from the church, and reverently burn it.' Ah, Malcom, I see your +eyes found that in your reading, and you thought in what good company +you might be." + +"What kind of painting is it?" queried Barbara, as a few minutes later +they stood in the little chapel, and looked up at Cimabue's quaint +_Madonna and Child_. + +"It is called _tempera_, and is laid upon wood. In this process the +paints are mixed with some glutinous substance, such as the albumen of +eggs, glue, etc., which causes them to adhere to the surface on which +they are placed." + +"What do you think was the cause of Cimabue's taking such an advance +step, Mr. Sumner?" asked Howard Sinclair, after a pause, during which +all studied the picture. + +"It must have been a something caught from the spirit of the time. A +stir, an awakening, was taking place in Italy. Dante and Petrarch were +in a few years to think and write. The time had come for a new art." + +"I do see the difference between this and those Academy pictures," said +Bettina, "even though it is so queer, and painted in such colors." + +"And I," "And I," quickly added Barbara and Margery. + +"I think those angels' faces are interesting," continued Barbara. "They +are not all just alike, but look as if each had some thought of his own. +They seem proud of their burden as they hold up the Madonna and Child." + +"Oh, nonsense, Barbara! you are putting too much imagination in there," +exclaimed Malcom. "I think old Cimabue did do something, but it is an +awfully bad picture, after all. There is one thing, though; it is not so +flat as that Academy _Magdalen_. The child's head seems round, and I do +think his face has a bit of expression." + +So they looked and chatted on, and took little note of coming and going +tourists, who glanced with curiosity from them to the old dark picture +above, and then back to the fresh, eager, beautiful faces,--the greater +part ever finding in the latter the keener attraction. + +"I always have one thought when I look at this," finally said Mr. +Sumner, "that perhaps will be interesting to you, and linger in your +minds. This _Madonna and Child_ seems to form a link and also to mark a +division between all those which went before it in Christian art and all +those that have followed. It is the last Byzantine Madonna and is the +first of the long, noble list which has come from the hands of artists +who have lived since the thirteenth century. + +"We will not stay here longer now, for I know you will come again more +than once to study it. There is much valuable historic art in this +church which you will understand better when you have learned more. +Yonder in the Strozzi Chapel is some of the very best work of an old +painter called Orcagna, while here in the choir are notable frescoes by +Ghirlandajo; but now I shall take you down these steps between the two +into the cloister and there we will talk of Giotto. I know how busy you +have been reading about this wonderful old master, for I could not help +hearing snatches of your talk about him all through the past week. His +figure looms up most important of all among the early painters of +Florence. You know how Cimabue, clad in his scarlet robe and hood, +insignia of nobility, riding out one day to a little town lying on one +of yonder blue hills, found a little, dark-faced shepherd-boy watching +his father's sheep, and amusing himself by drawing a picture of one, +with only a sharp stone for a pencil. Interested in the boy, he took +pains to visit his father and gain his permission to take him as a pupil +to Florence. So Giotto came to begin his art-life. What are you thinking +of, little Margery?" + +"Only a bit of Dante's writing which I read with mother the other day," +said she, blushing. "I was thinking how little Cimabue then thought that +this poor, ignorant shepherd-boy would ever cause these lines to be +written:-- + + "Cimabue thought to lord it over painting's field: + But now the cry is _Giotto_, and his name's eclipsed." + +"Yes, indeed! Giotto did eclipse his master's fame, for he went so much +farther,--but only in the same path, however; so we must not take from +Cimabue any of the honor that is due him. But for Giotto the old +Byzantine method of painting on all gold backgrounds was abolished. This +boy, though born of peasants, was not only gifted with keen powers of +observation of nature and mankind and a devotion to the representation +of things truly as they are, but, beyond and above all this, with one +other quality that made his work of incalculable worth to the people +among whom he painted. This was a delicate appreciation of the true +relations between earthly and spiritual things. + +"Before him, as we have seen, all art was most unnatural and +monastic,--utterly destitute of sympathy with the feelings of the common +people. Giotto changed all this. He made the Christ-child a loving baby; +the Madonna a loving mother into whose joy and suffering all mothers' +hearts could enter; angels were servants of men; miracles were wrought +by God because He loved and desired to help men; the pictured men and +women were like themselves because they smiled and grieved and acted +even as they did. All this change Giotto made in the spirit of pictures; +and in the ways of painting he also wrought a complete revolution. +'There are no such things as gold backgrounds in nature,' he said; 'I +will have my people out of doors or in their homes.' And so he painted +the blue sky and rocks and trees and grass, and dressed his men and +women in pure, fresh colors, and represented them as if engaged in home +duties in the house or in the field. He introduced many characters into +his story pictures,--angel visitants, neighbors, wandering shepherds, +and even domestic animals. He brought the art of painting _down_ into +the minds and hearts of all who looked upon them." + +"I never have realized until lately," said Barbara, "how painting can be +made a source of education and pleasure to everybody. It is so different +here from what it is at home, especially because the churches are full +of pictures. There we go into the art museums or the galleries of +different art-clubs,--the only places where pictures are to be +found,--and meet only those people that can afford luxuries; and so the +art itself seems a luxury. But here I have seen such poor, sad-looking +people, who seem to forget all their miseries in looking at some +beautiful sacred picture. Only the other day I overheard a poor woman, +whose clothes were wretched and who had one child in her arms and +another beside her, trying to explain a picture to them, and she +lingered and lingered before it, and then turned away with a pleased, +restful face." + +"Yes, it is the spirit of pictures and their truth to nature that appeal +to the mass of people here," replied Mr. Sumner, "and so it must be +everywhere. I have been very glad to read in my papers from home that +free art exhibitions have been occasionally opened in the poor quarters +of our cities. Should the movement become general, as I hope it will, +it must work good in more than one direction. Not only could those who +have hitherto been shut out from this means of pleasure and education +receive and profit by it, but the art itself would gain a wholesome +impulse. A new class of critics would be heard--those unversed in +art-parlance--who would not talk of line, tone, color-harmonies and +technique, but would go to the very heart of picture and painter; and I +think the truest artists would listen to them and so gain something. + +"But we must get to Giotto again. I have told you what he tried to +paint, but you will see that he could not do all this in the least as if +he had been taught in our art-schools of to-day. How little could +Cimabue teach him! His hills and rocks are parodies of nature. He knew +not how to draw feet, and would put long gowns or stockings on his +people so as to hide his deficiency. He never could make a lying-down +figure look flat. But how he could accomplish all that he did in his +pictures is more than any one can explain. + +"We will now look behind this grand tomb at the foot of the stairs and +find two of Giotto's frescoes. There you see the pictures--the _Birth of +the Virgin_ and the _Meeting of St. Joachim and St. Anna_, the father +and mother of the Virgin. Do you know the story of these saints?" + +"Yes," answered Malcom, "Betty read it to us last evening, for, you +see, uncle, we had been dipping just a bit, so as not to get below our +depth, into Mr. Ruskin's 'Mornings in Florence'; so we ought to be able +to understand something here, if anywhere, oughtn't we?" + +"Well, look and see what you can find! I wonder what will appeal first +to each one of you!" + +After a few minutes of complete silence Mr. Sumner said: "Margery dear, +I wonder what you are thinking of?" + +"I am thinking, Uncle, that, just as Mr. Ruskin says, I cannot help +seeing the baby in this picture. At whatever part I look my eyes keep +coming back to the dear little thing wrapped up so clumsily, whom the +two nurses are tending so lovingly and with such reverence." + +"Yes, my dear, old Giotto knew how to make the chief thing in his +pictures seem to be the most important; something that not all of us +artists of to-day know how to do by any means." + +"But the pictures are so queer!" burst forth Malcom. "I do see some of +the fine things of which you speak, Uncle Robert, but there are so many +almost ridiculous things; the shepherds that are following St. +Joachim--do look at the feet of the first one; and the second has on +stockings. I can see the different lines that poor old Giotto drew when +he was struggling over those first feet; I wonder if he put the others +into stockings just to save trying to draw them. And the funny lamb in +the arms of the first shepherd; and the queer, stiff sprigs of grass +which are growing up in all sorts of places! and the angel coming out of +the cloud! and--" + +"Do stop, Malcom," cried Bettina, "just here at the angel! Why! I think +he is perfectly beautiful with one hand on St. Joachim's head and the +other on St. Anna's. He is blessing them and drawing them together and +forgiving, all in one." + +"And the people, all of them! just look at the people!" cried Barbara, +impetuously. "Each one is thinking of something, and I seem to know what +it is! How could--" But her voice faltered, and stopped abruptly. + +"It is not difficult to understand what Howard is thinking of," +whispered Malcom in Bettina's ear. "Did you see what a look he gave +Barbara? I don't believe she likes it." + +Mr. Sumner, turning, surprised the same look in the young man's eyes and +gave a quick, inquiring glance at the fair, flushed face of Barbara. He +felt annoyed, without knowing exactly why. A new and foreign element had +been introduced into the little group, whose influence was not to be +transient. + +After a few more words, in which he told them to notice the type of +Giotto's faces--the eyes set near together, their too great length, +though much better in this respect than Cimabue's, and the broad, +rounded chins--they turned away. + +"We have seen all we ought to stay here for to-day, and now we will +drive over to Santa Croce. There are also notable frescoes by Giotto in +Assisi, and especially in the Arena Chapel, Padua. Perhaps we may see +them all by and by." + +On leaving the church, Bettina looked back, saying:-- + +"This is the church that Michael Angelo used to call 'his bride.'" + +"Used to," laughed Malcom. "You have gone back centuries this morning, +Betty." + +"I feel so. I should not be one bit surprised to meet some of these old +artists right here in the Piazza on their way to their work." + +"Let us go over to Santa Croce by way of the Duomo, and through Piazza +Signoria, Uncle," said Margery. "I am never tired of those little, +narrow, crooked streets." + +"Yes, that will be a good way; for then we shall go right past Giotto's +Campanile, and though you have seen it often you will look upon it with +especial interest just now, when we are studying his work." + +At Santa Croce they were to meet Mrs. Douglas by appointment; and as +they pressed on through the broad nave, lined on either side by massive +monuments to Florence's great dead, they espied her at the entrance of +the Bardi Chapel in conversation with a lady whose slender figure and +bright, animated face grew familiar to the young people of the steamship +as they approached; for it was the Miss Sherman whom Barbara and Bettina +had admired so much on the _Kaiser Wilhelm_, and whom, with her father +and sister, they had met once before in this same church. + +Coming rapidly forward, Mrs. Douglas introduced her companion. + +"She is alone in Florence," she explained to her brother a moment later +when the others had passed on, "for her father has been suddenly +summoned home, and her sister has accompanied him. She is a bright, +charming young woman, who loves art dearly, and I am sure we all shall +like her. I felt drawn to her as we talked together several times on our +way over. I think we must have her with us all we can." + +After an hour spent in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels, whose walls are +covered with Giotto's frescoes, the little group separated. Malcom, +Margery, Barbara, and Bettina walked home along the Via dei Pinti, or +Street of the Painters. While the others chatted, Barbara was unusually +silent. She was thinking how much she had learned that morning, and +exulted in the knowledge that there was not quite so vast a difference +between herself and Miss Sherman as existed the last time they met in +Santa Croce. + +For Barbara had entered into the study of this subject with an almost +feverish fervor of endeavor. Though she felt there was much to enjoy and +to learn all about her, yet nothing seemed so important as a knowledge +of the old painters and their pictures; and the longing to be able to +think and to speak with some assurance of them haunted her continually. + +Bettina sometimes looked at her sister with wonder as she would sit hour +after hour poring over Mr. Sumner's books. + +"I always thought _I_ loved pictures best," she thought; "but Bab cares +more for these old ones than I do." + + + + +Chapter VI. + +Lucile Sherman. + + _In life's small things be resolute and great + To keep thy muscle trained; Knowest thou when Fate + Thy measure takes? Or when she'll say to thee, + "I find thee worthy. Do this deed for me?_" + + --LOWELL. + +[Illustration: A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE.] + + +The tourist who devotes a few days to Florence, or a few weeks even, can +have no conception of what it means to live in this city; to awake +morning after morning and look out upon the lines of her hills and catch +glimpses of their distant blues and purples; to be free to wander about +at will through her streets, every one of which is crowded with legend +and romance; to look upon her palaces and churches, about which cluster +so many deeds of history; to visit the homes of her immortal men--poets +and artists; to walk step by step instead of whirling along in a +carriage; and to grow to feel a close intimacy with her sculptures and +paintings, and even with the very stones that are built into her palace +walls. + +For Florence is comparatively a small city. A good pedestrian can easily +walk from Porta Romana on the south to Porta Gallo on the north; or +from Porta San Niccolo on the east, along the banks of the Arno, to the +Cascine Gardens on the west. It is only an afternoon of genuine delight +to climb the lovely, winding ways leading up to San Miniato, or to +Fiesole, or to the Torre del Gallo,--the "Star Tower of Galileo." And +what a feeling of possession one has for a road which he has travelled +foot by foot; for the rocks and trees and vine-covered walls, and the +ever-changing views which continually demand attention! One absorbs and +assimilates as in no other way. + +So when, at breakfast one morning, Mr. Sumner suggested a walk up to +Fiesole, a picnic lunch at the top in the grounds of the old monastery, +and the whole day there, coming down at sunset, his proposition met with +delighted assent. It was planned that Mrs. Douglas should take a +carriage, and invite Miss Sherman and Howard Sinclair to go with her, +but the others were ready and eager for the walk. Anita, the little +housemaid, was to accompany them and carry the luncheon, and she was on +tiptoe with joy, because a whole day under the open sky is the happiest +fortune possible for an Italian girl; and, besides this, they would have +to pass close by her own home, and perhaps her little brother could go +with her. + +All felt a peculiar affection for Fiesole, because from the house in +which they were living they could look right out upon the historic old +city nestling into the hollow of the hill-top, and watch its changing +lights and shadows, and say "good morning" and "good night" to it. + +Barbara and Bettina had often tried to fancy what life there was like so +many centuries ago, when the city was rich and powerful; and afterward, +when the old Romans had taken possession of it, and the ruined +amphitheatre was whole and noisy with games; or in later times, when the +venerable Cathedral was fresh and new. They felt a kind of pity for the +forlorn old place, peopled with so much wrinkled age, and forever +looking down upon all the loveliness and treasures of the fair Florence +which had grown out from her own decay. + +As the party left the house, and, before disappearing from the view of +Mrs. Douglas, who stood watching them, turned and waved their hands, she +thought that she had not seen her brother looking so young, care-free, +and happy for many years. + +"This is doing Robert a world of good," said she to herself. "Those who +have heretofore been only children to him are now companions, and he is +becoming a boy again with them. Oh! if he could only throw off the +morbid feeling he has had about going back to America to live, and +return with us, and be happy and useful there, how delightful it would +be!" + +Second only in the life of Mrs. Douglas to the great loss of her husband +had been the separation from this dearly loved brother, and it was one +of the strongest wishes of her heart that he should come back to his +native land. To have him living near her and experiencing the delights +of home life had been a long dream of whose realization she had wellnigh +despaired, as year after year had passed and he had still lingered in +foreign lands. Now, as she turned from the window and went back into the +large, sunny rooms, so quiet with the young people all gone, her +thoughts lingered upon her brother, and into them came the remembrance +of the sweet-faced Miss Sherman, whom they had met yesterday and who +seemed destined to come more or less into their lives. + +"Perhaps"--she thought, and smiled at her thought so evidently born of +her wish; and then hastened to despatch a message to Miss Sherman and +Howard, lest she might miss them. + +Lucile Sherman differed somewhat in character from the impression she +had made upon Mrs. Douglas. Lovely in face and figure, gifted with +winning ways, possessed of a certain degree of culture, and very +desirous of gaining the friendship of cultured people, she was most +attractive on short acquaintance. An intimacy must always reveal her +limitations and show how she just missed the best because of the lack of +any definite, earnest purpose in her life,--of real sincerity and of the +slightest element of self-sacrifice, without which no character can grow +truly noble. + +She was very dear unto herself, and was accustomed to take the measure +of all things according to the way in which they affected Lucile +Sherman. When her father, for whose health the present journey to Italy +had been primarily planned, was imperatively summoned home, her +disappointment was so overwhelmingly apparent that her sister Marion was +chosen to accompany him back to America, and Lucile was permitted to +spend the winter as she so much wished. + +She was fond of society, of music, of literature and art; had seemingly +an enthusiastic admiration and desire for all things good and true, and +thought she embodied all her desires; but these were ever a little too +languid to subdue the self-love and overcome the inertia of all high +principles of life. It is not difficult to understand her, for the world +has many such,--in whom there is nothing really bad, only they have +missed the best. + +On board the steamship, she had been much attracted by the little party +from Boston, and had made advances toward Mrs. Douglas; and when, on +that day so soon after reaching Florence, she had met Mr. Sumner and the +young people in Santa Croce, her remark that it was worth a journey from +America just to see Giotto's frescoes there--the remark that had won a +look of interest from Mr. Sumner, and that poor Barbara had brooded over +because it had caused her to feel so sorely her own ignorance--had been +spoken with the design that it should be overheard by that +distinguished-looking man who, she felt sure, must be the artist-brother +whom Mrs. Douglas had come to Italy to meet; and though she did enjoy +the old Florentine masters very much indeed, yet she had haunted the +churches and galleries a little more persistently than she would +otherwise have done, in the hope that fortune might some day favor her +by granting a meeting with Mrs. Douglas and her brother. All things come +to those who wish and wait; and so the time came when Mrs. Douglas found +her in Santa Croce, and the desired introduction and invitations were +given. + +When, therefore, the request that she join the picnic party on Fiesole +reached her, and was soon followed by Mrs. Douglas's carriage, Miss +Sherman's satisfaction knew no bounds. The lovely eyes, that Barbara and +Bettina had so much admired, were more softly brilliant than ever in +their expression of happiness, and Mrs. Douglas looked the admiration +she felt for her young companion. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Sumner, Malcom, Margery, Barbara, and Bettina had +gloriously enjoyed the walk out of the city through Porta Gallo, along +the banks of the Mugello, up the first slope of the hill, past Villa +Palmieri, and upward to San Domenico,--church and monastery,--which +stands about half way to the top. + +Here they stopped to rest, and to talk for a few minutes about Fra +Angelico, the painter-monk, whose name has rendered historic every spot +on which he lived. + +Mr. Sumner told them very briefly how two young men--brothers, hardly +more than boys--had come hither one day from the country over yonder, +the same country where Giotto had lived when a child, about one hundred +years before, and had become monks in this monastery. "They took the +names of Giovanni and Benedetto; and Giovanni, or John, as it is in +English, was afterward called Fra Angelico by his brethren because his +life was so holy, or because, as some say, he painted angels more pure +and beautiful than have ever been pictured before or since. He lived +here many years before he was transferred with his brethren to the +monastery of San Marco down in Florence, and painted several pictures in +this church, only a part of one of which is remaining. Little did the +young monk think, as he painted here in humility, that one day +emissaries from the great unknown world would come hither, cut his +frescoes out of the walls, and bear them away to foreign art galleries, +there to be treasured beyond all price." + +They went into the church to give a look at the remaining picture over +the altar in the choir, a _Virgin with Saints and Angels_, the lower +part, or predella, of which is now in the National Gallery, London; but +Mr. Sumner said they must not stay long, for this was not the object of +the day. Since, however, Fra Angelico was to be their next subject of +study, he wished them to know all about him they possibly could before +going to San Marco to really study his pictures. + +Lingering on the terrace outside, they looked at the lovely Villa Landor +close at hand, where the English poet, Walter Savage Landor, spent +several years. Here Malcom quoted, in a quietly impressive way:-- + + "From France to Italy my steps I bent, + And pitcht at Arno's side my household tent. + Six years the Medicean Palace held + My wandering Lares; then they went afield, + Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend + O'er Doccia's dell, and fig and olive blend." + +"How did you come to know that?" asked Margery, the usual poetry quoter. + +"I didn't have to go far for it. I came across it in my 'Hare's +Florence,' and I rather think the quaint fancy of the _Lares_ 'going +afield' caught my attention so that I cannot lose the words." + +"It is easier to think how one must write poetry in such a lovely spot +than how one could help it," said Bettina, with shining eyes. + +"Or could help painting pictures," added Barbara. "Just look at the +colors of sky, hills, and city. No wonder Fra Angelico thought of angels +with softly glittering wings and dressed in exquisite pinks and violets, +when he lived here day after day." + +"Just wait, though, until we come down at sunset," said Mr. Sumner. +"This is indeed beautiful, but then it will be most beautiful, and you +can enjoy the changing colors of sunset over Florence, as seen from +Fiesole, far better as we loiter along on the road, as we shall do +to-night, than when in a carriage, as we were two or three weeks ago. Of +course, there is less color now than in summer, yet it will be +glorious, I am sure. We are most fortunate in our choice of a day, for +it is warm, with a moisture in the atmosphere that veils forms and +enriches color. We should call it 'Indian summer' were we at home." + +Before they had quite reached the old city at the top, the carriage +containing Mrs. Douglas, Miss Sherman, and Howard overtook them, and the +latter sprang out to join the walking-party. + +Such a day as followed! Lunch in the grove behind the ancient +Monastery!--visits to the ruined Amphitheatre, the Cathedral, and Museum +so full of all sorts of antiquities obtained from the excavations of +ancient Fiesole!--loitering in the spacious Piazza, where they were +beset by children and weather-beaten, brown old women, clamoring for +them to buy all sorts of things made of the straw there manufactured; +and everywhere magnificent views, either of the widely extended valley +of the Mugnone on the one side, or of Florence, lying in her amethystine +cup, on the other! + +Finally, giving orders for the carriage to follow within a certain time, +so that any tired one might take it, all started down the hill. They +soon met a procession of young Franciscan monks, chanting a hymn as they +walked--their curious eyes stealing furtive glances at the beautiful +faces of the American ladies. + +"I feel as if I were a part of the fourteenth century," said Miss +Sherman. "Surely Fra Angelico might be one of those passing us." + +"Only he would have worn a white gown instead of a brown one," replied +Mrs. Douglas, smiling. "You know he was a Dominican monk, not +Franciscan." + +"But look on the other side of the road," cried Malcom, "and hear the +buzzing of the wires! an electric tramway! Here meet the fourteenth and +the nineteenth centuries!" + +In a minute it all had happened. Just how, no one knew. An agonized +scream from the little maid, Anita, who was walking behind them, a +momentary sight of the tiny, brown-faced Italian boy, her brother, right +in the pathway of the swinging car as it rounded the curve--Malcom's +spring--and then the boy and himself lying out on the roadside against +the wall. + +The vigorous crying of the little boy as he rushed into his sister's +arms, evinced his safety, but there was a quiet about Malcom that was +terrifying. + +He had succeeded in throwing the child beyond the reach of the car, but +had himself been struck by it, and consciousness was gone. + +The little group, so happy a moment before, now hung over him in silent +fear and agony. Howard hastened back to get the carriage, and returned +to find Malcom slowly struggling to awaken, but when moved, he again +fainted; and so, lying in his uncle's arms, with his pale mother and +tearful Margery sitting in front, and the others, frightened and +sympathetic, hurrying behind, Malcom was brought home through the +wonderful sunset glow upon which not one bestowed a single thought. + + + + +Chapter VII. + +A Startling Disclosure. + + '_Tis even thus: + In that I live I love; because I love + I live: Whate'er is fountain to the one + Is fountain to the other._ + + --TENNYSON. + +[Illustration: CLOISTER, MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE.] + + +Many days of great distress followed. Everything else was forgotten in +the tense waiting. There were moments of half consciousness when +Malcom's only words were "All right, mother." It seemed as if even in +that second of plunging to save the child he yet thought of his mother, +and realized how she would feel his danger. But happily, as time wore +on, the jarred brain recovered from the severe shock it had received, +and gradually smiles took the place of anxious, questioning looks, and +merry voices were again heard, and the busy household life was resumed. + +Although Malcom could not accompany them, the proposed visit to the old +monastery, San Marco, for study of Fra Angelico's paintings was made by +the others. + +As they wandered through the long corridors, chapel, refectory, and the +many little cells, now vacant, from the walls of which look forth soft, +fair faces and still fresh, sweet colors laid there almost five hundred +years ago by the hand of the painter-monk, they talked of his devotion, +of his unselfish life and work; of his rejection of payment for his +painting, doing it unto God and not unto men. They talked of his +beginning all his work with prayer for inspiration, and how, in full +faith that his prayer had been answered, he absolutely refused to alter +a touch his brush had made; and of the old tradition that he never +painted Christ or the Virgin Mary save on his knees, nor a crucifixion +save through blinding tears; and their voices grew very quiet, and they +looked upon each fresco almost with reverence. + +"Fra Angelico stood apart from the growth of art that was taking place +about him," said Mr. Sumner. "He neither affected it nor was affected by +it. We should call him to-day an 'ecstatic painter'--one who paints +visions; the Italians then called him 'Il Beato,' the blessed. There are +many other works by him,--although a great part, between forty and +fifty, are here. You remember the _Madonna and Child_ you saw in the +Uffizi Gallery the other day, on whose wide gold frame are painted those +angels with musical instruments that are reproduced so widely and sold +everywhere. You recognized them at once, I saw. Then, a few pictures +have been carried away and are in foreign art galleries, as I told you +the other day. During the last years of his life the Pope sent for him +to come to Rome, and there he painted frescoes on the walls of some +rooms in the Vatican Palace. From that city he went to Orvieto, a little +old city perched on the top of a hill on the way from Florence to Rome, +in whose cathedral he painted a noble _Christ_, with prophets, saints, +and angels. He died in Rome." + +"And was he not buried here?" asked Barbara; "here in this lovely inner +court, where are the graves of so many monks?" + +"No. He was buried in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a church close by the +Pantheon in Rome, and the Pope himself wrote his epitaph. But it is +indeed a great pity that he could not lie here, in the very midst of so +many of his works, and where he lived so long." + +"Did Fra Angelico live before or after the prophet Savonarola, uncle?" +asked Margery. "We came here a little time ago with mother to visit the +latter's cell, and the church, in connection with our reading of +'Romola.'" + +"He lived before Savonarola, about a hundred years. So that when +Savonarola used to walk about through these rooms and corridors, he saw +the same pictures we are now looking at." + + * * * * * + +"I say, uncle, don't you think I am having the best part of this, after +all?" brightly asked Malcom, the following day, as Mr. Sumner entered +the wide sunny room where he was lying on the sofa, propped up by +cushions, while Barbara, Bettina, and Margery were clustered about him +with their hands full of photographs of Fra Angelico's paintings, and +all trying to talk at once. "The girls have told me everything; and I am +almost sure I shall never mistake a Fra Angelico picture. I know just +what expression he put into his faces, just how quiet and +as-if-they-never-could-be-used his hands are, and how straight the folds +of his draperies hang, even though the people who wear them are dancing. +I know what funny little clouds, like bundles of cigars, his Madonnas +sit upon up in the heavens. + +"I am not quite sure, uncle dear, but I like your instructions best when +second-hand," he laughingly added. "Betty has made me fairly love the +old fellow by her stories of his unearthly goodness. Was it not fine to +refuse money for his work, and to decline to be made archbishop when the +Pope asked him; and to recommend a brother monk for the office? I think +he ought to be called _Saint_ Angelico." + +[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO. UFFUZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +GROUP OF ANGELS. FROM CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.] + +"Some people have called him the 'St. John of Art,'" Mr. Sumner +replied, with a bright smile at Malcom's enthusiasm. "I am not sure but +yours is the better name, however." + +About this time people who frequented the Cascine Gardens and other +popular drives in and about Florence began to notice with interest an +elegant equipage containing a tall, slender, pale young man, two +beautiful, brown-eyed girls, and oftentimes either a gray-haired woman +in black or a sunny-haired young girl. It had been purchased by Howard, +and daily he wished Barbara and Bettina to drive with him. Indeed, it +now seemed as if the young man's thoughts were beginning to centre +wholly in this household; and suddenly warned by a few words spoken by +Malcom, Mrs. Douglas became painfully conscious that a more than mere +friendly interest might prompt such constant and lavish attentions. With +newly opened eyes, she saw that while Howard generously gave to them all +of such things as he could in return for their hospitality, yet there +was a something different in his manner toward Barbara and Bettina. +Their room was always bright and fragrant with the most costly flowers, +and not a wish did they express but Howard was eager to gratify it. + +She was troubled; and since the air of Florence was beginning to take +on the chill of winter--to become too cold for such an invalid as +Howard--she ventured one day, when they happened to be alone together, +to ask him if he would soon go farther south for the winter. + +"Malcom told me you had stopped for only a time here on your way to the +south of Italy," she added. + +The color rushed in a torrent over Howard's pale face, and he did not +speak for a minute; then, turning abruptly to her, said:-- + +"I cannot go away from Florence, Mrs. Douglas. Do you not see, do you +not know, how I have loved Barbara ever since I first saw her? You must +have seen it, for I have not been able sometimes to conceal my feelings. +They have taken complete possession of me. I think only of her day and +night. I have often thought I ought to tell you of it. Now, I am glad I +have. Do you not think she will sometime love me? She _must_. I could +not live without it." And his voice, which had trembled with excitement, +suddenly faltered and broke. + +Poor Mrs. Douglas strove for words. + +"You must not let her know this," she finally said. "She is only a +little girl whom her father and mother have entrusted to me. What would +they say if they knew how blind I have been! Why, you have known her +but a few weeks! You must be mistaken. It is a fancy. It will pass away. +Conquer yourself. Go away. Oh, do go away, Howard, for a time at least!" + +"I cannot, I will not. Mrs. Douglas, I have never longed for a thing in +my life but it has come to me. I long for Barbara's love more than I +ever wished for any other thing in the world. She must give it to me. +Oh, were I only well and strong, I know I could compel it." + +"Listen to me, Howard. I know that Barbara has never had one thought of +this. Her mind is completely occupied with her study, the pleasures and +the novelties that each day is bringing her. She does not conceal +anything. She has no reason to do so. She and Bettina are no silly girls +who think of a lover in every young man they meet. They are as sweet and +fresh and free from all sentimentalities as when they were children. +Barbara would be frightened could she hear you talk,--should she for a +moment suspect how you feel. You must conceal it; for your own sake, you +must." + +"I will not show what I feel any more than I already have. I will not +speak to Barbara yet of my love. Only let me stay here, where I can see +her every day. Do not send me away. Mrs. Douglas, you do not know how +lonely my life has been--without brother or sister--without father or +mother. It has been like a bit of Paradise to go in and out of your +household; and to think--to hope that perhaps Barbara would sometime +love me and be with me always. My love has become a passion, stronger +than life itself. Look at me! Do you not believe my words, Mrs. +Douglas?" + +As Mrs. Douglas lifted her eyes and looked full into the delicate, +almost transparent face so swept by emotion, and met the deathless fire +of Howard's brilliant eyes, she felt as never before the frailty of his +physical life, and wondered at the mighty force of his passionate will. +The conviction came that she was grappling with no slight feeling, but +with that which really might mean life or death to him. + +An unfathomable sympathy filled her heart. + +"I can talk no more," she said, gently taking in her own the young man's +hand. "I will accept your promise. Come and go as you have, dear Howard. +But always remember that very much depends on your keeping from Barbara +all knowledge of your love." + +As soon as it was possible, Mrs. Douglas, as was her wont when in any +anxiety, sought a conference with her brother. After telling him all, +there was complete silence for a moment. Then Mr. Sumner said:-- + +"And Barbara,--how do you think Barbara feels? For she is not a child +any longer. How old were you, my sister, when you were married? Only +nineteen--and you told me yesterday that we must celebrate Barbara's and +Bettina's eighteenth birthday before very long, and Barbara is older +than her years--more womanly than most girls of her age." + +"She has never had a thought of this, I am confident. Of course, she may +have known, have felt, Howard's admiration of her; but I doubt if the +child has ever in her life had the slightest idea of the possible +existence of any such feeling as he is cherishing. It is not ordinary, +Robert, it is overwhelming; you know we have seen his self-will shown in +many ways. The force of his emotion and will now is simply tremendous. +Few girls could withstand it if fully exposed to its influence. There is +all the more danger because the element of pity must enter in, because +he is so evidently frail and lonely. I feel that I have been greatly in +fault. I ought to have foreseen what might happen from admitting so +freely into our home a young man of Howard's age and circumstances. I +have never thought of Barbara and Betty otherwise than of my own +Margery, and I know nothing in the world has ever been farther from good +Dr. and Mrs. Burnett's minds than the possible involvement of one of +their girls in a love-affair. + +"And now I must write them something of this," she added, with a sigh. +"It would not be right to keep secret even the beginnings of what might +prove to be of infinite importance. Of course Howard's family, +character, position, are above question; but his health, his exacting +nature; his lack of so many qualities Dr. Burnett considers essential; +the undesirability of such an entanglement! Oh! it would be only the +beginning of sorrows should Barbara grow to care for him." + +Poor Mrs. Douglas's face showed the sudden weight of care that had been +launched upon her, as she anxiously asked:-- + +"What do you advise, Robert?" + +"Nothing; only to go on just as we have been doing. Fill the days as +full as we can, and trust that all will be right. It is best never to +try to manage affairs, I believe." + +And Barbara--how did Barbara feel? She could never have analyzed and put +into definite thought the inner life she was leading during these days. +Indeed, it is doubtful whether she had the slightest conception of the +change that was gradually working within her. But rapidly she was +putting away childish things, and "woman's lot" was coming fast upon +her. Mrs. Douglas would have been astounded, indeed, could she, with her +eyes of experience and wisdom, have looked into the heart of Barbara, +whom she still called "child." That which the young girl could not +understand would have been a revelation to her who had been a loving +wife. With what an overwhelming pity would she have hastened to restore +her to her parents before this hopeless love should grow any stronger, +and she become aware of its existence! + +Dr. Burnett's admiration for Robert Sumner was unbounded. He had known +him from boyhood, and had always been his confidant, so far as an older +man can be with a younger. Many times he had talked to his children +about him--about his earnestness and sincerity of purpose--his high +aims, and his willingness to spare no pains to realize them. + +Barbara, who, perhaps, had been more than any other of the children her +father's comrade, had listened to these tales and praises until Robert +Sumner had become her ideal of all that was noble. No one had dreamed of +such a thing, but so it was; and through all the excitement of +preparation and through the journey to Italy, one of her chief +anticipations had been to see this young man of whom her father had +talked so much, and, herself, to learn to know him. The story of his +marriage disappointment, which had led to his life abroad, and a notable +adventure in Egypt, in which he had saved a woman's life, had added just +that romance to his reputation as an artist and a writer on art that had +seized hold of the young girl's imagination. + +Now, as she was daily with him in the home, saw his affectionate care +for his sister, Malcom, and Margery, and felt his good comradeship with +them all, while in every way he was teaching them and inspiring them to +do better things than they had yet accomplished, a passionate desire had +risen to make herself worthy of his approbation. She wished him to think +of her as more than a mere girl--the companion of none but the very +young. She wished to be his companion, and all that was ardent and +enthusiastic in her nature was beginning to rush, like a torrent that +suddenly finds an outlet, into the channels indicated by him. + +She did not realize this. But the absorbing study she was giving to the +old pictures, the intensity of which was surprising to Bettina, was an +indication of it. Her quick endeavor to follow any line of thought +suggested by Mr. Sumner--and her restlessness when she saw the long +conversations he and Miss Sherman would so often hold, were others. It +seemed to her lately as if Miss Sherman were always claiming his time +and attention--even their visit to Santa Maria del Carmine to study the +frescoes by Masaccio, who was the next artist they were to learn about, +had been postponed because she wished Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner to go +somewhere with her. Barbara did not like it very well. + +But to Howard she gave little thought when she was away from him. He was +kind, his flowers were sweet, but they were all over the house,--given +to others as well as to herself. It was very good of him to take herself +and Betty in his fine new carriage so often; but, perhaps,--if he did +not so continually ask them,--perhaps,--they would oftener drive with +Mr. Sumner and Malcom; and she knew Betty would like that better, as +well as she herself. + +She was often annoyed because he evidently "admired" her so much, as +Betty called it, and did wish he would not look at her as he sometimes +did; and she felt very sensitively the signs of irritation that were so +apparent in him when anything prevented them from being with him as he +wished. But she was very sorry for his loneliness; for his exile from +home on account of ill-health; for the weakness that he often felt and +for which no pleasures purchased by money could compensate. She was +grateful for his kindness, and would not wound him for the world; so she +frankly and graciously accepted all he gave, and, in return, tried to +bring all the happiness she could into his days. + + + + +Chapter VIII. + +Howard's Questionings. + + _When the fight begins within himself, + A man's worth something. God stoops o'er his head, + Satan looks up beneath his feet--both tug-- + He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul wakes + And grows_. + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: PONTE ALLA CARRAJA, FLORENCE.] + + +At last the morning came when the postponed visit to Santa Maria del +Carmine, on the other side of the Arno, was to be made. Miss Sherman had +so evidently desired to join in the study of the old painters that Mrs. +Douglas suggested to her brother that she be invited to do so, but he +had thought it not best. + +"The others would not be so free to talk," he said. "I do not wish any +constraint. Now we are only a family party,--with the exception of +Howard, and I confess that I sometimes wish he did not join us in this." +Malcom was again with them, for the first time since they were at +Fiesole, and this was enough to make the occasion a particularly joyous +one. + +The romantic mystery of Masaccio's short life and sudden, secret death, +and the wonderful advance that he effected in the evolution of Italian +painting of the fifteenth century, had greatly interested them as they +had read at home about him, and all were eager to see the frescoes. + +"They are somewhat worn and dark," Mr. Sumner said, "and at first you +will probably feel disappointed. What you must particularly look for +here is that which you have hitherto found nowhere else,--the expression +of individuality in figures and faces. Giotto, you remember, sought to +tell some story; to illustrate some Bible incident so that it should +seem important and claim attention. Masaccio went to work in a wholly +different way. While Giotto would say to himself: 'Now I am going to +paint a certain Bible story; what people shall I introduce so that this +story shall best seem to be a real occurrence?' Masaccio would think: 'I +wish to make a striking picture of Peter and John, or any other sacred +characters. What story or incident shall I choose for representation +that will best show the individual characteristics of these men?' + +"Possessing this great love for people, he studied the drawing of the +human figure as had never been done before in the history of Christian +art. At this time, more than a hundred years after Giotto, artists were +beginning to master the science of perspective drawing, and in +Masaccio's pictures we see men standing firmly on their feet, and put +upon different planes in the same picture; their figures well poised, +and true to anatomy. In one of them is his celebrated naked, shivering +youth, who is awaiting baptism,--the study of which wrought a revolution +in painting." + +A little afterward they were standing in the dim Brancacci Chapel of +Santa Maria del Carmine, whose walls are covered with frescoes of scenes +in the lives of Christ and His apostles. They had learned that there was +an artist called Masolino, who, perhaps, had begun these frescoes, and +had been Masaccio's teacher; and that a young man called Filippino Lippi +had finished them some years after they had been left incomplete by +Masaccio's early death. + +All were greatly impressed by the fact that so little can be known of +Masaccio, who wrought here so well; that even when, or how, or where he +died is a mystery; and yet his name is one of the very greatest in early +Italian art. + +They talked of how the greatest masters of the High Renaissance--Michael +Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael--used to come here to study, and +thus this little chapel became a great art school; and how, at the +present time, it is esteemed by many one of the four most important +art-buildings in the world;--the others being, Arena Chapel, Padua, +where are Giotto's frescoes; Sistine Chapel, Rome, where are Michael +Angelo's greatest paintings; and Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, which is +filled with Tintoretto's work. + +He then called their attention to the composition of Masaccio's +frescoes; asking them especially to notice that, while only a few people +are taking part in the principal scene, many others are standing about +interested in looking on; all, men with strongly marked +characteristics,--individual, and worthy of attention. + +"May I repeat a verse or two of poetry right here where we stand, +uncle?" asked Margery. "It keeps saying itself in my mind. I think you +all know it and who wrote it, but that is all the better." + +And in her own sweet way she recited James Russell Lowell's beautiful +tribute to Masaccio:-- + + "He came to Florence long ago + And painted here these walls, that shone + For Raphael and for Angelo, + With secrets deeper than his own, + Then shrank into the dark again, + And died, we know not how or when. + + "The darkness deepened, and I turned + Half sadly from the fresco grand; + 'And is this,' mused I, 'all ye earned, + High-vaulted brain and cunning hand, + That ye to other men could teach + The skill yourselves could never reach?' + + * * * * * + + "Henceforth, when rings the health to those + Who live in story and in song, + O, nameless dead, that now repose + Safe in oblivion's chambers strong, + One cup of recognition true + Shall silently be drained to you!" + +"But Masaccio does not need any other monument than this chapel. He is +not very badly off, I am sure, while this stands, and people come from +all over the world to visit it," exclaimed Malcom, as they left the +Brancacci Chapel, and walked slowly down the nave of the church. + +"Is this all he painted?" asked Barbara. + +"There is one other fresco in the cloister of this same church, but it +is sadly injured--indeed half obliterated," answered Mr. Sumner. "That +is all. But his influence cannot be estimated. What he, then a poor, +unknown young man, working his very best upon these walls, accomplished +for the great world of painting can never be measured. He surely wrought +'better than he knew.' This was because he, for the first time in the +history of modern painting, portrayed real life. All the +conventionalities that had hitherto clung, in a greater or less degree, +to painting, were dropped by him; and thus the way was opened for the +perfect representations of the High Renaissance which so soon followed. +We will next give some time to the study of the works of Ghirlandajo and +Botticelli, who, with Filippino Lippi, who finished these frescoes which +we have just been looking at, make a famous trio of Early Renaissance +painters." + +After they had crossed Ponte alla Carraja, Margery said she wished to do +some shopping on Via dei Fossi, which was close at hand--that street +whose shop windows are ever filled with most fascinating groups of +sculptured marbles and bronzes, and all kinds of artistic +bric-a-brac--and begged her uncle to accompany her. + +"I wish no one else to come," she said, with her own little, emphatic +nod. + +"Oh, ho! secrets!" exclaimed Malcom; "so we must turn aside!" + +"Do go to drive with me," begged Howard. "Here we are close to my hotel, +and I can have the team ready right off." + +So they walked a few steps along the Lung' Arno to the pleasant, sunny +Hotel de la Grande Bretagne, which Howard had chosen for his Florentine +home, and soon recrossed the Arno, and swept out through Porta Romana +into the open country, behind Howard's beautiful gray horses. + +The crisp, cool air brought roses into Barbara's and Bettina's cheeks, +and ruffled their pretty brown hair. Malcom was in high spirits after +his long confinement to the house, and Howard tried to throw off a +gloomy, discouraged feeling that had hung over him all the morning. +Seated opposite Barbara, and continually meeting her frank, steadfast +eyes, he seemed to realize as he had never before done the obvious truth +of Mrs. Douglas's words, when she had said that Barbara was perfectly +unconscious of his love for her; and all the manhood within him strove +to assert itself to resist an untimely discovery of his feeling, for +fear of the mischief it might cause. + +Howard had been doing a great deal of new thinking during the past +weeks. He suddenly found himself surrounded by an atmosphere wholly +different from that in which he had before lived. + +Sprung from an aristocratic and thoroughly egoistic ancestry on his +father's side, and a morbidly sensitive one on his mother's; brought up +by his paternal grandmother, whose every thought had been centred upon +him as the only living descendant of her family; surrounded by servants +who were the slaves of his grandmother's and his own whims; not even his +experience in the Boston Latin School, chosen because his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather had been educated there, had served +to widen much the horizon of his daily living, or to make him anything +like a typical American youth. + +Now, during the last two or three months he had been put into wholly +changed conditions. An habitual visitor to this family into whose life +he had accidentally entered, he had been a daily witness of Mrs. +Douglas's self-forgetting love, which was by no means content with +ministering to the happiness of her own loved home ones, but continually +reached out to an ever widening circle, blessing whomever it touched. He +could not be unconscious that every act of Robert Sumner's busy life was +directed by the desire to give of himself to help others; that a high +ideal of beneficence, not gain, was always before him, and was that by +which he measured himself. The wealth, the position of both, served only +to make their lives more generous. + +And he saw that the younger people of the household had caught the same +spirit. Malcom, Margery, Barbara, and Bettina forgot themselves in each +other, and were most generous in all their judgments. They esteemed +people according to that which they were in themselves, not according to +what they had, and shrank from nothing save meanness and selfishness. + +As we have seen, he had been attracted in a wonderful way to Barbara +ever since he had first met her. Her beauty, her unconscious pride of +bearing, mingled with her sweet, unaffected enthusiasms, were a swift +revelation to one who had never in his life before given a second +thought to any girl; and a fierce longing to win her love had taken +possession of his whole being, as he had confessed to Mrs. Douglas. + +But to-day there was a chill upon him. He had before been confident of +the future. It must not, should not disappoint him, he had said to +himself again and again. Somehow he was not now so sure of himself and +it. There seemed a mystery before him. The way that had always before +seemed to open to his will refused to disclose itself. How could he win +the affection of this noble girl, whose life already seemed so full that +she felt no lack, who was so warm and generous in her feelings to all, +so thoroughly unselfish, so wholesome, so lovable? How he did long to +make all her wishes centre on him, even as his did upon her! + +But Barbara's ideals were high. She would demand much of him whom she +could love. Only the other day he had heard her say in a voice deep with +feeling that money and position were nothing in comparison with a life +that was ever giving itself to enrich others. Whom did she mean? he +wondered. It seemed as if she knew some one who was even then in her +mind, and a fierce jealousy sprang up with the thought. She surely +could not have meant him, for he had never lived for any other than +himself, nor did he wish to think of anything but himself. He wanted to +get well and to have Barbara love him. Then he would take her away from +everybody else and lavish everything upon her, and how happy would he +be! Could he only look into the future, he thought, and see that this +was to come, he would ask nothing else. + +Poor Howard! Could the future have opened before his wish never so +little, how soon would his restless, raging emotions have become hushed +into a great silence! + + * * * * * + +A few evenings afterward, as they were all sitting together in the +library, and Howard with them, Mr. Sumner, knowing that the young people +had been reading and talking of Ghirlandajo and Botticelli, said that +perhaps there would be no better time for talking of these artists than +the present. + +"With Masaccio," he continued, "we have begun a new period of Italian +painting,--the period of the Early Renaissance. All the former great +artists,--Cimabue, Giotto, and Fra Angelico, whom we have particularly +studied,--and the lesser ones, about whom you have read,--Orcagna, +Taddeo Gaddi, and Uccello, the bird-lover (who gave himself so +untiringly to the study of linear perspective),--belong to the Gothic +period, literally the rude period; in which, although a steady advance +was made, yet the works are all more or less very imperfect +art-productions. All these are wholly in the service of the Church, and +are painted in fresco on plaster or in _tempera_ on wood. In the Early +Renaissance, however, a new impulse was seen. Artists were much better +equipped for their work, nature-study progressed wonderfully, anatomy +was studied, perspective was mastered, the sphere of art widened to take +in history, portraits, and mythology; and in the latter part of this +period, as we shall see, oil-painting was introduced." + +"Can you give us any dates of these periods to remember, uncle?" asked +Malcom. + +"Roughly speaking, the Gothic period covers the years from about 1250 to +1400; the Early Renaissance, from about 1400 to 1500. Masaccio, as we +have seen, was the first great painter of the Early Renaissance, and he +lived from 1401 to 1428. But these dates are not arbitrary. Fra Angelico +lived until 1455, and yet his pictures belong wholly to the Gothic +period; so also do those of other Gothic painters whose lives overlap +the Early Renaissance in point of time. It is the spirit of the art +that definitely determines its place, although the general dates help +one to remember. + +"We will not talk long of Ghirlandajo,--Domenico Ghirlandajo (for there +is another, Ridolfo by name, who is not nearly so important to the +art-world). His composition is similar to that of Masaccio. A few people +are intimately engaged, and the others are bystanders, or onlookers. One +characteristic is that many of these last are portraits of Florentine +men and women who were his contemporaries, and so we get from his +pictures a knowledge of the people and costumes of his time. His +backgrounds are often masses of Florentine architecture, some of which +you will readily recognize. His subjects are religious. + +"For studying his work, go again to Santa Maria Novella, where is a +series of frescoes representing scenes in the lives of the Virgin Mary +and John the Baptist. I would give some time to these, for in them you +will find all the characteristics of Ghirlandajo's frescoes, which are +his strongest work. Then you will find two good examples of his +_tempera_ painting on wooden panels in the Uffizi Gallery: an _Adoration +of the Magi_, and a _Madonna and Saints_, which are in the Sala di +Lorenzo Monaco near Fra Angelico's _Madonna_--the one which is +surrounded by the famous musical Angels. Others are in the Pitti +Gallery and Academy. His goldsmith's training shows in these smaller +pictures more than in the frescoes. We see it in his love for painting +golden ornaments and decoration of garments." + +"Is his work anything like that of Michael Angelo, Mr. Sumner?" asked +Barbara. "He was Angelo's teacher, was he not?" + +"Yes, history tells us that he held that position for three years; but +judging from the work of both, I should say that not much was either +taught or learned. Ghirlandajo's work possesses great strength, as does +Michael Angelo's, but on wholly different lines. Ghirlandajo loved to +represent grave, dignified figures,--which were portraits,--clad in long +gowns, stiff brocades, and flowing mantles; and there are superb +accessories in his pictures,--landscapes, architecture, and decorated +interiors. On the other hand, Michael Angelo's figures are most +impersonal, and each depends for effect simply on its own magnificence +of conception and rendering. The lines of figures are of far more +importance than the face, which is the farthest possible removed from +the portrait--and for accessories of any kind he cared not at all." + +At this moment callers were announced and Mr. Sumner said they would +resume their talk some other time. + +"It will be well for you if you can look at these paintings by +Ghirlandajo to-morrow morning if it be a bright day," he said, "while +all that I have told you is fresh in your minds. I cannot go with you, +but if you think of anything you would like to ask me about them, you +can do so before we begin on Botticelli." + + + + +Chapter IX. + +The Coming-out Party. + + _Like the swell of some sweet tune, + Morning rises into noon, + May glides onward into June_. + + --LONGFELLOW. + +[Illustration: PALAZZO PITTI, FLORENCE.] + + +"Well, have you seen Ghirlandajo's work?" asked Mr. Sumner, the next +time the little group met in the library. + +"Only his frescoes in Santa Maria Novella. We have spent two entire +mornings looking at those," answered Bettina. + +"We took your list of the portraits there with us, uncle," said Malcom, +"and tried to get acquainted with those old Florentine bishops, bankers, +and merchants that he painted." + +"And oh! isn't that Ginevra de' Benci in the _Meeting of Mary and +Elizabeth_ lovely! and her golden brocaded dress!" cried Margery. + +"You pay quite a compliment to the old painter's power of representing +men and women," said Mr. Sumner, "for these evidently captivated you. I +wish I could have overheard you talking by yourselves." + +"I fear we could not appreciate the best things, though," said Barbara. +"We imagined ourselves in old Florence of the fifteenth century, and +tried to recognize the mountains and palaces in the backgrounds, and we +enjoyed the people and admired their fine clothes. I do think, however, +that these last seem often too stiff and as if made of metal rather than +of silk, satin, or cloth. And when Howard told us that Mr. Ruskin says +'they hang from the figures as they would from clothes-pegs,' we could +but laugh, and think he is right with regard to some of them. Ought we +to admire everything in these old pictures, Mr. Sumner?" she earnestly +added. + +"Not at all; not by any means. I would not have you think this for a +moment. Ghirlandajo's paintings are famous and worthy because they are +such an advance on what was before him. Compare his men and women with +those by Giotto. You know how much you found of interest and to admire +in Giotto's pictures when you compared them with Cimabue's and with the +old Greek Byzantine paintings. Just so compare those by Masaccio and +Ghirlandajo with what was done before. See the growth,--the steady +evolution,--and realize that Ghirlandajo was honest and earnest, and +gifted too; that his drawing is firm and truer to nature than that of +most contemporary artists; that his portraits possess character; that +they are well-bred and important, as the people they represent were; +that his mountains are like mountains even in some of their subtile +lines; that his rivers wind; that his masses of architecture are in good +perspective and proportion; and then you will excuse his faults, though +it is right to notice and feel them. We must see many in the work of +every artist until we come to the great painters of the High +Renaissance. You must find Ghirlandajo's other pictures, and study them +also." + +"Now about Botticelli," he added. A little rustle of expectancy swept +through the group of listeners. Bettina drew nearer Barbara and clasped +her hand; and all settled themselves anew with an especial air of +interest. "I see you, like most other people, care more for him. He is +immensely popular at present. It is quite the fashion to admire him. +But, strangely enough, only a few years ago little was known or cared +about his work, and his name is not even mentioned by some writers on +art. He was first a goldsmith like Ghirlandajo, then afterward became a +pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi, father of the Filippino Lippi who finished +Masaccio's frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel. Botticelli wrought an +immense service to painting by widening greatly the field of subjects +hitherto assigned to it, which had been confined to Bible incidents. +Others, contemporary with him, were beginning to depart slightly from +these subjects in response to the desires of the pleasure-loving +Florentines of that day; but Botticelli was the first to come +deliberately forth and make art minister to the pleasure and education +of the secular as well as the religious world. By nature he loved myths, +fables, and allegories, and freely introduced them into his pictures. He +painted Venuses, Cupids, and nymphs just as willingly as Madonnas and +saints. + +"I hope you will read diligently about him. The story of how his +pictures, and those of other artists who were influenced by him, led to +the protest which Savonarola (who lived at the same time) made against +the 'corrupting influence of profane pictures' and his demand that +bonfires should be made of them is most interesting. Botticelli +devotedly contributed a large number of his paintings to the burning +piles." + +"But he painted religious pictures also, did he not?" queried Barbara. + +"Oh, yes. His works were wrought in churches as well as in private +houses and palaces. He even received the honor of being summoned to Rome +by Pope Sixtus IV. to assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel of +the Vatican, where Michael Angelo afterward performed his greatest +work. There he painted three large religious frescoes--by the way, +Ghirlandajo painted there also. Now we must find what is the charm in +Botticelli's painting that accounts for the wonderful present interest +in his work. I think it is in a large degree his attempt to put +expression into faces. While Masaccio had taken a long step in advance +of other artists by making man himself, rather than events, the chief +interest in his pictures,--Botticelli, more imaginative and poetic, +painted man's moods,--his subtile feelings. You are all somewhat +familiar, through their reproductions, with his Madonna pictures. How do +these differ from those of other painters?" + +"The faces are less pretty." + +"They are sad instead of joyous." + +"In some the little Christ looks as though he were trying to comfort his +mother." + +"The angels look as if they longed to help both," were some of the quick +answers. + +"Yes; _inner_ feelings, you see. Sometimes he put a crown of thorns +somewhere in a picture, as if to explain its expressions. His Madonna is +'pondering these things,' as Scripture says, and the Child-Christ and +angels are in intense sympathy with her. We long to look again and again +at such pictures--they move us. + +"Another characteristic of his work is the action--a vehement impetuous +motion. You will find this finely illustrated in his _Allegory of +Spring_, a very famous picture in the Academy. His type of figure and +face is most easily recognizable; the limbs are long and slender, and +often show through almost transparent garments; the hands are long and +nervous; the faces are rather long also, with prominent rounded chins +and full lips. He put delicate patterns of gold embroidery about the +neck and wrists of the Madonna's gown and the edges of her mantle, and +heaped gold all over the lights on the curled hair of her angels and +other attendants. You can never mistake one of these pictures when once +you have grown familiar with his style. + +"I think you should study particularly his _Allegory of Spring_ in the +Academy for full length figures in motion. You will find the color of +this picture happily weird to agree with the fantastic conception. Then +in the Uffizi Gallery you will find several pictures of the Madonna; +notable among them is his _Coronation of the Virgin_, painted, as he was +fond of doing, on a round board. Such a picture is called a _tondo_. +Here you will find all his characteristics. + +[Illustration: BOTICELLI. UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.] + +"Study this first; study figures, faces, hands, and methods of +technique; then see if you cannot readily find the other examples +without your catalogue. A noted one is _Calumny_. This exemplifies +strikingly Botticelli's power of expressing swift motion. In the Pitti +Palace is a very interesting one called _Pallas_, or _Triumph of Wisdom +over Barbarity_,--strangely enough, found only recently." + +"Found only recently; how can that be, uncle?" quickly asked Malcom. + +"The picture was known to have been painted, for Vasari described it in +his 'Life of Botticelli,' but it was lost sight of until an Englishman +discovered it in an old private collection which had been for many years +in the Pitti Palace, suspected it to be the missing picture, and +connoisseurs agree that it is genuine. There was a great deal of +excitement here when the fact was made known. The figure of Pallas, in +its clinging transparent garment, is strikingly beautiful, and +characteristic of Botticelli. The picture was painted as a glorification +of the wise reign of the Medici, who did so much for the intellectual +advancement of Florence." + +Then Mr. Sumner told them that he was to be absent from Florence for a +week or two, and should be exceedingly busy for some time, and so would +leave them to go on with their study of the pictures by themselves. + +"I have been delighted," he said, "to know how much time you have spent +in going again and again to the churches and galleries in order to +become familiar with the painters whom we have especially considered. +This is the real and the only way to make the study valuable. Do the +same with regard to the pictures by Ghirlandajo and Botticelli, and if I +have not given you enough to do until I am free again to talk with you, +study the frescoes by Filippino Lippi in Santa Maria Novella, and +compare them with those in the Brancacci Chapel; and his easel pictures +in the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries. Get familiar also with his father's +(Fra Filippo's) Madonna pictures. You will find in them a type of face +so often repeated that you will always recognize it; it is just the +opposite of Botticelli's,--short and childish, with broad jaws, and +simple as childhood in expression. I shall be most interested to know +what you have done, and what your thoughts have been." + +"We certainly shall not do much but look at pictures for weeks to come, +uncle; that is sure!" said Malcom, "for the girls are bewitched with +them, and now that they think they can learn to know, as soon as they +see it, a Giotto, a Fra Angelico, a Botticelli, or a Fra Filippo Lippi, +they will be simply crazy. You ought to hear the learned way in which +they are beginning to discourse about them. They don't do it when you +are around." + +"Oh, Malcom! who was it that _must_ wait a few minutes longer, the other +morning, in Santa Maria Novella in order to run downstairs and give one +more look at Giotto's frescoes?" laughed Bettina. + + * * * * * + +Barbara's and Bettina's eighteenth birthday was drawing near. Mrs. +Douglas had for a long time planned to give a party to them, and had +fully arranged the details before she spoke of it to the girls. + +"It shall be your 'coming-out party' here in Florence," she said; "not a +large party, but a thoroughly pleasant and enjoyable one, I am sure." + +And the circle of friends who were eager to know and to add to the +pleasure of any one belonging to Robert Sumner seemed to ensure this. +Mrs. Douglas further said that she did not wish them to give a thought +to what they would wear on the occasion, but to leave everything with +her. Every girl of eighteen years will readily understand what a flutter +of joyous excitement Barbara and Bettina felt, and how they talked over +the coming event, when they were alone. Finally Bettina asked:-- + +"Why does Mrs. Douglas do so much for us? How can we ever repay her?" + +"We can never repay her, Betty," replied her sister. "Nor does she wish +it. I do not know why she is so kind. She must love us, or,--perhaps it +is because she is so fond of papa. Do you know, Betty, that our father +once saved her life? She told me about it only yesterday, and I did not +think to tell you last night, there was so much to talk about. It was +when she was a little girl of twelve or thirteen years and papa was just +beginning to practise. You know her father was very wealthy, and had +helped him to get his profession because the two families were always so +intimate. Well, Mrs. Douglas was so ill that three or four doctors said +they could do nothing more for her, and she must die. Of course her +father and mother were broken-hearted. And papa went to them, and for +days and nights did not sleep and hardly ate, but was with her every +moment; and the older doctors acknowledged that but for him she could +never have lived.--And, just think! he never said a word about it to +us!" + +"Our father never talks of the good and noble things he does," said +Bettina, proudly. "No wonder she loves him; but I do really think she +loves us too. Only the other day Malcom said he should be jealous were +it anybody but you and me. So I think all we can do is to keep on doing +just as we have done, and love her more dearly than ever." + +"I wonder if there are any other girls in the world so happy as we +are," she added after a moment's silence--and the two pairs of brown +eyes looked into each other volumes of tender sympathy and gladness. + +What a day was that birthday! Barbara and Bettina will surely tell of it +to their children and grandchildren! First of all came letters from the +dear home--birthday letters which Mrs. Douglas had withheld for a day or +two so that they should be read at the fitting time. Then the lovely +gifts! From Margery, an exquisite bit of sculptured marble for each, +chosen after much consultation with her uncle and many visits to Via dei +Fossi; from Malcom, copies of two of Fra Angelico's musical Angels, each +in a rich frame of Florentine hand-carving (for everything must be +purely Florentine, all had agreed); from Mr. Sumner, portfolios of the +finest possible photographs of the best works of Florentine masters from +the very beginning down through the High Renaissance. + +Mrs. Douglas gave them most lovely outfits for the party--gowns of white +chiffon daintily embroidered--slippers, gloves--everything needful; +while Howard had asked that he might provide all the flowers. + +When finally Barbara and Bettina stood on either side of Mrs. Douglas in +the floral bower where they received their guests, it was indeed as if +they were in fairy-land. It did not seem possible that any more pink or +white roses could be left in Florence, if indeed all Italy had not been +laid under tribute,--so lavish had Howard been. Barbara carried white +roses, and Bettina pink ones, and everywhere through the entire house +were the exquisite things, peeping out from amidst the daintiest greens +possible, or superb in the simplicity of their own magnificence. + +The lovely American girls were the cynosure of all eyes, and the +flattering things said to them by foreigners and Americans were almost +enough to turn their heads. Mrs. Douglas was delighted with the simple +frankness and dignity with which they met all. + +"You may trust well-bred American girls anywhere," she said to her +brother as she met him later in the evening, after all her guests had +been welcomed, "especially such as are ours," and she called his +attention to Barbara, who at that moment was approaching on the arm of a +distinguished-looking man, who was evidently absorbed with his fair +companion. + +Perfectly unconscious of herself, she moved with so much of womanly +grace that Robert Sumner was startled. She seemed like a stranger; this +tall, queenly creature could not be the everyday Barbara who had been +little more than a child to him. In passing she looked with a loving +smile at Mrs. Douglas, and then for a moment her eyes with the light +still in them met his, and slowly turned away. The soft flush on her +cheek deepened, and Robert Sumner felt the swift blood surge back upon +his heart until his head swam. When last had he seen such a look in +woman's eyes? Ah! how he had loved those sweet dark eyes long years ago! +Oh! the desolate longing! + +Mrs. Douglas's look had followed Barbara--then had sought Bettina, who, +with Margery by her side, was surrounded by a little group of admirers; +so she was conscious of nothing unusual. But Miss Sherman, who stood +near, had seen Barbara's flush and noted Mr. Sumner's momentary pallor, +and afterward his evident effort to be just himself again. What could it +mean? she thought. + +All through the evening she had suffered from a little unreasonable +jealousy as she had realized for the first time that these "Burnett +girls,"--mere companions of Margery, as she had always thought of +them,--were really young ladies, and most unusually beautiful ones, as +she was forced to confess to herself. She envied them the occasion, the +honor they gained through their intimate connection with Mr. Sumner and +Mrs. Douglas, and the impression they were so evidently making on +everybody. She was not broad or generous minded enough to be glad for +the young girls from her own country as a nobler-minded woman would have +been. But that there could be any especial feeling, or even momentary +thought, between Mr. Sumner and Barbara was too absurd to be considered +for a moment. That could not be. + +Drawing near, she joined Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and again sweetly +congratulated them on the success of their party, the beauty of the +rooms, etc. + +"The young girls, too," she said, "I am sure do you great credit--quite +grown-up they seem, I declare. What a difference clothes make, do they +not? I have been a bit amused by some of their pretty airs, as an older +woman could not fail to be," and an indulgent smile played about her +lips. + +As it was time to go to the dining room for refreshments, Mrs. Douglas, +in accordance with a preconceived plan, asked her brother to lead the +way with Miss Sherman. When Barbara entered the room soon after with +Howard, she saw the two sitting behind the partial screen of a big palm. +She felt a momentary wish that she could know what they were so +earnestly talking about, and, presently, was conscious that Mr. +Sumner's eyes sought her. + +But how little she thought that she, herself, was the subject of their +conversation, or rather of Miss Sherman's, who was saying how apparent +the devotion of Mr. Sinclair was to every one, and that surely Barbara +must reciprocate his feeling, else she would withdraw from him; and how +pleasant it was to see such young people, just in the beginning of life, +becoming so interested in each other; and how romantic to thus find each +other in such a city as Florence; and what an advantage to become allied +with such an old, wealthy family as the Sinclairs, and so on and on. + + + + +Chapter X. + +The Mystery Unfolds to Howard. + + _We are in God's hand. + How strange now looks the life He makes us lead: + So free we seem, so fettered fast we are! + I feel He laid the fetter: let it lie!_ + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: SAN MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE.] + + +The weeks sped rapidly on; midwinter had come and gone, and four months +had been numbered since Mrs. Douglas had brought Malcom, Margery, +Barbara, and Bettina to Italy. + +Although social pleasures and duties had multiplied, yet study had never +been given up. A steady advance had been made in knowledge of the +history of Florence, and of her many legends and traditions. They had +not forgotten or passed by the sculptured treasures of the city, but had +learned something of Donatello, her first great sculptor; of Lorenzo +Ghiberti, who wrought those exquisite gates of bronze for Dante's "Il +mio bel San Giovanni" that Michael Angelo declared to be fit for the +gates of Paradise; and of Brunelleschi, the architect of her great +Duomo. + +Through all had gone on their study of the Florentine painters. After +much patient work given to pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, they were now quite revelling in the beauty of those of the +sixteenth century, or the High Renaissance. This was all the more +interesting since they had seen how one after another the early +difficulties had been overcome; how each great master succeeding Cimabue +had added his contribution of thought and endeavor until artists knew +all the laws that govern the art of representation; and how finally, the +method of oil-painting having been introduced, they then had a fitting +medium with which to express their knowledge and artistic endeavor. + +They had read about Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest masters, so +famous for his portrayal of subtile emotion, and were wonderfully +interested in his life and work; had been to the Academy to see the +_Baptism of Christ_, painted by his master, Andrea Verrocchio, and were +very positive that the angel on the left, who holds Christ's garment, +was painted by young Leonardo. They had studied his unfinished +_Adoration of the Magi_ in the Uffizi--his only authentic work in +Florence--and had wished much that they could see his other and greater +pictures. Mr. Sumner had told them that in the early summer they would +probably go to Milan, and there see the famous _Last Supper_ and _Study +for the Head of Christ_, and that perhaps later they might visit Paris +and there find his _Mona Lisa_ and other works. + +They had been much interested in the many examples of Fra Bartolommeo's +painting that are in San Marco--where he, as well as Fra Angelico, had +been a monk;--in the Academy, and in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries; and +had learned to recognize the peculiarities of his grouping of figures, +and their abstract, devotional faces, his treatment of draperies, and +the dear little angels, with their musical instruments, that are so +often sitting at the feet of his madonnas. + +They were fascinated by Andrea del Sarto, whom they followed all over +the city wherever they could find either his frescoes or easel pictures. +His color especially enchanted them, after they had looked at so many +darkened and faded pictures. The story of his unquenchable love for his +faithless wife, and how he painted her face into all his pictures, +either as madonna or saint, played upon their romantic feelings. Margery +learned Browning's poem about them, and often quoted from it. They were +never tired of looking at his _Holy Families_ and _Madonnas_ in the +galleries, but especially loved to go to the S.S. Annunziata and linger +in the court, surrounded by glass colonnades, where are so many of his +frescoes. + +"Do you suppose it is true that his wife, Lucrezia, used to come here +after he was dead and she was an old woman, to look at the pictures?" +asked Margery one morning, when they had found their favorite place. + +"I think it would be just like her vanity to point out her own likeness +to people who were copying or looking at the frescoes, according to the +old story," answered Bettina, with a disapproving shake of the head. + +"Well," said Barbara, "the faces and figures and draperies are all +lovely. But I suppose it is true, as Mr. Sumner says, that Andrea del +Sarto did not try to make the faces show any holy feeling, or indeed any +very noble expression, so that they are not so great pictures as they +would have been had he been high-minded enough to do such things." + +"It is a shame to have a man's life and work harmed by a woman, even +though she was his wife," said Malcom, emphatically. + +"All the more that she was his wife," said Barbara. "But I do not +believe he could have done much better without Lucrezia. I think his +very love for such a woman shows a weakness in his character. It would +have been better if he had chosen other than sacred subjects, would it +not, Howard?" + +They were quite at home in their study of these more modern pictures, +with photographs of which they were already somewhat familiar. Howard, +especially, had always had a fine and critical taste regarding art +matters, and now, among the works of artists of whom he knew something, +was a valuable member of the little coterie, and often appealed to when +Mr. Sumner was absent. + +And thus they had talked over and over again the impressions which each +artist and his work made on them, until even Mr. Sumner was astonished +and delighted at the evident result of the interest he had awakened. + +But the chief man and artist they were now considering, was Michael +Angelo; and the more they learned of him the more true it was, they +thought, that he "filled all Florence." They eagerly followed every step +of his life from the time when, a young lad, he entered Ghirlandajo's +studio, until he was brought to Florence--a dead old man, concealed in a +bale of merchandise, because the authorities refused permission to his +friends to take his body from Rome--and was buried at midnight in Santa +Croce. + +They tried to imagine his life during the four years which he spent in +the Medici Palace, now Palazzo Riccardi, under the patronage of Lorenzo +the Magnificent, while he was studying with the same tremendous energy +that marked all his life, going almost daily to the Brancacci Chapel to +learn from Masaccio's frescoes, and plunging into the subject of anatomy +more like a devotee than a student. + +They learned of his visit to Rome, where, before he was twenty-five +years old, he sculptured the grand _Pietá_, or _Dead Christ_, which is +still in St. Peter's; and of his return to Florence, where he foresaw +his _David_ in the shapeless block of marble, and gained permission of +the commissioners to hew it out,--the David which stood so long under +the shadow of old gray Palazzo Vecchio, but is now in the Academy. + +Then came the beginnings of his painting; and they saw the _Holy Family_ +of the Uffizi Gallery--his only finished easel picture--which possesses +more of the qualities of sculpture than painting; and read about his +competition with Leonardo da Vinci when he prepared the famous _Cartoon +of Pisa_, now known to the world only by fragmentary copies. + +Then Pope Julius II. summoned him back to Rome to begin work on that +vast monument conceived for the commemoration of his own greatness, and +destined never to be finished; and afterward gave him the commission to +paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. + +Returning to Florence in an interval of this work, he sculptured the +magnificent Medici monuments, to see which they often visited the Chapel +of the Medici. At the same time, since the prospect of war had come to +the beautiful city, he built those famous fortifications on San Miniato +through whose gateway they entered whenever they visited this lovely +hill, crowned by a noble old church and a quiet city of the dead. + +They drove out to Settignano to visit the villa where he lived when a +child, and which he owned all his life; and went to Casa Buonarroti in +Florence, where his descendants have gathered together what they could +of the great master's sketches, early bas-reliefs, and manuscripts. Here +they looked with reverence upon his handwriting, and little clay models +moulded by his own fingers. + +They talked of his affection for the noble Vittoria Colonna, and read +the sonnets he wrote to her. + +In short, they admired his great talents, loved his character, condoned +his faults of temper, and felt the utmost sympathy with him in all the +vicissitudes of his grand, inspiring life. + +"It seems strange," said Mr. Sumner one day, as they returned from the +Academy, where they had been looking at casts and photographs of his +sculptured works, "that though Michael Angelo was undoubtedly greatest +as a sculptor, yet his most important works in the world of art are his +paintings. Those grand frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome alone +afforded him sufficient scope for his wonderful creative genius. When we +get to Rome I shall have much to tell you about them." + + * * * * * + +The question as to the best thing to do for the remainder of the year +was often talked over by Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner. Barbara, Bettina, +Malcom, and Margery were so interested in their art study that it was +finally thought best to travel in such a way that this could be +continued to advantage, and they were now thinking of leaving Florence +for Rome. + +There had been one source of anxiety for some time, and that was the +condition of Howard's health. Instead of gain there seemed to be a +continual slow loss of strength that was perceptible especially to Mrs. +Douglas. He had recently won her sincere respect by the manful way in +which he had struggled to conceal his love for Barbara. So well did he +succeed that Malcom thought he must have been mistaken in his +conjecture, and the girls were as unconscious as ever. In Bettina's and +Margery's thought, he was especially Barbara's friend, but in no other +way than Malcom was Bettina's; while Barbara was happier than she had +been in a long time, as he showed less and less frequently signs of +nervous irritability and hurt feelings whenever she disappointed him in +any way, as of course she often could not help doing. + +"Howard ought not to have spent the winter here in the cold winds of +Florence," Mrs. Douglas often had said to her brother. "But what could +we do?" + +They were thinking of hastening their departure for Rome on his account, +when one morning his servant came to the house in great alarm, to beg +Mrs. Douglas to go to his young master at once. + +"He is very ill," he said, "and asks for you continually." + +When Mrs. Douglas and her brother reached Howard's hotel, they found +that already one of the most skilful physicians of the city was there, +and that he wished to send for trained nurses. + +"I fear pneumonia," he said, "and the poor young man is indeed illy +prepared to endure such a disease." + +"Spare no pains, no expense," urged Mr. Sumner; "let the utmost possible +be done." + +"I will stay with you," said Mrs. Douglas, as the hot hand eagerly +clasped hers. "I will not leave you, my poor boy, while you are ill." +And, sending for all she needed, she prepared to watch over him as if he +were her own son. + +But all endeavors to check the progress of the disease were futile. The +enfeebled lungs could offer no resistance. One day, after having lain as +if asleep for some time, Howard opened his eyes, to find Mrs. Douglas +beside him. With a faint smile he whispered:-- + +"I have been thinking so much. I am glad now that Barbara does not love +me, for it would only give her pain--sometime tell her of my love for +her--" + +Then by and by, with the tenderest look in his large eyes, he added, +"May she come, to let me see her once more?--You will surely trust me +now!" + +"Oh, Howard! My noble Howard!" was all that Mrs. Douglas could answer; +but at her words a look of wonderful happiness lighted his face. + +When Mrs. Douglas asked the physician if a friend could be permitted to +see Howard, he replied:-- + +"He cannot live; therefore let him have everything he desires." + +And so, before consciousness left him, Barbara came with wondering, +sorrowful eyes, and in answer to his pleading look and Mrs. Douglas's +low word, bent her fair young head and kissed tenderly the brow of the +dying young man who had loved her so much better than she knew. And +Howard's life ebbed away. + +It was almost as if one of the family were gone. They did not know how +much a part of their life he had become until he came no more to the +home he had enjoyed so much--to talk--to study--to bring tributes of +love and gratitude--and to contribute all he could to their happiness. + +Whatever they would do, wherever they would go, there was one missing, +and their world was sadly changed. + +Mr. Sumner sent the mournful tidings to the lonely grandmother over the +ocean, and accompanied the faithful John as far as Genoa, on his way +homeward with the remains of the young master he had carried in his arms +as a child. + +Then, as it was so difficult to take up even for a little time the old +life in Florence, it was decided that they should go at once toward +Rome. + + + + +Chapter XI. + +On the Way to Rome. + + _Fair Italy! + Thou art the garden of the world, the home + Of all art yields, and nature can decree: + Even in thy desert, what is like to thee? + Thy very weeds are beautiful, thy waste + More rich than other climes' fertility: + Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin grand + With an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced._ + + --LORD BYRON. + +[Illustration: ORVIETO CATHEDRAL.] + + +"We will take a roundabout journey to Rome," said Mr. Sumner, "and so +get all the variety of scene and emotion possible. Something that crowds +every moment with interest will be best for all just now." + +And so they planned to go first of all to Pisa: from thence to Siena, +Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi, and so on to Rome. + +Miss Sherman had asked to accompany them, since Florence would be so +dull when they were gone. Indeed, she had stayed on instead of seeking +the warmer, more southern cities simply because they were here. + +Therefore one morning during the last week of February all bade good-by +to their pleasant home in Florence. + +"It seems like an age since we first came here, doesn't it, Bab, dear?" +said Bettina, as they entered together the spacious waiting-room of the +central railroad station. + +"Yes, Betty; are we the same girls?" answered Barbara, and her smile had +just a touch of dreariness. + +Mr. Sumner and Malcom were seeing to the weighing of the luggage; Mrs. +Douglas, Margery, and Miss Sherman were together; and for a moment the +two girls were alone. + +Somehow Bettina felt a peculiarly tender care of her sister just now, +and was never absent from her side if she could help it. Without +understanding why or what it was, she yet felt that something had +happened which put a slight barrier between them; that something in +which she had no share had touched Barbara. She had been wistfully +watching her ever since she had returned from the visit to Howard, and +was striving to keep all opportunity for painful thought from her. + +At present, Barbara shrank from telling even Bettina, from whom she had +never before hidden a thought, of that last meeting with Howard. No girl +could ever mistake such a look as that which had lighted his eyes as she +stooped to kiss his brow in answer to Mrs. Douglas's request. There +would be no need for Mrs. Douglas ever to tell her the story. The loving +devotion that shone forth even in his uttermost weakness had thrilled +her very soul, and she could not forget it for a moment when alone. + +A certain sense of loss which she could not define followed her. +Somehow, it did mean more to her than it did to any one else, that +Howard was gone from their lives, but she knew that not even Betty would +understand. Indeed, she could not herself understand, for she was sure +that she had not loved Howard. + +Though Barbara did not know it, the truth was that for a single instant +she had felt what it is to be loved as Howard loved her; and the loss +she felt was the loss of love,--not Howard's love--but love for itself +alone. She was not just the same girl she was when she had entered +Florence a few months ago, nor ever again would be; and between her and +Bettina,--the sisters who before this had been "as one soul in two +bodies,"--ran a mysterious Rubicon, the outer shore of which Bettina's +feet had not yet touched. + +The hasty return of Mr. Sumner and Malcom with two lusty _facchini_, who +seized the hand-luggage, the hurry to be among the first at the opening +of the big doors upon the platform beside which their train was drawn +up, and the little bustle of excitement consequent on the desire to +secure an entire compartment for their party filled the next few +minutes, and soon they were off. + +The journey led through a charming country lying at the base of the +Apennines. Picturesque castles and city-crowned hills against the +background of blue mountains, many of whose summits were covered with +gleaming snow, kept them looking and exclaiming with delight, until +finally they reached Lucca, and, sweeping in a half circle around Monte +San Giuliano, which, as Dante wrote, hides the two cities, Lucca and +Pisa, from each other, they arrived at Pisa. + +Although they expected to find an old, worn-out city, yet only Mr. +Sumner and Mrs. Douglas were quite prepared for the dilapidated +carriages that were waiting to take them from the station to their +hotels; for the almost deserted streets, and the general pronounced air +of decadence. Even the Arno seemed to have lost all freshness, and left +all beauty behind as it flowed from Florence, and was here only a +swiftly flowing mass of muddy waters. + +After having taken possession of their rooms in one of the hotels which +look out upon the river, and having lunched in the chilly dining room, +which they found after wandering through rooms and halls filled with +marble statues and bric-a-brac set forth to tempt the eyes of +travellers, and so suggestive of the quarries in which the neighboring +mountains are rich, they started forth for that famous group of sacred +buildings which gives Pisa its present fame. + +They were careful to enter the Cathedral by the richly wrought door in +the south transept (the only old one left) and, passing the font of holy +water, above which stands a _Madonna and Child_ designed by Michael +Angelo, sat down beneath Andrea del Sarto's _St. Agnes_, and listened to +Mr. Sumner's description of the famous edifice. + +He told them that the erection of this building marked the dawn of +mediæval Italian art. It is in the old basilica style, modified by the +dome over the middle of the top. Its columns are Greek and Roman, and +were captured by Pisa in war. Its twelve altars are attributed to +Michael Angelo (were probably designed by him), and the mosaics in the +dome are by Cimabue. They wandered about looking at the old pictures, +seeking especially those by Andrea del Sarto, who was the only artist +familiar to them, whose paintings are there. They touched and set +swinging the bronze lamp which hangs in the nave, and is said to have +suggested to Galileo (who was born in Pisa), his first idea of the +pendulum. + +Then, going out, they climbed the famous Leaning Tower, and visited the +Baptistery, where is Niccolo Pisano's wonderful sculptured marble +pulpit. + +Afterward they went into the Campo Santo, which fascinated them by its +quaintness, so unlike anything they had ever seen before. They thought +of the dead reposing in the holy earth brought from Mount Calvary; +looked at the frescoes painted so many hundreds of years ago by Benozzo +Gozzoli, pupil of Fra Angelico; at the queer interesting _Triumph of +Death_ and _Last Judgment_, so long attributed to Orcagna and now the +subject of much dispute among critics; and then, wearied with seeing so +much, they went into the middle of the enclosure and sat on the +flagstones in the warm sun amid the lizards and early buttercups. + +The next afternoon they went to Siena, and arrived in time to see, from +their hotel windows, the sunset glory as it irradiated all that vast +tract of country that stretches so grandly on toward Rome. Here they +were to spend several days. + +The young travellers were just beginning to experience the charm which +belongs peculiarly to journeying in Italy--that of finding, one after +another, these delightful old cities, each in its own characteristic +setting of country, of history, of legend and romance. + +They were full of the thrill of expected emotion,--that most delicious +of all sensations. + +And they received no disappointment from this old "red city." They saw +its beautiful, incomparably beautiful, Cathedral, full of richness of +sculpture and color in morning, noon, and evening light; and were never +tired of admiring every part of it, from its graffito and mosaic +pavement to its vaulted top filled with arches and columns, that +reminded them of walking through a forest aisle and looking up through +the interlaced branches of trees. + +They visited the Cathedral Library, whose walls are covered with those +historical paintings by Pinturrichio, the little deaf Umbrian painter, +in whose design Raphael is said to have given aid. + +But Mr. Sumner wished that the time they could give to the study of +paintings be spent particularly among the works of the old Sienese +masters. So they went again and again to the Accademia delle Belle Arti +and studied those quaint, half-Byzantine works, full of pathetic grace, +by Guido da Siena, by Duccio, Simone Martini, Lippo Memmi, and the +Lorenzetti brothers. + +Here, too, they found paintings by Il Sodoma, a High Renaissance artist, +which pleased them more than all else. _The Descent into Hades_, where +is the exquisitely lovely figure of Eve, whose mournful gaze is fixed +on her lost son, toward whom the Saviour stoops with pity, drew them +again and again to the hall where the worn fresco hangs; and after they +had found, secluded in its little cabinet, that fragment which +represents _Christ Bound to a Column_, of which Paul Bourget has written +so tenderly, they voted this painter one of the most interesting they +had yet found. + +To Bettina, the "saint-lover," as Malcom had dubbed her, the city gained +an added interest from having been the home of St. Catherine of Siena, +and the others shared in some degree her enthusiasm. They made a +pilgrimage to the house of St. Catherine, and all the relics contained +therein were genuinely important to them, for, as Betty averred again +and again:-- + +"You know she did live right here in Siena, so it must be true that this +is her house and that these things were really hers." + +They admired Palazzo Publico within and without; chiefly from without, +for they could never walk from the Cathedral to their hotel without +pausing for a time to look down into the picturesque Piazza del Campo +where it stands, and admire its lofty walls, so mediæval in character, +with battlemented cornice and ogive windows. + +They walked down the narrow streets and then climbed them. They drove +all over the city within its brown walls; and outside on the road that +skirts them and affords such lovely views of the valley and Tuscan +hills. They were sincerely sorry when at last the day came on which they +must leave it and continue on their way. + +"Why are we going to Orvieto, uncle?" asked Malcom, as they were waiting +at Chiusi for their connection with the train from Florence to Orvieto. + +"For several reasons, Malcom. In the first place, it is one of the best +preserved of the ancient cities of Italy. So long ago as the eighth +century it was called _urbs vetus_ (old city) and its modern name is +derived from that. Enclosed by its massive walls, it still stands on the +summit of its rocky hill, which was called _urbibentum_ by the old +historian, Procopius. It is comparatively seldom visited by the ordinary +tourist, and is thoroughly unique and interesting. In the second place, +in its Cathedral are most valuable examples of Fra Angelico's, Benozzo +Gozzoli's, and Signorelli's paintings; and, in the third place, I love +the little old city, and never can go to or from Rome without spending +at least a few hours there if it is possible for me to do so. Are these +weighty enough reasons?" and Mr. Sumner drew his arm affectionately into +that of the tall young man he loved so well. "But here comes our train." + +"This cable-tram does not look very ancient," said Malcom, when a half +hour later they stood on the platform of the little railway station at +Orvieto and looked up at the hillside. + +"No; its only merit is that it takes us up quickly," replied his mother, +as they reached the waiting car. "All try if you can to get seats with +back to the hill, so that you will command the view of this beautiful +valley as we rise." + +The city did indeed look foreign as they entered its wall, left the +cable-car, and, in a hotel omnibus, rattled through the streets, so +narrow that it is barely possible for two carriages to pass each other. + +"Is everybody old here, do you suppose?" slyly whispered Bettina to +Barbara, as they were taken in charge by a very old woman, who led the +way to the rooms already engaged for the party. "I should be afraid to +come here all alone; everything is so strange. + +"Oh! but how pleasant," she added, brightly, as they were shown into a +sweet, clean room, whose windows opened upon a small garden filled with +rose-bushes, and whose two little beds were snowy white. "How delightful +to be here a little later, when these roses will be in bloom!" + +The brown withered face of the old chambermaid beamed upon the two young +girls, and showed her satisfaction at their evident delight, and when +she found that they could understand and speak a little of her own +language, her heart was indeed won, and she bustled about seeking +whatever she could do to add to their comfort, just for the pleasure of +being near them. + +"It must be a delightful place to visit," said Barbara, when finally +they were alone, "but I should not like to have to live here for any +length of time, I know; so gray, so old, so desolate it all seemed on +our way through the streets," and a slight shiver ran through her at the +remembrance. + +Soon they went to the Cathedral; admired its façade, decorated with +mosaics in softly brilliant colors until it looked like a great opal, +shining against the deep blue sky; entered it and saw Fra Angelico's +grand _Christ_, and calm, holy saints and angels; and, close to them +(the most striking contrast presented in art), Luca Signorelli's wild, +struggling, muscular figures. + +They went into the photograph store on the corner for photographs, and +to the little antique shop opposite, where they bought quaint Etruscan +ornaments to take away as souvenirs,--and then gave themselves to +exploring the city; after which they all confessed to having fallen +somewhat under the spell of its charm. + +The next afternoon found them on their way, around Lake Trasimeno, to +Perugia. + +Little had been said about this city, for their conversation had been +engaged with those they had left behind. Malcom, only, had been looking +up its history in his guide-book, and was interested to see the place +that had been bold enough to set itself up even against Rome, and so had +earned the title "audacious" inscribed on its citadel by one of the +Popes. + +"Magnificent in situation!" he exclaimed, and his eager eyes allowed +nothing to escape them, as their omnibus slowly climbed the high hill, +disclosing wide and ever widening views of the valley of the Tiber. + +"I think," said Mr. Sumner, who was enjoying the delighted surprise of +his party, "that Perugia is the most princely city in regard to position +in all Italy. It is perched up here on the summit as an eagle on his +aeried crag, and seems to challenge with proud defiance these lower +cities, that, though each on its own hill-top, look as if slumbering in +the valley below." + +When a little later they were ushered into the brilliantly lighted +dining-room, which was filled almost to overflowing with a gayly dressed +and chattering crowd of guests, most of whom spoke the English language, +all the way thither seemed as a dream. Only the voluminous head-dresses +of the English matrons, and the composite speech of the waiters, told +them surely that they were in a foreign land. + +The next day, after a drive through the city, whose different quarters +present some of the most interesting contrasts to be found in all Italy, +Mr. Sumner took them to the Pinacoteca, or picture-gallery, and before +looking at the pictures, told them in a few words about the early +Umbrian school of painting. + +"It grew out of the early Florentine, and is marked by many of the same +characteristics. It was, however, much modified by the Sienese painting. +It has less strength, as it has also, of course, less originality, than +the Florentine. Its color, on the other hand, is better, stronger, and +more harmonious. Its works possess a peculiar simplicity and +devoutness--much tranquillity and gentleness of sentiment. This gallery +is filled with examples of its masters' painting. It just breathes forth +their spirit, and the best way to absorb it would be to come, each one +of us alone, and give ourselves up to its spell. This is no place for +criticism; only for feeling. Study particularly whatever you find of +Francesca's, Perugino's and Bonfiglio's work. + +"You all know," he continued, "that Perugino, who lived here and +received his art name because he did so, had an academy of painting, and +that Raphael was for some years one of his pupils. Perugino's influence +on his pupils is strikingly apparent in their work. Raphael's early +painting is exactly after his style. In Perugino's treatment of figures +you will find a mannerism, especially in the way his heads are placed on +the shoulders, and in his faces, which are full of sentiment, the +wistful eyes often being cast upward, but sometimes veiled with heavily +drooping lids. + +"Look! here is one of his pictures. The oval faces with the peculiarly +small mouth are characteristic. You will most readily recognize the work +of this master after you have become a bit familiar with it." + +He also took them to the Cambio, once a Chamber of Commerce, to see +Perugino's frescoes, which he told them are more important in the world +of art than are his easel pictures. Here they seated themselves against +the wall wainscoted with rare wooden sculptures, on the same bench on +which all lovers of the old painter's art who have visited Perugia +through four centuries have sat. + +[Illustration: PERUGINO. UFFIZI GALLERY FLORENCE. + +HEAD OF MADONNA. FROM MADONNA AND SAINTS.] + +And here they studied long the figures of those old Roman heroes chosen +by Perugino to symbolize the virtues; figures which possess a unique +and irresistible charm because of their athletic proportions and +vigorous action, while their faces are sweet, womanish, and tender, full +of the pensive, mystic devotion which is so characteristic of this old +master and his pupils. + + + + +Chapter XII. + +Robert Sumner Fights a Battle. + + _So nigh is grandeur to our dust, + So near is God to man, + When duty whispers low, Thou must, + The youth replies, I can._ + + --EMERSON. + +[Illustration: SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI.] + + +Barbara and Bettina had not realized how near they were to Assisi until +talk of driving thither began. In their study of art St. Francis had +figured quite largely, because the scenes in his life were such favorite +ones for representation by the old masters. They had read all about him, +and so were thoroughly prepared for the proposed trip to the home of +this most important old saint. + +Bettina was in a fever of excitement. Drive to Assisi! Drive to the home +of St. Francis! Go through the streets in which he played when a little +boy; walked and rode when a prodigal young man, clad in the richest, +most extravagant attire he could procure; from which he went out in his +martial array; out of which he was taken prisoner when Perugia conquered +Assisi! Drive, perhaps, along that very street in which, after his +conversion, he met the beggar with whom he changed clothes, giving him +the rich garments, and himself putting on the tatters! Or along which +his disappointed father followed him in the fury of persecution, after +he had given his life to poverty and deeds of love! Look upon Mount +Subasio, whither he so loved to retire for prayer! See those very scenes +in the midst of which he and his brethren lived six or seven hundred +years ago! Could it be possible that she and Barbara were about to do +this? It was almost as exciting as when the first thought of coming to +Italy had entered their minds. + +Finally the morning came; and through the winding valley they drove +fifteen miles, until they arrived at the church Santa Maria degli +Angeli, situated on a plain at the foot of the hill on which sits +Assisi. This immense church contains the Portiuncula,--that little +chapel so dear to St. Francis, in which he founded the Franciscan order +of monks, and in which he died,--and is a veritable Mecca, to which +pilgrimages are made from all parts of the Roman Catholic world. + +They spent some time here in visiting the different spots of interest +within the church; in going out to see the tiny garden, where grow the +thornless rose-bushes with blood-stained leaves, according to the old +tradition, at which they were permitted to look through glass; and in +listening to the rambling talk of a transparent-faced old monk in brown, +Franciscan garb, who waxed more and more daring as he watched the +interested faces of the party, until his tales of the patron saint grew +so impossible that even poor Bettina's faith was sorely tried, and +Malcom stole furtive glances at her to see how she bore it all. + +At length they were free, and went on up the hill to the city. They +stopped at a little hotel whose balcony commanded a magnificent view of +the country, lingered a while, lunched, and then went out to visit the +great double church of San Francesco, beneath which the saint is buried, +and where are notable frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto. + +When all was over, and they were taking their carriages for Perugia, Mr. +Sumner said to his sister: "If you do not mind, I will drive in the +other carriage," and so took his seat with Barbara, Bettina, and Malcom. +All felt a little tired and were silent for a time, each busy with his +own thoughts. Finally Barbara asked, in a thoughtful tone:-- + +"Did you notice the names on the leaves of the travellers' book at the +hotel? I glanced over the opposite page as I wrote mine, and among the +addresses were Australia, Germany, Norway, England, and America." + +"I noticed it," answered Mr. Sumner, "and of course, like you, could not +help asking myself the question, 'Why do travellers from all parts of +the Christian world come to this small city, which is so utterly +unimportant as the world reckons importance?' Simply because a good man +was once born, lived, and died here. Surely one renews one's faith in +God and humanity as one thinks of this fact." + +"May not the paintings alone draw some visitors?" asked Malcom, after +thinking for a few moments of his uncle's words. + +"But even then we must allow that the paintings would not have been here +if it were not for the saint; so it really amounts to about the same +thing, doesn't it?" answered his uncle, smiling. + +"What a pity it is," said Bettina, thinking of the garrulous old monk +who so evidently desired to earn his _lira_, "that people will add so +much that is imaginary when there is enough that is true. It is a shame +to so exaggerate stories of St. Francis's life as to make them seem +almost ridiculous." + +When their drive was nearly over and they were watching the ever nearing +Perugia, Malcom turned toward Mr. Sumner with a serious look and +said:-- + +"Uncle Robert, these Italian cities are wonderfully interesting, and I +think I have never enjoyed anything in my life so much as the fortnight +since we left Florence and, of course, the time we were there; and yet I +would not for worlds live here among them." + +Then, as Mr. Sumner looked inquiringly at him, he continued, with an +excited flush: "What is there in them that a man could get hold of to +help, anyway? It seems to me as if their lives have been all lived, as +if they now are dead; and how can any new life be put into them? Look at +these villages we have been passing through! What power can make the +people wish for anything better than they have, can wake them up to make +more of the children than the parents are? In the present condition of +people and government, how can any man, for instance, such as you are, +really accomplish anything? How would one go about it? Now at home, you +know, if one is only man enough, he can have so much influence to make +things better; can give children better schools; can give people books; +can help lift the low-down into a higher place. He can help in making +all sorts of reforms, can be a _leader_ in such things. He can go into +politics and try to make them cleaner." + +Malcom had spoken out of his heart, and, in sympathy with him, Bettina +squeezed Barbara's hand under the cover. + +Barbara, however, was looking at Mr. Sumner, and her quick eyes had +noted the sensitive change of expression in his; the startled look of +surprise that first leaped into them, and the steady pain that followed. +An involuntary glance at Barbara told him that she recognized his pain +and longed to say something to help, but she could not; and it was +Bettina who, after a moment's silence, said gently:-- + +"I am sure you are right, Malcom, but I think I could live all my life +in this dear, beautiful Italy if all whom I love were with me." + +Malcom did not for a moment think that his words would so touch his +uncle. He had spoken from his own stand-point, with thought of himself +alone, and would have been amazed indeed could he have known what a +steady flame within his uncle's mind his little spark had kindled. + + * * * * * + +"What is the matter with Miss Sherman?" whispered Malcom in Margery's +ear, as, soon after dinner, they went out upon the terrace close to +their hotel to look at the moon rising over the distant hills. + +That young lady had disappeared as soon as they arose from the table, +and Mrs. Douglas had sent Margery to her room to tell her they were +going out, but she had declined to accompany them. + +"Mother thinks she is not feeling quite well," answered Margery, drawing +Malcom's face close to her own; "but I think she is vexed about +something." + +The truth was that Miss Sherman was as nearly cross as she dared to be. +Were she with father and sister, instead of Mrs. Douglas's party, why! +then she could give vent to her feelings; and what a relief it would be! +But now she was trying her best to conquer them, or, rather, to hide +them; but the habit of a lifetime will not easily give way on occasion. + +She had never been so happy in her life as since she left Florence with +Mrs. Douglas. Wherever she was, wherever she went, there was Mr. Sumner, +always full of most courteous consideration for her as his sister's +guest. She had been so happy that her sweetness and gentleness were +irresistible, and again and again had Mrs. Douglas congratulated herself +on having found such an enjoyable companion; and Mr. Sumner felt +grateful to her for enhancing his sister's happiness. + +But to-day a change had taken place in the satisfactory tide of affairs. +Mr. Sumner had been willing--more than that--had _chosen_ to drive all +the way back from Assisi in the carriage with Malcom, Barbara, and +Bettina, and it was all she could do to hide her chagrin and +displeasure. + +Mrs. Douglas, with her usual kind judgment, had decided that she was not +quite well, and throughout the drive had respected her evident desire +for silence, though she wondered a little at it. + +So while she and Margery were talking about good St. Francis, whose +heart overflowed with love to every living creature--mankind, animals, +birds, and flowers, and whose whole life was given up to their +service--Miss Sherman hugged close her little jealous grievance and, +brooding over it, gave no thought to the associations of the place they +had just visited, or to the glorious Italian landscape through which +they were passing. + +It was not that she really loved Mr. Sumner after all; that is, not as +some women love, for it was not in her nature to do so; but she did wish +to become his wife; and this had been her supreme thought during all the +months since she had met him. Lately the memory of his agitation when +Barbara had passed him that evening of the party had disagreeably +haunted her. It had so moved her that, truth to tell, she mourned over +Howard's death more because it served to withdraw an obstacle between +these two than for any other reason. That mere girl, she thought, might +prove a formidable rival. All the more had it seemed so, since she daily +saw what a lovely, noble young woman Barbara really was, and how worthy +a companion, even for Mr. Sumner. + +So every moment he had devoted to herself or had seemed to choose to be +in her own society, was an especial cause for self-congratulation. But +now she furtively clinched her little gloved hand, and the lids lowered +over her beautiful eyes as they grew hard, and she did not wish to talk. + +"I wonder what is the matter with Lucile" (for so Miss Sherman had +begged to be called), Mrs. Douglas queried with herself that night, and +sought among the events of the day for some possible explanation. "She +seems as if hurt by something." Suddenly the thought flashed into her +mind: "Can it be because Robert left us to drive with the others? Can it +be that she has learned to care for him so much as that?" And her +woman's nature overflowed with sympathy at the suggestion of such an +interpretation. + +She had not forgotten the desire that crept into her heart that morning +of the day they spent at Fiesole; and now came the glad belief that if +Miss Sherman had really learned to love her brother, it must be that in +time he would feel it, and yield to the sweetness of her affection. She +did not wonder that Lucile should love her darling brother. Indeed, how +could any woman help it? And she was so sensitive that she might acutely +feel even such a little thing as his not returning in the carriage with +them. And her quietness might have been caused by the disappointment. +She would be herself the next morning; and Mrs. Douglas resolved to be +only kinder and more loving than ever to her. + +And, indeed, the next morning the clouds were all dissipated, and Miss +Sherman accepted, with her usual sweet smile, her portion of the flowers +that Mr. Sumner brought to the ladies of his party. + +But the night just passed would never be forgotten by Robert Sumner, and +had marked a vital change in his life. He had walked the floor of his +moonlighted room until the early morning hours, his thoughts given +wholly to the great subject Malcom's unconscious words had opened within +his mind. Could it be that unconsciously, through weakness, he had +yielded himself to a selfish course of living? He, whose one aim and +ideal had ever been to give his life and its opportunities for the +benefit of others? Had his view been a narrow one, when he had so longed +that it should be wide and ever wider? + +It really began to seem so in the pitiless glare of the light now thrown +upon it. He had surely been living for his fellow-men. He had been +striving to make his own culture helpful to those who were less happy in +opportunity. But had his outlook been far and wide enough? Had not the +personal sorrow to which he had yielded narrowed to his eyes the +world,--_his_ world, in which God had put him? Living on here in his +loved Italy, the knowledge he had gained was being sent out to aid those +who already had enough to enable them to follow into the higher paths he +opened. His pictures, every one of which had grown out of his own heart, +were bearing messages to those whose eyes were opened to read. But what +of the great mass of humanity, God's humanity too, which was waiting for +some one to awaken the very first desires for culture? For some one to +open, never so little, the blind eyes? As Malcom had said, no one, no +foreigner certainly, could ever reach this class of people in Italy. The +Church and the heavy hand of past centuries of ignorance forbade this. + +But what of the great young land across the waters where he had been +born--his own land--the refuge of the poor of all countries of the +earth, even of his dear Italy? Surely no power of influence there could +be forbidden. The good that wealth, culture, and art, guided by a heart +consecrated to humanity, could work was limitless there. + +He now saw that his personal sorrow, his own selfish grief, had come +between all this and himself for six long years. In deep humiliation he +bowed himself; and looking out over the great plain at his feet, in +which lay Assisi and the paths the worn feet of St. Francis and his +brethren had so often trod six centuries ago, now all gilded with the +light of the same moon that was shining over the distant land of his +birth, Robert Sumner pledged his life anew to God and his fellow-man, +and determined that his old grief should be only a stepping-stone to a +larger service; that, keeping Italy and her treasures in his life only +as a recreation and a source of inspiration, he would hereafter live in +his own America. + +In the peace of mind that came after the struggle, which was no slight +one, he slept and dreamed,--dreamed of the fair girl he had so loved +with all the force of his young, strong nature, and whom he had so long +mourned. She smiled upon him, and into her smile came the lovelight he +had seen in Barbara's eyes that birthday evening, and then she changed +into Barbara, and he awoke with the thought of the wistful look she had +given him the afternoon before when Malcom's words wounded. + +In the morning, as he gave the flowers he had chosen expressly for her, +and their hands for a moment met, the remembrance of this dream flashed +into his mind, and Barbara, surprised, felt a momentary lingering of his +touch. + +After breakfast Mrs. Douglas declared her intention to spend the morning +in writing letters, and advised the others to follow her example. + +"You know we go to Rome to-morrow, and I prophesy no one of us will feel +like sparing much time for writing during our first days there," she +said. + +Barbara and Bettina spent an hour on their home-letter, then stole away +alone, and finding a secluded spot on the grand terrace in front of +their hotel, sat down, with the great valley before them. The blue sky, +so clear and blue, was full of great white puffs of cloud whose shadows +were most fascinating to watch as they danced over the plain,--now +hiding a distant city,--now permitting just a gleam of sunshine to gild +its topmost towers; and anon flitting, leaving that city-crowned summit +all in light, while another was enveloped in darkness. + +They talked long together, as only two girls who love each other can +talk--of the sky and the land; of the impressions daily received; of the +thoughts born of their present daily experiences; of the home friends +from whom they were so widely separated. Then they grew silent, giving +themselves to the dreamy beauty of the scene. + +By and by Barbara, her eyes dark with unwonted feeling, turned +impulsively to her sister and began to talk of that which had been so +often in her mind,--her visit to Howard just before he died. Something +now impelled her to tell that of which she had before kept silence. Her +voice trembled as she described the scene--the eyes that spoke so much +when the voice was already forever silent--and the wonderful love she +saw in them when she gave the tender kiss. + +"He did love you, did he not, Bab dear?" said Bettina, in a hushed, +awestricken voice. + +"Should you ever have loved him?" she asked timidly after a pause, +looking at her sister as if she were invested with a new, strange +dignity, that in some way set her apart and hallowed her. + +"No, dear, I am sure--not as he loved me. I wish, oh! so much, that I +could have made him happy; but since I know that could never have been, +do you know, Betty, I am beginning to be glad that he has gone from us; +that I can never give him any more pain. I never before dreamed what it +may be to love. You know, Betty, we have never had time to think of such +things; we have been too young. Somehow," and her fingers caressed the +roses in her belt, "things seem different lately." + + + + +Chapter XIII. + +Cupid Laughs. + + _From court to the cottage, + In bower and in hall, + From the king unto the beggar, + Love conquers all. + Though ne'er so stout and lordly, + Strive or do what you may, + Yet be you ne'er so hardy, + Love will find out the way._ + + --ANONYMOUS + +[Illustration: RUINS OF FORUM, ROME.] + + +Mr. Sumner and Mrs. Douglas had been most fortunate in getting +possession of extremely pleasant apartments close to the Pincio. These +were in the very same house in which they had lived with their parents +twenty years before, when Mrs. Douglas was a young girl of eighteen +years. Here she had first met and learned to love young Kenneth Douglas, +so that most tender memories clustered about the place, and she was glad +that her children should learn to know it. + +She soon began to pick up the old threads of life. "Ah me! what golden +threads they then were," she often sighed. Mr. Sumner was at home here +in Rome almost as much as in Florence, and was busy for a time making +and receiving calls from artist friends. + +Malcom had his own private guide, and from morning until night they +hardly saw him. He averred himself to be in the seventh heaven, and +there was little need that he should proclaim the fact; it was evident +enough. Julius Cæsar's Commentaries, Cicero's Orations, Virgil, all +Roman history were getting illuminated for him in such a way that they +would never grow dim. + +But at first the others felt sensibly the change from dear, familiar +little Florence. Rome is so vast in her history, legend, and romance! +The city was oppressive at near sight. + +"Shall we ever really know anything about it all?" asked the girls of +each other. Even Miss Sherman, who had been able to get a room in a +small hotel close by, and so was still their constant companion, wore a +little troubled air now and then, as if there were something she ought +to do and did not know how to set about it. + +They drove all over the city; saw its ancient ruins--the Colosseum, the +Forums, the Palatine Hill, the Baths of Agrippa, Caracalla, Titus, and +Diocletian; visited the Pantheon, Castle of St. Angelo, and many of the +most important churches. They drove outside the walls on the Via Appia, +and saw all the many interesting things by the way. They sought all the +best points of view from which they could look out over the great city. + +One afternoon they were all together on the wide piazza in front of San +Pietro in Montorio, which commands a very wide outlook. Here, after +having studied the location of chief points of interest, they gave +themselves up to the delight of a superb sunset view. As they lingered +before again taking their carriages, Malcom told some of his morning +experiences, and Barbara wistfully said:-- + +"I wonder if we ought not to begin some definite study of Roman history +and the old ruins. Betty and I have taken some books from the library in +Piazza di Spagna, and are reading hard an hour or two every day, but it +gives me a restless feeling to know that there is so much all about me +that I do not understand," and she looked inquiringly at Mr. Sumner. + +"Robert and I have talked over this very thing," replied Mrs. Douglas. + +"Shall I tell them what we think?" she asked her brother, as he rather +abruptly turned away. On his assent she continued:-- + +"It is a familiar question, since I very plainly remember hearing my +father and mother talk of it when I was your age, and Robert was but a +lad. My father said it would take a lifetime of patient study to learn +thoroughly all that can to-day be learned of what we call ancient +Rome--the Rome of the Cæsars; and how many Romes existed before that, of +which we can know nothing, save through legend and tradition! 'Now, +will it not be best,' he asked, 'that we read all we can of legend and +the chief points of Roman history up to the present time, so that the +subject of Rome get into our minds and hearts; and then try to absorb +all we can of the spirit of both past and present, so that we shall know +Rome even though we have not tried to find out all about her? We cannot +accomplish the latter, and if we try I fear we shall miss everything.' +My mother agreed fully with him. And so, many evenings at home; father +would read to us pathetic legends and stirring tales of ancient Roman +life; and we would often go and sit amidst the earth-covered ruins on +the Palatine. Here, children, I have heard your own dear father more +than once repeat, as only he could, Byron's graphic lines:-- + + "Cypress and ivy, weed and wall-flower grown, + Matted and mass'd together; hillocks heap'd + On what were chambers, arch crushed, column strewn + In fragments; choked-up vaults, and frescoes steep'd + In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd + Deeming it midnight. + +"He used to love to repeat bits of poetry everywhere, just as Margery +does. + +"We climbed the Colosseum walls and sat there for hours dreaming of what +it once was--and so we went all over the city--until I really think I +lived in ancient Rome a part of the time. Often did I weep over the +tragic fate of Roman heroes and matrons as I was in the places sacred to +their history, so deeply impressed was I by the reality of the past life +of Rome. I had not followed the erudite words of any interpreter of the +ruins; I had not learned which was the particular pile of stones which +marks the location of the palace of Tiberius, Augustus, or Septimius +Severus; I could not even give name to all the various ruins of the +Roman Forum, but old Rome was very real to me, and has been ever since. + +"Now," she continued, as she glanced at the interested faces about her, +"we are here for a very short time, and it does seem much the best to +both Robert and me that you should try to get Rome into your _hearts_ +first. Don't be one bit afraid to grow sentimental over her. It is a +good place in which to give ourselves up to sentiment. We will take a +guide for all that which seems necessary. This one afternoon, however, +up here, when you have learned the location of the seven hills and have +clearly fixed in your minds the relative positions of the most important +ruins and old buildings is, in my opinion, worth more than would be many +afternoons spent in prowling through particular ruins; that is, for you. +Were we archæological students, it would of course be a far different +matter." + +"And we will at once resume our study of paintings," said Mr. Sumner, +drawing nearer. "To-morrow morning, if Malcom has no engagement, we will +go to the Sistine Chapel to see Michael Angelo's frescoes. I have been +so busy until now that I could not get the time I wished for it." + +The next morning, as Barbara and Bettina were getting ready for the +drive according to Mr. Sumner's appointment, Bettina, who was vigorously +brushing her brown suit, heard a sigh from her sister, and looking up +saw her ruefully examining her own skirt. + +"Rather the worse for wear, aren't they, Barbara _mia_?" + +"Indeed, they are. I didn't notice it, though, until we came here into +this bright Rome. We seem to have come all at once into spring sunshine +and the atmosphere of new clothes; and, Betty, I believe I do feel +shabby. I know you have been thinking the same thing, too; for everybody +else seems to have new spring dresses, and they are so fresh and pretty +that ours look doubly worse. Oh, dear!" and she sighed again. + +Then, catching sight of her sister's downcast face, Barbara, in a +moment, after her usual fashion, rose above her annoyance and cried:-- + +"For shame, Barbara Burnett! to think that you are in Rome, the Eternal +City! that you are dressing to go to the Sistine Chapel to look at +Michael Angelo's frescoes! and do you dare to waste a thought on the +gown you are to wear! Oh, Betty! you are ashamed of me, too, I +know.--There, you dear old brown suit! Forgive me, and I never will do +such a mean thing again. To think of all the lovely places I have been +in with you, and now that I should like to cheat you out of seeing +Michael Angelo's frescoes!" and she adjusted the last button with such a +comical, half-disgusted expression on her face that Betty burst into a +merry laugh. + +When the two girls came down stairs and stepped out upon the sidewalk +beside which the carriages were waiting, their radiant faces gave not +the slightest hint that any annoyance had ever lurked there; and no one, +looking into them, would ever give a thought to the worn brown dresses. +No one? not many, at least. Perhaps Miss Sherman, looking so dainty in +her own fresh attire, did. Anyway, as Mr. Sumner handed her into one of +the carriages, and himself springing in, took a seat beside her, she +shot a triumphant glance at Barbara, who was seating herself in the +other carriage with Bettina and Malcom. Mrs. Douglas and Margery had +gone out on some morning errand and would follow them presently so Miss +Sherman was alone with Mr. Sumner. + +Robert Sumner was waging quite a battle with himself during these days. +Ever since that night at Perugia, he had found to his utter dismay that +he could not put Barbara out of his thoughts. Indeed, ever after the +evening of the birthday party she had assumed to him a distinct +individuality. It seemed as if he had received a revelation of what she +was to become. Every now and then as he saw her at home, the vision of +beautiful womanhood that had passed before him that evening would flash +into his mind, and the thought would come that sometime, somewhere, she +would find him into whose eyes could shine from her own that glorious +lovelight that he had for an instant surprised in them. + +It had not seemed to him that he then saw the present Barbara, but that +which she was to be; and this future Barbara had no special connection +with the present one, save to awaken an interest that caused him to be +watchful of her. He had always recognized the charm of her +personality,--her frank enthusiasms, and her rich reserve; the wide +outlook and wise judgment of things unusual in one so young. But now he +began to observe other more intimate qualities,--the wealth of affection +bestowed on Bettina and the distant home; her tender regard to the +feelings of those about her; her quick resentment of any injustice; her +sturdy self-reliance; her sweet, unspoiled, unselfish nature; and her +longing for knowledge and all good gifts. + +Then came Howard's death, and he realized how deeply she was moved. A +new look came often into her eyes, which he noted; a new tone into her +voice, which he heard. And yet he felt that the experience had not +touched the depths of her being. + +While they were on the way from Florence to Rome he had rejoiced every +time he heard her voice ringing with the old merry tones, which showed +that she had for the moment forgotten all sad thoughts. When he was +ostensibly talking to all, he was often really talking only to Barbara, +and watching the expression of her eyes; and he always listened to catch +her first words when any new experience came to their party. He was +really fast getting into a dangerous condition, this young man nearly +thirty years old, but was as unconscious of it as a child. + +At Perugia came the night struggle caused by Malcom's words; the dream, +and the morning meeting with Barbara. When his hand touched hers as he +put into them the roses, he felt again for an instant the electric +thrill that ran through him on the birthday night, when he met that +wonderful look in her eyes. It brought a feeling of possession, as if it +were the hand of his Margaret which he had touched,--Margaret, who was +so soon to have been his wife when death claimed her. + +He tried to account for it. He was jealous for the beloved dead whose +words, whose ways, whose face had reigned supreme over his heart for so +many years, when he caught himself dwelling on Barbara's words, +recalling her tricks of tone, her individual ways. + +He set himself resolutely to the task of overcoming this singular +tendency of his thought; and oh! how the little blind (but all-seeing) +god of love had been laughing at Robert Sumner all through the days +since they reached Rome. + +Instead of driving and walking about with the others, he had zealously +set himself the task of calling at the studios of all his artist +friends; had visited exhibitions; had gone hither and thither by +himself; and yet every time had hastened home, though he would not admit +it to his own consciousness, in order that he might know where Barbara +was, what she was doing, and how she was feeling. He had busied himself +in fitting up a sky-lighted room for a studio, where he resolved to +spend many morning hours, forgetting all else save his beloved +occupation; and the very first time he sat before his easel a sketch of +Barbara's face grew out of the canvas. The harder he tried to put her +from his thoughts, the less could he do so, and he grew restless and +unhappy. + +Another cause of troubled, agitated feeling was his decision to return +to America and there make his home. In this he had not faltered, but it +oppressed him. He loved this Italy, with her soft skies, her fair, +smiling vineyards and bold mountain backgrounds, her romantic legends, +and, above all, her art-treasures. He had taken her as his +foster-mother. Her atmosphere stimulated him to work in those directions +his heart loved best. How would it be when he should be back again in +his native land? He had fought his battle; duty had told him to go +there; and when she had sounded the call, there could be no retreat for +him. But love and longing and memory and fear all harassed him. He had +as yet said nothing of this to his sister, but it weighed on him +continually. Taken all in all, Robert Sumner's life, which had been +keyed to so even a pitch, and to which all discord had been a stranger +for so many years, was sadly jarred and out of tune. + +Of course Mrs. Douglas's keen sisterly eyes could not be blind to the +fact that something was troubling her brother. And it was such an +unusual thing to see signs of so prolonged disturbance in him that she +became anxious to know the cause. Still she could not speak of it first. +Intimate as they were, the inner feelings of each were very sacred to +the other, and she must wait until he should choose to reveal all to +her. + +She well knew that his heart had been wholly consecrated to the only +love it had heretofore known, and the query had often arisen in her mind +whether the approach of another affection might not in the first place +work some unhappiness. That he could ever love again as he had loved +Margaret she did not for a moment believe. She well knew, however, that +the happiness of any woman who might give her life into her brother's +keeping was safe, and her wish for him was that he might be so drawn +toward some loving woman that he might desire to make her his wife, and +so be blessed with family life and love; for the thought that he might +live lonely, without family ties, was inexpressibly sad to her loving +heart. + +We have seen how the coming of Miss Sherman into their lives roused +these hopes afresh; and she now wondered if his evident unrest might be +caused by the first suggestion of the thought of asking her to become +his wife. It was evident that he admired her and enjoyed her society; +and, so far as Miss Sherman's feelings were concerned, she felt no +doubt. Indeed, she sometimes shrank a bit from the free display of her +fondness for his company, and hoped that Malcom and the girls might not +notice it. She easily excused it, however, to herself, although the +closer intimacy of daily intercourse was revealing, little by little, +flaws in the character she had thought so fair. + +How utterly mistaken was Mrs. Douglas! and how shocked would Lucile +Sherman have been this very morning could she have known how strong a +longing leaped into Robert Sumner's heart to take into his hungry arms +that graceful figure in worn brown suit, with brave, smiling young face +and steadfast eyes, put her into his carriage, and drive +away,--anywhere,--so it only were away and away! + +Or, how stern a grip he imposed on himself as he took his seat beside +her dimpling, chattering self, radiant with fresh colors and graceful +draperies. + +Or, of the tumult of his thoughts as they drove along through the narrow +streets, across the yellow Tiber and up to the stately entrance of St. +Peter's. + + + + +Chapter XIV. + +A Visit to the Sistine Chapel. + + _Deep love lieth under + These pictures of time; + They fade in the light of + Their meaning sublime._ + + --EMERSON. + +[Illustration: ST. PETER'S AND CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO, ROME.] + + +They first passed into the great Cathedral in order to give a look at +that most beautiful of all Michael Angelo's sculptures--_Mary holding on +her knees her dead Son_. Barbara and Bettina had studied it on a former +visit to St. Peter's when Mr. Sumner was not with them. Now he asked +them to note the evident weight of the dead Christ,--with every muscle +relaxed,--a triumph of the sculptor's art; and, especially, the +impersonal face of the mother; a face that is simply the embodiment of +her feeling, and wholly apart from the ordinary human! + +"This is a special characteristic of Michael Angelo's faces," he said, +"and denotes the high order of his thought. In it, he approached more +closely the conceptions of the ancient Greek masters than has any other +modern artist--and now we will go to the Sistine Chapel," he added, +after a little time. + +They went out to the Vatican entrance, passed the almost historic Swiss +Guards, and climbed the stairs with quite the emotion that they were +about to visit some sacred shrine, so much had they read and so deeply +had they thought about the frescoes they were about to see. + +For some time after they entered the Chapel Mr. Sumner said nothing. The +custodian, according to custom, provided them with mirrors; and each one +passed slowly along beneath the world-famous ceiling paintings, catching +the reflection of fragment after fragment, figure after figure. Soon the +mirrors were cast aside, and the opera-glasses Mr. Sumner had advised +them to bring were brought into use,--they were no longer content to +study simply a reflected image. + +At last necks and eyes grew tired, and when Mr. Sumner saw this, he +asked all to sit for a time on one of the benches, in a corner apart +from others who were there. + +"I know just how you feel," he said. "You are disappointed. The frescoes +are so far above our heads; their colors are dull; they are disfigured +by seams; there are so many subjects that you are confused and weary. +You are already striving to retain their interest and importance by +connecting them with the personality of their creator, and are +imagining Michael Angelo swung up there underneath the vault, above his +scaffoldings, laboring by day and by night during four years. You are +beginning in the wrong place to rightly comprehend the work. + +"It is the magnitude of Michael Angelo's _conceptions_ that puts him +among the very first of painters; and it is the conception of these +frescoes that makes them the most notable paintings in the world. We +must dwell on this for a moment. When the work was begun it was the +artist's intention to paint on the end wall, opposite the altar, the +Fall of Lucifer, the enemy of man, who caused sin to befall him. This +was never accomplished. Then he designed to cover the ceiling (as he +did) with the chief Biblical scenes of the world's history that are +connected with man's creation and fall--to picture all these as looking +directly forward to Christ's coming and man's redemption; and then to +complete the series, as he afterward did, by painting this great _Last +Judgment_ over the altar. Is it not a stupendous conception? + +"Let your eyes run along the ceiling as I talk. God is represented as a +most superbly majestic Being in the form of man. He separates light from +darkness. He creates the sun and moon. He commands the waters to bring +forth all kinds of fish; the earth and air to bring forth animal life. +He creates Adam: nothing more grand is there in the whole realm of art +than this magnificent figure, perfect in everything save the reception +of the breath of eternal life; his eyes are waiting for the Divine spark +that will leap into them when God's finger shall touch his own. He +creates Eve. In Paradise they sin, and are driven out by angels with +flaming swords. Then, a sad sequence to the parents' weakness, Cain +murders his brother Abel. The flood comes and destroys all their +descendants save Noah. He who has withstood evil is saved with his +family in the ark, and becomes the father of a new race." + +"And do the pictures at the corners, and the single figures, have +anything to do with this subject?" asked Malcom, after a pause, during +which all were busy following the thoughts awakened by Mr. Sumner's +words. + +[Illustration: MICHAEL ANGELO. SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME. + +THE DELPHIAN SIBYL.] + +"Yes, indeed; nothing here is foreign to the one great thought of the +painter. The four irregular spaces at the corners are filled with +representations of important deliverances of the Jewish people from +evil,--David slaying Goliath, the hanging of Haman, the serpent raised +in the wilderness, and Judith with the head of Holofernes. The +connection in Michael Angelo's mind evidently was that God, who had +always provided a help for His people, would also in His own time give +a Saviour from their sins. + +"Ranged along the sides you see seven prophets and five sibyls: the +prophets foretold Christ's coming to the Jewish world, and the sibyls +sang of it to the Gentile world. + +"Nowhere, however, do we see the waiting and the longing for the +coming of the Redeemer more strikingly shown than in these +families,--'Genealogy of the Virgin' they are commonly called,--that are +painted in the triangular spaces above the windows. Each represents a +father, mother, and little child, every bit of whose life seems utterly +absorbed with just the idea of patient, expectant waiting. When troubled +and weary, as we all are sometimes, you know, I have often come here to +gain calmness and strength by looking at one or two of these groups;" +and Mr. Sumner paused, with his eyes fixed on one of the loveliest of +the Holy Families, as they are sometimes called, as if he would now +drink in its spirit of hopeful peace. + +"They are waiting," he resumed after a few minutes, "as only those can +wait who confidently hope; and, therefore, there is really nothing in +the rendering of all this grand conception that more clearly points to +the Saviour's coming than do these. + +"I think this part of the frescoes has not generally received the +attention it merits. + +"The decorative figures, called Athletes, that you see seated on the +apparently projecting cornice, at each of the four corners of the +smaller great divisions of the ceiling, are a wholly unique creation of +the artist, and serve as a necessary separation of picture from picture. +They are with reason greatly admired in the world of art. + +"These many figures, each possessing distinct personality, were evolved +from the mind of the artist. We can never think of him as going about +through the city streets seeking models for his work as did Leonardo da +Vinci. His figures are as purely ideal as the creations of the old +Greeks. Now think of all this. Think of the sphere of the old master's +thought during these four years, and you will not wonder that he could +not sleep, but, restless, came again and again at night with a candle +fixed in his paper helmet to light the work of his hands." + +All were silent. Never before had they seen Mr. Sumner so evidently +moved by his subject; and this made it all the more impressive. They +became impatient as they heard a little group of tourists chatting and +laughing in front of the _Last Judgment_; and when, finally, a crowd of +travellers with a noisy guide entered the Chapel, they quickly decided +to go away and to come again the next day. + +"Thank you so much, Mr. Sumner," said Barbara, in a low, sympathetic +voice, as she found herself beside him as they came out through the long +corridor; "you have made it all very plain to us,--the greatness, the +skill, the patience of Michael Angelo. It is as if he had been inspired +by God." + +"And why not?" was the gentle reply, as he looked down into the upturned +face so full of sweet seriousness. "Do you believe that the days of +inspiration were confined to past ages? God is the same as then, and +close at hand as then; man is the same and with the same needs. + + "The passive master lent his hand + To the vast soul that o'er him planned, + +wrote our Emerson, showing he believed, as I firmly do, that we +ourselves now work God's will, as men did ages ago; that God inspires us +even as he did the old Prophets." + +"I love to believe so," said Barbara, simply. + +"And," continued Mr. Sumner, "this does not lessen any man, but rather +makes him greater. Surely God's working through him makes him truly +grander than the mere work itself ever could." + +As Malcom, Barbara, and Bettina drove homeward, their talk took a +serious turn. Malcom was deeply impressed by his uncle's last words, +which he had overheard, when taken into connection with all the +preceding thoughts about Michael Angelo. Finally he asked:-- + +"And then what can a man do? What did Michael Angelo, himself, do if, as +uncle suggested, God wrought through him?" + +"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Bettina, eagerly. "I have heard papa and mamma +talk about the same thing more than once, only of course Michael Angelo +was not their subject. In the first place, he must have realized that +God sent him into the world to do something, and also that He had not +left him alone, but was with him. Papa always says that to realize this +begins everything that is good." + +"Yes," interrupted Barbara. "He did feel this. Don't you remember that +he wrote in one of his letters that we were reading in that library book +the other day, 'Make no intimacies with any one but the Almighty alone'? +I was particularly struck by it, because just before I read it, I was +thinking what a lonely man he was." + +"Yes, dear, I remember. And in the next place," continued Bettina, "papa +says we must get ourselves ready to do as _great_ work as is possible, +so that may be given us. If we do not prepare ourselves, this cannot +be. You know how Michael Angelo studied and studied there in Florence +when he was a young man; how he never spared himself, but 'toiled +tremendously,' as some one has said. And, next, we must do in the very +best way possible even the smallest thing God sees fit to give us to do, +so that we may be found worthy to do greater ones. But, Malcom, you know +all this as well or better than I do, and I know you are trying to do +these things too!" and Bettina blushed at the thought that she had been +preaching. + +But Malcom laughed, and looked as if he could listen to so sweet a +preacher forever. Never were there two better comrades than he and +Bettina had been all their lives. + +Barbara said little. There was a far-away look in her eyes that told of +unexpressed thought. She was pondering that which the morning had +brought; and underneath and through all was the happy knowledge that her +hero had not failed her. As usual he had committed new gifts into her +keeping. And the gentle, almost intimate, tones of his voice when he was +talking to her,--she felt it was to herself alone, though others +heard--dwelt like music in her ears. + +Mr. Sumner had been calmed by the lesson of Michael Angelo's frescoes, +as he had often been before. In the presence of eternal +verities,--however they may be embodied to us,--our own private +concerns must ever grow trivial. What matters a little unrest or +disappointment, or even unhappiness, when our thought is engaged with +untold ages of God's dealing with mankind? With the wondrous fact that +God is with man,--Immanuel,--forever and forevermore? + +That evening he spent with the family in their pretty sitting room, and +in answer to some questions about the _Last Judgment_, talked for a few +minutes about this large fresco, which occupied seven years of Michael +Angelo's life. He told them that although it is not perhaps so great as +a work of art as the ceiling frescoes, yet because of its conception, of +the number of figures introduced, the boldness of their treatment, and +the magnificence of their drawing, it stands unrivalled. He said they +ought to study it, bit by bit, group by group, after having once learned +to understand its design. + +They talked of the grim humor of the artist in giving his Belial--the +master of Hades--the face of the master of ceremonies of the chapel, who +found so much fault with his painting of nude figures. + +"That was the chief feature of interest in the picture to that group of +young people who stood so long before it this morning," said Mr. Sumner. +"I often notice that the portrait of grouty old Biagio attracts more +attention than any other of the nearly three hundred figures in the +picture." + +"I don't wonder, for I want to see it too," said Malcom, laughing. + +They talked also of Vittoria Colonna, at whose home and in whose +companionship the lonely master found all his happiness, especially +during these years of toil. The girls were much interested in her, and +Mr. Sumner said he would take them to visit the Colonna Palace, where, +among other pictures, they would find a portrait of this noble woman, +who was so famous in the literary life of her time. + + * * * * * + +One morning, not long after, Malcom brought a handful of letters from +the banker's, among which several fell to Barbara and Bettina. + +After opening two or three of his own, Mr. Sumner looked up and said:-- + +"I have here a letter dictated by Howard's grandmother. It contains only +a few words, which were written evidently by some friend, who adds that +the poor old lady is greatly prostrated, and it is feared will never +recover from the shock of his death." + +"Poor woman! I wish it might have come less suddenly to her," replied +Mrs. Douglas, in a sympathetic voice. + +After a little silence, during which all were busy with their letters, +a low cry burst from Barbara's lips. + +Startled, all looked up to find her, pale as death, staring at a sheet +clutched in her hand, while Bettina had sunk on her knees with her arms +about her sister's waist. + +"What is it? oh! what is it?" cried they. + +Barbara found just voice enough to say: "No bad news from home," and +then appealingly held her letter toward Mr. Sumner. + +"Shall I read it?" and as she bowed assent, he hastily scanned the +contents. + +"Howard left a large portion of his money to Barbara," he said briefly, +in response to the inquiring eyes, and handed the letter back to the +agitated girl, who, with Bettina, sought their own room. + +Then he added, striving to keep his voice calm and natural: "It seems +that the very day before he was taken ill, Howard went to a lawyer in +Florence and made a codicil to his will, in which he grouped several +bequests heretofore given, into one large one, which he gave to Barbara. +This he at once sent to his lawyer in Boston, who has now written to +Barbara." + +"This is what poor Howard tried so hard to tell me at the last," said +Mrs. Douglas. "He began two or three times, but did not have the +strength to continue. I suspected it was something like this, but +thought it best not to mention it. How much is it?" she asked after a +pause, during which Malcom and Margery had talked in earnest tones. + +"Nearly half a million," answered Mr. Sumner. + +Barbara the owner of nearly half a million dollars! No wonder she was +overcome! It seemed like an Arabian Nights' tale. + +"How perfectly lovely!" cried Margery; and her mother echoed her words. + +Mr. Sumner looked rather grave. It was not that Barbara should have the +money, but that another should have the right to give it her. Some one +else to bless the life of the girl who was becoming so dear to him! To +whom he was beginning to long to bring all good things! It was as if the +dead Howard came in some way between himself and her; and he went out +alone beneath the trees of the Pincian Gardens to think it all over. + +Meanwhile, the two girls were in their chamber. Barbara threw herself on +a couch beneath the window, and gazed with unseeing eyes up into the +depths of the Italian sky. She was stunned by the news the letter had +brought, and, as yet, thought was completely passive. + +Bettina read several times the lawyer's letter, trying to understand +its contents. At last she said gently:-- + +"Can it be possible, Bab? I can hardly comprehend how much it is. We +have never thought of so much money in all our lives. Why! you are rich, +dear. You have more money than you ever can spend!" + +Barbara sprang from the couch, and threw out her arms with an exultant +gesture. + +"Spend! I hadn't once thought of that! Betty! Betty! Papa and mamma +shall have everything they wish! They shall never work so hard any more! +Mamma shall have a seamstress every day, and her poor pricked fingers +shall grow smooth! She shall have the loveliest clothes, and never again +give the prettiest of everything to you and me! Papa shall have +vacations, and books, and the study in hospitals he has so longed for! +Richard shall have college _certain_ to look forward to; Lois shall have +the best teachers in the world for her music; Margaret shall be an +artist; and dear little Bertie!--oh! he shall have what he needs for +everything he wishes to do and be! And they shall all come abroad to +this dear lovely Italy, and enjoy all that we are enjoying! And you and +I, Betty!--why!--you and I can have some new spring dresses!" And the +excited girl burst into a flood of tears, mingled with laughter at the +absurdity of her anti-climax. + +Bettina did not know what to do. She had never seen Barbara so +overwrought with excitement. Presently, however, she began to speak of +Howard, and before long they were talking tenderly of the young man who +so short a time ago was a stranger to them, but whose life had been +destined to touch so closely their own. + +Barbara was profoundly moved as she realized this proof of his affection +for her, and a depression was fast following her moment of exultation, +when a tap at the door ushered in Mrs. Douglas, who took her into her +arms as her mother would have done. Her sweet sympathy and bright +practical talk did a world of good in restoring to both the girls their +natural calmness. + +Barbara, however, was in a feverish haste to do something that would +repay her parents for the money she and Betty were using, and, to soothe +her, Mrs. Douglas told her what to write to the lawyer, so that he would +at once transfer a few thousands of dollars to Dr. Burnett. Then she +said:-- + +"I would not write your father and mother about it until to-morrow. You +can do it more easily then; and I will write, too, if you would like. +Margery and Malcom are longing to see you. So is Robert, I am sure. And +will it not be best for you to go right out somewhere with us?" + + + + +Chapter XV. + +A Morning in the Vatican. + + _Oh! their Rafael of the dear Madonnas._ + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: LOGGIA OF RAPHAEL, VATICAN, ROME.] + + +It was, of course, somewhat difficult for Barbara to adjust herself to +the new conditions. After the first, however, she said nothing to any +one save Bettina about the money Howard had left her, only, as in her +ignorance of business methods, she had need to consult Mrs. Douglas. + +But she and Bettina had many things to talk over and much consultation +to hold regarding the future. One evening, after they had been thus +busy, Bettina said, nestling closer to her sister, as they sat together +on the couch, brave in its Roman draperies:-- + +"You must not always say '_our_ money,' Bab, dear." + +"Why not?" with a startled look. + +"Because it is _your_ money,--your very own;--the money Howard gave you +to spend for him, and yourself enjoy." + +"But, Betty, we have shared everything all our lives. I do not know how +to have or use anything that is not yours as well as mine. If Howard had +known my heart, he would have had it just as I would. I shall give you +half, Betty. Do not, oh! do not refuse it. I shall not be happy with it +unless you are willing. Then you and I will work with it and enjoy it +together. It is the only way. Say yes, dear," and Barbara looked at her +sister with an almost piteous entreaty. + +Bettina could say nothing for a time. Then, as if impelled by the force +of Barbara's desire, said:-- + +"Wait until we get home. Then, if you wish it as you do now, I will do +as papa and mamma think best; for, darling," in a somewhat quavering +voice, "I know if the money were all mine, I should feel just as you +do." And a loving kiss sealed the compact. + +Meanwhile the days in Rome were passing,--lovely in nature as only +spring days in Italy can be; days filled to overflowing with delightful +and unique interest. For cities, as well as people, possess their own +characteristic individualities, and Rome is distinctively an individual +city. + +From her foundation by the shepherd-kings far beyond the outermost +threshold of history, down through the six or seven centuries during +which she was engaged in conquering the nations; through the five +hundred years of her undisputed reign as proud mistress of the world; in +her sad decay and fall; and to-day in her resurrection, she is only +herself--unlike all other cities. + +The fragmentary ruins of her great heathen temples arise close beside +her Christian churches,--some are even foundations for them,--while the +trappings of many have furnished the rich adornments of Christian +altars. Her mediæval castles and palaces, crowded to overflowing with +heart-breaking traditions, look out over smiling gardens in the midst of +which stand the quiet, orderly, innocent homes of the present race of +commonplace men and women. Her vast Colosseum is only an immense quarry. +Her proud mausoleum of the Julian Cæsars is an unimportant circus. + +We drive or walk on the Corso, along which the Cæsars triumphantly led +processions of captives; through which, centuries later, numberless +papal pageants made proud entries of the city; where the maddest +jollities of carnival seasons have raged: and we see nothing more +important than modern carriages filled with gayly dressed women, and +shops brilliant with modern jewellery and pretty colored fabrics; and we +purchase gloves, handkerchiefs, and photographs close to some spot over +which, perchance, Queen Zenobia passed laden with the golden chains that +fettered her as she graced the triumph of Emperor Aurelian; or +Cleopatra, when she came conqueror of the proud heart of Julius Cæsar. + +We linger on the Pincio, listening to the sweet music of the Roman band, +while our eyes wander out over the myriad roofs and domes to where great +St. Peter's meets the western horizon; and we forget utterly those dark +centuries during which this lovely hill was given over to Nero's fearful +ghost, until a Pope, with his own hands, cut down the grand trees that +crowned its summit, thus exorcising the demon birds which the people +believed to linger in them and still to work the wicked emperor's will. + +We take afternoon tea at the English Mrs. Watson's, beside the foot of +the _Scala di Spagna_, close to whose top tradition tells us that +shameless Messalina, Claudius's empress, was mercilessly slain. + +And so it is throughout the city. Tradition, legend, and romance have +peopled every place we visit. Wars, massacres, and horrible suffering +have left a stain at every step. Love and faith and glorious +self-sacrifice have consecrated the ways over which we pass. And though +we do not give definite thought to these things always, yet all the +time the city is weaving her spell about our minds and hearts, and we +suddenly arouse to find that, traditional or historic, civilized or +barbarous, conqueror or conquered, ancient or modern, she has become +_Cara Roma_ to us, and so will be forevermore. + +Thus it had been with Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and so it now was +with the young people of their household who had come hither for the +first time. + +The days flew fast. It was almost difficult to find time when all could +get together for their art study. Mr. Sumner had told them at first that +here they would study under totally different conditions from those in +Florence, so separated are the works of any particular artist save +Michael Angelo. + +They had already visited individually, as they chose, those historic +palaces in which are most important family picture-galleries, such as +the Colonna, Farnese, Doria, Corsini, Villa Borghese, etc., but they +wished to go all together to the Vatican to hear Mr. Sumner talk of +Raphael's works, and right glad were they when finally a convenient time +came. + +They walked quickly through many pictured rooms and corridors until they +reached the third room of the famous picture-gallery, where they took +seats, and Mr. Sumner said, in a low voice:-- + +"I did not wish to come here immediately after we had studied Michael +Angelo's frescoes. It was better to wait for a time, so utterly unlike +are these two great masters of painting. I confess that I never like to +compare them, one with the other, although their lives were so closely +related that it is always natural to do so. Their characters were +opposite; so, also, their work. One sways us by his all-compelling +strength; the other draws us by his alluring charm. Michael Angelo is in +painting what Dante and Shakespeare are in poetry, and Beethoven in +music; Raphael is like the gentle Spenser and the tender Mozart. Michael +Angelo is thoroughly original; Raphael possessed a peculiarly receptive +nature, that caught something from all with whom he came into close +contact. Michael Angelo strove continually to grow; Raphael struggled +for nothing. Michael Angelo's life was sternly lonely and sorrowful; +Raphael's bright, happy, and placid. Michael Angelo lived long; Raphael +died in early manhood. + +"Still," he continued, after a moment, as he noted the sympathetic faces +about him, "although I have mentioned them, I beg of you not to allow +any of these personal characteristics or distinctions to influence you +in your judgment of the work of these two. Forget the one to-day as we +study the other. + +"You have read much of Raphael's life, so I will not talk about that. +You remember that, when young, he studied in Perugia, in Perugino's +studio, and perhaps you will recollect that, when we were there, I told +you that his early work was exceedingly like that of this master. + +"Now, look! Here right before us is Raphael's _Coronation of the +Virgin_,--his first important painting. See how like Perugino's are the +figures. Notice the exquisite angels on either side of the Virgin, which +are so often reproduced! See their pure, childlike faces and the queer +little stiffness that is almost a grace! See the sweet solemnity of +Christ and the Madonna, the staid grouping of the figures below,--the +winged cherubim,--the soft color! + +"I have here two photographs," and he unfolded and passed one to +Margery, who was close beside him, "which I wish you to look at +carefully. They are of works painted very soon after the _Coronation_; +one, the _Marriage of the Virgin_, or _Lo Sposalizio_, is in the Brera +Gallery at Milan. It is as like Perugino's work as is the _Coronation_." + +After a time spent in looking at and talking about the picture, during +which Bettina told the story of the blossomed rod which Joseph bears +over his shoulder, and the rod without blossoms which the disappointed +suitor is breaking over his knee, Mr. Sumner gave them the other +photograph. + +"This," he resumed, "you will readily recognize, as you have so often +looked at the picture in the Pitti Gallery in Florence--the _Madonna del +Gran Duca_. This is the only Madonna that belongs to this period of +Raphael's painting, and the last important picture in the style. It was +painted during the early part of his visit to Florence." + +"I never see this, uncle," said Margery, as she passed the photograph on +to the others, "without thinking how the Grand Duke carried it about in +its rich casket wherever he went, and said his prayers before it night +and morning. I am glad the people named it after him. Don't you think it +very beautiful, uncle?" + +"Yes; and it is one of the purest Madonnas ever painted--so impersonal +is the face," replied Mr. Sumner. + +"I wish," he continued, "I could go on like this through a list of +Raphael's works with you, but it is utterly impossible, so many are +there. When he went to Florence, where you know he spent some years, he +fell under the influence of the Florentine artists, and his work +gradually lost its resemblance to Perugino's. It gained more freedom, +action, grace, and strength of color. Some examples of this second +style of his painting are the _Madonna del Cardellino_, or Madonna of +the Goldfinch, which you will remember in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, +and _La Belle Jardinière_ in the Louvre, Paris. But I have brought +photographs of these pictures so that you may see the striking +difference between them and those previously painted." + +Murmured exclamations attested the interest with which the comparison +was made. After all seemed satisfied, Mr. Sumner continued:-- + +"After Raphael came to Rome, summoned by the same Pope Julius II. who +sent for Michael Angelo, and was thus brought under the influence of +that great painter, his method again changed. It grew firmer and +stronger. Then he painted his best pictures,--and so many of them! So, +you can see, it is somewhat difficult to characterize Raphael's work as +a whole, for into it came so many influences. One thing, however, is +true. From all those whom he followed, he gathered only the best +qualities. His work deservedly holds its prominent place in the world's +estimation;--so high and sweet and pure are its _motifs_, while their +rendering is in the very best manner of the High Renaissance. No other +artist ever painted so many noble pictures in so few years of time." + +"Did not his pupils assist him in many works, uncle?" asked Malcom, as +his uncle paused for a moment. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Sumner, rising, "especially in the frescoes that we +shall see by and by. It would have been utterly impossible for him to +have executed all these with his own hand. Let us now go out into +this next gallery through which we entered, and look at the +_Transfiguration_." + +So they went into the small room which is dedicated wholly to three +large pictures:--the _Transfiguration_ and _Madonna di Foligno_ by +Raphael, and the _Communion of St. Jerome_ by Domenichino. + +"Raphael's last picture, which he left unfinished!" murmured Bettina, +and she took an almost reverential attitude before it. + +"How very, very different from the _Coronation_!" exclaimed Barbara, +after some moments of earnest study. "That is so utterly simple, so +quiet! This is more than dramatic!" + +"Raphael's whole lifetime of painting lies between the two," replied Mr. +Sumner, who had been intently watching her face as he stood beside her. + +"Do you like this, Mr. Sumner? I do not think I do, really," said Miss +Sherman, as she dropped into a chair, her eyes denoting a veiled +displeasure, which was also apparent in the tones of her voice. + +"It is a difficult picture to judge," replied Mr. Sumner, slowly. "I +wish you all could have studied many others before studying this one. +But, indeed, you are so familiar with Raphael's pictures that you need +only to recall them to mind. This was painted under peculiar +circumstances,--in competition, you remember, with Sebastian del +Piombo's _Resurrection of Lazarus_; and Sebastian was a pupil of Michael +Angelo. Some writers have affirmed that that master aided his pupil in +the drawing of the chief figures in his picture. Raphael tried harder +than he ever had done before to put some of the dramatic vigor and +action of Michael Angelo into the figures here in the lower part of the +_Transfiguration_. The result is that he overdid it. It is not +Raphaelesque; it is an unfortunate composite. The composition is fine; +the quiet glory of heaven in the upper part,--the turbulence of earth in +the lower, are well expressed; but the perfection of artistic effect is +wanting. It is full of beauties, yet it is not beautiful. It has many +defects, yet only a great master could have designed and painted it." + +By and by they turned their attention to the _Madonna di Foligno_, and +were especially interested in it as being a votive picture. Margery, who +was very fond of this Madonna, with the exquisite background of angels' +heads, had a photograph of it in her own room at home, and knew the +whole story of the origin of the picture. So she told it at Malcom's +request, her delicate fingers clasping and unclasping each other, +according to her habit, as she talked. + +"How true it is that one ought to know the reason why a picture is +painted, all about its painter, and a thousand other things, in order to +appreciate it properly," said Malcom, as they turned to leave the room. + +"That is so," replied his uncle. "I really feel," with an apologetic +smile, "that I can do nothing with Raphael. There is so much of him +scattered about everywhere. We will regard this morning's study as only +preliminary, and you must study his pictures by yourselves, wherever you +find them. By the way," and he turned to look back through the doorway, +"you must not forget to come here again to see Domenichino's great +picture. How striking it is! But we must not mix his work with +Raphael's." + +They passed through the first room of the gallery, stopping but a moment +to see two or three comparatively unimportant pictures painted by +Raphael, and went out into the Loggia. + +"I brought you through this without a word, when we first came," said +Mr. Sumner. "But now I wish you to look up at the roof-paintings. They +were designed by Raphael, but painted by his pupils. You see they all +have Bible subjects. For this reason this Loggia is sometimes called +'Raphael's Bible.' The composition of every picture is simple, and in +the master's happiest style." + +As they left the Loggia and entered "Raphael's Stanze," a series of +rooms whose walls are covered with his frescoes, Mr. Sumner said:-- + +"We will to-day only give a glance at the paintings in this first room. +They are, as you see, illustrative of great events in the history of +Rome. They were executed wholly by Raphael's pupils, after his designs." + +"I shall come here again," said Malcom, in a positive tone. "This is +more in my line than Madonnas," and he made a bit of a wry face. + +"And better still is to come for you," returned his uncle with a smile, +as they passed on. "Here in this next room are scenes in the religious +history of the city, and here," as they entered the third room, "is the +famous Camera della Segnatura." + +"Room of the Signatures! Why so called?" asked Barbara. + +"Because the Papal indulgences used to be signed here; and here," +continued Mr. Sumner, turning for a moment toward Malcom, "are the +greatest of all Raphael's frescoes. We will now stop here for a few +minutes, and you must come again for real study. The subjects are the +representations of the most lofty occupations that engage the minds of +men--Philosophy, Justice, Theology, and Poetry. This is the first +painting done by Raphael in the Vatican, and it is all his own work, +both design and execution. + +"Here on this side," pointing at a large fresco which covered the entire +wall, "is _La Disputa_, or _Theology_. Above, on the ceiling, you see a +symbolic figure representing Religion, with the Bible in one hand and +pointing down at the great picture with the other. Opposite is the +_School of Athens_. Above this is a figure emblematic of Philosophy, +wearing a diadem and holding two books. On the two end walls, broken, as +you see, by the windows, are _Parnassus_, peopled with Apollo and the +Muses, together with figures of celebrated poets,--above which is the +crowned figure with a lyre which represents Poetry,--and," turning, "the +_Administration of Law_, with ceiling-figure with crown, sword, and +balance, symbolizing Justice. In this room the painter had much to +contend against. These opposite windows at the ends, which fill the +space with cross-lights, and around which he must place two of his +pictures, must have been discouraging. But the compositions are +consummately fine, and the whole is so admirably managed that one does +not even think of that which, if the work were less magnificent, would +be harassing. + +"I advise you to come here early some morning and bring with you some +full description of the pictures, which tells whom the figures are +intended to represent. Study first each painting as a whole; see the +fine distribution of masses; the general arrangement; the symmetry of +groups which balance each other; the harmony of line and color. Then +study individual figures for form, attitude, and expression. I think you +will wish to give several mornings to this one room. + +"What do you think of this, Malcom? Do you not wish to get acquainted +with Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Virgil?" added Mr. Sumner, putting +his hand suddenly on the young man's shoulder, and looking into his face +to surprise his thought. + +"I think it is fine, Uncle Rob. It's all right;" and Malcom's steady +blue eyes emphasized his satisfaction. + +"What do you call Raphael's greatest picture?" asked Barbara, as they +turned from the frescoed walls. + +"These are his most important frescoes," replied Mr. Sumner; "and all +critics agree that his most famous easel picture is the _Madonna di San +Sisto_ in the Dresden Gallery. This is so very familiar to you that it +needs no explanation. It was, you know, his last Madonna, and it +contains a hint of Divinity in both mother and child never attained by +any painter before or since." + +"When shall we see Raphael's tapestries?" asked Margery, as they finally +passed on through halls and corridors. + +"I hardly think I will go with you to see those, Madge dear," answered +her uncle. "There is no further need that I explain any of Raphael's +work to you. Your books and your own critical tastes, which are pretty +well formed by this time, will be quite sufficient. Indeed," looking +around until he caught Barbara's eyes, "I really think you can study all +the remaining paintings in Rome by yourselves," and he was made happy by +seeing the swift regret which clouded them. + +"When we return to Florence," he added, "you will be more interested +than when we were there before in looking at Raphael's Madonnas and +portraits in those galleries; and on our way from Florence to Venice, we +will stop at Bologna to see his _St. Cecilia_". + +"How perfectly delightful!" cried Bettina. "I have been wishing to see +that ever since we went to the church of St. Cecilia the other day. I +was greatly interested to know that it had once been her own home, and +in everything there connected with her. She was so brave, and true, and +good! It seems as if Raphael could have painted a worthy picture of +her!" + +As Bettina suddenly checked her pretty enthusiasm, her face flushed +painfully, and Barbara, seeking the cause, caught the supercilious smile +with which Miss Sherman was regarding her sister. She at once divined +that poor Bettina feared that, in some way, she had made herself +ridiculous to the older lady. + +Going swiftly to her sister she threw her arm closely about her waist, +and with a charming air of defiance,--with erect head and flashing eyes, +said:-- + +"Mr. Sumner, St. Cecilia is a real, historical character, is she not? As +much so as St. Francis, Nero, or Marcus Aurelius?" The slight emphasis +on the last name recalled to all the party the effusive eulogiums Miss +Sherman had lavished upon that famous imperial philosopher a few days +before, while they were looking at his bust in the museum of Palazzo +Laterano; when, unfortunately, she had imputed to him certain utterances +that rightfully belong to another literary man who lived in quite a +different age and country. + +Mr. Sumner could not avoid a merry twinkle of his eyes as he strove to +answer with becoming gravity, and Malcom hastily pushed on far in +advance. + +Once at home, Malcom and Margery gave their version of the affair to +their mother. + +"It isn't the first time she has looked like that at both Barbara and +Betty," averred Malcom, emphatically, "and they have known and felt it, +too." + +"I am very sorry," said Mrs. Douglas, with a troubled look. + +"Oh! you need not fear anything further, mother _mia_" said Malcom, +sympathizingly. "Barbara will never show any more feeling. She would not +have done it for herself, only for Betty. Under the circumstances she +just had to fire her independence-gun, that is all. Now there will be +perfect peace on her side. You know her. + +"And," he added in an aside to Margery, as his mother was leaving the +room, "Miss Sherman will not dare to be cross openly for fear of mother +and Uncle Rob. I didn't dare to look at her. But wasn't it rich?" And he +went off into a peal of laughter. + +"It was only what she deserved, anyway," said Margery, who was usually +most gentle in all her judgments. + +It was quite a commentary on Mrs. Douglas's judgment of Lucile Sherman's +character at this time, that she now deemed it best to tell her of +Howard's bequest to Barbara, about which she had heretofore held +silence. + + + + +Chapter XVI. + +Poor Barbara's Trouble. + + _O, how this spring of love resembleth + The uncertain glory of an April day; + Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, + And by and by a cloud takes all away._ + + --SHAKESPEARE. + +[Illustration: A BIT OF AMALFI.] + + +Barbara and Bettina, sometimes accompanied by Mrs. Douglas, sometimes by +Malcom, usually by Margery, saw all the remaining and important art +treasures of Rome. + +They studied long the Vatican and Capitol sculptures; went to the +Barberini Palace to see Raphael's _La Fornarina_, so rich in color; and, +close beside it, the pale, tearful face of Beatrice Cenci, so long +attributed to Guido Reni, but whose authorship is now doubtful; to the +doleful old church Santa Maria dei Capuccini, to see _St. Michael and +the Dragon_ by Guido Reni, in which they were especially interested, +because Hawthorne made it a rendezvous of the four friends in his +"Marble Faun," where so diverse judgments of the picture were +pronounced, each having its foundation in the heart and experience of +the speaker. They had been reading this book in the same way in which +they had read "Romola" in Florence, and each girl was now the happy +possessor of a much-prized copy, interleaved by herself with photographs +of the Roman scenes and works of art mentioned in the book. + +They went to the garden-house of the Rospigliosi Palace to see on its +ceiling Guido Reni's _Aurora_, one of the finest decorative pictures +ever painted. And to the Accademia di San Luca to find the drawing by +Canevari after Van Dyck's portrait of the infant son of Charles I. in +the Turin Gallery, which is so often reproduced under the name of the +_Stuart Baby_. Not many pictures, great or small, escaped their eager +young eyes. They grew familiar with the works of Domenichino, Guercino, +Garofalo, Carlo Dolci, Sassoferrato, etc., and the days of their stay in +Rome rapidly passed by. + +Mrs. Douglas was very desirous to take them for a few days to Naples, or +rather to the environments of Naples. To herself it would be a +pilgrimage of affection; and in those drives, loveliest in the world, +she would recall many precious memories of the past. + +"I hesitated to speak of doing this before," said she, when she +suggested it to her brother, "because I have tried to make the whole +trip comparatively inexpensive, remembering the shortness of the dear +doctor's purse. Now, of course, this needs no consideration." + +So they planned to go there for a short visit; and on their return it +would be time to pack their trunks for Florence, where they were to stop +two or three days before going northward toward Venice. + +A morning ride from Rome to Naples during the early days of May is +idyllic. In the smiling sunshine they rushed on through wide meadows +covered with luxuriant verdure and vineyards flushed with delicate +greens. After they had passed Capua, which is magnificently situated on +a wide plain,--amphitheatre-like within its half-circle of lovely hills, +flanked behind by the Apennines,--Malcom said, as he finally drew in his +head from the open window and, with a very contented look, settled back +into a corner of the compartment, with one arm thrown about his mother's +shoulders:-- + +"It is no wonder that old Hannibal's army grew effeminate after the +soldiers had lived here for some months, and so was easily conquered. +Life could not have had many hardships in such a place as this. + +"I declare!" he added with a laugh as he shook back the wind-blown hair +from his forehead; "it is difficult to realize these days in what +century one is living. My mind has been so full of ancient history +lately that I feel quite like an antique myself." + +"I know," answered his uncle with a smile, "how life widens and +lengthens as thought expands under the influence of travel through +historic scenes. One may study history from books for a lifetime and +never realize it as he would could he, even for an hour, be placed upon +the very spot where some important event took place. What a fact +Hannibal's army of two thousand years ago becomes to us when we know +that these very mountain tops which are before us looked down upon +it,--that its soldiers idled, ate, and slept on this very plain." + +Thus talking, almost before they knew, they came out upon the beautiful +Bay of Naples. They saw the little island of Capri, the larger Ischia +crowned with its volcanic mountains, and, between it and the point of +Posilipo, where once stood Virgil's villa, the tiny island Nisida (old +"Nesis"), whither Brutus fled after the assassination of Julius Cæsar; +where Cicero visited him, and where he bade adieu to his wife, Portia, +when he set sail for Greece. + +"Looking out over this same bay, these same islands, Virgil sang of +flocks, of fields, and of heroes," said Mr. Sumner, following the former +line of thought, as he began to take from the racks above the valises +of the party. + +Arrived at their hotel, which was situated in the higher quarters of the +city, they were ensconced in rooms whose balconied windows commanded +magnificent views of the softly radiant city, the bay, and, close at +hand, Mount Vesuvius, over which was hovering the usual cloud of smoke. + +At the close of the afternoon Barbara and Bettina stood long on their +own window-balcony. The scene was fascinating--even more so than they +had dreamed. + +"There is but one Naples, as there is but one Rome and one Florence," +said Barbara softly. "Each city is grandly beautiful in its own +individual way, but for none has nature done so much as for Naples." + +In silence they watched the sunset glow and the oncoming twilight, until +the call for dinner sounded through the halls. + +"I fear to leave it all," said Bettina, turning reluctantly away, "lest +we can never find it again." + +The next three days were crowded to the brim. One was spent in going to +the top of Vesuvius; another in the great Museum, so interesting with +its remains of antique sculptures, so destitute of important paintings; +the third in driving about the city, to San Martino, and around the +point of Posilipo, ending with a visit to Virgil's tomb. + +Then came the Sabbath, and they attended morning service in the +Cathedral,--in the very chapel of San Januarius which is decorated with +pictures by Domenichino, Guido Reni, and Lanfranco, the completion of +which was prevented by the jealousy of the Neapolitan painters. + +The next morning they went to Pompeii, where in the late afternoon +carriages were to meet them for beginning the drive through +Castellammare, Sorrento, and Amalfi to La Cava. + +The absorbing charm of Pompeii, whose resurrection began after nearly +seventeen centuries of burial and is yet only partial, at once seized +them,--all of them,--for, visit the ruined city often as one may, yet +the sight of its worn streets with their high stepping-stones, its +broken pavements, its decorated walls, its shops,--all possess such an +atmosphere of departed life that its fascination is complete, and does +not yield to familiarity. + +After hours of wandering about with their guide, seeing the points of +most interest,--the beautiful houses recently excavated, the homes of +Glaucus, of Pansa, of Sallust, of Orpheus, of Diomedes and very many +others; the forum, temples, and amphitheatre--they sat long amid the +ruins, looking at the fatal mountain, so close at hand, and the +desolation at its foot, and meditated upon the terrors of that fearful +night. + +Malcom read aloud the story as related by Pliny, a volume of whose +letters he had put into his pocket, and Margery recited some lines of a +beautiful sonnet on Pompeii which she had once learned, whose author she +did not remember:-- + + "No chariot wheels invade her stony roads; + Priestless her temples, lone her vast abodes, + Deserted,--forum, palace, everywhere! + Yet are her chambers for the master fit, + Her shops are ready for the oil and wine, + Ploughed are her streets with many a chariot line, + And on her walls to-morrow's play is writ,-- + Of that to-morrow which might never be!" + +The spell was not broken until Mr. Sumner, looking at his watch, +declared it was quite time they should return to the little hotel, take +an afternoon lunch, and so be ready when the carriages should await +them. + +The beauty of the drive from Naples to the Bay of Salerno has been set +forth, by many writers, in prose and song and poem, and remembering +this, Barbara's and Bettina's faces were radiant with expectation as +they started upon it. Malcom and Margery were in the carriage with them; +the atmosphere was perfection; the sun shone with just the right degree +of heat; the waters of the beautiful Bay of Naples were just rippling +beneath the soft breeze, and seventeen miles of incomparable loveliness +lay between them and Sorrento, where they were to spend the night. What +wonder they were happy! + +Just as they were entering the town of Castellammare (the ancient +Stabiæ, where the elder Pliny perished) the carriage containing Mrs. +Douglas, Miss Sherman, and Mr. Sumner, which had thus far followed them, +dashed past, and its occupants were greeted with a merry peal of +laughter from the four young voices. + +"How joyous they are!" exclaimed Mrs. Douglas, her own face reflecting +their happiness. "You look envious, Robert." + +Then, turning to Miss Sherman, she added: "I never tire of watching +Barbara and Bettina these days. I believe they are two of the rarest +girls in the world. Nothing has yet spoiled them, and I think nothing +ever will. It has been one of the sweetest things possible to see their +little everyday charities since they have had money in abundance. +Before, they felt that every dollar their parents spared them was a +sacred trust to be used just for their positive needs. Now, their +evident delight in giving to the flower-girls, to the street-gamins, to +the beggars, to everything miserable that offers, is delightful." + +"Do you think Barbara will know how to be wise in the spending of her +money?" asked Miss Sherman, with a constrained smile. + +"As to the wise ways of spending money," answered Mrs. Douglas, stealing +a glance at her brother's imperturbable face opposite, "everybody has +his own individual opinion. I, myself, feel sure of Barbara. Before her +money came, she had received the greater and far more important heritage +of a noble-minded ancestry and a childhood devoted to unselfish living +and the seeking of the highest things. During these eighteen years her +character has been formed, and it is so grounded that the mere +possession of money will not alter it. To my mind it is a happy thing +that Howard's money will be used in such a personal way as I think it +will be." + +"Personal a way?" queried Miss Sherman. + +"I mean personal as distinguished from institutional--you know his first +intention was to endow institutions. For instance, within a week after +Barbara received the lawyer's announcement, she consulted me as to how +she could best make provision for an old lady who has been for years +more or less of a pensioner of her father's family. The dear old woman +with a little aid has supported herself for many years, but lately it +has seemed as if she would have to give up the wee bit of a home she +loves so much and become an inmate of some great Institution, and this +would almost break her heart. Barbara was in haste to put enough money +at her disposal so that a good woman may be hired to come and care for +her so long as she shall live, and to provide for all her wants. Also +she remembered a poor young girl, once her and Betty's schoolmate, who +has always longed for further study, whose one ambition has been to go +to college. This was simply impossible, not even the strictest economy, +even the going without necessities, has gathered together sufficient +money for the expenses of a single year. Before we left Rome, Barbara +arranged for the deposit in the bank at home of enough money to permit +this struggling girl to look forward with certainty to a college course, +and wrote the letter which will bring her so much joy. + +"Dear child!" she continued tenderly, after a pause; "the only bit of +money she has yet spent for herself was to get the spring outfits that +she and Betty have really needed for some time, but for which they did +not like to use their father's money. + +"And I do believe," after another pause, "that the two girls' lives will +be passed as unostentatiously as if the money had not come to them." + +"Why do you speak as if the money had come to both?" asked Miss +Sherman, with a curious inflection of the voice. + +"Did I? I did not realize it. But I will not change my words; for, +unless I mistake much, the money will be Bettina's as much as Barbara's, +and this, because Barbara will have it so." + +The words were hardly spoken by Mrs. Douglas when Mr. Sumner, who was +riding backward and so facing the following carriage, sprang up, crying +in a low, smothered tone of alarm, "Barbara!" + +But Mrs. Douglas had not time to turn before he sank back saying: +"Excuse me. I must have been mistaken. I thought that something was the +matter; that Barbara had been taken ill." + +Then he added, in explanation to his sister: "The carriage was so far +back, as it rounded a curve, permitting me to look into it, that I could +not see very distinctly." + +Miss Sherman bit her lip and rode on in silence. Mr. Sumner's concern +for Barbara seemed painfully evident to her. She had much that was +disagreeable to think of, for it was impossible to avoid contrasting +herself with the picture of Barbara which Mrs. Douglas had drawn. She +thought of the sister at home who so patiently, year after year, had +given up her own cherished desires that she might be gratified; who had +needed, far more than she herself had, the change and rest of this year +abroad, but whom she had forced to return with the father, even though +she knew well it was her own duty to go,--how many such instances of +selfishness had filled her life! + +She felt that she could almost hate this fortunate Barbara, +who so easily was gaining all the things she herself +coveted,--admiration,--wealth,--love? no, not if she could help it! and +she forced herself to smile, to praise the same qualities of heart that +Mrs. Douglas had admired; to talk pityingly of the miserable ones of +earth; adoringly of self-sacrificing, heroic deeds, and sympathizingly +of noble endeavor. + + * * * * * + +What had been the matter in the other carriage? After the burst of +gayety with which the three girls and Malcom had greeted the swifter +equipage as it rolled past theirs, nothing was said for some time, until +Malcom suddenly burst out with the expression of what had evidently been +the subject of his thought:-- + +"Girls, do you think that Uncle Robert is falling in love with Miss +Sherman?" + +The question fell like a bombshell into the little group. Margery first +found a voice, but it was a most awed, repressed one:-- + +"Why, Malcom! _could_ he ever love anybody again? You know--oh! what +could make you think of such a thing? It is not like you to make light +of Uncle Robert's feelings." + +"I am not doing so, Madge dear. Men can love twice. It would not hurt +Margaret should he learn to love some one else. And it would be ever so +much better for him. Uncle's life seems very lonely to me. Now he is +busy with us; but just think of the long years when he is living and +working over here all alone. Still, I am sure I would not choose Miss +Sherman for him. Yet I am not certain but it looks some like it. What do +you think, Betty?" + +"I--don't--know--what--I--do--think,--Malcom. You know how much I love +and admire your uncle. I do not think there are many women good enough +to be his wife." + +Bettina thought, but did not say, that she could not love and admire +Miss Sherman, who had made it quite evident to Barbara and herself that +she cared nothing for them, save as they were under the care of Mrs. +Douglas; who had never given them any companionship, or, at least, never +had until during the past week or two, after she had learned that +Barbara was Howard's heiress. + +Barbara drew her breath quickly and sharply. Could such a thing as this +be? was this to come? In her mind, Mr. Sumner was consecrated to the +dead Margaret, about whom she had thought so much,--the picture of +whose lovely face she had so often studied,--whose character she had +adorned with all possible graces! She listened, as in a dream, to +Bettina and Malcom. He _should_ not love any one else; or, if he +could--poor Barbara's heart was ruthlessly torn open and revealed unto +her consciousness. She felt that the others must read the tale in her +confused face. + +Confused? No, Barbara, it was pale and still, as if a mortal wound had +been given. + +Her head reeled, the world grew dark, and it was silence until she heard +Bettina saying frantically:-- + +"Bab, dear! are you faint? Oh! what is it?" + +With an almost superhuman effort Barbara drew herself up and smiled +bravely, with white lips:-- + +"It is nothing--only a moment's dizziness. It is all over now." + +This was what Mr. Sumner saw when he sprang up in alarm, and then in a +moment said: "Everything seems all right now." + +But poor Barbara thought nothing could ever be right again. And when +their carriage drew up in the spacious courtyard of their hotel at +Sorrento, and Mr. Sumner, with an unusually bright and eager face, stood +waiting to help her alight, it was a frozen little hand that was put +into his, and he could not win a single glance from the eyes he loved +to watch, and from which he was impatient to learn if it were indeed +well with the owner. + +To this day Barbara shudders at the thought or mention of the next four +or five days. And they were such rare days for enjoyment, could she have +forgotten her own heart:--across the blue waters to Capri, with a visit +by the way to the famous Blue Grotto; a whole day in that lovely town, +walking about its winding, climbing streets; the long drive from +Sorrento to quaint Prajano, with, on one hand, towering, rugged +limestone cliffs, to whose rough sides, every here and there, clings an +Italian village, and, on the other, the smiling, wide-spreading +Mediterranean; the little rowboat ride to Amalfi; the day full of +interest spent there; and then the drive close beside the sea toward +Palermo, terminated by a sharp turn toward the blue mountains among +which nestles La Cava; the railway ride back to Naples. + +She struggled bravely to be her old self,--to hide everything from all +eyes. But she felt so wofully humiliated, for she now knew for the first +time that she loved Robert Sumner; loved him so that it was positive +agony to think that he might love another,--so that it was almost a pain +to remember that he had ever loved. What would he think should he +suspect the truth! And she was so fearful that her eyes might give a +hint of it that, try in as many ways as he could, Mr. Sumner could +never get a good look into them during these days. The kinder he was, +and the more zealously he endeavored to add to her comfort and +happiness, the more wretched she grew. She longed to get away from +everybody, even from Betty, lest her secret might become apparent to the +keen sisterly affection that knew her so intimately. She began to feel a +fierce longing for home and for father and mother; and the months which +must necessarily elapse before she could be there stretched drearily +before her. + +Robert Sumner was perplexed and distressed. He had just begun to enjoy a +certain happiness. The struggle within himself was over, and he was +beginning to give himself up to the delight of thinking freely of +Barbara; of loving her; of feeling a sort of possession of her, though +he did not yet dream of such a thing as ever being to her more than he +now was,--a valued friend. There were so many years, and an experience +of life that counted far more than years, between them! + +He had listened to his sister's conversation with Miss Sherman on the +way from Pompeii to Sorrento with an exultation which it would have been +difficult for him to account for. He gloried in the sweet unselfishness, +the simple goodness of the young girl. "My little Barbara," his heart +sang; and full of this emotion when they reached Sorrento, he allowed +the two ladies to go alone into the hotel, while he waited impatiently +to look into Barbara's face and to feel the touch of her hand. + +But what a change! What could have wrought it? Before this, she had +always met his look with such frank sympathy! As the days passed on +without change, and his eyes, more than any others, noticed the struggle +to conceal her unhappiness, the mystery deepened. + + + + +Chapter XVII. + +Robert Sumner is Imprudent. + + _Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well-- + When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us, + There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them how we will._ + + --SHAKESPEARE. + +[Illustration: CAMPO SANTO, BOLOGNA.] + + +Early one morning very soon after the return to Rome, Bettina, with a +troubled face, knocked at Mrs. Douglas's door. + +"Barbara is ill," said she. "I knew in the night that she was very +restless, but not until just now did I see that she is really ill." + +"What seems to be the matter?" + +"I think she must be very feverish." + +"Feverish?" repeated Mrs. Douglas, with a startled look, as she hastily +prepared to accompany Betty back to her room. In a few minutes she +sought her brother, her face full of anxiety. + +"Robert, I fear Barbara has the fever. Her temperature must be high; her +face is greatly flushed, and her eyes dull, and she says her whole body +is full of pain." + +"We must take her away at once out of the atmosphere of Rome," +exclaimed Mr. Sumner, with decision. + +"But she feels so wretchedly ill." + +"Never mind that. If she can only endure the fatigue for a few hours, we +may save her weeks of suffering and possible danger," and his voice +faltered. + +"Remember, sister," he continued, "that I am at home here in this +climate, and trust me. Or, better still, I will at once consult Dr. +Yonge, and I know you will trust him. And, sister, get everything ready +so that we--Barbara, you, and I--may take the very first train for +Orvieto. That will take her in two hours into a high and pure +atmosphere. The others can follow as soon as possible." + +Quickly the plans were made. Malcom, Margery, and Bettina were to be +left to complete the packing of trunks. Dr. Yonge agreed fully with Mr. +Sumner, and on the nine o'clock train northward Mrs. Douglas, Barbara, +and Mr. Sumner left Rome. + +Miss Sherman, quite upset by the rapid movement of affairs, decided to +remain a little longer in Rome with friends whom she had met there, and +join the others later in Venice. + +It was a severe trial to poor Bettina to see her darling sister thus +almost literally borne away from her. But she tried to put faith in Mr. +Sumner's assurances, and bravely resisted the anxious longing to go with +her. She immediately gave herself up to the work of finishing the +packing of their own trunks and of helping Margery all she could. + +Mr. Sumner had commissioned Malcom to go up to his studio and gather +into boxes all his canvases and painting materials; and soon all three +were working as fast as they could, with the design of following the +others the next morning. + +Presently Malcom appeared at Bettina's door with the request that she +should go up to the studio when she could leave her work for a minute. + +"Come alone--by yourself," he added in a low voice. + +Wondering a little at the singular request and the peculiar expression +of Malcom's face, Bettina soon followed him. + +Entering the studio, she found him attentively regarding a small canvas +which he had placed on an easel, and took her place beside him that she +might look at it also. + +"How lovely!" she cried, and then a puzzled look came into her eyes. + +"Why, it is Barbara! It is _like_ Barbara," she added. + +"And what do you think of this--and this--and this?" asked Malcom, +rapidly turning from the wall study after study. + +After a few moments of silence, she said solemnly: "They're all Barbara. +Here she is thinking earnestly; here she is throwing her head proudly +back, as she so often does; and here she is merry and smiling in her own +adorable way. O you darling Barbara!" with a pathetic little catch of +the breath; "how are you feeling just this minute?" and Bettina sank +upon the floor beside the pictures, looking as if she longed to hug them +all. + +"But what does it mean?" persisted Malcom. + +"What do _you_ mean?" springing up with a quick look into his eyes. +"You--foolish--boy!" as an inkling of Malcom's meaning crept into her +mind. + +"What does it mean, Betty Burnett, that my uncle has had nothing better +to do when he has so zealously labored up here, than to paint your +sister's face in every conceivable way?" slowly and impressively asked +Malcom, as he put still another tell-tale sketch over that on the easel. + +"You do not really mean!--it can't be!--Oh!" uttered Bettina in diverse +tones and inflections as she rapidly recalled, one after another, +certain incidents. + +Then there was silence in Robert Sumner's studio between these two +discoverers of his long-cherished secret. + +"Malcom," at length whispered Bettina, "we must never breathe one word +about what we have found here. You must not tell Margery or your mother. +Promise me that it shall be a solemn secret between you and me." + +"I promise, Lady Betty. Your behest shall be sacredly regarded," replied +Malcom with mock gravity. "But," after a little, "shall you tell +Barbara?" + +"Tell Barbara? No! no! How could I tell her! Malcom, don't you know that +it is only by a chance that we have found these pictures? That, whatever +they may mean is absolutely sacred to your uncle? Perhaps they mean +nothing--nothing save that he, from an artist's stand-point, admires my +sister's face. Indeed, the more I think of it, the more I am inclined to +believe that is all," she persisted, as she saw Malcom's expressive +shrug and the comical look in his eyes as he moved them slowly along the +half-dozen sketches that were now standing in a row. + +"And I shall think no more about it," she added, "and advise you to do +the same." + +Bettina, who was usually so gentle, could be prettily imperious when +she chose. And now, wrought up by Malcom's reference to Barbara and her +own fast crowding thoughts, her voice took on this tone, and she turned +with high head to leave the studio. + +"Betty! Betty!" pleaded Malcom, running after her. "Why, Betty!" and the +surprised, pained tone of his voice instantly stopped her on the +staircase. + +"I do not mean anything disagreeable, Malcom," she conceded, "only I +could not bear to have anything said about Barbara or to Barbara, that +might in any way disturb her. That is all,--forgive me, Malcom." And the +two friends clasped hands. + +Malcom went back into the studio, his pursed lips emitting a low, +meditative whistle, while Bettina hurried downstairs, her mind beset +with conjectures. + +It was not Mr. Sumner of whom she was thinking, but her sister. A veil +seemed to withdraw before her consciousness, and to reveal the possible +meaning of much that had perplexed her during the past months. For if +Mr. Sumner had really been learning to love Barbara, might it not also +be that Barbara cared more for him than Bettina had been wont to think? + +Her thoughts went back to many of their first conversations after +coming to Florence; to Barbara's intense absorption in Mr. Sumner's +talks about the old painters; to her unwearied study of them; to her +evident sympathy with him on all occasions. + +Then, in a flash she remembered her faintness in the carriage on the +drive to Sorrento and connected it, as she had never before dreamed of +doing, with the conversation then going on; and recalled all those days +since when she had been so different from the old-time Barbara. + +And poor Bettina sat, a disconsolate little figure, before her +half-filled trunk, just ready to cry with sheer vexation at her +blindness. Then, the thought came that if Mr. Sumner did really love +Barbara all would be well. But, alas! the doubt followed whether, after +all, the pictures meant anything more than the artist's love for a +beautiful face, and his desire to render it on his canvas. She grew more +and more miserable in her sympathy for her sister, and at her enforced +separation from her, and the hours of that day, though of necessity busy +ones, seemed almost interminable. + +The following noon found them together again. + +Bettina entered her sister's room, which opened full upon the +rose-garden they had enjoyed before,--now filled with blossoms and +fragrance,--to find Barbara sitting in a big easy-chair, with a tray +before her, on which were spread toast and tea, flanked by a dainty +flask of Orvieto wine, while the same wrinkled old chambermaid who had +served them two and a half months ago stood, with beaming face, watching +her efforts to eat. + +Barbara's eyes were brighter, the flush gone from her face, and she said +she did not feel like the same girl who had been half carried away from +the hotel in Rome the morning before. So much improved did she seem that +the present plan was to take a late afternoon train for Florence, for +Mr. Sumner said the sooner they could get farther north, the better it +would be. This was carried out, and night found them back in the dear +Florence home, there to spend a few days. + +The city was very lovely in its May foliage and blossoms,--too lovely to +leave so soon, they all averred. But it must be, and after having taken +again their favorite drives, and having given another look at their +favorite pictures, with an especial interest in those by the Venetian +masters whom they would study more fully in Venice, they turned their +faces northward. + +The journey at first took them through rich Tuscan plains, and later +through wild, picturesque ravines of the Apennines. Higher and higher +the railway climbed, threading numberless tunnels, and affording +magnificent views as it emerged into opening after opening, until +finally it passed under the height that divides the watershed of the +Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, and entered the narrow and romantic valley +of the Reno. Not long after they were in the ancient city of Bologna. +After a few minutes in their several rooms, all gathered in the loggia +of their hotel, which commanded a grand survey of the city. + +"How fine this air is after our long, dusty ride!" exclaimed Margery, +tossing back her curls to catch the breeze. + +"I did not expect to find Bologna so curiously beautiful," said Bettina, +after she had seen that Barbara was comfortable in the big chair Malcom +had wheeled out for her--for she was still languid from her recent +illness, and tired easily. + +"Please tell us something about it, uncle," said Malcom. "I am afraid I +have not looked it up very thoroughly." + +So Mr. Sumner told them many interesting things about the old city,--and +how it had figured largely in Italian history from the Punic wars soon +after Christ, down to the middle of the present century, when it finally +became a part of United Italy. + +"What about the university?" queried Malcom again. + +"It has had a grand reputation for about fourteen centuries, and thus +is among the most ancient existing seats of learning in Christendom. +During the Middle Ages students came to it from all parts of northern +Europe." + +Bettina laughed. "I read a curious thing about it in my guide-book," +said she. "That it has had several women professors; and one who was +very beautiful always sat behind a curtain while she delivered her +lectures. This was in the fourteenth century, I believe." + +"A wise precaution," exclaimed Malcom, with a quizzical look. "Even I +sometimes forget what a pretty woman is saying, because my thoughts are +wandering from the subject to her face. And the men of those times could +not have had the constant experience we of this century in America +have." + +"Don't be silly," smiled Bettina; and Mrs. Douglas, slipping her hand +through Malcom's arm, asked: "Do you see those towers?" + +"Yes; and uncle, I remember you spoke of the leaning towers of Bologna +when we were at Pisa; what about them?" + +"I think I simply said that since I had seen these towers, I have +believed that the one at Pisa had been intentionally built in the way it +now stands. My reason is that in all probability one of these was +purposely so built." + +"Which was erected first?" + +"This, about two hundred and fifty years." + +"Let us go and see them at once!" exclaimed Malcom. "There is time to +give a good long look at the city before dinner." + +"That is a good plan," said his mother, "and we will not go to the +picture-gallery until to-morrow morning. Then Barbara will be fresh, and +can enjoy it with the rest of us." + +Mr. Sumner turned solicitously toward Barbara, with a movement as if to +go to her, but her hastily averted eyes checked him, and with an inward +sigh, he went to order carriages for the proposed drive. He had grown to +believe during the past week or two that Barbara had divined his love +for her, and that the knowledge was very painful. + +"I must have thoughtlessly disclosed it," said he to himself. "It has +become so much a part of my every thought. The best thing I can do now +is to convince her that it shall never cause her the slightest +annoyance; that it shall not change the frankly affectionate relations +that have heretofore existed between us. She is so young she will forget +it as she grows stronger, or perhaps I can make her feel that she has +mistaken me. Then she will be my little friend again." + +The drive was thoroughly delightful. Bologna possesses many individual +characteristics. The very narrow streets, the lofty arcades that stretch +along on either side of them, the many venerable churches and palaces, +the quaintly picturesque towers, kept them exclaiming with pleasure. + +"Can we not walk to the Academy?" asked Margery, the next morning. "I do +so wish to walk through some of these dear arcades." + +So Barbara drove with Mrs. Douglas, and the others walked right through +the heart of the old city, whose streets have echoed to the footfalls of +countless and diverse people through a number of centuries that sounds +appalling to American ears. + +Arrived at the picture-gallery, Mr. Sumner told them that though not of +very great importance when compared with many which they had visited, it +yet is very interesting on account of its collection of the works of the +most noted seventeenth-century Italian painters; especially those +belonging to the Bolognese-eclectic school, which was founded by the +Carracci. + +"Nowhere else can these men, the Carracci, be studied as here in +Bologna, where they founded their art-school just at the close of the +sixteenth century. There are also some very good examples of the work of +Domenichino, Guido Reni, Albani, and other famous pupils of the +Carracci. You saw fine frescoes by Domenichino and Guido Reni in Rome +and Naples, and I am sure you remember perfectly Domenichino's +_Communion of St. Jerome_ in the Vatican Gallery. + +"Perhaps," he continued, with an inquiring look, "you know the principle +on which this school of painting was founded, and which gave it its +name." + +Bettina answered: "I think they tried to select the best pictures from +all other schools and embody them in their own pictures. I do not +think," she added, with something of a deprecatory look, "that it can be +called a very original style." + +"Few styles of painting after the earliest masters can be called +original, can they?" replied Mr. Sumner, with a smile. "One great lack +of the human race is a spirit of originality. We all go to those who +have thought and wrought before us, and hash and rehash their material. +But few tell what they are doing so plainly as did the Carracci. The one +great want in their painting is that of any definite end or aim." + +"Whom do you call the greatest painters of the school, uncle?" asked +Malcom, as they entered a large hall opening from the corridor in which +they had been standing. + +"Guido Reni and Domenichino merit that honor, I think. Domenichino died +young, but painted some excellent pictures, notably the _St. Jerome_. +Guido Reni lived long enough to outlive his good painting, but among +his early works are some that may really be called the masterpieces of +this school; such as the _Aurora_ and the _St. Michael_ which you saw in +Rome." + +"What do you mean by his outliving his good painting?" asked Margery. + +"He grew most careless in his ways of living,--was dissipated we should +call it,--squandered his money, and finally, in order to gain the +wherewithal for daily life, used to paint by order of those who stood +waiting to take his pictures with paint still wet, lest the artist +should cheat them. To this we owe the great number of his worthless +Madonna and Magdalen heads that have found their way into the +galleries." + +"How perfectly dreadful," chorused all. + +"I am afraid we shall never see one of his pictures without thinking of +this," said Bettina; "shall we, Barbara?" and she turned to her sister, +who had been silent hitherto, as if longing to hear her talk. + +"Try to forget it now as you look at these paintings, for this room +contains many of his," continued Mr. Sumner, after waiting a moment as +if to hear Barbara's answer, "and they are examples of his early work, +and so stronger than many others. Notice the powerful action of this +_Samson_ and the St. John in that _Crucifixion_. + +"Here are good examples of the work of the three Carracci," continued +he, as after a time they entered the adjoining hall. + +"But what does this mean?" cried Malcom, in an astonished voice, pausing +before a large picture, the _Communion of St. Jerome_, which bore the +name, Agostino Carracci. "How like it is to Domenichino's great picture +in the Vatican! Do you suppose Domenichino borrowed so much from his +master?" + +"I fear so. Yet his picture is infinitely superior to this. And, look, +here is Domenichino's _Death of St. Peter, Martyr_, which was borrowed +largely from Titian's famous picture of the same subject, which has +unfortunately been destroyed." + +"But don't you call that a species of plagiarism?" queried Malcom. + +"Undoubtedly it is. I must confess I am always sorry for Domenichino +when I come into this hall. But we will pass on to better things. I wish +you to study particularly these pictures by Francia," said he, as they +entered a third hall.--"Yes, Betty, you are excusable. You all may look +first at Raphael's _St. Cecilia_, for here it is." + +All gathered about the beautiful, famous picture. + +"How much larger than I have ever thought!" said Margery. "For what was +it painted, uncle?" + +"As an altar-piece for one of the oldest churches in Bologna. Do you +recollect the story about Raphael's writing to Francia to oversee its +proper and safe placing?" + +"Oh, I do!" exclaimed Barbara, as Margery shook her head. "It was said +that Francia never painted again, so overcome was he by the surpassing +loveliness of Raphael's picture, and that he died from the effect of +this feeling,--but," she went on impetuously, "I do not believe it; for +see there!" pointing to Francia's _Madonna with Sts. John and Jerome_, +"do you think that the artist who painted this picture is so very far +behind even Raphael as to die of vexation at the difference between +them?" + +Barbara was so carried away by the picture that she had forgotten +herself entirely, and spoke with her old-time frank eagerness, thereby +thoroughly delighting Bettina and Mr. Sumner. + +"I am glad you feel so," said the latter, very quietly, and with a +strictly impersonal manner. "Francia, who belonged to the old Bolognese +masters of the sixteenth century, was one of the most devout of +painters, and everybody who studies his work must love it. See how pure +and sweet are his expressions! How simple his composition! What harmony +is in his coloring! How beyond those who painted after him!" + +[Illustration: RAPHAEL. ACADEMY, BOLOGNA. + +SAINT CECILIA.] + +They tarried long before Francia's paintings and the _St. Cecilia_. Mr. +Sumner told them to note the more subtle _motif_ of Raphael's picture; +the superior grace of the figures, their careful distribution, and the +fine scheme of color; the sympathetic look in St. John's face; the +grandly meditative St. Paul. + +"I have a theory of my own about the meaning of this picture," said +Bettina. "I thought it out one day when I was studying the photograph. I +know it is always said, in descriptions of it, that all are listening to +the music of the angels, but I do not think any of them save St. Cecilia +hear the music of the angelic choir. She hears it, because she has so +longed for it,--so striven to produce the highest music on earth. But +the others are only moved by their sympathy with her. See the wistful +look on St. John's face, and St. Augustine's also. And St. Paul is lost +in wondering thought at St. Cecilia's emotion. And Mary Magdalene is +asking us to look at her and try to understand her rapt upward look." + +"I do not know," said Mr. Sumner, with a soft look in his eyes, "why you +should not have your own private interpretation of the picture, dear +'Lady Betty';" and he smiled at Malcom as he used the latter's favorite +appellation for Bettina. + + + + +Chapter XVIII. + +In Venice. + + _From the land we went + As to a floating city--steering in, + And gliding up her streets as in a dream + By many a pile in more than eastern pride, + Of old the residence of merchant-kings: + The fronts of some, tho' time had shattered them, + Still gleaming with the richest hues of art, + As though the wealth within them had run o'er._ + + --ROGERS. + +[Illustration: SAN MARCO, VENICE.] + + +Just after sunset the following evening they approached Venice. The long +black train glided along above a sea flushed with purple and crimson and +gold. Like a mirage the fair city--Longfellow's "white water-lily, +cradled and caressed"--arose, lifting her spires--those "filaments of +gold"--above the waters. + +"Can it be real?" murmured Bettina. "It seems as if all must fade away +before we reach it." + +But in a few minutes the _facchini_ seized their hand-luggage, and they +alighted as at any commonplace railway-station. But oh! the revelation +when they went out upon the platform, up to which, not carriages, but +gondolas were drawn, and from which stretched, not a dusty pavement, but +the same gold and crimson and purple of sky reflected in the waters at +their feet. + +"Is it true that we are mortal beings still on the earth, and that we +are seeking merely a hotel?" exclaimed Malcom, as they floated on +between two skies to the music of lapping oars. "Madge, you ought to +have some poetry to fit this." + +"I know enough verses about Venice," replied Margery, whose eyes were +dancing with joyous excitement, and who was trailing her little hot hand +through the cool water, "but nothing fits. Nothing can fit; for who +could ever put into words the beauty of all this?" + +By and by they left the Grand Canal, passed through narrower ones, with +such high walls on either side that twilight rapidly succeeded the +sunset glow; floated beneath the Bridge of Sighs, and were at the steps +of their hotel. + +The next few days were devoted wholly to drinking in the spirit of +Venice. Mr. Sumner hired gondolas which should be at the service of his +party during the month they were to spend there, and morning, noon, and +night found them revelling in this delight. They went to San Marco in +early morning and late afternoon; fed the pigeons in the Piazza; ate +ice-cream under its Colonnade; went to the Lido, and floated along the +Grand Canal beside the music and beneath the moonlight for hours at +night, and longed to be there until the morning. + +Barbara grew stronger, the color returned to her cheeks, and though she +often felt unhappy, she was better able to conceal it. She began to hope +that her secret was safe; that it would never be discovered by any one; +that Mr. Sumner would never dream of it. If only that dreadful +suggestion of Malcom's might be wholly without foundation; and perhaps, +after all, it was. She thought she would surely know when Lucile Sherman +should come to Venice, as she would do soon. + +At length Mr. Sumner suggested that they begin to study Venetian +painting, and that, for it, they should first visit the Accademia delle +Belle Arti. He advised them to read what they could about early Venetian +painting. + +"You will find," he said, "that the one strongest characteristic of all +the painting that has emanated from Venice is beauty and strength of +color, the keynote of which seems to have been struck in the first +mosaic decorations of San Marco, more than eight centuries ago. And how +could it be otherwise in a city so flooded with radiance of color and +light!" + +"I have brought you here," said he one morning, as they left their +gondolas at the steps of the Academy, "for the special study of +Carpaccio's and the Bellinis' works. + +"But," he added, as they entered the building and stepped into the +first room, "I would like you to stop for a few minutes and look at +these quaint pictures by the Vivarini, Basaiti, Bissolo, and others of +the early Venetian painters. Here you will notice the first +characteristics of the school. This academy is particularly interesting +to students of Venetian art, because it contains few other than Venetian +paintings." + +Passing on, they soon reached a hall whose walls were lined with large +pictures. Here Mr. Sumner paused, saying:-- + +"We find in this room quite a number of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio. +Here is his most noted series, illustrating scenes in the legendary life +of St. Ursula, the maiden princess of Brittany, who, with her eleven +thousand companions, visited the holy shrines of the old world; and on +their return all were martyred just outside the city of Cologne. You +have read the story, I know. Look first at the general scheme of +composition and color before going near enough to study details. +Carpaccio had felt the flood of Venetian color, and here we see the +beginnings of that wonderful richness found in works by the later +Venetian masters. He was a born story-teller, and delighted especially +in tales of a legendary, poetic character. His works possess a peculiar +fascinating quaintness. The formal composition, by means of which we see +several scenes crowded into one picture; the singular perspective +effects; the figures with earnest faces beneath such heavy blond +tresses, and with their too short bodies, enable us easily to recognize +his pictures." + +"I think I shall choose St. Ursula to be my patron saint," said Margery, +thoughtfully, after they had turned from the purely artistic study of +the pictures to their sentiment. "I have read somewhere that she is the +especial patroness of young girls, as well as of those who teach young +girls,--so she can rightfully belong to me, you see." + +"What do you think she will do for you?" asked Malcom, with a quizzical +smile. + +"Oh! I don't know. Perhaps if I think enough about her life I shall be a +better girl," and the blue eyes grew very earnest. + +"That is wholly unnecessary, Madge _mia_," tenderly replied her brother. + +"I will tell you a singular thing that I read not long ago," said +Bettina, going over to Margery, who was standing close in front of that +sweet sleeping face of St. Ursula in one of the pictures. "It was in the +life of Mr. Ruskin. His biographer says that Mr. Ruskin is wonderfully +fond of the legend of St. Ursula; that he has often come from England to +Venice just to look again on these pictures by old Carpaccio; that he +has thought so much about her character that he really is influenced +greatly by it. And he goes on to say that some person who has perhaps +received a calm, kind letter from Mr. Ruskin instead of the curt, +brusque, or impatient one that he had looked for, on account of the +irascible nature of the writer, would be altogether surprised could he +know that the reason of the unexpected quietness was that Mr. Ruskin had +stopped to ask himself, 'What would St. Ursula say? What would St. +Ursula do?'" + +"I think that is a pretty story about Mr. Ruskin, don't you?" she added, +turning to Malcom and the others. + +"It is a pretty enough story," replied Malcom. "But I confess I do not +wish Madge always to stop and ask the mind of this leader of the 'eleven +thousand virgins.' Only consult your own dear self, my sister. You are +good enough as you are." + +"I think it is the feminine quality in St. Ursula's ways of thought and +action that appeals so strongly to Mr. Ruskin's rugged nature," replied +Mr. Sumner, in answer to a rather appealing glance from Margery's eyes. +"The tale of a gentle life influences for good a somewhat embittered, +but grandly noble man. As to our little Madge," with a smile that drew +her at once close to him, "the best influence she can gain from the old +legend will grow out of the unwavering purpose of the saint, and her +inflexibility of action when once the motive was felt to be a noble one. +Her needs are not the same as are Mr. Ruskin's." + +Margery slipped her hand into that of the uncle who so well understood +her, and gave it a tender little squeeze. As Mr. Sumner turned quickly +to call attention to one or two other pictures, with different subjects, +by Carpaccio, he caught for an instant the old-time sympathetic look in +Barbara's eyes, which gladdened his heart, and gave a new ring to his +voice. + +"Here are two or three historical pictures by Carpaccio and Gentile +Bellini that put ancient Venice before our eyes, and, on this account, +are most interesting. Their color is fine, but in all other art +qualities they are weak." + +"I must tell you," he went on, "about the Bellini brothers, Gentile and +Giovanni. Their father, who was also an artist, came from Padua to +Venice in the early part of the fifteenth century, bringing his two +young sons, both of whom grew to be greater painters than the father. +They opened a school, and Giorgione and Titian, who, you well know, are +two supreme names in Venetian painting, were among their pupils. The +Bellini paintings are the natural precursors of the glory of Venetian +art. Even in these historical paintings by Gentile Bellini we feel the +palpitating sunshine which floods and vivifies the rich colors of +palaces and costumes. You can readily see the difference between his +work and that of Carpaccio. While Carpaccio has treated the historic +scene in a poetic way, with quaint formality, Bellini's picture is full +of truth and detail. + +"But," he continued, "Gentile Bellini's work, as art, fades in +importance before that of his brother, Giovanni, who gave himself almost +wholly to religious painting. If you will try to shut your eyes for a +few minutes to the other pictures about you, I would like to take you +immediately to one of this artist's Madonna pictures. + +"And, by the way," he interpolated, as they walked straight on through +several rooms, "I am delighted to see that you have learned to go into a +gallery for the express study of a few pictures, and can refuse to allow +your attention to be distracted by any others, however alluring. I am +sure this is the only way in which really to study. Go as often or as +seldom as you choose or can, but always go with a definite purpose, and +do not be distracted by the effort to see the works of many artists at a +single visit; least of all, by the endeavor to look at all there are +about you. For him who does this, I predict an inevitable and incurable +art-dyspepsia. The reason of my express caution now is that I am taking +you into the most attractive room of the gallery, and wish you to see +nothing but one picture. + +"Here it is!" and they paused before a large altar-piece. "You at once +feel the unique character of the Madonna; the stateliness of the +composition, the exquisite harmony and strength of the color.--What is +it, Betty?" + +"I was only whispering to Barbara that these lovely angels, with musical +instruments, who are sitting on the steps of the throne are those that +we have seen so often in Boston art-shops." + +"And they are indeed lovely!" replied Mr. Sumner. "I will allow you to +look at another picture in this room which I had forgotten as we came +hither--for it is by Carpaccio--turn, and look! this _Presentation in +the Temple_! See those musical angels also, sitting on the steps of the +Madonna's throne! I am sure the middle one is familiar to you all, for +it is continually reproduced, and a great favorite. Of what other +painter do these angels remind you?" + +"Of Fra Bartolommeo," quickly replied two or three voices. + +"And I am sure," continued Mr. Sumner, "that Fra Bartolommeo never +painted them until after he had visited Venice, and had learned from the +study of these Venetian masters how great an aid to composition and +what beautiful features in a picture they are. And Raphael never painted +them until he had seen Fra Bartolommeo's work. + +"But now look at Bellini's _Madonna_" as he turned again to the picture, +"for she is as individual as Botticelli's, and is as easily +recognizable. Note her stately pride of beauty, produced chiefly by the +way in which her neck rises from her shoulders, and in which her head is +poised upon it. Everything else, however, is in perfect keeping--from +the general attitude and lifted hand to the half-drooping eyelids. Of +what is she so proud? She is holding her Child that the world may +worship Him. Of herself she has no thought. Botticelli's Madonna is +brooding over the sorrows of herself and Son: Bellini's is lost in the +noble pride that He has come to save man. The color of the picture is +wondrously beautiful. + +"Please note in your little books this artist's _Madonnas_ in San +Zaccaria and Church of the Frari, and go to see them to-morrow morning +if you can; they are his masterpieces. I will not talk any more now. If +you wish to stay here longer, it will be well to go back and look at the +very earliest pictures again, or others that you will find by Carpaccio +and the Bellini brothers." + +Not long after, they got together one evening to talk about Titian and +Giorgione. They had seen, of course, their pictures in the Florentine +galleries, and Titian's _Sacred and Profane Love_ in the Borghese +Gallery, Rome; and were familiar with the rich color and superb Venetian +figures and faces. + +"What a pity that Giorgione died so young!" exclaimed Margery. + +"Yes," replied her uncle. "He would doubtless have given to the world +many pictures fully equal to Titian's. Indeed, to me, he seems to have +been gifted with even a superior quality of refinement. We may see it in +the contrast between his _Venus_ in the Dresden Gallery, whose +photograph you know, and Titian's two _Venuses_ in the Uffizi, which you +studied so carefully when in Florence. But there are very few examples +of Giorgione's paintings in existence, and critics are still quarrelling +over almost all that are attributed to him. Probably the most popular +are the Dresden _Venus_, which has only recently been rescued from +Titian and given to its rightful author, and the _Concert_, which you +remember in the Pitti Gallery, Florence, about which there is +considerable dispute, some critics thinking it an early work by Titian." + +"Why did the artists not sign their pictures?" rather impatiently +interrupted Malcom. + +"Even a signature does not always settle questions," replied his uncle, +"for it is by no means an unknown occurrence for a gallery itself to +christen some doubtful picture. But to go on:-- + +"In Venice there is but one painting by Giorgione which is undoubtedly +authentic. I will take you to the Giovanelli Palace, where it is. It is +called _Family of Giorgione_. He was fond of introducing three figures +into his compositions,--you remember the Pitti _Concert_,--there are +also three in this Giovanelli picture--a gypsy woman, a child, and a +warrior. The landscape setting is exceedingly beautiful, and the whole +glows with Giorgione's own color. + +"About Titian," continued he, "you have read, and can easily read so +much that I shall not talk long. His whole story is like a romance; his +success and fame boundless; his pictures scattered among all important +galleries." + +"Has Venice a great many?" queried Malcom. + +"No, Venice possesses comparatively few; and, strangely enough, these +are not most characteristic of the painter. His name, you know, is +almost indissolubly connected with noble portraits, magnificent +mythological representations, and those ideal pictures of beautiful +women of which he painted so many, and which wrought such a revolution +in the character of succeeding art. Hardly any of these, though so +entirely in keeping with the brilliant city, are in Venice to-day; we +must go elsewhere, to Madrid, to Paris, Florence, Rome, Dresden, and +Berlin to find them. One mythological picture only, _Venus and Adonis_, +is in the Academy, and one portrait of a Doge, doubtfully ascribed to +Titian, is in the Ducal Palace." + +"Then what pictures are here?" asked Bettina, as Mr. Sumner paused. + +"His greatest religious paintings, those gorgeous church pictures, most +of which were painted in his youth, are here." + +"May I interrupt a moment," queried Barbara, "to ask what you meant when +you said that some of Titian's pictures wrought a revolution in art?" + +"This is a good time in which to explain my meaning. Titian's nature was +not devout. You will see it in every one of these religious paintings +you are about to study. The subjects seem only pretexts, or foundations, +for the gorgeous display of a rare artistic ability. To paint beauty for +beauty's sake only, in form, features, costumes, and accessories was +Titian's native sphere, and gloriously did he fill it. In these church +pictures, the Madonna and Child are almost always entirely secondary in +interest. In many, the family of the donor, with their aristocratic +faces and magnificent costumes, and the saints with waving banners, are +far more important. A fine example of this is the _Madonna of the +Pesaro family_ in the Church of the Frari. With such a _motif_ +underlying his work, the great painter fell easily into the habit of +portraying ideal figures, especially of women,--'fancy female figures,' +one writer has termed them,--whose sole merit lies in the superb +rendering of rosy flesh, heavy tresses of auburn hair, lovely eyes, and +rich garments. Such are his _Flora_, _Venuses_, _Titian's Daughter_--of +which there are several examples--_Magdalens_, etc.; together with many +so called portraits, such as his _La Donna Bella_ in the Pitti, +Florence. + +"Titian could paint such pictures so free from coarseness, so +magnificent in all art qualities, that the world was delighted with +them. After him, however, the lowered aim had its influence; poorer +artists tried to follow in his footsteps, and the world of art soon +became flooded with mediocre examples of these meaningless pictures. All +this hastened rapidly the decay of Italian art. + +"But you must remember," Mr. Sumner hastened to say, as he watched the +faces about him, "that I am giving you my own personal thoughts. To me, +the purity of sentiment and the lofty _motif_ of a picture mean so much +that they always influence my judgment of it. With many other people it +is not so. They revel in the color, the line, the tone, the grouping, +the purely art qualities. In these Titian, as I have said, is perfect, +and worthy of the high place he holds in the art-world. + +"I hope you will take great pains to study him here by yourselves,--in +the Academy and in the various churches,--wherever there are examples of +his work. Let each form his own judgment, founded on that which he finds +in the pictures. The work of any artist of the High Renaissance, whose +aim is purely artistic, is not difficult to understand. His means of +expression were so ample that it is easy indeed to read that which he +says, compared with the earlier masters. You will find two of Titian's +most notable pictures in the Academy,--the _Assumption of the Virgin_, +one of the few in which the Madonna has due prominence, and which shows +the artist's best qualities, and _Presentation of the Virgin_." + +"What other Venetian Masters ought we particularly to study?" asked +Barbara. + +"Look out for Crivelli's _Madonnas_, and all of Paul Veronese's work. He +was really the most utterly Venetian painter who ever lived. He painted +Venice into everything: its motion, its color, its intoxicating fulness +are all found in his mythological and banquet scenes. You will find his +pictures in the Ducal Palace, in the Academy, and a fine series in San +Sebastiano, which represents legendary scenes in the life of St. +Sebastian. Go to Santa Maria Formosa and look at Palma Vecchio's _St. +Barbara_, his masterpiece. You will also find several of this artist's +pictures in the Academy worth looking at. His style at its best is +grand, as in the _St. Barbara_, but he did not always paint up to it, by +any means. + +"As to the rest, study them as a whole. The Venice Academy is an epitome +of Venetian painting, from its earliest work down through the High +Renaissance into the Decadence. It was full of pure and devotional +sentiment, rendered with good, oftentimes rich, color, until after the +Bellini. Then the portrayal of purely physical beauty, with refinement +of line and gorgeousness of color, became preëminent. The works of +several artists of note, Palma Vecchio, Palma Giovine, Bonifazio +Veronese, and Bordone, so resemble each other and Titian's less +important works, that there has been much uncertainty as to the true +authorship of many of them." + +"And Tintoretto?" questioned Barbara. + +"I will take you to see Tintoretto's pictures--or many of them at +least," added Mr. Sumner. "He stands alone by himself." + + + + +Chapter XIX. + +In a Gondola. + + _And on her lover's arm she leant, + And round her waist she felt it fold, + And far across the hills they went + In that new land which is the old_. + + --TENNYSON. + +[Illustration: GRAND CANAL AND RIALTO, VENICE.] + + +Lucile Sherman, accompanied by her friends, had arrived in Venice, and +though not at the same hotel, yet she spent all the time she could with +Mrs. Douglas, and wished to join her in many excursions. She had found +it very wearisome to tarry so long in Rome, but there had been no +sufficient reason for following the party to Florence and on to Venice; +therefore it had seemed the only thing to do. + +Now that she was again with them she watched Mr. Sumner and Barbara most +zealously. Her quick eyes had noted the altered condition of affairs +during the latter days of the Naples journey, and she was feverishly +anxious to understand the cause. Her intuition told her that there was +some peculiar underlying interest for each in the other, and when this +exists between a man and woman, some sequel may always be expected. One +thing was certain; Mr. Sumner covertly watched Barbara, and Barbara +avoided meeting his eye. She could only wait, while putting forth every +effort to gain the interest in herself she so coveted. + +And Barbara, of course, was trying to determine whether there was any +ground for the suspicions, or rather suggestions, that Malcom gave voice +to on that dreadful ride to Sorrento. + +And Bettina watched all three; and so did Malcom, after a fashion, but +he was less keenly interested than the others. He sometimes tried to +talk with Bettina about the studio incident, but never could he begin to +discuss Barbara in the slightest way without encountering her sister's +indignation. + +Mrs. Douglas, who had outlived her former wish concerning her brother +and Lucile Sherman, and Margery were the only ones who had nothing to +hide, and so gave themselves simply to the enjoyment of the occurrences +of each hour. + +"We must begin to see Tintoretto's paintings," said Mr. Sumner at +breakfast one fine morning; "and, since the sun shines brightly, I +suggest that we go at once to the Scuola di San Rocco, for the only time +to see the pictures there is the early morning of a bright day." + +"We must not forget Lucile," said Mrs. Douglas, with an inquiring look +at her brother, "for she asked particularly to go there with us." + +"Then we must call for her of course," quietly answered he, as all rose +from the table. "We will start at once." + +"I do not believe," said Bettina, as she and Barbara were in their room +putting on their hats a moment afterward, "that Mr. Sumner cares one bit +more for Lucile Sherman than for anybody else." + +"Why don't you think so?" asked Barbara, as she turned aside to find her +gloves, which search kept her busy for a minute or two. + +"Because he never seems to take any pains to be where she is--he does +not watch for the expression of her eyes--his voice never changes when +he speaks to her," answered Bettina, slowly, enumerating some of the +signs she had observed in Mr. Sumner with respect to Barbara. + +Neither of the girls stopped to think how singular it was that Bettina +should have watched Mr. Sumner closely enough to make such a positive +assertion as this, which, perhaps, is a sufficient commentary on the +state of their minds at this time. + +After a delightful half hour of gliding through broad and narrow canals, +they landed in front of the Church of San Rocco, and passed into the +alleyway from which is the entrance of the famous Scuola. As they +stepped into its sumptuous hall, Miss Sherman remarked:-- + +"I see that Mr. Ruskin says whatever the traveller may miss in Venice, +he should give much time and thought to this building." + +"Mr. Ruskin has championed Tintoretto with the same fervor that he has +expended upon Turner," replied Mr. Sumner, smiling. "I think we should +season his judgments concerning both artists with the 'grain of salt'. + +"But," continued he, as he saw all were waiting for something further, +"there can be no doubt that Tintoretto was a great painter and a notable +man. To read the story of his life,--his struggles to learn the +art,--his assurance of the worth of his own work, and his colossal +ambitions, is as interesting as any romance." + +"I was delighted," interpolated Malcom, "with the story of his first +painting for this building, and the audacity that gained for him the +commission to paint one picture for it every year of his remaining life. + +"And here are about fifty of them," resumed Mr. Sumner, "in which we may +study both his strength and his weakness. No painter was ever more +uneven than he. No painter ever produced works that present such wide +contrasts as do his. He could use color as consummately as Titian +himself, as we see in his masterpiece, _The Miracle of St. Mark_, in the +Academy; yet many of his pictures are almost destitute of it. He could +vie with the greatest masters in composition; yet there are many +instances where he seems to have thrown the elements of his pictures +wildly together without a single thought of artistic proportions and +relations. In some works he has shown himself a thorough master of +technique; in others his rendering is so careless that we are ashamed +for him. But all this cannot alter the fact that he is surpassingly +great in originality, in nobility of conception, and in a certain poetic +feeling,--and these are qualities that set the royal insignia upon any +artist." + +"I cannot help feeling the motion, the action, of all these wild +figures," exclaimed Bettina, as she stood looking about in a helpless +way. "I seem to be buffetted on all sides, and the pictures mix +themselves with each other." + +"It is no wonder. No painter was ever so extravagant as he could be. +There is a headlong dash, an impetuous action in his figures when he +wills, that remind us of Michael Angelo; but Tintoretto's imagination +far outran that of the great Florentine master. Yet there is a singular +sense of reality in his most imaginative works, and it is this, I +think, that is sometimes so confusing and overwhelming. His paintings +here are so many that I cannot talk long about any particular one. I +will only try to tell you what qualities to look for--then you must, for +yourselves, endeavor to understand and come under the spell of the +personality of the artist. + +"In the first place," he continued, "look for power--power of +conception, of invention, and of execution. For instance, give your +entire attention for a few minutes to this _Massacre of the Innocents_. +See the perfect delirium of feeling and action--the frenzy of men, +women, and children. Look also for originality of invention. +Combinations and situations unthought of by other painters are here. +There is never even a hint of plagiarism in Tintoretto's work. In his +own native strength he seizes our imagination and, at will, plays upon +it. We shudder, yet are fascinated." + +"Oh, uncle! I don't like it!" cried Margery, almost tearfully. "I don't +wish to see any more of his pictures, if all are like these." + +"Madge--puss," said Malcom, "this is a horrible subject. Not all will be +like this." + +"No, dear," said her mother, sympathizingly, "I don't like it either. +You and I will choose the pictures we are to look at long. There are +many of Tintoretto's that you will enjoy, I know,--many from which you +can learn about the artist, as well as from such as these." + +"We cannot doubt the dramatic power of Tintoretto, can we?" asked Mr. +Sumner, with a suppressed twinkle of the eye. "What shall we look for +next? Let us ascend this beautiful staircase. Now look at this +_Visitation_. Is it not truly fine, charming in composition, graceful in +action, agreeable in color, and true and noble in expression?" + +All agreed most eagerly with Mr. Sumner's opinion of the picture. Then, +turning, Bettina caught sight of an _Annunciation_, and cried:-- + +"How thoroughly exquisite! See those lovely angels tumbling over each +other in their haste to tell the news to Mary! How brilliant! Surely +Tintoretto did not paint this!" + +"No. This is by Titian; and it is one of his most happy religious +pictures too. I thought of it as we were coming, and am glad to have you +see it. The whole expression is admirable; and the fulness of life and +joy--the jubilation--is perfect. You can in no way more vividly feel the +difference between fourteenth-century painting in Florence, and the +sixteenth-century or High Renaissance work in Venice, than by recalling +Fra Angelico's sweet, calm, staid Annunciations, and contrasting them +with this one." + +"But why do I feel that, after all, I love Fra Angelico's better, and +should care to look at them oftener?" rather timidly asked Barbara. + +"I think," replied Mr. Sumner, after a little pause, "that it is +because, in them, the spiritual expression dominates the physical. We +recognize the fact that the artist has not the power to picture all that +he desires to express. His art language is weak; therefore there is +something left unsaid, and this compels our attention. We wish to +understand his full meaning, so come to his pictures again and again. + +"It is this quality of the fourteenth-century painting that impelled the +Pre-Raphaelites, German and English, to discard the chief _motif_ of the +High Renaissance, which was to picture everything in its outward +perfection. They thought that this very perfection of artistic +expression led to the elimination of spiritual feeling." + +"But how can artists go back now and paint as those did five centuries +ago?" queried Malcom. "Of course, if they study methods of the present +day, they must know all the principles underlying a true and artistic +representation--and it would be wrong not to practise them." + +"You have at once found the weak point in the Pre-Raphaelites' principle +of work, Malcom. It is forced and artificial to do that in the +nineteenth century which was natural and charming in the fourteenth. +That which our artists of to-day must do if they desire any reform is to +so fill themselves with the comprehension of spiritual things--so strive +to understand the hidden beauty and harmony and truth of nature--that +their works may be revelations to those who do not see so clearly as do +they. To do this perfectly they must ever, in my opinion, give more +thought to the thing to be expressed than to the manner of its +expression; yet they must render this expression as perfectly as the +present conditions allow. But I think I have talked before of just this +thing. And we must turn again to Tintoretto." + +Not only this forenoon, but many others, were spent in the Scuola di San +Rocco in the study of Tintoretto's paintings. At first they shuddered at +his most vivid representations of poor, sick, wretched beings that cover +these immense canvases dedicated to the memory of St. Roch, whose life +was devoted to hospital work; then were fascinated by the power that had +so ruthlessly portrayed reality. They studied his great +_Crucifixion_,--as a whole, in detailed groups, and then its separate +figures,--until they began to realize the magnitude of its conception +and rendering. Mr. Sumner had said that nowhere save in Venice can +Tintoretto be studied, and all were anxious to understand his work. + +At the Academy, close by Titian's great _Assumption of the Virgin_, +they found Tintoretto's _Miracle of St. Mark_, and saw how noble could +be, at their best, his composition and drawing, and how marvellous his +coloring of sky, architecture, costume, and flesh. They went to the +various churches, notably, Santa Maria del Orto, to see good examples of +his religious painting; and to the Ducal Palace for his many +mythological pictures, and his immense _Paradiso_. Finally they were +happy in feeling that they could comprehend, in some little degree, the +spirit of this strange, powerful artist and his work. + +One rainy evening, toward the close of their stay in Venice, all sat in +the parlor, discussing a most popular novel recently published. It was +written in an exceedingly clever manner; indeed, possessed an unusual +degree of literary merit. But like many other books then being sent +forth, the tale was very sad. + +The hero, Richard,--poor, proud, and painfully morbid,--would not +believe it possible that the woman whom he passionately loved,--a woman +whose life was filled with luxury, and who was surrounded by +admirers,--could ever love him; and so he went out from her and all the +possibilities of happiness, never to know that her heart was his and +might have been had for the asking. The happiness of both lives was +wrecked. + +"I think no author ought to write such a story," said Mrs. Douglas, +emphatically. "Life holds too much that is sad for us all to justify the +expenditure of so much unavailing sympathy. The emotion that cannot work +itself out in action takes from moral strength instead of adding to it. +It is a pity to use so great literary talent in this way." + +"But do not such things sometimes happen, and is it not a literary +virtue to describe real life?" queried Barbara, from her corner amidst +the shadows. + +"Is it an especially artistic virtue to picture deformity and suffering +just because they exist? I acknowledge that a picture or a book may be +fine, even great, with such subjects; but is it either as helpful or +wholesome as it might have been?" argued Mrs. Douglas. + +"Yet in this book the characters of both hero and heroine grow stronger +because of their suffering," suggested Bettina. + +"But such an unnecessary suffering!" rather impatiently asserted Malcom. +"If either had died, then the other might have borne it patiently and +been just as noble. But such a blunder! I threw the book aside in +disgust, for the author had absorbed me with interest, and I was so +utterly disappointed." + +Mr. Sumner had been reading, and had not joined in the conversation, but +Bettina thought she saw some evidence that he had heard it; and when, +throwing aside his paper, he stepped outside on the balcony, she obeyed +an impulse she could never afterward explain to herself, and followed +him. Quickly putting her hand on his, she said, with a fluttering heart, +but with a steady voice:-- + +"Dear Mr. Sumner, do not do as Richard did." + +Then drawing back in consternation as she realized what she had done, +she gasped:-- + +"Oh, forgive me! Forget what I have said!" + +She tried to escape, but her hand was in a grip of iron. "What do you +mean? Tell me, Betty. Barbara--" His voice failed, but the passion of +love that blazed in his eyes reassured her. + +"I will not say another word. Please let me go and never, _never_ tell +Barbara what I said;" and as she wrenched her hand from him, and +vanished from the balcony, her smiling face, white amidst the darkness, +looked to Robert Sumner like an angel of hope. Could it be that she +intended to give him hope of Barbara's love--that sweet young girl--when +he was so much older? When she knew that he had once before loved? But +what else could Betty have meant? Had he been blind all this time, and +had Betty seen it? A hundred circumstances sprang into his remembrance, +that, looked at in the light of her message, took on possible meanings. + +Robert Sumner was a man of action. As soon as his sister retired to her +own room, he followed, and then and there fully opened his heart to her. +He told her all, from the first moment when Barbara began to monopolize +his thoughts, and confessed his struggles against her usurpation of the +place Margaret had so long held. + +To say that Mrs. Douglas was astonished does not begin to express the +truth. She listened in helpless wonder. As he went on, and it became +evident to her what a strong hold on his affections Barbara had gained, +the fear arose lest he might be on the brink of a direful +disappointment. At last, when he ended, saying, "I shall tell her all +to-morrow," she could only falter:-- + +"Is it best so soon, Robert?" + +"Soon!" he cried. "It seems as if I have waited years! Say not one word +against it, sister. My mind is made up!" + +But he could not tell her the hope Bettina had given, which was singing +joyfully in his heart all the time. And so Mrs. Douglas was tortured all +through the night with miserable forebodings. + +The next morning Bettina was troubled at the look of resolve she +understood in Mr. Sumner's face, and almost trembled at the thought of +what she had done. "But I am sure--I am sure," she kept repeating, to +reassure herself. + +A last visit to the Academy had been planned for the afternoon. They +walked thither, as they often loved to do, through the narrow, still +streets and across the little foot-bridges. Mrs. Douglas, with Margery +and Miss Sherman, arrived first, and, after a few minutes' delay, +Bettina and Malcom appeared. + +"Uncle Robert has taken a gondola to the banker's to get our letters, +mother," said Malcom, in such a peculiar voice that his mother gave him +a quick look of interrogation. + +"Where is your sister?" asked Miss Sherman, sharply, turning to Bettina +as Mrs. Douglas passed into an adjoining room. + +"Mr. Sumner asked her to help him get the letters," replied she, +demurely. + +Miss Sherman reddened, and Malcom's eyes danced. + +"How strange!" said Margery, innocently. + +The pictures were, unfortunately, of secondary interest to all the group +save Margery; and, as Mr. Sumner and Barbara did not return, they, +before very long, declared themselves tired, and returned home. The +truth was, each one was longing for private thought. + +Meanwhile Barbara and Mr. Sumner were on the Grand Canal. The sun shone +brightly, and Mr. Sumner drew the curtains a little closer together to +shield Barbara's face and, perhaps, his own. The gondolier rowed slowly. +"Where to?" he had asked, and was answered only by a gesture to go on. +So on they floated. + +Barbara had obeyed without thought Mr. Sumner's sudden request to +accompany him. But no sooner had they stepped into the gondola than she +wished, oh, so earnestly! that she had made some excuse. + +As Mr. Sumner did not speak, she tried to make some commonplace remark, +but her voice would not reach her lips; so she sat, flushed and +wondering, timid and silent. + +At last he spoke, gravely and tenderly, of his early life, when she, a +little girl, had known him; of his love and hope; of his sorrow and the +years of lonely work in foreign lands; of his sister's coming; of his +meeting with them all, and of how much they had brought into his life. +But, as he looked up, he could not wait to finish the story as he had +planned. He saw the sweet, flushed face so near him, the downcast eyes, +the little hand that tried to keep from trembling but could not, and +his voice grew sharp with longing:-- + +"Barbara! oh, little Barbara! you have made me love you as I never have +dreamed of love. Can you love me a little, Barbara? Will you be my +wife?" And he held out his hands, but dared not touch her. + +Would she never answer? Would she never lift the eyelids that seemed to +droop more and more closely upon the crimson cheeks? Had he frightened +her? Was she only so sorry for him? Was Betty mistaken, after all? + +But when, with a voice already quivering with apprehension, he again +spoke her name, what a revelation! + +With head thrown back and with smiling, though quivering, lips, Barbara +looked at him, her eyes glowing with the unutterable tenderness he had +sometimes dreamed of. She did not utter a word, but there was no need. +The whole flood of her love, so long repressed, spoke straight to his +heart. + +The gondola curtains flapped closer in the breeze. The gondolier hummed +a musical love-ditty, while his oars moved in slow rhythm. It was Venice +and June. + + + + +Chapter XX. + +Return from Italy. + + _To come back from the sweet South, to the North + Where I was born, bred, look to die; + Come back to do my day's work in its day, + Play out my play-- + Amen, amen say I._ + + --ROSSETTI. + +[Illustration: MILAN CATHEDRAL.] + + +When Robert Sumner and Barbara returned, they found Mrs. Douglas alone. +At the first glance she knew that all was well, and received them with +smiles, and tears, and warm expressions of delight. + +In a moment, however, Barbara--her eyes still shining with the wonder of +it all--gently disengaged herself from Mrs. Douglas's embrace and went +in search of her sister. + +"Aren't you thoroughly astonished, Betty dear?" she asked, after she had +told the wonderful news. + +"Yes, Bab; more than astonished." + +And Bettina's quibble can surely be forgiven. Not yet has she told her +sister of the important part played by herself in bringing the +love-affair to so happy a consummation; nor has Robert Sumner forgotten +her prayer, "never, never tell Barbara!" + +When evening came and Barbara was out on the balcony with Mr. Sumner, +while the others were talking gayly of the happy event, Bettina suddenly +felt an unaccountable choking in the throat. She hurried to her room, +and there, in spite of every effort, had to give up to a good cry. She +could not have told the cause, but we, the only ones beside herself who +know this pitiful ending of all her bravery, understand and sympathize +with her. + +An hour later, when she had conquered herself and was coming slowly down +the staircase, she found Malcom waiting to waylay her. Drawing her arm +within his, and merrily assuming something of a paternal air, he said:-- + +"Now that this little family affair has reached a thoroughly +satisfactory culmination, I trust that things will again assume their +normal appearance. For the past month or so Barbara has been most +_distraite_; uncle has so evidently tried to be cheerful that the effort +has been distressing; and you, little Lady Betty, have been racking your +precious brains for a scheme to make things better." + +"And you, Malcom," she retorted, "have had so much sympathy with us all +that wrinkles have really begun to appear on your manly brow." And she +put up her hand lightly as if to smooth them away. + +"Look out, Betty!" with a curious flash of the eyes, as he seized her +hand and held it tightly. "The atmosphere is rather highly charged these +days." + +Bettina's face slowly flushed as she tried to make some laughing +rejoinder, and a strange painful shyness threatened to overtake her when +Malcom, with a smile and a steady look into her eyes, set her free. + +Meanwhile Margery was saying to her mother:-- + +"How pleasant it is to have everybody so happy!" + +"Yes, dear. Do you know why I am so very happy?" and as Margery shook +her head, her mother told her that her Uncle Robert had decided to go +home to America, and that never again would he live abroad. + +"It is more like a story than truth. Uncle to go home, and Barbara to be +his wife! You did not think, did you, mamma, what would come from our +year in Italy? Just think! Suppose you had not asked Barbara and Betty +to come with us! What then?" + +"That is too bewildering a question for you to trouble yourself with, my +child. There is no end to that kind of reasoning. + +"And," she added gently, "it is not a question that Faith would ask. +The only truth is that God was leading me in a way I did not know, and +for ends I could not foresee. That which I did from a feeling of pure +love for my dear neighbors and friends was destined to bring me the one +great blessing I had longed for during many years. Oh! it does seem too +good to be true that Robert is so happy, and that he is coming home." + +And for the seventieth-times-seven time Mrs. Douglas breathed a silent +thanksgiving as she heard the approaching footsteps of her brother. + +For Barbara and Robert Sumner the last days spent in Venice were filled +with a peculiar joy. The revulsion of feeling, the unexpected, +despaired-of happiness, the untrammelled intercourse, the full sympathy +of those dear to them,--all this could be experienced but once. + +Only one person was out of tune with the general feeling. This was +Lucile Sherman. She returned a polite note in reply to that which Mrs. +Douglas had at once sent her containing information of her brother's +engagement to Barbara. In it she wrote that her friends had very +suddenly decided to leave Venice for the Tyrol, and she must be content +to go with them without even coming to say good-by and to offer, in +person, her congratulations. Mrs. Douglas at first thought of going to +her, if but for a moment; then decided that perhaps it would be best to +let it be as she had so evidently chosen. + +In a few days they also left Venice,--for Milan, stopping on the way for +a day or two at Padua. They were to visit this city chiefly for the +purpose of seeing Giotto's frescoes in the Arena Chapel, and Mantegna's +in the Eremitani, although, as Mr. Sumner said, the gray old city is +well worth a visit for many other reasons. The antiquity of its origin, +which its citizens are proud to refer to Antenor, the mythical King of +Troy, accounts for the thoroughly venerable appearance of some quarters. +It is difficult, however, to believe that it was ever the wealthiest +city in upper Italy, as it is reported to have been under the reign of +Augustus. During the Middle Ages it was one of the most famous of +European seats of learning. Dante spent several years in Padua after his +banishment from Florence, and Petrarch once lived here. All these things +had been talked over before they alighted at the station, and, driving +through one of the gates of the city, went to their hotel. + +All were eager to see whatever there was of interest. As it would be +best to wait until morning for looking at the pictures, they at once set +forth and walked along the narrow streets lined with arcades, and +through grassy Il Prato, with its fourscore and more statues of Padua's +famous men ranged between the trees. They saw the traditional house of +Petrarch, and that of Dante, in front of which stands a large mediæval +sarcophagus reported to contain the bones of King Antenor, who, +according to the poet Virgil, founded the city. They admired the +churches, from several of which clusters of Byzantine domes rise grandly +against the sky, noted the order, the quiet, that now reigns throughout +the streets, and talked of the fierce, horrible warfare that had +centuries ago raged there. + +The next morning they spent among Giotto's frescoes, over thirty of +which literally cover the walls of the Arena Chapel. The return to the +work of the early fourteenth century, after months spent in study of the +High Renaissance, was like an exchange of blazing noon sunshine for the +first soft, sweet light that heralds the coming dawn. They were +surprised at the freshness and purity of color and at the truth and +force of expression. They had forgotten that old Giotto could paint so +well. They found it easy now to understand in the artist that which at +first had been difficult. + +"Do you not think that Dante sometimes came here and sat while Giotto +was painting?" by and by asked Margery, in an almost reverent voice. + +"I do not doubt it," replied Mrs. Douglas. "Tradition tells us that +they were great friends, and that when here together in Padua they lived +in the same house. I always think of Giotto as possessing a jovial +temperament, and as being full of bright thoughts. He must have been a +great comfort to the poor unhappy poet. Without doubt they often walked +together to this chapel; and while Giotto was upon the scaffolding, busy +with his Bible stories, Dante would sit here, brooding over his +misfortunes; or, perhaps, weaving some of his great thoughts into +sublime poetry." + +Afterward they went to the Eremitani to see Mantegna's frescoes, and +thought they could see in the noble work of this old Paduan master what +Giotto might have done had he lived a century or more later. + +Mr. Sumner, however, said that he was sure that Giotto, with his +temperament, could never have wrought detail with such exactness and +refinement as did Mantegna--but also, that Giotto's color would always +have been far better than Mantegna's. The likeness between the two +artists is the intense desire of each to render expression of thought +and feeling. + +The following day, on their way from Padua to Milan, they were so +fortunate as to be all in the same compartment, and as their train +rushed on, their conversation turned upon Leonardo da Vinci, whose +works in Milan they were longing to see. + +During their stay in Florence they had read much about this great +artist, and Mr. Sumner now suggested that each tell something he had +learned concerning him. + +Margery began, and told how he used always to wear a sketch-book +attached to his girdle as he walked through the streets of Florence, so +that he might make a sketch of any face whose expression especially +attracted him; how he would invite peasants to his studio and talk with +them and tell laughable stories, that he might study the changes of +emotion in their faces; and how he would even follow to their death +criminals doomed to execution, in order to watch their suffering and +horror. + +"He did not care much for the form or coloring or beauty of faces;--only +for the expression of feeling," she added. + +"But," said Malcom, after waiting a moment for the others to speak if +they chose, "he studied a host of other things, also. For in the letter +he sent to Duke Ludovico of Milan asking that he might be taken into his +service, he wrote that he could make portable bridges wonderfully +adapted for use in warfare, also bombshells, cannon, and many other +engines of war; that he could engineer underground ways, aqueducts, +etc.; that he could build great houses, besides carrying on works of +sculpture and painting. And there were many other things that I do not +now remember. It seems as if he felt himself able to do all things. I +believe he did make a magnificent equestrian statue of the duke's +father. And he studied botany and astronomy, anatomy and mathematics, +and all sorts of things besides. I really do not see how he could have +got much painting in." + +"He has left only a very few pictures to the world," said Barbara. "We +saw two or three at Florence, but I think only one--that unfinished +_Adoration of the Magi_--is surely his. We shall see the _Last Supper_ +and _Head of Christ_ at Milan. Then there are two or three in Paris and +one in London I think these are all," and she looked inquiringly at Mr. +Sumner, who smilingly nodded confirmation of her words. + +"But," she went on, with an answering smile, "I do not think this was +due to lack of time, for on these few pictures he probably spent as much +time as ordinary artists do in painting a great many. He was never +satisfied with the result of his work. His aims were so high and he saw +and felt so much in his subjects that he would paint his pictures over +and over again, and then often destroy them because he could not produce +what he wished. I think he was one of the most untiring of artists." + +"I have been especially interested," said Bettina, after a minute or +two, "in the story of the _Last Supper_ which we shall soon see." + +She then went on to tell the sad tale of Beatrice d'Este,--the good and +beautiful wife of harsh, wicked Duke Ludovico. How she used to go daily +to the church Santa Maria delle Grazie to be alone,--to think and to +pray; and how, after her early death, the duke, probably influenced by +remorse because of his cruelty to her, desired Leonardo to decorate this +church and its adjoining monastery with pictures in memory of his dead +young wife. The only remaining one of these is the _Last Supper_ in the +refectory of the old monastery. And the famous _Head of Christ_ in the +Brera Gallery, Milan, is only one of perhaps hundreds of studies that he +made for the expression which he should give to his Christ in the _Last +Supper_,--so dissatisfied was he with his renderings of the face of our +Saviour. And even with his last effort he was not content, but said the +head must ever go unfinished. + +"I am glad to hear you say that this _Head of Christ_ was produced +simply as a study of expression," remarked Mr. Sumner. "I am sure this +fact is not understood by many who look upon it. I know of no other +artistic representation in the world that is so utterly just an +expression and nothing more;--a fleeting expression of some inner +feeling of which the face is simply an index. And this feeling is the +blended grief and love and resignation that filled the heart of our +Saviour when He said to His disciples, 'One of you shall betray me.' It +is a simply wrought study, made on paper with charcoal and water-color. +The paper is worn, its edges are almost tattered; yet were it given me +to become the possessor of one of the world's art-treasures--whichever +one I should choose--I think I should select this. You will know why +when you see it." + +"What a pity that the great picture, the _Last Supper_, is so injured," +said Malcom, after a pause. "Is it as bad as it is said to be, uncle?" + +"It is in a pretty bad condition, yet, after all, I enjoy it better than +any copy that has ever been made. The handiwork of Leonardo, though so +much of it has been lost, is yet the expression of a master; any lesser +artist fails to render the highest that is in the picture. Both the Duke +and Leonardo were in fault for its present condition. The monastery is +very low, and on extremely wet ground. Water has often risen and +inundated a portion of the building. It is not a fit place for any +painting, as the Duke ought to have known. And, then, Leonardo, instead +of painting in fresco, used oils, and of course the colors could not +adhere to the damp plaster; so they have dropped off, bit by bit, until +the surface is sadly disfigured." + +"Why did Leonardo do this?" inquired Margery. + +"He was particularly fond of oil-painting, because this method allowed +him to paint over and over again on the same picture, as he could not do +in fresco." + +Mr. Sumner looked out of the window, and then hastened to say:-- + +"I think you all have learned that the chief quality of Leonardo da +Vinci's work is his rendering of facial expression--complex, subtile +expression: yet he excelled in all artistic representation;--in drawing, +in composition, in color, and in the treatment of light and shade. He +easily stands in the foremost rank of world painters. But, see! we are +drawing near to Milan,--bright, gay little Milan,--the Italian Paris." + +One day, soon after their arrival, as they were in the Brera Gallery, +looking for the third or fourth time at Leonardo's _Head of Christ_, +Barbara remarked that she was disappointed because she could not find +any particular characteristic of this great artist's work, as she had so +often been able to do with others. "I feel that I cannot yet recognize +even his style," she lamented. + +"You have as yet seen none of the pictures which contain his +characteristic ideal face," replied Mr. Sumner. "But there is work here +in Milan by Bernardino Luini, who studied Leonardo so intimately that he +caught his spirit in a greater degree than did any other of his +followers. Indeed, several of Luini's pictures have been attributed to +Leonardo until very recently. This is a picture by Luini--right +here--the _Madonna of the Rose-Trellis_. The Madonna is strikingly like +Leonardo's ideal in the long, slender nose, the rather pointed chin, the +dark, flowing hair,--and, above all, in the evidence of some deep +thought. If it were Leonardo's, there would be, with all this, a faint, +subtile smile. See the treatment of light and shade,--so delicate, and +yet so strong. This is also like Leonardo." + +After a few minutes spent in study of the picture, Mr. Sumner continued: +"There is a singular mannerism in the backgrounds of Leonardo's +pictures. It is the representation of running water between rocks,--a +strange fancy. We see the suggestion of it through the window behind +Christ in the _Last Supper_, and it forms the entire background of the +famous _Mona Lisa_, in the Louvre. There is a beautiful picture by +Luini, _The Marriage of St. Catherine_, in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum here +in Milan, to which we will go at once. The faces are thoroughly +Leonardesque, and through an open window in the background we clearly +see the streamlet flowing between rocky shores. + +"But first," he added, as they turned to go out, "let us go into this +corridor where we shall find quite a large number of Luini's frescoes, +which have been collected from the churches in which he painted them. I +think you will grow familiar with Leonardo's faces through study of +Luini." + +During the stay in Milan they went down to Parma for a day, just to look +at the fine examples of Correggio's works in the gallery and churches. +In this city they could get the association of this artist with his +works as nowhere else. + +[Illustration: LUINI. POLDI-PEZZOLI MUSEUM, MILAN. + +MARRIAGE OF SAINT CATHERINE.] + +Mr. Sumner told them that it was a good thing to give especial attention +to Correggio while studying Leonardo, because there is a certain +similarity, and yet a very wide difference, between their works. Both +painters were consummate masters of the art. Their beautiful figures, +perfect in drawing and full of grace and life, melt into soft, rich +shadows. Both loved especially to paint women, and smiling women; but +the difference between the smiles is as great as between light and +darkness. Leonardo's are inexplicable; are wrought from within by depths +of feeling we cannot understand. Correggio's only play about the lips, +and are as simple as childhood. Leonardo's whole life was given to the +study of mankind's innermost emotions. Correggio was no deep student of +human nature. + +"When you go to Paris and see _Mona Lisa_, you will understand me +better," he said in conclusion. + +Delightful weeks among the Italian lakes and the mountains of +Switzerland followed. Then came September, and it was time to turn their +faces homeward. A week or two was spent in Paris, whose brilliance, +fascinating gayety, and beauty almost bewildered them, and in whose +great picture-gallery, the Louvre, they reviewed the art-study of the +year. + +Then they were off to Havre to take a French steamship home. Mr. Sumner +had decided to return with them, and a little later in the fall to go +back to Florence to settle all things there,--to give up his Italian +home and studio. So there was nothing but joy in the setting forth. + + * * * * * + +"How can we wait a whole week!" exclaimed Bettina, as the two sisters +were again unpacking the steamer trunks in their stateroom. "How long +one little week seems when it comes at the end of a year, and lies +between us and home!" + +Barbara's thought flew back to the like scene on the _Kaiser Wilhelm_ a +year ago, when her mind had been busy with her father's parting words, +and her eyes were very dark with feeling as she spoke:-- + +"Have you thought, Betty, how much we are taking back?--how much more +than papa thought or we expected even in our wildest dreams? All this +intimate knowledge of Florence, Rome, and Venice! All these memories of +Italy,--and her art and history!" + +Then after a moment she continued with changed voice: "And our +friendship with Howard!--and the great gift he gave by which we have +been able to get all these beautiful things we are taking home to the +dear ones, and by which life is so changed for them and us!--and--" + +"Barbara!" softly called Mr. Sumner's voice from the corridor. + +"_And_," repeated Bettina, archly, with a most mischievous look as her +sister hastened from the room to answer the summons. + +At last the morning came when the steamship entered New York harbor; and +the evening followed which saw the travellers again in their +homes,--which restored Barbara and Bettina to father, mother, brothers, +and sisters. There was no end of joy and smiles and happy talk. + +After a little time Robert Sumner came, and Dr. Burnett, taking him by +both hands, looked through moist eyes into the face he loved, and had +so long missed, saying:-- + +"And so you have come home to stay,--Robert,--my boy!" + +"Yes," in a glad, ringing voice,--withdrawing one hand from the doctor's +and putting it into Mrs. Burnett's eager clasp--"yes, Barbara and Malcom +have brought me home. Malcom showed me it was my duty to come, and +Barbara has made it a delight." + + + + +Epilogue. + +Three Years After. + + +In one of New England's fairest villas, only a little way from the spot +where we first found her, lives Barbara to-day. For more than two years +she has been the wife of Robert Sumner. The faces of both tell of happy +years, which have been bounteous in blessing. A new expression glows in +Robert Sumner's eyes; the hint of a life whose energy is life-giving. +All his powers are on the alert. His name bids fair to become known far +and wide in his native land as a force for good in art, literature, +philanthropy, and public service. And in everything Barbara holds equal +pace with him. Whatever he undertakes, he goes to her young, fresh +enthusiasm to be strengthened for the endeavor; he measures his own +judgment against her wise, individual ways of thinking, and gains new +trust in himself from her abiding confidence. + +In the library of their home, surrounded by countless rare souvenirs of +Italy, hangs a portrait of Howard Sinclair given to Barbara by his aged +grandmother, who now rests beside her darling boy in beautiful Mount +Auburn. + +Dr. Burnett's low, rambling house has given place to a more stately one; +but it stands behind the same tall trees, amidst the same wide, green +spaces. And here is Bettina,--the same Betty,--broadened and enriched by +the intervening years of gracious living; still almost hand in hand with +her sister Barbara. Together they study and enjoy and sympathize; and +together they are striving to bless as many lives as possible by a wise +use of Howard's gift to Barbara. + +They are not letting slip that which they learned of the art of the Old +World, but are adding to it continually in anticipation of the time when +they will again be in its midst. They believe that study of the old +masters' pictures is a peculiar source of culture, and they delight in +procuring photographs and rare reproductions for themselves and their +friends. Their faces are familiar in the art-stores and picture +galleries of Boston. + +Good Dr. and Mrs. Burnett have grown more than three years younger by +dropping so many burdens of life. They no longer count any ways and +means save those of enlarging their own and their children's lives, and +of making their home a happy, healthful centre from which all shall go +forth daily to help in the world's growth and to minister to its needs. + +Richard, Lois, Margaret, and Bertie, endowed with all the best available +helps, are hard at work getting furnished for coming years. + +Margery, entering into a lovely young womanhood, still lives with her +mother and Malcom in the grand old colonial house in which many +generations of her ancestors have dwelt. + +Mrs. Douglas is quite as happy in the close vicinity of her brother as +she thought she would be. Every day she rejoices in his home, in his +work and growing fame. Barbara grows dearer to her continually as she +realizes what a blessing she is to his life. Indeed, so wholly natural +and just-the-thing-to-be-expected does it now seem that her brother +should fall in love with Barbara, that she grows ever more amazed that +she did not think of it before it happened; and, when she recalls her +surmises and little sisterly schemes concerning him and Lucile Sherman, +she wonders at her own stupidity. + +For Malcom the three years have been crowded with earnest work. He fully +justified the confidence his mother had reposed in him when she gave him +the year abroad, by entering, on his return, the second year of the +University course. + +A few months ago he graduated with high honors, and is now just +beginning the study of law. When admitted to the bar he will enter, as +youngest partner, the law firm of which for over thirty years his +grandfather was the head. + +And through all he is the same frank, wholesome-hearted, strong-willed, +but gentle Malcom that we knew in Italy. + +The other day he entrusted to his mother and sister a precious secret +that must not yet be divulged. They were delighted, but did not seem +greatly surprised. + +Bettina knows the secret. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Barbara's Heritage, by Deristhe L. 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Hoyt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Barbara's Heritage + Young Americans Among the Old Italian Masters + +Author: Deristhe L. Hoyt + +Illustrator: Homer W. Colby + +Release Date: July 7, 2005 [EBook #16241] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA'S HERITAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image001.jpg" width="350" height="457" alt="TITIAN. ACADEMY, VENICE + +VIRGIN. FROM ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">TITIAN. ACADEMY, VENICE + +VIRGIN. FROM ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></p> +<h1><a name="BARBARAS_HERITAGE" id="BARBARAS_HERITAGE"></a>BARBARA'S HERITAGE</h1> + +<h3>OR</h3> + +<h2><i>YOUNG AMERICANS AMONG THE OLD ITALIAN MASTERS</i></h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>DERISTHE L. HOYT</h2> + +<p>AUTHOR OF</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">The World's Painters</span>"</p> + +<p>THIRD EDITION.</p> + +<p>BOSTON AND CHICAGO</p> + +<p>W.A. WILDE COMPANY</p> + +<p><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>Copyright, 1899,</p> + +<p>By W.A. Wilde Company.</p> + +<p><i>All rights reserved</i>.</p> + +<p>BARBARA'S HERITAGE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a></p> +<span class="i0">To the Brother and Sister who have been my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">companions during many happy sojourns in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Italy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>CHAPTER</td><td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>I. The Unexpected Happens</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_I"><b>13</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>II. Across Two Oceans</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_II"><b>29</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>III. In Beautiful Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_III"><b>45</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>IV. A New Friend Appears</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_IV"><b>61</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>V. Straws show which Way the Wind Blows</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_V"><b>77</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>VI. Lucile Sherman</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_VI"><b>93</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>VII. A Startling Disclosure</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_VII"><b>107</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>VIII. Howard's Questionings</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_VIII"><b>123</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>IX. The Coming-out Party</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_IX"><b>139</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>X. The Mystery unfolds to Howard</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_X"><b>157</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XI. On the Way to Rome</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XI"><b>171</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XII. Robert Sumner fights a Battle</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XII"><b>189</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XIII. Cupid Laughs</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XIII"><b>205</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XIV. A Visit to the Sistine Chapel</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XIV"><b>221</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XV. A Morning in the Vatican</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XV"><b>239</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XVI. Poor Barbara's Trouble</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XVI"><b>259</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XVII. Robert Sumner is Imprudent</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XVII"><b>279</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XVIII. In Venice</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XVIII"><b>299</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XIX. In a Gondola</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XIX"><b>317</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>XX. Return from Italy</td><td align='left'><a href="#Chapter_XX"><b>335</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Epilogue: Three Years After</td><td align='left'><a href="#Epilogue"><b>355</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a></p> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Virgin. From Assumption of the Virgin. Titian.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Academy, Venice</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_1"><b><i>Frontispiece</i></b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Byzantine Magdalen.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Academy, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#BYZANTINE"><b>58</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Group of Angels. From Coronation of the Virgin. Fra Angelico.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Uffizi Gallery, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#FRA_ANGELICO"><b>112</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Coronation of the Virgin. Botticelli.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Uffizi Gallery, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#BOTICELLI"><b>146</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Head of Madonna. Perugino.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Uffizi Gallery, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#PERUGINO"><b>186</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Delphian Sibyl. Michael Angelo.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sistine Chapel, Rome</td><td align='left'><a href="#MICHAEL_ANGELO"><b>226</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Saint Cecilia. Raphael.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Academy, Bologna</td><td align='left'><a href="#RAPHAEL"><b>296</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Marriage of Saint Catherine. Luini.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan</td><td align='left'><a href="#LUINI"><b>350</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a></p> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT</h2> + + +<h3><i>Pen and Ink Drawings made by Homer W. Colby</i></h3> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>Barbara's Home</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_14"><b>15</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Bit of Genoa</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_30"><b>31</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Church of the Annunziata, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_46"><b>47</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Duomo and Campanile, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_64"><b>63</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Santa Maria Novella, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_80"><b>79</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Glimpse of Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_96"><b>95</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cloister, Museum of San Marco, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_110"><b>109</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ponte Alla Carraja, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_128"><b>125</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Palazzo Pitti, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_144"><b>141</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>San Miniato al Monte, Florence</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_164"><b>159</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Orvieto Cathedral</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_178"><b>173</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>San Francesco, Assisi</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_198"><b>191</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ruins of Forum, Rome</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_214"><b>207</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Saint Peter's and Castle of Saint Angelo, Rome</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_230"><b>223</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Loggia of Raphael, Vatican, Rome</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_250"><b>241</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A Bit of Amalfi</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_270"><b>261</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Campo Santo, Bologna</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_290"><b>281</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>San Marco, Venice</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_312"><b>301</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grand Canal and Rialto, Venice</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_330"><b>319</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Milan Cathedral</td><td align='left'><a href="#Page_348"><b>337</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a></p> +<h2><a name="PRELUDE" id="PRELUDE"></a>PRELUDE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each day the world is born anew<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For him who takes it rightly;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not fresher that which Adam knew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not sweeter that whose moonlit dew<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Entranced Arcadia nightly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Rightly? That's simply: 'tis to see<br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Some</i> substance casts these shadows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which we call Life and History,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That aimless seem to chase and flee<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like wind-gleams over meadows.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Simply? That's nobly: 'tis to know<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That God may still be met with,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor groweth old, nor doth bestow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These senses fine, this brain aglow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To grovel and forget with.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—James Russell Lowell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a>Chapter I.</h2> + +<h3>The Unexpected Happens.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>And foorth they passe with pleasure forward led.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Spenser.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 530px;"> +<img src="images/image014.png" width="530" height="304" alt="BARBARA'S HOME." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BARBARA'S HOME.</span> +</div> + + +<p>"O Barbara! <i>do</i> you think papa and mamma will let us go? <i>Can</i> they +afford it? Just to think of Italy, and sunshine, and olive trees, and +cathedrals, and pictures! Oh, it makes me wild! Will you not ask them, +dear Barbara? You are braver than I, and can talk better about it all. +How can we bear to have them say 'no'—to give up all the lovely thought +of it, now that once we have dared to dream of its coming to us—to you +and me, Barbara?" and color flushed the usually pale cheek of the young +girl, and her dark eyes glowed with feeling as she hugged tightly the +arm of her sister.</p> + +<p>Barbara and Bettina Burnett were walking through a pleasant street in +one of the suburban towns of Boston after an afternoon spent with +friends who were soon to sail for Italy.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>It was a charming early September evening, and the sunset glow burned +through the avenue of elm trees, beneath which the girls were passing, +flooding the way with rare beauty. But not one thought did they now give +to that which, ordinarily, would have delighted them; for Mrs. Douglas +had astonished them that afternoon by a pressing invitation to accompany +herself, her son, and daughter on this journey. For hours they had +talked over the beautiful scheme, and were to present Mrs. Douglas's +request to their parents that very night.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas, a wealthy woman, had been a widow almost ever since the +birth of her daughter, who was now a girl of fifteen. Malcom, her son, +was three or four years older. An artist brother was living in Italy, +and a few years previous to the beginning of our story, Mrs. Douglas and +her children had spent some months there. Now the brother was desirous +that they should again go to him, especially since his sister was not +strong, and it would be well for her to escape the inclemency of a New +England winter.</p> + +<p>Barbara and Bettina,—Bab and Betty, as they were called in their +home,—twin daughters of Dr. Burnett, were seventeen years old, and the +eldest of a large family. The father, a great-hearted man, devoted to +his noble profession, and <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>generous of himself, his time, and money, had +little to spare after the wants of his family had been supplied, so it +was not strange that the daughters, on sober second thought, should feel +that the idea of such a trip to the Old World as Mrs. Douglas suggested +could be only the dream of a moment, from which an awakening must be +inevitable.</p> + +<p>But they little knew the wisdom of Mrs. Douglas, nor for a moment did +they suspect that for weeks before she had mentioned the matter to them, +she and their parents had spent many hours in planning and contriving so +that it might seem possible to give this great pleasure and means of +education to their daughters.</p> + +<p>Even now, while they were hesitating to mention the matter, it was +already settled. Their parents had decided that, with the aid of a +portion of a small legacy which Mrs. Burnett had sacredly set aside for +her children, to be used only when some sufficient reason should offer, +enough money could be spared during the coming year to allow them to +accompany Mrs. Douglas.</p> + +<p>As the sisters drew near the rambling, old-fashioned house, set back +from the street, which was their home, a pleasant welcome awaited them. +The father, who had just come from the stable to the piazza, the mother +and younger children,—Richard, Lois, Margaret, and little<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a> Bertie,—and +even the old dog, Dandy,—each had an affectionate greeting.</p> + +<p>A quick look of intelligence passed between the parents as they saw the +flushed faces of their daughters, which so plainly told of unusual +excitement of feeling; but, saying nothing, they quietly led the way +into the dining room, where all gathered around the simple supper which +even the youngest could enjoy.</p> + +<p>After the children had been put to bed, and the older ones of the family +were in the library, which was their evening sitting room, Bettina +looked anxiously at Barbara, who, after several attempts, succeeded in +telling the startling proposition which Mrs. Douglas had made, adding +that she should not dare to speak of it had she not promised Mrs. +Douglas to do so.</p> + +<p>Imagine, if you can, the amazement, the flood of joyous surprise that +the girls felt as they realized, first, that to their parents it was not +a new, startling subject which could not for a moment be entertained; +then, that it was not only to be thought of, but planned for; and more, +that the going to Italy with Mrs. Douglas, Malcom, and Margery was to be +a reality, an experience that very soon would come into their lives, for +they were to sail in three weeks.</p> + +<p>After the hubbub of talk that followed, it was <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>a very subdued and quiet +pair of girls who kissed father and mother good night and went upstairs +to the room in which they had slept ever since their childhood. The +certain nearness of the first home-breaking, of the first going away +from their dear ones, and a new conception of the tenderness of the +parents, who were sacrificing so much for them, had taken such +possession of their hearts that they were too full for words. For +Barbara and Bettina were dear, thoughtful daughters and sisters, who had +early learned to aid in bearing the family burdens, and whose closest, +strongest affections were bound about the home and its dear ones.</p> + +<p>Such busy days followed! Such earnest conferences between Mrs. Burnett +and Mrs. Douglas, who was an old traveller, and knew all the ins and +outs of her dear doctor's household!</p> + +<p>It was finally decided that the dark blue serge gowns that had been worn +during the last spring and on cold summer days with the warm spring +jackets, would be just the thing for the girls on the steamship; that +the pretty brown cloth suits which were even then in the dressmaker's +hands could be worn almost constantly after reaching Italy for +out-of-door life; while the simple evening gowns that had done duty at +schoolgirl receptions would answer finely for at-home evenings.<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a> So that +only two or three extra pairs of boots (for nothing abroad can take the +place of American boots and shoes), some silk waists, so convenient for +easy change of costume, and a little addition to the dainty +underclothing were all that was absolutely needed.</p> + +<p>Busy fingers soon accomplished everything necessary, and in a few +swiftly passing days the trunks were packed, the tearful good-bys +spoken, and the little party was on its way to New York, to sail thence +for Genoa on the <i>Kaiser Wilhelm II.</i> of the North German Lloyd line of +steamships.</p> + +<p>Dr. Burnett had managed to accompany them thus far, and now, as the +great ship is slowly leaving the wharf, and Mrs. Douglas, Malcom, +Margery, Barbara, and Bettina are clustered together on her deck, waving +again and again their good-bys, and straining their eyes still to +recognize the dear familiar form and face among the crowd that presses +forward on the receding pier, we will take time for a full introduction +of the chief personages of our story.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas, who stands between her children, Malcom's arm thrown +half-protectingly about her shoulders, was, or rather is (for our tale +is of recent date and its characters are yet living), a rare woman. +Slender and graceful, clothed in widow's dress, her soft gray hair +framing a still fair and <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>youthful face, she looks a typical American +woman of refinement and culture. And she is all this, and more; for did +she not possess a strong Christian character, wise judgment, and a warm +motherly heart, and were she not ever eager to gain that which is +noblest and best both for herself and her children from every experience +of life, careful Dr. and Mrs. Burnett would never have intrusted their +daughters to her.</p> + +<p>Her husband had been a young Scotchman, well-born, finely educated, and +possessed of ample means, whom she had met when a girl travelling abroad +with her parents, and her brief wedded life had been spent in beautiful +Edinburgh, her husband's native city. Very soon after Margery's birth +came the terrible grief of her husband's death, and lonely Elizabeth +Douglas came across the sea, bringing her two fatherless children to +make a home for herself and them among her girlhood friends.</p> + +<p>Malcom, a well-developed, manly young fellow, has just graduated from +the Boston Latin School. As he stands beside his mother we see the +military drill he has undergone in his fine carriage, straight +shoulders, and erect head. He has the Scotch complexion, an abundance of +fair hair, and frank, steady eyes that win him the instant trust and +friendship of all who look into them. Though <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>full of a boy's enthusiasm +and fun, yet he seems older than he is, as is usually the case with boys +left fatherless who early feel a certain manly responsibility for the +mother and sisters.</p> + +<p>Proud and fond indeed is Malcom Douglas of his mother and "little +Madge," as he calls her, who, petite and slender, with sunny, flowing +curls, the sweetest of blue eyes, and a pure, childlike face, stands, +with parted lips, flushed with animation, by her mother's side. Margery +is, as she looks, gentle and lovable. Not yet has she ever known the +weight of the slightest burden of care, but has been as free and happy +as the birds, as she has lived in her beautiful home with her mother and +brother.</p> + +<p>Barbara and Bettina stand a little apart from the others, with clasped +hands and dim eyes, as the shore, the home-shore, is fast receding from +their sight. They are alike, and yet unlike. People always say "Barbara +and Bettina," never "Bettina and Barbara." They are of the same height, +each with brown hair and eyes.</p> + +<p>Barbara's figure is a little fuller and more womanly, her hair has +caught the faintest auburn hue, her eyes have a more brilliant sparkle, +and the color on her cheeks glows more steadily. She looks at strangers +with a quiet self-possession, and questions others rather than thinks of +herself <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>being questioned. As a child she always fought her own and her +sister's battles, and would do the same to-day did occasion demand.</p> + +<p>Bettina is more timid and self-conscious; her dreamy eyes and quickly +coming and going color betray a keen sensitiveness to thought and +impressions.</p> + +<p>Both are beautiful, and more than one of their fellow-passengers look at +the sisters with interest as they stand together, so absorbed in feeling +that they take no note of what is passing about them. Just now both are +thinking of the same thing—a conversation held with their father as the +trio sat in a corner of the car just before reaching New York.</p> + +<p>Dr. Burnett had explained to them just how he had been enabled to meet +the expense of their coming travel.</p> + +<p>Then he said:—</p> + +<p>"Now girls, you are, for the first time in your lives, to be away from +the care and advice of your parents. Of course, if you need help in +judging of anything, you are free to go to Mrs. Douglas; but there will +be much that it will be best for you to decide without troubling her. +You will meet all sorts of people, travellers like yourselves, and many +you will see who are spending money freely and for what seems pleasure +only, without one <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>thought of the special education that travel in the +Old World might bring them. Your mother and I have always been actuated +by one purpose regarding our children. We cannot give you money in +abundance, but we are trying to give you a liberal education,—that +which is to us far superior to mere money riches,—and the only +consideration that makes us willing to part from you and to sacrifice +for you now, is our belief that a rare opportunity for gaining culture +and an education that cannot be found at home is open to you.</p> + +<p>"Think of this always, my daughters. Ponder it over while you are gone, +and do your best to come home bringing a new wealth of knowledge that +shall bless your younger brothers and sisters and our whole household, +as well as your own lives. You are not going on a pleasure trip, dear +girls, but to another school,—a thoroughly novel and delightful +one,—but do not forget that, after all, it is a school."</p> + +<p>As the rapidly increasing distance took from them the last sight of the +father's form, Barbara and Bettina turned and looked at each other with +tearful eyes; and the unspoken thought of one was, "We <i>will</i> come home +all that you long for us to be, dear papa!" and of the other, "Oh, I do +hope we shall understand what you wish, <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>and learn what and wherever we +can!" and both thoughts meant the same thing and bore the same earnest +purpose.</p> + +<p>"Come girls," said Mrs. Douglas, who had keenly observed them without +appearing to do so, "it is best for us all to go to our staterooms +directly and unpack our steamer-trunks. Perhaps in even an hour or two +we may not feel so much like doing it as we do now."</p> + +<p>As they passed through the end of the dining-saloon, whose tables were +laden with bouquets of fresh and fragrant flowers, brought by loving +friends to many of the passengers, Malcom's quick eye spied a little +pile of letters on the end of a corner table.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said he, as he turned back to look them over, "if anybody +thought to write to us."</p> + +<p>Returning with an envelope in his hands, he cried:—</p> + +<p>"What will you give for a letter from home already, Barbara and Betty?"</p> + +<p>"For us!" exclaimed the girls, "a letter from home for us! Why, we never +thought such a thing could be! How did it get here? Did papa bring one +and put it here?"</p> + +<p>But no, for the letter addressed in the dear mother's handwriting was +clearly stamped, and its <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>appearance testified that it had come through +the mail to New York.</p> + +<p>Hurrying to their stateroom and sitting close to each other on the sofa +under the port-hole, they read Mrs. Burnett's bright, sweet motherly +letter, and a note from each of their brothers and sisters,—even a +crumpled printed one from five-year-old Bertie. So bright and jolly were +they all, that they allayed rather than heightened the first homesick +feelings, and very soon the girls were chattering happily as they busied +themselves with their unpacking.</p> + +<p>The staterooms of the <i>Kaiser Wilhelm II.</i> are more commodious than can +be found in most steamships, even those of the same line. It was +delightful to find a small wardrobe in which to hang the warm wrappers +so useful on shipboard, and the thick coats that might be needed, and a +chest of drawers for underclothing, gloves, etc. Toilet articles were +put on the tiny wall-shelves; magazines and books on the top of the +chest of drawers; and soon the little room took on a bit of an +individual and homelike look which was very pleasing.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas and Margery were just opposite them, and Malcom close at +hand, so there was no chance of feeling too much adrift from the old +life.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>"Hello, girls! Are you ready to come upstairs?" in Malcom's voice.</p> + +<p>"How nice your room looks!" cried Margery; and up to the deck they +trooped to find that Malcom had seen that their steamer-chairs were well +placed close together, and that Mrs. Douglas was already tucked in under +her pretty Scotch rug.</p> + +<p>How strange the deck looked now that the host of friends that had +crowded to say good-by were gone! Already many hats and bonnets had been +exchanged for caps, for the wind was fresh, and, altogether, both +passengers and deck struck our party as wearing quite a ship-shape air. +Mrs. Douglas held in her hand a passenger-list, so interesting at just +this time, and was delighted to learn that an old-time travelling +companion was on board.</p> + +<p>"But, poor woman," said she, "she always has to spend the first three or +four days in her berth, so I shall not see her for a time unless I seek +her there. She is a miserable sailor."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" said Bettina, "I had forgotten that there is such a thing as +seasickness. Do you think, Mrs. Douglas, that Barbara and I shall be +seasick? It seems impossible when we feel so well now; and the air is so +fine, and everything so lovely! Are you always seasick, and Malcom, and +Margery?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>"I have never been really sick, save once, when crossing the English +Channel," replied Mrs. Douglas; "neither has Malcom ever given up to it, +though sometimes he has evidently suffered. But poor Margery has been +very sick, and it is difficult for her to exert enough will-power to +quickly overcome it. It requires a prodigious amount to do this if one +is really seasick."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what it feels like," said Barbara. "I think if will-power can +keep one from it, I will not be seasick."</p> + +<p>"Come and walk, girls," called Margery, who, with Malcom, had been +vigorously walking to and fro on the wide deck, while their mother, +Barbara, and Bettina had been talking.</p> + +<p>So they walked until lunch-time, and then enjoyed hugely the novelty of +the first meal on shipboard. After this, the young people went aft to +look down upon the steerage passengers, and forward to the bow of the +noble ship, while Mrs. Douglas took her little nap downstairs.</p> + +<p>But alas! as the steamship took her course further into the open sea, +and the wind grew more and more fresh, the three girls sank into their +chairs, grew silent, and before dinner-time were among the great +suffering company that every ship carries during the first days and +nights of her voyage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a>Chapter II.</h2> + +<h3>Across Two Oceans.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the northwest died away;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i> Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>In the dimmest northeast distance dawned Gibraltar grand and gray</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>... While Jove's planet rises yonder silent over Africa.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 438px;"> +<img src="images/image030.png" width="438" height="300" alt="A BIT OF GENOA" title="" /> +<span class="caption">A BIT OF GENOA</span> +</div> + + +<p>"Betty!" called Barbara.</p> + +<p>"What, dear?" answered a weak voice from the berth below.</p> + +<p>"Do you know how much more quiet the water is? and, Betty, I think Mrs. +Douglas looked really disappointed when she saw us still immovable in +our berths."</p> + +<p>It was the third morning at sea. The fresh wind of the first afternoon +had blown a gale before morning. A storm followed, and for two days the +larger part of the passengers had been absent from saloon and deck.</p> + +<p>Among these were Barbara, Bettina, and Margery. Mrs. Douglas and Malcom +had done their best to keep up the spirits of their little party, but +had found it difficult. Now for the third time they had gone to +breakfast alone.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>Barbara was thinking hard; and, as she thought, her courage rose.</p> + +<p>"Betty," said she again, "perhaps if you and I can get up and dress, it +may help Margery to try, and you know how much her mother wishes her to +do so, she so soon loses strength. And Mrs. Douglas is so good to you +and me! I wonder if we can take the salt-water baths that she thinks +help one so much on the sea. You remember how much pains she took as +soon as we came on board to get all our names on the bath-stewardess's +list for morning baths!"</p> + +<p>"I believe I will try!" added she, after a long silence.</p> + +<p>And when the broad-faced, smiling stewardess came to see if the young +ladies would like anything, Barbara gladdened her heart by saying she +would have her bath.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Betty, Betty dear! you have no idea how nice it is! The ship is +quiet, the port is open in the bath-room, and it is just lovely to +breathe the fresh air. Do try it. I feel like a new girl!"</p> + +<p>Before another hour had passed the girls said good-by to poor Margery +after having greatly encouraged her spirits, and climbed the stairs to +the deck, where they found Malcom just tucking his mother into her chair +after their breakfast and morning walk on the deck. Such a bright smile +<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>as Mrs. Douglas gave them! It more than repaid for all the effort they +had made.</p> + +<p>"You are just bricks!" cried Malcom, with a joyous look. "No more +seasickness! Now we will have jolly times, just so soon as Madge can +come up."</p> + +<p>"Go down and persuade her, Malcom, after you have told the deck-steward +to bring some breakfast for these girls. I will help her dress, and you +can bring her up in your arms if she is too weak to walk."</p> + +<p>Before noon, Margery, looking frail as a crushed white lily, lay on a +chair heaped with cushions and rugs close beside her mother; and the +sweet salt air and sunshine did their best to atone for the misery that +had been inflicted by the turbulent sea.</p> + +<p>Bright, happy days followed, and sunsets and moonlight evenings, and the +girls learned to love sea life. They roamed over every part of the ship. +The good captain always had a smile and welcome for young people, and +told them many things about the management of vessels at sea.</p> + +<p>There was no monotony, but every day seemed full of interest. All the +wonders of the great deep were about them—strange fish, sea porpoise, +and whales, by day, and ever-new phosphorescent gleams and starry +heavens by night. Then the <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>wonderful interest of a sail at sea, or a +distant steamship; some other humanity than that on their own ship +passing them on the limitless ocean!</p> + +<p>On the sixth day out the ship passed between Flores and Corvo, two of +the northernmost islands of the Azores; and, through the glass, they +could easily see the little Portuguese homes—almost the very +people—scattered on the sloping hill-sides.</p> + +<p>After two days more, the long line of the distant shore of Cape St. +Vincent came into view, and Malcom, fresh from his history lesson, +recalled the the fact that nearly a hundred years ago, a great Spanish +fleet had been destroyed by the English under Admiral Nelson a little to +the eastward on these very waters.</p> + +<p>The next morning was a momentous one. In the early sunshine the ship +entered the Bay of Gibraltar and anchored for several hours. Boats took +the passengers to visit the town, and to Barbara and Bettina the supreme +moment of travel in a foreign country had arrived; that in which they +found another land and first touched it with their feet; and entering +the streets found strange people and listened to a foreign tongue.</p> + +<p>They drove through the queer, narrow, crooked streets, out upon the +"neutral ground," and up to <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>the gardens; bought an English newspaper; +then, going back to the ship, looked up at the frowning rock threaded by +those English galleries, which, upon occasion, can pour forth from their +windows such a deadly hail.</p> + +<p>Leaving the harbor, the ship passed slowly along between the "Pillars of +Hercules," for so many centuries the western limit of the Old World, and +entered the blue Mediterranean. And was this low dark line on the right +really Africa, the Dark Continent, which until then had seemed only a +dream—a far-away dream? What a sure reality it would ever be after +this!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas had chosen happily when she decided to land at Genoa +instead of at one of the northern ports; for aside from the fact that +the whole Atlantic passage was calmer than it otherwise could have been, +the beauty and interest of the days on the Mediterranean are almost +without parallel in ocean travel.</p> + +<p>The magnificent snow-capped mountains of the Spanish shore; the rugged +northern coasts of the Balearic Islands; the knowledge that out just +beyond sight lies Corsica, where was born the little island boy, so +proud, ambitious, and unscrupulous as emperor, so sad and disappointed +in his banishment and death; and then the long beautiful Riviera coast, +which the steamships for Genoa <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>really skirt, permitting their +passengers to look into Nice, Bordighera, Monaco, San Remo, etc., and to +realize all the picturesque beauty of their mountain background—all +this gave three enchanting days to our little party before the ship +sailed into the harbor of Genoa, <i>La Superba</i>, a well-merited title.</p> + +<p>The city seemed now like a jewel in green setting, as its softly colored +palaces, rising terrace above terrace, surrounded by rich tropical +foliage, glowed in the rays of the setting sun.</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Douglas was to meet her brother; and she, Malcom, and Margery +were full of eager excitement. It was hard to wait until the little +crowd of people collected on the wharf should separate into distinct +individuals.</p> + +<p>"There he is! there is Uncle Robert! I see him!" cried Malcom. "He is +waving his handkerchief from the top of his cane!"</p> + +<p>While Mrs. Douglas and Margery pressed forward to send some token of +recognition across the rapidly diminishing breadth of waters, Barbara +and Bettina sought with vivid interest the figure and face of one whom +they remembered but slightly, but of whom they had heard much. Robert +Sumner was a name often mentioned in their home for, as a boy, and young +man, he had been particularly dear to Dr. Burnett and had <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>been held up +as a model of all excellence before his own boys.</p> + +<p>Some six years before the time of our story he was to marry a beautiful +girl, who died almost on the eve of what was to have been their +marriage-day. Stunned by the affliction, the young artist bade good-by +to home and friends and went to Italy, feeling that he could bear his +loss only under new conditions; and, ever since, that country had been +his home. He had travelled widely, yet had always returned to Italy. +"Next year I will go back to America," he had often thought; but there +was still a shrinking from the coming into contact with painful +associations. Only his sister and her children were left of the home +circle and it were happier if they would come to him; so he had stayed +on, a voluntary exile.</p> + +<p>Not yet thirty years of age, he looked even younger as with shining eyes +he watched the little group on the deck of the big approaching +steamship. Of the strength of his affections no one could be doubtful +who witnessed his warm, passionate embraces when, after long delay, the +ship and shore were at last bound together.</p> + +<p>"And can these be the little Barbara and Betty who used to sit on my +knees?" he asked in wonder, as Mrs. Douglas drew forward the tall girls +that they might share in his greeting.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>"I thought I knew you, but am afraid we shall have to get acquainted +all over again."</p> + +<p>The following morning when, after breakfast, the young people had been +put into a carriage for a drive all about the city, Mrs. Douglas had a +long conversation with her brother. He told her of the pleasant home in +Florence which he had prepared for her, and some of his plans for the +coming months.</p> + +<p>"But will not the care of so many young people be too much for you, my +sister? Have you counted well the cost of added thought and care which +our dear Doctor's daughters will impose? Tell me about them. Are they as +sterling as their father and mother? I must believe they are neither +giddy nor headstrong, else you would never have undertaken the care of +them. Moreover, their faces contradict any such supposition. They are +beautiful and very attractive; but are just at the age when every power +is on the alert to have its fill of interest and enjoyment. Did you +notice how their eyes sparkled as they took their seats in the carriage +and looked out upon the strange, foreign sights?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Mrs. Douglas. "We must do all we can for them that this +visit to the Old World shall be as truly a means of culture as their +parents desire. You know I wrote you that it is difficult <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>for the +Doctor to afford it, but that he felt so earnestly the good that such an +opportunity must bring his girls that he could not bear to refuse it. As +for me, I love Barbara and Betty dearly and delight to care for them as +for my own. Their influence is wholesome, and our little Margery loves +them as if they were indeed sisters. I have thought much about what is +best for all our young people to do during the coming months in Italy. +Of course everything they see and hear will be an education, but I think +we ought to have some definite plan for certainly a portion of their +time. I have wished to talk to you about it.</p> + +<p>"'Help my daughters to study,' said Dr. Burnett, and his feeling has +given me new thoughts regarding my own children. Now there is one great +field of study into which one can enter in this country as nowhere +else—and this is art. Especially in Florence is the world of Italian +painting opened before us—its beginnings and growth. Ought we not to +put all of them, Barbara, Bettina, Malcom, and Margery into the most +favorable conditions for entering upon the study of this great subject, +which may prove a source of so much enjoyment and culture all their +lives? I well remember my own wonder and pleasure when, years ago, our +dear mother called my attention to it; and how much it has been to <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>both +you and me! You can help me here, Robert, for this is so much a part of +your own life."</p> + +<p>"I will think it all over, sister, and we will see what we can do. As +for me, I am too happy just now in having you and the children with me +to give thought to anything else. So talk to me to-day of nothing but +your own dear selves."</p> + +<p>Two days later our travellers were on their way down the western coast +of Italy, threading tunnels, and snatching brief views of the +Mediterranean on one side and smiling vineyards and quaint Italian +cities on the other.</p> + +<p>"We will not stop at Pisa," said Mr. Sumner, "but will come to visit it +some time later from Florence; but you must watch for a fine view from +the railway of its Cathedral, Leaning Tower, Baptistery, and Campo +Santo. The mountains are withdrawing from us now, and I think we shall +reach it soon."</p> + +<p>"Oh! how like the pictures we have seen!" cried Malcom. "How fine! The +tower does lean just as much as we have thought!"</p> + +<p>"How beautiful it all is,—the blue hills, the green plain, and the soft +yellow of the buildings!" said Bettina.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell us something of it all, Mr. Sumner?" asked Barbara. "I +know there is <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>something wonderful and interesting, but cannot remember +just what."</p> + +<p>"There are many very interesting things about this old city," answered +Mr. Sumner. "First of all, the striking changes through which it has +passed. Once Pisa was on the sea, possessed a fine harbor, and in rich +commerce was a rival of Genoa and Venice. She was a proud, eager, +assertive city; of such worth that she was deemed a rich prize, and was +captured by the Romans a few centuries <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> Now the sea has +left her and, with that, her commerce and importance in the world of +trade. She is to-day so poor that there is nothing to tempt travellers +to come to her save a magnificent climate and this wonderful group of +buildings. The inhabitants are few and humble, her streets are +grass-grown. Everything has stopped in poor old Pisa. Here Galileo was +born, and lived for years; and in the Cathedral is a great swinging lamp +which is said to have first suggested to his mind the motion of the +pendulum, and from the top of the Leaning Tower he used to study the +planets. The Tower is the Campanile, or Bell Tower, of the Cathedral. +With regard to its position, there are different opinions. Some writers +think it only an accident,—that the foundation of one side gave way +during the building, thus producing the effect <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>we see. Others think it +was purposely so built, planned by some architect who desired to gain a +unique effect and so prove his mastery over the subtleties of building. +I confess that since I have seen the leaning towers of Bologna, which +were erected about the same time, I am inclined to agree with the latter +view."</p> + +<p>"I should think, uncle," said Malcom, "that if such defective +foundations had been laid, there would have been further trouble, and +the poor Tower would have fallen long ago."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mr. Sumner, "it does not seem very reasonable to believe +that they would have given way just enough to make the Tower lean as it +does now, and that then it should remain stationary for so many +centuries afterward. The Baptistery, or place for baptism, was formerly +built in Italy separate from the Cathedral, as was the Campanile, just +as we see them here. In northern countries and in more modern Italian +cathedrals, we find all united in one building. The most interesting +thing in this Baptistery is a magnificent marble pulpit covered with +sculptures designed by Nicholas Pisano. To see it alone is worth a visit +to Pisa. The long, low building that you saw beyond the other buildings +is the Campo Santo, a name given to burial <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>places in Italy, which, as +you know, is a Latin term, and means 'holy ground.'"</p> + +<p>"I think it is a beautiful name," said Bettina.</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is a solemn rhythm about the words that pleases the ear +rather more than does our word 'cemetery,'" said Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"But there is something especially interesting about this Campo Santo, +isn't there?" queried Barbara, and added: "I do hope I shall remember +all such things after I have really seen the places!"</p> + +<p>"You surely will, my dear," said Mrs. Douglas; "ever afterward they will +be realities to you, not mere stories."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner resumed: "The Campo Santo of Pisa is the first one that was +laid out in Italy, and it is still by far the most beautiful. It +possesses the dimensions of Noah's Ark, and is literally holy ground, +for it was filled with fifty-three shiploads of earth brought from Mount +Calvary, so that the dead of Pisa repose in sacred ground. The inner +sides of its walls were decorated with noble paintings, many of which +are now completely faded. We will come to see those which remain some +day."</p> + +<p>"How strange it all is!" said Bettina. "How different from anything we +see at home! Think of ships sent to the Holy Land for earth from<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a> Mount +Calvary, and their coming back over the Mediterranean laden with such a +cargo!"</p> + +<p>"Only a superstitious, imaginative people, such as the Italians are, +would have done such a thing," said Mrs. Douglas; "and only in the +mediæval age of the world."</p> + +<p>"But," she went on with a bright smile, "it is the same spirit that has +reared such exquisite buildings for the worship of God and filled them +with rare, sacred marbles and paintings that are beyond price to the +world of art. I always feel when I come hither and see the present +poverty of the beautiful land that the whole world is its debtor, and +can never repay what it owes."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a>Chapter III.</h2> + +<h3>In Beautiful Florence.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>For to the highest she did still aspyre;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Or, if ought higher were then that, did it desyre.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Spenser.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 447px;"> +<img src="images/image046.png" width="447" height="305" alt="CHURCH OF THE ANNUNZIATA, FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CHURCH OF THE ANNUNZIATA, FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>One afternoon, about two weeks later, Barbara and Bettina were sitting +in their pleasant room in Florence. The wide-open windows looked out +upon the slopes of that lovely hill on whose summit is perched Fiesole, +the poor little old mother of Florence, who still holds watch over her +beautiful daughter stretched at her feet. Scented airs which had swept +all the way from distant blue hills over countless orange, olive, and +mulberry groves filled the room, and fluttered the paper upon which the +girls were writing; it was their weekly letter budget.</p> + +<p>The fair faces were flushed as they bent over the crowded sheets so soon +to be scanned by dear eyes at home. How much there was to tell of the +events of the past week! Drives through the streets of the famous city; +through the lovely<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a> Cascine; up to San Miniato and Fiesole; visits to +churches, palaces, and picture-galleries; days filled to overflowing +with the new life among foreign scenes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Barbara, throwing aside her pen, exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"Betty dear, don't you sometimes feel most horribly ignorant?"</p> + +<p>"Why? when?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I am just writing about our visit to Santa Croce the other day. I +enjoyed so much the fine spaces within the church, the softened light, +and some of the monuments. But when we came to those chapels whose walls +are covered with paintings,—you remember, where we met that Mr. Sherman +and his daughters who came over on the <i>Kaiser</i> with us,—I tried to +understand why they were so interested there. They were studying the +paintings for such a long time, and I heard some of the things they were +saying about them. They thought them perfectly wonderful; and that Miss +Sherman who has such lovely eyes said she thought it worth coming from +America to Italy just to see them and other works by the same artist. +Mr. Sumner, too, heard what she said, and gave her such a pleased, +admiring look. After they had gone out from the chapel where are +pictures representing scenes in the life of St. Francis, I went <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>in and +looked and looked at them; but, try as hard as I could, I could not be +one bit interested. The pictures are so queer, the figures so stiff, I +could not see a beautiful or interesting thing about them. But I know I +am all wrong. I do want to see what they saw, and to feel as they felt!"</p> + +<p>"I liked the pictures because of their subject," said Bettina; "that +dear St. Francis of Assisi who loved the birds and flowers, and talked +to them as if they could understand him. But I did not see any beauty in +them."</p> + +<p>"We must learn what it is; we must do more than just look at all these +early pictures that fill the churches and galleries just as we would +look at wall paper, as so many people seemed to do in the Uffizi gallery +the other day," said Barbara, emphatically. "This must be one of the +things papa meant."</p> + +<p>Just here came a knock on the door.</p> + +<p>"May we come in, Margery and I?" asked Malcom. "Why! what is the matter? +You look as if you had been talking of something unpleasant."</p> + +<p>Bettina told of Barbara's trouble.</p> + +<p>"How strange!" said Margery. "Mamma has just been talking to us about +this very thing. She says that, if you like, Uncle Robert will teach us +about the works of the Italian painters. You <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>know he knows <i>everything</i> +about them! He has even written a book about these paintings in +Florence!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Malcom with a comical shrug, "the idea is that we all spend +one or two mornings every week studying stiff old Madonnas and +Magdalenes and saints! I love noble and beautiful paintings as well as +any one, but I wonder if I can ever learn anything that will make me +care to look twice at some of those old things in the long entrance +gallery of the Uffizi. I doubt it. Give me the old palaces where the +Medici lived, and let me study up what they did. Or even Dante, or +Michael Angelo! <i>He</i> was an artist who is worth studying about. Why! do +you know, he built the fortifications of San Miniato and—"</p> + +<p>"But," interrupted Barbara, "you know that whenever Italy is written or +talked about, her <i>art</i> seems to be the very most important thing. I was +reading only the other day an article in which the writer said that +undoubtedly the chief mission or gift of Italy to the world is her +paintings,—her old paintings,—and that this mission is all fulfilled. +Now, if this be true, do we wish to come here and go away without +learning all that we possibly can of them? I think that would be +foolish."</p> + +<p>"And," added Bettina, "I think one of the most interesting studies in +the world is about these same <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>old saints whom you dislike so much, +Malcom. They were heroes; and I think some of them were a great deal +grander than those mythological characters you so dote upon. If your +uncle will only be so good as to talk to us of the pictures! Let us go +at once and thank him. Now, Malcom, you will be enthusiastic about it, +will you not? There will be so much time for all the other things."</p> + +<p>Bettina put her arm affectionately about Margery, and smiled into +Malcom's face, as they all went to seek Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"Here come the victims, Uncle Rob! three willing ones,—Barbara, who is +ever sighing for new worlds to conquer; Betty, who already dotes upon +St. Sebastian stuck full of arrows and St. Lucia carrying her eyes on a +platter; Madge, who would go to the rack if only you led the way,—and +poor rebellious, inartistic I."</p> + +<p>"But, my boy—" began Mrs. Douglas.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I will do it all if only the girls will climb the Campanile and +Galileo's Tower with me and it does not interfere with our drives and +walks. If this is to become an æsthetic crowd, I don't wish to be left +out," laughed Malcom.</p> + +<p>A morning was decided upon for the first lesson.</p> + +<p>"We will begin at the beginning," said Mr. Sumner; "one vital mistake +often made is in not starting far enough back. In order to realize in +<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>the slightest degree the true work of these old masters, one must know +in what condition the art was before their time; or rather, that there +was no art. So we will first go to the Accademia delle Belle Arti, or +Academy, as we will call it, and from there to the church, Santa Maria +Novella. And one thing more,—you are welcome to go to my library and +learn all you can from the books there. I am sure I do not need to tell +those who have studied so much as you already have that the knowledge +you shall gain from coming into contact with any new thing must be in a +great degree measured by that which you take to it."</p> + +<p>"How good you are to give us so much of your time, Mr. Sumner," said +Barbara, with sparkling eyes. "How can we ever repay you?"</p> + +<p>"By learning to love this subject somewhat as I love it," replied Mr. +Sumner; but he thought as he felt the magnetism of her young enthusiasm +that he might gain something of compensation which it was impossible to +put into words.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Are you not going with us, dear Mrs. Douglas?" asked Bettina, as the +little party were preparing to set forth on the appointed morning.</p> + +<p>"Not to-day, dear, for I have another engagement"</p> + +<p>"I think I know what mamma is going to do,"<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a> said Margery as they left +the house. "I heard the housemaid, Anita, telling her last evening about +the illness of her little brother, and saying that her mother is so poor +that she cannot get for the child what he needs. I think mamma is going +to see them this morning."</p> + +<p>"Just like that blessed mother of ours!" exclaimed Malcom. "There is +never anybody in want near her about whom she is not sure to find out +and to help! It will be just the same here as at home; Italians or +Americans—all are alike to her. She will give up anything for herself +in order to do for them."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you know her so well," said his uncle, with a smile. "There +is no danger that you can ever admire your mother too much."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Barbara, as after a little walk they entered a square +surrounded by massive buildings, with arcades, all white with the +sunshine. "Look at that building! It is decorated with those dear little +babies, all swathed, whose photographs we have so often seen in the +Boston art stores. What is it? Where are we?"</p> + +<p>"In the Piazza dell' Annunziata," replied Mr. Sumner, "and an +interesting place it is. That building is the Foundling Hospital, a very +ancient and famous institution. And the 'swathed babies' are the work of +Andrea della Robbia."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>"Poor little innocents! How tired they must be, wrapped up like mummies +and stuck on the wall like specimen butterflies!" whispered Malcom in an +aside to Bettina.</p> + +<p>"Hush! hush!" laughed she. "Your uncle will hear you."</p> + +<p>"This beautiful church just here on our right," continued Mr. Sumner, +"is the church of the S.S. Annunziata or the most Holy Annunciation. It +was founded in the middle of the thirteenth century by seven noble +Florentines, who used to meet daily to sing <i>Ave Maria</i> in a chapel +situated where the Campanile of the Cathedral now stands. It has been +somewhat modernized and is now the most fashionable church in Florence. +It contains some very interesting paintings, which we will visit by and +by."</p> + +<p>"Every step we take in this beautiful city is full of interest, and how +different from anything we can find at home!" exclaimed Bettina. "Look +at the color of these buildings, and their exquisite arches! See the +soft painting over the door of the church, and the sculptured bits +everywhere! I begin, just a little, to see why Florence is called the +<i>art city</i>."</p> + +<p>"But only a little, yet," said Mr. Sumner, with a pleased look. "You are +just on the threshold of the knowledge of this fair city. Not what she +<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>outwardly is, but what she contains, and what her children have +wrought, constitute her wealth of art. Do you remember, Margery, what +name the poet Shelley gives Florence in that beautiful poem you were +reading yesterday?"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O <i>Foster-nurse</i> of man's abandoned glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since Athens, its great mother, sunk in splendor,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>dreamily recited Margery, her sweet face flushing as all eyes looked at +her.</p> + +<p>"Yes," smiled her uncle. "Florence, as <i>foster-nurse</i>, has cherished for +the world the art-treasures of early centuries in Italy, so that there +is no other city on earth in which we can learn so much of the 'revival +of art,' as it is called, which took place after the barrenness of the +Dark Ages, as in this. But here we are at the Academy. I shall not allow +you to look at much here this morning. We will go and sit in the farther +corner of this first corridor, for I wish to talk a little, and just +here we shall find all that I need for illustration."</p> + +<p>"You need not put on such a martyr-look, Malcom," continued he, as they +walked on. "I prophesy that not one here present will feel more solid +interest in the work we are beginning than you will, my boy."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>When Mr. Sumner had gathered the little group about him, he began to +talk of the beauties of Greek art—how it had flourished for centuries +before Christ.</p> + +<p>"But I thought Greek art consisted of sculptures," said Barbara.</p> + +<p>"Much of it was sculptured,—all of it which remains,—but we have +evidence that the Greeks also produced beautiful paintings, which, could +they have been preserved, might be not unworthy rivals of modern +masterpieces," replied Mr. Sumner. "After the Roman invasion of Greece, +these ancient works of art were mostly destroyed. Rome possessed no fine +art of her own, but imported Greek artists to produce for her. These, +taken away from their native land, and having no noble works around them +for inspiration, began simply to copy each other, and so the art +degenerated from century to century. The growing Christian religion, +which forbade the picturing of any living beauty, gave the death-blow to +such excellence as remained. A style of painting followed which received +the name of Greek Byzantine. In it was no study of life; all was most +strikingly conventional, and it grew steadily worse and worse. A +comparison of the paintings and mosaics of the sixth, seventh, eighth, +and ninth centuries shows the rapid decline of all art <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>qualities. +Finally every figure produced was a most arrant libel on nature. It was +always painted against a flat gold background; the limbs were wholly +devoid of action; the feet and hands hung helplessly; and the eyes were +round and staring. The flesh tints were a dull brick red, and all else a +dreary brown."</p> + +<p>"Come here," said he, rising, "and see an example of this Greek +Byzantine art,—this <i>Magdalen</i>. Study it well."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh, how dreadful!" chorussed the voices of all.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Rob, do you mean to say there was no painting in the world better +than this in the ninth—or thereabouts—century?" asked Malcom, with +wondering eyes.</p> + +<p>"I mean to say just that, Malcom. But I must tell you something more +about this same Greek Byzantine painting, for there is a school of it +to-day. Should you go to Southern Italy or to Russia, you would find +many booths for trading, in the back of which you would see a Madonna, +or some saint, painted in just this style. These pictures have gained a +superstitious value among the lower classes of the people, and are +believed to possess a miraculous power. In Mt. Athos, Greece, is a +school that still produces them. Doubtless this has grown out of the +fact that <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>several of these old paintings, notably Madonnas, are +treasured in the churches, and the people are taught that miracles have +been wrought by them. In the Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, is an example +(the people are told that it was painted by St. Luke), and during the +plague in Rome, and also during a great fire which was most disastrous, +this painting was borne through the city by priests in holy procession, +and the tradition is that both plague and fire were stayed."</p> + +<p>"What a painfully ridiculous figure!" exclaimed Barbara, who had been +silently absorbed in study. "It is painful because every line looks as +if the artist had done his very best, and that is so utterly bad. It +means absolutely nothing."</p> + +<p>"You have fathomed the woful secret," replied Mr. Sumner. "It shows no +evidence of the slightest thought. Only a man's <i>fingers</i> produced this. +All power of originality had become lost; all desire for it was +unknown."</p> + +<p>"Then, how did things ever get better?" asked Malcom.</p> + +<p>"An interesting question. I wish you all would read some before I tell +you any more. Find something, please, that treats of the beginnings of +Christian art in the Catacombs of Rome. Read about the manuscript +illuminations produced by <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>monks of the tenth and eleventh centuries, +which are to be found in some great libraries. In these we find the best +art of that time,"</p> + +<p><a name="BYZANTINE" id="BYZANTINE"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image058.jpg" width="350" height="776" alt="ACADEMY, FLORENCE. + +BYZANTINE MAGDALEN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ACADEMY, FLORENCE. + +BYZANTINE MAGDALEN.</span> +</div> + +<p>"If you find anything about Cimabue and Giotto," he added, "you would +better read that also, for the work of these old painters will be the +subject of our next lesson. For it, we will go to the church Santa Maria +Novella."</p> + +<p>"And Santa Croce?" asked Barbara, more timidly than was her wont.</p> + +<p>"And Santa Croce too," smilingly added Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"And now, Malcom, if you can find a wide carriage, we all will drive for +an hour before going home."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a>Chapter IV.</h2> + +<h3>A New Friend Appears.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6"><i>The first sound in the song of love</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Scarce more than silence is, and yet a sound.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of that mysterious instrument, the soul,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And play the prelude of our fate.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Longfellow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 455px;"> +<img src="images/image064.png" width="455" height="300" alt="DUOMO AND CAMPANILE. FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">DUOMO AND CAMPANILE. FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>One day Malcom met an old fellow-student. Coming home, he told his +mother of him, and asked permission to bring him for introduction.</p> + +<p>"His name is Howard Sinclair. I did not know him very well in the +school, for he was some way ahead of me. He is now in Harvard College. +But his lungs are very weak; and last winter the doctors sent him to +Egypt, and told him he must stay for at least two years in the warmer +countries. He is lonely and pretty blue, I judge; was glad enough to see +me."</p> + +<p>"Poor boy! Yes, bring him here, and I will talk with him. Perhaps we can +make it more pleasant for him. You are sure his character is beyond +question, Malcom?"</p> + +<p>"I think so. He has lots of money, and is inclined <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>to spend it freely, +but I know he was called a pretty fine fellow in the school, though not +very well known by many. He is rather 'toney,' you know,—held his head +too high for common fellows. The teachers especially liked him; for he +is awfully bright, and took honors right along."</p> + +<p>The next day Malcom brought his friend to his mother, whose heart he won +at once by his evident delicate health, his gentlemanly manners, and, +perhaps most of all, because he had been an orphan for years, and was so +much alone in the world. She decided to welcome him to her home, and to +give him the companionship of her young people.</p> + +<p>Howard Sinclair was a young man of brilliant intellectual promise. He +had inherited most keen sensibilities, an almost morbid delicacy of +thought, a variable disposition, and a frail body. Both father and +mother died before he was ten years of age, leaving a large fortune for +him, their only child; and, since then, his home had been with an aged +grandmother. Without any young companions in the home, and lacking +desire for activity, he had given himself up to an almost wholly +sedentary life. The body, so delicate by nature, had always been made +secondary to the alert mind. His luxurious tastes could all be +<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>gratified, and thus far he had lived like some conservatory plant.</p> + +<p>The very darling of his grandmother's heart, it was like death to her to +part from him when the physicians decided that to save his life it was +an imperative necessity that he should live for a a time in a warmer +climate. It was an utter impossibility for her to accompany him. He +shrank from any other companion, therefore had set forth with only his +faithful John, who had been an old servant in the family before he was +born, as valet. He went first to Egypt, where he had remained as long as +the heat would permit, then had gone northwest to the Italian lakes and +Switzerland, whence he had now come to spend a time in Florence.</p> + +<p>Lonely, homesick, and disheartened, it was indeed like a "gift of the +gods" to him when one day, as he was leaving his banker's on Via +Tornabuoni he met the familiar face of Malcom Douglas. And when he was +welcomed to his old schoolmate's home and family circle, the weary young +man felt for the first time in many months the sensation of rest and +peace.</p> + +<p>His evident lack of physical strength, and the quickly coming and going +color in his cheeks, told Mrs. Douglas that he could never know perfect +health; but he said that the change of country <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>and climate had already +done him much good, and this encouraged him to think of staying from +home a year or two in the hope that then all danger of active disease +might have passed.</p> + +<p>He so evidently longed for companionship that Malcom and the girls told +him of their life,—of their Italian lessons,—their reading,—Mr. +Sumner's talks about Italian painting,—Malcom's private college studies +(which he had promised his mother to pursue if she would give him this +year abroad), and all that which was filling their days. He was +especially interested in their lessons on the Italian masters of +painting, and asked if they would permit him to join them.</p> + +<p>"If you will only come to me when you have any trouble with your Greek +and Latin, Malcom," he said, "perhaps I can repay you in the slightest +degree for the wonderful pleasure this would give me."</p> + +<p>So as Mr. Sumner was willing, his little class received the addition of +Howard Sinclair.</p> + +<p>"Why so sober, Malcom?" asked his mother, as she found him alone by +himself. "Is not the arrangement that your friend join you agreeable?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, mother, he is a nice fellow, though a sort of a prig, and I +wish to do all we can for him; only—I do hope he will not monopolize +Betty <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>and Barbara always, as he has seemed to do this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"My boy, beware of that little green imp we read of," laughed Mrs. +Douglas. "You have been too thoroughly 'monarch of all' thus far. Can +you not share your realm with this homesick young man?"</p> + +<p>"But he has always had all for himself, mother. He does not know what it +is to share."</p> + +<p>"Malcom! be yourself."</p> + +<p>The mother's eyes looked straight up into those of her tall boy, and her +hand sought his with a firm, warm pressure that made him fling back his +noble young head with an emphatic "I am ashamed of myself! Thank you, +mother dear."</p> + +<p>That evening, as all were sitting on the balcony watching the soft, rosy +afterglow that was creeping over the hills and turning to glowing points +the domes and spires of the fair city, Mr. Sumner said:—</p> + +<p>"If you are willing, I would like to talk with you a little before we +make our visits to Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce to-morrow. You +will understand better the old pictures we shall see there if we +consider beforehand what we ought to look for in any picture or other +work of art. Too many go to them as to some sort of recreation,—simply +for amusement,—simply to gratify their <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>love for beautiful color and +form, and so, to these, the most beautiful picture is always the best. +But this is a low estimate of the great art of painting, for it is +simply one of man's means of expression, just as music or poetry is. The +artist learns to compose his pictures, to draw his forms, to lay on his +colors, just as the poet learns the meanings of words, rhetorical +figures, and the laws of harmony and rhythm, or the musician his notes +and scales and harmonies of sound."</p> + +<p>"I see this is a new thought to you," continued he, after a moment spent +in studying the faces about him. "Let us follow it. What is the use of +this preparation of study in art, poetry, or music? Is it solely for the +perfection of itself? We often hear nowadays the expression, 'art for +art's sake,' and by some it is accounted a grand thought and a noble +rallying-cry for artists. And so it truly is if the very broadest and +highest possible meaning is given to the word 'art.' If it means the +embodying of some noble, beautiful, soul-moving thought in a form that +can be seen and understood, and means nothing less than this, then it is +indeed a worthy motto. But to too many, I fear, it means only the +painting of beauty for beauty's sake. That is, the thought embodied, the +message to some soul, which every picture ought to contain, and which +every noble picture <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>that is worthy to live <i>must</i> contain, becomes of +little or no value compared with the play of color and light and form.</p> + +<p>"Let me explain further," he went on, even more earnestly. "Imagine that +we are looking at a picture, and we admire exceedingly the perfection of +drawing its author has displayed,—the wonderful breadth of +composition,—the harmony of color-masses. The moment is full of keen +enjoyment for us; but the vital thing, after all, is, what impression +shall we take away with us. Has the picture borne us any message? Has it +been either an interpretation or a revelation of something? Shall we +remember it?"</p> + +<p>"But is not simple beauty sometimes a revelation, Mr. Sumner?" asked +Barbara,—"as in a landscape, or seascape, or the painting of a child's +face?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, if the artist has shown by his work that this beauty has +stirred depths of feeling in himself, and his effort has been to reveal +what he has felt to others. If you seek to find this in pictures you +will soon learn to distinguish between those (too many of which are +painted to-day) whose only excellence lies in trick of handling or +cunning disposition of color-masses,—because these things are all of +which the artist has thought,—and those that have grown out of the +highest <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>art-desire, which is to bear some message of the restfulness, +the power, the beauty, or the innocence of nature to the hearts of other +men.</p> + +<p>"And there is one thing more that we must not forget. There may be +pictures with bad <i>motifs</i> as well as good ones—weak and simple ones, +as well as strong and holy ones—and yet they may be full of all +artistic qualities of representation. What is true with regard to +literature is true in respect to art. It is, after all, the <i>message</i> +that determines the degree of nobility.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Art was given for that. God uses us to help each other so,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lending our minds out.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>wrote Mr. Browning, and we should always endeavor to find out whether +the artist has loaned his mind or merely his fingers and his knowledge +of the use of his materials. If we find thought in his picture, we +should then ask to what service he has put it.</p> + +<p>"If a poem consist only of words and rhythms, how long do you think it +ought to live? And if a picture possess merely forms and colors, however +beautiful they may be, it deserves no more fame. And how much worse if +there be meaning, and it be base and unworthy!"</p> + +<p>"Does he not put it well?" whispered Malcom to Bettina from his usual +seat between her <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>and Margery. "I feel as if he were pouring new +thoughts into me."</p> + +<p>"Now, the one thing I desire to impress upon you to-night," continued +Mr. Sumner, "is that these old masters of painting who lived in the +thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries had messages to give +their fellow-men. Their great endeavor was to interpret God's word to +them,—you know that in those days and in this land there was no Bible +open to the common people,—and what we must chiefly look for in their +pictures is to see whether or not they told the message as well as the +limitation of their art-language permitted.</p> + +<p>"At first, no laws of perspective were known. None knew how to draw +anything correctly. No color-harmonies had been thought of. These men +must needs stammer when they tried to express themselves; but as much +greater as thought is than the mere expression of it so much greater are +many of their works, in the true sense, than the mass of pictures that +make up our exhibitions of the present day.</p> + +<p>"Then, also, it is a source of the deepest interest to one who loves +this art to watch its growth in means of expression—its steady +development—until, finally, we find the noblest thoughts expressed in +perfect forms and coloring.<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a> This we can do here in Florence as nowhere +else, for the Florentine school of painting was the first of importance +in Italy.</p> + +<p>"So," he concluded, "do not look for beauty in these pictures which we +are first to study; instead of it, you will find much ugliness. But +strive to put yourselves into the place of the old artists, to feel as +they felt. See what impelled them to paint. Recognize the feebleness of +their means of expression. Watch for indications in history of the +effect of their pictures upon the people. Strive to find originality in +them, if it be there, for this quality gives a man's work a certain +positive greatness wherever we find it; and so learn to become worthy +judges of that which you study. Soon, like me, you will look with pity +on those who can see nothing worthy of a second glance in these +treasures of the past.</p> + +<p>"There! I have preached you a sermon, I am afraid. Are you tired?" and +his bright glance searched the faces about him.</p> + +<p>Their expression would have been satisfactory without the eager +protestations that answered his question.</p> + +<p>When, a little later, Barbara and Bettina, each seated before her dainty +toilet-table, were brushing their hair, they, as usual, chatted about +the events of the day. Never had there been so <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>much to talk over and so +little time to do it in as during these crowded weeks, when pleasure and +study were hand in hand. For though they read and studied, yet there +were drives, and receptions in artists' studios, and, because of Robert +Sumner's long residence in Florence, they had even begun to receive +invitations to small and select parties, where they met charming people.</p> + +<p>This very morning they had driven with Mrs. Douglas through some of the +oldest parts of Florence. They were reading together George Eliot's +"Romola," and were connecting all its events with this city in which the +scenes are laid. Read in this way, it seemed like a new book to them, +and possessed an air of reality that awakened their enthusiasm as +nothing else could have done. And then in the afternoon had been the +meeting with the new friend; tea in the little garden behind the house; +and the evening on the balcony.</p> + +<p>Naturally their conversation soon turned to Howard Sinclair.</p> + +<p>"What a strange life for one so young!" said Bettina. "Malcom says there +is no limit to his wealth. He lives in the winter in one of those +grandest houses on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and has summer houses +in two or three places. And yet how poor in many ways!" she <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>continued +after a little pause—"so much poorer than we! No father and mother,—no +brothers and sisters,—and forced to leave his home because he is so +ill! Poor fellow! How do you like him, Bab? He seemed to admire you +sufficiently, for he hardly took his eyes from you."</p> + +<p>"Like him?" slowly returned Barbara. "To tell the truth, Betty, I hardly +know. Somehow I feel strangely about him. I like him well enough so far, +but I believe I am a bit afraid, and whether it is of him or not, I +cannot tell. Somehow I feel as if things are going to be different from +what they have been, and—I don't know—I believe I almost wish Malcom +had not known him."</p> + +<p>"Why, Bab dear! what do you mean? Don't be nervous; that is not like +you. Nothing could happen to make us unhappy while we are with these +dear people,—nothing, that is, if our dear ones at home are well. I +wish he had not stared at you so much with those great eyes, if it makes +you feel uncomfortable, but how he could have helped admiring you, +sister mine, is more than I know,—for you were lovely beyond everything +this afternoon;" and Betty impulsively sprang up to give her sister a +hug and a kiss.</p> + +<p>"To change the subject," she added, "how did you like Mr. Sumner's talk +this evening?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>"Oh! more than words can tell! Betty, I believe, next to our own dear +papa, he is the grandest man alive. I always feel when he talks as if +nothing were too difficult to attempt; as if nothing were too beautiful +to believe. And he is so young too, in feeling; so wise and yet so full +of sympathy with all our young nonsense. He is simply perfect." And she +drew a long breath.</p> + +<p>"I think so too; and he practises what he preaches in his own painting. +For don't you remember those pictures we saw in his studio the other +day? How he has painted those Egyptian scenes! A perfect tremor ran over +me as I felt the terrible, solemn loneliness of that one camel and his +rider in the limitless stretch of desert. I felt quite as he must have +felt, I am sure; and the desert will always seem a different thing to me +because I looked at that picture. And then that sweet, strong, +overcoming woman's face! How much she had lived through! What a lesson +of triumph over all weakness and sorrow it teaches! I am so thankful +every minute that dear Mrs. Douglas asked us to come with her, that our +darling papa and mamma allowed us to come, and that everything is so +pleasant in this dear, delightful Florence."</p> + +<p>And Bettina fell asleep almost the minute her <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>head rested on her +pillow, with a happy smile curving her beautiful lips.</p> + +<p>But Barbara tossed long on the little white bed in the opposite corner +of the room. It was difficult to go to sleep, so many thoughts crowded +upon her. Finally she resolutely set herself to recall Mr. Sumner's +words of the evening. Then, as she remembered the little lingering of +his eyes upon her own as he bade his group of listeners good night, the +glad thought came, "He knows I am trying to learn, and that I appreciate +all he is doing for me," and so her last thought was not for the new +friend the day had brought, but for Robert Sumner.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a>Chapter V.</h2> + +<h3>Straws Show which Way the Wind Blows.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Give these, I exhort you, their guerdon and glory</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>For daring so much before they well did it</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 476px;"> +<img src="images/image080.png" width="476" height="303" alt="SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>It was a charming morning in early November when Mr. Sumner and his +little company of students of Florentine art gathered before the broad +steps which lead up to the entrance of Santa Maria Novella. The Italian +sky, less soft than in midsummer, gleamed brightly blue. The square +tower of the old Fiesole Cathedral had been sharply defined as they +turned to look at it when leaving their home; and Giotto's Campanile, of +which they had caught a glimpse on their way hither, shone like a white +lily in the morning sunlight. The sweet, invigorating air, the bustle of +the busy streets, the happiness of youth and pleasant expectancy caused +all hearts to beat high, and it was a group of eager faces that turned +toward the grand old church whose marble sides show the discoloration of +centuries.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>At Mr. Sumner's invitation all sat on the steps in a sunny corner while +he talked of Cimabue,—the first great name in the history of Italian +painting,—the man who was great enough to dare attempt to change +conditions that existed in his time, which was the latter part of the +thirteenth century. He told them how, though a nobleman possessing +wealth and honor, he had loved painting and had given his life to it; +and how, having been a man arrogant of all criticism, he was fitted to +be a pioneer; to break from old traditions, and to infuse life into the +dead Byzantine art.</p> + +<p>He told them how the people, ever quick to feel any change, were +delighted to recognize, in a picture, life, movement, and expression, +however slight. How, one day six hundred years ago, a gay procession, +with banners and songs, bore a large painting, the <i>Madonna and Child</i>, +from the artist's studio, quite a distance away, through the streets and +up to the steps on which they were sitting; and how priests chanting +hymns and bearing church banners came out to receive the picture.</p> + +<p>"And through all these centuries it has here remained," he continued. +"It is, of course, scarred by time and dark with the smoke of incense. +When you look upon it I wish you would remember what<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a> I told you the +other evening about that for which we should look in a picture. Be +sympathetic. Put yourself in old Cimabue's place and in that of the +people who had known only such figures in painting as the <i>Magdalen</i> you +saw last week in the Academy. Then, though these figures are so stiff +and almost lifeless, though the picture is Byzantine in character, you +will see beyond all this a faint expression in the Madonna's face, a +little life and action in the Christ-child, who holds up his tiny hand +in blessing.</p> + +<p>"If you do not look for this you may miss it,—miss all that which gives +worth to Cimabue and his art. As thoughtful a mind as that of our own +Hawthorne saw only the false in it, and missed the attempt for truth; +and so said he only wished 'another procession would come and take the +picture from the church, and reverently burn it.' Ah, Malcom, I see your +eyes found that in your reading, and you thought in what good company +you might be."</p> + +<p>"What kind of painting is it?" queried Barbara, as a few minutes later +they stood in the little chapel, and looked up at Cimabue's quaint +<i>Madonna and Child</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is called <i>tempera</i>, and is laid upon wood. In this process the +paints are mixed with some glutinous substance, such as the albumen of +eggs, glue, <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>etc., which causes them to adhere to the surface on which +they are placed."</p> + +<p>"What do you think was the cause of Cimabue's taking such an advance +step, Mr. Sumner?" asked Howard Sinclair, after a pause, during which +all studied the picture.</p> + +<p>"It must have been a something caught from the spirit of the time. A +stir, an awakening, was taking place in Italy. Dante and Petrarch were +in a few years to think and write. The time had come for a new art."</p> + +<p>"I do see the difference between this and those Academy pictures," said +Bettina, "even though it is so queer, and painted in such colors."</p> + +<p>"And I," "And I," quickly added Barbara and Margery.</p> + +<p>"I think those angels' faces are interesting," continued Barbara. "They +are not all just alike, but look as if each had some thought of his own. +They seem proud of their burden as they hold up the Madonna and Child."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense, Barbara! you are putting too much imagination in there," +exclaimed Malcom. "I think old Cimabue did do something, but it is an +awfully bad picture, after all. There is one thing, though; it is not so +flat as that Academy <i>Magdalen</i>. The child's head seems round, and I do +think his face has a bit of expression."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>So they looked and chatted on, and took little note of coming and going +tourists, who glanced with curiosity from them to the old dark picture +above, and then back to the fresh, eager, beautiful faces,—the greater +part ever finding in the latter the keener attraction.</p> + +<p>"I always have one thought when I look at this," finally said Mr. +Sumner, "that perhaps will be interesting to you, and linger in your +minds. This <i>Madonna and Child</i> seems to form a link and also to mark a +division between all those which went before it in Christian art and all +those that have followed. It is the last Byzantine Madonna and is the +first of the long, noble list which has come from the hands of artists +who have lived since the thirteenth century.</p> + +<p>"We will not stay here longer now, for I know you will come again more +than once to study it. There is much valuable historic art in this +church which you will understand better when you have learned more. +Yonder in the Strozzi Chapel is some of the very best work of an old +painter called Orcagna, while here in the choir are notable frescoes by +Ghirlandajo; but now I shall take you down these steps between the two +into the cloister and there we will talk of Giotto. I know how busy you +have been reading about this wonderful old master, for I could not help +hearing snatches of <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>your talk about him all through the past week. His +figure looms up most important of all among the early painters of +Florence. You know how Cimabue, clad in his scarlet robe and hood, +insignia of nobility, riding out one day to a little town lying on one +of yonder blue hills, found a little, dark-faced shepherd-boy watching +his father's sheep, and amusing himself by drawing a picture of one, +with only a sharp stone for a pencil. Interested in the boy, he took +pains to visit his father and gain his permission to take him as a pupil +to Florence. So Giotto came to begin his art-life. What are you thinking +of, little Margery?"</p> + +<p>"Only a bit of Dante's writing which I read with mother the other day," +said she, blushing. "I was thinking how little Cimabue then thought that +this poor, ignorant shepherd-boy would ever cause these lines to be +written:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Cimabue thought to lord it over painting's field:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now the cry is <i>Giotto</i>, and his name's eclipsed."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Yes, indeed! Giotto did eclipse his master's fame, for he went so much +farther,—but only in the same path, however; so we must not take from +Cimabue any of the honor that is due him. But for Giotto the old +Byzantine method of painting on all gold backgrounds was abolished. This +boy, though born of peasants, was not only gifted with <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>keen powers of +observation of nature and mankind and a devotion to the representation +of things truly as they are, but, beyond and above all this, with one +other quality that made his work of incalculable worth to the people +among whom he painted. This was a delicate appreciation of the true +relations between earthly and spiritual things.</p> + +<p>"Before him, as we have seen, all art was most unnatural and +monastic,—utterly destitute of sympathy with the feelings of the common +people. Giotto changed all this. He made the Christ-child a loving baby; +the Madonna a loving mother into whose joy and suffering all mothers' +hearts could enter; angels were servants of men; miracles were wrought +by God because He loved and desired to help men; the pictured men and +women were like themselves because they smiled and grieved and acted +even as they did. All this change Giotto made in the spirit of pictures; +and in the ways of painting he also wrought a complete revolution. +'There are no such things as gold backgrounds in nature,' he said; 'I +will have my people out of doors or in their homes.' And so he painted +the blue sky and rocks and trees and grass, and dressed his men and +women in pure, fresh colors, and represented them as if engaged in home +duties in the house or in the field. He introduced many characters into +his story pictures,—angel <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>visitants, neighbors, wandering shepherds, +and even domestic animals. He brought the art of painting <i>down</i> into +the minds and hearts of all who looked upon them."</p> + +<p>"I never have realized until lately," said Barbara, "how painting can be +made a source of education and pleasure to everybody. It is so different +here from what it is at home, especially because the churches are full +of pictures. There we go into the art museums or the galleries of +different art-clubs,—the only places where pictures are to be +found,—and meet only those people that can afford luxuries; and so the +art itself seems a luxury. But here I have seen such poor, sad-looking +people, who seem to forget all their miseries in looking at some +beautiful sacred picture. Only the other day I overheard a poor woman, +whose clothes were wretched and who had one child in her arms and +another beside her, trying to explain a picture to them, and she +lingered and lingered before it, and then turned away with a pleased, +restful face."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is the spirit of pictures and their truth to nature that appeal +to the mass of people here," replied Mr. Sumner, "and so it must be +everywhere. I have been very glad to read in my papers from home that +free art exhibitions have been occasionally opened in the poor quarters +of our cities. Should the movement become general, <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>as I hope it will, +it must work good in more than one direction. Not only could those who +have hitherto been shut out from this means of pleasure and education +receive and profit by it, but the art itself would gain a wholesome +impulse. A new class of critics would be heard—those unversed in +art-parlance—who would not talk of line, tone, color-harmonies and +technique, but would go to the very heart of picture and painter; and I +think the truest artists would listen to them and so gain something.</p> + +<p>"But we must get to Giotto again. I have told you what he tried to +paint, but you will see that he could not do all this in the least as if +he had been taught in our art-schools of to-day. How little could +Cimabue teach him! His hills and rocks are parodies of nature. He knew +not how to draw feet, and would put long gowns or stockings on his +people so as to hide his deficiency. He never could make a lying-down +figure look flat. But how he could accomplish all that he did in his +pictures is more than any one can explain.</p> + +<p>"We will now look behind this grand tomb at the foot of the stairs and +find two of Giotto's frescoes. There you see the pictures—the <i>Birth of +the Virgin</i> and the <i>Meeting of St. Joachim and St. Anna</i>, the father +and mother of the Virgin. Do you know the story of these saints?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Malcom, "Betty read it to us <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>last evening, for, you +see, uncle, we had been dipping just a bit, so as not to get below our +depth, into Mr. Ruskin's 'Mornings in Florence'; so we ought to be able +to understand something here, if anywhere, oughtn't we?"</p> + +<p>"Well, look and see what you can find! I wonder what will appeal first +to each one of you!"</p> + +<p>After a few minutes of complete silence Mr. Sumner said: "Margery dear, +I wonder what you are thinking of?"</p> + +<p>"I am thinking, Uncle, that, just as Mr. Ruskin says, I cannot help +seeing the baby in this picture. At whatever part I look my eyes keep +coming back to the dear little thing wrapped up so clumsily, whom the +two nurses are tending so lovingly and with such reverence."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear, old Giotto knew how to make the chief thing in his +pictures seem to be the most important; something that not all of us +artists of to-day know how to do by any means."</p> + +<p>"But the pictures are so queer!" burst forth Malcom. "I do see some of +the fine things of which you speak, Uncle Robert, but there are so many +almost ridiculous things; the shepherds that are following St. +Joachim—do look at the feet of the first one; and the second has on +stockings. I can see the different lines that poor old Giotto drew when +he was struggling over those first feet;<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a> I wonder if he put the others +into stockings just to save trying to draw them. And the funny lamb in +the arms of the first shepherd; and the queer, stiff sprigs of grass +which are growing up in all sorts of places! and the angel coming out of +the cloud! and—"</p> + +<p>"Do stop, Malcom," cried Bettina, "just here at the angel! Why! I think +he is perfectly beautiful with one hand on St. Joachim's head and the +other on St. Anna's. He is blessing them and drawing them together and +forgiving, all in one."</p> + +<p>"And the people, all of them! just look at the people!" cried Barbara, +impetuously. "Each one is thinking of something, and I seem to know what +it is! How could—" But her voice faltered, and stopped abruptly.</p> + +<p>"It is not difficult to understand what Howard is thinking of," +whispered Malcom in Bettina's ear. "Did you see what a look he gave +Barbara? I don't believe she likes it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner, turning, surprised the same look in the young man's eyes and +gave a quick, inquiring glance at the fair, flushed face of Barbara. He +felt annoyed, without knowing exactly why. A new and foreign element had +been introduced into the little group, whose influence was not to be +transient.</p> + +<p>After a few more words, in which he told them <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>to notice the type of +Giotto's faces—the eyes set near together, their too great length, +though much better in this respect than Cimabue's, and the broad, +rounded chins—they turned away.</p> + +<p>"We have seen all we ought to stay here for to-day, and now we will +drive over to Santa Croce. There are also notable frescoes by Giotto in +Assisi, and especially in the Arena Chapel, Padua. Perhaps we may see +them all by and by."</p> + +<p>On leaving the church, Bettina looked back, saying:—</p> + +<p>"This is the church that Michael Angelo used to call 'his bride.'"</p> + +<p>"Used to," laughed Malcom. "You have gone back centuries this morning, +Betty."</p> + +<p>"I feel so. I should not be one bit surprised to meet some of these old +artists right here in the Piazza on their way to their work."</p> + +<p>"Let us go over to Santa Croce by way of the Duomo, and through Piazza +Signoria, Uncle," said Margery. "I am never tired of those little, +narrow, crooked streets."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that will be a good way; for then we shall go right past Giotto's +Campanile, and though you have seen it often you will look upon it with +especial interest just now, when we are studying his work."</p> + +<p>At Santa Croce they were to meet Mrs. Douglas <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>by appointment; and as +they pressed on through the broad nave, lined on either side by massive +monuments to Florence's great dead, they espied her at the entrance of +the Bardi Chapel in conversation with a lady whose slender figure and +bright, animated face grew familiar to the young people of the steamship +as they approached; for it was the Miss Sherman whom Barbara and Bettina +had admired so much on the <i>Kaiser Wilhelm</i>, and whom, with her father +and sister, they had met once before in this same church.</p> + +<p>Coming rapidly forward, Mrs. Douglas introduced her companion.</p> + +<p>"She is alone in Florence," she explained to her brother a moment later +when the others had passed on, "for her father has been suddenly +summoned home, and her sister has accompanied him. She is a bright, +charming young woman, who loves art dearly, and I am sure we all shall +like her. I felt drawn to her as we talked together several times on our +way over. I think we must have her with us all we can."</p> + +<p>After an hour spent in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels, whose walls are +covered with Giotto's frescoes, the little group separated. Malcom, +Margery, Barbara, and Bettina walked home along the Via dei Pinti, or +Street of the Painters. While the others chatted, Barbara was unusually +silent.<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a> She was thinking how much she had learned that morning, and +exulted in the knowledge that there was not quite so vast a difference +between herself and Miss Sherman as existed the last time they met in +Santa Croce.</p> + +<p>For Barbara had entered into the study of this subject with an almost +feverish fervor of endeavor. Though she felt there was much to enjoy and +to learn all about her, yet nothing seemed so important as a knowledge +of the old painters and their pictures; and the longing to be able to +think and to speak with some assurance of them haunted her continually.</p> + +<p>Bettina sometimes looked at her sister with wonder as she would sit hour +after hour poring over Mr. Sumner's books.</p> + +<p>"I always thought <i>I</i> loved pictures best," she thought; "but Bab cares +more for these old ones than I do."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a>Chapter VI.</h2> + +<h3>Lucile Sherman.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>In life's small things be resolute and great</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To keep thy muscle trained; Knowest thou when Fate</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Thy measure takes? Or when she'll say to thee,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>"I find thee worthy. Do this deed for me?</i>"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Lowell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 518px;"> +<img src="images/image096.png" width="518" height="302" alt="A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>The tourist who devotes a few days to Florence, or a few weeks even, can +have no conception of what it means to live in this city; to awake +morning after morning and look out upon the lines of her hills and catch +glimpses of their distant blues and purples; to be free to wander about +at will through her streets, every one of which is crowded with legend +and romance; to look upon her palaces and churches, about which cluster +so many deeds of history; to visit the homes of her immortal men—poets +and artists; to walk step by step instead of whirling along in a +carriage; and to grow to feel a close intimacy with her sculptures and +paintings, and even with the very stones that are built into her palace +walls.</p> + +<p>For Florence is comparatively a small city. A good pedestrian can easily +walk from Porta Romana <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>on the south to Porta Gallo on the north; or +from Porta San Niccolo on the east, along the banks of the Arno, to the +Cascine Gardens on the west. It is only an afternoon of genuine delight +to climb the lovely, winding ways leading up to San Miniato, or to +Fiesole, or to the Torre del Gallo,—the "Star Tower of Galileo." And +what a feeling of possession one has for a road which he has travelled +foot by foot; for the rocks and trees and vine-covered walls, and the +ever-changing views which continually demand attention! One absorbs and +assimilates as in no other way.</p> + +<p>So when, at breakfast one morning, Mr. Sumner suggested a walk up to +Fiesole, a picnic lunch at the top in the grounds of the old monastery, +and the whole day there, coming down at sunset, his proposition met with +delighted assent. It was planned that Mrs. Douglas should take a +carriage, and invite Miss Sherman and Howard Sinclair to go with her, +but the others were ready and eager for the walk. Anita, the little +housemaid, was to accompany them and carry the luncheon, and she was on +tiptoe with joy, because a whole day under the open sky is the happiest +fortune possible for an Italian girl; and, besides this, they would have +to pass close by her own home, and perhaps her little brother could go +with her.</p> + +<p>All felt a peculiar affection for Fiesole, because <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>from the house in +which they were living they could look right out upon the historic old +city nestling into the hollow of the hill-top, and watch its changing +lights and shadows, and say "good morning" and "good night" to it.</p> + +<p>Barbara and Bettina had often tried to fancy what life there was like so +many centuries ago, when the city was rich and powerful; and afterward, +when the old Romans had taken possession of it, and the ruined +amphitheatre was whole and noisy with games; or in later times, when the +venerable Cathedral was fresh and new. They felt a kind of pity for the +forlorn old place, peopled with so much wrinkled age, and forever +looking down upon all the loveliness and treasures of the fair Florence +which had grown out from her own decay.</p> + +<p>As the party left the house, and, before disappearing from the view of +Mrs. Douglas, who stood watching them, turned and waved their hands, she +thought that she had not seen her brother looking so young, care-free, +and happy for many years.</p> + +<p>"This is doing Robert a world of good," said she to herself. "Those who +have heretofore been only children to him are now companions, and he is +becoming a boy again with them. Oh! if he could only throw off the +morbid feeling he <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>has had about going back to America to live, and +return with us, and be happy and useful there, how delightful it would +be!"</p> + +<p>Second only in the life of Mrs. Douglas to the great loss of her husband +had been the separation from this dearly loved brother, and it was one +of the strongest wishes of her heart that he should come back to his +native land. To have him living near her and experiencing the delights +of home life had been a long dream of whose realization she had wellnigh +despaired, as year after year had passed and he had still lingered in +foreign lands. Now, as she turned from the window and went back into the +large, sunny rooms, so quiet with the young people all gone, her +thoughts lingered upon her brother, and into them came the remembrance +of the sweet-faced Miss Sherman, whom they had met yesterday and who +seemed destined to come more or less into their lives.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps"—she thought, and smiled at her thought so evidently born of +her wish; and then hastened to despatch a message to Miss Sherman and +Howard, lest she might miss them.</p> + +<p>Lucile Sherman differed somewhat in character from the impression she +had made upon Mrs. Douglas. Lovely in face and figure, gifted with +winning ways, possessed of a certain degree <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>of culture, and very +desirous of gaining the friendship of cultured people, she was most +attractive on short acquaintance. An intimacy must always reveal her +limitations and show how she just missed the best because of the lack of +any definite, earnest purpose in her life,—of real sincerity and of the +slightest element of self-sacrifice, without which no character can grow +truly noble.</p> + +<p>She was very dear unto herself, and was accustomed to take the measure +of all things according to the way in which they affected Lucile +Sherman. When her father, for whose health the present journey to Italy +had been primarily planned, was imperatively summoned home, her +disappointment was so overwhelmingly apparent that her sister Marion was +chosen to accompany him back to America, and Lucile was permitted to +spend the winter as she so much wished.</p> + +<p>She was fond of society, of music, of literature and art; had seemingly +an enthusiastic admiration and desire for all things good and true, and +thought she embodied all her desires; but these were ever a little too +languid to subdue the self-love and overcome the inertia of all high +principles of life. It is not difficult to understand her, for the world +has many such,—in whom <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>there is nothing really bad, only they have +missed the best.</p> + +<p>On board the steamship, she had been much attracted by the little party +from Boston, and had made advances toward Mrs. Douglas; and when, on +that day so soon after reaching Florence, she had met Mr. Sumner and the +young people in Santa Croce, her remark that it was worth a journey from +America just to see Giotto's frescoes there—the remark that had won a +look of interest from Mr. Sumner, and that poor Barbara had brooded over +because it had caused her to feel so sorely her own ignorance—had been +spoken with the design that it should be overheard by that +distinguished-looking man who, she felt sure, must be the artist-brother +whom Mrs. Douglas had come to Italy to meet; and though she did enjoy +the old Florentine masters very much indeed, yet she had haunted the +churches and galleries a little more persistently than she would +otherwise have done, in the hope that fortune might some day favor her +by granting a meeting with Mrs. Douglas and her brother. All things come +to those who wish and wait; and so the time came when Mrs. Douglas found +her in Santa Croce, and the desired introduction and invitations were +given.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, the request that she join the <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>picnic party on Fiesole +reached her, and was soon followed by Mrs. Douglas's carriage, Miss +Sherman's satisfaction knew no bounds. The lovely eyes, that Barbara and +Bettina had so much admired, were more softly brilliant than ever in +their expression of happiness, and Mrs. Douglas looked the admiration +she felt for her young companion.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Mr. Sumner, Malcom, Margery, Barbara, and Bettina had +gloriously enjoyed the walk out of the city through Porta Gallo, along +the banks of the Mugello, up the first slope of the hill, past Villa +Palmieri, and upward to San Domenico,—church and monastery,—which +stands about half way to the top.</p> + +<p>Here they stopped to rest, and to talk for a few minutes about Fra +Angelico, the painter-monk, whose name has rendered historic every spot +on which he lived.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner told them very briefly how two young men—brothers, hardly +more than boys—had come hither one day from the country over yonder, +the same country where Giotto had lived when a child, about one hundred +years before, and had become monks in this monastery. "They took the +names of Giovanni and Benedetto; and Giovanni, or John, as it is in +English, was afterward called Fra Angelico by his brethren because his +<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>life was so holy, or because, as some say, he painted angels more pure +and beautiful than have ever been pictured before or since. He lived +here many years before he was transferred with his brethren to the +monastery of San Marco down in Florence, and painted several pictures in +this church, only a part of one of which is remaining. Little did the +young monk think, as he painted here in humility, that one day +emissaries from the great unknown world would come hither, cut his +frescoes out of the walls, and bear them away to foreign art galleries, +there to be treasured beyond all price."</p> + +<p>They went into the church to give a look at the remaining picture over +the altar in the choir, a <i>Virgin with Saints and Angels</i>, the lower +part, or predella, of which is now in the National Gallery, London; but +Mr. Sumner said they must not stay long, for this was not the object of +the day. Since, however, Fra Angelico was to be their next subject of +study, he wished them to know all about him they possibly could before +going to San Marco to really study his pictures.</p> + +<p>Lingering on the terrace outside, they looked at the lovely Villa Landor +close at hand, where the English poet, Walter Savage Landor, spent +several years. Here Malcom quoted, in a quietly impressive way:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a></p> +<span class="i0">"From France to Italy my steps I bent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pitcht at Arno's side my household tent.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Six years the Medicean Palace held<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My wandering Lares; then they went afield,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er Doccia's dell, and fig and olive blend."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"How did you come to know that?" asked Margery, the usual poetry quoter.</p> + +<p>"I didn't have to go far for it. I came across it in my 'Hare's +Florence,' and I rather think the quaint fancy of the <i>Lares</i> 'going +afield' caught my attention so that I cannot lose the words."</p> + +<p>"It is easier to think how one must write poetry in such a lovely spot +than how one could help it," said Bettina, with shining eyes.</p> + +<p>"Or could help painting pictures," added Barbara. "Just look at the +colors of sky, hills, and city. No wonder Fra Angelico thought of angels +with softly glittering wings and dressed in exquisite pinks and violets, +when he lived here day after day."</p> + +<p>"Just wait, though, until we come down at sunset," said Mr. Sumner. +"This is indeed beautiful, but then it will be most beautiful, and you +can enjoy the changing colors of sunset over Florence, as seen from +Fiesole, far better as we loiter along on the road, as we shall do +to-night, than when in a carriage, as we were two or three weeks ago. Of +course, there is less color now than in summer, yet <a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>it will be +glorious, I am sure. We are most fortunate in our choice of a day, for +it is warm, with a moisture in the atmosphere that veils forms and +enriches color. We should call it 'Indian summer' were we at home."</p> + +<p>Before they had quite reached the old city at the top, the carriage +containing Mrs. Douglas, Miss Sherman, and Howard overtook them, and the +latter sprang out to join the walking-party.</p> + +<p>Such a day as followed! Lunch in the grove behind the ancient +Monastery!—visits to the ruined Amphitheatre, the Cathedral, and Museum +so full of all sorts of antiquities obtained from the excavations of +ancient Fiesole!—loitering in the spacious Piazza, where they were +beset by children and weather-beaten, brown old women, clamoring for +them to buy all sorts of things made of the straw there manufactured; +and everywhere magnificent views, either of the widely extended valley +of the Mugnone on the one side, or of Florence, lying in her amethystine +cup, on the other!</p> + +<p>Finally, giving orders for the carriage to follow within a certain time, +so that any tired one might take it, all started down the hill. They +soon met a procession of young Franciscan monks, chanting a hymn as they +walked—their curious eyes stealing furtive glances at the beautiful +faces of the American ladies.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>"I feel as if I were a part of the fourteenth century," said Miss +Sherman. "Surely Fra Angelico might be one of those passing us."</p> + +<p>"Only he would have worn a white gown instead of a brown one," replied +Mrs. Douglas, smiling. "You know he was a Dominican monk, not +Franciscan."</p> + +<p>"But look on the other side of the road," cried Malcom, "and hear the +buzzing of the wires! an electric tramway! Here meet the fourteenth and +the nineteenth centuries!"</p> + +<p>In a minute it all had happened. Just how, no one knew. An agonized +scream from the little maid, Anita, who was walking behind them, a +momentary sight of the tiny, brown-faced Italian boy, her brother, right +in the pathway of the swinging car as it rounded the curve—Malcom's +spring—and then the boy and himself lying out on the roadside against +the wall.</p> + +<p>The vigorous crying of the little boy as he rushed into his sister's +arms, evinced his safety, but there was a quiet about Malcom that was +terrifying.</p> + +<p>He had succeeded in throwing the child beyond the reach of the car, but +had himself been struck by it, and consciousness was gone.</p> + +<p>The little group, so happy a moment before, now hung over him in silent +fear and agony.<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a> Howard hastened back to get the carriage, and returned +to find Malcom slowly struggling to awaken, but when moved, he again +fainted; and so, lying in his uncle's arms, with his pale mother and +tearful Margery sitting in front, and the others, frightened and +sympathetic, hurrying behind, Malcom was brought home through the +wonderful sunset glow upon which not one bestowed a single thought.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a>Chapter VII.</h2> + +<h3>A Startling Disclosure.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">'<i>Tis even thus:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>In that I live I love; because I love</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I live: Whate'er is fountain to the one</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Is fountain to the other.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Tennyson.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 443px;"> +<img src="images/image110.png" width="443" height="303" alt="CLOISTER, MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CLOISTER, MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Many days of great distress followed. Everything else was forgotten in +the tense waiting. There were moments of half consciousness when +Malcom's only words were "All right, mother." It seemed as if even in +that second of plunging to save the child he yet thought of his mother, +and realized how she would feel his danger. But happily, as time wore +on, the jarred brain recovered from the severe shock it had received, +and gradually smiles took the place of anxious, questioning looks, and +merry voices were again heard, and the busy household life was resumed.</p> + +<p>Although Malcom could not accompany them, the proposed visit to the old +monastery, San Marco, for study of Fra Angelico's paintings was made by +the others.</p> + +<p>As they wandered through the long corridors, <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>chapel, refectory, and the +many little cells, now vacant, from the walls of which look forth soft, +fair faces and still fresh, sweet colors laid there almost five hundred +years ago by the hand of the painter-monk, they talked of his devotion, +of his unselfish life and work; of his rejection of payment for his +painting, doing it unto God and not unto men. They talked of his +beginning all his work with prayer for inspiration, and how, in full +faith that his prayer had been answered, he absolutely refused to alter +a touch his brush had made; and of the old tradition that he never +painted Christ or the Virgin Mary save on his knees, nor a crucifixion +save through blinding tears; and their voices grew very quiet, and they +looked upon each fresco almost with reverence.</p> + +<p>"Fra Angelico stood apart from the growth of art that was taking place +about him," said Mr. Sumner. "He neither affected it nor was affected by +it. We should call him to-day an 'ecstatic painter'—one who paints +visions; the Italians then called him 'Il Beato,' the blessed. There are +many other works by him,—although a great part, between forty and +fifty, are here. You remember the <i>Madonna and Child</i> you saw in the +Uffizi Gallery the other day, on whose wide gold frame are painted those +angels with musical instruments that are reproduced so widely and <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>sold +everywhere. You recognized them at once, I saw. Then, a few pictures +have been carried away and are in foreign art galleries, as I told you +the other day. During the last years of his life the Pope sent for him +to come to Rome, and there he painted frescoes on the walls of some +rooms in the Vatican Palace. From that city he went to Orvieto, a little +old city perched on the top of a hill on the way from Florence to Rome, +in whose cathedral he painted a noble <i>Christ</i>, with prophets, saints, +and angels. He died in Rome."</p> + +<p>"And was he not buried here?" asked Barbara; "here in this lovely inner +court, where are the graves of so many monks?"</p> + +<p>"No. He was buried in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a church close by the +Pantheon in Rome, and the Pope himself wrote his epitaph. But it is +indeed a great pity that he could not lie here, in the very midst of so +many of his works, and where he lived so long."</p> + +<p>"Did Fra Angelico live before or after the prophet Savonarola, uncle?" +asked Margery. "We came here a little time ago with mother to visit the +latter's cell, and the church, in connection with our reading of +'Romola.'"</p> + +<p>"He lived before Savonarola, about a hundred years. So that when +Savonarola used to walk <a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>about through these rooms and corridors, he saw +the same pictures we are now looking at."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"I say, uncle, don't you think I am having the best part of this, after +all?" brightly asked Malcom, the following day, as Mr. Sumner entered +the wide sunny room where he was lying on the sofa, propped up by +cushions, while Barbara, Bettina, and Margery were clustered about him +with their hands full of photographs of Fra Angelico's paintings, and +all trying to talk at once. "The girls have told me everything; and I am +almost sure I shall never mistake a Fra Angelico picture. I know just +what expression he put into his faces, just how quiet and +as-if-they-never-could-be-used his hands are, and how straight the folds +of his draperies hang, even though the people who wear them are dancing. +I know what funny little clouds, like bundles of cigars, his Madonnas +sit upon up in the heavens.</p> + +<p>"I am not quite sure, uncle dear, but I like your instructions best when +second-hand," he laughingly added. "Betty has made me fairly love the +old fellow by her stories of his unearthly goodness. Was it not fine to +refuse money for his work, and to decline to be made archbishop when the +Pope asked him; and to recommend a brother monk for the office? I think +he ought to be called <i>Saint</i> Angelico."</p> + +<p><a name="FRA_ANGELICO" id="FRA_ANGELICO"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image114.jpg" width="350" height="444" alt="FRA ANGELICO. UFFUZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +GROUP OF ANGELS. FROM CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FRA ANGELICO. UFFUZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +GROUP OF ANGELS. FROM CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.</span> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>"Some people have called him the 'St. John of Art,'" Mr. Sumner +replied, with a bright smile at Malcom's enthusiasm. "I am not sure but +yours is the better name, however."</p> + +<p>About this time people who frequented the Cascine Gardens and other +popular drives in and about Florence began to notice with interest an +elegant equipage containing a tall, slender, pale young man, two +beautiful, brown-eyed girls, and oftentimes either a gray-haired woman +in black or a sunny-haired young girl. It had been purchased by Howard, +and daily he wished Barbara and Bettina to drive with him. Indeed, it +now seemed as if the young man's thoughts were beginning to centre +wholly in this household; and suddenly warned by a few words spoken by +Malcom, Mrs. Douglas became painfully conscious that a more than mere +friendly interest might prompt such constant and lavish attentions. With +newly opened eyes, she saw that while Howard generously gave to them all +of such things as he could in return for their hospitality, yet there +was a something different in his manner toward Barbara and Bettina. +Their room was always bright and fragrant with the most costly flowers, +and not a wish did they express but Howard was eager to gratify it.</p> + +<p>She was troubled; and since the air of Florence <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>was beginning to take +on the chill of winter—to become too cold for such an invalid as +Howard—she ventured one day, when they happened to be alone together, +to ask him if he would soon go farther south for the winter.</p> + +<p>"Malcom told me you had stopped for only a time here on your way to the +south of Italy," she added.</p> + +<p>The color rushed in a torrent over Howard's pale face, and he did not +speak for a minute; then, turning abruptly to her, said:—</p> + +<p>"I cannot go away from Florence, Mrs. Douglas. Do you not see, do you +not know, how I have loved Barbara ever since I first saw her? You must +have seen it, for I have not been able sometimes to conceal my feelings. +They have taken complete possession of me. I think only of her day and +night. I have often thought I ought to tell you of it. Now, I am glad I +have. Do you not think she will sometime love me? She <i>must</i>. I could +not live without it." And his voice, which had trembled with excitement, +suddenly faltered and broke.</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Douglas strove for words.</p> + +<p>"You must not let her know this," she finally said. "She is only a +little girl whom her father and mother have entrusted to me. What would +they say if they knew how blind I have been!<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a> Why, you have known her +but a few weeks! You must be mistaken. It is a fancy. It will pass away. +Conquer yourself. Go away. Oh, do go away, Howard, for a time at least!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot, I will not. Mrs. Douglas, I have never longed for a thing in +my life but it has come to me. I long for Barbara's love more than I +ever wished for any other thing in the world. She must give it to me. +Oh, were I only well and strong, I know I could compel it."</p> + +<p>"Listen to me, Howard. I know that Barbara has never had one thought of +this. Her mind is completely occupied with her study, the pleasures and +the novelties that each day is bringing her. She does not conceal +anything. She has no reason to do so. She and Bettina are no silly girls +who think of a lover in every young man they meet. They are as sweet and +fresh and free from all sentimentalities as when they were children. +Barbara would be frightened could she hear you talk,—should she for a +moment suspect how you feel. You must conceal it; for your own sake, you +must."</p> + +<p>"I will not show what I feel any more than I already have. I will not +speak to Barbara yet of my love. Only let me stay here, where I can see +her every day. Do not send me away. Mrs. Douglas, you do not know how +lonely my life has <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>been—without brother or sister—without father or +mother. It has been like a bit of Paradise to go in and out of your +household; and to think—to hope that perhaps Barbara would sometime +love me and be with me always. My love has become a passion, stronger +than life itself. Look at me! Do you not believe my words, Mrs. +Douglas?"</p> + +<p>As Mrs. Douglas lifted her eyes and looked full into the delicate, +almost transparent face so swept by emotion, and met the deathless fire +of Howard's brilliant eyes, she felt as never before the frailty of his +physical life, and wondered at the mighty force of his passionate will. +The conviction came that she was grappling with no slight feeling, but +with that which really might mean life or death to him.</p> + +<p>An unfathomable sympathy filled her heart.</p> + +<p>"I can talk no more," she said, gently taking in her own the young man's +hand. "I will accept your promise. Come and go as you have, dear Howard. +But always remember that very much depends on your keeping from Barbara +all knowledge of your love."</p> + +<p>As soon as it was possible, Mrs. Douglas, as was her wont when in any +anxiety, sought a conference with her brother. After telling him all, +there was complete silence for a moment. Then Mr. Sumner said:—</p> + +<p><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>"And Barbara,—how do you think Barbara feels? For she is not a child +any longer. How old were you, my sister, when you were married? Only +nineteen—and you told me yesterday that we must celebrate Barbara's and +Bettina's eighteenth birthday before very long, and Barbara is older +than her years—more womanly than most girls of her age."</p> + +<p>"She has never had a thought of this, I am confident. Of course, she may +have known, have felt, Howard's admiration of her; but I doubt if the +child has ever in her life had the slightest idea of the possible +existence of any such feeling as he is cherishing. It is not ordinary, +Robert, it is overwhelming; you know we have seen his self-will shown in +many ways. The force of his emotion and will now is simply tremendous. +Few girls could withstand it if fully exposed to its influence. There is +all the more danger because the element of pity must enter in, because +he is so evidently frail and lonely. I feel that I have been greatly in +fault. I ought to have foreseen what might happen from admitting so +freely into our home a young man of Howard's age and circumstances. I +have never thought of Barbara and Betty otherwise than of my own +Margery, and I know nothing in the world has ever been farther from good +Dr. and Mrs. Burnett's minds than the <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>possible involvement of one of +their girls in a love-affair.</p> + +<p>"And now I must write them something of this," she added, with a sigh. +"It would not be right to keep secret even the beginnings of what might +prove to be of infinite importance. Of course Howard's family, +character, position, are above question; but his health, his exacting +nature; his lack of so many qualities Dr. Burnett considers essential; +the undesirability of such an entanglement! Oh! it would be only the +beginning of sorrows should Barbara grow to care for him."</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Douglas's face showed the sudden weight of care that had been +launched upon her, as she anxiously asked:—</p> + +<p>"What do you advise, Robert?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing; only to go on just as we have been doing. Fill the days as +full as we can, and trust that all will be right. It is best never to +try to manage affairs, I believe."</p> + +<p>And Barbara—how did Barbara feel? She could never have analyzed and put +into definite thought the inner life she was leading during these days. +Indeed, it is doubtful whether she had the slightest conception of the +change that was gradually working within her. But rapidly she was +putting away childish things, and "woman's <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>lot" was coming fast upon +her. Mrs. Douglas would have been astounded, indeed, could she, with her +eyes of experience and wisdom, have looked into the heart of Barbara, +whom she still called "child." That which the young girl could not +understand would have been a revelation to her who had been a loving +wife. With what an overwhelming pity would she have hastened to restore +her to her parents before this hopeless love should grow any stronger, +and she become aware of its existence!</p> + +<p>Dr. Burnett's admiration for Robert Sumner was unbounded. He had known +him from boyhood, and had always been his confidant, so far as an older +man can be with a younger. Many times he had talked to his children +about him—about his earnestness and sincerity of purpose—his high +aims, and his willingness to spare no pains to realize them.</p> + +<p>Barbara, who, perhaps, had been more than any other of the children her +father's comrade, had listened to these tales and praises until Robert +Sumner had become her ideal of all that was noble. No one had dreamed of +such a thing, but so it was; and through all the excitement of +preparation and through the journey to Italy, one of her chief +anticipations had been to see this young man of whom her father had +talked so <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>much, and, herself, to learn to know him. The story of his +marriage disappointment, which had led to his life abroad, and a notable +adventure in Egypt, in which he had saved a woman's life, had added just +that romance to his reputation as an artist and a writer on art that had +seized hold of the young girl's imagination.</p> + +<p>Now, as she was daily with him in the home, saw his affectionate care +for his sister, Malcom, and Margery, and felt his good comradeship with +them all, while in every way he was teaching them and inspiring them to +do better things than they had yet accomplished, a passionate desire had +risen to make herself worthy of his approbation. She wished him to think +of her as more than a mere girl—the companion of none but the very +young. She wished to be his companion, and all that was ardent and +enthusiastic in her nature was beginning to rush, like a torrent that +suddenly finds an outlet, into the channels indicated by him.</p> + +<p>She did not realize this. But the absorbing study she was giving to the +old pictures, the intensity of which was surprising to Bettina, was an +indication of it. Her quick endeavor to follow any line of thought +suggested by Mr. Sumner—and her restlessness when she saw the long +conversations he and Miss Sherman would so often <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>hold, were others. It +seemed to her lately as if Miss Sherman were always claiming his time +and attention—even their visit to Santa Maria del Carmine to study the +frescoes by Masaccio, who was the next artist they were to learn about, +had been postponed because she wished Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner to go +somewhere with her. Barbara did not like it very well.</p> + +<p>But to Howard she gave little thought when she was away from him. He was +kind, his flowers were sweet, but they were all over the house,—given +to others as well as to herself. It was very good of him to take herself +and Betty in his fine new carriage so often; but, perhaps,—if he did +not so continually ask them,—perhaps,—they would oftener drive with +Mr. Sumner and Malcom; and she knew Betty would like that better, as +well as she herself.</p> + +<p>She was often annoyed because he evidently "admired" her so much, as +Betty called it, and did wish he would not look at her as he sometimes +did; and she felt very sensitively the signs of irritation that were so +apparent in him when anything prevented them from being with him as he +wished. But she was very sorry for his loneliness; for his exile from +home on account of ill-health; for the weakness that he often felt and +for which no pleasures purchased by money could <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>compensate. She was +grateful for his kindness, and would not wound him for the world; so she +frankly and graciously accepted all he gave, and, in return, tried to +bring all the happiness she could into his days.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a>Chapter VIII.</h2> + +<h3>Howard's Questionings.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>When the fight begins within himself,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>A man's worth something. God stoops o'er his head,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Satan looks up beneath his feet—both tug—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul wakes</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And grows</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image128.png" width="500" height="305" alt="PONTE ALLA CARRAJA, FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PONTE ALLA CARRAJA, FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>At last the morning came when the postponed visit to Santa Maria del +Carmine, on the other side of the Arno, was to be made. Miss Sherman had +so evidently desired to join in the study of the old painters that Mrs. +Douglas suggested to her brother that she be invited to do so, but he +had thought it not best.</p> + +<p>"The others would not be so free to talk," he said. "I do not wish any +constraint. Now we are only a family party,—with the exception of +Howard, and I confess that I sometimes wish he did not join us in this." +Malcom was again with them, for the first time since they were at +Fiesole, and this was enough to make the occasion a particularly joyous +one.</p> + +<p>The romantic mystery of Masaccio's short life and sudden, secret death, +and the wonderful advance <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>that he effected in the evolution of Italian +painting of the fifteenth century, had greatly interested them as they +had read at home about him, and all were eager to see the frescoes.</p> + +<p>"They are somewhat worn and dark," Mr. Sumner said, "and at first you +will probably feel disappointed. What you must particularly look for +here is that which you have hitherto found nowhere else,—the expression +of individuality in figures and faces. Giotto, you remember, sought to +tell some story; to illustrate some Bible incident so that it should +seem important and claim attention. Masaccio went to work in a wholly +different way. While Giotto would say to himself: 'Now I am going to +paint a certain Bible story; what people shall I introduce so that this +story shall best seem to be a real occurrence?' Masaccio would think: 'I +wish to make a striking picture of Peter and John, or any other sacred +characters. What story or incident shall I choose for representation +that will best show the individual characteristics of these men?'</p> + +<p>"Possessing this great love for people, he studied the drawing of the +human figure as had never been done before in the history of Christian +art. At this time, more than a hundred years after Giotto, artists were +beginning to master the science of perspective drawing, and in +Masaccio's pictures <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>we see men standing firmly on their feet, and put +upon different planes in the same picture; their figures well poised, +and true to anatomy. In one of them is his celebrated naked, shivering +youth, who is awaiting baptism,—the study of which wrought a revolution +in painting."</p> + +<p>A little afterward they were standing in the dim Brancacci Chapel of +Santa Maria del Carmine, whose walls are covered with frescoes of scenes +in the lives of Christ and His apostles. They had learned that there was +an artist called Masolino, who, perhaps, had begun these frescoes, and +had been Masaccio's teacher; and that a young man called Filippino Lippi +had finished them some years after they had been left incomplete by +Masaccio's early death.</p> + +<p>All were greatly impressed by the fact that so little can be known of +Masaccio, who wrought here so well; that even when, or how, or where he +died is a mystery; and yet his name is one of the very greatest in early +Italian art.</p> + +<p>They talked of how the greatest masters of the High Renaissance—Michael +Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael—used to come here to study, and +thus this little chapel became a great art school; and how, at the +present time, it is esteemed by many one of the four most important +art-buildings in the world;—the others being, Arena<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a> Chapel, Padua, +where are Giotto's frescoes; Sistine Chapel, Rome, where are Michael +Angelo's greatest paintings; and Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, which is +filled with Tintoretto's work.</p> + +<p>He then called their attention to the composition of Masaccio's +frescoes; asking them especially to notice that, while only a few people +are taking part in the principal scene, many others are standing about +interested in looking on; all, men with strongly marked +characteristics,—individual, and worthy of attention.</p> + +<p>"May I repeat a verse or two of poetry right here where we stand, +uncle?" asked Margery. "It keeps saying itself in my mind. I think you +all know it and who wrote it, but that is all the better."</p> + +<p>And in her own sweet way she recited James Russell Lowell's beautiful +tribute to Masaccio:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He came to Florence long ago<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And painted here these walls, that shone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Raphael and for Angelo,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With secrets deeper than his own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then shrank into the dark again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And died, we know not how or when.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The darkness deepened, and I turned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Half sadly from the fresco grand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'And is this,' mused I, 'all ye earned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High-vaulted brain and cunning hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ye to other men could teach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The skill yourselves could never reach?'<br /></span><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a> +</div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Henceforth, when rings the health to those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who live in story and in song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O, nameless dead, that now repose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Safe in oblivion's chambers strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One cup of recognition true<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall silently be drained to you!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"But Masaccio does not need any other monument than this chapel. He is +not very badly off, I am sure, while this stands, and people come from +all over the world to visit it," exclaimed Malcom, as they left the +Brancacci Chapel, and walked slowly down the nave of the church.</p> + +<p>"Is this all he painted?" asked Barbara.</p> + +<p>"There is one other fresco in the cloister of this same church, but it +is sadly injured—indeed half obliterated," answered Mr. Sumner. "That +is all. But his influence cannot be estimated. What he, then a poor, +unknown young man, working his very best upon these walls, accomplished +for the great world of painting can never be measured. He surely wrought +'better than he knew.' This was because he, for the first time in the +history of modern painting, portrayed real life. All the +conventionalities that had hitherto clung, in a greater or less degree, +to painting, were dropped by him; and thus the way was opened for the +perfect representations of the High Renaissance which so soon followed.<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a> +We will next give some time to the study of the works of Ghirlandajo and +Botticelli, who, with Filippino Lippi, who finished these frescoes which +we have just been looking at, make a famous trio of Early Renaissance +painters."</p> + +<p>After they had crossed Ponte alla Carraja, Margery said she wished to do +some shopping on Via dei Fossi, which was close at hand—that street +whose shop windows are ever filled with most fascinating groups of +sculptured marbles and bronzes, and all kinds of artistic +bric-a-brac—and begged her uncle to accompany her.</p> + +<p>"I wish no one else to come," she said, with her own little, emphatic +nod.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho! secrets!" exclaimed Malcom; "so we must turn aside!"</p> + +<p>"Do go to drive with me," begged Howard. "Here we are close to my hotel, +and I can have the team ready right off."</p> + +<p>So they walked a few steps along the Lung' Arno to the pleasant, sunny +Hotel de la Grande Bretagne, which Howard had chosen for his Florentine +home, and soon recrossed the Arno, and swept out through Porta Romana +into the open country, behind Howard's beautiful gray horses.</p> + +<p>The crisp, cool air brought roses into Barbara's and Bettina's cheeks, +and ruffled their pretty brown hair. Malcom was in high spirits after +his long <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>confinement to the house, and Howard tried to throw off a +gloomy, discouraged feeling that had hung over him all the morning. +Seated opposite Barbara, and continually meeting her frank, steadfast +eyes, he seemed to realize as he had never before done the obvious truth +of Mrs. Douglas's words, when she had said that Barbara was perfectly +unconscious of his love for her; and all the manhood within him strove +to assert itself to resist an untimely discovery of his feeling, for +fear of the mischief it might cause.</p> + +<p>Howard had been doing a great deal of new thinking during the past +weeks. He suddenly found himself surrounded by an atmosphere wholly +different from that in which he had before lived.</p> + +<p>Sprung from an aristocratic and thoroughly egoistic ancestry on his +father's side, and a morbidly sensitive one on his mother's; brought up +by his paternal grandmother, whose every thought had been centred upon +him as the only living descendant of her family; surrounded by servants +who were the slaves of his grandmother's and his own whims; not even his +experience in the Boston Latin School, chosen because his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather had been educated there, had served +to widen much the horizon of his daily living, or to make him anything +like a typical American youth.</p><p><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a></p> + +<p>Now, during the last two or three months he had been put into wholly +changed conditions. An habitual visitor to this family into whose life +he had accidentally entered, he had been a daily witness of Mrs. +Douglas's self-forgetting love, which was by no means content with +ministering to the happiness of her own loved home ones, but continually +reached out to an ever widening circle, blessing whomever it touched. He +could not be unconscious that every act of Robert Sumner's busy life was +directed by the desire to give of himself to help others; that a high +ideal of beneficence, not gain, was always before him, and was that by +which he measured himself. The wealth, the position of both, served only +to make their lives more generous.</p> + +<p>And he saw that the younger people of the household had caught the same +spirit. Malcom, Margery, Barbara, and Bettina forgot themselves in each +other, and were most generous in all their judgments. They esteemed +people according to that which they were in themselves, not according to +what they had, and shrank from nothing save meanness and selfishness.</p> + +<p>As we have seen, he had been attracted in a wonderful way to Barbara +ever since he had first met her. Her beauty, her unconscious pride of +bearing, mingled with her sweet, unaffected <a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>enthusiasms, were a swift +revelation to one who had never in his life before given a second +thought to any girl; and a fierce longing to win her love had taken +possession of his whole being, as he had confessed to Mrs. Douglas.</p> + +<p>But to-day there was a chill upon him. He had before been confident of +the future. It must not, should not disappoint him, he had said to +himself again and again. Somehow he was not now so sure of himself and +it. There seemed a mystery before him. The way that had always before +seemed to open to his will refused to disclose itself. How could he win +the affection of this noble girl, whose life already seemed so full that +she felt no lack, who was so warm and generous in her feelings to all, +so thoroughly unselfish, so wholesome, so lovable? How he did long to +make all her wishes centre on him, even as his did upon her!</p> + +<p>But Barbara's ideals were high. She would demand much of him whom she +could love. Only the other day he had heard her say in a voice deep with +feeling that money and position were nothing in comparison with a life +that was ever giving itself to enrich others. Whom did she mean? he +wondered. It seemed as if she knew some one who was even then in her +mind, and a fierce jealousy sprang up with the <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>thought. She surely +could not have meant him, for he had never lived for any other than +himself, nor did he wish to think of anything but himself. He wanted to +get well and to have Barbara love him. Then he would take her away from +everybody else and lavish everything upon her, and how happy would he +be! Could he only look into the future, he thought, and see that this +was to come, he would ask nothing else.</p> + +<p>Poor Howard! Could the future have opened before his wish never so +little, how soon would his restless, raging emotions have become hushed +into a great silence!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A few evenings afterward, as they were all sitting together in the +library, and Howard with them, Mr. Sumner, knowing that the young people +had been reading and talking of Ghirlandajo and Botticelli, said that +perhaps there would be no better time for talking of these artists than +the present.</p> + +<p>"With Masaccio," he continued, "we have begun a new period of Italian +painting,—the period of the Early Renaissance. All the former great +artists,—Cimabue, Giotto, and Fra Angelico, whom we have particularly +studied,—and the lesser ones, about whom you have read,—Orcagna,<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a> +Taddeo Gaddi, and Uccello, the bird-lover (who gave himself so +untiringly to the study of linear perspective),—belong to the Gothic +period, literally the rude period; in which, although a steady advance +was made, yet the works are all more or less very imperfect +art-productions. All these are wholly in the service of the Church, and +are painted in fresco on plaster or in <i>tempera</i> on wood. In the Early +Renaissance, however, a new impulse was seen. Artists were much better +equipped for their work, nature-study progressed wonderfully, anatomy +was studied, perspective was mastered, the sphere of art widened to take +in history, portraits, and mythology; and in the latter part of this +period, as we shall see, oil-painting was introduced."</p> + +<p>"Can you give us any dates of these periods to remember, uncle?" asked +Malcom.</p> + +<p>"Roughly speaking, the Gothic period covers the years from about 1250 to +1400; the Early Renaissance, from about 1400 to 1500. Masaccio, as we +have seen, was the first great painter of the Early Renaissance, and he +lived from 1401 to 1428. But these dates are not arbitrary. Fra Angelico +lived until 1455, and yet his pictures belong wholly to the Gothic +period; so also do those of other Gothic painters whose lives overlap +the Early Renaissance in point of time. It is the <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>spirit of the art +that definitely determines its place, although the general dates help +one to remember.</p> + +<p>"We will not talk long of Ghirlandajo,—Domenico Ghirlandajo (for there +is another, Ridolfo by name, who is not nearly so important to the +art-world). His composition is similar to that of Masaccio. A few people +are intimately engaged, and the others are bystanders, or onlookers. One +characteristic is that many of these last are portraits of Florentine +men and women who were his contemporaries, and so we get from his +pictures a knowledge of the people and costumes of his time. His +backgrounds are often masses of Florentine architecture, some of which +you will readily recognize. His subjects are religious.</p> + +<p>"For studying his work, go again to Santa Maria Novella, where is a +series of frescoes representing scenes in the lives of the Virgin Mary +and John the Baptist. I would give some time to these, for in them you +will find all the characteristics of Ghirlandajo's frescoes, which are +his strongest work. Then you will find two good examples of his +<i>tempera</i> painting on wooden panels in the Uffizi Gallery: an <i>Adoration +of the Magi</i>, and a <i>Madonna and Saints</i>, which are in the Sala di +Lorenzo Monaco near Fra Angelico's <i>Madonna</i>—the one which is +surrounded by the <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>famous musical Angels. Others are in the Pitti +Gallery and Academy. His goldsmith's training shows in these smaller +pictures more than in the frescoes. We see it in his love for painting +golden ornaments and decoration of garments."</p> + +<p>"Is his work anything like that of Michael Angelo, Mr. Sumner?" asked +Barbara. "He was Angelo's teacher, was he not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, history tells us that he held that position for three years; but +judging from the work of both, I should say that not much was either +taught or learned. Ghirlandajo's work possesses great strength, as does +Michael Angelo's, but on wholly different lines. Ghirlandajo loved to +represent grave, dignified figures,—which were portraits,—clad in long +gowns, stiff brocades, and flowing mantles; and there are superb +accessories in his pictures,—landscapes, architecture, and decorated +interiors. On the other hand, Michael Angelo's figures are most +impersonal, and each depends for effect simply on its own magnificence +of conception and rendering. The lines of figures are of far more +importance than the face, which is the farthest possible removed from +the portrait—and for accessories of any kind he cared not at all."</p> + +<p>At this moment callers were announced and<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a> Mr. Sumner said they would +resume their talk some other time.</p> + +<p>"It will be well for you if you can look at these paintings by +Ghirlandajo to-morrow morning if it be a bright day," he said, "while +all that I have told you is fresh in your minds. I cannot go with you, +but if you think of anything you would like to ask me about them, you +can do so before we begin on Botticelli."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a>Chapter IX.</h2> + +<h3>The Coming-out Party.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Like the swell of some sweet tune,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Morning rises into noon,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i> May glides onward into June</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Longfellow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 457px;"> +<img src="images/image144.png" width="457" height="306" alt="PALAZZO PITTI, FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PALAZZO PITTI, FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>"Well, have you seen Ghirlandajo's work?" asked Mr. Sumner, the next +time the little group met in the library.</p> + +<p>"Only his frescoes in Santa Maria Novella. We have spent two entire +mornings looking at those," answered Bettina.</p> + +<p>"We took your list of the portraits there with us, uncle," said Malcom, +"and tried to get acquainted with those old Florentine bishops, bankers, +and merchants that he painted."</p> + +<p>"And oh! isn't that Ginevra de' Benci in the <i>Meeting of Mary and +Elizabeth</i> lovely! and her golden brocaded dress!" cried Margery.</p> + +<p>"You pay quite a compliment to the old painter's power of representing +men and women," said Mr. Sumner, "for these evidently captivated you. I +wish I could have overheard you talking by yourselves."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>"I fear we could not appreciate the best things, though," said Barbara. +"We imagined ourselves in old Florence of the fifteenth century, and +tried to recognize the mountains and palaces in the backgrounds, and we +enjoyed the people and admired their fine clothes. I do think, however, +that these last seem often too stiff and as if made of metal rather than +of silk, satin, or cloth. And when Howard told us that Mr. Ruskin says +'they hang from the figures as they would from clothes-pegs,' we could +but laugh, and think he is right with regard to some of them. Ought we +to admire everything in these old pictures, Mr. Sumner?" she earnestly +added.</p> + +<p>"Not at all; not by any means. I would not have you think this for a +moment. Ghirlandajo's paintings are famous and worthy because they are +such an advance on what was before him. Compare his men and women with +those by Giotto. You know how much you found of interest and to admire +in Giotto's pictures when you compared them with Cimabue's and with the +old Greek Byzantine paintings. Just so compare those by Masaccio and +Ghirlandajo with what was done before. See the growth,—the steady +evolution,—and realize that Ghirlandajo was honest and earnest, and +gifted too; that his drawing is firm and truer to nature than that of +most contemporary <a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>artists; that his portraits possess character; that +they are well-bred and important, as the people they represent were; +that his mountains are like mountains even in some of their subtile +lines; that his rivers wind; that his masses of architecture are in good +perspective and proportion; and then you will excuse his faults, though +it is right to notice and feel them. We must see many in the work of +every artist until we come to the great painters of the High +Renaissance. You must find Ghirlandajo's other pictures, and study them +also."</p> + +<p>"Now about Botticelli," he added. A little rustle of expectancy swept +through the group of listeners. Bettina drew nearer Barbara and clasped +her hand; and all settled themselves anew with an especial air of +interest. "I see you, like most other people, care more for him. He is +immensely popular at present. It is quite the fashion to admire him. +But, strangely enough, only a few years ago little was known or cared +about his work, and his name is not even mentioned by some writers on +art. He was first a goldsmith like Ghirlandajo, then afterward became a +pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi, father of the Filippino Lippi who finished +Masaccio's frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel. Botticelli wrought an +immense service to painting by widening greatly the field of <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>subjects +hitherto assigned to it, which had been confined to Bible incidents. +Others, contemporary with him, were beginning to depart slightly from +these subjects in response to the desires of the pleasure-loving +Florentines of that day; but Botticelli was the first to come +deliberately forth and make art minister to the pleasure and education +of the secular as well as the religious world. By nature he loved myths, +fables, and allegories, and freely introduced them into his pictures. He +painted Venuses, Cupids, and nymphs just as willingly as Madonnas and +saints.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will read diligently about him. The story of how his +pictures, and those of other artists who were influenced by him, led to +the protest which Savonarola (who lived at the same time) made against +the 'corrupting influence of profane pictures' and his demand that +bonfires should be made of them is most interesting. Botticelli +devotedly contributed a large number of his paintings to the burning +piles."</p> + +<p>"But he painted religious pictures also, did he not?" queried Barbara.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. His works were wrought in churches as well as in private +houses and palaces. He even received the honor of being summoned to Rome +by Pope Sixtus IV. to assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel of +the Vatican, where Michael<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a> Angelo afterward performed his greatest +work. There he painted three large religious frescoes—by the way, +Ghirlandajo painted there also. Now we must find what is the charm in +Botticelli's painting that accounts for the wonderful present interest +in his work. I think it is in a large degree his attempt to put +expression into faces. While Masaccio had taken a long step in advance +of other artists by making man himself, rather than events, the chief +interest in his pictures,—Botticelli, more imaginative and poetic, +painted man's moods,—his subtile feelings. You are all somewhat +familiar, through their reproductions, with his Madonna pictures. How do +these differ from those of other painters?"</p> + +<p>"The faces are less pretty."</p> + +<p>"They are sad instead of joyous."</p> + +<p>"In some the little Christ looks as though he were trying to comfort his +mother."</p> + +<p>"The angels look as if they longed to help both," were some of the quick +answers.</p> + +<p>"Yes; <i>inner</i> feelings, you see. Sometimes he put a crown of thorns +somewhere in a picture, as if to explain its expressions. His Madonna is +'pondering these things,' as Scripture says, and the Child-Christ and +angels are in intense sympathy with her. We long to look again and again +at such pictures—they move us.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>"Another characteristic of his work is the action—a vehement impetuous +motion. You will find this finely illustrated in his <i>Allegory of +Spring</i>, a very famous picture in the Academy. His type of figure and +face is most easily recognizable; the limbs are long and slender, and +often show through almost transparent garments; the hands are long and +nervous; the faces are rather long also, with prominent rounded chins +and full lips. He put delicate patterns of gold embroidery about the +neck and wrists of the Madonna's gown and the edges of her mantle, and +heaped gold all over the lights on the curled hair of her angels and +other attendants. You can never mistake one of these pictures when once +you have grown familiar with his style.</p> + +<p>"I think you should study particularly his <i>Allegory of Spring</i> in the +Academy for full length figures in motion. You will find the color of +this picture happily weird to agree with the fantastic conception. Then +in the Uffizi Gallery you will find several pictures of the Madonna; +notable among them is his <i>Coronation of the Virgin</i>, painted, as he was +fond of doing, on a round board. Such a picture is called a <i>tondo</i>. +Here you will find all his characteristics.</p> + +<p><a name="BOTICELLI" id="BOTICELLI"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image150.jpg" width="350" height="351" alt="BOTICELLI. UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BOTICELLI. UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Study this first; study figures, faces, hands, and methods of +technique; then see if you cannot <a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>readily find the other examples +without your catalogue. A noted one is <i>Calumny</i>. This exemplifies +strikingly Botticelli's power of expressing swift motion. In the Pitti +Palace is a very interesting one called <i>Pallas</i>, or <i>Triumph of Wisdom +over Barbarity</i>,—strangely enough, found only recently."</p> + +<p>"Found only recently; how can that be, uncle?" quickly asked Malcom.</p> + +<p>"The picture was known to have been painted, for Vasari described it in +his 'Life of Botticelli,' but it was lost sight of until an Englishman +discovered it in an old private collection which had been for many years +in the Pitti Palace, suspected it to be the missing picture, and +connoisseurs agree that it is genuine. There was a great deal of +excitement here when the fact was made known. The figure of Pallas, in +its clinging transparent garment, is strikingly beautiful, and +characteristic of Botticelli. The picture was painted as a glorification +of the wise reign of the Medici, who did so much for the intellectual +advancement of Florence."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Sumner told them that he was to be absent from Florence for a +week or two, and should be exceedingly busy for some time, and so would +leave them to go on with their study of the pictures by themselves.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>"I have been delighted," he said, "to know how much time you have spent +in going again and again to the churches and galleries in order to +become familiar with the painters whom we have especially considered. +This is the real and the only way to make the study valuable. Do the +same with regard to the pictures by Ghirlandajo and Botticelli, and if I +have not given you enough to do until I am free again to talk with you, +study the frescoes by Filippino Lippi in Santa Maria Novella, and +compare them with those in the Brancacci Chapel; and his easel pictures +in the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries. Get familiar also with his father's +(Fra Filippo's) Madonna pictures. You will find in them a type of face +so often repeated that you will always recognize it; it is just the +opposite of Botticelli's,—short and childish, with broad jaws, and +simple as childhood in expression. I shall be most interested to know +what you have done, and what your thoughts have been."</p> + +<p>"We certainly shall not do much but look at pictures for weeks to come, +uncle; that is sure!" said Malcom, "for the girls are bewitched with +them, and now that they think they can learn to know, as soon as they +see it, a Giotto, a Fra Angelico, a Botticelli, or a Fra Filippo Lippi, +they will be simply crazy. You ought to hear the learned way in which +they are beginning to discourse <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>about them. They don't do it when you +are around."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Malcom! who was it that <i>must</i> wait a few minutes longer, the other +morning, in Santa Maria Novella in order to run downstairs and give one +more look at Giotto's frescoes?" laughed Bettina.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Barbara's and Bettina's eighteenth birthday was drawing near. Mrs. +Douglas had for a long time planned to give a party to them, and had +fully arranged the details before she spoke of it to the girls.</p> + +<p>"It shall be your 'coming-out party' here in Florence," she said; "not a +large party, but a thoroughly pleasant and enjoyable one, I am sure."</p> + +<p>And the circle of friends who were eager to know and to add to the +pleasure of any one belonging to Robert Sumner seemed to ensure this. +Mrs. Douglas further said that she did not wish them to give a thought +to what they would wear on the occasion, but to leave everything with +her. Every girl of eighteen years will readily understand what a flutter +of joyous excitement Barbara and Bettina felt, and how they talked over +the coming event, when they were alone. Finally Bettina asked:—</p> + +<p>"Why does Mrs. Douglas do so much for us? How can we ever repay her?"</p> + +<p>"We can never repay her, Betty," replied her <a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>sister. "Nor does she wish +it. I do not know why she is so kind. She must love us, or,—perhaps it +is because she is so fond of papa. Do you know, Betty, that our father +once saved her life? She told me about it only yesterday, and I did not +think to tell you last night, there was so much to talk about. It was +when she was a little girl of twelve or thirteen years and papa was just +beginning to practise. You know her father was very wealthy, and had +helped him to get his profession because the two families were always so +intimate. Well, Mrs. Douglas was so ill that three or four doctors said +they could do nothing more for her, and she must die. Of course her +father and mother were broken-hearted. And papa went to them, and for +days and nights did not sleep and hardly ate, but was with her every +moment; and the older doctors acknowledged that but for him she could +never have lived.—And, just think! he never said a word about it to +us!"</p> + +<p>"Our father never talks of the good and noble things he does," said +Bettina, proudly. "No wonder she loves him; but I do really think she +loves us too. Only the other day Malcom said he should be jealous were +it anybody but you and me. So I think all we can do is to keep on doing +just as we have done, and love her more dearly than ever."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>"I wonder if there are any other girls in the world so happy as we +are," she added after a moment's silence—and the two pairs of brown +eyes looked into each other volumes of tender sympathy and gladness.</p> + +<p>What a day was that birthday! Barbara and Bettina will surely tell of it +to their children and grandchildren! First of all came letters from the +dear home—birthday letters which Mrs. Douglas had withheld for a day or +two so that they should be read at the fitting time. Then the lovely +gifts! From Margery, an exquisite bit of sculptured marble for each, +chosen after much consultation with her uncle and many visits to Via dei +Fossi; from Malcom, copies of two of Fra Angelico's musical Angels, each +in a rich frame of Florentine hand-carving (for everything must be +purely Florentine, all had agreed); from Mr. Sumner, portfolios of the +finest possible photographs of the best works of Florentine masters from +the very beginning down through the High Renaissance.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas gave them most lovely outfits for the party—gowns of white +chiffon daintily embroidered—slippers, gloves—everything needful; +while Howard had asked that he might provide all the flowers.</p> + +<p>When finally Barbara and Bettina stood on either side of Mrs. Douglas in +the floral bower where <a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>they received their guests, it was indeed as if +they were in fairy-land. It did not seem possible that any more pink or +white roses could be left in Florence, if indeed all Italy had not been +laid under tribute,—so lavish had Howard been. Barbara carried white +roses, and Bettina pink ones, and everywhere through the entire house +were the exquisite things, peeping out from amidst the daintiest greens +possible, or superb in the simplicity of their own magnificence.</p> + +<p>The lovely American girls were the cynosure of all eyes, and the +flattering things said to them by foreigners and Americans were almost +enough to turn their heads. Mrs. Douglas was delighted with the simple +frankness and dignity with which they met all.</p> + +<p>"You may trust well-bred American girls anywhere," she said to her +brother as she met him later in the evening, after all her guests had +been welcomed, "especially such as are ours," and she called his +attention to Barbara, who at that moment was approaching on the arm of a +distinguished-looking man, who was evidently absorbed with his fair +companion.</p> + +<p>Perfectly unconscious of herself, she moved with so much of womanly +grace that Robert Sumner was startled. She seemed like a stranger; this +tall, queenly creature could not be the everyday<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a> Barbara who had been +little more than a child to him. In passing she looked with a loving +smile at Mrs. Douglas, and then for a moment her eyes with the light +still in them met his, and slowly turned away. The soft flush on her +cheek deepened, and Robert Sumner felt the swift blood surge back upon +his heart until his head swam. When last had he seen such a look in +woman's eyes? Ah! how he had loved those sweet dark eyes long years ago! +Oh! the desolate longing!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas's look had followed Barbara—then had sought Bettina, who, +with Margery by her side, was surrounded by a little group of admirers; +so she was conscious of nothing unusual. But Miss Sherman, who stood +near, had seen Barbara's flush and noted Mr. Sumner's momentary pallor, +and afterward his evident effort to be just himself again. What could it +mean? she thought.</p> + +<p>All through the evening she had suffered from a little unreasonable +jealousy as she had realized for the first time that these "Burnett +girls,"—mere companions of Margery, as she had always thought of +them,—were really young ladies, and most unusually beautiful ones, as +she was forced to confess to herself. She envied them the occasion, the +honor they gained through their intimate connection with Mr. Sumner and +Mrs.<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a> Douglas, and the impression they were so evidently making on +everybody. She was not broad or generous minded enough to be glad for +the young girls from her own country as a nobler-minded woman would have +been. But that there could be any especial feeling, or even momentary +thought, between Mr. Sumner and Barbara was too absurd to be considered +for a moment. That could not be.</p> + +<p>Drawing near, she joined Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and again sweetly +congratulated them on the success of their party, the beauty of the +rooms, etc.</p> + +<p>"The young girls, too," she said, "I am sure do you great credit—quite +grown-up they seem, I declare. What a difference clothes make, do they +not? I have been a bit amused by some of their pretty airs, as an older +woman could not fail to be," and an indulgent smile played about her +lips.</p> + +<p>As it was time to go to the dining room for refreshments, Mrs. Douglas, +in accordance with a preconceived plan, asked her brother to lead the +way with Miss Sherman. When Barbara entered the room soon after with +Howard, she saw the two sitting behind the partial screen of a big palm. +She felt a momentary wish that she could know what they were so +earnestly talking <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>about, and, presently, was conscious that Mr. +Sumner's eyes sought her.</p> + +<p>But how little she thought that she, herself, was the subject of their +conversation, or rather of Miss Sherman's, who was saying how apparent +the devotion of Mr. Sinclair was to every one, and that surely Barbara +must reciprocate his feeling, else she would withdraw from him; and how +pleasant it was to see such young people, just in the beginning of life, +becoming so interested in each other; and how romantic to thus find each +other in such a city as Florence; and what an advantage to become allied +with such an old, wealthy family as the Sinclairs, and so on and on.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a>Chapter X.</h2> + +<h3>The Mystery Unfolds to Howard.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i13"><i>We are in God's hand.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>How strange now looks the life He makes us lead:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>So free we seem, so fettered fast we are!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I feel He laid the fetter: let it lie!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 538px;"> +<img src="images/image164.png" width="538" height="309" alt="SAN MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SAN MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>The weeks sped rapidly on; midwinter had come and gone, and four months +had been numbered since Mrs. Douglas had brought Malcom, Margery, +Barbara, and Bettina to Italy.</p> + +<p>Although social pleasures and duties had multiplied, yet study had never +been given up. A steady advance had been made in knowledge of the +history of Florence, and of her many legends and traditions. They had +not forgotten or passed by the sculptured treasures of the city, but had +learned something of Donatello, her first great sculptor; of Lorenzo +Ghiberti, who wrought those exquisite gates of bronze for Dante's "Il +mio bel San Giovanni" that Michael Angelo declared to be fit for the +gates of Paradise; and of Brunelleschi, the architect of her great +Duomo.</p> + +<p>Through all had gone on their study of the<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a> Florentine painters. After +much patient work given to pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, they were now quite revelling in the beauty of those of the +sixteenth century, or the High Renaissance. This was all the more +interesting since they had seen how one after another the early +difficulties had been overcome; how each great master succeeding Cimabue +had added his contribution of thought and endeavor until artists knew +all the laws that govern the art of representation; and how finally, the +method of oil-painting having been introduced, they then had a fitting +medium with which to express their knowledge and artistic endeavor.</p> + +<p>They had read about Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest masters, so +famous for his portrayal of subtile emotion, and were wonderfully +interested in his life and work; had been to the Academy to see the +<i>Baptism of Christ</i>, painted by his master, Andrea Verrocchio, and were +very positive that the angel on the left, who holds Christ's garment, +was painted by young Leonardo. They had studied his unfinished +<i>Adoration of the Magi</i> in the Uffizi—his only authentic work in +Florence—and had wished much that they could see his other and greater +pictures. Mr. Sumner had told them that in the early summer they would +probably go to Milan, and there see the famous <i>Last<a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a> Supper</i> and <i>Study +for the Head of Christ</i>, and that perhaps later they might visit Paris +and there find his <i>Mona Lisa</i> and other works.</p> + +<p>They had been much interested in the many examples of Fra Bartolommeo's +painting that are in San Marco—where he, as well as Fra Angelico, had +been a monk;—in the Academy, and in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries; and +had learned to recognize the peculiarities of his grouping of figures, +and their abstract, devotional faces, his treatment of draperies, and +the dear little angels, with their musical instruments, that are so +often sitting at the feet of his madonnas.</p> + +<p>They were fascinated by Andrea del Sarto, whom they followed all over +the city wherever they could find either his frescoes or easel pictures. +His color especially enchanted them, after they had looked at so many +darkened and faded pictures. The story of his unquenchable love for his +faithless wife, and how he painted her face into all his pictures, +either as madonna or saint, played upon their romantic feelings. Margery +learned Browning's poem about them, and often quoted from it. They were +never tired of looking at his <i>Holy Families</i> and <i>Madonnas</i> in the +galleries, but especially loved to go to the S.S. Annunziata and linger +in the court, <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>surrounded by glass colonnades, where are so many of his +frescoes.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose it is true that his wife, Lucrezia, used to come here +after he was dead and she was an old woman, to look at the pictures?" +asked Margery one morning, when they had found their favorite place.</p> + +<p>"I think it would be just like her vanity to point out her own likeness +to people who were copying or looking at the frescoes, according to the +old story," answered Bettina, with a disapproving shake of the head.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Barbara, "the faces and figures and draperies are all +lovely. But I suppose it is true, as Mr. Sumner says, that Andrea del +Sarto did not try to make the faces show any holy feeling, or indeed any +very noble expression, so that they are not so great pictures as they +would have been had he been high-minded enough to do such things."</p> + +<p>"It is a shame to have a man's life and work harmed by a woman, even +though she was his wife," said Malcom, emphatically.</p> + +<p>"All the more that she was his wife," said Barbara. "But I do not +believe he could have done much better without Lucrezia. I think his +very love for such a woman shows a weakness in his character. It would +have been better if he <a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>had chosen other than sacred subjects, would it +not, Howard?"</p> + +<p>They were quite at home in their study of these more modern pictures, +with photographs of which they were already somewhat familiar. Howard, +especially, had always had a fine and critical taste regarding art +matters, and now, among the works of artists of whom he knew something, +was a valuable member of the little coterie, and often appealed to when +Mr. Sumner was absent.</p> + +<p>And thus they had talked over and over again the impressions which each +artist and his work made on them, until even Mr. Sumner was astonished +and delighted at the evident result of the interest he had awakened.</p> + +<p>But the chief man and artist they were now considering, was Michael +Angelo; and the more they learned of him the more true it was, they +thought, that he "filled all Florence." They eagerly followed every step +of his life from the time when, a young lad, he entered Ghirlandajo's +studio, until he was brought to Florence—a dead old man, concealed in a +bale of merchandise, because the authorities refused permission to his +friends to take his body from Rome—and was buried at midnight in Santa +Croce.</p> + +<p>They tried to imagine his life during the four years which he spent in +the Medici Palace, now<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a> Palazzo Riccardi, under the patronage of Lorenzo +the Magnificent, while he was studying with the same tremendous energy +that marked all his life, going almost daily to the Brancacci Chapel to +learn from Masaccio's frescoes, and plunging into the subject of anatomy +more like a devotee than a student.</p> + +<p>They learned of his visit to Rome, where, before he was twenty-five +years old, he sculptured the grand <i>Pietá</i>, or <i>Dead Christ</i>, which is +still in St. Peter's; and of his return to Florence, where he foresaw +his <i>David</i> in the shapeless block of marble, and gained permission of +the commissioners to hew it out,—the David which stood so long under +the shadow of old gray Palazzo Vecchio, but is now in the Academy.</p> + +<p>Then came the beginnings of his painting; and they saw the <i>Holy Family</i> +of the Uffizi Gallery—his only finished easel picture—which possesses +more of the qualities of sculpture than painting; and read about his +competition with Leonardo da Vinci when he prepared the famous <i>Cartoon +of Pisa</i>, now known to the world only by fragmentary copies.</p> + +<p>Then Pope Julius II. summoned him back to Rome to begin work on that +vast monument conceived for the commemoration of his own greatness, and +destined never to be finished; and afterward <a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>gave him the commission to +paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican.</p> + +<p>Returning to Florence in an interval of this work, he sculptured the +magnificent Medici monuments, to see which they often visited the Chapel +of the Medici. At the same time, since the prospect of war had come to +the beautiful city, he built those famous fortifications on San Miniato +through whose gateway they entered whenever they visited this lovely +hill, crowned by a noble old church and a quiet city of the dead.</p> + +<p>They drove out to Settignano to visit the villa where he lived when a +child, and which he owned all his life; and went to Casa Buonarroti in +Florence, where his descendants have gathered together what they could +of the great master's sketches, early bas-reliefs, and manuscripts. Here +they looked with reverence upon his handwriting, and little clay models +moulded by his own fingers.</p> + +<p>They talked of his affection for the noble Vittoria Colonna, and read +the sonnets he wrote to her.</p> + +<p>In short, they admired his great talents, loved his character, condoned +his faults of temper, and felt the utmost sympathy with him in all the +vicissitudes of his grand, inspiring life.</p> + +<p>"It seems strange," said Mr. Sumner one day, as they returned from the +Academy, where they <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>had been looking at casts and photographs of his +sculptured works, "that though Michael Angelo was undoubtedly greatest +as a sculptor, yet his most important works in the world of art are his +paintings. Those grand frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome alone +afforded him sufficient scope for his wonderful creative genius. When we +get to Rome I shall have much to tell you about them."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The question as to the best thing to do for the remainder of the year +was often talked over by Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner. Barbara, Bettina, +Malcom, and Margery were so interested in their art study that it was +finally thought best to travel in such a way that this could be +continued to advantage, and they were now thinking of leaving Florence +for Rome.</p> + +<p>There had been one source of anxiety for some time, and that was the +condition of Howard's health. Instead of gain there seemed to be a +continual slow loss of strength that was perceptible especially to Mrs. +Douglas. He had recently won her sincere respect by the manful way in +which he had struggled to conceal his love for Barbara. So well did he +succeed that Malcom thought he must have been mistaken in his +conjecture, and the girls were as unconscious as ever. In Bettina's <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>and +Margery's thought, he was especially Barbara's friend, but in no other +way than Malcom was Bettina's; while Barbara was happier than she had +been in a long time, as he showed less and less frequently signs of +nervous irritability and hurt feelings whenever she disappointed him in +any way, as of course she often could not help doing.</p> + +<p>"Howard ought not to have spent the winter here in the cold winds of +Florence," Mrs. Douglas often had said to her brother. "But what could +we do?"</p> + +<p>They were thinking of hastening their departure for Rome on his account, +when one morning his servant came to the house in great alarm, to beg +Mrs. Douglas to go to his young master at once.</p> + +<p>"He is very ill," he said, "and asks for you continually."</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Douglas and her brother reached Howard's hotel, they found +that already one of the most skilful physicians of the city was there, +and that he wished to send for trained nurses.</p> + +<p>"I fear pneumonia," he said, "and the poor young man is indeed illy +prepared to endure such a disease."</p> + +<p>"Spare no pains, no expense," urged Mr. Sumner; "let the utmost possible +be done."</p> + +<p>"I will stay with you," said Mrs. Douglas, as the hot hand eagerly +clasped hers. "I will not leave <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>you, my poor boy, while you are ill." +And, sending for all she needed, she prepared to watch over him as if he +were her own son.</p> + +<p>But all endeavors to check the progress of the disease were futile. The +enfeebled lungs could offer no resistance. One day, after having lain as +if asleep for some time, Howard opened his eyes, to find Mrs. Douglas +beside him. With a faint smile he whispered:—</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking so much. I am glad now that Barbara does not love +me, for it would only give her pain—sometime tell her of my love for +her—"</p> + +<p>Then by and by, with the tenderest look in his large eyes, he added, +"May she come, to let me see her once more?—You will surely trust me +now!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Howard! My noble Howard!" was all that Mrs. Douglas could answer; +but at her words a look of wonderful happiness lighted his face.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Douglas asked the physician if a friend could be permitted to +see Howard, he replied:—</p> + +<p>"He cannot live; therefore let him have everything he desires."</p> + +<p>And so, before consciousness left him, Barbara came with wondering, +sorrowful eyes, and in answer to his pleading look and Mrs. Douglas's +low word, bent her fair young head and kissed tenderly the <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>brow of the +dying young man who had loved her so much better than she knew. And +Howard's life ebbed away.</p> + +<p>It was almost as if one of the family were gone. They did not know how +much a part of their life he had become until he came no more to the +home he had enjoyed so much—to talk—to study—to bring tributes of +love and gratitude—and to contribute all he could to their happiness.</p> + +<p>Whatever they would do, wherever they would go, there was one missing, +and their world was sadly changed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner sent the mournful tidings to the lonely grandmother over the +ocean, and accompanied the faithful John as far as Genoa, on his way +homeward with the remains of the young master he had carried in his arms +as a child.</p> + +<p>Then, as it was so difficult to take up even for a little time the old +life in Florence, it was decided that they should go at once toward +Rome.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a>Chapter XI.</h2> + +<h3>On the Way to Rome.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i13"><i>Fair Italy!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Thou art the garden of the world, the home</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of all art yields, and nature can decree:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Even in thy desert, what is like to thee?</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Thy very weeds are beautiful, thy waste</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>More rich than other climes' fertility:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin grand</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>With an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Lord Byron.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 437px;"> +<img src="images/image178.png" width="437" height="301" alt="ORVIETO CATHEDRAL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ORVIETO CATHEDRAL.</span> +</div> + + +<p>"We will take a roundabout journey to Rome," said Mr. Sumner, "and so +get all the variety of scene and emotion possible. Something that crowds +every moment with interest will be best for all just now."</p> + +<p>And so they planned to go first of all to Pisa: from thence to Siena, +Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi, and so on to Rome.</p> + +<p>Miss Sherman had asked to accompany them, since Florence would be so +dull when they were gone. Indeed, she had stayed on instead of seeking +the warmer, more southern cities simply because they were here.</p> + +<p>Therefore one morning during the last week of February all bade good-by +to their pleasant home in Florence.</p> + +<p>"It seems like an age since we first came here, <a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>doesn't it, Bab, dear?" +said Bettina, as they entered together the spacious waiting-room of the +central railroad station.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Betty; are we the same girls?" answered Barbara, and her smile had +just a touch of dreariness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner and Malcom were seeing to the weighing of the luggage; Mrs. +Douglas, Margery, and Miss Sherman were together; and for a moment the +two girls were alone.</p> + +<p>Somehow Bettina felt a peculiarly tender care of her sister just now, +and was never absent from her side if she could help it. Without +understanding why or what it was, she yet felt that something had +happened which put a slight barrier between them; that something in +which she had no share had touched Barbara. She had been wistfully +watching her ever since she had returned from the visit to Howard, and +was striving to keep all opportunity for painful thought from her.</p> + +<p>At present, Barbara shrank from telling even Bettina, from whom she had +never before hidden a thought, of that last meeting with Howard. No girl +could ever mistake such a look as that which had lighted his eyes as she +stooped to kiss his brow in answer to Mrs. Douglas's request. There +would be no need for Mrs. Douglas ever to tell her the story. The loving +devotion that shone forth <a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>even in his uttermost weakness had thrilled +her very soul, and she could not forget it for a moment when alone.</p> + +<p>A certain sense of loss which she could not define followed her. +Somehow, it did mean more to her than it did to any one else, that +Howard was gone from their lives, but she knew that not even Betty would +understand. Indeed, she could not herself understand, for she was sure +that she had not loved Howard.</p> + +<p>Though Barbara did not know it, the truth was that for a single instant +she had felt what it is to be loved as Howard loved her; and the loss +she felt was the loss of love,—not Howard's love—but love for itself +alone. She was not just the same girl she was when she had entered +Florence a few months ago, nor ever again would be; and between her and +Bettina,—the sisters who before this had been "as one soul in two +bodies,"—ran a mysterious Rubicon, the outer shore of which Bettina's +feet had not yet touched.</p> + +<p>The hasty return of Mr. Sumner and Malcom with two lusty <i>facchini</i>, who +seized the hand-luggage, the hurry to be among the first at the opening +of the big doors upon the platform beside which their train was drawn +up, and the little bustle of excitement consequent on the desire to +secure an entire compartment <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>for their party filled the next few +minutes, and soon they were off.</p> + +<p>The journey led through a charming country lying at the base of the +Apennines. Picturesque castles and city-crowned hills against the +background of blue mountains, many of whose summits were covered with +gleaming snow, kept them looking and exclaiming with delight, until +finally they reached Lucca, and, sweeping in a half circle around Monte +San Giuliano, which, as Dante wrote, hides the two cities, Lucca and +Pisa, from each other, they arrived at Pisa.</p> + +<p>Although they expected to find an old, worn-out city, yet only Mr. +Sumner and Mrs. Douglas were quite prepared for the dilapidated +carriages that were waiting to take them from the station to their +hotels; for the almost deserted streets, and the general pronounced air +of decadence. Even the Arno seemed to have lost all freshness, and left +all beauty behind as it flowed from Florence, and was here only a +swiftly flowing mass of muddy waters.</p> + +<p>After having taken possession of their rooms in one of the hotels which +look out upon the river, and having lunched in the chilly dining room, +which they found after wandering through rooms and halls filled with +marble statues and bric-a-brac set forth to tempt the eyes of +travellers, <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>and so suggestive of the quarries in which the neighboring +mountains are rich, they started forth for that famous group of sacred +buildings which gives Pisa its present fame.</p> + +<p>They were careful to enter the Cathedral by the richly wrought door in +the south transept (the only old one left) and, passing the font of holy +water, above which stands a <i>Madonna and Child</i> designed by Michael +Angelo, sat down beneath Andrea del Sarto's <i>St. Agnes</i>, and listened to +Mr. Sumner's description of the famous edifice.</p> + +<p>He told them that the erection of this building marked the dawn of +mediæval Italian art. It is in the old basilica style, modified by the +dome over the middle of the top. Its columns are Greek and Roman, and +were captured by Pisa in war. Its twelve altars are attributed to +Michael Angelo (were probably designed by him), and the mosaics in the +dome are by Cimabue. They wandered about looking at the old pictures, +seeking especially those by Andrea del Sarto, who was the only artist +familiar to them, whose paintings are there. They touched and set +swinging the bronze lamp which hangs in the nave, and is said to have +suggested to Galileo (who was born in Pisa), his first idea of the +pendulum.</p> + +<p>Then, going out, they climbed the famous Leaning Tower, and visited the +Baptistery, where <a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>is Niccolo Pisano's wonderful sculptured marble +pulpit.</p> + +<p>Afterward they went into the Campo Santo, which fascinated them by its +quaintness, so unlike anything they had ever seen before. They thought +of the dead reposing in the holy earth brought from Mount Calvary; +looked at the frescoes painted so many hundreds of years ago by Benozzo +Gozzoli, pupil of Fra Angelico; at the queer interesting <i>Triumph of +Death</i> and <i>Last Judgment</i>, so long attributed to Orcagna and now the +subject of much dispute among critics; and then, wearied with seeing so +much, they went into the middle of the enclosure and sat on the +flagstones in the warm sun amid the lizards and early buttercups.</p> + +<p>The next afternoon they went to Siena, and arrived in time to see, from +their hotel windows, the sunset glory as it irradiated all that vast +tract of country that stretches so grandly on toward Rome. Here they +were to spend several days.</p> + +<p>The young travellers were just beginning to experience the charm which +belongs peculiarly to journeying in Italy—that of finding, one after +another, these delightful old cities, each in its own characteristic +setting of country, of history, of legend and romance.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>They were full of the thrill of expected emotion,—that most delicious +of all sensations.</p> + +<p>And they received no disappointment from this old "red city." They saw +its beautiful, incomparably beautiful, Cathedral, full of richness of +sculpture and color in morning, noon, and evening light; and were never +tired of admiring every part of it, from its graffito and mosaic +pavement to its vaulted top filled with arches and columns, that +reminded them of walking through a forest aisle and looking up through +the interlaced branches of trees.</p> + +<p>They visited the Cathedral Library, whose walls are covered with those +historical paintings by Pinturrichio, the little deaf Umbrian painter, +in whose design Raphael is said to have given aid.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Sumner wished that the time they could give to the study of +paintings be spent particularly among the works of the old Sienese +masters. So they went again and again to the Accademia delle Belle Arti +and studied those quaint, half-Byzantine works, full of pathetic grace, +by Guido da Siena, by Duccio, Simone Martini, Lippo Memmi, and the +Lorenzetti brothers.</p> + +<p>Here, too, they found paintings by Il Sodoma, a High Renaissance artist, +which pleased them more than all else. <i>The Descent into Hades</i>, where +is the exquisitely lovely figure of Eve, whose mournful <a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>gaze is fixed +on her lost son, toward whom the Saviour stoops with pity, drew them +again and again to the hall where the worn fresco hangs; and after they +had found, secluded in its little cabinet, that fragment which +represents <i>Christ Bound to a Column</i>, of which Paul Bourget has written +so tenderly, they voted this painter one of the most interesting they +had yet found.</p> + +<p>To Bettina, the "saint-lover," as Malcom had dubbed her, the city gained +an added interest from having been the home of St. Catherine of Siena, +and the others shared in some degree her enthusiasm. They made a +pilgrimage to the house of St. Catherine, and all the relics contained +therein were genuinely important to them, for, as Betty averred again +and again:—</p> + +<p>"You know she did live right here in Siena, so it must be true that this +is her house and that these things were really hers."</p> + +<p>They admired Palazzo Publico within and without; chiefly from without, +for they could never walk from the Cathedral to their hotel without +pausing for a time to look down into the picturesque Piazza del Campo +where it stands, and admire its lofty walls, so mediæval in character, +with battlemented cornice and ogive windows.</p> + +<p>They walked down the narrow streets and then climbed them. They drove +all over the city <a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>within its brown walls; and outside on the road that +skirts them and affords such lovely views of the valley and Tuscan +hills. They were sincerely sorry when at last the day came on which they +must leave it and continue on their way.</p> + +<p>"Why are we going to Orvieto, uncle?" asked Malcom, as they were waiting +at Chiusi for their connection with the train from Florence to Orvieto.</p> + +<p>"For several reasons, Malcom. In the first place, it is one of the best +preserved of the ancient cities of Italy. So long ago as the eighth +century it was called <i>urbs vetus</i> (old city) and its modern name is +derived from that. Enclosed by its massive walls, it still stands on the +summit of its rocky hill, which was called <i>urbibentum</i> by the old +historian, Procopius. It is comparatively seldom visited by the ordinary +tourist, and is thoroughly unique and interesting. In the second place, +in its Cathedral are most valuable examples of Fra Angelico's, Benozzo +Gozzoli's, and Signorelli's paintings; and, in the third place, I love +the little old city, and never can go to or from Rome without spending +at least a few hours there if it is possible for me to do so. Are these +weighty enough reasons?" and Mr. Sumner drew his arm affectionately into +that of the tall young man he loved so well. "But here comes our train."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>"This cable-tram does not look very ancient," said Malcom, when a half +hour later they stood on the platform of the little railway station at +Orvieto and looked up at the hillside.</p> + +<p>"No; its only merit is that it takes us up quickly," replied his mother, +as they reached the waiting car. "All try if you can to get seats with +back to the hill, so that you will command the view of this beautiful +valley as we rise."</p> + +<p>The city did indeed look foreign as they entered its wall, left the +cable-car, and, in a hotel omnibus, rattled through the streets, so +narrow that it is barely possible for two carriages to pass each other.</p> + +<p>"Is everybody old here, do you suppose?" slyly whispered Bettina to +Barbara, as they were taken in charge by a very old woman, who led the +way to the rooms already engaged for the party. "I should be afraid to +come here all alone; everything is so strange.</p> + +<p>"Oh! but how pleasant," she added, brightly, as they were shown into a +sweet, clean room, whose windows opened upon a small garden filled with +rose-bushes, and whose two little beds were snowy white. "How delightful +to be here a little later, when these roses will be in bloom!"</p> + +<p>The brown withered face of the old chambermaid beamed upon the two young +girls, and <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>showed her satisfaction at their evident delight, and when +she found that they could understand and speak a little of her own +language, her heart was indeed won, and she bustled about seeking +whatever she could do to add to their comfort, just for the pleasure of +being near them.</p> + +<p>"It must be a delightful place to visit," said Barbara, when finally +they were alone, "but I should not like to have to live here for any +length of time, I know; so gray, so old, so desolate it all seemed on +our way through the streets," and a slight shiver ran through her at the +remembrance.</p> + +<p>Soon they went to the Cathedral; admired its façade, decorated with +mosaics in softly brilliant colors until it looked like a great opal, +shining against the deep blue sky; entered it and saw Fra Angelico's +grand <i>Christ</i>, and calm, holy saints and angels; and, close to them +(the most striking contrast presented in art), Luca Signorelli's wild, +struggling, muscular figures.</p> + +<p>They went into the photograph store on the corner for photographs, and +to the little antique shop opposite, where they bought quaint Etruscan +ornaments to take away as souvenirs,—and then gave themselves to +exploring the city; after which they all confessed to having fallen +somewhat under the spell of its charm.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>The next afternoon found them on their way, around Lake Trasimeno, to +Perugia.</p> + +<p>Little had been said about this city, for their conversation had been +engaged with those they had left behind. Malcom, only, had been looking +up its history in his guide-book, and was interested to see the place +that had been bold enough to set itself up even against Rome, and so had +earned the title "audacious" inscribed on its citadel by one of the +Popes.</p> + +<p>"Magnificent in situation!" he exclaimed, and his eager eyes allowed +nothing to escape them, as their omnibus slowly climbed the high hill, +disclosing wide and ever widening views of the valley of the Tiber.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Mr. Sumner, who was enjoying the delighted surprise of +his party, "that Perugia is the most princely city in regard to position +in all Italy. It is perched up here on the summit as an eagle on his +aeried crag, and seems to challenge with proud defiance these lower +cities, that, though each on its own hill-top, look as if slumbering in +the valley below."</p> + +<p>When a little later they were ushered into the brilliantly lighted +dining-room, which was filled almost to overflowing with a gayly dressed +and chattering crowd of guests, most of whom spoke the English language, +all the way thither seemed <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>as a dream. Only the voluminous head-dresses +of the English matrons, and the composite speech of the waiters, told +them surely that they were in a foreign land.</p> + +<p>The next day, after a drive through the city, whose different quarters +present some of the most interesting contrasts to be found in all Italy, +Mr. Sumner took them to the Pinacoteca, or picture-gallery, and before +looking at the pictures, told them in a few words about the early +Umbrian school of painting.</p> + +<p>"It grew out of the early Florentine, and is marked by many of the same +characteristics. It was, however, much modified by the Sienese painting. +It has less strength, as it has also, of course, less originality, than +the Florentine. Its color, on the other hand, is better, stronger, and +more harmonious. Its works possess a peculiar simplicity and +devoutness—much tranquillity and gentleness of sentiment. This gallery +is filled with examples of its masters' painting. It just breathes forth +their spirit, and the best way to absorb it would be to come, each one +of us alone, and give ourselves up to its spell. This is no place for +criticism; only for feeling. Study particularly whatever you find of +Francesca's, Perugino's and Bonfiglio's work.</p> + +<p>"You all know," he continued, "that Perugino, <a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>who lived here and +received his art name because he did so, had an academy of painting, and +that Raphael was for some years one of his pupils. Perugino's influence +on his pupils is strikingly apparent in their work. Raphael's early +painting is exactly after his style. In Perugino's treatment of figures +you will find a mannerism, especially in the way his heads are placed on +the shoulders, and in his faces, which are full of sentiment, the +wistful eyes often being cast upward, but sometimes veiled with heavily +drooping lids.</p> + +<p>"Look! here is one of his pictures. The oval faces with the peculiarly +small mouth are characteristic. You will most readily recognize the work +of this master after you have become a bit familiar with it."</p> + +<p>He also took them to the Cambio, once a Chamber of Commerce, to see +Perugino's frescoes, which he told them are more important in the world +of art than are his easel pictures. Here they seated themselves against +the wall wainscoted with rare wooden sculptures, on the same bench on +which all lovers of the old painter's art who have visited Perugia +through four centuries have sat.</p> + +<p><a name="PERUGINO" id="PERUGINO"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image192.jpg" width="350" height="438" alt="PERUGINO. UFFIZI GALLERY FLORENCE. + +HEAD OF MADONNA. FROM MADONNA AND SAINTS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PERUGINO. UFFIZI GALLERY FLORENCE. + +HEAD OF MADONNA. FROM MADONNA AND SAINTS.</span> +</div> + +<p>And here they studied long the figures of those old Roman heroes chosen +by Perugino to symbolize the virtues; figures which possess a <a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>unique +and irresistible charm because of their athletic proportions and +vigorous action, while their faces are sweet, womanish, and tender, full +of the pensive, mystic devotion which is so characteristic of this old +master and his pupils.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a>Chapter XII.</h2> + +<h3>Robert Sumner Fights a Battle.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>So nigh is grandeur to our dust,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>So near is God to man,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>When duty whispers low, Thou must,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The youth replies, I can.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Emerson.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 504px;"> +<img src="images/image198.png" width="504" height="305" alt="SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Barbara and Bettina had not realized how near they were to Assisi until +talk of driving thither began. In their study of art St. Francis had +figured quite largely, because the scenes in his life were such favorite +ones for representation by the old masters. They had read all about him, +and so were thoroughly prepared for the proposed trip to the home of +this most important old saint.</p> + +<p>Bettina was in a fever of excitement. Drive to Assisi! Drive to the home +of St. Francis! Go through the streets in which he played when a little +boy; walked and rode when a prodigal young man, clad in the richest, +most extravagant attire he could procure; from which he went out in his +martial array; out of which he was taken prisoner when Perugia conquered +Assisi! Drive, perhaps, along that very street in which, after his +conversion, <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>he met the beggar with whom he changed clothes, giving him +the rich garments, and himself putting on the tatters! Or along which +his disappointed father followed him in the fury of persecution, after +he had given his life to poverty and deeds of love! Look upon Mount +Subasio, whither he so loved to retire for prayer! See those very scenes +in the midst of which he and his brethren lived six or seven hundred +years ago! Could it be possible that she and Barbara were about to do +this? It was almost as exciting as when the first thought of coming to +Italy had entered their minds.</p> + +<p>Finally the morning came; and through the winding valley they drove +fifteen miles, until they arrived at the church Santa Maria degli +Angeli, situated on a plain at the foot of the hill on which sits +Assisi. This immense church contains the Portiuncula,—that little +chapel so dear to St. Francis, in which he founded the Franciscan order +of monks, and in which he died,—and is a veritable Mecca, to which +pilgrimages are made from all parts of the Roman Catholic world.</p> + +<p>They spent some time here in visiting the different spots of interest +within the church; in going out to see the tiny garden, where grow the +thornless rose-bushes with blood-stained leaves, <a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>according to the old +tradition, at which they were permitted to look through glass; and in +listening to the rambling talk of a transparent-faced old monk in brown, +Franciscan garb, who waxed more and more daring as he watched the +interested faces of the party, until his tales of the patron saint grew +so impossible that even poor Bettina's faith was sorely tried, and +Malcom stole furtive glances at her to see how she bore it all.</p> + +<p>At length they were free, and went on up the hill to the city. They +stopped at a little hotel whose balcony commanded a magnificent view of +the country, lingered a while, lunched, and then went out to visit the +great double church of San Francesco, beneath which the saint is buried, +and where are notable frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto.</p> + +<p>When all was over, and they were taking their carriages for Perugia, Mr. +Sumner said to his sister: "If you do not mind, I will drive in the +other carriage," and so took his seat with Barbara, Bettina, and Malcom. +All felt a little tired and were silent for a time, each busy with his +own thoughts. Finally Barbara asked, in a thoughtful tone:—</p> + +<p>"Did you notice the names on the leaves of the travellers' book at the +hotel? I glanced over the opposite page as I wrote mine, and <a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>among the +addresses were Australia, Germany, Norway, England, and America."</p> + +<p>"I noticed it," answered Mr. Sumner, "and of course, like you, could not +help asking myself the question, 'Why do travellers from all parts of +the Christian world come to this small city, which is so utterly +unimportant as the world reckons importance?' Simply because a good man +was once born, lived, and died here. Surely one renews one's faith in +God and humanity as one thinks of this fact."</p> + +<p>"May not the paintings alone draw some visitors?" asked Malcom, after +thinking for a few moments of his uncle's words.</p> + +<p>"But even then we must allow that the paintings would not have been here +if it were not for the saint; so it really amounts to about the same +thing, doesn't it?" answered his uncle, smiling.</p> + +<p>"What a pity it is," said Bettina, thinking of the garrulous old monk +who so evidently desired to earn his <i>lira</i>, "that people will add so +much that is imaginary when there is enough that is true. It is a shame +to so exaggerate stories of St. Francis's life as to make them seem +almost ridiculous."</p> + +<p>When their drive was nearly over and they were watching the ever nearing +Perugia, Malcom <a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>turned toward Mr. Sumner with a serious look and +said:—</p> + +<p>"Uncle Robert, these Italian cities are wonderfully interesting, and I +think I have never enjoyed anything in my life so much as the fortnight +since we left Florence and, of course, the time we were there; and yet I +would not for worlds live here among them."</p> + +<p>Then, as Mr. Sumner looked inquiringly at him, he continued, with an +excited flush: "What is there in them that a man could get hold of to +help, anyway? It seems to me as if their lives have been all lived, as +if they now are dead; and how can any new life be put into them? Look at +these villages we have been passing through! What power can make the +people wish for anything better than they have, can wake them up to make +more of the children than the parents are? In the present condition of +people and government, how can any man, for instance, such as you are, +really accomplish anything? How would one go about it? Now at home, you +know, if one is only man enough, he can have so much influence to make +things better; can give children better schools; can give people books; +can help lift the low-down into a higher place. He can help in making +all sorts of reforms, can be a <i>leader</i> in such things.<a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a> He can go into +politics and try to make them cleaner."</p> + +<p>Malcom had spoken out of his heart, and, in sympathy with him, Bettina +squeezed Barbara's hand under the cover.</p> + +<p>Barbara, however, was looking at Mr. Sumner, and her quick eyes had +noted the sensitive change of expression in his; the startled look of +surprise that first leaped into them, and the steady pain that followed. +An involuntary glance at Barbara told him that she recognized his pain +and longed to say something to help, but she could not; and it was +Bettina who, after a moment's silence, said gently:—</p> + +<p>"I am sure you are right, Malcom, but I think I could live all my life +in this dear, beautiful Italy if all whom I love were with me."</p> + +<p>Malcom did not for a moment think that his words would so touch his +uncle. He had spoken from his own stand-point, with thought of himself +alone, and would have been amazed indeed could he have known what a +steady flame within his uncle's mind his little spark had kindled.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What is the matter with Miss Sherman?" whispered Malcom in Margery's +ear, as, soon after dinner, they went out upon the terrace close to +their hotel to look at the moon rising over the distant hills.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>That young lady had disappeared as soon as they arose from the table, +and Mrs. Douglas had sent Margery to her room to tell her they were +going out, but she had declined to accompany them.</p> + +<p>"Mother thinks she is not feeling quite well," answered Margery, drawing +Malcom's face close to her own; "but I think she is vexed about +something."</p> + +<p>The truth was that Miss Sherman was as nearly cross as she dared to be. +Were she with father and sister, instead of Mrs. Douglas's party, why! +then she could give vent to her feelings; and what a relief it would be! +But now she was trying her best to conquer them, or, rather, to hide +them; but the habit of a lifetime will not easily give way on occasion.</p> + +<p>She had never been so happy in her life as since she left Florence with +Mrs. Douglas. Wherever she was, wherever she went, there was Mr. Sumner, +always full of most courteous consideration for her as his sister's +guest. She had been so happy that her sweetness and gentleness were +irresistible, and again and again had Mrs. Douglas congratulated herself +on having found such an enjoyable companion; and Mr. Sumner felt +grateful to her for enhancing his sister's happiness.</p> + +<p>But to-day a change had taken place in the satisfactory tide of affairs. +Mr. Sumner had been <a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>willing—more than that—had <i>chosen</i> to drive all +the way back from Assisi in the carriage with Malcom, Barbara, and +Bettina, and it was all she could do to hide her chagrin and +displeasure.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas, with her usual kind judgment, had decided that she was not +quite well, and throughout the drive had respected her evident desire +for silence, though she wondered a little at it.</p> + +<p>So while she and Margery were talking about good St. Francis, whose +heart overflowed with love to every living creature—mankind, animals, +birds, and flowers, and whose whole life was given up to their +service—Miss Sherman hugged close her little jealous grievance and, +brooding over it, gave no thought to the associations of the place they +had just visited, or to the glorious Italian landscape through which +they were passing.</p> + +<p>It was not that she really loved Mr. Sumner after all; that is, not as +some women love, for it was not in her nature to do so; but she did wish +to become his wife; and this had been her supreme thought during all the +months since she had met him. Lately the memory of his agitation when +Barbara had passed him that evening of the party had disagreeably +haunted her. It had so moved her that, truth to tell, she mourned over +Howard's death more because it served to withdraw an obstacle between +these two than for any other reason.<a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a> That mere girl, she thought, might +prove a formidable rival. All the more had it seemed so, since she daily +saw what a lovely, noble young woman Barbara really was, and how worthy +a companion, even for Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>So every moment he had devoted to herself or had seemed to choose to be +in her own society, was an especial cause for self-congratulation. But +now she furtively clinched her little gloved hand, and the lids lowered +over her beautiful eyes as they grew hard, and she did not wish to talk.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what is the matter with Lucile" (for so Miss Sherman had +begged to be called), Mrs. Douglas queried with herself that night, and +sought among the events of the day for some possible explanation. "She +seems as if hurt by something." Suddenly the thought flashed into her +mind: "Can it be because Robert left us to drive with the others? Can it +be that she has learned to care for him so much as that?" And her +woman's nature overflowed with sympathy at the suggestion of such an +interpretation.</p> + +<p>She had not forgotten the desire that crept into her heart that morning +of the day they spent at Fiesole; and now came the glad belief that if +Miss Sherman had really learned to love her brother, it must be that in +time he would feel it, and yield to the sweetness of her affection. She +did not wonder <a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>that Lucile should love her darling brother. Indeed, how +could any woman help it? And she was so sensitive that she might acutely +feel even such a little thing as his not returning in the carriage with +them. And her quietness might have been caused by the disappointment. +She would be herself the next morning; and Mrs. Douglas resolved to be +only kinder and more loving than ever to her.</p> + +<p>And, indeed, the next morning the clouds were all dissipated, and Miss +Sherman accepted, with her usual sweet smile, her portion of the flowers +that Mr. Sumner brought to the ladies of his party.</p> + +<p>But the night just passed would never be forgotten by Robert Sumner, and +had marked a vital change in his life. He had walked the floor of his +moonlighted room until the early morning hours, his thoughts given +wholly to the great subject Malcom's unconscious words had opened within +his mind. Could it be that unconsciously, through weakness, he had +yielded himself to a selfish course of living? He, whose one aim and +ideal had ever been to give his life and its opportunities for the +benefit of others? Had his view been a narrow one, when he had so longed +that it should be wide and ever wider?</p> + +<p>It really began to seem so in the pitiless glare of the light now thrown +upon it. He had surely been <a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>living for his fellow-men. He had been +striving to make his own culture helpful to those who were less happy in +opportunity. But had his outlook been far and wide enough? Had not the +personal sorrow to which he had yielded narrowed to his eyes the +world,—<i>his</i> world, in which God had put him? Living on here in his +loved Italy, the knowledge he had gained was being sent out to aid those +who already had enough to enable them to follow into the higher paths he +opened. His pictures, every one of which had grown out of his own heart, +were bearing messages to those whose eyes were opened to read. But what +of the great mass of humanity, God's humanity too, which was waiting for +some one to awaken the very first desires for culture? For some one to +open, never so little, the blind eyes? As Malcom had said, no one, no +foreigner certainly, could ever reach this class of people in Italy. The +Church and the heavy hand of past centuries of ignorance forbade this.</p> + +<p>But what of the great young land across the waters where he had been +born—his own land—the refuge of the poor of all countries of the +earth, even of his dear Italy? Surely no power of influence there could +be forbidden. The good that wealth, culture, and art, guided by a heart +consecrated to humanity, could work was limitless there.</p> + +<p>He now saw that his personal sorrow, his own <a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>selfish grief, had come +between all this and himself for six long years. In deep humiliation he +bowed himself; and looking out over the great plain at his feet, in +which lay Assisi and the paths the worn feet of St. Francis and his +brethren had so often trod six centuries ago, now all gilded with the +light of the same moon that was shining over the distant land of his +birth, Robert Sumner pledged his life anew to God and his fellow-man, +and determined that his old grief should be only a stepping-stone to a +larger service; that, keeping Italy and her treasures in his life only +as a recreation and a source of inspiration, he would hereafter live in +his own America.</p> + +<p>In the peace of mind that came after the struggle, which was no slight +one, he slept and dreamed,—dreamed of the fair girl he had so loved +with all the force of his young, strong nature, and whom he had so long +mourned. She smiled upon him, and into her smile came the lovelight he +had seen in Barbara's eyes that birthday evening, and then she changed +into Barbara, and he awoke with the thought of the wistful look she had +given him the afternoon before when Malcom's words wounded.</p> + +<p>In the morning, as he gave the flowers he had chosen expressly for her, +and their hands for a moment met, the remembrance of this dream <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>flashed +into his mind, and Barbara, surprised, felt a momentary lingering of his +touch.</p> + +<p>After breakfast Mrs. Douglas declared her intention to spend the morning +in writing letters, and advised the others to follow her example.</p> + +<p>"You know we go to Rome to-morrow, and I prophesy no one of us will feel +like sparing much time for writing during our first days there," she +said.</p> + +<p>Barbara and Bettina spent an hour on their home-letter, then stole away +alone, and finding a secluded spot on the grand terrace in front of +their hotel, sat down, with the great valley before them. The blue sky, +so clear and blue, was full of great white puffs of cloud whose shadows +were most fascinating to watch as they danced over the plain,—now +hiding a distant city,—now permitting just a gleam of sunshine to gild +its topmost towers; and anon flitting, leaving that city-crowned summit +all in light, while another was enveloped in darkness.</p> + +<p>They talked long together, as only two girls who love each other can +talk—of the sky and the land; of the impressions daily received; of the +thoughts born of their present daily experiences; of the home friends +from whom they were so widely separated. Then they grew silent, giving +themselves to the dreamy beauty of the scene.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>By and by Barbara, her eyes dark with unwonted feeling, turned +impulsively to her sister and began to talk of that which had been so +often in her mind,—her visit to Howard just before he died. Something +now impelled her to tell that of which she had before kept silence. Her +voice trembled as she described the scene—the eyes that spoke so much +when the voice was already forever silent—and the wonderful love she +saw in them when she gave the tender kiss.</p> + +<p>"He did love you, did he not, Bab dear?" said Bettina, in a hushed, +awestricken voice.</p> + +<p>"Should you ever have loved him?" she asked timidly after a pause, +looking at her sister as if she were invested with a new, strange +dignity, that in some way set her apart and hallowed her.</p> + +<p>"No, dear, I am sure—not as he loved me. I wish, oh! so much, that I +could have made him happy; but since I know that could never have been, +do you know, Betty, I am beginning to be glad that he has gone from us; +that I can never give him any more pain. I never before dreamed what it +may be to love. You know, Betty, we have never had time to think of such +things; we have been too young. Somehow," and her fingers caressed the +roses in her belt, "things seem different lately."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a>Chapter XIII.</h2> + +<h3>Cupid Laughs.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>From court to the cottage,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>In bower and in hall,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>From the king unto the beggar,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Love conquers all.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Though ne'er so stout and lordly,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Strive or do what you may,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Yet be you ne'er so hardy,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Love will find out the way.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Anonymous<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 487px;"> +<img src="images/image214.png" width="487" height="304" alt="RUINS OF FORUM, ROME." title="" /> +<span class="caption">RUINS OF FORUM, ROME.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Mr. Sumner and Mrs. Douglas had been most fortunate in getting +possession of extremely pleasant apartments close to the Pincio. These +were in the very same house in which they had lived with their parents +twenty years before, when Mrs. Douglas was a young girl of eighteen +years. Here she had first met and learned to love young Kenneth Douglas, +so that most tender memories clustered about the place, and she was glad +that her children should learn to know it.</p> + +<p>She soon began to pick up the old threads of life. "Ah me! what golden +threads they then were," she often sighed. Mr. Sumner was at home here +in Rome almost as much as in Florence, and was busy for a time making +and receiving calls from artist friends.</p> + +<p>Malcom had his own private guide, and from <a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>morning until night they +hardly saw him. He averred himself to be in the seventh heaven, and +there was little need that he should proclaim the fact; it was evident +enough. Julius Cæsar's Commentaries, Cicero's Orations, Virgil, all +Roman history were getting illuminated for him in such a way that they +would never grow dim.</p> + +<p>But at first the others felt sensibly the change from dear, familiar +little Florence. Rome is so vast in her history, legend, and romance! +The city was oppressive at near sight.</p> + +<p>"Shall we ever really know anything about it all?" asked the girls of +each other. Even Miss Sherman, who had been able to get a room in a +small hotel close by, and so was still their constant companion, wore a +little troubled air now and then, as if there were something she ought +to do and did not know how to set about it.</p> + +<p>They drove all over the city; saw its ancient ruins—the Colosseum, the +Forums, the Palatine Hill, the Baths of Agrippa, Caracalla, Titus, and +Diocletian; visited the Pantheon, Castle of St. Angelo, and many of the +most important churches. They drove outside the walls on the Via Appia, +and saw all the many interesting things by the way. They sought all the +best points of view from which they could look out over the great city.</p> + +<p>One afternoon they were all together on the wide <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>piazza in front of San +Pietro in Montorio, which commands a very wide outlook. Here, after +having studied the location of chief points of interest, they gave +themselves up to the delight of a superb sunset view. As they lingered +before again taking their carriages, Malcom told some of his morning +experiences, and Barbara wistfully said:—</p> + +<p>"I wonder if we ought not to begin some definite study of Roman history +and the old ruins. Betty and I have taken some books from the library in +Piazza di Spagna, and are reading hard an hour or two every day, but it +gives me a restless feeling to know that there is so much all about me +that I do not understand," and she looked inquiringly at Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"Robert and I have talked over this very thing," replied Mrs. Douglas.</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell them what we think?" she asked her brother, as he rather +abruptly turned away. On his assent she continued:—</p> + +<p>"It is a familiar question, since I very plainly remember hearing my +father and mother talk of it when I was your age, and Robert was but a +lad. My father said it would take a lifetime of patient study to learn +thoroughly all that can to-day be learned of what we call ancient +Rome—the Rome of the Cæsars; and how many Romes existed before that, of +which we can know nothing, save <a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>through legend and tradition! 'Now, +will it not be best,' he asked, 'that we read all we can of legend and +the chief points of Roman history up to the present time, so that the +subject of Rome get into our minds and hearts; and then try to absorb +all we can of the spirit of both past and present, so that we shall know +Rome even though we have not tried to find out all about her? We cannot +accomplish the latter, and if we try I fear we shall miss everything.' +My mother agreed fully with him. And so, many evenings at home; father +would read to us pathetic legends and stirring tales of ancient Roman +life; and we would often go and sit amidst the earth-covered ruins on +the Palatine. Here, children, I have heard your own dear father more +than once repeat, as only he could, Byron's graphic lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Cypress and ivy, weed and wall-flower grown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Matted and mass'd together; hillocks heap'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On what were chambers, arch crushed, column strewn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In fragments; choked-up vaults, and frescoes steep'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deeming it midnight.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"He used to love to repeat bits of poetry everywhere, just as Margery +does.</p> + +<p>"We climbed the Colosseum walls and sat there for hours dreaming of what +it once was—and so <a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>we went all over the city—until I really think I +lived in ancient Rome a part of the time. Often did I weep over the +tragic fate of Roman heroes and matrons as I was in the places sacred to +their history, so deeply impressed was I by the reality of the past life +of Rome. I had not followed the erudite words of any interpreter of the +ruins; I had not learned which was the particular pile of stones which +marks the location of the palace of Tiberius, Augustus, or Septimius +Severus; I could not even give name to all the various ruins of the +Roman Forum, but old Rome was very real to me, and has been ever since.</p> + +<p>"Now," she continued, as she glanced at the interested faces about her, +"we are here for a very short time, and it does seem much the best to +both Robert and me that you should try to get Rome into your <i>hearts</i> +first. Don't be one bit afraid to grow sentimental over her. It is a +good place in which to give ourselves up to sentiment. We will take a +guide for all that which seems necessary. This one afternoon, however, +up here, when you have learned the location of the seven hills and have +clearly fixed in your minds the relative positions of the most important +ruins and old buildings is, in my opinion, worth more than would be many +afternoons spent in prowling through particular ruins; that is, for you. +Were we archæological <a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>students, it would of course be a far different +matter."</p> + +<p>"And we will at once resume our study of paintings," said Mr. Sumner, +drawing nearer. "To-morrow morning, if Malcom has no engagement, we will +go to the Sistine Chapel to see Michael Angelo's frescoes. I have been +so busy until now that I could not get the time I wished for it."</p> + +<p>The next morning, as Barbara and Bettina were getting ready for the +drive according to Mr. Sumner's appointment, Bettina, who was vigorously +brushing her brown suit, heard a sigh from her sister, and looking up +saw her ruefully examining her own skirt.</p> + +<p>"Rather the worse for wear, aren't they, Barbara <i>mia</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, they are. I didn't notice it, though, until we came here into +this bright Rome. We seem to have come all at once into spring sunshine +and the atmosphere of new clothes; and, Betty, I believe I do feel +shabby. I know you have been thinking the same thing, too; for everybody +else seems to have new spring dresses, and they are so fresh and pretty +that ours look doubly worse. Oh, dear!" and she sighed again.</p> + +<p>Then, catching sight of her sister's downcast face, Barbara, in a +moment, after her usual fashion, rose above her annoyance and cried:—</p> + +<p><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>"For shame, Barbara Burnett! to think that you are in Rome, the Eternal +City! that you are dressing to go to the Sistine Chapel to look at +Michael Angelo's frescoes! and do you dare to waste a thought on the +gown you are to wear! Oh, Betty! you are ashamed of me, too, I +know.—There, you dear old brown suit! Forgive me, and I never will do +such a mean thing again. To think of all the lovely places I have been +in with you, and now that I should like to cheat you out of seeing +Michael Angelo's frescoes!" and she adjusted the last button with such a +comical, half-disgusted expression on her face that Betty burst into a +merry laugh.</p> + +<p>When the two girls came down stairs and stepped out upon the sidewalk +beside which the carriages were waiting, their radiant faces gave not +the slightest hint that any annoyance had ever lurked there; and no one, +looking into them, would ever give a thought to the worn brown dresses. +No one? not many, at least. Perhaps Miss Sherman, looking so dainty in +her own fresh attire, did. Anyway, as Mr. Sumner handed her into one of +the carriages, and himself springing in, took a seat beside her, she +shot a triumphant glance at Barbara, who was seating herself in the +other carriage with Bettina and Malcom. Mrs. Douglas and Margery had +gone out on some <a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>morning errand and would follow them presently so Miss +Sherman was alone with Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>Robert Sumner was waging quite a battle with himself during these days. +Ever since that night at Perugia, he had found to his utter dismay that +he could not put Barbara out of his thoughts. Indeed, ever after the +evening of the birthday party she had assumed to him a distinct +individuality. It seemed as if he had received a revelation of what she +was to become. Every now and then as he saw her at home, the vision of +beautiful womanhood that had passed before him that evening would flash +into his mind, and the thought would come that sometime, somewhere, she +would find him into whose eyes could shine from her own that glorious +lovelight that he had for an instant surprised in them.</p> + +<p>It had not seemed to him that he then saw the present Barbara, but that +which she was to be; and this future Barbara had no special connection +with the present one, save to awaken an interest that caused him to be +watchful of her. He had always recognized the charm of her +personality,—her frank enthusiasms, and her rich reserve; the wide +outlook and wise judgment of things unusual in one so young. But now he +began to observe other more intimate qualities,—the wealth of affection +bestowed on Bettina and the distant home; <a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>her tender regard to the +feelings of those about her; her quick resentment of any injustice; her +sturdy self-reliance; her sweet, unspoiled, unselfish nature; and her +longing for knowledge and all good gifts.</p> + +<p>Then came Howard's death, and he realized how deeply she was moved. A +new look came often into her eyes, which he noted; a new tone into her +voice, which he heard. And yet he felt that the experience had not +touched the depths of her being.</p> + +<p>While they were on the way from Florence to Rome he had rejoiced every +time he heard her voice ringing with the old merry tones, which showed +that she had for the moment forgotten all sad thoughts. When he was +ostensibly talking to all, he was often really talking only to Barbara, +and watching the expression of her eyes; and he always listened to catch +her first words when any new experience came to their party. He was +really fast getting into a dangerous condition, this young man nearly +thirty years old, but was as unconscious of it as a child.</p> + +<p>At Perugia came the night struggle caused by Malcom's words; the dream, +and the morning meeting with Barbara. When his hand touched hers as he +put into them the roses, he felt again for an instant the electric +thrill that ran through <a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>him on the birthday night, when he met that +wonderful look in her eyes. It brought a feeling of possession, as if it +were the hand of his Margaret which he had touched,—Margaret, who was +so soon to have been his wife when death claimed her.</p> + +<p>He tried to account for it. He was jealous for the beloved dead whose +words, whose ways, whose face had reigned supreme over his heart for so +many years, when he caught himself dwelling on Barbara's words, +recalling her tricks of tone, her individual ways.</p> + +<p>He set himself resolutely to the task of overcoming this singular +tendency of his thought; and oh! how the little blind (but all-seeing) +god of love had been laughing at Robert Sumner all through the days +since they reached Rome.</p> + +<p>Instead of driving and walking about with the others, he had zealously +set himself the task of calling at the studios of all his artist +friends; had visited exhibitions; had gone hither and thither by +himself; and yet every time had hastened home, though he would not admit +it to his own consciousness, in order that he might know where Barbara +was, what she was doing, and how she was feeling. He had busied himself +in fitting up a sky-lighted room for a studio, where he resolved to +spend many morning hours, forgetting all else save his <a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>beloved +occupation; and the very first time he sat before his easel a sketch of +Barbara's face grew out of the canvas. The harder he tried to put her +from his thoughts, the less could he do so, and he grew restless and +unhappy.</p> + +<p>Another cause of troubled, agitated feeling was his decision to return +to America and there make his home. In this he had not faltered, but it +oppressed him. He loved this Italy, with her soft skies, her fair, +smiling vineyards and bold mountain backgrounds, her romantic legends, +and, above all, her art-treasures. He had taken her as his +foster-mother. Her atmosphere stimulated him to work in those directions +his heart loved best. How would it be when he should be back again in +his native land? He had fought his battle; duty had told him to go +there; and when she had sounded the call, there could be no retreat for +him. But love and longing and memory and fear all harassed him. He had +as yet said nothing of this to his sister, but it weighed on him +continually. Taken all in all, Robert Sumner's life, which had been +keyed to so even a pitch, and to which all discord had been a stranger +for so many years, was sadly jarred and out of tune.</p> + +<p>Of course Mrs. Douglas's keen sisterly eyes could not be blind to the +fact that something was troubling her brother. And it was such an +<a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>unusual thing to see signs of so prolonged disturbance in him that she +became anxious to know the cause. Still she could not speak of it first. +Intimate as they were, the inner feelings of each were very sacred to +the other, and she must wait until he should choose to reveal all to +her.</p> + +<p>She well knew that his heart had been wholly consecrated to the only +love it had heretofore known, and the query had often arisen in her mind +whether the approach of another affection might not in the first place +work some unhappiness. That he could ever love again as he had loved +Margaret she did not for a moment believe. She well knew, however, that +the happiness of any woman who might give her life into her brother's +keeping was safe, and her wish for him was that he might be so drawn +toward some loving woman that he might desire to make her his wife, and +so be blessed with family life and love; for the thought that he might +live lonely, without family ties, was inexpressibly sad to her loving +heart.</p> + +<p>We have seen how the coming of Miss Sherman into their lives roused +these hopes afresh; and she now wondered if his evident unrest might be +caused by the first suggestion of the thought of asking her to become +his wife. It was evident that he admired her and enjoyed her society; +<a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>and, so far as Miss Sherman's feelings were concerned, she felt no +doubt. Indeed, she sometimes shrank a bit from the free display of her +fondness for his company, and hoped that Malcom and the girls might not +notice it. She easily excused it, however, to herself, although the +closer intimacy of daily intercourse was revealing, little by little, +flaws in the character she had thought so fair.</p> + +<p>How utterly mistaken was Mrs. Douglas! and how shocked would Lucile +Sherman have been this very morning could she have known how strong a +longing leaped into Robert Sumner's heart to take into his hungry arms +that graceful figure in worn brown suit, with brave, smiling young face +and steadfast eyes, put her into his carriage, and drive +away,—anywhere,—so it only were away and away!</p> + +<p>Or, how stern a grip he imposed on himself as he took his seat beside +her dimpling, chattering self, radiant with fresh colors and graceful +draperies.</p> + +<p>Or, of the tumult of his thoughts as they drove along through the narrow +streets, across the yellow Tiber and up to the stately entrance of St. +Peter's.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a>Chapter XIV.</h2> + +<h3>A Visit to the Sistine Chapel.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Deep love lieth under</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>These pictures of time;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>They fade in the light of</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Their meaning sublime.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Emerson.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 482px;"> +<img src="images/image230.png" width="482" height="301" alt="ST. PETER'S AND CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO, ROME." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ST. PETER'S AND CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO, ROME.</span> +</div> + + +<p>They first passed into the great Cathedral in order to give a look at +that most beautiful of all Michael Angelo's sculptures—<i>Mary holding on +her knees her dead Son</i>. Barbara and Bettina had studied it on a former +visit to St. Peter's when Mr. Sumner was not with them. Now he asked +them to note the evident weight of the dead Christ,—with every muscle +relaxed,—a triumph of the sculptor's art; and, especially, the +impersonal face of the mother; a face that is simply the embodiment of +her feeling, and wholly apart from the ordinary human!</p> + +<p>"This is a special characteristic of Michael Angelo's faces," he said, +"and denotes the high order of his thought. In it, he approached more +closely the conceptions of the ancient Greek masters than has any other +modern artist—and now <a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>we will go to the Sistine Chapel," he added, +after a little time.</p> + +<p>They went out to the Vatican entrance, passed the almost historic Swiss +Guards, and climbed the stairs with quite the emotion that they were +about to visit some sacred shrine, so much had they read and so deeply +had they thought about the frescoes they were about to see.</p> + +<p>For some time after they entered the Chapel Mr. Sumner said nothing. The +custodian, according to custom, provided them with mirrors; and each one +passed slowly along beneath the world-famous ceiling paintings, catching +the reflection of fragment after fragment, figure after figure. Soon the +mirrors were cast aside, and the opera-glasses Mr. Sumner had advised +them to bring were brought into use,—they were no longer content to +study simply a reflected image.</p> + +<p>At last necks and eyes grew tired, and when Mr. Sumner saw this, he +asked all to sit for a time on one of the benches, in a corner apart +from others who were there.</p> + +<p>"I know just how you feel," he said. "You are disappointed. The frescoes +are so far above our heads; their colors are dull; they are disfigured +by seams; there are so many subjects that you are confused and weary. +You are already striving to retain their interest and importance by +connecting <a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>them with the personality of their creator, and are +imagining Michael Angelo swung up there underneath the vault, above his +scaffoldings, laboring by day and by night during four years. You are +beginning in the wrong place to rightly comprehend the work.</p> + +<p>"It is the magnitude of Michael Angelo's <i>conceptions</i> that puts him +among the very first of painters; and it is the conception of these +frescoes that makes them the most notable paintings in the world. We +must dwell on this for a moment. When the work was begun it was the +artist's intention to paint on the end wall, opposite the altar, the +Fall of Lucifer, the enemy of man, who caused sin to befall him. This +was never accomplished. Then he designed to cover the ceiling (as he +did) with the chief Biblical scenes of the world's history that are +connected with man's creation and fall—to picture all these as looking +directly forward to Christ's coming and man's redemption; and then to +complete the series, as he afterward did, by painting this great <i>Last +Judgment</i> over the altar. Is it not a stupendous conception?</p> + +<p>"Let your eyes run along the ceiling as I talk. God is represented as a +most superbly majestic Being in the form of man. He separates light from +darkness. He creates the sun and moon. He commands the waters to bring +forth all kinds <a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>of fish; the earth and air to bring forth animal life. +He creates Adam: nothing more grand is there in the whole realm of art +than this magnificent figure, perfect in everything save the reception +of the breath of eternal life; his eyes are waiting for the Divine spark +that will leap into them when God's finger shall touch his own. He +creates Eve. In Paradise they sin, and are driven out by angels with +flaming swords. Then, a sad sequence to the parents' weakness, Cain +murders his brother Abel. The flood comes and destroys all their +descendants save Noah. He who has withstood evil is saved with his +family in the ark, and becomes the father of a new race."</p> + +<p>"And do the pictures at the corners, and the single figures, have +anything to do with this subject?" asked Malcom, after a pause, during +which all were busy following the thoughts awakened by Mr. Sumner's +words.</p> + +<p><a name="MICHAEL_ANGELO" id="MICHAEL_ANGELO"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image234.jpg" width="350" height="459" alt="MICHAEL ANGELO. SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME. + +THE DELPHIAN SIBYL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MICHAEL ANGELO. SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME. + +THE DELPHIAN SIBYL.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; nothing here is foreign to the one great thought of the +painter. The four irregular spaces at the corners are filled with +representations of important deliverances of the Jewish people from +evil,—David slaying Goliath, the hanging of Haman, the serpent raised +in the wilderness, and Judith with the head of Holofernes. The +connection in Michael Angelo's mind evidently was that God, who had +always provided a help for<a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a> His people, would also in His own time give +a Saviour from their sins.</p> + +<p>"Ranged along the sides you see seven prophets and five sibyls: the +prophets foretold Christ's coming to the Jewish world, and the sibyls +sang of it to the Gentile world.</p> + +<p>"Nowhere, however, do we see the waiting and the longing for the coming +of the Redeemer more strikingly shown than in these +families,—'Genealogy of the Virgin' they are commonly called,—that are +painted in the triangular spaces above the windows. Each represents a +father, mother, and little child, every bit of whose life seems utterly +absorbed with just the idea of patient, expectant waiting. When troubled +and weary, as we all are sometimes, you know, I have often come here to +gain calmness and strength by looking at one or two of these groups;" +and Mr. Sumner paused, with his eyes fixed on one of the loveliest of +the Holy Families, as they are sometimes called, as if he would now +drink in its spirit of hopeful peace.</p> + +<p>"They are waiting," he resumed after a few minutes, "as only those can +wait who confidently hope; and, therefore, there is really nothing in +the rendering of all this grand conception that more clearly points to +the Saviour's coming than do these.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>"I think this part of the frescoes has not generally received the +attention it merits.</p> + +<p>"The decorative figures, called Athletes, that you see seated on the +apparently projecting cornice, at each of the four corners of the +smaller great divisions of the ceiling, are a wholly unique creation of +the artist, and serve as a necessary separation of picture from picture. +They are with reason greatly admired in the world of art.</p> + +<p>"These many figures, each possessing distinct personality, were evolved +from the mind of the artist. We can never think of him as going about +through the city streets seeking models for his work as did Leonardo da +Vinci. His figures are as purely ideal as the creations of the old +Greeks. Now think of all this. Think of the sphere of the old master's +thought during these four years, and you will not wonder that he could +not sleep, but, restless, came again and again at night with a candle +fixed in his paper helmet to light the work of his hands."</p> + +<p>All were silent. Never before had they seen Mr. Sumner so evidently +moved by his subject; and this made it all the more impressive. They +became impatient as they heard a little group of tourists chatting and +laughing in front of the <i>Last Judgment</i>; and when, finally, a crowd of +travellers with a noisy guide entered the Chapel, <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>they quickly decided +to go away and to come again the next day.</p> + +<p>"Thank you so much, Mr. Sumner," said Barbara, in a low, sympathetic +voice, as she found herself beside him as they came out through the long +corridor; "you have made it all very plain to us,—the greatness, the +skill, the patience of Michael Angelo. It is as if he had been inspired +by God."</p> + +<p>"And why not?" was the gentle reply, as he looked down into the upturned +face so full of sweet seriousness. "Do you believe that the days of +inspiration were confined to past ages? God is the same as then, and +close at hand as then; man is the same and with the same needs.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The passive master lent his hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the vast soul that o'er him planned,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>wrote our Emerson, showing he believed, as I firmly do, that we +ourselves now work God's will, as men did ages ago; that God inspires us +even as he did the old Prophets."</p> + +<p>"I love to believe so," said Barbara, simply.</p> + +<p>"And," continued Mr. Sumner, "this does not lessen any man, but rather +makes him greater. Surely God's working through him makes him truly +grander than the mere work itself ever could."</p> + +<p>As Malcom, Barbara, and Bettina drove homeward, <a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>their talk took a +serious turn. Malcom was deeply impressed by his uncle's last words, +which he had overheard, when taken into connection with all the +preceding thoughts about Michael Angelo. Finally he asked:—</p> + +<p>"And then what can a man do? What did Michael Angelo, himself, do if, as +uncle suggested, God wrought through him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Bettina, eagerly. "I have heard papa and mamma +talk about the same thing more than once, only of course Michael Angelo +was not their subject. In the first place, he must have realized that +God sent him into the world to do something, and also that He had not +left him alone, but was with him. Papa always says that to realize this +begins everything that is good."</p> + +<p>"Yes," interrupted Barbara. "He did feel this. Don't you remember that +he wrote in one of his letters that we were reading in that library book +the other day, 'Make no intimacies with any one but the Almighty alone'? +I was particularly struck by it, because just before I read it, I was +thinking what a lonely man he was."</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, I remember. And in the next place," continued Bettina, "papa +says we must get ourselves ready to do as <i>great</i> work as is possible, +so that may be given us. If we do not prepare <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>ourselves, this cannot +be. You know how Michael Angelo studied and studied there in Florence +when he was a young man; how he never spared himself, but 'toiled +tremendously,' as some one has said. And, next, we must do in the very +best way possible even the smallest thing God sees fit to give us to do, +so that we may be found worthy to do greater ones. But, Malcom, you know +all this as well or better than I do, and I know you are trying to do +these things too!" and Bettina blushed at the thought that she had been +preaching.</p> + +<p>But Malcom laughed, and looked as if he could listen to so sweet a +preacher forever. Never were there two better comrades than he and +Bettina had been all their lives.</p> + +<p>Barbara said little. There was a far-away look in her eyes that told of +unexpressed thought. She was pondering that which the morning had +brought; and underneath and through all was the happy knowledge that her +hero had not failed her. As usual he had committed new gifts into her +keeping. And the gentle, almost intimate, tones of his voice when he was +talking to her,—she felt it was to herself alone, though others +heard—dwelt like music in her ears.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner had been calmed by the lesson of Michael Angelo's frescoes, +as he had often been before. In the presence of eternal +verities,—however <a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>they may be embodied to us,—our own private +concerns must ever grow trivial. What matters a little unrest or +disappointment, or even unhappiness, when our thought is engaged with +untold ages of God's dealing with mankind? With the wondrous fact that +God is with man,—Immanuel,—forever and forevermore?</p> + +<p>That evening he spent with the family in their pretty sitting room, and +in answer to some questions about the <i>Last Judgment</i>, talked for a few +minutes about this large fresco, which occupied seven years of Michael +Angelo's life. He told them that although it is not perhaps so great as +a work of art as the ceiling frescoes, yet because of its conception, of +the number of figures introduced, the boldness of their treatment, and +the magnificence of their drawing, it stands unrivalled. He said they +ought to study it, bit by bit, group by group, after having once learned +to understand its design.</p> + +<p>They talked of the grim humor of the artist in giving his Belial—the +master of Hades—the face of the master of ceremonies of the chapel, who +found so much fault with his painting of nude figures.</p> + +<p>"That was the chief feature of interest in the picture to that group of +young people who stood so long before it this morning," said Mr. Sumner. +"I often notice that the portrait of grouty old<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a> Biagio attracts more +attention than any other of the nearly three hundred figures in the +picture."</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder, for I want to see it too," said Malcom, laughing.</p> + +<p>They talked also of Vittoria Colonna, at whose home and in whose +companionship the lonely master found all his happiness, especially +during these years of toil. The girls were much interested in her, and +Mr. Sumner said he would take them to visit the Colonna Palace, where, +among other pictures, they would find a portrait of this noble woman, +who was so famous in the literary life of her time.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>One morning, not long after, Malcom brought a handful of letters from +the banker's, among which several fell to Barbara and Bettina.</p> + +<p>After opening two or three of his own, Mr. Sumner looked up and said:—</p> + +<p>"I have here a letter dictated by Howard's grandmother. It contains only +a few words, which were written evidently by some friend, who adds that +the poor old lady is greatly prostrated, and it is feared will never +recover from the shock of his death."</p> + +<p>"Poor woman! I wish it might have come less suddenly to her," replied +Mrs. Douglas, in a sympathetic voice.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>After a little silence, during which all were busy with their letters, +a low cry burst from Barbara's lips.</p> + +<p>Startled, all looked up to find her, pale as death, staring at a sheet +clutched in her hand, while Bettina had sunk on her knees with her arms +about her sister's waist.</p> + +<p>"What is it? oh! what is it?" cried they.</p> + +<p>Barbara found just voice enough to say: "No bad news from home," and +then appealingly held her letter toward Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"Shall I read it?" and as she bowed assent, he hastily scanned the +contents.</p> + +<p>"Howard left a large portion of his money to Barbara," he said briefly, +in response to the inquiring eyes, and handed the letter back to the +agitated girl, who, with Bettina, sought their own room.</p> + +<p>Then he added, striving to keep his voice calm and natural: "It seems +that the very day before he was taken ill, Howard went to a lawyer in +Florence and made a codicil to his will, in which he grouped several +bequests heretofore given, into one large one, which he gave to Barbara. +This he at once sent to his lawyer in Boston, who has now written to +Barbara."</p> + +<p>"This is what poor Howard tried so hard to tell me at the last," said +Mrs. Douglas. "He began <a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>two or three times, but did not have the +strength to continue. I suspected it was something like this, but +thought it best not to mention it. How much is it?" she asked after a +pause, during which Malcom and Margery had talked in earnest tones.</p> + +<p>"Nearly half a million," answered Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>Barbara the owner of nearly half a million dollars! No wonder she was +overcome! It seemed like an Arabian Nights' tale.</p> + +<p>"How perfectly lovely!" cried Margery; and her mother echoed her words.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner looked rather grave. It was not that Barbara should have the +money, but that another should have the right to give it her. Some one +else to bless the life of the girl who was becoming so dear to him! To +whom he was beginning to long to bring all good things! It was as if the +dead Howard came in some way between himself and her; and he went out +alone beneath the trees of the Pincian Gardens to think it all over.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the two girls were in their chamber. Barbara threw herself on +a couch beneath the window, and gazed with unseeing eyes up into the +depths of the Italian sky. She was stunned by the news the letter had +brought, and, as yet, thought was completely passive.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>Bettina read several times the lawyer's letter, trying to understand +its contents. At last she said gently:—</p> + +<p>"Can it be possible, Bab? I can hardly comprehend how much it is. We +have never thought of so much money in all our lives. Why! you are rich, +dear. You have more money than you ever can spend!"</p> + +<p>Barbara sprang from the couch, and threw out her arms with an exultant +gesture.</p> + +<p>"Spend! I hadn't once thought of that! Betty! Betty! Papa and mamma +shall have everything they wish! They shall never work so hard any more! +Mamma shall have a seamstress every day, and her poor pricked fingers +shall grow smooth! She shall have the loveliest clothes, and never again +give the prettiest of everything to you and me! Papa shall have +vacations, and books, and the study in hospitals he has so longed for! +Richard shall have college <i>certain</i> to look forward to; Lois shall have +the best teachers in the world for her music; Margaret shall be an +artist; and dear little Bertie!—oh! he shall have what he needs for +everything he wishes to do and be! And they shall all come abroad to +this dear lovely Italy, and enjoy all that we are enjoying! And you and +I, Betty!—why!—you and I can have some new spring dresses!" And the +excited girl burst into <a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>a flood of tears, mingled with laughter at the +absurdity of her anti-climax.</p> + +<p>Bettina did not know what to do. She had never seen Barbara so +overwrought with excitement. Presently, however, she began to speak of +Howard, and before long they were talking tenderly of the young man who +so short a time ago was a stranger to them, but whose life had been +destined to touch so closely their own.</p> + +<p>Barbara was profoundly moved as she realized this proof of his affection +for her, and a depression was fast following her moment of exultation, +when a tap at the door ushered in Mrs. Douglas, who took her into her +arms as her mother would have done. Her sweet sympathy and bright +practical talk did a world of good in restoring to both the girls their +natural calmness.</p> + +<p>Barbara, however, was in a feverish haste to do something that would +repay her parents for the money she and Betty were using, and, to soothe +her, Mrs. Douglas told her what to write to the lawyer, so that he would +at once transfer a few thousands of dollars to Dr. Burnett. Then she +said:—</p> + +<p>"I would not write your father and mother about it until to-morrow. You +can do it more <a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>easily then; and I will write, too, if you would like. +Margery and Malcom are longing to see you. So is Robert, I am sure. And +will it not be best for you to go right out somewhere with us?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a>Chapter XV.</h2> + +<h3>A Morning in the Vatican.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Oh! their Rafael of the dear Madonnas.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> +<img src="images/image250.png" width="452" height="304" alt="LOGGIA OF RAPHAEL, VATICAN, ROME." title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOGGIA OF RAPHAEL, VATICAN, ROME.</span> +</div> + + +<p>It was, of course, somewhat difficult for Barbara to adjust herself to +the new conditions. After the first, however, she said nothing to any +one save Bettina about the money Howard had left her, only, as in her +ignorance of business methods, she had need to consult Mrs. Douglas.</p> + +<p>But she and Bettina had many things to talk over and much consultation +to hold regarding the future. One evening, after they had been thus +busy, Bettina said, nestling closer to her sister, as they sat together +on the couch, brave in its Roman draperies:—</p> + +<p>"You must not always say '<i>our</i> money,' Bab, dear."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" with a startled look.</p> + +<p>"Because it is <i>your</i> money,—your very own;—the money Howard gave you +to spend for him, and yourself enjoy."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>"But, Betty, we have shared everything all our lives. I do not know how +to have or use anything that is not yours as well as mine. If Howard had +known my heart, he would have had it just as I would. I shall give you +half, Betty. Do not, oh! do not refuse it. I shall not be happy with it +unless you are willing. Then you and I will work with it and enjoy it +together. It is the only way. Say yes, dear," and Barbara looked at her +sister with an almost piteous entreaty.</p> + +<p>Bettina could say nothing for a time. Then, as if impelled by the force +of Barbara's desire, said:—</p> + +<p>"Wait until we get home. Then, if you wish it as you do now, I will do +as papa and mamma think best; for, darling," in a somewhat quavering +voice, "I know if the money were all mine, I should feel just as you +do." And a loving kiss sealed the compact.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the days in Rome were passing,—lovely in nature as only +spring days in Italy can be; days filled to overflowing with delightful +and unique interest. For cities, as well as people, possess their own +characteristic individualities, and Rome is distinctively an individual +city.</p> + +<p>From her foundation by the shepherd-kings far beyond the outermost +threshold of history, down <a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>through the six or seven centuries during +which she was engaged in conquering the nations; through the five +hundred years of her undisputed reign as proud mistress of the world; in +her sad decay and fall; and to-day in her resurrection, she is only +herself—unlike all other cities.</p> + +<p>The fragmentary ruins of her great heathen temples arise close beside +her Christian churches,—some are even foundations for them,—while the +trappings of many have furnished the rich adornments of Christian +altars. Her mediæval castles and palaces, crowded to overflowing with +heart-breaking traditions, look out over smiling gardens in the midst of +which stand the quiet, orderly, innocent homes of the present race of +commonplace men and women. Her vast Colosseum is only an immense quarry. +Her proud mausoleum of the Julian Cæsars is an unimportant circus.</p> + +<p>We drive or walk on the Corso, along which the Cæsars triumphantly led +processions of captives; through which, centuries later, numberless +papal pageants made proud entries of the city; where the maddest +jollities of carnival seasons have raged: and we see nothing more +important than modern carriages filled with gayly dressed women, and +shops brilliant with modern jewellery and pretty colored fabrics; and we +purchase gloves, handkerchiefs, and photographs close to some spot <a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>over +which, perchance, Queen Zenobia passed laden with the golden chains that +fettered her as she graced the triumph of Emperor Aurelian; or +Cleopatra, when she came conqueror of the proud heart of Julius Cæsar.</p> + +<p>We linger on the Pincio, listening to the sweet music of the Roman band, +while our eyes wander out over the myriad roofs and domes to where great +St. Peter's meets the western horizon; and we forget utterly those dark +centuries during which this lovely hill was given over to Nero's fearful +ghost, until a Pope, with his own hands, cut down the grand trees that +crowned its summit, thus exorcising the demon birds which the people +believed to linger in them and still to work the wicked emperor's will.</p> + +<p>We take afternoon tea at the English Mrs. Watson's, beside the foot of +the <i>Scala di Spagna</i>, close to whose top tradition tells us that +shameless Messalina, Claudius's empress, was mercilessly slain.</p> + +<p>And so it is throughout the city. Tradition, legend, and romance have +peopled every place we visit. Wars, massacres, and horrible suffering +have left a stain at every step. Love and faith and glorious +self-sacrifice have consecrated the ways over which we pass. And though +we do not give definite thought to these things always, <a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>yet all the +time the city is weaving her spell about our minds and hearts, and we +suddenly arouse to find that, traditional or historic, civilized or +barbarous, conqueror or conquered, ancient or modern, she has become +<i>Cara Roma</i> to us, and so will be forevermore.</p> + +<p>Thus it had been with Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and so it now was +with the young people of their household who had come hither for the +first time.</p> + +<p>The days flew fast. It was almost difficult to find time when all could +get together for their art study. Mr. Sumner had told them at first that +here they would study under totally different conditions from those in +Florence, so separated are the works of any particular artist save +Michael Angelo.</p> + +<p>They had already visited individually, as they chose, those historic +palaces in which are most important family picture-galleries, such as +the Colonna, Farnese, Doria, Corsini, Villa Borghese, etc., but they +wished to go all together to the Vatican to hear Mr. Sumner talk of +Raphael's works, and right glad were they when finally a convenient time +came.</p> + +<p>They walked quickly through many pictured rooms and corridors until they +reached the third room of the famous picture-gallery, where they <a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>took +seats, and Mr. Sumner said, in a low voice:—</p> + +<p>"I did not wish to come here immediately after we had studied Michael +Angelo's frescoes. It was better to wait for a time, so utterly unlike +are these two great masters of painting. I confess that I never like to +compare them, one with the other, although their lives were so closely +related that it is always natural to do so. Their characters were +opposite; so, also, their work. One sways us by his all-compelling +strength; the other draws us by his alluring charm. Michael Angelo is in +painting what Dante and Shakespeare are in poetry, and Beethoven in +music; Raphael is like the gentle Spenser and the tender Mozart. Michael +Angelo is thoroughly original; Raphael possessed a peculiarly receptive +nature, that caught something from all with whom he came into close +contact. Michael Angelo strove continually to grow; Raphael struggled +for nothing. Michael Angelo's life was sternly lonely and sorrowful; +Raphael's bright, happy, and placid. Michael Angelo lived long; Raphael +died in early manhood.</p> + +<p>"Still," he continued, after a moment, as he noted the sympathetic faces +about him, "although I have mentioned them, I beg of you not to allow +any of these personal characteristics or <a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>distinctions to influence you +in your judgment of the work of these two. Forget the one to-day as we +study the other.</p> + +<p>"You have read much of Raphael's life, so I will not talk about that. +You remember that, when young, he studied in Perugia, in Perugino's +studio, and perhaps you will recollect that, when we were there, I told +you that his early work was exceedingly like that of this master.</p> + +<p>"Now, look! Here right before us is Raphael's <i>Coronation of the +Virgin</i>,—his first important painting. See how like Perugino's are the +figures. Notice the exquisite angels on either side of the Virgin, which +are so often reproduced! See their pure, childlike faces and the queer +little stiffness that is almost a grace! See the sweet solemnity of +Christ and the Madonna, the staid grouping of the figures below,—the +winged cherubim,—the soft color!</p> + +<p>"I have here two photographs," and he unfolded and passed one to +Margery, who was close beside him, "which I wish you to look at +carefully. They are of works painted very soon after the <i>Coronation</i>; +one, the <i>Marriage of the Virgin</i>, or <i>Lo Sposalizio</i>, is in the Brera +Gallery at Milan. It is as like Perugino's work as is the <i>Coronation</i>."</p> + +<p>After a time spent in looking at and talking about the picture, during +which Bettina told the <a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>story of the blossomed rod which Joseph bears +over his shoulder, and the rod without blossoms which the disappointed +suitor is breaking over his knee, Mr. Sumner gave them the other +photograph.</p> + +<p>"This," he resumed, "you will readily recognize, as you have so often +looked at the picture in the Pitti Gallery in Florence—the <i>Madonna del +Gran Duca</i>. This is the only Madonna that belongs to this period of +Raphael's painting, and the last important picture in the style. It was +painted during the early part of his visit to Florence."</p> + +<p>"I never see this, uncle," said Margery, as she passed the photograph on +to the others, "without thinking how the Grand Duke carried it about in +its rich casket wherever he went, and said his prayers before it night +and morning. I am glad the people named it after him. Don't you think it +very beautiful, uncle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and it is one of the purest Madonnas ever painted—so impersonal +is the face," replied Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"I wish," he continued, "I could go on like this through a list of +Raphael's works with you, but it is utterly impossible, so many are +there. When he went to Florence, where you know he spent some years, he +fell under the influence of the Florentine artists, and his work +gradually lost its resemblance to Perugino's. It gained more freedom, +<a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>action, grace, and strength of color. Some examples of this second +style of his painting are the <i>Madonna del Cardellino</i>, or Madonna of +the Goldfinch, which you will remember in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, +and <i>La Belle Jardinière</i> in the Louvre, Paris. But I have brought +photographs of these pictures so that you may see the striking +difference between them and those previously painted."</p> + +<p>Murmured exclamations attested the interest with which the comparison +was made. After all seemed satisfied, Mr. Sumner continued:—</p> + +<p>"After Raphael came to Rome, summoned by the same Pope Julius II. who +sent for Michael Angelo, and was thus brought under the influence of +that great painter, his method again changed. It grew firmer and +stronger. Then he painted his best pictures,—and so many of them! So, +you can see, it is somewhat difficult to characterize Raphael's work as +a whole, for into it came so many influences. One thing, however, is +true. From all those whom he followed, he gathered only the best +qualities. His work deservedly holds its prominent place in the world's +estimation;—so high and sweet and pure are its <i>motifs</i>, while their +rendering is in the very best manner of the High Renaissance. No other +artist ever painted so many noble pictures in so few years of time."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>"Did not his pupils assist him in many works, uncle?" asked Malcom, as +his uncle paused for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mr. Sumner, rising, "especially in the frescoes that we +shall see by and by. It would have been utterly impossible for him to +have executed all these with his own hand. Let us now go out into this +next gallery through which we entered, and look at the +<i>Transfiguration</i>."</p> + +<p>So they went into the small room which is dedicated wholly to three +large pictures:—the <i>Transfiguration</i> and <i>Madonna di Foligno</i> by +Raphael, and the <i>Communion of St. Jerome</i> by Domenichino.</p> + +<p>"Raphael's last picture, which he left unfinished!" murmured Bettina, +and she took an almost reverential attitude before it.</p> + +<p>"How very, very different from the <i>Coronation</i>!" exclaimed Barbara, +after some moments of earnest study. "That is so utterly simple, so +quiet! This is more than dramatic!"</p> + +<p>"Raphael's whole lifetime of painting lies between the two," replied Mr. +Sumner, who had been intently watching her face as he stood beside her.</p> + +<p>"Do you like this, Mr. Sumner? I do not think I do, really," said Miss +Sherman, as she dropped into a chair, her eyes denoting a veiled +displeasure, which was also apparent in the tones of her voice.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>"It is a difficult picture to judge," replied Mr. Sumner, slowly. "I +wish you all could have studied many others before studying this one. +But, indeed, you are so familiar with Raphael's pictures that you need +only to recall them to mind. This was painted under peculiar +circumstances,—in competition, you remember, with Sebastian del +Piombo's <i>Resurrection of Lazarus</i>; and Sebastian was a pupil of Michael +Angelo. Some writers have affirmed that that master aided his pupil in +the drawing of the chief figures in his picture. Raphael tried harder +than he ever had done before to put some of the dramatic vigor and +action of Michael Angelo into the figures here in the lower part of the +<i>Transfiguration</i>. The result is that he overdid it. It is not +Raphaelesque; it is an unfortunate composite. The composition is fine; +the quiet glory of heaven in the upper part,—the turbulence of earth in +the lower, are well expressed; but the perfection of artistic effect is +wanting. It is full of beauties, yet it is not beautiful. It has many +defects, yet only a great master could have designed and painted it."</p> + +<p>By and by they turned their attention to the <i>Madonna di Foligno</i>, and +were especially interested in it as being a votive picture. Margery, who +was very fond of this Madonna, with the exquisite background of angels' +heads, had a photograph of <a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>it in her own room at home, and knew the +whole story of the origin of the picture. So she told it at Malcom's +request, her delicate fingers clasping and unclasping each other, +according to her habit, as she talked.</p> + +<p>"How true it is that one ought to know the reason why a picture is +painted, all about its painter, and a thousand other things, in order to +appreciate it properly," said Malcom, as they turned to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"That is so," replied his uncle. "I really feel," with an apologetic +smile, "that I can do nothing with Raphael. There is so much of him +scattered about everywhere. We will regard this morning's study as only +preliminary, and you must study his pictures by yourselves, wherever you +find them. By the way," and he turned to look back through the doorway, +"you must not forget to come here again to see Domenichino's great +picture. How striking it is! But we must not mix his work with +Raphael's."</p> + +<p>They passed through the first room of the gallery, stopping but a moment +to see two or three comparatively unimportant pictures painted by +Raphael, and went out into the Loggia.</p> + +<p>"I brought you through this without a word, when we first came," said +Mr. Sumner. "But now I wish you to look up at the roof-paintings. They +<a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>were designed by Raphael, but painted by his pupils. You see they all +have Bible subjects. For this reason this Loggia is sometimes called +'Raphael's Bible.' The composition of every picture is simple, and in +the master's happiest style."</p> + +<p>As they left the Loggia and entered "Raphael's Stanze," a series of +rooms whose walls are covered with his frescoes, Mr. Sumner said:—</p> + +<p>"We will to-day only give a glance at the paintings in this first room. +They are, as you see, illustrative of great events in the history of +Rome. They were executed wholly by Raphael's pupils, after his designs."</p> + +<p>"I shall come here again," said Malcom, in a positive tone. "This is +more in my line than Madonnas," and he made a bit of a wry face.</p> + +<p>"And better still is to come for you," returned his uncle with a smile, +as they passed on. "Here in this next room are scenes in the religious +history of the city, and here," as they entered the third room, "is the +famous Camera della Segnatura."</p> + +<p>"Room of the Signatures! Why so called?" asked Barbara.</p> + +<p>"Because the Papal indulgences used to be signed here; and here," +continued Mr. Sumner, turning for a moment toward Malcom, "are the +greatest of all Raphael's frescoes. We will now <a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>stop here for a few +minutes, and you must come again for real study. The subjects are the +representations of the most lofty occupations that engage the minds of +men—Philosophy, Justice, Theology, and Poetry. This is the first +painting done by Raphael in the Vatican, and it is all his own work, +both design and execution.</p> + +<p>"Here on this side," pointing at a large fresco which covered the entire +wall, "is <i>La Disputa</i>, or <i>Theology</i>. Above, on the ceiling, you see a +symbolic figure representing Religion, with the Bible in one hand and +pointing down at the great picture with the other. Opposite is the +<i>School of Athens</i>. Above this is a figure emblematic of Philosophy, +wearing a diadem and holding two books. On the two end walls, broken, as +you see, by the windows, are <i>Parnassus</i>, peopled with Apollo and the +Muses, together with figures of celebrated poets,—above which is the +crowned figure with a lyre which represents Poetry,—and," turning, "the +<i>Administration of Law</i>, with ceiling-figure with crown, sword, and +balance, symbolizing Justice. In this room the painter had much to +contend against. These opposite windows at the ends, which fill the +space with cross-lights, and around which he must place two of his +pictures, must have been discouraging. But the compositions are +consummately fine, and the whole is so admirably managed that one does +<a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>not even think of that which, if the work were less magnificent, would +be harassing.</p> + +<p>"I advise you to come here early some morning and bring with you some +full description of the pictures, which tells whom the figures are +intended to represent. Study first each painting as a whole; see the +fine distribution of masses; the general arrangement; the symmetry of +groups which balance each other; the harmony of line and color. Then +study individual figures for form, attitude, and expression. I think you +will wish to give several mornings to this one room.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of this, Malcom? Do you not wish to get acquainted +with Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Virgil?" added Mr. Sumner, putting +his hand suddenly on the young man's shoulder, and looking into his face +to surprise his thought.</p> + +<p>"I think it is fine, Uncle Rob. It's all right;" and Malcom's steady +blue eyes emphasized his satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"What do you call Raphael's greatest picture?" asked Barbara, as they +turned from the frescoed walls.</p> + +<p>"These are his most important frescoes," replied Mr. Sumner; "and all +critics agree that his most famous easel picture is the <i>Madonna di San +Sisto</i> in the Dresden Gallery. This is so very familiar to you that it +needs no explanation. It was, you <a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>know, his last Madonna, and it +contains a hint of Divinity in both mother and child never attained by +any painter before or since."</p> + +<p>"When shall we see Raphael's tapestries?" asked Margery, as they finally +passed on through halls and corridors.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think I will go with you to see those, Madge dear," answered +her uncle. "There is no further need that I explain any of Raphael's +work to you. Your books and your own critical tastes, which are pretty +well formed by this time, will be quite sufficient. Indeed," looking +around until he caught Barbara's eyes, "I really think you can study all +the remaining paintings in Rome by yourselves," and he was made happy by +seeing the swift regret which clouded them.</p> + +<p>"When we return to Florence," he added, "you will be more interested +than when we were there before in looking at Raphael's Madonnas and +portraits in those galleries; and on our way from Florence to Venice, we +will stop at Bologna to see his <i>St. Cecilia</i>".</p> + +<p>"How perfectly delightful!" cried Bettina. "I have been wishing to see +that ever since we went to the church of St. Cecilia the other day. I +was greatly interested to know that it had once been her own home, and +in everything there connected with her. She was so brave, and true, and +good!<a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a> It seems as if Raphael could have painted a worthy picture of +her!"</p> + +<p>As Bettina suddenly checked her pretty enthusiasm, her face flushed +painfully, and Barbara, seeking the cause, caught the supercilious smile +with which Miss Sherman was regarding her sister. She at once divined +that poor Bettina feared that, in some way, she had made herself +ridiculous to the older lady.</p> + +<p>Going swiftly to her sister she threw her arm closely about her waist, +and with a charming air of defiance,—with erect head and flashing eyes, +said:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sumner, St. Cecilia is a real, historical character, is she not? As +much so as St. Francis, Nero, or Marcus Aurelius?" The slight emphasis +on the last name recalled to all the party the effusive eulogiums Miss +Sherman had lavished upon that famous imperial philosopher a few days +before, while they were looking at his bust in the museum of Palazzo +Laterano; when, unfortunately, she had imputed to him certain utterances +that rightfully belong to another literary man who lived in quite a +different age and country.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner could not avoid a merry twinkle of his eyes as he strove to +answer with becoming gravity, and Malcom hastily pushed on far in +advance.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>Once at home, Malcom and Margery gave their version of the affair to +their mother.</p> + +<p>"It isn't the first time she has looked like that at both Barbara and +Betty," averred Malcom, emphatically, "and they have known and felt it, +too."</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry," said Mrs. Douglas, with a troubled look.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you need not fear anything further, mother <i>mia</i>" said Malcom, +sympathizingly. "Barbara will never show any more feeling. She would not +have done it for herself, only for Betty. Under the circumstances she +just had to fire her independence-gun, that is all. Now there will be +perfect peace on her side. You know her.</p> + +<p>"And," he added in an aside to Margery, as his mother was leaving the +room, "Miss Sherman will not dare to be cross openly for fear of mother +and Uncle Rob. I didn't dare to look at her. But wasn't it rich?" And he +went off into a peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>"It was only what she deserved, anyway," said Margery, who was usually +most gentle in all her judgments.</p> + +<p>It was quite a commentary on Mrs. Douglas's judgment of Lucile Sherman's +character at this time, that she now deemed it best to tell her of +Howard's bequest to Barbara, about which she had heretofore held +silence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a>Chapter XVI.</h2> + +<h3>Poor Barbara's Trouble.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>O, how this spring of love resembleth</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The uncertain glory of an April day;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And by and by a cloud takes all away.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Shakespeare.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 451px;"> +<img src="images/image270.png" width="451" height="306" alt="A BIT OF AMALFI." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A BIT OF AMALFI.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Barbara and Bettina, sometimes accompanied by Mrs. Douglas, sometimes by +Malcom, usually by Margery, saw all the remaining and important art +treasures of Rome.</p> + +<p>They studied long the Vatican and Capitol sculptures; went to the +Barberini Palace to see Raphael's <i>La Fornarina</i>, so rich in color; and, +close beside it, the pale, tearful face of Beatrice Cenci, so long +attributed to Guido Reni, but whose authorship is now doubtful; to the +doleful old church Santa Maria dei Capuccini, to see <i>St. Michael and +the Dragon</i> by Guido Reni, in which they were especially interested, +because Hawthorne made it a rendezvous of the four friends in his +"Marble Faun," where so diverse judgments of the picture were +pronounced, each having its foundation in the heart and experience of +the speaker. They had been reading this <a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>book in the same way in which +they had read "Romola" in Florence, and each girl was now the happy +possessor of a much-prized copy, interleaved by herself with photographs +of the Roman scenes and works of art mentioned in the book.</p> + +<p>They went to the garden-house of the Rospigliosi Palace to see on its +ceiling Guido Reni's <i>Aurora</i>, one of the finest decorative pictures +ever painted. And to the Accademia di San Luca to find the drawing by +Canevari after Van Dyck's portrait of the infant son of Charles I. in +the Turin Gallery, which is so often reproduced under the name of the +<i>Stuart Baby</i>. Not many pictures, great or small, escaped their eager +young eyes. They grew familiar with the works of Domenichino, Guercino, +Garofalo, Carlo Dolci, Sassoferrato, etc., and the days of their stay in +Rome rapidly passed by.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas was very desirous to take them for a few days to Naples, or +rather to the environments of Naples. To herself it would be a +pilgrimage of affection; and in those drives, loveliest in the world, +she would recall many precious memories of the past.</p> + +<p>"I hesitated to speak of doing this before," said she, when she +suggested it to her brother, "because I have tried to make the whole +trip comparatively inexpensive, remembering the shortness of the dear +<a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>doctor's purse. Now, of course, this needs no consideration."</p> + +<p>So they planned to go there for a short visit; and on their return it +would be time to pack their trunks for Florence, where they were to stop +two or three days before going northward toward Venice.</p> + +<p>A morning ride from Rome to Naples during the early days of May is +idyllic. In the smiling sunshine they rushed on through wide meadows +covered with luxuriant verdure and vineyards flushed with delicate +greens. After they had passed Capua, which is magnificently situated on +a wide plain,—amphitheatre-like within its half-circle of lovely hills, +flanked behind by the Apennines,—Malcom said, as he finally drew in his +head from the open window and, with a very contented look, settled back +into a corner of the compartment, with one arm thrown about his mother's +shoulders:—</p> + +<p>"It is no wonder that old Hannibal's army grew effeminate after the +soldiers had lived here for some months, and so was easily conquered. +Life could not have had many hardships in such a place as this.</p> + +<p>"I declare!" he added with a laugh as he shook back the wind-blown hair +from his forehead; "it is difficult to realize these days in what +century one <a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a>is living. My mind has been so full of ancient history +lately that I feel quite like an antique myself."</p> + +<p>"I know," answered his uncle with a smile, "how life widens and +lengthens as thought expands under the influence of travel through +historic scenes. One may study history from books for a lifetime and +never realize it as he would could he, even for an hour, be placed upon +the very spot where some important event took place. What a fact +Hannibal's army of two thousand years ago becomes to us when we know +that these very mountain tops which are before us looked down upon +it,—that its soldiers idled, ate, and slept on this very plain."</p> + +<p>Thus talking, almost before they knew, they came out upon the beautiful +Bay of Naples. They saw the little island of Capri, the larger Ischia +crowned with its volcanic mountains, and, between it and the point of +Posilipo, where once stood Virgil's villa, the tiny island Nisida (old +"Nesis"), whither Brutus fled after the assassination of Julius Cæsar; +where Cicero visited him, and where he bade adieu to his wife, Portia, +when he set sail for Greece.</p> + +<p>"Looking out over this same bay, these same islands, Virgil sang of +flocks, of fields, and of heroes," said Mr. Sumner, following the former +<a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>line of thought, as he began to take from the racks above the valises +of the party.</p> + +<p>Arrived at their hotel, which was situated in the higher quarters of the +city, they were ensconced in rooms whose balconied windows commanded +magnificent views of the softly radiant city, the bay, and, close at +hand, Mount Vesuvius, over which was hovering the usual cloud of smoke.</p> + +<p>At the close of the afternoon Barbara and Bettina stood long on their +own window-balcony. The scene was fascinating—even more so than they +had dreamed.</p> + +<p>"There is but one Naples, as there is but one Rome and one Florence," +said Barbara softly. "Each city is grandly beautiful in its own +individual way, but for none has nature done so much as for Naples."</p> + +<p>In silence they watched the sunset glow and the oncoming twilight, until +the call for dinner sounded through the halls.</p> + +<p>"I fear to leave it all," said Bettina, turning reluctantly away, "lest +we can never find it again."</p> + +<p>The next three days were crowded to the brim. One was spent in going to +the top of Vesuvius; another in the great Museum, so interesting with +its remains of antique sculptures, so destitute of important paintings; +the third in driving about <a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>the city, to San Martino, and around the +point of Posilipo, ending with a visit to Virgil's tomb.</p> + +<p>Then came the Sabbath, and they attended morning service in the +Cathedral,—in the very chapel of San Januarius which is decorated with +pictures by Domenichino, Guido Reni, and Lanfranco, the completion of +which was prevented by the jealousy of the Neapolitan painters.</p> + +<p>The next morning they went to Pompeii, where in the late afternoon +carriages were to meet them for beginning the drive through +Castellammare, Sorrento, and Amalfi to La Cava.</p> + +<p>The absorbing charm of Pompeii, whose resurrection began after nearly +seventeen centuries of burial and is yet only partial, at once seized +them,—all of them,—for, visit the ruined city often as one may, yet +the sight of its worn streets with their high stepping-stones, its +broken pavements, its decorated walls, its shops,—all possess such an +atmosphere of departed life that its fascination is complete, and does +not yield to familiarity.</p> + +<p>After hours of wandering about with their guide, seeing the points of +most interest,—the beautiful houses recently excavated, the homes of +Glaucus, of Pansa, of Sallust, of Orpheus, of Diomedes and very many +others; the forum, temples, and amphitheatre—they sat long amid the +ruins, looking at the fatal mountain, so close <a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a>at hand, and the +desolation at its foot, and meditated upon the terrors of that fearful +night.</p> + +<p>Malcom read aloud the story as related by Pliny, a volume of whose +letters he had put into his pocket, and Margery recited some lines of a +beautiful sonnet on Pompeii which she had once learned, whose author she +did not remember:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"No chariot wheels invade her stony roads;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Priestless her temples, lone her vast abodes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deserted,—forum, palace, everywhere!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet are her chambers for the master fit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her shops are ready for the oil and wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ploughed are her streets with many a chariot line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on her walls to-morrow's play is writ,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of that to-morrow which might never be!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The spell was not broken until Mr. Sumner, looking at his watch, +declared it was quite time they should return to the little hotel, take +an afternoon lunch, and so be ready when the carriages should await +them.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the drive from Naples to the Bay of Salerno has been set +forth, by many writers, in prose and song and poem, and remembering +this, Barbara's and Bettina's faces were radiant with expectation as +they started upon it. Malcom and Margery were in the carriage with them; +the atmosphere was perfection; the sun shone with just the right degree +of heat; the waters of the <a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a>beautiful Bay of Naples were just rippling +beneath the soft breeze, and seventeen miles of incomparable loveliness +lay between them and Sorrento, where they were to spend the night. What +wonder they were happy!</p> + +<p>Just as they were entering the town of Castellammare (the ancient +Stabiæ, where the elder Pliny perished) the carriage containing Mrs. +Douglas, Miss Sherman, and Mr. Sumner, which had thus far followed them, +dashed past, and its occupants were greeted with a merry peal of +laughter from the four young voices.</p> + +<p>"How joyous they are!" exclaimed Mrs. Douglas, her own face reflecting +their happiness. "You look envious, Robert."</p> + +<p>Then, turning to Miss Sherman, she added: "I never tire of watching +Barbara and Bettina these days. I believe they are two of the rarest +girls in the world. Nothing has yet spoiled them, and I think nothing +ever will. It has been one of the sweetest things possible to see their +little everyday charities since they have had money in abundance. +Before, they felt that every dollar their parents spared them was a +sacred trust to be used just for their positive needs. Now, their +evident delight in giving to the flower-girls, to the street-gamins, to +the beggars, to everything miserable that offers, is delightful."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>"Do you think Barbara will know how to be wise in the spending of her +money?" asked Miss Sherman, with a constrained smile.</p> + +<p>"As to the wise ways of spending money," answered Mrs. Douglas, stealing +a glance at her brother's imperturbable face opposite, "everybody has +his own individual opinion. I, myself, feel sure of Barbara. Before her +money came, she had received the greater and far more important heritage +of a noble-minded ancestry and a childhood devoted to unselfish living +and the seeking of the highest things. During these eighteen years her +character has been formed, and it is so grounded that the mere +possession of money will not alter it. To my mind it is a happy thing +that Howard's money will be used in such a personal way as I think it +will be."</p> + +<p>"Personal a way?" queried Miss Sherman.</p> + +<p>"I mean personal as distinguished from institutional—you know his first +intention was to endow institutions. For instance, within a week after +Barbara received the lawyer's announcement, she consulted me as to how +she could best make provision for an old lady who has been for years +more or less of a pensioner of her father's family. The dear old woman +with a little aid has supported herself for many years, but lately it +has seemed as if she would have to give up the wee bit of a home <a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a>she +loves so much and become an inmate of some great Institution, and this +would almost break her heart. Barbara was in haste to put enough money +at her disposal so that a good woman may be hired to come and care for +her so long as she shall live, and to provide for all her wants. Also +she remembered a poor young girl, once her and Betty's schoolmate, who +has always longed for further study, whose one ambition has been to go +to college. This was simply impossible, not even the strictest economy, +even the going without necessities, has gathered together sufficient +money for the expenses of a single year. Before we left Rome, Barbara +arranged for the deposit in the bank at home of enough money to permit +this struggling girl to look forward with certainty to a college course, +and wrote the letter which will bring her so much joy.</p> + +<p>"Dear child!" she continued tenderly, after a pause; "the only bit of +money she has yet spent for herself was to get the spring outfits that +she and Betty have really needed for some time, but for which they did +not like to use their father's money.</p> + +<p>"And I do believe," after another pause, "that the two girls' lives will +be passed as unostentatiously as if the money had not come to them."</p> + +<p>"Why do you speak as if the money had come <a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>to both?" asked Miss +Sherman, with a curious inflection of the voice.</p> + +<p>"Did I? I did not realize it. But I will not change my words; for, +unless I mistake much, the money will be Bettina's as much as Barbara's, +and this, because Barbara will have it so."</p> + +<p>The words were hardly spoken by Mrs. Douglas when Mr. Sumner, who was +riding backward and so facing the following carriage, sprang up, crying +in a low, smothered tone of alarm, "Barbara!"</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Douglas had not time to turn before he sank back saying: +"Excuse me. I must have been mistaken. I thought that something was the +matter; that Barbara had been taken ill."</p> + +<p>Then he added, in explanation to his sister: "The carriage was so far +back, as it rounded a curve, permitting me to look into it, that I could +not see very distinctly."</p> + +<p>Miss Sherman bit her lip and rode on in silence. Mr. Sumner's concern +for Barbara seemed painfully evident to her. She had much that was +disagreeable to think of, for it was impossible to avoid contrasting +herself with the picture of Barbara which Mrs. Douglas had drawn. She +thought of the sister at home who so patiently, year after year, had +given up her own cherished desires that she might be gratified; who had +needed, far more than she herself had, the change and rest of this <a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>year +abroad, but whom she had forced to return with the father, even though +she knew well it was her own duty to go,—how many such instances of +selfishness had filled her life!</p> + +<p>She felt that she could almost hate this fortunate Barbara, who so +easily was gaining all the things she herself +coveted,—admiration,—wealth,—love? no, not if she could help it! and +she forced herself to smile, to praise the same qualities of heart that +Mrs. Douglas had admired; to talk pityingly of the miserable ones of +earth; adoringly of self-sacrificing, heroic deeds, and sympathizingly +of noble endeavor.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>What had been the matter in the other carriage? After the burst of +gayety with which the three girls and Malcom had greeted the swifter +equipage as it rolled past theirs, nothing was said for some time, until +Malcom suddenly burst out with the expression of what had evidently been +the subject of his thought:—</p> + +<p>"Girls, do you think that Uncle Robert is falling in love with Miss +Sherman?"</p> + +<p>The question fell like a bombshell into the little group. Margery first +found a voice, but it was a most awed, repressed one:—</p> + +<p>"Why, Malcom! <i>could</i> he ever love anybody again? You know—oh! what +could make you <a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>think of such a thing? It is not like you to make light +of Uncle Robert's feelings."</p> + +<p>"I am not doing so, Madge dear. Men can love twice. It would not hurt +Margaret should he learn to love some one else. And it would be ever so +much better for him. Uncle's life seems very lonely to me. Now he is +busy with us; but just think of the long years when he is living and +working over here all alone. Still, I am sure I would not choose Miss +Sherman for him. Yet I am not certain but it looks some like it. What do +you think, Betty?"</p> + +<p>"I—don't—know—what—I—do—think,—Malcom. You know how much I love +and admire your uncle. I do not think there are many women good enough +to be his wife."</p> + +<p>Bettina thought, but did not say, that she could not love and admire +Miss Sherman, who had made it quite evident to Barbara and herself that +she cared nothing for them, save as they were under the care of Mrs. +Douglas; who had never given them any companionship, or, at least, never +had until during the past week or two, after she had learned that +Barbara was Howard's heiress.</p> + +<p>Barbara drew her breath quickly and sharply. Could such a thing as this +be? was this to come? In her mind, Mr. Sumner was consecrated to the +dead Margaret, about whom she had thought so <a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>much,—the picture of +whose lovely face she had so often studied,—whose character she had +adorned with all possible graces! She listened, as in a dream, to +Bettina and Malcom. He <i>should</i> not love any one else; or, if he +could—poor Barbara's heart was ruthlessly torn open and revealed unto +her consciousness. She felt that the others must read the tale in her +confused face.</p> + +<p>Confused? No, Barbara, it was pale and still, as if a mortal wound had +been given.</p> + +<p>Her head reeled, the world grew dark, and it was silence until she heard +Bettina saying frantically:—</p> + +<p>"Bab, dear! are you faint? Oh! what is it?"</p> + +<p>With an almost superhuman effort Barbara drew herself up and smiled +bravely, with white lips:—</p> + +<p>"It is nothing—only a moment's dizziness. It is all over now."</p> + +<p>This was what Mr. Sumner saw when he sprang up in alarm, and then in a +moment said: "Everything seems all right now."</p> + +<p>But poor Barbara thought nothing could ever be right again. And when +their carriage drew up in the spacious courtyard of their hotel at +Sorrento, and Mr. Sumner, with an unusually bright and eager face, stood +waiting to help her alight, it was a frozen little hand that was put +into his, and he could not win a single glance from the eyes he <a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a>loved +to watch, and from which he was impatient to learn if it were indeed +well with the owner.</p> + +<p>To this day Barbara shudders at the thought or mention of the next four +or five days. And they were such rare days for enjoyment, could she have +forgotten her own heart:—across the blue waters to Capri, with a visit +by the way to the famous Blue Grotto; a whole day in that lovely town, +walking about its winding, climbing streets; the long drive from +Sorrento to quaint Prajano, with, on one hand, towering, rugged +limestone cliffs, to whose rough sides, every here and there, clings an +Italian village, and, on the other, the smiling, wide-spreading +Mediterranean; the little rowboat ride to Amalfi; the day full of +interest spent there; and then the drive close beside the sea toward +Palermo, terminated by a sharp turn toward the blue mountains among +which nestles La Cava; the railway ride back to Naples.</p> + +<p>She struggled bravely to be her old self,—to hide everything from all +eyes. But she felt so wofully humiliated, for she now knew for the first +time that she loved Robert Sumner; loved him so that it was positive +agony to think that he might love another,—so that it was almost a pain +to remember that he had ever loved. What would he think should he +suspect the truth! And she was so fearful that her eyes might give a +hint of it <a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a>that, try in as many ways as he could, Mr. Sumner could +never get a good look into them during these days. The kinder he was, +and the more zealously he endeavored to add to her comfort and +happiness, the more wretched she grew. She longed to get away from +everybody, even from Betty, lest her secret might become apparent to the +keen sisterly affection that knew her so intimately. She began to feel a +fierce longing for home and for father and mother; and the months which +must necessarily elapse before she could be there stretched drearily +before her.</p> + +<p>Robert Sumner was perplexed and distressed. He had just begun to enjoy a +certain happiness. The struggle within himself was over, and he was +beginning to give himself up to the delight of thinking freely of +Barbara; of loving her; of feeling a sort of possession of her, though +he did not yet dream of such a thing as ever being to her more than he +now was,—a valued friend. There were so many years, and an experience +of life that counted far more than years, between them!</p> + +<p>He had listened to his sister's conversation with Miss Sherman on the +way from Pompeii to Sorrento with an exultation which it would have been +difficult for him to account for. He gloried in the sweet unselfishness, +the simple goodness of the <a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a>young girl. "My little Barbara," his heart +sang; and full of this emotion when they reached Sorrento, he allowed +the two ladies to go alone into the hotel, while he waited impatiently +to look into Barbara's face and to feel the touch of her hand.</p> + +<p>But what a change! What could have wrought it? Before this, she had +always met his look with such frank sympathy! As the days passed on +without change, and his eyes, more than any others, noticed the struggle +to conceal her unhappiness, the mystery deepened.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a>Chapter XVII.</h2> + +<h3>Robert Sumner is Imprudent.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>There's a divinity that shapes our ends,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Rough-hew them how we will.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Shakespeare.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 467px;"> +<img src="images/image290.png" width="467" height="305" alt="CAMPO SANTO, BOLOGNA." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CAMPO SANTO, BOLOGNA.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Early one morning very soon after the return to Rome, Bettina, with a +troubled face, knocked at Mrs. Douglas's door.</p> + +<p>"Barbara is ill," said she. "I knew in the night that she was very +restless, but not until just now did I see that she is really ill."</p> + +<p>"What seems to be the matter?"</p> + +<p>"I think she must be very feverish."</p> + +<p>"Feverish?" repeated Mrs. Douglas, with a startled look, as she hastily +prepared to accompany Betty back to her room. In a few minutes she +sought her brother, her face full of anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Robert, I fear Barbara has the fever. Her temperature must be high; her +face is greatly flushed, and her eyes dull, and she says her whole body +is full of pain."</p> + +<p>"We must take her away at once out of the <a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>atmosphere of Rome," +exclaimed Mr. Sumner, with decision.</p> + +<p>"But she feels so wretchedly ill."</p> + +<p>"Never mind that. If she can only endure the fatigue for a few hours, we +may save her weeks of suffering and possible danger," and his voice +faltered.</p> + +<p>"Remember, sister," he continued, "that I am at home here in this +climate, and trust me. Or, better still, I will at once consult Dr. +Yonge, and I know you will trust him. And, sister, get everything ready +so that we—Barbara, you, and I—may take the very first train for +Orvieto. That will take her in two hours into a high and pure +atmosphere. The others can follow as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Quickly the plans were made. Malcom, Margery, and Bettina were to be +left to complete the packing of trunks. Dr. Yonge agreed fully with Mr. +Sumner, and on the nine o'clock train northward Mrs. Douglas, Barbara, +and Mr. Sumner left Rome.</p> + +<p>Miss Sherman, quite upset by the rapid movement of affairs, decided to +remain a little longer in Rome with friends whom she had met there, and +join the others later in Venice.</p> + +<p>It was a severe trial to poor Bettina to see her darling sister thus +almost literally borne <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>away from her. But she tried to put faith in Mr. +Sumner's assurances, and bravely resisted the anxious longing to go with +her. She immediately gave herself up to the work of finishing the +packing of their own trunks and of helping Margery all she could.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner had commissioned Malcom to go up to his studio and gather +into boxes all his canvases and painting materials; and soon all three +were working as fast as they could, with the design of following the +others the next morning.</p> + +<p>Presently Malcom appeared at Bettina's door with the request that she +should go up to the studio when she could leave her work for a minute.</p> + +<p>"Come alone—by yourself," he added in a low voice.</p> + +<p>Wondering a little at the singular request and the peculiar expression +of Malcom's face, Bettina soon followed him.</p> + +<p>Entering the studio, she found him attentively regarding a small canvas +which he had placed on an easel, and took her place beside him that she +might look at it also.</p> + +<p>"How lovely!" she cried, and then a puzzled look came into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is Barbara! It is <i>like</i> Barbara," she added.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>"And what do you think of this—and this—and this?" asked Malcom, +rapidly turning from the wall study after study.</p> + +<p>After a few moments of silence, she said solemnly: "They're all Barbara. +Here she is thinking earnestly; here she is throwing her head proudly +back, as she so often does; and here she is merry and smiling in her own +adorable way. O you darling Barbara!" with a pathetic little catch of +the breath; "how are you feeling just this minute?" and Bettina sank +upon the floor beside the pictures, looking as if she longed to hug them +all.</p> + +<p>"But what does it mean?" persisted Malcom.</p> + +<p>"What do <i>you</i> mean?" springing up with a quick look into his eyes. +"You—foolish—boy!" as an inkling of Malcom's meaning crept into her +mind.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean, Betty Burnett, that my uncle has had nothing better +to do when he has so zealously labored up here, than to paint your +sister's face in every conceivable way?" slowly and impressively asked +Malcom, as he put still another tell-tale sketch over that on the easel.</p> + +<p>"You do not really mean!—it can't be!—Oh!" uttered Bettina in diverse +tones and inflections as she rapidly recalled, one after another, +certain incidents.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a>Then there was silence in Robert Sumner's studio between these two +discoverers of his long-cherished secret.</p> + +<p>"Malcom," at length whispered Bettina, "we must never breathe one word +about what we have found here. You must not tell Margery or your mother. +Promise me that it shall be a solemn secret between you and me."</p> + +<p>"I promise, Lady Betty. Your behest shall be sacredly regarded," replied +Malcom with mock gravity. "But," after a little, "shall you tell +Barbara?"</p> + +<p>"Tell Barbara? No! no! How could I tell her! Malcom, don't you know that +it is only by a chance that we have found these pictures? That, whatever +they may mean is absolutely sacred to your uncle? Perhaps they mean +nothing—nothing save that he, from an artist's stand-point, admires my +sister's face. Indeed, the more I think of it, the more I am inclined to +believe that is all," she persisted, as she saw Malcom's expressive +shrug and the comical look in his eyes as he moved them slowly along the +half-dozen sketches that were now standing in a row.</p> + +<p>"And I shall think no more about it," she added, "and advise you to do +the same."</p> + +<p>Bettina, who was usually so gentle, could be <a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>prettily imperious when +she chose. And now, wrought up by Malcom's reference to Barbara and her +own fast crowding thoughts, her voice took on this tone, and she turned +with high head to leave the studio.</p> + +<p>"Betty! Betty!" pleaded Malcom, running after her. "Why, Betty!" and the +surprised, pained tone of his voice instantly stopped her on the +staircase.</p> + +<p>"I do not mean anything disagreeable, Malcom," she conceded, "only I +could not bear to have anything said about Barbara or to Barbara, that +might in any way disturb her. That is all,—forgive me, Malcom." And the +two friends clasped hands.</p> + +<p>Malcom went back into the studio, his pursed lips emitting a low, +meditative whistle, while Bettina hurried downstairs, her mind beset +with conjectures.</p> + +<p>It was not Mr. Sumner of whom she was thinking, but her sister. A veil +seemed to withdraw before her consciousness, and to reveal the possible +meaning of much that had perplexed her during the past months. For if +Mr. Sumner had really been learning to love Barbara, might it not also +be that Barbara cared more for him than Bettina had been wont to think?</p> + +<p>Her thoughts went back to many of their first <a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>conversations after +coming to Florence; to Barbara's intense absorption in Mr. Sumner's +talks about the old painters; to her unwearied study of them; to her +evident sympathy with him on all occasions.</p> + +<p>Then, in a flash she remembered her faintness in the carriage on the +drive to Sorrento and connected it, as she had never before dreamed of +doing, with the conversation then going on; and recalled all those days +since when she had been so different from the old-time Barbara.</p> + +<p>And poor Bettina sat, a disconsolate little figure, before her +half-filled trunk, just ready to cry with sheer vexation at her +blindness. Then, the thought came that if Mr. Sumner did really love +Barbara all would be well. But, alas! the doubt followed whether, after +all, the pictures meant anything more than the artist's love for a +beautiful face, and his desire to render it on his canvas. She grew more +and more miserable in her sympathy for her sister, and at her enforced +separation from her, and the hours of that day, though of necessity busy +ones, seemed almost interminable.</p> + +<p>The following noon found them together again.</p> + +<p>Bettina entered her sister's room, which opened full upon the +rose-garden they had enjoyed before,—now filled with blossoms and +fragrance,—to find Barbara sitting in a big easy-chair, with a tray +<a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a>before her, on which were spread toast and tea, flanked by a dainty +flask of Orvieto wine, while the same wrinkled old chambermaid who had +served them two and a half months ago stood, with beaming face, watching +her efforts to eat.</p> + +<p>Barbara's eyes were brighter, the flush gone from her face, and she said +she did not feel like the same girl who had been half carried away from +the hotel in Rome the morning before. So much improved did she seem that +the present plan was to take a late afternoon train for Florence, for +Mr. Sumner said the sooner they could get farther north, the better it +would be. This was carried out, and night found them back in the dear +Florence home, there to spend a few days.</p> + +<p>The city was very lovely in its May foliage and blossoms,—too lovely to +leave so soon, they all averred. But it must be, and after having taken +again their favorite drives, and having given another look at their +favorite pictures, with an especial interest in those by the Venetian +masters whom they would study more fully in Venice, they turned their +faces northward.</p> + +<p>The journey at first took them through rich Tuscan plains, and later +through wild, picturesque ravines of the Apennines. Higher and higher +the railway climbed, threading numberless tunnels, and affording +magnificent views as it emerged into <a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a>opening after opening, until +finally it passed under the height that divides the watershed of the +Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, and entered the narrow and romantic valley +of the Reno. Not long after they were in the ancient city of Bologna. +After a few minutes in their several rooms, all gathered in the loggia +of their hotel, which commanded a grand survey of the city.</p> + +<p>"How fine this air is after our long, dusty ride!" exclaimed Margery, +tossing back her curls to catch the breeze.</p> + +<p>"I did not expect to find Bologna so curiously beautiful," said Bettina, +after she had seen that Barbara was comfortable in the big chair Malcom +had wheeled out for her—for she was still languid from her recent +illness, and tired easily.</p> + +<p>"Please tell us something about it, uncle," said Malcom. "I am afraid I +have not looked it up very thoroughly."</p> + +<p>So Mr. Sumner told them many interesting things about the old city,—and +how it had figured largely in Italian history from the Punic wars soon +after Christ, down to the middle of the present century, when it finally +became a part of United Italy.</p> + +<p>"What about the university?" queried Malcom again.</p> + +<p>"It has had a grand reputation for about fourteen <a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>centuries, and thus +is among the most ancient existing seats of learning in Christendom. +During the Middle Ages students came to it from all parts of northern +Europe."</p> + +<p>Bettina laughed. "I read a curious thing about it in my guide-book," +said she. "That it has had several women professors; and one who was +very beautiful always sat behind a curtain while she delivered her +lectures. This was in the fourteenth century, I believe."</p> + +<p>"A wise precaution," exclaimed Malcom, with a quizzical look. "Even I +sometimes forget what a pretty woman is saying, because my thoughts are +wandering from the subject to her face. And the men of those times could +not have had the constant experience we of this century in America +have."</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly," smiled Bettina; and Mrs. Douglas, slipping her hand +through Malcom's arm, asked: "Do you see those towers?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and uncle, I remember you spoke of the leaning towers of Bologna +when we were at Pisa; what about them?"</p> + +<p>"I think I simply said that since I had seen these towers, I have +believed that the one at Pisa had been intentionally built in the way it +now stands. My reason is that in all probability one of these was +purposely so built."</p> + +<p>"Which was erected first?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a>"This, about two hundred and fifty years."</p> + +<p>"Let us go and see them at once!" exclaimed Malcom. "There is time to +give a good long look at the city before dinner."</p> + +<p>"That is a good plan," said his mother, "and we will not go to the +picture-gallery until to-morrow morning. Then Barbara will be fresh, and +can enjoy it with the rest of us."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner turned solicitously toward Barbara, with a movement as if to +go to her, but her hastily averted eyes checked him, and with an inward +sigh, he went to order carriages for the proposed drive. He had grown to +believe during the past week or two that Barbara had divined his love +for her, and that the knowledge was very painful.</p> + +<p>"I must have thoughtlessly disclosed it," said he to himself. "It has +become so much a part of my every thought. The best thing I can do now +is to convince her that it shall never cause her the slightest +annoyance; that it shall not change the frankly affectionate relations +that have heretofore existed between us. She is so young she will forget +it as she grows stronger, or perhaps I can make her feel that she has +mistaken me. Then she will be my little friend again."</p> + +<p>The drive was thoroughly delightful. Bologna possesses many individual +characteristics. The very narrow streets, the lofty arcades that stretch +<a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a>along on either side of them, the many venerable churches and palaces, +the quaintly picturesque towers, kept them exclaiming with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Can we not walk to the Academy?" asked Margery, the next morning. "I do +so wish to walk through some of these dear arcades."</p> + +<p>So Barbara drove with Mrs. Douglas, and the others walked right through +the heart of the old city, whose streets have echoed to the footfalls of +countless and diverse people through a number of centuries that sounds +appalling to American ears.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the picture-gallery, Mr. Sumner told them that though not of +very great importance when compared with many which they had visited, it +yet is very interesting on account of its collection of the works of the +most noted seventeenth-century Italian painters; especially those +belonging to the Bolognese-eclectic school, which was founded by the +Carracci.</p> + +<p>"Nowhere else can these men, the Carracci, be studied as here in +Bologna, where they founded their art-school just at the close of the +sixteenth century. There are also some very good examples of the work of +Domenichino, Guido Reni, Albani, and other famous pupils of the +Carracci. You saw fine frescoes by Domenichino and Guido Reni in Rome +and Naples, and I am sure you <a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a>remember perfectly Domenichino's +<i>Communion of St. Jerome</i> in the Vatican Gallery.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," he continued, with an inquiring look, "you know the principle +on which this school of painting was founded, and which gave it its +name."</p> + +<p>Bettina answered: "I think they tried to select the best pictures from +all other schools and embody them in their own pictures. I do not +think," she added, with something of a deprecatory look, "that it can be +called a very original style."</p> + +<p>"Few styles of painting after the earliest masters can be called +original, can they?" replied Mr. Sumner, with a smile. "One great lack +of the human race is a spirit of originality. We all go to those who +have thought and wrought before us, and hash and rehash their material. +But few tell what they are doing so plainly as did the Carracci. The one +great want in their painting is that of any definite end or aim."</p> + +<p>"Whom do you call the greatest painters of the school, uncle?" asked +Malcom, as they entered a large hall opening from the corridor in which +they had been standing.</p> + +<p>"Guido Reni and Domenichino merit that honor, I think. Domenichino died +young, but painted some excellent pictures, notably the <i>St. Jerome</i>. +Guido Reni lived long enough to outlive <a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>his good painting, but among +his early works are some that may really be called the masterpieces of +this school; such as the <i>Aurora</i> and the <i>St. Michael</i> which you saw in +Rome."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by his outliving his good painting?" asked Margery.</p> + +<p>"He grew most careless in his ways of living,—was dissipated we should +call it,—squandered his money, and finally, in order to gain the +wherewithal for daily life, used to paint by order of those who stood +waiting to take his pictures with paint still wet, lest the artist +should cheat them. To this we owe the great number of his worthless +Madonna and Magdalen heads that have found their way into the +galleries."</p> + +<p>"How perfectly dreadful," chorused all.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid we shall never see one of his pictures without thinking of +this," said Bettina; "shall we, Barbara?" and she turned to her sister, +who had been silent hitherto, as if longing to hear her talk.</p> + +<p>"Try to forget it now as you look at these paintings, for this room +contains many of his," continued Mr. Sumner, after waiting a moment as +if to hear Barbara's answer, "and they are examples of his early work, +and so stronger than many others. Notice the powerful action of this +<i>Samson</i> and the St. John in that <i>Crucifixion</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a>"Here are good examples of the work of the three Carracci," continued +he, as after a time they entered the adjoining hall.</p> + +<p>"But what does this mean?" cried Malcom, in an astonished voice, pausing +before a large picture, the <i>Communion of St. Jerome</i>, which bore the +name, Agostino Carracci. "How like it is to Domenichino's great picture +in the Vatican! Do you suppose Domenichino borrowed so much from his +master?"</p> + +<p>"I fear so. Yet his picture is infinitely superior to this. And, look, +here is Domenichino's <i>Death of St. Peter, Martyr</i>, which was borrowed +largely from Titian's famous picture of the same subject, which has +unfortunately been destroyed."</p> + +<p>"But don't you call that a species of plagiarism?" queried Malcom.</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly it is. I must confess I am always sorry for Domenichino +when I come into this hall. But we will pass on to better things. I wish +you to study particularly these pictures by Francia," said he, as they +entered a third hall.—"Yes, Betty, you are excusable. You all may look +first at Raphael's <i>St. Cecilia</i>, for here it is."</p> + +<p>All gathered about the beautiful, famous picture.</p> + +<p>"How much larger than I have ever thought!" said Margery. "For what was +it painted, uncle?"</p> + +<p>"As an altar-piece for one of the oldest <a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a>churches in Bologna. Do you +recollect the story about Raphael's writing to Francia to oversee its +proper and safe placing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do!" exclaimed Barbara, as Margery shook her head. "It was said +that Francia never painted again, so overcome was he by the surpassing +loveliness of Raphael's picture, and that he died from the effect of +this feeling,—but," she went on impetuously, "I do not believe it; for +see there!" pointing to Francia's <i>Madonna with Sts. John and Jerome</i>, +"do you think that the artist who painted this picture is so very far +behind even Raphael as to die of vexation at the difference between +them?"</p> + +<p>Barbara was so carried away by the picture that she had forgotten +herself entirely, and spoke with her old-time frank eagerness, thereby +thoroughly delighting Bettina and Mr. Sumner.</p> + +<p>"I am glad you feel so," said the latter, very quietly, and with a +strictly impersonal manner. "Francia, who belonged to the old Bolognese +masters of the sixteenth century, was one of the most devout of +painters, and everybody who studies his work must love it. See how pure +and sweet are his expressions! How simple his composition! What harmony +is in his coloring! How beyond those who painted after him!"</p> + +<p><a name="RAPHAEL" id="RAPHAEL"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image306.jpg" width="350" height="567" alt="RAPHAEL. ACADEMY, BOLOGNA. + +SAINT CECILIA." title="" /> +<span class="caption">RAPHAEL. ACADEMY, BOLOGNA. + +SAINT CECILIA.</span> +</div> + +<p>They tarried long before Francia's paintings <a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a>and the <i>St. Cecilia</i>. Mr. +Sumner told them to note the more subtle <i>motif</i> of Raphael's picture; +the superior grace of the figures, their careful distribution, and the +fine scheme of color; the sympathetic look in St. John's face; the +grandly meditative St. Paul.</p> + +<p>"I have a theory of my own about the meaning of this picture," said +Bettina. "I thought it out one day when I was studying the photograph. I +know it is always said, in descriptions of it, that all are listening to +the music of the angels, but I do not think any of them save St. Cecilia +hear the music of the angelic choir. She hears it, because she has so +longed for it,—so striven to produce the highest music on earth. But +the others are only moved by their sympathy with her. See the wistful +look on St. John's face, and St. Augustine's also. And St. Paul is lost +in wondering thought at St. Cecilia's emotion. And Mary Magdalene is +asking us to look at her and try to understand her rapt upward look."</p> + +<p>"I do not know," said Mr. Sumner, with a soft look in his eyes, "why you +should not have your own private interpretation of the picture, dear +'Lady Betty';" and he smiled at Malcom as he used the latter's favorite +appellation for Bettina.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a>Chapter XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>In Venice.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i18"><i>From the land we went</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>As to a floating city—steering in,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And gliding up her streets as in a dream</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>By many a pile in more than eastern pride,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of old the residence of merchant-kings:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>The fronts of some, tho' time had shattered them,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Still gleaming with the richest hues of art,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>As though the wealth within them had run o'er.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Rogers.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 473px;"> +<img src="images/image312.png" width="473" height="307" alt="SAN MARCO, VENICE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SAN MARCO, VENICE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Just after sunset the following evening they approached Venice. The long +black train glided along above a sea flushed with purple and crimson and +gold. Like a mirage the fair city—Longfellow's "white water-lily, +cradled and caressed"—arose, lifting her spires—those "filaments of +gold"—above the waters.</p> + +<p>"Can it be real?" murmured Bettina. "It seems as if all must fade away +before we reach it."</p> + +<p>But in a few minutes the <i>facchini</i> seized their hand-luggage, and they +alighted as at any commonplace railway-station. But oh! the revelation +when they went out upon the platform, up to which, not carriages, but +gondolas were drawn, and from which stretched, not a dusty pavement, but +the same gold and crimson and purple of sky reflected in the waters at +their feet.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a>"Is it true that we are mortal beings still on the earth, and that we +are seeking merely a hotel?" exclaimed Malcom, as they floated on +between two skies to the music of lapping oars. "Madge, you ought to +have some poetry to fit this."</p> + +<p>"I know enough verses about Venice," replied Margery, whose eyes were +dancing with joyous excitement, and who was trailing her little hot hand +through the cool water, "but nothing fits. Nothing can fit; for who +could ever put into words the beauty of all this?"</p> + +<p>By and by they left the Grand Canal, passed through narrower ones, with +such high walls on either side that twilight rapidly succeeded the +sunset glow; floated beneath the Bridge of Sighs, and were at the steps +of their hotel.</p> + +<p>The next few days were devoted wholly to drinking in the spirit of +Venice. Mr. Sumner hired gondolas which should be at the service of his +party during the month they were to spend there, and morning, noon, and +night found them revelling in this delight. They went to San Marco in +early morning and late afternoon; fed the pigeons in the Piazza; ate +ice-cream under its Colonnade; went to the Lido, and floated along the +Grand Canal beside the music and beneath the moonlight for hours at +night, and longed to be there until the morning.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a>Barbara grew stronger, the color returned to her cheeks, and though she +often felt unhappy, she was better able to conceal it. She began to hope +that her secret was safe; that it would never be discovered by any one; +that Mr. Sumner would never dream of it. If only that dreadful +suggestion of Malcom's might be wholly without foundation; and perhaps, +after all, it was. She thought she would surely know when Lucile Sherman +should come to Venice, as she would do soon.</p> + +<p>At length Mr. Sumner suggested that they begin to study Venetian +painting, and that, for it, they should first visit the Accademia delle +Belle Arti. He advised them to read what they could about early Venetian +painting.</p> + +<p>"You will find," he said, "that the one strongest characteristic of all +the painting that has emanated from Venice is beauty and strength of +color, the keynote of which seems to have been struck in the first +mosaic decorations of San Marco, more than eight centuries ago. And how +could it be otherwise in a city so flooded with radiance of color and +light!"</p> + +<p>"I have brought you here," said he one morning, as they left their +gondolas at the steps of the Academy, "for the special study of +Carpaccio's and the Bellinis' works.</p> + +<p>"But," he added, as they entered the building <a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a>and stepped into the +first room, "I would like you to stop for a few minutes and look at +these quaint pictures by the Vivarini, Basaiti, Bissolo, and others of +the early Venetian painters. Here you will notice the first +characteristics of the school. This academy is particularly interesting +to students of Venetian art, because it contains few other than Venetian +paintings."</p> + +<p>Passing on, they soon reached a hall whose walls were lined with large +pictures. Here Mr. Sumner paused, saying:—</p> + +<p>"We find in this room quite a number of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio. +Here is his most noted series, illustrating scenes in the legendary life +of St. Ursula, the maiden princess of Brittany, who, with her eleven +thousand companions, visited the holy shrines of the old world; and on +their return all were martyred just outside the city of Cologne. You +have read the story, I know. Look first at the general scheme of +composition and color before going near enough to study details. +Carpaccio had felt the flood of Venetian color, and here we see the +beginnings of that wonderful richness found in works by the later +Venetian masters. He was a born story-teller, and delighted especially +in tales of a legendary, poetic character. His works possess a peculiar +fascinating quaintness. The formal composition, by means of which we see +several <a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a>scenes crowded into one picture; the singular perspective +effects; the figures with earnest faces beneath such heavy blond +tresses, and with their too short bodies, enable us easily to recognize +his pictures."</p> + +<p>"I think I shall choose St. Ursula to be my patron saint," said Margery, +thoughtfully, after they had turned from the purely artistic study of +the pictures to their sentiment. "I have read somewhere that she is the +especial patroness of young girls, as well as of those who teach young +girls,—so she can rightfully belong to me, you see."</p> + +<p>"What do you think she will do for you?" asked Malcom, with a quizzical +smile.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I don't know. Perhaps if I think enough about her life I shall be a +better girl," and the blue eyes grew very earnest.</p> + +<p>"That is wholly unnecessary, Madge <i>mia</i>," tenderly replied her brother.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you a singular thing that I read not long ago," said +Bettina, going over to Margery, who was standing close in front of that +sweet sleeping face of St. Ursula in one of the pictures. "It was in the +life of Mr. Ruskin. His biographer says that Mr. Ruskin is wonderfully +fond of the legend of St. Ursula; that he has often come from England to +Venice just to look again on these pictures by old Carpaccio; that he +has thought so <a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a>much about her character that he really is influenced +greatly by it. And he goes on to say that some person who has perhaps +received a calm, kind letter from Mr. Ruskin instead of the curt, +brusque, or impatient one that he had looked for, on account of the +irascible nature of the writer, would be altogether surprised could he +know that the reason of the unexpected quietness was that Mr. Ruskin had +stopped to ask himself, 'What would St. Ursula say? What would St. +Ursula do?'"</p> + +<p>"I think that is a pretty story about Mr. Ruskin, don't you?" she added, +turning to Malcom and the others.</p> + +<p>"It is a pretty enough story," replied Malcom. "But I confess I do not +wish Madge always to stop and ask the mind of this leader of the 'eleven +thousand virgins.' Only consult your own dear self, my sister. You are +good enough as you are."</p> + +<p>"I think it is the feminine quality in St. Ursula's ways of thought and +action that appeals so strongly to Mr. Ruskin's rugged nature," replied +Mr. Sumner, in answer to a rather appealing glance from Margery's eyes. +"The tale of a gentle life influences for good a somewhat embittered, +but grandly noble man. As to our little Madge," with a smile that drew +her at once close to him, "the best influence she can gain from the old +legend will <a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"></a>grow out of the unwavering purpose of the saint, and her +inflexibility of action when once the motive was felt to be a noble one. +Her needs are not the same as are Mr. Ruskin's."</p> + +<p>Margery slipped her hand into that of the uncle who so well understood +her, and gave it a tender little squeeze. As Mr. Sumner turned quickly +to call attention to one or two other pictures, with different subjects, +by Carpaccio, he caught for an instant the old-time sympathetic look in +Barbara's eyes, which gladdened his heart, and gave a new ring to his +voice.</p> + +<p>"Here are two or three historical pictures by Carpaccio and Gentile +Bellini that put ancient Venice before our eyes, and, on this account, +are most interesting. Their color is fine, but in all other art +qualities they are weak."</p> + +<p>"I must tell you," he went on, "about the Bellini brothers, Gentile and +Giovanni. Their father, who was also an artist, came from Padua to +Venice in the early part of the fifteenth century, bringing his two +young sons, both of whom grew to be greater painters than the father. +They opened a school, and Giorgione and Titian, who, you well know, are +two supreme names in Venetian painting, were among their pupils. The +Bellini paintings are the natural precursors of the glory of Venetian +art. Even in these historical paintings by Gentile Bellini <a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a>we feel the +palpitating sunshine which floods and vivifies the rich colors of +palaces and costumes. You can readily see the difference between his +work and that of Carpaccio. While Carpaccio has treated the historic +scene in a poetic way, with quaint formality, Bellini's picture is full +of truth and detail.</p> + +<p>"But," he continued, "Gentile Bellini's work, as art, fades in +importance before that of his brother, Giovanni, who gave himself almost +wholly to religious painting. If you will try to shut your eyes for a +few minutes to the other pictures about you, I would like to take you +immediately to one of this artist's Madonna pictures.</p> + +<p>"And, by the way," he interpolated, as they walked straight on through +several rooms, "I am delighted to see that you have learned to go into a +gallery for the express study of a few pictures, and can refuse to allow +your attention to be distracted by any others, however alluring. I am +sure this is the only way in which really to study. Go as often or as +seldom as you choose or can, but always go with a definite purpose, and +do not be distracted by the effort to see the works of many artists at a +single visit; least of all, by the endeavor to look at all there are +about you. For him who does this, I predict an inevitable and incurable +art-dyspepsia. The reason of my express caution now is that I <a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a>am taking +you into the most attractive room of the gallery, and wish you to see +nothing but one picture.</p> + +<p>"Here it is!" and they paused before a large altar-piece. "You at once +feel the unique character of the Madonna; the stateliness of the +composition, the exquisite harmony and strength of the color.—What is +it, Betty?"</p> + +<p>"I was only whispering to Barbara that these lovely angels, with musical +instruments, who are sitting on the steps of the throne are those that +we have seen so often in Boston art-shops."</p> + +<p>"And they are indeed lovely!" replied Mr. Sumner. "I will allow you to +look at another picture in this room which I had forgotten as we came +hither—for it is by Carpaccio—turn, and look! this <i>Presentation in +the Temple</i>! See those musical angels also, sitting on the steps of the +Madonna's throne! I am sure the middle one is familiar to you all, for +it is continually reproduced, and a great favorite. Of what other +painter do these angels remind you?"</p> + +<p>"Of Fra Bartolommeo," quickly replied two or three voices.</p> + +<p>"And I am sure," continued Mr. Sumner, "that Fra Bartolommeo never +painted them until after he had visited Venice, and had learned from the +study of these Venetian masters how great an aid to <a name="Page_321" id="Page_321"></a>composition and +what beautiful features in a picture they are. And Raphael never painted +them until he had seen Fra Bartolommeo's work.</p> + +<p>"But now look at Bellini's <i>Madonna</i>" as he turned again to the picture, +"for she is as individual as Botticelli's, and is as easily +recognizable. Note her stately pride of beauty, produced chiefly by the +way in which her neck rises from her shoulders, and in which her head is +poised upon it. Everything else, however, is in perfect keeping—from +the general attitude and lifted hand to the half-drooping eyelids. Of +what is she so proud? She is holding her Child that the world may +worship Him. Of herself she has no thought. Botticelli's Madonna is +brooding over the sorrows of herself and Son: Bellini's is lost in the +noble pride that He has come to save man. The color of the picture is +wondrously beautiful.</p> + +<p>"Please note in your little books this artist's <i>Madonnas</i> in San +Zaccaria and Church of the Frari, and go to see them to-morrow morning +if you can; they are his masterpieces. I will not talk any more now. If +you wish to stay here longer, it will be well to go back and look at the +very earliest pictures again, or others that you will find by Carpaccio +and the Bellini brothers."</p> + +<p>Not long after, they got together one evening to talk about Titian and +Giorgione. They had seen, <a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"></a>of course, their pictures in the Florentine +galleries, and Titian's <i>Sacred and Profane Love</i> in the Borghese +Gallery, Rome; and were familiar with the rich color and superb Venetian +figures and faces.</p> + +<p>"What a pity that Giorgione died so young!" exclaimed Margery.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied her uncle. "He would doubtless have given to the world +many pictures fully equal to Titian's. Indeed, to me, he seems to have +been gifted with even a superior quality of refinement. We may see it in +the contrast between his <i>Venus</i> in the Dresden Gallery, whose +photograph you know, and Titian's two <i>Venuses</i> in the Uffizi, which you +studied so carefully when in Florence. But there are very few examples +of Giorgione's paintings in existence, and critics are still quarrelling +over almost all that are attributed to him. Probably the most popular +are the Dresden <i>Venus</i>, which has only recently been rescued from +Titian and given to its rightful author, and the <i>Concert</i>, which you +remember in the Pitti Gallery, Florence, about which there is +considerable dispute, some critics thinking it an early work by Titian."</p> + +<p>"Why did the artists not sign their pictures?" rather impatiently +interrupted Malcom.</p> + +<p>"Even a signature does not always settle questions," replied his uncle, +"for it is by no means an unknown occurrence for a gallery itself <a name="Page_323" id="Page_323"></a>to +christen some doubtful picture. But to go on:—</p> + +<p>"In Venice there is but one painting by Giorgione which is undoubtedly +authentic. I will take you to the Giovanelli Palace, where it is. It is +called <i>Family of Giorgione</i>. He was fond of introducing three figures +into his compositions,—you remember the Pitti <i>Concert</i>,—there are +also three in this Giovanelli picture—a gypsy woman, a child, and a +warrior. The landscape setting is exceedingly beautiful, and the whole +glows with Giorgione's own color.</p> + +<p>"About Titian," continued he, "you have read, and can easily read so +much that I shall not talk long. His whole story is like a romance; his +success and fame boundless; his pictures scattered among all important +galleries."</p> + +<p>"Has Venice a great many?" queried Malcom.</p> + +<p>"No, Venice possesses comparatively few; and, strangely enough, these +are not most characteristic of the painter. His name, you know, is +almost indissolubly connected with noble portraits, magnificent +mythological representations, and those ideal pictures of beautiful +women of which he painted so many, and which wrought such a revolution +in the character of succeeding art. Hardly any of these, though so +entirely in keeping with the brilliant city, are in Venice to-day; <a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"></a>we +must go elsewhere, to Madrid, to Paris, Florence, Rome, Dresden, and +Berlin to find them. One mythological picture only, <i>Venus and Adonis</i>, +is in the Academy, and one portrait of a Doge, doubtfully ascribed to +Titian, is in the Ducal Palace."</p> + +<p>"Then what pictures are here?" asked Bettina, as Mr. Sumner paused.</p> + +<p>"His greatest religious paintings, those gorgeous church pictures, most +of which were painted in his youth, are here."</p> + +<p>"May I interrupt a moment," queried Barbara, "to ask what you meant when +you said that some of Titian's pictures wrought a revolution in art?"</p> + +<p>"This is a good time in which to explain my meaning. Titian's nature was +not devout. You will see it in every one of these religious paintings +you are about to study. The subjects seem only pretexts, or foundations, +for the gorgeous display of a rare artistic ability. To paint beauty for +beauty's sake only, in form, features, costumes, and accessories was +Titian's native sphere, and gloriously did he fill it. In these church +pictures, the Madonna and Child are almost always entirely secondary in +interest. In many, the family of the donor, with their aristocratic +faces and magnificent costumes, and the saints with waving banners, are +far more important. A fine example of this is the<a name="Page_325" id="Page_325"></a> <i>Madonna of the +Pesaro family</i> in the Church of the Frari. With such a <i>motif</i> +underlying his work, the great painter fell easily into the habit of +portraying ideal figures, especially of women,—'fancy female figures,' +one writer has termed them,—whose sole merit lies in the superb +rendering of rosy flesh, heavy tresses of auburn hair, lovely eyes, and +rich garments. Such are his <i>Flora</i>, <i>Venuses</i>, <i>Titian's Daughter</i>—of +which there are several examples—<i>Magdalens</i>, etc.; together with many +so called portraits, such as his <i>La Donna Bella</i> in the Pitti, +Florence.</p> + +<p>"Titian could paint such pictures so free from coarseness, so +magnificent in all art qualities, that the world was delighted with +them. After him, however, the lowered aim had its influence; poorer +artists tried to follow in his footsteps, and the world of art soon +became flooded with mediocre examples of these meaningless pictures. All +this hastened rapidly the decay of Italian art.</p> + +<p>"But you must remember," Mr. Sumner hastened to say, as he watched the +faces about him, "that I am giving you my own personal thoughts. To me, +the purity of sentiment and the lofty <i>motif</i> of a picture mean so much +that they always influence my judgment of it. With many other people it +is not so. They revel in the color, the line, the tone, the grouping, +the purely art qualities. In <a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></a>these Titian, as I have said, is perfect, +and worthy of the high place he holds in the art-world.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will take great pains to study him here by yourselves,—in +the Academy and in the various churches,—wherever there are examples of +his work. Let each form his own judgment, founded on that which he finds +in the pictures. The work of any artist of the High Renaissance, whose +aim is purely artistic, is not difficult to understand. His means of +expression were so ample that it is easy indeed to read that which he +says, compared with the earlier masters. You will find two of Titian's +most notable pictures in the Academy,—the <i>Assumption of the Virgin</i>, +one of the few in which the Madonna has due prominence, and which shows +the artist's best qualities, and <i>Presentation of the Virgin</i>."</p> + +<p>"What other Venetian Masters ought we particularly to study?" asked +Barbara.</p> + +<p>"Look out for Crivelli's <i>Madonnas</i>, and all of Paul Veronese's work. He +was really the most utterly Venetian painter who ever lived. He painted +Venice into everything: its motion, its color, its intoxicating fulness +are all found in his mythological and banquet scenes. You will find his +pictures in the Ducal Palace, in the Academy, and a fine series in San +Sebastiano, which represents legendary scenes in the life of St. +Sebastian.<a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"></a> Go to Santa Maria Formosa and look at Palma Vecchio's <i>St. +Barbara</i>, his masterpiece. You will also find several of this artist's +pictures in the Academy worth looking at. His style at its best is +grand, as in the <i>St. Barbara</i>, but he did not always paint up to it, by +any means.</p> + +<p>"As to the rest, study them as a whole. The Venice Academy is an epitome +of Venetian painting, from its earliest work down through the High +Renaissance into the Decadence. It was full of pure and devotional +sentiment, rendered with good, oftentimes rich, color, until after the +Bellini. Then the portrayal of purely physical beauty, with refinement +of line and gorgeousness of color, became preëminent. The works of +several artists of note, Palma Vecchio, Palma Giovine, Bonifazio +Veronese, and Bordone, so resemble each other and Titian's less +important works, that there has been much uncertainty as to the true +authorship of many of them."</p> + +<p>"And Tintoretto?" questioned Barbara.</p> + +<p>"I will take you to see Tintoretto's pictures—or many of them at +least," added Mr. Sumner. "He stands alone by himself."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a>Chapter XIX.</h2> + +<h3>In a Gondola.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>And on her lover's arm she leant,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And round her waist she felt it fold,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And far across the hills they went</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>In that new land which is the old</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Tennyson.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 488px;"> +<img src="images/image330.png" width="488" height="301" alt="GRAND CANAL AND RIALTO, VENICE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GRAND CANAL AND RIALTO, VENICE.</span> +</div> + + +<p>Lucile Sherman, accompanied by her friends, had arrived in Venice, and +though not at the same hotel, yet she spent all the time she could with +Mrs. Douglas, and wished to join her in many excursions. She had found +it very wearisome to tarry so long in Rome, but there had been no +sufficient reason for following the party to Florence and on to Venice; +therefore it had seemed the only thing to do.</p> + +<p>Now that she was again with them she watched Mr. Sumner and Barbara most +zealously. Her quick eyes had noted the altered condition of affairs +during the latter days of the Naples journey, and she was feverishly +anxious to understand the cause. Her intuition told her that there was +some peculiar underlying interest for each in the other, and when this +exists between a man and woman, <a name="Page_331" id="Page_331"></a>some sequel may always be expected. One +thing was certain; Mr. Sumner covertly watched Barbara, and Barbara +avoided meeting his eye. She could only wait, while putting forth every +effort to gain the interest in herself she so coveted.</p> + +<p>And Barbara, of course, was trying to determine whether there was any +ground for the suspicions, or rather suggestions, that Malcom gave voice +to on that dreadful ride to Sorrento.</p> + +<p>And Bettina watched all three; and so did Malcom, after a fashion, but +he was less keenly interested than the others. He sometimes tried to +talk with Bettina about the studio incident, but never could he begin to +discuss Barbara in the slightest way without encountering her sister's +indignation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas, who had outlived her former wish concerning her brother +and Lucile Sherman, and Margery were the only ones who had nothing to +hide, and so gave themselves simply to the enjoyment of the occurrences +of each hour.</p> + +<p>"We must begin to see Tintoretto's paintings," said Mr. Sumner at +breakfast one fine morning; "and, since the sun shines brightly, I +suggest that we go at once to the Scuola di San Rocco, for the only time +to see the pictures there is the early morning of a bright day."</p> + +<p>"We must not forget Lucile," said Mrs. Douglas, <a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"></a>with an inquiring look +at her brother, "for she asked particularly to go there with us."</p> + +<p>"Then we must call for her of course," quietly answered he, as all rose +from the table. "We will start at once."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe," said Bettina, as she and Barbara were in their room +putting on their hats a moment afterward, "that Mr. Sumner cares one bit +more for Lucile Sherman than for anybody else."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you think so?" asked Barbara, as she turned aside to find her +gloves, which search kept her busy for a minute or two.</p> + +<p>"Because he never seems to take any pains to be where she is—he does +not watch for the expression of her eyes—his voice never changes when +he speaks to her," answered Bettina, slowly, enumerating some of the +signs she had observed in Mr. Sumner with respect to Barbara.</p> + +<p>Neither of the girls stopped to think how singular it was that Bettina +should have watched Mr. Sumner closely enough to make such a positive +assertion as this, which, perhaps, is a sufficient commentary on the +state of their minds at this time.</p> + +<p>After a delightful half hour of gliding through broad and narrow canals, +they landed in front of the Church of San Rocco, and passed into the +alleyway <a name="Page_333" id="Page_333"></a>from which is the entrance of the famous Scuola. As they +stepped into its sumptuous hall, Miss Sherman remarked:—</p> + +<p>"I see that Mr. Ruskin says whatever the traveller may miss in Venice, +he should give much time and thought to this building."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ruskin has championed Tintoretto with the same fervor that he has +expended upon Turner," replied Mr. Sumner, smiling. "I think we should +season his judgments concerning both artists with the 'grain of salt'.</p> + +<p>"But," continued he, as he saw all were waiting for something further, +"there can be no doubt that Tintoretto was a great painter and a notable +man. To read the story of his life,—his struggles to learn the +art,—his assurance of the worth of his own work, and his colossal +ambitions, is as interesting as any romance."</p> + +<p>"I was delighted," interpolated Malcom, "with the story of his first +painting for this building, and the audacity that gained for him the +commission to paint one picture for it every year of his remaining life.</p> + +<p>"And here are about fifty of them," resumed Mr. Sumner, "in which we may +study both his strength and his weakness. No painter was ever more +uneven than he. No painter ever produced works that present such wide +contrasts as do his.<a name="Page_334" id="Page_334"></a> He could use color as consummately as Titian +himself, as we see in his masterpiece, <i>The Miracle of St. Mark</i>, in the +Academy; yet many of his pictures are almost destitute of it. He could +vie with the greatest masters in composition; yet there are many +instances where he seems to have thrown the elements of his pictures +wildly together without a single thought of artistic proportions and +relations. In some works he has shown himself a thorough master of +technique; in others his rendering is so careless that we are ashamed +for him. But all this cannot alter the fact that he is surpassingly +great in originality, in nobility of conception, and in a certain poetic +feeling,—and these are qualities that set the royal insignia upon any +artist."</p> + +<p>"I cannot help feeling the motion, the action, of all these wild +figures," exclaimed Bettina, as she stood looking about in a helpless +way. "I seem to be buffetted on all sides, and the pictures mix +themselves with each other."</p> + +<p>"It is no wonder. No painter was ever so extravagant as he could be. +There is a headlong dash, an impetuous action in his figures when he +wills, that remind us of Michael Angelo; but Tintoretto's imagination +far outran that of the great Florentine master. Yet there is a singular +sense of reality in his most imaginative works, and it is <a name="Page_335" id="Page_335"></a>this, I +think, that is sometimes so confusing and overwhelming. His paintings +here are so many that I cannot talk long about any particular one. I +will only try to tell you what qualities to look for—then you must, for +yourselves, endeavor to understand and come under the spell of the +personality of the artist.</p> + +<p>"In the first place," he continued, "look for power—power of +conception, of invention, and of execution. For instance, give your +entire attention for a few minutes to this <i>Massacre of the Innocents</i>. +See the perfect delirium of feeling and action—the frenzy of men, +women, and children. Look also for originality of invention. +Combinations and situations unthought of by other painters are here. +There is never even a hint of plagiarism in Tintoretto's work. In his +own native strength he seizes our imagination and, at will, plays upon +it. We shudder, yet are fascinated."</p> + +<p>"Oh, uncle! I don't like it!" cried Margery, almost tearfully. "I don't +wish to see any more of his pictures, if all are like these."</p> + +<p>"Madge—puss," said Malcom, "this is a horrible subject. Not all will be +like this."</p> + +<p>"No, dear," said her mother, sympathizingly, "I don't like it either. +You and I will choose the pictures we are to look at long. There are +many of Tintoretto's that you will enjoy, I know,—many <a name="Page_336" id="Page_336"></a>from which you +can learn about the artist, as well as from such as these."</p> + +<p>"We cannot doubt the dramatic power of Tintoretto, can we?" asked Mr. +Sumner, with a suppressed twinkle of the eye. "What shall we look for +next? Let us ascend this beautiful staircase. Now look at this +<i>Visitation</i>. Is it not truly fine, charming in composition, graceful in +action, agreeable in color, and true and noble in expression?"</p> + +<p>All agreed most eagerly with Mr. Sumner's opinion of the picture. Then, +turning, Bettina caught sight of an <i>Annunciation</i>, and cried:—</p> + +<p>"How thoroughly exquisite! See those lovely angels tumbling over each +other in their haste to tell the news to Mary! How brilliant! Surely +Tintoretto did not paint this!"</p> + +<p>"No. This is by Titian; and it is one of his most happy religious +pictures too. I thought of it as we were coming, and am glad to have you +see it. The whole expression is admirable; and the fulness of life and +joy—the jubilation—is perfect. You can in no way more vividly feel the +difference between fourteenth-century painting in Florence, and the +sixteenth-century or High Renaissance work in Venice, than by recalling +Fra Angelico's sweet, calm, staid Annunciations, and contrasting them +with this one."</p> + +<p>"But why do I feel that, after all, I love Fra<a name="Page_337" id="Page_337"></a> Angelico's better, and +should care to look at them oftener?" rather timidly asked Barbara.</p> + +<p>"I think," replied Mr. Sumner, after a little pause, "that it is +because, in them, the spiritual expression dominates the physical. We +recognize the fact that the artist has not the power to picture all that +he desires to express. His art language is weak; therefore there is +something left unsaid, and this compels our attention. We wish to +understand his full meaning, so come to his pictures again and again.</p> + +<p>"It is this quality of the fourteenth-century painting that impelled the +Pre-Raphaelites, German and English, to discard the chief <i>motif</i> of the +High Renaissance, which was to picture everything in its outward +perfection. They thought that this very perfection of artistic +expression led to the elimination of spiritual feeling."</p> + +<p>"But how can artists go back now and paint as those did five centuries +ago?" queried Malcom. "Of course, if they study methods of the present +day, they must know all the principles underlying a true and artistic +representation—and it would be wrong not to practise them."</p> + +<p>"You have at once found the weak point in the Pre-Raphaelites' principle +of work, Malcom. It is forced and artificial to do that in the +nineteenth century which was natural and charming in the <a name="Page_338" id="Page_338"></a>fourteenth. +That which our artists of to-day must do if they desire any reform is to +so fill themselves with the comprehension of spiritual things—so strive +to understand the hidden beauty and harmony and truth of nature—that +their works may be revelations to those who do not see so clearly as do +they. To do this perfectly they must ever, in my opinion, give more +thought to the thing to be expressed than to the manner of its +expression; yet they must render this expression as perfectly as the +present conditions allow. But I think I have talked before of just this +thing. And we must turn again to Tintoretto."</p> + +<p>Not only this forenoon, but many others, were spent in the Scuola di San +Rocco in the study of Tintoretto's paintings. At first they shuddered at +his most vivid representations of poor, sick, wretched beings that cover +these immense canvases dedicated to the memory of St. Roch, whose life +was devoted to hospital work; then were fascinated by the power that had +so ruthlessly portrayed reality. They studied his great +<i>Crucifixion</i>,—as a whole, in detailed groups, and then its separate +figures,—until they began to realize the magnitude of its conception +and rendering. Mr. Sumner had said that nowhere save in Venice can +Tintoretto be studied, and all were anxious to understand his work.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339"></a>At the Academy, close by Titian's great <i>Assumption of the Virgin</i>, +they found Tintoretto's <i>Miracle of St. Mark</i>, and saw how noble could +be, at their best, his composition and drawing, and how marvellous his +coloring of sky, architecture, costume, and flesh. They went to the +various churches, notably, Santa Maria del Orto, to see good examples of +his religious painting; and to the Ducal Palace for his many +mythological pictures, and his immense <i>Paradiso</i>. Finally they were +happy in feeling that they could comprehend, in some little degree, the +spirit of this strange, powerful artist and his work.</p> + +<p>One rainy evening, toward the close of their stay in Venice, all sat in +the parlor, discussing a most popular novel recently published. It was +written in an exceedingly clever manner; indeed, possessed an unusual +degree of literary merit. But like many other books then being sent +forth, the tale was very sad.</p> + +<p>The hero, Richard,—poor, proud, and painfully morbid,—would not +believe it possible that the woman whom he passionately loved,—a woman +whose life was filled with luxury, and who was surrounded by +admirers,—could ever love him; and so he went out from her and all the +possibilities of happiness, never to know that her heart was his and +might have been had for <a name="Page_340" id="Page_340"></a>the asking. The happiness of both lives was +wrecked.</p> + +<p>"I think no author ought to write such a story," said Mrs. Douglas, +emphatically. "Life holds too much that is sad for us all to justify the +expenditure of so much unavailing sympathy. The emotion that cannot work +itself out in action takes from moral strength instead of adding to it. +It is a pity to use so great literary talent in this way."</p> + +<p>"But do not such things sometimes happen, and is it not a literary +virtue to describe real life?" queried Barbara, from her corner amidst +the shadows.</p> + +<p>"Is it an especially artistic virtue to picture deformity and suffering +just because they exist? I acknowledge that a picture or a book may be +fine, even great, with such subjects; but is it either as helpful or +wholesome as it might have been?" argued Mrs. Douglas.</p> + +<p>"Yet in this book the characters of both hero and heroine grow stronger +because of their suffering," suggested Bettina.</p> + +<p>"But such an unnecessary suffering!" rather impatiently asserted Malcom. +"If either had died, then the other might have borne it patiently and +been just as noble. But such a blunder! I threw the book aside in +disgust, for the author <a name="Page_341" id="Page_341"></a>had absorbed me with interest, and I was so +utterly disappointed."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner had been reading, and had not joined in the conversation, but +Bettina thought she saw some evidence that he had heard it; and when, +throwing aside his paper, he stepped outside on the balcony, she obeyed +an impulse she could never afterward explain to herself, and followed +him. Quickly putting her hand on his, she said, with a fluttering heart, +but with a steady voice:—</p> + +<p>"Dear Mr. Sumner, do not do as Richard did."</p> + +<p>Then drawing back in consternation as she realized what she had done, +she gasped:—</p> + +<p>"Oh, forgive me! Forget what I have said!"</p> + +<p>She tried to escape, but her hand was in a grip of iron. "What do you +mean? Tell me, Betty. Barbara—" His voice failed, but the passion of +love that blazed in his eyes reassured her.</p> + +<p>"I will not say another word. Please let me go and never, <i>never</i> tell +Barbara what I said;" and as she wrenched her hand from him, and +vanished from the balcony, her smiling face, white amidst the darkness, +looked to Robert Sumner like an angel of hope. Could it be that she +intended to give him hope of Barbara's love—that sweet young girl—when +he was so much older? When she knew that he had once before loved? But +<a name="Page_342" id="Page_342"></a>what else could Betty have meant? Had he been blind all this time, and +had Betty seen it? A hundred circumstances sprang into his remembrance, +that, looked at in the light of her message, took on possible meanings.</p> + +<p>Robert Sumner was a man of action. As soon as his sister retired to her +own room, he followed, and then and there fully opened his heart to her. +He told her all, from the first moment when Barbara began to monopolize +his thoughts, and confessed his struggles against her usurpation of the +place Margaret had so long held.</p> + +<p>To say that Mrs. Douglas was astonished does not begin to express the +truth. She listened in helpless wonder. As he went on, and it became +evident to her what a strong hold on his affections Barbara had gained, +the fear arose lest he might be on the brink of a direful +disappointment. At last, when he ended, saying, "I shall tell her all +to-morrow," she could only falter:—</p> + +<p>"Is it best so soon, Robert?"</p> + +<p>"Soon!" he cried. "It seems as if I have waited years! Say not one word +against it, sister. My mind is made up!"</p> + +<p>But he could not tell her the hope Bettina had given, which was singing +joyfully in his heart all the time. And so Mrs. Douglas was tortured all +through the night with miserable forebodings.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343"></a>The next morning Bettina was troubled at the look of resolve she +understood in Mr. Sumner's face, and almost trembled at the thought of +what she had done. "But I am sure—I am sure," she kept repeating, to +reassure herself.</p> + +<p>A last visit to the Academy had been planned for the afternoon. They +walked thither, as they often loved to do, through the narrow, still +streets and across the little foot-bridges. Mrs. Douglas, with Margery +and Miss Sherman, arrived first, and, after a few minutes' delay, +Bettina and Malcom appeared.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Robert has taken a gondola to the banker's to get our letters, +mother," said Malcom, in such a peculiar voice that his mother gave him +a quick look of interrogation.</p> + +<p>"Where is your sister?" asked Miss Sherman, sharply, turning to Bettina +as Mrs. Douglas passed into an adjoining room.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sumner asked her to help him get the letters," replied she, +demurely.</p> + +<p>Miss Sherman reddened, and Malcom's eyes danced.</p> + +<p>"How strange!" said Margery, innocently.</p> + +<p>The pictures were, unfortunately, of secondary interest to all the group +save Margery; and, as Mr. Sumner and Barbara did not return, they, +before very long, declared themselves tired, and <a name="Page_344" id="Page_344"></a>returned home. The +truth was, each one was longing for private thought.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Barbara and Mr. Sumner were on the Grand Canal. The sun shone +brightly, and Mr. Sumner drew the curtains a little closer together to +shield Barbara's face and, perhaps, his own. The gondolier rowed slowly. +"Where to?" he had asked, and was answered only by a gesture to go on. +So on they floated.</p> + +<p>Barbara had obeyed without thought Mr. Sumner's sudden request to +accompany him. But no sooner had they stepped into the gondola than she +wished, oh, so earnestly! that she had made some excuse.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Sumner did not speak, she tried to make some commonplace remark, +but her voice would not reach her lips; so she sat, flushed and +wondering, timid and silent.</p> + +<p>At last he spoke, gravely and tenderly, of his early life, when she, a +little girl, had known him; of his love and hope; of his sorrow and the +years of lonely work in foreign lands; of his sister's coming; of his +meeting with them all, and of how much they had brought into his life. +But, as he looked up, he could not wait to finish the story as he had +planned. He saw the sweet, flushed face so near him, the downcast eyes, +the little hand that tried to keep from <a name="Page_345" id="Page_345"></a>trembling but could not, and +his voice grew sharp with longing:—</p> + +<p>"Barbara! oh, little Barbara! you have made me love you as I never have +dreamed of love. Can you love me a little, Barbara? Will you be my +wife?" And he held out his hands, but dared not touch her.</p> + +<p>Would she never answer? Would she never lift the eyelids that seemed to +droop more and more closely upon the crimson cheeks? Had he frightened +her? Was she only so sorry for him? Was Betty mistaken, after all?</p> + +<p>But when, with a voice already quivering with apprehension, he again +spoke her name, what a revelation!</p> + +<p>With head thrown back and with smiling, though quivering, lips, Barbara +looked at him, her eyes glowing with the unutterable tenderness he had +sometimes dreamed of. She did not utter a word, but there was no need. +The whole flood of her love, so long repressed, spoke straight to his +heart.</p> + +<p>The gondola curtains flapped closer in the breeze. The gondolier hummed +a musical love-ditty, while his oars moved in slow rhythm. It was Venice +and June.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a>Chapter XX.</h2> + +<h3>Return from Italy.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>To come back from the sweet South, to the North</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Where I was born, bred, look to die;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Come back to do my day's work in its day,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><i>Play out my play—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Amen, amen say I.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—Rossetti.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 449px;"> +<img src="images/image348.png" width="449" height="308" alt="MILAN CATHEDRAL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MILAN CATHEDRAL.</span> +</div> + + +<p>When Robert Sumner and Barbara returned, they found Mrs. Douglas alone. +At the first glance she knew that all was well, and received them with +smiles, and tears, and warm expressions of delight.</p> + +<p>In a moment, however, Barbara—her eyes still shining with the wonder of +it all—gently disengaged herself from Mrs. Douglas's embrace and went +in search of her sister.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you thoroughly astonished, Betty dear?" she asked, after she had +told the wonderful news.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Bab; more than astonished."</p> + +<p>And Bettina's quibble can surely be forgiven. Not yet has she told her +sister of the important part played by herself in bringing the +love-affair to so happy a consummation; nor has Robert<a name="Page_349" id="Page_349"></a> Sumner forgotten +her prayer, "never, never tell Barbara!"</p> + +<p>When evening came and Barbara was out on the balcony with Mr. Sumner, +while the others were talking gayly of the happy event, Bettina suddenly +felt an unaccountable choking in the throat. She hurried to her room, +and there, in spite of every effort, had to give up to a good cry. She +could not have told the cause, but we, the only ones beside herself who +know this pitiful ending of all her bravery, understand and sympathize +with her.</p> + +<p>An hour later, when she had conquered herself and was coming slowly down +the staircase, she found Malcom waiting to waylay her. Drawing her arm +within his, and merrily assuming something of a paternal air, he said:—</p> + +<p>"Now that this little family affair has reached a thoroughly +satisfactory culmination, I trust that things will again assume their +normal appearance. For the past month or so Barbara has been most +<i>distraite</i>; uncle has so evidently tried to be cheerful that the effort +has been distressing; and you, little Lady Betty, have been racking your +precious brains for a scheme to make things better."</p> + +<p>"And you, Malcom," she retorted, "have had so much sympathy with us all +that wrinkles have really begun to appear on your manly brow."<a name="Page_350" id="Page_350"></a> And she +put up her hand lightly as if to smooth them away.</p> + +<p>"Look out, Betty!" with a curious flash of the eyes, as he seized her +hand and held it tightly. "The atmosphere is rather highly charged these +days."</p> + +<p>Bettina's face slowly flushed as she tried to make some laughing +rejoinder, and a strange painful shyness threatened to overtake her when +Malcom, with a smile and a steady look into her eyes, set her free.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Margery was saying to her mother:—</p> + +<p>"How pleasant it is to have everybody so happy!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear. Do you know why I am so very happy?" and as Margery shook +her head, her mother told her that her Uncle Robert had decided to go +home to America, and that never again would he live abroad.</p> + +<p>"It is more like a story than truth. Uncle to go home, and Barbara to be +his wife! You did not think, did you, mamma, what would come from our +year in Italy? Just think! Suppose you had not asked Barbara and Betty +to come with us! What then?"</p> + +<p>"That is too bewildering a question for you to trouble yourself with, my +child. There is no end to that kind of reasoning.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351"></a>"And," she added gently, "it is not a question that Faith would ask. +The only truth is that God was leading me in a way I did not know, and +for ends I could not foresee. That which I did from a feeling of pure +love for my dear neighbors and friends was destined to bring me the one +great blessing I had longed for during many years. Oh! it does seem too +good to be true that Robert is so happy, and that he is coming home."</p> + +<p>And for the seventieth-times-seven time Mrs. Douglas breathed a silent +thanksgiving as she heard the approaching footsteps of her brother.</p> + +<p>For Barbara and Robert Sumner the last days spent in Venice were filled +with a peculiar joy. The revulsion of feeling, the unexpected, +despaired-of happiness, the untrammelled intercourse, the full sympathy +of those dear to them,—all this could be experienced but once.</p> + +<p>Only one person was out of tune with the general feeling. This was +Lucile Sherman. She returned a polite note in reply to that which Mrs. +Douglas had at once sent her containing information of her brother's +engagement to Barbara. In it she wrote that her friends had very +suddenly decided to leave Venice for the Tyrol, and she must be content +to go with them without even coming to say good-by and to offer, in +person, her congratulations. Mrs. Douglas at first thought <a name="Page_352" id="Page_352"></a>of going to +her, if but for a moment; then decided that perhaps it would be best to +let it be as she had so evidently chosen.</p> + +<p>In a few days they also left Venice,—for Milan, stopping on the way for +a day or two at Padua. They were to visit this city chiefly for the +purpose of seeing Giotto's frescoes in the Arena Chapel, and Mantegna's +in the Eremitani, although, as Mr. Sumner said, the gray old city is +well worth a visit for many other reasons. The antiquity of its origin, +which its citizens are proud to refer to Antenor, the mythical King of +Troy, accounts for the thoroughly venerable appearance of some quarters. +It is difficult, however, to believe that it was ever the wealthiest +city in upper Italy, as it is reported to have been under the reign of +Augustus. During the Middle Ages it was one of the most famous of +European seats of learning. Dante spent several years in Padua after his +banishment from Florence, and Petrarch once lived here. All these things +had been talked over before they alighted at the station, and, driving +through one of the gates of the city, went to their hotel.</p> + +<p>All were eager to see whatever there was of interest. As it would be +best to wait until morning for looking at the pictures, they at once set +forth and walked along the narrow streets lined with arcades, and +through grassy Il Prato, with its fourscore and <a name="Page_353" id="Page_353"></a>more statues of Padua's +famous men ranged between the trees. They saw the traditional house of +Petrarch, and that of Dante, in front of which stands a large mediæval +sarcophagus reported to contain the bones of King Antenor, who, +according to the poet Virgil, founded the city. They admired the +churches, from several of which clusters of Byzantine domes rise grandly +against the sky, noted the order, the quiet, that now reigns throughout +the streets, and talked of the fierce, horrible warfare that had +centuries ago raged there.</p> + +<p>The next morning they spent among Giotto's frescoes, over thirty of +which literally cover the walls of the Arena Chapel. The return to the +work of the early fourteenth century, after months spent in study of the +High Renaissance, was like an exchange of blazing noon sunshine for the +first soft, sweet light that heralds the coming dawn. They were +surprised at the freshness and purity of color and at the truth and +force of expression. They had forgotten that old Giotto could paint so +well. They found it easy now to understand in the artist that which at +first had been difficult.</p> + +<p>"Do you not think that Dante sometimes came here and sat while Giotto +was painting?" by and by asked Margery, in an almost reverent voice.</p> + +<p>"I do not doubt it," replied Mrs. Douglas.<a name="Page_354" id="Page_354"></a> "Tradition tells us that +they were great friends, and that when here together in Padua they lived +in the same house. I always think of Giotto as possessing a jovial +temperament, and as being full of bright thoughts. He must have been a +great comfort to the poor unhappy poet. Without doubt they often walked +together to this chapel; and while Giotto was upon the scaffolding, busy +with his Bible stories, Dante would sit here, brooding over his +misfortunes; or, perhaps, weaving some of his great thoughts into +sublime poetry."</p> + +<p>Afterward they went to the Eremitani to see Mantegna's frescoes, and +thought they could see in the noble work of this old Paduan master what +Giotto might have done had he lived a century or more later.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner, however, said that he was sure that Giotto, with his +temperament, could never have wrought detail with such exactness and +refinement as did Mantegna—but also, that Giotto's color would always +have been far better than Mantegna's. The likeness between the two +artists is the intense desire of each to render expression of thought +and feeling.</p> + +<p>The following day, on their way from Padua to Milan, they were so +fortunate as to be all in the same compartment, and as their train +rushed on, <a name="Page_355" id="Page_355"></a>their conversation turned upon Leonardo da Vinci, whose +works in Milan they were longing to see.</p> + +<p>During their stay in Florence they had read much about this great +artist, and Mr. Sumner now suggested that each tell something he had +learned concerning him.</p> + +<p>Margery began, and told how he used always to wear a sketch-book +attached to his girdle as he walked through the streets of Florence, so +that he might make a sketch of any face whose expression especially +attracted him; how he would invite peasants to his studio and talk with +them and tell laughable stories, that he might study the changes of +emotion in their faces; and how he would even follow to their death +criminals doomed to execution, in order to watch their suffering and +horror.</p> + +<p>"He did not care much for the form or coloring or beauty of faces;—only +for the expression of feeling," she added.</p> + +<p>"But," said Malcom, after waiting a moment for the others to speak if +they chose, "he studied a host of other things, also. For in the letter +he sent to Duke Ludovico of Milan asking that he might be taken into his +service, he wrote that he could make portable bridges wonderfully +adapted for use in warfare, also bombshells, cannon, and many other +engines of war; that he could engineer <a name="Page_356" id="Page_356"></a>underground ways, aqueducts, +etc.; that he could build great houses, besides carrying on works of +sculpture and painting. And there were many other things that I do not +now remember. It seems as if he felt himself able to do all things. I +believe he did make a magnificent equestrian statue of the duke's +father. And he studied botany and astronomy, anatomy and mathematics, +and all sorts of things besides. I really do not see how he could have +got much painting in."</p> + +<p>"He has left only a very few pictures to the world," said Barbara. "We +saw two or three at Florence, but I think only one—that unfinished +<i>Adoration of the Magi</i>—is surely his. We shall see the <i>Last Supper</i> +and <i>Head of Christ</i> at Milan. Then there are two or three in Paris and +one in London I think these are all," and she looked inquiringly at Mr. +Sumner, who smilingly nodded confirmation of her words.</p> + +<p>"But," she went on, with an answering smile, "I do not think this was +due to lack of time, for on these few pictures he probably spent as much +time as ordinary artists do in painting a great many. He was never +satisfied with the result of his work. His aims were so high and he saw +and felt so much in his subjects that he would paint his pictures over +and over again, and then often destroy them because he could not produce +what <a name="Page_357" id="Page_357"></a>he wished. I think he was one of the most untiring of artists."</p> + +<p>"I have been especially interested," said Bettina, after a minute or +two, "in the story of the <i>Last Supper</i> which we shall soon see."</p> + +<p>She then went on to tell the sad tale of Beatrice d'Este,—the good and +beautiful wife of harsh, wicked Duke Ludovico. How she used to go daily +to the church Santa Maria delle Grazie to be alone,—to think and to +pray; and how, after her early death, the duke, probably influenced by +remorse because of his cruelty to her, desired Leonardo to decorate this +church and its adjoining monastery with pictures in memory of his dead +young wife. The only remaining one of these is the <i>Last Supper</i> in the +refectory of the old monastery. And the famous <i>Head of Christ</i> in the +Brera Gallery, Milan, is only one of perhaps hundreds of studies that he +made for the expression which he should give to his Christ in the <i>Last +Supper</i>,—so dissatisfied was he with his renderings of the face of our +Saviour. And even with his last effort he was not content, but said the +head must ever go unfinished.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear you say that this <i>Head of Christ</i> was produced +simply as a study of expression," remarked Mr. Sumner. "I am sure this +fact is not understood by many who look upon it.<a name="Page_358" id="Page_358"></a> I know of no other +artistic representation in the world that is so utterly just an +expression and nothing more;—a fleeting expression of some inner +feeling of which the face is simply an index. And this feeling is the +blended grief and love and resignation that filled the heart of our +Saviour when He said to His disciples, 'One of you shall betray me.' It +is a simply wrought study, made on paper with charcoal and water-color. +The paper is worn, its edges are almost tattered; yet were it given me +to become the possessor of one of the world's art-treasures—whichever +one I should choose—I think I should select this. You will know why +when you see it."</p> + +<p>"What a pity that the great picture, the <i>Last Supper</i>, is so injured," +said Malcom, after a pause. "Is it as bad as it is said to be, uncle?"</p> + +<p>"It is in a pretty bad condition, yet, after all, I enjoy it better than +any copy that has ever been made. The handiwork of Leonardo, though so +much of it has been lost, is yet the expression of a master; any lesser +artist fails to render the highest that is in the picture. Both the Duke +and Leonardo were in fault for its present condition. The monastery is +very low, and on extremely wet ground. Water has often risen and +inundated a portion of the building. It is not a fit place for any +painting, as the Duke ought to have known.<a name="Page_359" id="Page_359"></a> And, then, Leonardo, instead +of painting in fresco, used oils, and of course the colors could not +adhere to the damp plaster; so they have dropped off, bit by bit, until +the surface is sadly disfigured."</p> + +<p>"Why did Leonardo do this?" inquired Margery.</p> + +<p>"He was particularly fond of oil-painting, because this method allowed +him to paint over and over again on the same picture, as he could not do +in fresco."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sumner looked out of the window, and then hastened to say:—</p> + +<p>"I think you all have learned that the chief quality of Leonardo da +Vinci's work is his rendering of facial expression—complex, subtile +expression: yet he excelled in all artistic representation;—in drawing, +in composition, in color, and in the treatment of light and shade. He +easily stands in the foremost rank of world painters. But, see! we are +drawing near to Milan,—bright, gay little Milan,—the Italian Paris."</p> + +<p>One day, soon after their arrival, as they were in the Brera Gallery, +looking for the third or fourth time at Leonardo's <i>Head of Christ</i>, +Barbara remarked that she was disappointed because she could not find +any particular characteristic of this great artist's work, as she had so +often been able to do with others. "I feel that I cannot yet recognize +even his style," she lamented.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360"></a>"You have as yet seen none of the pictures which contain his +characteristic ideal face," replied Mr. Sumner. "But there is work here +in Milan by Bernardino Luini, who studied Leonardo so intimately that he +caught his spirit in a greater degree than did any other of his +followers. Indeed, several of Luini's pictures have been attributed to +Leonardo until very recently. This is a picture by Luini—right +here—the <i>Madonna of the Rose-Trellis</i>. The Madonna is strikingly like +Leonardo's ideal in the long, slender nose, the rather pointed chin, the +dark, flowing hair,—and, above all, in the evidence of some deep +thought. If it were Leonardo's, there would be, with all this, a faint, +subtile smile. See the treatment of light and shade,—so delicate, and +yet so strong. This is also like Leonardo."</p> + +<p>After a few minutes spent in study of the picture, Mr. Sumner continued: +"There is a singular mannerism in the backgrounds of Leonardo's +pictures. It is the representation of running water between rocks,—a +strange fancy. We see the suggestion of it through the window behind +Christ in the <i>Last Supper</i>, and it forms the entire background of the +famous <i>Mona Lisa</i>, in the Louvre. There is a beautiful picture by +Luini, <i>The Marriage of St. Catherine</i>, in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum here +in Milan, to which we will go at once. The <a name="Page_361" id="Page_361"></a>faces are thoroughly +Leonardesque, and through an open window in the background we clearly +see the streamlet flowing between rocky shores.</p> + +<p>"But first," he added, as they turned to go out, "let us go into this +corridor where we shall find quite a large number of Luini's frescoes, +which have been collected from the churches in which he painted them. I +think you will grow familiar with Leonardo's faces through study of +Luini."</p> + +<p>During the stay in Milan they went down to Parma for a day, just to look +at the fine examples of Correggio's works in the gallery and churches. +In this city they could get the association of this artist with his +works as nowhere else.</p> + +<p><a name="LUINI" id="LUINI"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/image363.jpg" width="350" height="382" alt="LUINI. POLDI-PEZZOLI MUSEUM, MILAN. + +MARRIAGE OF SAINT CATHERINE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">LUINI. POLDI-PEZZOLI MUSEUM, MILAN. + +MARRIAGE OF SAINT CATHERINE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Sumner told them that it was a good thing to give especial attention +to Correggio while studying Leonardo, because there is a certain +similarity, and yet a very wide difference, between their works. Both +painters were consummate masters of the art. Their beautiful figures, +perfect in drawing and full of grace and life, melt into soft, rich +shadows. Both loved especially to paint women, and smiling women; but +the difference between the smiles is as great as between light and +darkness. Leonardo's are inexplicable; are wrought from within by depths +of feeling we cannot understand. Correggio's only play about the lips, +and are as simple as childhood. Leonardo's whole life was given to <a name="Page_364" id="Page_364"></a>the +study of mankind's innermost emotions. Correggio was no deep student of +human nature.</p> + +<p>"When you go to Paris and see <i>Mona Lisa</i>, you will understand me +better," he said in conclusion.</p> + +<p>Delightful weeks among the Italian lakes and the mountains of +Switzerland followed. Then came September, and it was time to turn their +faces homeward. A week or two was spent in Paris, whose brilliance, +fascinating gayety, and beauty almost bewildered them, and in whose +great picture-gallery, the Louvre, they reviewed the art-study of the +year.</p> + +<p>Then they were off to Havre to take a French steamship home. Mr. Sumner +had decided to return with them, and a little later in the fall to go +back to Florence to settle all things there,—to give up his Italian +home and studio. So there was nothing but joy in the setting forth.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"How can we wait a whole week!" exclaimed Bettina, as the two sisters +were again unpacking the steamer trunks in their stateroom. "How long +one little week seems when it comes at the end of a year, and lies +between us and home!"</p> + +<p>Barbara's thought flew back to the like scene on the <i>Kaiser Wilhelm</i> a +year ago, when her mind had been busy with her father's parting <a name="Page_365" id="Page_365"></a>words, +and her eyes were very dark with feeling as she spoke:—</p> + +<p>"Have you thought, Betty, how much we are taking back?—how much more +than papa thought or we expected even in our wildest dreams? All this +intimate knowledge of Florence, Rome, and Venice! All these memories of +Italy,—and her art and history!"</p> + +<p>Then after a moment she continued with changed voice: "And our +friendship with Howard!—and the great gift he gave by which we have +been able to get all these beautiful things we are taking home to the +dear ones, and by which life is so changed for them and us!—and—"</p> + +<p>"Barbara!" softly called Mr. Sumner's voice from the corridor.</p> + +<p>"<i>And</i>," repeated Bettina, archly, with a most mischievous look as her +sister hastened from the room to answer the summons.</p> + +<p>At last the morning came when the steamship entered New York harbor; and +the evening followed which saw the travellers again in their +homes,—which restored Barbara and Bettina to father, mother, brothers, +and sisters. There was no end of joy and smiles and happy talk.</p> + +<p>After a little time Robert Sumner came, and Dr. Burnett, taking him by +both hands, looked <a name="Page_366" id="Page_366"></a>through moist eyes into the face he loved, and had +so long missed, saying:—</p> + +<p>"And so you have come home to stay,—Robert,—my boy!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," in a glad, ringing voice,—withdrawing one hand from the doctor's +and putting it into Mrs. Burnett's eager clasp—"yes, Barbara and Malcom +have brought me home. Malcom showed me it was my duty to come, and +Barbara has made it a delight."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Epilogue" id="Epilogue"></a>Epilogue.</h2> + +<h3>Three Years After.</h3> + + +<p>In one of New England's fairest villas, only a little way from the spot +where we first found her, lives Barbara to-day. For more than two years +she has been the wife of Robert Sumner. The faces of both tell of happy +years, which have been bounteous in blessing. A new expression glows in +Robert Sumner's eyes; the hint of a life whose energy is life-giving. +All his powers are on the alert. His name bids fair to become known far +and wide in his native land as a force for good in art, literature, +philanthropy, and public service. And in everything Barbara holds equal +pace with him. Whatever he undertakes, he goes to her young, fresh +enthusiasm to be strengthened for the endeavor; he measures his own +judgment against her wise, individual ways of thinking, and gains new +trust in himself from her abiding confidence.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369"></a>In the library of their home, surrounded by countless rare souvenirs of +Italy, hangs a portrait of Howard Sinclair given to Barbara by his aged +grandmother, who now rests beside her darling boy in beautiful Mount +Auburn.</p> + +<p>Dr. Burnett's low, rambling house has given place to a more stately one; +but it stands behind the same tall trees, amidst the same wide, green +spaces. And here is Bettina,—the same Betty,—broadened and enriched by +the intervening years of gracious living; still almost hand in hand with +her sister Barbara. Together they study and enjoy and sympathize; and +together they are striving to bless as many lives as possible by a wise +use of Howard's gift to Barbara.</p> + +<p>They are not letting slip that which they learned of the art of the Old +World, but are adding to it continually in anticipation of the time when +they will again be in its midst. They believe that study of the old +masters' pictures is a peculiar source of culture, and they delight in +procuring photographs and rare reproductions for themselves and their +friends. Their faces are familiar in the art-stores and picture +galleries of Boston.</p> + +<p>Good Dr. and Mrs. Burnett have grown more than three years younger by +dropping so many burdens of life. They no longer count any ways and +means save those of enlarging their own and <a name="Page_370" id="Page_370"></a>their children's lives, and +of making their home a happy, healthful centre from which all shall go +forth daily to help in the world's growth and to minister to its needs.</p> + +<p>Richard, Lois, Margaret, and Bertie, endowed with all the best available +helps, are hard at work getting furnished for coming years.</p> + +<p>Margery, entering into a lovely young womanhood, still lives with her +mother and Malcom in the grand old colonial house in which many +generations of her ancestors have dwelt.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Douglas is quite as happy in the close vicinity of her brother as +she thought she would be. Every day she rejoices in his home, in his +work and growing fame. Barbara grows dearer to her continually as she +realizes what a blessing she is to his life. Indeed, so wholly natural +and just-the-thing-to-be-expected does it now seem that her brother +should fall in love with Barbara, that she grows ever more amazed that +she did not think of it before it happened; and, when she recalls her +surmises and little sisterly schemes concerning him and Lucile Sherman, +she wonders at her own stupidity.</p> + +<p>For Malcom the three years have been crowded with earnest work. He fully +justified the confidence his mother had reposed in him when she gave him +the year abroad, by entering, on <a name="Page_371" id="Page_371"></a>his return, the second year of the +University course.</p> + +<p>A few months ago he graduated with high honors, and is now just +beginning the study of law. When admitted to the bar he will enter, as +youngest partner, the law firm of which for over thirty years his +grandfather was the head.</p> + +<p>And through all he is the same frank, wholesome-hearted, strong-willed, +but gentle Malcom that we knew in Italy.</p> + +<p>The other day he entrusted to his mother and sister a precious secret +that must not yet be divulged. They were delighted, but did not seem +greatly surprised.</p> + +<p>Bettina knows the secret.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Barbara's Heritage, by Deristhe L. 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Hoyt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Barbara's Heritage + Young Americans Among the Old Italian Masters + +Author: Deristhe L. Hoyt + +Illustrator: Homer W. Colby + +Release Date: July 7, 2005 [EBook #16241] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBARA'S HERITAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: TITIAN. ACADEMY, VENICE + +VIRGIN. FROM ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.] + + + + +BARBARA'S HERITAGE + +OR + +_YOUNG AMERICANS AMONG THE OLD ITALIAN MASTERS_ + +BY + +DERISTHE L. HOYT + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE WORLD'S PAINTERS" + +THIRD EDITION. + +BOSTON AND CHICAGO + +W.A. WILDE COMPANY + +COPYRIGHT, 1899, + +BY W.A. WILDE COMPANY. + +_All rights reserved_. + +BARBARA'S HERITAGE. + + To the Brother and Sister who have been my + companions during many happy sojourns in + Italy. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 13 + +II. ACROSS TWO OCEANS 29 + +III. IN BEAUTIFUL FLORENCE 45 + +IV. A NEW FRIEND APPEARS 61 + +V. STRAWS SHOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS 77 + +VI. LUCILE SHERMAN 93 + +VII. A STARTLING DISCLOSURE 107 + +VIII. HOWARD'S QUESTIONINGS 123 + +IX. THE COMING-OUT PARTY 139 + +X. THE MYSTERY UNFOLDS TO HOWARD 157 + +XI. ON THE WAY TO ROME 171 + +XII. ROBERT SUMNER FIGHTS A BATTLE 189 + +XIII. CUPID LAUGHS 205 + +XIV. A VISIT TO THE SISTINE CHAPEL 221 + +XV. A MORNING IN THE VATICAN 239 + +XVI. POOR BARBARA'S TROUBLE 259 + +XVII. ROBERT SUMNER IS IMPRUDENT 279 + +XVIII. IN VENICE 299 + +XIX. IN A GONDOLA 317 + +XX. RETURN FROM ITALY 335 + +EPILOGUE: THREE YEARS AFTER 355 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +VIRGIN. FROM ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN. TITIAN. +Academy, Venice _Frontispiece_ + +BYZANTINE MAGDALEN. PAGE +Academy, Florence 58 + +GROUP OF ANGELS. FROM CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN. FRA ANGELICO. +Uffizi Gallery, Florence 112 + +CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN. BOTTICELLI. +Uffizi Gallery, Florence 146 + +HEAD OF MADONNA. PERUGINO. +Uffizi Gallery, Florence 186 + +THE DELPHIAN SIBYL. MICHAEL ANGELO. +Sistine Chapel, Rome 226 + +SAINT CECILIA. RAPHAEL. +Academy, Bologna 296 + +MARRIAGE OF SAINT CATHERINE. LUINI. +Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan 350 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT + + +_Pen and Ink Drawings made by Homer W. Colby_ + + PAGE + +BARBARA'S HOME 15 + +A BIT OF GENOA 31 + +CHURCH OF THE ANNUNZIATA, FLORENCE 47 + +DUOMO AND CAMPANILE, FLORENCE 63 + +SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE 79 + +A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE 95 + +CLOISTER, MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE 109 + +PONTE ALLA CARRAJA, FLORENCE 125 + +PALAZZO PITTI, FLORENCE 141 + +SAN MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE 159 + +ORVIETO CATHEDRAL 173 + +SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI 191 + +RUINS OF FORUM, ROME 207 + +SAINT PETER'S AND CASTLE OF SAINT ANGELO, ROME 223 + +LOGGIA OF RAPHAEL, VATICAN, ROME 241 + +A BIT OF AMALFI 261 + +CAMPO SANTO, BOLOGNA 281 + +SAN MARCO, VENICE 301 + +GRAND CANAL AND RIALTO, VENICE 319 + +MILAN CATHEDRAL 337 + + + + +PRELUDE. + + + Each day the world is born anew + For him who takes it rightly; + Not fresher that which Adam knew, + Not sweeter that whose moonlit dew + Entranced Arcadia nightly. + + Rightly? That's simply: 'tis to see + _Some_ substance casts these shadows + Which we call Life and History, + That aimless seem to chase and flee + Like wind-gleams over meadows. + + Simply? That's nobly: 'tis to know + That God may still be met with, + Nor groweth old, nor doth bestow + These senses fine, this brain aglow, + To grovel and forget with. + + --JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + + + +Chapter I. + +The Unexpected Happens. + + _And foorth they passe with pleasure forward led._ + + --SPENSER. + +[Illustration: BARBARA'S HOME.] + + +"O Barbara! _do_ you think papa and mamma will let us go? _Can_ they +afford it? Just to think of Italy, and sunshine, and olive trees, and +cathedrals, and pictures! Oh, it makes me wild! Will you not ask them, +dear Barbara? You are braver than I, and can talk better about it all. +How can we bear to have them say 'no'--to give up all the lovely thought +of it, now that once we have dared to dream of its coming to us--to you +and me, Barbara?" and color flushed the usually pale cheek of the young +girl, and her dark eyes glowed with feeling as she hugged tightly the +arm of her sister. + +Barbara and Bettina Burnett were walking through a pleasant street in +one of the suburban towns of Boston after an afternoon spent with +friends who were soon to sail for Italy. + +It was a charming early September evening, and the sunset glow burned +through the avenue of elm trees, beneath which the girls were passing, +flooding the way with rare beauty. But not one thought did they now give +to that which, ordinarily, would have delighted them; for Mrs. Douglas +had astonished them that afternoon by a pressing invitation to accompany +herself, her son, and daughter on this journey. For hours they had +talked over the beautiful scheme, and were to present Mrs. Douglas's +request to their parents that very night. + +Mrs. Douglas, a wealthy woman, had been a widow almost ever since the +birth of her daughter, who was now a girl of fifteen. Malcom, her son, +was three or four years older. An artist brother was living in Italy, +and a few years previous to the beginning of our story, Mrs. Douglas and +her children had spent some months there. Now the brother was desirous +that they should again go to him, especially since his sister was not +strong, and it would be well for her to escape the inclemency of a New +England winter. + +Barbara and Bettina,--Bab and Betty, as they were called in their +home,--twin daughters of Dr. Burnett, were seventeen years old, and the +eldest of a large family. The father, a great-hearted man, devoted to +his noble profession, and generous of himself, his time, and money, had +little to spare after the wants of his family had been supplied, so it +was not strange that the daughters, on sober second thought, should feel +that the idea of such a trip to the Old World as Mrs. Douglas suggested +could be only the dream of a moment, from which an awakening must be +inevitable. + +But they little knew the wisdom of Mrs. Douglas, nor for a moment did +they suspect that for weeks before she had mentioned the matter to them, +she and their parents had spent many hours in planning and contriving so +that it might seem possible to give this great pleasure and means of +education to their daughters. + +Even now, while they were hesitating to mention the matter, it was +already settled. Their parents had decided that, with the aid of a +portion of a small legacy which Mrs. Burnett had sacredly set aside for +her children, to be used only when some sufficient reason should offer, +enough money could be spared during the coming year to allow them to +accompany Mrs. Douglas. + +As the sisters drew near the rambling, old-fashioned house, set back +from the street, which was their home, a pleasant welcome awaited them. +The father, who had just come from the stable to the piazza, the mother +and younger children,--Richard, Lois, Margaret, and little Bertie,--and +even the old dog, Dandy,--each had an affectionate greeting. + +A quick look of intelligence passed between the parents as they saw the +flushed faces of their daughters, which so plainly told of unusual +excitement of feeling; but, saying nothing, they quietly led the way +into the dining room, where all gathered around the simple supper which +even the youngest could enjoy. + +After the children had been put to bed, and the older ones of the family +were in the library, which was their evening sitting room, Bettina +looked anxiously at Barbara, who, after several attempts, succeeded in +telling the startling proposition which Mrs. Douglas had made, adding +that she should not dare to speak of it had she not promised Mrs. +Douglas to do so. + +Imagine, if you can, the amazement, the flood of joyous surprise that +the girls felt as they realized, first, that to their parents it was not +a new, startling subject which could not for a moment be entertained; +then, that it was not only to be thought of, but planned for; and more, +that the going to Italy with Mrs. Douglas, Malcom, and Margery was to be +a reality, an experience that very soon would come into their lives, for +they were to sail in three weeks. + +After the hubbub of talk that followed, it was a very subdued and quiet +pair of girls who kissed father and mother good night and went upstairs +to the room in which they had slept ever since their childhood. The +certain nearness of the first home-breaking, of the first going away +from their dear ones, and a new conception of the tenderness of the +parents, who were sacrificing so much for them, had taken such +possession of their hearts that they were too full for words. For +Barbara and Bettina were dear, thoughtful daughters and sisters, who had +early learned to aid in bearing the family burdens, and whose closest, +strongest affections were bound about the home and its dear ones. + +Such busy days followed! Such earnest conferences between Mrs. Burnett +and Mrs. Douglas, who was an old traveller, and knew all the ins and +outs of her dear doctor's household! + +It was finally decided that the dark blue serge gowns that had been worn +during the last spring and on cold summer days with the warm spring +jackets, would be just the thing for the girls on the steamship; that +the pretty brown cloth suits which were even then in the dressmaker's +hands could be worn almost constantly after reaching Italy for +out-of-door life; while the simple evening gowns that had done duty at +schoolgirl receptions would answer finely for at-home evenings. So that +only two or three extra pairs of boots (for nothing abroad can take the +place of American boots and shoes), some silk waists, so convenient for +easy change of costume, and a little addition to the dainty +underclothing were all that was absolutely needed. + +Busy fingers soon accomplished everything necessary, and in a few +swiftly passing days the trunks were packed, the tearful good-bys +spoken, and the little party was on its way to New York, to sail thence +for Genoa on the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._ of the North German Lloyd line of +steamships. + +Dr. Burnett had managed to accompany them thus far, and now, as the +great ship is slowly leaving the wharf, and Mrs. Douglas, Malcom, +Margery, Barbara, and Bettina are clustered together on her deck, waving +again and again their good-bys, and straining their eyes still to +recognize the dear familiar form and face among the crowd that presses +forward on the receding pier, we will take time for a full introduction +of the chief personages of our story. + +Mrs. Douglas, who stands between her children, Malcom's arm thrown +half-protectingly about her shoulders, was, or rather is (for our tale +is of recent date and its characters are yet living), a rare woman. +Slender and graceful, clothed in widow's dress, her soft gray hair +framing a still fair and youthful face, she looks a typical American +woman of refinement and culture. And she is all this, and more; for did +she not possess a strong Christian character, wise judgment, and a warm +motherly heart, and were she not ever eager to gain that which is +noblest and best both for herself and her children from every experience +of life, careful Dr. and Mrs. Burnett would never have intrusted their +daughters to her. + +Her husband had been a young Scotchman, well-born, finely educated, and +possessed of ample means, whom she had met when a girl travelling abroad +with her parents, and her brief wedded life had been spent in beautiful +Edinburgh, her husband's native city. Very soon after Margery's birth +came the terrible grief of her husband's death, and lonely Elizabeth +Douglas came across the sea, bringing her two fatherless children to +make a home for herself and them among her girlhood friends. + +Malcom, a well-developed, manly young fellow, has just graduated from +the Boston Latin School. As he stands beside his mother we see the +military drill he has undergone in his fine carriage, straight +shoulders, and erect head. He has the Scotch complexion, an abundance of +fair hair, and frank, steady eyes that win him the instant trust and +friendship of all who look into them. Though full of a boy's enthusiasm +and fun, yet he seems older than he is, as is usually the case with boys +left fatherless who early feel a certain manly responsibility for the +mother and sisters. + +Proud and fond indeed is Malcom Douglas of his mother and "little +Madge," as he calls her, who, petite and slender, with sunny, flowing +curls, the sweetest of blue eyes, and a pure, childlike face, stands, +with parted lips, flushed with animation, by her mother's side. Margery +is, as she looks, gentle and lovable. Not yet has she ever known the +weight of the slightest burden of care, but has been as free and happy +as the birds, as she has lived in her beautiful home with her mother and +brother. + +Barbara and Bettina stand a little apart from the others, with clasped +hands and dim eyes, as the shore, the home-shore, is fast receding from +their sight. They are alike, and yet unlike. People always say "Barbara +and Bettina," never "Bettina and Barbara." They are of the same height, +each with brown hair and eyes. + +Barbara's figure is a little fuller and more womanly, her hair has +caught the faintest auburn hue, her eyes have a more brilliant sparkle, +and the color on her cheeks glows more steadily. She looks at strangers +with a quiet self-possession, and questions others rather than thinks of +herself being questioned. As a child she always fought her own and her +sister's battles, and would do the same to-day did occasion demand. + +Bettina is more timid and self-conscious; her dreamy eyes and quickly +coming and going color betray a keen sensitiveness to thought and +impressions. + +Both are beautiful, and more than one of their fellow-passengers look at +the sisters with interest as they stand together, so absorbed in feeling +that they take no note of what is passing about them. Just now both are +thinking of the same thing--a conversation held with their father as the +trio sat in a corner of the car just before reaching New York. + +Dr. Burnett had explained to them just how he had been enabled to meet +the expense of their coming travel. + +Then he said:-- + +"Now girls, you are, for the first time in your lives, to be away from +the care and advice of your parents. Of course, if you need help in +judging of anything, you are free to go to Mrs. Douglas; but there will +be much that it will be best for you to decide without troubling her. +You will meet all sorts of people, travellers like yourselves, and many +you will see who are spending money freely and for what seems pleasure +only, without one thought of the special education that travel in the +Old World might bring them. Your mother and I have always been actuated +by one purpose regarding our children. We cannot give you money in +abundance, but we are trying to give you a liberal education,--that +which is to us far superior to mere money riches,--and the only +consideration that makes us willing to part from you and to sacrifice +for you now, is our belief that a rare opportunity for gaining culture +and an education that cannot be found at home is open to you. + +"Think of this always, my daughters. Ponder it over while you are gone, +and do your best to come home bringing a new wealth of knowledge that +shall bless your younger brothers and sisters and our whole household, +as well as your own lives. You are not going on a pleasure trip, dear +girls, but to another school,--a thoroughly novel and delightful +one,--but do not forget that, after all, it is a school." + +As the rapidly increasing distance took from them the last sight of the +father's form, Barbara and Bettina turned and looked at each other with +tearful eyes; and the unspoken thought of one was, "We _will_ come home +all that you long for us to be, dear papa!" and of the other, "Oh, I do +hope we shall understand what you wish, and learn what and wherever we +can!" and both thoughts meant the same thing and bore the same earnest +purpose. + +"Come girls," said Mrs. Douglas, who had keenly observed them without +appearing to do so, "it is best for us all to go to our staterooms +directly and unpack our steamer-trunks. Perhaps in even an hour or two +we may not feel so much like doing it as we do now." + +As they passed through the end of the dining-saloon, whose tables were +laden with bouquets of fresh and fragrant flowers, brought by loving +friends to many of the passengers, Malcom's quick eye spied a little +pile of letters on the end of a corner table. + +"I wonder," said he, as he turned back to look them over, "if anybody +thought to write to us." + +Returning with an envelope in his hands, he cried:-- + +"What will you give for a letter from home already, Barbara and Betty?" + +"For us!" exclaimed the girls, "a letter from home for us! Why, we never +thought such a thing could be! How did it get here? Did papa bring one +and put it here?" + +But no, for the letter addressed in the dear mother's handwriting was +clearly stamped, and its appearance testified that it had come through +the mail to New York. + +Hurrying to their stateroom and sitting close to each other on the sofa +under the port-hole, they read Mrs. Burnett's bright, sweet motherly +letter, and a note from each of their brothers and sisters,--even a +crumpled printed one from five-year-old Bertie. So bright and jolly were +they all, that they allayed rather than heightened the first homesick +feelings, and very soon the girls were chattering happily as they busied +themselves with their unpacking. + +The staterooms of the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._ are more commodious than can +be found in most steamships, even those of the same line. It was +delightful to find a small wardrobe in which to hang the warm wrappers +so useful on shipboard, and the thick coats that might be needed, and a +chest of drawers for underclothing, gloves, etc. Toilet articles were +put on the tiny wall-shelves; magazines and books on the top of the +chest of drawers; and soon the little room took on a bit of an +individual and homelike look which was very pleasing. + +Mrs. Douglas and Margery were just opposite them, and Malcom close at +hand, so there was no chance of feeling too much adrift from the old +life. + +"Hello, girls! Are you ready to come upstairs?" in Malcom's voice. + +"How nice your room looks!" cried Margery; and up to the deck they +trooped to find that Malcom had seen that their steamer-chairs were well +placed close together, and that Mrs. Douglas was already tucked in under +her pretty Scotch rug. + +How strange the deck looked now that the host of friends that had +crowded to say good-by were gone! Already many hats and bonnets had been +exchanged for caps, for the wind was fresh, and, altogether, both +passengers and deck struck our party as wearing quite a ship-shape air. +Mrs. Douglas held in her hand a passenger-list, so interesting at just +this time, and was delighted to learn that an old-time travelling +companion was on board. + +"But, poor woman," said she, "she always has to spend the first three or +four days in her berth, so I shall not see her for a time unless I seek +her there. She is a miserable sailor." + +"Oh, dear!" said Bettina, "I had forgotten that there is such a thing as +seasickness. Do you think, Mrs. Douglas, that Barbara and I shall be +seasick? It seems impossible when we feel so well now; and the air is so +fine, and everything so lovely! Are you always seasick, and Malcom, and +Margery?" + +"I have never been really sick, save once, when crossing the English +Channel," replied Mrs. Douglas; "neither has Malcom ever given up to it, +though sometimes he has evidently suffered. But poor Margery has been +very sick, and it is difficult for her to exert enough will-power to +quickly overcome it. It requires a prodigious amount to do this if one +is really seasick." + +"I wonder what it feels like," said Barbara. "I think if will-power can +keep one from it, I will not be seasick." + +"Come and walk, girls," called Margery, who, with Malcom, had been +vigorously walking to and fro on the wide deck, while their mother, +Barbara, and Bettina had been talking. + +So they walked until lunch-time, and then enjoyed hugely the novelty of +the first meal on shipboard. After this, the young people went aft to +look down upon the steerage passengers, and forward to the bow of the +noble ship, while Mrs. Douglas took her little nap downstairs. + +But alas! as the steamship took her course further into the open sea, +and the wind grew more and more fresh, the three girls sank into their +chairs, grew silent, and before dinner-time were among the great +suffering company that every ship carries during the first days and +nights of her voyage. + + + + +Chapter II. + +Across Two Oceans. + + _Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the northwest died away; + Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay: + Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay: + In the dimmest northeast distance dawned Gibraltar grand and gray + ... While Jove's planet rises yonder silent over Africa_. + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: A BIT OF GENOA] + + +"Betty!" called Barbara. + +"What, dear?" answered a weak voice from the berth below. + +"Do you know how much more quiet the water is? and, Betty, I think Mrs. +Douglas looked really disappointed when she saw us still immovable in +our berths." + +It was the third morning at sea. The fresh wind of the first afternoon +had blown a gale before morning. A storm followed, and for two days the +larger part of the passengers had been absent from saloon and deck. + +Among these were Barbara, Bettina, and Margery. Mrs. Douglas and Malcom +had done their best to keep up the spirits of their little party, but +had found it difficult. Now for the third time they had gone to +breakfast alone. + +Barbara was thinking hard; and, as she thought, her courage rose. + +"Betty," said she again, "perhaps if you and I can get up and dress, it +may help Margery to try, and you know how much her mother wishes her to +do so, she so soon loses strength. And Mrs. Douglas is so good to you +and me! I wonder if we can take the salt-water baths that she thinks +help one so much on the sea. You remember how much pains she took as +soon as we came on board to get all our names on the bath-stewardess's +list for morning baths!" + +"I believe I will try!" added she, after a long silence. + +And when the broad-faced, smiling stewardess came to see if the young +ladies would like anything, Barbara gladdened her heart by saying she +would have her bath. + +"Oh, Betty, Betty dear! you have no idea how nice it is! The ship is +quiet, the port is open in the bath-room, and it is just lovely to +breathe the fresh air. Do try it. I feel like a new girl!" + +Before another hour had passed the girls said good-by to poor Margery +after having greatly encouraged her spirits, and climbed the stairs to +the deck, where they found Malcom just tucking his mother into her chair +after their breakfast and morning walk on the deck. Such a bright smile +as Mrs. Douglas gave them! It more than repaid for all the effort they +had made. + +"You are just bricks!" cried Malcom, with a joyous look. "No more +seasickness! Now we will have jolly times, just so soon as Madge can +come up." + +"Go down and persuade her, Malcom, after you have told the deck-steward +to bring some breakfast for these girls. I will help her dress, and you +can bring her up in your arms if she is too weak to walk." + +Before noon, Margery, looking frail as a crushed white lily, lay on a +chair heaped with cushions and rugs close beside her mother; and the +sweet salt air and sunshine did their best to atone for the misery that +had been inflicted by the turbulent sea. + +Bright, happy days followed, and sunsets and moonlight evenings, and the +girls learned to love sea life. They roamed over every part of the ship. +The good captain always had a smile and welcome for young people, and +told them many things about the management of vessels at sea. + +There was no monotony, but every day seemed full of interest. All the +wonders of the great deep were about them--strange fish, sea porpoise, +and whales, by day, and ever-new phosphorescent gleams and starry +heavens by night. Then the wonderful interest of a sail at sea, or a +distant steamship; some other humanity than that on their own ship +passing them on the limitless ocean! + +On the sixth day out the ship passed between Flores and Corvo, two of +the northernmost islands of the Azores; and, through the glass, they +could easily see the little Portuguese homes--almost the very +people--scattered on the sloping hill-sides. + +After two days more, the long line of the distant shore of Cape St. +Vincent came into view, and Malcom, fresh from his history lesson, +recalled the the fact that nearly a hundred years ago, a great Spanish +fleet had been destroyed by the English under Admiral Nelson a little to +the eastward on these very waters. + +The next morning was a momentous one. In the early sunshine the ship +entered the Bay of Gibraltar and anchored for several hours. Boats took +the passengers to visit the town, and to Barbara and Bettina the supreme +moment of travel in a foreign country had arrived; that in which they +found another land and first touched it with their feet; and entering +the streets found strange people and listened to a foreign tongue. + +They drove through the queer, narrow, crooked streets, out upon the +"neutral ground," and up to the gardens; bought an English newspaper; +then, going back to the ship, looked up at the frowning rock threaded by +those English galleries, which, upon occasion, can pour forth from their +windows such a deadly hail. + +Leaving the harbor, the ship passed slowly along between the "Pillars of +Hercules," for so many centuries the western limit of the Old World, and +entered the blue Mediterranean. And was this low dark line on the right +really Africa, the Dark Continent, which until then had seemed only a +dream--a far-away dream? What a sure reality it would ever be after +this! + +Mrs. Douglas had chosen happily when she decided to land at Genoa +instead of at one of the northern ports; for aside from the fact that +the whole Atlantic passage was calmer than it otherwise could have been, +the beauty and interest of the days on the Mediterranean are almost +without parallel in ocean travel. + +The magnificent snow-capped mountains of the Spanish shore; the rugged +northern coasts of the Balearic Islands; the knowledge that out just +beyond sight lies Corsica, where was born the little island boy, so +proud, ambitious, and unscrupulous as emperor, so sad and disappointed +in his banishment and death; and then the long beautiful Riviera coast, +which the steamships for Genoa really skirt, permitting their +passengers to look into Nice, Bordighera, Monaco, San Remo, etc., and to +realize all the picturesque beauty of their mountain background--all +this gave three enchanting days to our little party before the ship +sailed into the harbor of Genoa, _La Superba_, a well-merited title. + +The city seemed now like a jewel in green setting, as its softly colored +palaces, rising terrace above terrace, surrounded by rich tropical +foliage, glowed in the rays of the setting sun. + +Here Mrs. Douglas was to meet her brother; and she, Malcom, and Margery +were full of eager excitement. It was hard to wait until the little +crowd of people collected on the wharf should separate into distinct +individuals. + +"There he is! there is Uncle Robert! I see him!" cried Malcom. "He is +waving his handkerchief from the top of his cane!" + +While Mrs. Douglas and Margery pressed forward to send some token of +recognition across the rapidly diminishing breadth of waters, Barbara +and Bettina sought with vivid interest the figure and face of one whom +they remembered but slightly, but of whom they had heard much. Robert +Sumner was a name often mentioned in their home for, as a boy, and young +man, he had been particularly dear to Dr. Burnett and had been held up +as a model of all excellence before his own boys. + +Some six years before the time of our story he was to marry a beautiful +girl, who died almost on the eve of what was to have been their +marriage-day. Stunned by the affliction, the young artist bade good-by +to home and friends and went to Italy, feeling that he could bear his +loss only under new conditions; and, ever since, that country had been +his home. He had travelled widely, yet had always returned to Italy. +"Next year I will go back to America," he had often thought; but there +was still a shrinking from the coming into contact with painful +associations. Only his sister and her children were left of the home +circle and it were happier if they would come to him; so he had stayed +on, a voluntary exile. + +Not yet thirty years of age, he looked even younger as with shining eyes +he watched the little group on the deck of the big approaching +steamship. Of the strength of his affections no one could be doubtful +who witnessed his warm, passionate embraces when, after long delay, the +ship and shore were at last bound together. + +"And can these be the little Barbara and Betty who used to sit on my +knees?" he asked in wonder, as Mrs. Douglas drew forward the tall girls +that they might share in his greeting. + +"I thought I knew you, but am afraid we shall have to get acquainted +all over again." + +The following morning when, after breakfast, the young people had been +put into a carriage for a drive all about the city, Mrs. Douglas had a +long conversation with her brother. He told her of the pleasant home in +Florence which he had prepared for her, and some of his plans for the +coming months. + +"But will not the care of so many young people be too much for you, my +sister? Have you counted well the cost of added thought and care which +our dear Doctor's daughters will impose? Tell me about them. Are they as +sterling as their father and mother? I must believe they are neither +giddy nor headstrong, else you would never have undertaken the care of +them. Moreover, their faces contradict any such supposition. They are +beautiful and very attractive; but are just at the age when every power +is on the alert to have its fill of interest and enjoyment. Did you +notice how their eyes sparkled as they took their seats in the carriage +and looked out upon the strange, foreign sights?" + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Douglas. "We must do all we can for them that this +visit to the Old World shall be as truly a means of culture as their +parents desire. You know I wrote you that it is difficult for the +Doctor to afford it, but that he felt so earnestly the good that such an +opportunity must bring his girls that he could not bear to refuse it. As +for me, I love Barbara and Betty dearly and delight to care for them as +for my own. Their influence is wholesome, and our little Margery loves +them as if they were indeed sisters. I have thought much about what is +best for all our young people to do during the coming months in Italy. +Of course everything they see and hear will be an education, but I think +we ought to have some definite plan for certainly a portion of their +time. I have wished to talk to you about it. + +"'Help my daughters to study,' said Dr. Burnett, and his feeling has +given me new thoughts regarding my own children. Now there is one great +field of study into which one can enter in this country as nowhere +else--and this is art. Especially in Florence is the world of Italian +painting opened before us--its beginnings and growth. Ought we not to +put all of them, Barbara, Bettina, Malcom, and Margery into the most +favorable conditions for entering upon the study of this great subject, +which may prove a source of so much enjoyment and culture all their +lives? I well remember my own wonder and pleasure when, years ago, our +dear mother called my attention to it; and how much it has been to both +you and me! You can help me here, Robert, for this is so much a part of +your own life." + +"I will think it all over, sister, and we will see what we can do. As +for me, I am too happy just now in having you and the children with me +to give thought to anything else. So talk to me to-day of nothing but +your own dear selves." + +Two days later our travellers were on their way down the western coast +of Italy, threading tunnels, and snatching brief views of the +Mediterranean on one side and smiling vineyards and quaint Italian +cities on the other. + +"We will not stop at Pisa," said Mr. Sumner, "but will come to visit it +some time later from Florence; but you must watch for a fine view from +the railway of its Cathedral, Leaning Tower, Baptistery, and Campo +Santo. The mountains are withdrawing from us now, and I think we shall +reach it soon." + +"Oh! how like the pictures we have seen!" cried Malcom. "How fine! The +tower does lean just as much as we have thought!" + +"How beautiful it all is,--the blue hills, the green plain, and the soft +yellow of the buildings!" said Bettina. + +"Will you tell us something of it all, Mr. Sumner?" asked Barbara. "I +know there is something wonderful and interesting, but cannot remember +just what." + +"There are many very interesting things about this old city," answered +Mr. Sumner. "First of all, the striking changes through which it has +passed. Once Pisa was on the sea, possessed a fine harbor, and in rich +commerce was a rival of Genoa and Venice. She was a proud, eager, +assertive city; of such worth that she was deemed a rich prize, and was +captured by the Romans a few centuries B.C. Now the sea has +left her and, with that, her commerce and importance in the world of +trade. She is to-day so poor that there is nothing to tempt travellers +to come to her save a magnificent climate and this wonderful group of +buildings. The inhabitants are few and humble, her streets are +grass-grown. Everything has stopped in poor old Pisa. Here Galileo was +born, and lived for years; and in the Cathedral is a great swinging lamp +which is said to have first suggested to his mind the motion of the +pendulum, and from the top of the Leaning Tower he used to study the +planets. The Tower is the Campanile, or Bell Tower, of the Cathedral. +With regard to its position, there are different opinions. Some writers +think it only an accident,--that the foundation of one side gave way +during the building, thus producing the effect we see. Others think it +was purposely so built, planned by some architect who desired to gain a +unique effect and so prove his mastery over the subtleties of building. +I confess that since I have seen the leaning towers of Bologna, which +were erected about the same time, I am inclined to agree with the latter +view." + +"I should think, uncle," said Malcom, "that if such defective +foundations had been laid, there would have been further trouble, and +the poor Tower would have fallen long ago." + +"Yes," replied Mr. Sumner, "it does not seem very reasonable to believe +that they would have given way just enough to make the Tower lean as it +does now, and that then it should remain stationary for so many +centuries afterward. The Baptistery, or place for baptism, was formerly +built in Italy separate from the Cathedral, as was the Campanile, just +as we see them here. In northern countries and in more modern Italian +cathedrals, we find all united in one building. The most interesting +thing in this Baptistery is a magnificent marble pulpit covered with +sculptures designed by Nicholas Pisano. To see it alone is worth a visit +to Pisa. The long, low building that you saw beyond the other buildings +is the Campo Santo, a name given to burial places in Italy, which, as +you know, is a Latin term, and means 'holy ground.'" + +"I think it is a beautiful name," said Bettina. + +"Yes, there is a solemn rhythm about the words that pleases the ear +rather more than does our word 'cemetery,'" said Mr. Sumner. + +"But there is something especially interesting about this Campo Santo, +isn't there?" queried Barbara, and added: "I do hope I shall remember +all such things after I have really seen the places!" + +"You surely will, my dear," said Mrs. Douglas; "ever afterward they will +be realities to you, not mere stories." + +Mr. Sumner resumed: "The Campo Santo of Pisa is the first one that was +laid out in Italy, and it is still by far the most beautiful. It +possesses the dimensions of Noah's Ark, and is literally holy ground, +for it was filled with fifty-three shiploads of earth brought from Mount +Calvary, so that the dead of Pisa repose in sacred ground. The inner +sides of its walls were decorated with noble paintings, many of which +are now completely faded. We will come to see those which remain some +day." + +"How strange it all is!" said Bettina. "How different from anything we +see at home! Think of ships sent to the Holy Land for earth from Mount +Calvary, and their coming back over the Mediterranean laden with such a +cargo!" + +"Only a superstitious, imaginative people, such as the Italians are, +would have done such a thing," said Mrs. Douglas; "and only in the +mediaeval age of the world." + +"But," she went on with a bright smile, "it is the same spirit that has +reared such exquisite buildings for the worship of God and filled them +with rare, sacred marbles and paintings that are beyond price to the +world of art. I always feel when I come hither and see the present +poverty of the beautiful land that the whole world is its debtor, and +can never repay what it owes." + + + + +Chapter III. + +In Beautiful Florence. + + _For to the highest she did still aspyre; + Or, if ought higher were then that, did it desyre._ + + --SPENSER. + +[Illustration: CHURCH OF THE ANNUNZIATA, FLORENCE.] + + +One afternoon, about two weeks later, Barbara and Bettina were sitting +in their pleasant room in Florence. The wide-open windows looked out +upon the slopes of that lovely hill on whose summit is perched Fiesole, +the poor little old mother of Florence, who still holds watch over her +beautiful daughter stretched at her feet. Scented airs which had swept +all the way from distant blue hills over countless orange, olive, and +mulberry groves filled the room, and fluttered the paper upon which the +girls were writing; it was their weekly letter budget. + +The fair faces were flushed as they bent over the crowded sheets so soon +to be scanned by dear eyes at home. How much there was to tell of the +events of the past week! Drives through the streets of the famous city; +through the lovely Cascine; up to San Miniato and Fiesole; visits to +churches, palaces, and picture-galleries; days filled to overflowing +with the new life among foreign scenes. + +Suddenly Barbara, throwing aside her pen, exclaimed:-- + +"Betty dear, don't you sometimes feel most horribly ignorant?" + +"Why? when?" + +"Oh! I am just writing about our visit to Santa Croce the other day. I +enjoyed so much the fine spaces within the church, the softened light, +and some of the monuments. But when we came to those chapels whose walls +are covered with paintings,--you remember, where we met that Mr. Sherman +and his daughters who came over on the _Kaiser_ with us,--I tried to +understand why they were so interested there. They were studying the +paintings for such a long time, and I heard some of the things they were +saying about them. They thought them perfectly wonderful; and that Miss +Sherman who has such lovely eyes said she thought it worth coming from +America to Italy just to see them and other works by the same artist. +Mr. Sumner, too, heard what she said, and gave her such a pleased, +admiring look. After they had gone out from the chapel where are +pictures representing scenes in the life of St. Francis, I went in and +looked and looked at them; but, try as hard as I could, I could not be +one bit interested. The pictures are so queer, the figures so stiff, I +could not see a beautiful or interesting thing about them. But I know I +am all wrong. I do want to see what they saw, and to feel as they felt!" + +"I liked the pictures because of their subject," said Bettina; "that +dear St. Francis of Assisi who loved the birds and flowers, and talked +to them as if they could understand him. But I did not see any beauty in +them." + +"We must learn what it is; we must do more than just look at all these +early pictures that fill the churches and galleries just as we would +look at wall paper, as so many people seemed to do in the Uffizi gallery +the other day," said Barbara, emphatically. "This must be one of the +things papa meant." + +Just here came a knock on the door. + +"May we come in, Margery and I?" asked Malcom. "Why! what is the matter? +You look as if you had been talking of something unpleasant." + +Bettina told of Barbara's trouble. + +"How strange!" said Margery. "Mamma has just been talking to us about +this very thing. She says that, if you like, Uncle Robert will teach us +about the works of the Italian painters. You know he knows _everything_ +about them! He has even written a book about these paintings in +Florence!" + +"Yes," said Malcom with a comical shrug, "the idea is that we all spend +one or two mornings every week studying stiff old Madonnas and +Magdalenes and saints! I love noble and beautiful paintings as well as +any one, but I wonder if I can ever learn anything that will make me +care to look twice at some of those old things in the long entrance +gallery of the Uffizi. I doubt it. Give me the old palaces where the +Medici lived, and let me study up what they did. Or even Dante, or +Michael Angelo! _He_ was an artist who is worth studying about. Why! do +you know, he built the fortifications of San Miniato and--" + +"But," interrupted Barbara, "you know that whenever Italy is written or +talked about, her _art_ seems to be the very most important thing. I was +reading only the other day an article in which the writer said that +undoubtedly the chief mission or gift of Italy to the world is her +paintings,--her old paintings,--and that this mission is all fulfilled. +Now, if this be true, do we wish to come here and go away without +learning all that we possibly can of them? I think that would be +foolish." + +"And," added Bettina, "I think one of the most interesting studies in +the world is about these same old saints whom you dislike so much, +Malcom. They were heroes; and I think some of them were a great deal +grander than those mythological characters you so dote upon. If your +uncle will only be so good as to talk to us of the pictures! Let us go +at once and thank him. Now, Malcom, you will be enthusiastic about it, +will you not? There will be so much time for all the other things." + +Bettina put her arm affectionately about Margery, and smiled into +Malcom's face, as they all went to seek Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner. + +"Here come the victims, Uncle Rob! three willing ones,--Barbara, who is +ever sighing for new worlds to conquer; Betty, who already dotes upon +St. Sebastian stuck full of arrows and St. Lucia carrying her eyes on a +platter; Madge, who would go to the rack if only you led the way,--and +poor rebellious, inartistic I." + +"But, my boy--" began Mrs. Douglas. + +"Oh! I will do it all if only the girls will climb the Campanile and +Galileo's Tower with me and it does not interfere with our drives and +walks. If this is to become an aesthetic crowd, I don't wish to be left +out," laughed Malcom. + +A morning was decided upon for the first lesson. + +"We will begin at the beginning," said Mr. Sumner; "one vital mistake +often made is in not starting far enough back. In order to realize in +the slightest degree the true work of these old masters, one must know +in what condition the art was before their time; or rather, that there +was no art. So we will first go to the Accademia delle Belle Arti, or +Academy, as we will call it, and from there to the church, Santa Maria +Novella. And one thing more,--you are welcome to go to my library and +learn all you can from the books there. I am sure I do not need to tell +those who have studied so much as you already have that the knowledge +you shall gain from coming into contact with any new thing must be in a +great degree measured by that which you take to it." + +"How good you are to give us so much of your time, Mr. Sumner," said +Barbara, with sparkling eyes. "How can we ever repay you?" + +"By learning to love this subject somewhat as I love it," replied Mr. +Sumner; but he thought as he felt the magnetism of her young enthusiasm +that he might gain something of compensation which it was impossible to +put into words. + + * * * * * + +"Are you not going with us, dear Mrs. Douglas?" asked Bettina, as the +little party were preparing to set forth on the appointed morning. + +"Not to-day, dear, for I have another engagement" + +"I think I know what mamma is going to do," said Margery as they left +the house. "I heard the housemaid, Anita, telling her last evening about +the illness of her little brother, and saying that her mother is so poor +that she cannot get for the child what he needs. I think mamma is going +to see them this morning." + +"Just like that blessed mother of ours!" exclaimed Malcom. "There is +never anybody in want near her about whom she is not sure to find out +and to help! It will be just the same here as at home; Italians or +Americans--all are alike to her. She will give up anything for herself +in order to do for them." + +"I am glad you know her so well," said his uncle, with a smile. "There +is no danger that you can ever admire your mother too much." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Barbara, as after a little walk they entered a square +surrounded by massive buildings, with arcades, all white with the +sunshine. "Look at that building! It is decorated with those dear little +babies, all swathed, whose photographs we have so often seen in the +Boston art stores. What is it? Where are we?" + +"In the Piazza dell' Annunziata," replied Mr. Sumner, "and an +interesting place it is. That building is the Foundling Hospital, a very +ancient and famous institution. And the 'swathed babies' are the work of +Andrea della Robbia." + +"Poor little innocents! How tired they must be, wrapped up like mummies +and stuck on the wall like specimen butterflies!" whispered Malcom in an +aside to Bettina. + +"Hush! hush!" laughed she. "Your uncle will hear you." + +"This beautiful church just here on our right," continued Mr. Sumner, +"is the church of the S.S. Annunziata or the most Holy Annunciation. It +was founded in the middle of the thirteenth century by seven noble +Florentines, who used to meet daily to sing _Ave Maria_ in a chapel +situated where the Campanile of the Cathedral now stands. It has been +somewhat modernized and is now the most fashionable church in Florence. +It contains some very interesting paintings, which we will visit by and +by." + +"Every step we take in this beautiful city is full of interest, and how +different from anything we can find at home!" exclaimed Bettina. "Look +at the color of these buildings, and their exquisite arches! See the +soft painting over the door of the church, and the sculptured bits +everywhere! I begin, just a little, to see why Florence is called the +_art city_." + +"But only a little, yet," said Mr. Sumner, with a pleased look. "You are +just on the threshold of the knowledge of this fair city. Not what she +outwardly is, but what she contains, and what her children have +wrought, constitute her wealth of art. Do you remember, Margery, what +name the poet Shelley gives Florence in that beautiful poem you were +reading yesterday?" + + "O _Foster-nurse_ of man's abandoned glory, + Since Athens, its great mother, sunk in splendor, + Thou shadowest forth that mighty shape in story, + As ocean its wrecked fanes, severe yet tender," + +dreamily recited Margery, her sweet face flushing as all eyes looked at +her. + +"Yes," smiled her uncle. "Florence, as _foster-nurse_, has cherished for +the world the art-treasures of early centuries in Italy, so that there +is no other city on earth in which we can learn so much of the 'revival +of art,' as it is called, which took place after the barrenness of the +Dark Ages, as in this. But here we are at the Academy. I shall not allow +you to look at much here this morning. We will go and sit in the farther +corner of this first corridor, for I wish to talk a little, and just +here we shall find all that I need for illustration." + +"You need not put on such a martyr-look, Malcom," continued he, as they +walked on. "I prophesy that not one here present will feel more solid +interest in the work we are beginning than you will, my boy." + +When Mr. Sumner had gathered the little group about him, he began to +talk of the beauties of Greek art--how it had flourished for centuries +before Christ. + +"But I thought Greek art consisted of sculptures," said Barbara. + +"Much of it was sculptured,--all of it which remains,--but we have +evidence that the Greeks also produced beautiful paintings, which, could +they have been preserved, might be not unworthy rivals of modern +masterpieces," replied Mr. Sumner. "After the Roman invasion of Greece, +these ancient works of art were mostly destroyed. Rome possessed no fine +art of her own, but imported Greek artists to produce for her. These, +taken away from their native land, and having no noble works around them +for inspiration, began simply to copy each other, and so the art +degenerated from century to century. The growing Christian religion, +which forbade the picturing of any living beauty, gave the death-blow to +such excellence as remained. A style of painting followed which received +the name of Greek Byzantine. In it was no study of life; all was most +strikingly conventional, and it grew steadily worse and worse. A +comparison of the paintings and mosaics of the sixth, seventh, eighth, +and ninth centuries shows the rapid decline of all art qualities. +Finally every figure produced was a most arrant libel on nature. It was +always painted against a flat gold background; the limbs were wholly +devoid of action; the feet and hands hung helplessly; and the eyes were +round and staring. The flesh tints were a dull brick red, and all else a +dreary brown." + +"Come here," said he, rising, "and see an example of this Greek +Byzantine art,--this _Magdalen_. Study it well." + +"Oh, oh, how dreadful!" chorussed the voices of all. + +"Uncle Rob, do you mean to say there was no painting in the world better +than this in the ninth--or thereabouts--century?" asked Malcom, with +wondering eyes. + +"I mean to say just that, Malcom. But I must tell you something more +about this same Greek Byzantine painting, for there is a school of it +to-day. Should you go to Southern Italy or to Russia, you would find +many booths for trading, in the back of which you would see a Madonna, +or some saint, painted in just this style. These pictures have gained a +superstitious value among the lower classes of the people, and are +believed to possess a miraculous power. In Mt. Athos, Greece, is a +school that still produces them. Doubtless this has grown out of the +fact that several of these old paintings, notably Madonnas, are +treasured in the churches, and the people are taught that miracles have +been wrought by them. In the Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, is an example +(the people are told that it was painted by St. Luke), and during the +plague in Rome, and also during a great fire which was most disastrous, +this painting was borne through the city by priests in holy procession, +and the tradition is that both plague and fire were stayed." + +"What a painfully ridiculous figure!" exclaimed Barbara, who had been +silently absorbed in study. "It is painful because every line looks as +if the artist had done his very best, and that is so utterly bad. It +means absolutely nothing." + +"You have fathomed the woful secret," replied Mr. Sumner. "It shows no +evidence of the slightest thought. Only a man's _fingers_ produced this. +All power of originality had become lost; all desire for it was +unknown." + +"Then, how did things ever get better?" asked Malcom. + +"An interesting question. I wish you all would read some before I tell +you any more. Find something, please, that treats of the beginnings of +Christian art in the Catacombs of Rome. Read about the manuscript +illuminations produced by monks of the tenth and eleventh centuries, +which are to be found in some great libraries. In these we find the best +art of that time," + +[Illustration: ACADEMY, FLORENCE. + +BYZANTINE MAGDALEN.] + +"If you find anything about Cimabue and Giotto," he added, "you would +better read that also, for the work of these old painters will be the +subject of our next lesson. For it, we will go to the church Santa Maria +Novella." + +"And Santa Croce?" asked Barbara, more timidly than was her wont. + +"And Santa Croce too," smilingly added Mr. Sumner. + +"And now, Malcom, if you can find a wide carriage, we all will drive for +an hour before going home." + + + + +Chapter IV. + +A New Friend Appears. + + _The first sound in the song of love + Scarce more than silence is, and yet a sound. + Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings + Of that mysterious instrument, the soul, + And play the prelude of our fate._ + + --LONGFELLOW. + +[Illustration: DUOMO AND CAMPANILE. FLORENCE.] + + +One day Malcom met an old fellow-student. Coming home, he told his +mother of him, and asked permission to bring him for introduction. + +"His name is Howard Sinclair. I did not know him very well in the +school, for he was some way ahead of me. He is now in Harvard College. +But his lungs are very weak; and last winter the doctors sent him to +Egypt, and told him he must stay for at least two years in the warmer +countries. He is lonely and pretty blue, I judge; was glad enough to see +me." + +"Poor boy! Yes, bring him here, and I will talk with him. Perhaps we can +make it more pleasant for him. You are sure his character is beyond +question, Malcom?" + +"I think so. He has lots of money, and is inclined to spend it freely, +but I know he was called a pretty fine fellow in the school, though not +very well known by many. He is rather 'toney,' you know,--held his head +too high for common fellows. The teachers especially liked him; for he +is awfully bright, and took honors right along." + +The next day Malcom brought his friend to his mother, whose heart he won +at once by his evident delicate health, his gentlemanly manners, and, +perhaps most of all, because he had been an orphan for years, and was so +much alone in the world. She decided to welcome him to her home, and to +give him the companionship of her young people. + +Howard Sinclair was a young man of brilliant intellectual promise. He +had inherited most keen sensibilities, an almost morbid delicacy of +thought, a variable disposition, and a frail body. Both father and +mother died before he was ten years of age, leaving a large fortune for +him, their only child; and, since then, his home had been with an aged +grandmother. Without any young companions in the home, and lacking +desire for activity, he had given himself up to an almost wholly +sedentary life. The body, so delicate by nature, had always been made +secondary to the alert mind. His luxurious tastes could all be +gratified, and thus far he had lived like some conservatory plant. + +The very darling of his grandmother's heart, it was like death to her to +part from him when the physicians decided that to save his life it was +an imperative necessity that he should live for a a time in a warmer +climate. It was an utter impossibility for her to accompany him. He +shrank from any other companion, therefore had set forth with only his +faithful John, who had been an old servant in the family before he was +born, as valet. He went first to Egypt, where he had remained as long as +the heat would permit, then had gone northwest to the Italian lakes and +Switzerland, whence he had now come to spend a time in Florence. + +Lonely, homesick, and disheartened, it was indeed like a "gift of the +gods" to him when one day, as he was leaving his banker's on Via +Tornabuoni he met the familiar face of Malcom Douglas. And when he was +welcomed to his old schoolmate's home and family circle, the weary young +man felt for the first time in many months the sensation of rest and +peace. + +His evident lack of physical strength, and the quickly coming and going +color in his cheeks, told Mrs. Douglas that he could never know perfect +health; but he said that the change of country and climate had already +done him much good, and this encouraged him to think of staying from +home a year or two in the hope that then all danger of active disease +might have passed. + +He so evidently longed for companionship that Malcom and the girls told +him of their life,--of their Italian lessons,--their reading,--Mr. +Sumner's talks about Italian painting,--Malcom's private college studies +(which he had promised his mother to pursue if she would give him this +year abroad), and all that which was filling their days. He was +especially interested in their lessons on the Italian masters of +painting, and asked if they would permit him to join them. + +"If you will only come to me when you have any trouble with your Greek +and Latin, Malcom," he said, "perhaps I can repay you in the slightest +degree for the wonderful pleasure this would give me." + +So as Mr. Sumner was willing, his little class received the addition of +Howard Sinclair. + +"Why so sober, Malcom?" asked his mother, as she found him alone by +himself. "Is not the arrangement that your friend join you agreeable?" + +"Oh, yes, mother, he is a nice fellow, though a sort of a prig, and I +wish to do all we can for him; only--I do hope he will not monopolize +Betty and Barbara always, as he has seemed to do this afternoon." + +"My boy, beware of that little green imp we read of," laughed Mrs. +Douglas. "You have been too thoroughly 'monarch of all' thus far. Can +you not share your realm with this homesick young man?" + +"But he has always had all for himself, mother. He does not know what it +is to share." + +"Malcom! be yourself." + +The mother's eyes looked straight up into those of her tall boy, and her +hand sought his with a firm, warm pressure that made him fling back his +noble young head with an emphatic "I am ashamed of myself! Thank you, +mother dear." + +That evening, as all were sitting on the balcony watching the soft, rosy +afterglow that was creeping over the hills and turning to glowing points +the domes and spires of the fair city, Mr. Sumner said:-- + +"If you are willing, I would like to talk with you a little before we +make our visits to Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce to-morrow. You +will understand better the old pictures we shall see there if we +consider beforehand what we ought to look for in any picture or other +work of art. Too many go to them as to some sort of recreation,--simply +for amusement,--simply to gratify their love for beautiful color and +form, and so, to these, the most beautiful picture is always the best. +But this is a low estimate of the great art of painting, for it is +simply one of man's means of expression, just as music or poetry is. The +artist learns to compose his pictures, to draw his forms, to lay on his +colors, just as the poet learns the meanings of words, rhetorical +figures, and the laws of harmony and rhythm, or the musician his notes +and scales and harmonies of sound." + +"I see this is a new thought to you," continued he, after a moment spent +in studying the faces about him. "Let us follow it. What is the use of +this preparation of study in art, poetry, or music? Is it solely for the +perfection of itself? We often hear nowadays the expression, 'art for +art's sake,' and by some it is accounted a grand thought and a noble +rallying-cry for artists. And so it truly is if the very broadest and +highest possible meaning is given to the word 'art.' If it means the +embodying of some noble, beautiful, soul-moving thought in a form that +can be seen and understood, and means nothing less than this, then it is +indeed a worthy motto. But to too many, I fear, it means only the +painting of beauty for beauty's sake. That is, the thought embodied, the +message to some soul, which every picture ought to contain, and which +every noble picture that is worthy to live _must_ contain, becomes of +little or no value compared with the play of color and light and form. + +"Let me explain further," he went on, even more earnestly. "Imagine that +we are looking at a picture, and we admire exceedingly the perfection of +drawing its author has displayed,--the wonderful breadth of +composition,--the harmony of color-masses. The moment is full of keen +enjoyment for us; but the vital thing, after all, is, what impression +shall we take away with us. Has the picture borne us any message? Has it +been either an interpretation or a revelation of something? Shall we +remember it?" + +"But is not simple beauty sometimes a revelation, Mr. Sumner?" asked +Barbara,--"as in a landscape, or seascape, or the painting of a child's +face?" + +"Certainly, if the artist has shown by his work that this beauty has +stirred depths of feeling in himself, and his effort has been to reveal +what he has felt to others. If you seek to find this in pictures you +will soon learn to distinguish between those (too many of which are +painted to-day) whose only excellence lies in trick of handling or +cunning disposition of color-masses,--because these things are all of +which the artist has thought,--and those that have grown out of the +highest art-desire, which is to bear some message of the restfulness, +the power, the beauty, or the innocence of nature to the hearts of other +men. + +"And there is one thing more that we must not forget. There may be +pictures with bad _motifs_ as well as good ones--weak and simple ones, +as well as strong and holy ones--and yet they may be full of all +artistic qualities of representation. What is true with regard to +literature is true in respect to art. It is, after all, the _message_ +that determines the degree of nobility. + + "Art was given for that. God uses us to help each other so, + Lending our minds out. + +wrote Mr. Browning, and we should always endeavor to find out whether +the artist has loaned his mind or merely his fingers and his knowledge +of the use of his materials. If we find thought in his picture, we +should then ask to what service he has put it. + +"If a poem consist only of words and rhythms, how long do you think it +ought to live? And if a picture possess merely forms and colors, however +beautiful they may be, it deserves no more fame. And how much worse if +there be meaning, and it be base and unworthy!" + +"Does he not put it well?" whispered Malcom to Bettina from his usual +seat between her and Margery. "I feel as if he were pouring new +thoughts into me." + +"Now, the one thing I desire to impress upon you to-night," continued +Mr. Sumner, "is that these old masters of painting who lived in the +thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries had messages to give +their fellow-men. Their great endeavor was to interpret God's word to +them,--you know that in those days and in this land there was no Bible +open to the common people,--and what we must chiefly look for in their +pictures is to see whether or not they told the message as well as the +limitation of their art-language permitted. + +"At first, no laws of perspective were known. None knew how to draw +anything correctly. No color-harmonies had been thought of. These men +must needs stammer when they tried to express themselves; but as much +greater as thought is than the mere expression of it so much greater are +many of their works, in the true sense, than the mass of pictures that +make up our exhibitions of the present day. + +"Then, also, it is a source of the deepest interest to one who loves +this art to watch its growth in means of expression--its steady +development--until, finally, we find the noblest thoughts expressed in +perfect forms and coloring. This we can do here in Florence as nowhere +else, for the Florentine school of painting was the first of importance +in Italy. + +"So," he concluded, "do not look for beauty in these pictures which we +are first to study; instead of it, you will find much ugliness. But +strive to put yourselves into the place of the old artists, to feel as +they felt. See what impelled them to paint. Recognize the feebleness of +their means of expression. Watch for indications in history of the +effect of their pictures upon the people. Strive to find originality in +them, if it be there, for this quality gives a man's work a certain +positive greatness wherever we find it; and so learn to become worthy +judges of that which you study. Soon, like me, you will look with pity +on those who can see nothing worthy of a second glance in these +treasures of the past. + +"There! I have preached you a sermon, I am afraid. Are you tired?" and +his bright glance searched the faces about him. + +Their expression would have been satisfactory without the eager +protestations that answered his question. + +When, a little later, Barbara and Bettina, each seated before her dainty +toilet-table, were brushing their hair, they, as usual, chatted about +the events of the day. Never had there been so much to talk over and so +little time to do it in as during these crowded weeks, when pleasure and +study were hand in hand. For though they read and studied, yet there +were drives, and receptions in artists' studios, and, because of Robert +Sumner's long residence in Florence, they had even begun to receive +invitations to small and select parties, where they met charming people. + +This very morning they had driven with Mrs. Douglas through some of the +oldest parts of Florence. They were reading together George Eliot's +"Romola," and were connecting all its events with this city in which the +scenes are laid. Read in this way, it seemed like a new book to them, +and possessed an air of reality that awakened their enthusiasm as +nothing else could have done. And then in the afternoon had been the +meeting with the new friend; tea in the little garden behind the house; +and the evening on the balcony. + +Naturally their conversation soon turned to Howard Sinclair. + +"What a strange life for one so young!" said Bettina. "Malcom says there +is no limit to his wealth. He lives in the winter in one of those +grandest houses on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and has summer houses +in two or three places. And yet how poor in many ways!" she continued +after a little pause--"so much poorer than we! No father and mother,--no +brothers and sisters,--and forced to leave his home because he is so +ill! Poor fellow! How do you like him, Bab? He seemed to admire you +sufficiently, for he hardly took his eyes from you." + +"Like him?" slowly returned Barbara. "To tell the truth, Betty, I hardly +know. Somehow I feel strangely about him. I like him well enough so far, +but I believe I am a bit afraid, and whether it is of him or not, I +cannot tell. Somehow I feel as if things are going to be different from +what they have been, and--I don't know--I believe I almost wish Malcom +had not known him." + +"Why, Bab dear! what do you mean? Don't be nervous; that is not like +you. Nothing could happen to make us unhappy while we are with these +dear people,--nothing, that is, if our dear ones at home are well. I +wish he had not stared at you so much with those great eyes, if it makes +you feel uncomfortable, but how he could have helped admiring you, +sister mine, is more than I know,--for you were lovely beyond everything +this afternoon;" and Betty impulsively sprang up to give her sister a +hug and a kiss. + +"To change the subject," she added, "how did you like Mr. Sumner's talk +this evening?" + +"Oh! more than words can tell! Betty, I believe, next to our own dear +papa, he is the grandest man alive. I always feel when he talks as if +nothing were too difficult to attempt; as if nothing were too beautiful +to believe. And he is so young too, in feeling; so wise and yet so full +of sympathy with all our young nonsense. He is simply perfect." And she +drew a long breath. + +"I think so too; and he practises what he preaches in his own painting. +For don't you remember those pictures we saw in his studio the other +day? How he has painted those Egyptian scenes! A perfect tremor ran over +me as I felt the terrible, solemn loneliness of that one camel and his +rider in the limitless stretch of desert. I felt quite as he must have +felt, I am sure; and the desert will always seem a different thing to me +because I looked at that picture. And then that sweet, strong, +overcoming woman's face! How much she had lived through! What a lesson +of triumph over all weakness and sorrow it teaches! I am so thankful +every minute that dear Mrs. Douglas asked us to come with her, that our +darling papa and mamma allowed us to come, and that everything is so +pleasant in this dear, delightful Florence." + +And Bettina fell asleep almost the minute her head rested on her +pillow, with a happy smile curving her beautiful lips. + +But Barbara tossed long on the little white bed in the opposite corner +of the room. It was difficult to go to sleep, so many thoughts crowded +upon her. Finally she resolutely set herself to recall Mr. Sumner's +words of the evening. Then, as she remembered the little lingering of +his eyes upon her own as he bade his group of listeners good night, the +glad thought came, "He knows I am trying to learn, and that I appreciate +all he is doing for me," and so her last thought was not for the new +friend the day had brought, but for Robert Sumner. + + + + +Chapter V. + +Straws Show which Way the Wind Blows. + + _Give these, I exhort you, their guerdon and glory + For daring so much before they well did it_. + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE.] + + +It was a charming morning in early November when Mr. Sumner and his +little company of students of Florentine art gathered before the broad +steps which lead up to the entrance of Santa Maria Novella. The Italian +sky, less soft than in midsummer, gleamed brightly blue. The square +tower of the old Fiesole Cathedral had been sharply defined as they +turned to look at it when leaving their home; and Giotto's Campanile, of +which they had caught a glimpse on their way hither, shone like a white +lily in the morning sunlight. The sweet, invigorating air, the bustle of +the busy streets, the happiness of youth and pleasant expectancy caused +all hearts to beat high, and it was a group of eager faces that turned +toward the grand old church whose marble sides show the discoloration of +centuries. + +At Mr. Sumner's invitation all sat on the steps in a sunny corner while +he talked of Cimabue,--the first great name in the history of Italian +painting,--the man who was great enough to dare attempt to change +conditions that existed in his time, which was the latter part of the +thirteenth century. He told them how, though a nobleman possessing +wealth and honor, he had loved painting and had given his life to it; +and how, having been a man arrogant of all criticism, he was fitted to +be a pioneer; to break from old traditions, and to infuse life into the +dead Byzantine art. + +He told them how the people, ever quick to feel any change, were +delighted to recognize, in a picture, life, movement, and expression, +however slight. How, one day six hundred years ago, a gay procession, +with banners and songs, bore a large painting, the _Madonna and Child_, +from the artist's studio, quite a distance away, through the streets and +up to the steps on which they were sitting; and how priests chanting +hymns and bearing church banners came out to receive the picture. + +"And through all these centuries it has here remained," he continued. +"It is, of course, scarred by time and dark with the smoke of incense. +When you look upon it I wish you would remember what I told you the +other evening about that for which we should look in a picture. Be +sympathetic. Put yourself in old Cimabue's place and in that of the +people who had known only such figures in painting as the _Magdalen_ you +saw last week in the Academy. Then, though these figures are so stiff +and almost lifeless, though the picture is Byzantine in character, you +will see beyond all this a faint expression in the Madonna's face, a +little life and action in the Christ-child, who holds up his tiny hand +in blessing. + +"If you do not look for this you may miss it,--miss all that which gives +worth to Cimabue and his art. As thoughtful a mind as that of our own +Hawthorne saw only the false in it, and missed the attempt for truth; +and so said he only wished 'another procession would come and take the +picture from the church, and reverently burn it.' Ah, Malcom, I see your +eyes found that in your reading, and you thought in what good company +you might be." + +"What kind of painting is it?" queried Barbara, as a few minutes later +they stood in the little chapel, and looked up at Cimabue's quaint +_Madonna and Child_. + +"It is called _tempera_, and is laid upon wood. In this process the +paints are mixed with some glutinous substance, such as the albumen of +eggs, glue, etc., which causes them to adhere to the surface on which +they are placed." + +"What do you think was the cause of Cimabue's taking such an advance +step, Mr. Sumner?" asked Howard Sinclair, after a pause, during which +all studied the picture. + +"It must have been a something caught from the spirit of the time. A +stir, an awakening, was taking place in Italy. Dante and Petrarch were +in a few years to think and write. The time had come for a new art." + +"I do see the difference between this and those Academy pictures," said +Bettina, "even though it is so queer, and painted in such colors." + +"And I," "And I," quickly added Barbara and Margery. + +"I think those angels' faces are interesting," continued Barbara. "They +are not all just alike, but look as if each had some thought of his own. +They seem proud of their burden as they hold up the Madonna and Child." + +"Oh, nonsense, Barbara! you are putting too much imagination in there," +exclaimed Malcom. "I think old Cimabue did do something, but it is an +awfully bad picture, after all. There is one thing, though; it is not so +flat as that Academy _Magdalen_. The child's head seems round, and I do +think his face has a bit of expression." + +So they looked and chatted on, and took little note of coming and going +tourists, who glanced with curiosity from them to the old dark picture +above, and then back to the fresh, eager, beautiful faces,--the greater +part ever finding in the latter the keener attraction. + +"I always have one thought when I look at this," finally said Mr. +Sumner, "that perhaps will be interesting to you, and linger in your +minds. This _Madonna and Child_ seems to form a link and also to mark a +division between all those which went before it in Christian art and all +those that have followed. It is the last Byzantine Madonna and is the +first of the long, noble list which has come from the hands of artists +who have lived since the thirteenth century. + +"We will not stay here longer now, for I know you will come again more +than once to study it. There is much valuable historic art in this +church which you will understand better when you have learned more. +Yonder in the Strozzi Chapel is some of the very best work of an old +painter called Orcagna, while here in the choir are notable frescoes by +Ghirlandajo; but now I shall take you down these steps between the two +into the cloister and there we will talk of Giotto. I know how busy you +have been reading about this wonderful old master, for I could not help +hearing snatches of your talk about him all through the past week. His +figure looms up most important of all among the early painters of +Florence. You know how Cimabue, clad in his scarlet robe and hood, +insignia of nobility, riding out one day to a little town lying on one +of yonder blue hills, found a little, dark-faced shepherd-boy watching +his father's sheep, and amusing himself by drawing a picture of one, +with only a sharp stone for a pencil. Interested in the boy, he took +pains to visit his father and gain his permission to take him as a pupil +to Florence. So Giotto came to begin his art-life. What are you thinking +of, little Margery?" + +"Only a bit of Dante's writing which I read with mother the other day," +said she, blushing. "I was thinking how little Cimabue then thought that +this poor, ignorant shepherd-boy would ever cause these lines to be +written:-- + + "Cimabue thought to lord it over painting's field: + But now the cry is _Giotto_, and his name's eclipsed." + +"Yes, indeed! Giotto did eclipse his master's fame, for he went so much +farther,--but only in the same path, however; so we must not take from +Cimabue any of the honor that is due him. But for Giotto the old +Byzantine method of painting on all gold backgrounds was abolished. This +boy, though born of peasants, was not only gifted with keen powers of +observation of nature and mankind and a devotion to the representation +of things truly as they are, but, beyond and above all this, with one +other quality that made his work of incalculable worth to the people +among whom he painted. This was a delicate appreciation of the true +relations between earthly and spiritual things. + +"Before him, as we have seen, all art was most unnatural and +monastic,--utterly destitute of sympathy with the feelings of the common +people. Giotto changed all this. He made the Christ-child a loving baby; +the Madonna a loving mother into whose joy and suffering all mothers' +hearts could enter; angels were servants of men; miracles were wrought +by God because He loved and desired to help men; the pictured men and +women were like themselves because they smiled and grieved and acted +even as they did. All this change Giotto made in the spirit of pictures; +and in the ways of painting he also wrought a complete revolution. +'There are no such things as gold backgrounds in nature,' he said; 'I +will have my people out of doors or in their homes.' And so he painted +the blue sky and rocks and trees and grass, and dressed his men and +women in pure, fresh colors, and represented them as if engaged in home +duties in the house or in the field. He introduced many characters into +his story pictures,--angel visitants, neighbors, wandering shepherds, +and even domestic animals. He brought the art of painting _down_ into +the minds and hearts of all who looked upon them." + +"I never have realized until lately," said Barbara, "how painting can be +made a source of education and pleasure to everybody. It is so different +here from what it is at home, especially because the churches are full +of pictures. There we go into the art museums or the galleries of +different art-clubs,--the only places where pictures are to be +found,--and meet only those people that can afford luxuries; and so the +art itself seems a luxury. But here I have seen such poor, sad-looking +people, who seem to forget all their miseries in looking at some +beautiful sacred picture. Only the other day I overheard a poor woman, +whose clothes were wretched and who had one child in her arms and +another beside her, trying to explain a picture to them, and she +lingered and lingered before it, and then turned away with a pleased, +restful face." + +"Yes, it is the spirit of pictures and their truth to nature that appeal +to the mass of people here," replied Mr. Sumner, "and so it must be +everywhere. I have been very glad to read in my papers from home that +free art exhibitions have been occasionally opened in the poor quarters +of our cities. Should the movement become general, as I hope it will, +it must work good in more than one direction. Not only could those who +have hitherto been shut out from this means of pleasure and education +receive and profit by it, but the art itself would gain a wholesome +impulse. A new class of critics would be heard--those unversed in +art-parlance--who would not talk of line, tone, color-harmonies and +technique, but would go to the very heart of picture and painter; and I +think the truest artists would listen to them and so gain something. + +"But we must get to Giotto again. I have told you what he tried to +paint, but you will see that he could not do all this in the least as if +he had been taught in our art-schools of to-day. How little could +Cimabue teach him! His hills and rocks are parodies of nature. He knew +not how to draw feet, and would put long gowns or stockings on his +people so as to hide his deficiency. He never could make a lying-down +figure look flat. But how he could accomplish all that he did in his +pictures is more than any one can explain. + +"We will now look behind this grand tomb at the foot of the stairs and +find two of Giotto's frescoes. There you see the pictures--the _Birth of +the Virgin_ and the _Meeting of St. Joachim and St. Anna_, the father +and mother of the Virgin. Do you know the story of these saints?" + +"Yes," answered Malcom, "Betty read it to us last evening, for, you +see, uncle, we had been dipping just a bit, so as not to get below our +depth, into Mr. Ruskin's 'Mornings in Florence'; so we ought to be able +to understand something here, if anywhere, oughtn't we?" + +"Well, look and see what you can find! I wonder what will appeal first +to each one of you!" + +After a few minutes of complete silence Mr. Sumner said: "Margery dear, +I wonder what you are thinking of?" + +"I am thinking, Uncle, that, just as Mr. Ruskin says, I cannot help +seeing the baby in this picture. At whatever part I look my eyes keep +coming back to the dear little thing wrapped up so clumsily, whom the +two nurses are tending so lovingly and with such reverence." + +"Yes, my dear, old Giotto knew how to make the chief thing in his +pictures seem to be the most important; something that not all of us +artists of to-day know how to do by any means." + +"But the pictures are so queer!" burst forth Malcom. "I do see some of +the fine things of which you speak, Uncle Robert, but there are so many +almost ridiculous things; the shepherds that are following St. +Joachim--do look at the feet of the first one; and the second has on +stockings. I can see the different lines that poor old Giotto drew when +he was struggling over those first feet; I wonder if he put the others +into stockings just to save trying to draw them. And the funny lamb in +the arms of the first shepherd; and the queer, stiff sprigs of grass +which are growing up in all sorts of places! and the angel coming out of +the cloud! and--" + +"Do stop, Malcom," cried Bettina, "just here at the angel! Why! I think +he is perfectly beautiful with one hand on St. Joachim's head and the +other on St. Anna's. He is blessing them and drawing them together and +forgiving, all in one." + +"And the people, all of them! just look at the people!" cried Barbara, +impetuously. "Each one is thinking of something, and I seem to know what +it is! How could--" But her voice faltered, and stopped abruptly. + +"It is not difficult to understand what Howard is thinking of," +whispered Malcom in Bettina's ear. "Did you see what a look he gave +Barbara? I don't believe she likes it." + +Mr. Sumner, turning, surprised the same look in the young man's eyes and +gave a quick, inquiring glance at the fair, flushed face of Barbara. He +felt annoyed, without knowing exactly why. A new and foreign element had +been introduced into the little group, whose influence was not to be +transient. + +After a few more words, in which he told them to notice the type of +Giotto's faces--the eyes set near together, their too great length, +though much better in this respect than Cimabue's, and the broad, +rounded chins--they turned away. + +"We have seen all we ought to stay here for to-day, and now we will +drive over to Santa Croce. There are also notable frescoes by Giotto in +Assisi, and especially in the Arena Chapel, Padua. Perhaps we may see +them all by and by." + +On leaving the church, Bettina looked back, saying:-- + +"This is the church that Michael Angelo used to call 'his bride.'" + +"Used to," laughed Malcom. "You have gone back centuries this morning, +Betty." + +"I feel so. I should not be one bit surprised to meet some of these old +artists right here in the Piazza on their way to their work." + +"Let us go over to Santa Croce by way of the Duomo, and through Piazza +Signoria, Uncle," said Margery. "I am never tired of those little, +narrow, crooked streets." + +"Yes, that will be a good way; for then we shall go right past Giotto's +Campanile, and though you have seen it often you will look upon it with +especial interest just now, when we are studying his work." + +At Santa Croce they were to meet Mrs. Douglas by appointment; and as +they pressed on through the broad nave, lined on either side by massive +monuments to Florence's great dead, they espied her at the entrance of +the Bardi Chapel in conversation with a lady whose slender figure and +bright, animated face grew familiar to the young people of the steamship +as they approached; for it was the Miss Sherman whom Barbara and Bettina +had admired so much on the _Kaiser Wilhelm_, and whom, with her father +and sister, they had met once before in this same church. + +Coming rapidly forward, Mrs. Douglas introduced her companion. + +"She is alone in Florence," she explained to her brother a moment later +when the others had passed on, "for her father has been suddenly +summoned home, and her sister has accompanied him. She is a bright, +charming young woman, who loves art dearly, and I am sure we all shall +like her. I felt drawn to her as we talked together several times on our +way over. I think we must have her with us all we can." + +After an hour spent in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels, whose walls are +covered with Giotto's frescoes, the little group separated. Malcom, +Margery, Barbara, and Bettina walked home along the Via dei Pinti, or +Street of the Painters. While the others chatted, Barbara was unusually +silent. She was thinking how much she had learned that morning, and +exulted in the knowledge that there was not quite so vast a difference +between herself and Miss Sherman as existed the last time they met in +Santa Croce. + +For Barbara had entered into the study of this subject with an almost +feverish fervor of endeavor. Though she felt there was much to enjoy and +to learn all about her, yet nothing seemed so important as a knowledge +of the old painters and their pictures; and the longing to be able to +think and to speak with some assurance of them haunted her continually. + +Bettina sometimes looked at her sister with wonder as she would sit hour +after hour poring over Mr. Sumner's books. + +"I always thought _I_ loved pictures best," she thought; "but Bab cares +more for these old ones than I do." + + + + +Chapter VI. + +Lucile Sherman. + + _In life's small things be resolute and great + To keep thy muscle trained; Knowest thou when Fate + Thy measure takes? Or when she'll say to thee, + "I find thee worthy. Do this deed for me?_" + + --LOWELL. + +[Illustration: A GLIMPSE OF FLORENCE.] + + +The tourist who devotes a few days to Florence, or a few weeks even, can +have no conception of what it means to live in this city; to awake +morning after morning and look out upon the lines of her hills and catch +glimpses of their distant blues and purples; to be free to wander about +at will through her streets, every one of which is crowded with legend +and romance; to look upon her palaces and churches, about which cluster +so many deeds of history; to visit the homes of her immortal men--poets +and artists; to walk step by step instead of whirling along in a +carriage; and to grow to feel a close intimacy with her sculptures and +paintings, and even with the very stones that are built into her palace +walls. + +For Florence is comparatively a small city. A good pedestrian can easily +walk from Porta Romana on the south to Porta Gallo on the north; or +from Porta San Niccolo on the east, along the banks of the Arno, to the +Cascine Gardens on the west. It is only an afternoon of genuine delight +to climb the lovely, winding ways leading up to San Miniato, or to +Fiesole, or to the Torre del Gallo,--the "Star Tower of Galileo." And +what a feeling of possession one has for a road which he has travelled +foot by foot; for the rocks and trees and vine-covered walls, and the +ever-changing views which continually demand attention! One absorbs and +assimilates as in no other way. + +So when, at breakfast one morning, Mr. Sumner suggested a walk up to +Fiesole, a picnic lunch at the top in the grounds of the old monastery, +and the whole day there, coming down at sunset, his proposition met with +delighted assent. It was planned that Mrs. Douglas should take a +carriage, and invite Miss Sherman and Howard Sinclair to go with her, +but the others were ready and eager for the walk. Anita, the little +housemaid, was to accompany them and carry the luncheon, and she was on +tiptoe with joy, because a whole day under the open sky is the happiest +fortune possible for an Italian girl; and, besides this, they would have +to pass close by her own home, and perhaps her little brother could go +with her. + +All felt a peculiar affection for Fiesole, because from the house in +which they were living they could look right out upon the historic old +city nestling into the hollow of the hill-top, and watch its changing +lights and shadows, and say "good morning" and "good night" to it. + +Barbara and Bettina had often tried to fancy what life there was like so +many centuries ago, when the city was rich and powerful; and afterward, +when the old Romans had taken possession of it, and the ruined +amphitheatre was whole and noisy with games; or in later times, when the +venerable Cathedral was fresh and new. They felt a kind of pity for the +forlorn old place, peopled with so much wrinkled age, and forever +looking down upon all the loveliness and treasures of the fair Florence +which had grown out from her own decay. + +As the party left the house, and, before disappearing from the view of +Mrs. Douglas, who stood watching them, turned and waved their hands, she +thought that she had not seen her brother looking so young, care-free, +and happy for many years. + +"This is doing Robert a world of good," said she to herself. "Those who +have heretofore been only children to him are now companions, and he is +becoming a boy again with them. Oh! if he could only throw off the +morbid feeling he has had about going back to America to live, and +return with us, and be happy and useful there, how delightful it would +be!" + +Second only in the life of Mrs. Douglas to the great loss of her husband +had been the separation from this dearly loved brother, and it was one +of the strongest wishes of her heart that he should come back to his +native land. To have him living near her and experiencing the delights +of home life had been a long dream of whose realization she had wellnigh +despaired, as year after year had passed and he had still lingered in +foreign lands. Now, as she turned from the window and went back into the +large, sunny rooms, so quiet with the young people all gone, her +thoughts lingered upon her brother, and into them came the remembrance +of the sweet-faced Miss Sherman, whom they had met yesterday and who +seemed destined to come more or less into their lives. + +"Perhaps"--she thought, and smiled at her thought so evidently born of +her wish; and then hastened to despatch a message to Miss Sherman and +Howard, lest she might miss them. + +Lucile Sherman differed somewhat in character from the impression she +had made upon Mrs. Douglas. Lovely in face and figure, gifted with +winning ways, possessed of a certain degree of culture, and very +desirous of gaining the friendship of cultured people, she was most +attractive on short acquaintance. An intimacy must always reveal her +limitations and show how she just missed the best because of the lack of +any definite, earnest purpose in her life,--of real sincerity and of the +slightest element of self-sacrifice, without which no character can grow +truly noble. + +She was very dear unto herself, and was accustomed to take the measure +of all things according to the way in which they affected Lucile +Sherman. When her father, for whose health the present journey to Italy +had been primarily planned, was imperatively summoned home, her +disappointment was so overwhelmingly apparent that her sister Marion was +chosen to accompany him back to America, and Lucile was permitted to +spend the winter as she so much wished. + +She was fond of society, of music, of literature and art; had seemingly +an enthusiastic admiration and desire for all things good and true, and +thought she embodied all her desires; but these were ever a little too +languid to subdue the self-love and overcome the inertia of all high +principles of life. It is not difficult to understand her, for the world +has many such,--in whom there is nothing really bad, only they have +missed the best. + +On board the steamship, she had been much attracted by the little party +from Boston, and had made advances toward Mrs. Douglas; and when, on +that day so soon after reaching Florence, she had met Mr. Sumner and the +young people in Santa Croce, her remark that it was worth a journey from +America just to see Giotto's frescoes there--the remark that had won a +look of interest from Mr. Sumner, and that poor Barbara had brooded over +because it had caused her to feel so sorely her own ignorance--had been +spoken with the design that it should be overheard by that +distinguished-looking man who, she felt sure, must be the artist-brother +whom Mrs. Douglas had come to Italy to meet; and though she did enjoy +the old Florentine masters very much indeed, yet she had haunted the +churches and galleries a little more persistently than she would +otherwise have done, in the hope that fortune might some day favor her +by granting a meeting with Mrs. Douglas and her brother. All things come +to those who wish and wait; and so the time came when Mrs. Douglas found +her in Santa Croce, and the desired introduction and invitations were +given. + +When, therefore, the request that she join the picnic party on Fiesole +reached her, and was soon followed by Mrs. Douglas's carriage, Miss +Sherman's satisfaction knew no bounds. The lovely eyes, that Barbara and +Bettina had so much admired, were more softly brilliant than ever in +their expression of happiness, and Mrs. Douglas looked the admiration +she felt for her young companion. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Sumner, Malcom, Margery, Barbara, and Bettina had +gloriously enjoyed the walk out of the city through Porta Gallo, along +the banks of the Mugello, up the first slope of the hill, past Villa +Palmieri, and upward to San Domenico,--church and monastery,--which +stands about half way to the top. + +Here they stopped to rest, and to talk for a few minutes about Fra +Angelico, the painter-monk, whose name has rendered historic every spot +on which he lived. + +Mr. Sumner told them very briefly how two young men--brothers, hardly +more than boys--had come hither one day from the country over yonder, +the same country where Giotto had lived when a child, about one hundred +years before, and had become monks in this monastery. "They took the +names of Giovanni and Benedetto; and Giovanni, or John, as it is in +English, was afterward called Fra Angelico by his brethren because his +life was so holy, or because, as some say, he painted angels more pure +and beautiful than have ever been pictured before or since. He lived +here many years before he was transferred with his brethren to the +monastery of San Marco down in Florence, and painted several pictures in +this church, only a part of one of which is remaining. Little did the +young monk think, as he painted here in humility, that one day +emissaries from the great unknown world would come hither, cut his +frescoes out of the walls, and bear them away to foreign art galleries, +there to be treasured beyond all price." + +They went into the church to give a look at the remaining picture over +the altar in the choir, a _Virgin with Saints and Angels_, the lower +part, or predella, of which is now in the National Gallery, London; but +Mr. Sumner said they must not stay long, for this was not the object of +the day. Since, however, Fra Angelico was to be their next subject of +study, he wished them to know all about him they possibly could before +going to San Marco to really study his pictures. + +Lingering on the terrace outside, they looked at the lovely Villa Landor +close at hand, where the English poet, Walter Savage Landor, spent +several years. Here Malcom quoted, in a quietly impressive way:-- + + "From France to Italy my steps I bent, + And pitcht at Arno's side my household tent. + Six years the Medicean Palace held + My wandering Lares; then they went afield, + Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend + O'er Doccia's dell, and fig and olive blend." + +"How did you come to know that?" asked Margery, the usual poetry quoter. + +"I didn't have to go far for it. I came across it in my 'Hare's +Florence,' and I rather think the quaint fancy of the _Lares_ 'going +afield' caught my attention so that I cannot lose the words." + +"It is easier to think how one must write poetry in such a lovely spot +than how one could help it," said Bettina, with shining eyes. + +"Or could help painting pictures," added Barbara. "Just look at the +colors of sky, hills, and city. No wonder Fra Angelico thought of angels +with softly glittering wings and dressed in exquisite pinks and violets, +when he lived here day after day." + +"Just wait, though, until we come down at sunset," said Mr. Sumner. +"This is indeed beautiful, but then it will be most beautiful, and you +can enjoy the changing colors of sunset over Florence, as seen from +Fiesole, far better as we loiter along on the road, as we shall do +to-night, than when in a carriage, as we were two or three weeks ago. Of +course, there is less color now than in summer, yet it will be +glorious, I am sure. We are most fortunate in our choice of a day, for +it is warm, with a moisture in the atmosphere that veils forms and +enriches color. We should call it 'Indian summer' were we at home." + +Before they had quite reached the old city at the top, the carriage +containing Mrs. Douglas, Miss Sherman, and Howard overtook them, and the +latter sprang out to join the walking-party. + +Such a day as followed! Lunch in the grove behind the ancient +Monastery!--visits to the ruined Amphitheatre, the Cathedral, and Museum +so full of all sorts of antiquities obtained from the excavations of +ancient Fiesole!--loitering in the spacious Piazza, where they were +beset by children and weather-beaten, brown old women, clamoring for +them to buy all sorts of things made of the straw there manufactured; +and everywhere magnificent views, either of the widely extended valley +of the Mugnone on the one side, or of Florence, lying in her amethystine +cup, on the other! + +Finally, giving orders for the carriage to follow within a certain time, +so that any tired one might take it, all started down the hill. They +soon met a procession of young Franciscan monks, chanting a hymn as they +walked--their curious eyes stealing furtive glances at the beautiful +faces of the American ladies. + +"I feel as if I were a part of the fourteenth century," said Miss +Sherman. "Surely Fra Angelico might be one of those passing us." + +"Only he would have worn a white gown instead of a brown one," replied +Mrs. Douglas, smiling. "You know he was a Dominican monk, not +Franciscan." + +"But look on the other side of the road," cried Malcom, "and hear the +buzzing of the wires! an electric tramway! Here meet the fourteenth and +the nineteenth centuries!" + +In a minute it all had happened. Just how, no one knew. An agonized +scream from the little maid, Anita, who was walking behind them, a +momentary sight of the tiny, brown-faced Italian boy, her brother, right +in the pathway of the swinging car as it rounded the curve--Malcom's +spring--and then the boy and himself lying out on the roadside against +the wall. + +The vigorous crying of the little boy as he rushed into his sister's +arms, evinced his safety, but there was a quiet about Malcom that was +terrifying. + +He had succeeded in throwing the child beyond the reach of the car, but +had himself been struck by it, and consciousness was gone. + +The little group, so happy a moment before, now hung over him in silent +fear and agony. Howard hastened back to get the carriage, and returned +to find Malcom slowly struggling to awaken, but when moved, he again +fainted; and so, lying in his uncle's arms, with his pale mother and +tearful Margery sitting in front, and the others, frightened and +sympathetic, hurrying behind, Malcom was brought home through the +wonderful sunset glow upon which not one bestowed a single thought. + + + + +Chapter VII. + +A Startling Disclosure. + + '_Tis even thus: + In that I live I love; because I love + I live: Whate'er is fountain to the one + Is fountain to the other._ + + --TENNYSON. + +[Illustration: CLOISTER, MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE.] + + +Many days of great distress followed. Everything else was forgotten in +the tense waiting. There were moments of half consciousness when +Malcom's only words were "All right, mother." It seemed as if even in +that second of plunging to save the child he yet thought of his mother, +and realized how she would feel his danger. But happily, as time wore +on, the jarred brain recovered from the severe shock it had received, +and gradually smiles took the place of anxious, questioning looks, and +merry voices were again heard, and the busy household life was resumed. + +Although Malcom could not accompany them, the proposed visit to the old +monastery, San Marco, for study of Fra Angelico's paintings was made by +the others. + +As they wandered through the long corridors, chapel, refectory, and the +many little cells, now vacant, from the walls of which look forth soft, +fair faces and still fresh, sweet colors laid there almost five hundred +years ago by the hand of the painter-monk, they talked of his devotion, +of his unselfish life and work; of his rejection of payment for his +painting, doing it unto God and not unto men. They talked of his +beginning all his work with prayer for inspiration, and how, in full +faith that his prayer had been answered, he absolutely refused to alter +a touch his brush had made; and of the old tradition that he never +painted Christ or the Virgin Mary save on his knees, nor a crucifixion +save through blinding tears; and their voices grew very quiet, and they +looked upon each fresco almost with reverence. + +"Fra Angelico stood apart from the growth of art that was taking place +about him," said Mr. Sumner. "He neither affected it nor was affected by +it. We should call him to-day an 'ecstatic painter'--one who paints +visions; the Italians then called him 'Il Beato,' the blessed. There are +many other works by him,--although a great part, between forty and +fifty, are here. You remember the _Madonna and Child_ you saw in the +Uffizi Gallery the other day, on whose wide gold frame are painted those +angels with musical instruments that are reproduced so widely and sold +everywhere. You recognized them at once, I saw. Then, a few pictures +have been carried away and are in foreign art galleries, as I told you +the other day. During the last years of his life the Pope sent for him +to come to Rome, and there he painted frescoes on the walls of some +rooms in the Vatican Palace. From that city he went to Orvieto, a little +old city perched on the top of a hill on the way from Florence to Rome, +in whose cathedral he painted a noble _Christ_, with prophets, saints, +and angels. He died in Rome." + +"And was he not buried here?" asked Barbara; "here in this lovely inner +court, where are the graves of so many monks?" + +"No. He was buried in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a church close by the +Pantheon in Rome, and the Pope himself wrote his epitaph. But it is +indeed a great pity that he could not lie here, in the very midst of so +many of his works, and where he lived so long." + +"Did Fra Angelico live before or after the prophet Savonarola, uncle?" +asked Margery. "We came here a little time ago with mother to visit the +latter's cell, and the church, in connection with our reading of +'Romola.'" + +"He lived before Savonarola, about a hundred years. So that when +Savonarola used to walk about through these rooms and corridors, he saw +the same pictures we are now looking at." + + * * * * * + +"I say, uncle, don't you think I am having the best part of this, after +all?" brightly asked Malcom, the following day, as Mr. Sumner entered +the wide sunny room where he was lying on the sofa, propped up by +cushions, while Barbara, Bettina, and Margery were clustered about him +with their hands full of photographs of Fra Angelico's paintings, and +all trying to talk at once. "The girls have told me everything; and I am +almost sure I shall never mistake a Fra Angelico picture. I know just +what expression he put into his faces, just how quiet and +as-if-they-never-could-be-used his hands are, and how straight the folds +of his draperies hang, even though the people who wear them are dancing. +I know what funny little clouds, like bundles of cigars, his Madonnas +sit upon up in the heavens. + +"I am not quite sure, uncle dear, but I like your instructions best when +second-hand," he laughingly added. "Betty has made me fairly love the +old fellow by her stories of his unearthly goodness. Was it not fine to +refuse money for his work, and to decline to be made archbishop when the +Pope asked him; and to recommend a brother monk for the office? I think +he ought to be called _Saint_ Angelico." + +[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO. UFFUZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +GROUP OF ANGELS. FROM CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.] + +"Some people have called him the 'St. John of Art,'" Mr. Sumner +replied, with a bright smile at Malcom's enthusiasm. "I am not sure but +yours is the better name, however." + +About this time people who frequented the Cascine Gardens and other +popular drives in and about Florence began to notice with interest an +elegant equipage containing a tall, slender, pale young man, two +beautiful, brown-eyed girls, and oftentimes either a gray-haired woman +in black or a sunny-haired young girl. It had been purchased by Howard, +and daily he wished Barbara and Bettina to drive with him. Indeed, it +now seemed as if the young man's thoughts were beginning to centre +wholly in this household; and suddenly warned by a few words spoken by +Malcom, Mrs. Douglas became painfully conscious that a more than mere +friendly interest might prompt such constant and lavish attentions. With +newly opened eyes, she saw that while Howard generously gave to them all +of such things as he could in return for their hospitality, yet there +was a something different in his manner toward Barbara and Bettina. +Their room was always bright and fragrant with the most costly flowers, +and not a wish did they express but Howard was eager to gratify it. + +She was troubled; and since the air of Florence was beginning to take +on the chill of winter--to become too cold for such an invalid as +Howard--she ventured one day, when they happened to be alone together, +to ask him if he would soon go farther south for the winter. + +"Malcom told me you had stopped for only a time here on your way to the +south of Italy," she added. + +The color rushed in a torrent over Howard's pale face, and he did not +speak for a minute; then, turning abruptly to her, said:-- + +"I cannot go away from Florence, Mrs. Douglas. Do you not see, do you +not know, how I have loved Barbara ever since I first saw her? You must +have seen it, for I have not been able sometimes to conceal my feelings. +They have taken complete possession of me. I think only of her day and +night. I have often thought I ought to tell you of it. Now, I am glad I +have. Do you not think she will sometime love me? She _must_. I could +not live without it." And his voice, which had trembled with excitement, +suddenly faltered and broke. + +Poor Mrs. Douglas strove for words. + +"You must not let her know this," she finally said. "She is only a +little girl whom her father and mother have entrusted to me. What would +they say if they knew how blind I have been! Why, you have known her +but a few weeks! You must be mistaken. It is a fancy. It will pass away. +Conquer yourself. Go away. Oh, do go away, Howard, for a time at least!" + +"I cannot, I will not. Mrs. Douglas, I have never longed for a thing in +my life but it has come to me. I long for Barbara's love more than I +ever wished for any other thing in the world. She must give it to me. +Oh, were I only well and strong, I know I could compel it." + +"Listen to me, Howard. I know that Barbara has never had one thought of +this. Her mind is completely occupied with her study, the pleasures and +the novelties that each day is bringing her. She does not conceal +anything. She has no reason to do so. She and Bettina are no silly girls +who think of a lover in every young man they meet. They are as sweet and +fresh and free from all sentimentalities as when they were children. +Barbara would be frightened could she hear you talk,--should she for a +moment suspect how you feel. You must conceal it; for your own sake, you +must." + +"I will not show what I feel any more than I already have. I will not +speak to Barbara yet of my love. Only let me stay here, where I can see +her every day. Do not send me away. Mrs. Douglas, you do not know how +lonely my life has been--without brother or sister--without father or +mother. It has been like a bit of Paradise to go in and out of your +household; and to think--to hope that perhaps Barbara would sometime +love me and be with me always. My love has become a passion, stronger +than life itself. Look at me! Do you not believe my words, Mrs. +Douglas?" + +As Mrs. Douglas lifted her eyes and looked full into the delicate, +almost transparent face so swept by emotion, and met the deathless fire +of Howard's brilliant eyes, she felt as never before the frailty of his +physical life, and wondered at the mighty force of his passionate will. +The conviction came that she was grappling with no slight feeling, but +with that which really might mean life or death to him. + +An unfathomable sympathy filled her heart. + +"I can talk no more," she said, gently taking in her own the young man's +hand. "I will accept your promise. Come and go as you have, dear Howard. +But always remember that very much depends on your keeping from Barbara +all knowledge of your love." + +As soon as it was possible, Mrs. Douglas, as was her wont when in any +anxiety, sought a conference with her brother. After telling him all, +there was complete silence for a moment. Then Mr. Sumner said:-- + +"And Barbara,--how do you think Barbara feels? For she is not a child +any longer. How old were you, my sister, when you were married? Only +nineteen--and you told me yesterday that we must celebrate Barbara's and +Bettina's eighteenth birthday before very long, and Barbara is older +than her years--more womanly than most girls of her age." + +"She has never had a thought of this, I am confident. Of course, she may +have known, have felt, Howard's admiration of her; but I doubt if the +child has ever in her life had the slightest idea of the possible +existence of any such feeling as he is cherishing. It is not ordinary, +Robert, it is overwhelming; you know we have seen his self-will shown in +many ways. The force of his emotion and will now is simply tremendous. +Few girls could withstand it if fully exposed to its influence. There is +all the more danger because the element of pity must enter in, because +he is so evidently frail and lonely. I feel that I have been greatly in +fault. I ought to have foreseen what might happen from admitting so +freely into our home a young man of Howard's age and circumstances. I +have never thought of Barbara and Betty otherwise than of my own +Margery, and I know nothing in the world has ever been farther from good +Dr. and Mrs. Burnett's minds than the possible involvement of one of +their girls in a love-affair. + +"And now I must write them something of this," she added, with a sigh. +"It would not be right to keep secret even the beginnings of what might +prove to be of infinite importance. Of course Howard's family, +character, position, are above question; but his health, his exacting +nature; his lack of so many qualities Dr. Burnett considers essential; +the undesirability of such an entanglement! Oh! it would be only the +beginning of sorrows should Barbara grow to care for him." + +Poor Mrs. Douglas's face showed the sudden weight of care that had been +launched upon her, as she anxiously asked:-- + +"What do you advise, Robert?" + +"Nothing; only to go on just as we have been doing. Fill the days as +full as we can, and trust that all will be right. It is best never to +try to manage affairs, I believe." + +And Barbara--how did Barbara feel? She could never have analyzed and put +into definite thought the inner life she was leading during these days. +Indeed, it is doubtful whether she had the slightest conception of the +change that was gradually working within her. But rapidly she was +putting away childish things, and "woman's lot" was coming fast upon +her. Mrs. Douglas would have been astounded, indeed, could she, with her +eyes of experience and wisdom, have looked into the heart of Barbara, +whom she still called "child." That which the young girl could not +understand would have been a revelation to her who had been a loving +wife. With what an overwhelming pity would she have hastened to restore +her to her parents before this hopeless love should grow any stronger, +and she become aware of its existence! + +Dr. Burnett's admiration for Robert Sumner was unbounded. He had known +him from boyhood, and had always been his confidant, so far as an older +man can be with a younger. Many times he had talked to his children +about him--about his earnestness and sincerity of purpose--his high +aims, and his willingness to spare no pains to realize them. + +Barbara, who, perhaps, had been more than any other of the children her +father's comrade, had listened to these tales and praises until Robert +Sumner had become her ideal of all that was noble. No one had dreamed of +such a thing, but so it was; and through all the excitement of +preparation and through the journey to Italy, one of her chief +anticipations had been to see this young man of whom her father had +talked so much, and, herself, to learn to know him. The story of his +marriage disappointment, which had led to his life abroad, and a notable +adventure in Egypt, in which he had saved a woman's life, had added just +that romance to his reputation as an artist and a writer on art that had +seized hold of the young girl's imagination. + +Now, as she was daily with him in the home, saw his affectionate care +for his sister, Malcom, and Margery, and felt his good comradeship with +them all, while in every way he was teaching them and inspiring them to +do better things than they had yet accomplished, a passionate desire had +risen to make herself worthy of his approbation. She wished him to think +of her as more than a mere girl--the companion of none but the very +young. She wished to be his companion, and all that was ardent and +enthusiastic in her nature was beginning to rush, like a torrent that +suddenly finds an outlet, into the channels indicated by him. + +She did not realize this. But the absorbing study she was giving to the +old pictures, the intensity of which was surprising to Bettina, was an +indication of it. Her quick endeavor to follow any line of thought +suggested by Mr. Sumner--and her restlessness when she saw the long +conversations he and Miss Sherman would so often hold, were others. It +seemed to her lately as if Miss Sherman were always claiming his time +and attention--even their visit to Santa Maria del Carmine to study the +frescoes by Masaccio, who was the next artist they were to learn about, +had been postponed because she wished Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner to go +somewhere with her. Barbara did not like it very well. + +But to Howard she gave little thought when she was away from him. He was +kind, his flowers were sweet, but they were all over the house,--given +to others as well as to herself. It was very good of him to take herself +and Betty in his fine new carriage so often; but, perhaps,--if he did +not so continually ask them,--perhaps,--they would oftener drive with +Mr. Sumner and Malcom; and she knew Betty would like that better, as +well as she herself. + +She was often annoyed because he evidently "admired" her so much, as +Betty called it, and did wish he would not look at her as he sometimes +did; and she felt very sensitively the signs of irritation that were so +apparent in him when anything prevented them from being with him as he +wished. But she was very sorry for his loneliness; for his exile from +home on account of ill-health; for the weakness that he often felt and +for which no pleasures purchased by money could compensate. She was +grateful for his kindness, and would not wound him for the world; so she +frankly and graciously accepted all he gave, and, in return, tried to +bring all the happiness she could into his days. + + + + +Chapter VIII. + +Howard's Questionings. + + _When the fight begins within himself, + A man's worth something. God stoops o'er his head, + Satan looks up beneath his feet--both tug-- + He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul wakes + And grows_. + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: PONTE ALLA CARRAJA, FLORENCE.] + + +At last the morning came when the postponed visit to Santa Maria del +Carmine, on the other side of the Arno, was to be made. Miss Sherman had +so evidently desired to join in the study of the old painters that Mrs. +Douglas suggested to her brother that she be invited to do so, but he +had thought it not best. + +"The others would not be so free to talk," he said. "I do not wish any +constraint. Now we are only a family party,--with the exception of +Howard, and I confess that I sometimes wish he did not join us in this." +Malcom was again with them, for the first time since they were at +Fiesole, and this was enough to make the occasion a particularly joyous +one. + +The romantic mystery of Masaccio's short life and sudden, secret death, +and the wonderful advance that he effected in the evolution of Italian +painting of the fifteenth century, had greatly interested them as they +had read at home about him, and all were eager to see the frescoes. + +"They are somewhat worn and dark," Mr. Sumner said, "and at first you +will probably feel disappointed. What you must particularly look for +here is that which you have hitherto found nowhere else,--the expression +of individuality in figures and faces. Giotto, you remember, sought to +tell some story; to illustrate some Bible incident so that it should +seem important and claim attention. Masaccio went to work in a wholly +different way. While Giotto would say to himself: 'Now I am going to +paint a certain Bible story; what people shall I introduce so that this +story shall best seem to be a real occurrence?' Masaccio would think: 'I +wish to make a striking picture of Peter and John, or any other sacred +characters. What story or incident shall I choose for representation +that will best show the individual characteristics of these men?' + +"Possessing this great love for people, he studied the drawing of the +human figure as had never been done before in the history of Christian +art. At this time, more than a hundred years after Giotto, artists were +beginning to master the science of perspective drawing, and in +Masaccio's pictures we see men standing firmly on their feet, and put +upon different planes in the same picture; their figures well poised, +and true to anatomy. In one of them is his celebrated naked, shivering +youth, who is awaiting baptism,--the study of which wrought a revolution +in painting." + +A little afterward they were standing in the dim Brancacci Chapel of +Santa Maria del Carmine, whose walls are covered with frescoes of scenes +in the lives of Christ and His apostles. They had learned that there was +an artist called Masolino, who, perhaps, had begun these frescoes, and +had been Masaccio's teacher; and that a young man called Filippino Lippi +had finished them some years after they had been left incomplete by +Masaccio's early death. + +All were greatly impressed by the fact that so little can be known of +Masaccio, who wrought here so well; that even when, or how, or where he +died is a mystery; and yet his name is one of the very greatest in early +Italian art. + +They talked of how the greatest masters of the High Renaissance--Michael +Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael--used to come here to study, and +thus this little chapel became a great art school; and how, at the +present time, it is esteemed by many one of the four most important +art-buildings in the world;--the others being, Arena Chapel, Padua, +where are Giotto's frescoes; Sistine Chapel, Rome, where are Michael +Angelo's greatest paintings; and Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, which is +filled with Tintoretto's work. + +He then called their attention to the composition of Masaccio's +frescoes; asking them especially to notice that, while only a few people +are taking part in the principal scene, many others are standing about +interested in looking on; all, men with strongly marked +characteristics,--individual, and worthy of attention. + +"May I repeat a verse or two of poetry right here where we stand, +uncle?" asked Margery. "It keeps saying itself in my mind. I think you +all know it and who wrote it, but that is all the better." + +And in her own sweet way she recited James Russell Lowell's beautiful +tribute to Masaccio:-- + + "He came to Florence long ago + And painted here these walls, that shone + For Raphael and for Angelo, + With secrets deeper than his own, + Then shrank into the dark again, + And died, we know not how or when. + + "The darkness deepened, and I turned + Half sadly from the fresco grand; + 'And is this,' mused I, 'all ye earned, + High-vaulted brain and cunning hand, + That ye to other men could teach + The skill yourselves could never reach?' + + * * * * * + + "Henceforth, when rings the health to those + Who live in story and in song, + O, nameless dead, that now repose + Safe in oblivion's chambers strong, + One cup of recognition true + Shall silently be drained to you!" + +"But Masaccio does not need any other monument than this chapel. He is +not very badly off, I am sure, while this stands, and people come from +all over the world to visit it," exclaimed Malcom, as they left the +Brancacci Chapel, and walked slowly down the nave of the church. + +"Is this all he painted?" asked Barbara. + +"There is one other fresco in the cloister of this same church, but it +is sadly injured--indeed half obliterated," answered Mr. Sumner. "That +is all. But his influence cannot be estimated. What he, then a poor, +unknown young man, working his very best upon these walls, accomplished +for the great world of painting can never be measured. He surely wrought +'better than he knew.' This was because he, for the first time in the +history of modern painting, portrayed real life. All the +conventionalities that had hitherto clung, in a greater or less degree, +to painting, were dropped by him; and thus the way was opened for the +perfect representations of the High Renaissance which so soon followed. +We will next give some time to the study of the works of Ghirlandajo and +Botticelli, who, with Filippino Lippi, who finished these frescoes which +we have just been looking at, make a famous trio of Early Renaissance +painters." + +After they had crossed Ponte alla Carraja, Margery said she wished to do +some shopping on Via dei Fossi, which was close at hand--that street +whose shop windows are ever filled with most fascinating groups of +sculptured marbles and bronzes, and all kinds of artistic +bric-a-brac--and begged her uncle to accompany her. + +"I wish no one else to come," she said, with her own little, emphatic +nod. + +"Oh, ho! secrets!" exclaimed Malcom; "so we must turn aside!" + +"Do go to drive with me," begged Howard. "Here we are close to my hotel, +and I can have the team ready right off." + +So they walked a few steps along the Lung' Arno to the pleasant, sunny +Hotel de la Grande Bretagne, which Howard had chosen for his Florentine +home, and soon recrossed the Arno, and swept out through Porta Romana +into the open country, behind Howard's beautiful gray horses. + +The crisp, cool air brought roses into Barbara's and Bettina's cheeks, +and ruffled their pretty brown hair. Malcom was in high spirits after +his long confinement to the house, and Howard tried to throw off a +gloomy, discouraged feeling that had hung over him all the morning. +Seated opposite Barbara, and continually meeting her frank, steadfast +eyes, he seemed to realize as he had never before done the obvious truth +of Mrs. Douglas's words, when she had said that Barbara was perfectly +unconscious of his love for her; and all the manhood within him strove +to assert itself to resist an untimely discovery of his feeling, for +fear of the mischief it might cause. + +Howard had been doing a great deal of new thinking during the past +weeks. He suddenly found himself surrounded by an atmosphere wholly +different from that in which he had before lived. + +Sprung from an aristocratic and thoroughly egoistic ancestry on his +father's side, and a morbidly sensitive one on his mother's; brought up +by his paternal grandmother, whose every thought had been centred upon +him as the only living descendant of her family; surrounded by servants +who were the slaves of his grandmother's and his own whims; not even his +experience in the Boston Latin School, chosen because his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather had been educated there, had served +to widen much the horizon of his daily living, or to make him anything +like a typical American youth. + +Now, during the last two or three months he had been put into wholly +changed conditions. An habitual visitor to this family into whose life +he had accidentally entered, he had been a daily witness of Mrs. +Douglas's self-forgetting love, which was by no means content with +ministering to the happiness of her own loved home ones, but continually +reached out to an ever widening circle, blessing whomever it touched. He +could not be unconscious that every act of Robert Sumner's busy life was +directed by the desire to give of himself to help others; that a high +ideal of beneficence, not gain, was always before him, and was that by +which he measured himself. The wealth, the position of both, served only +to make their lives more generous. + +And he saw that the younger people of the household had caught the same +spirit. Malcom, Margery, Barbara, and Bettina forgot themselves in each +other, and were most generous in all their judgments. They esteemed +people according to that which they were in themselves, not according to +what they had, and shrank from nothing save meanness and selfishness. + +As we have seen, he had been attracted in a wonderful way to Barbara +ever since he had first met her. Her beauty, her unconscious pride of +bearing, mingled with her sweet, unaffected enthusiasms, were a swift +revelation to one who had never in his life before given a second +thought to any girl; and a fierce longing to win her love had taken +possession of his whole being, as he had confessed to Mrs. Douglas. + +But to-day there was a chill upon him. He had before been confident of +the future. It must not, should not disappoint him, he had said to +himself again and again. Somehow he was not now so sure of himself and +it. There seemed a mystery before him. The way that had always before +seemed to open to his will refused to disclose itself. How could he win +the affection of this noble girl, whose life already seemed so full that +she felt no lack, who was so warm and generous in her feelings to all, +so thoroughly unselfish, so wholesome, so lovable? How he did long to +make all her wishes centre on him, even as his did upon her! + +But Barbara's ideals were high. She would demand much of him whom she +could love. Only the other day he had heard her say in a voice deep with +feeling that money and position were nothing in comparison with a life +that was ever giving itself to enrich others. Whom did she mean? he +wondered. It seemed as if she knew some one who was even then in her +mind, and a fierce jealousy sprang up with the thought. She surely +could not have meant him, for he had never lived for any other than +himself, nor did he wish to think of anything but himself. He wanted to +get well and to have Barbara love him. Then he would take her away from +everybody else and lavish everything upon her, and how happy would he +be! Could he only look into the future, he thought, and see that this +was to come, he would ask nothing else. + +Poor Howard! Could the future have opened before his wish never so +little, how soon would his restless, raging emotions have become hushed +into a great silence! + + * * * * * + +A few evenings afterward, as they were all sitting together in the +library, and Howard with them, Mr. Sumner, knowing that the young people +had been reading and talking of Ghirlandajo and Botticelli, said that +perhaps there would be no better time for talking of these artists than +the present. + +"With Masaccio," he continued, "we have begun a new period of Italian +painting,--the period of the Early Renaissance. All the former great +artists,--Cimabue, Giotto, and Fra Angelico, whom we have particularly +studied,--and the lesser ones, about whom you have read,--Orcagna, +Taddeo Gaddi, and Uccello, the bird-lover (who gave himself so +untiringly to the study of linear perspective),--belong to the Gothic +period, literally the rude period; in which, although a steady advance +was made, yet the works are all more or less very imperfect +art-productions. All these are wholly in the service of the Church, and +are painted in fresco on plaster or in _tempera_ on wood. In the Early +Renaissance, however, a new impulse was seen. Artists were much better +equipped for their work, nature-study progressed wonderfully, anatomy +was studied, perspective was mastered, the sphere of art widened to take +in history, portraits, and mythology; and in the latter part of this +period, as we shall see, oil-painting was introduced." + +"Can you give us any dates of these periods to remember, uncle?" asked +Malcom. + +"Roughly speaking, the Gothic period covers the years from about 1250 to +1400; the Early Renaissance, from about 1400 to 1500. Masaccio, as we +have seen, was the first great painter of the Early Renaissance, and he +lived from 1401 to 1428. But these dates are not arbitrary. Fra Angelico +lived until 1455, and yet his pictures belong wholly to the Gothic +period; so also do those of other Gothic painters whose lives overlap +the Early Renaissance in point of time. It is the spirit of the art +that definitely determines its place, although the general dates help +one to remember. + +"We will not talk long of Ghirlandajo,--Domenico Ghirlandajo (for there +is another, Ridolfo by name, who is not nearly so important to the +art-world). His composition is similar to that of Masaccio. A few people +are intimately engaged, and the others are bystanders, or onlookers. One +characteristic is that many of these last are portraits of Florentine +men and women who were his contemporaries, and so we get from his +pictures a knowledge of the people and costumes of his time. His +backgrounds are often masses of Florentine architecture, some of which +you will readily recognize. His subjects are religious. + +"For studying his work, go again to Santa Maria Novella, where is a +series of frescoes representing scenes in the lives of the Virgin Mary +and John the Baptist. I would give some time to these, for in them you +will find all the characteristics of Ghirlandajo's frescoes, which are +his strongest work. Then you will find two good examples of his +_tempera_ painting on wooden panels in the Uffizi Gallery: an _Adoration +of the Magi_, and a _Madonna and Saints_, which are in the Sala di +Lorenzo Monaco near Fra Angelico's _Madonna_--the one which is +surrounded by the famous musical Angels. Others are in the Pitti +Gallery and Academy. His goldsmith's training shows in these smaller +pictures more than in the frescoes. We see it in his love for painting +golden ornaments and decoration of garments." + +"Is his work anything like that of Michael Angelo, Mr. Sumner?" asked +Barbara. "He was Angelo's teacher, was he not?" + +"Yes, history tells us that he held that position for three years; but +judging from the work of both, I should say that not much was either +taught or learned. Ghirlandajo's work possesses great strength, as does +Michael Angelo's, but on wholly different lines. Ghirlandajo loved to +represent grave, dignified figures,--which were portraits,--clad in long +gowns, stiff brocades, and flowing mantles; and there are superb +accessories in his pictures,--landscapes, architecture, and decorated +interiors. On the other hand, Michael Angelo's figures are most +impersonal, and each depends for effect simply on its own magnificence +of conception and rendering. The lines of figures are of far more +importance than the face, which is the farthest possible removed from +the portrait--and for accessories of any kind he cared not at all." + +At this moment callers were announced and Mr. Sumner said they would +resume their talk some other time. + +"It will be well for you if you can look at these paintings by +Ghirlandajo to-morrow morning if it be a bright day," he said, "while +all that I have told you is fresh in your minds. I cannot go with you, +but if you think of anything you would like to ask me about them, you +can do so before we begin on Botticelli." + + + + +Chapter IX. + +The Coming-out Party. + + _Like the swell of some sweet tune, + Morning rises into noon, + May glides onward into June_. + + --LONGFELLOW. + +[Illustration: PALAZZO PITTI, FLORENCE.] + + +"Well, have you seen Ghirlandajo's work?" asked Mr. Sumner, the next +time the little group met in the library. + +"Only his frescoes in Santa Maria Novella. We have spent two entire +mornings looking at those," answered Bettina. + +"We took your list of the portraits there with us, uncle," said Malcom, +"and tried to get acquainted with those old Florentine bishops, bankers, +and merchants that he painted." + +"And oh! isn't that Ginevra de' Benci in the _Meeting of Mary and +Elizabeth_ lovely! and her golden brocaded dress!" cried Margery. + +"You pay quite a compliment to the old painter's power of representing +men and women," said Mr. Sumner, "for these evidently captivated you. I +wish I could have overheard you talking by yourselves." + +"I fear we could not appreciate the best things, though," said Barbara. +"We imagined ourselves in old Florence of the fifteenth century, and +tried to recognize the mountains and palaces in the backgrounds, and we +enjoyed the people and admired their fine clothes. I do think, however, +that these last seem often too stiff and as if made of metal rather than +of silk, satin, or cloth. And when Howard told us that Mr. Ruskin says +'they hang from the figures as they would from clothes-pegs,' we could +but laugh, and think he is right with regard to some of them. Ought we +to admire everything in these old pictures, Mr. Sumner?" she earnestly +added. + +"Not at all; not by any means. I would not have you think this for a +moment. Ghirlandajo's paintings are famous and worthy because they are +such an advance on what was before him. Compare his men and women with +those by Giotto. You know how much you found of interest and to admire +in Giotto's pictures when you compared them with Cimabue's and with the +old Greek Byzantine paintings. Just so compare those by Masaccio and +Ghirlandajo with what was done before. See the growth,--the steady +evolution,--and realize that Ghirlandajo was honest and earnest, and +gifted too; that his drawing is firm and truer to nature than that of +most contemporary artists; that his portraits possess character; that +they are well-bred and important, as the people they represent were; +that his mountains are like mountains even in some of their subtile +lines; that his rivers wind; that his masses of architecture are in good +perspective and proportion; and then you will excuse his faults, though +it is right to notice and feel them. We must see many in the work of +every artist until we come to the great painters of the High +Renaissance. You must find Ghirlandajo's other pictures, and study them +also." + +"Now about Botticelli," he added. A little rustle of expectancy swept +through the group of listeners. Bettina drew nearer Barbara and clasped +her hand; and all settled themselves anew with an especial air of +interest. "I see you, like most other people, care more for him. He is +immensely popular at present. It is quite the fashion to admire him. +But, strangely enough, only a few years ago little was known or cared +about his work, and his name is not even mentioned by some writers on +art. He was first a goldsmith like Ghirlandajo, then afterward became a +pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi, father of the Filippino Lippi who finished +Masaccio's frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel. Botticelli wrought an +immense service to painting by widening greatly the field of subjects +hitherto assigned to it, which had been confined to Bible incidents. +Others, contemporary with him, were beginning to depart slightly from +these subjects in response to the desires of the pleasure-loving +Florentines of that day; but Botticelli was the first to come +deliberately forth and make art minister to the pleasure and education +of the secular as well as the religious world. By nature he loved myths, +fables, and allegories, and freely introduced them into his pictures. He +painted Venuses, Cupids, and nymphs just as willingly as Madonnas and +saints. + +"I hope you will read diligently about him. The story of how his +pictures, and those of other artists who were influenced by him, led to +the protest which Savonarola (who lived at the same time) made against +the 'corrupting influence of profane pictures' and his demand that +bonfires should be made of them is most interesting. Botticelli +devotedly contributed a large number of his paintings to the burning +piles." + +"But he painted religious pictures also, did he not?" queried Barbara. + +"Oh, yes. His works were wrought in churches as well as in private +houses and palaces. He even received the honor of being summoned to Rome +by Pope Sixtus IV. to assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel of +the Vatican, where Michael Angelo afterward performed his greatest +work. There he painted three large religious frescoes--by the way, +Ghirlandajo painted there also. Now we must find what is the charm in +Botticelli's painting that accounts for the wonderful present interest +in his work. I think it is in a large degree his attempt to put +expression into faces. While Masaccio had taken a long step in advance +of other artists by making man himself, rather than events, the chief +interest in his pictures,--Botticelli, more imaginative and poetic, +painted man's moods,--his subtile feelings. You are all somewhat +familiar, through their reproductions, with his Madonna pictures. How do +these differ from those of other painters?" + +"The faces are less pretty." + +"They are sad instead of joyous." + +"In some the little Christ looks as though he were trying to comfort his +mother." + +"The angels look as if they longed to help both," were some of the quick +answers. + +"Yes; _inner_ feelings, you see. Sometimes he put a crown of thorns +somewhere in a picture, as if to explain its expressions. His Madonna is +'pondering these things,' as Scripture says, and the Child-Christ and +angels are in intense sympathy with her. We long to look again and again +at such pictures--they move us. + +"Another characteristic of his work is the action--a vehement impetuous +motion. You will find this finely illustrated in his _Allegory of +Spring_, a very famous picture in the Academy. His type of figure and +face is most easily recognizable; the limbs are long and slender, and +often show through almost transparent garments; the hands are long and +nervous; the faces are rather long also, with prominent rounded chins +and full lips. He put delicate patterns of gold embroidery about the +neck and wrists of the Madonna's gown and the edges of her mantle, and +heaped gold all over the lights on the curled hair of her angels and +other attendants. You can never mistake one of these pictures when once +you have grown familiar with his style. + +"I think you should study particularly his _Allegory of Spring_ in the +Academy for full length figures in motion. You will find the color of +this picture happily weird to agree with the fantastic conception. Then +in the Uffizi Gallery you will find several pictures of the Madonna; +notable among them is his _Coronation of the Virgin_, painted, as he was +fond of doing, on a round board. Such a picture is called a _tondo_. +Here you will find all his characteristics. + +[Illustration: BOTICELLI. UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE. + +CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.] + +"Study this first; study figures, faces, hands, and methods of +technique; then see if you cannot readily find the other examples +without your catalogue. A noted one is _Calumny_. This exemplifies +strikingly Botticelli's power of expressing swift motion. In the Pitti +Palace is a very interesting one called _Pallas_, or _Triumph of Wisdom +over Barbarity_,--strangely enough, found only recently." + +"Found only recently; how can that be, uncle?" quickly asked Malcom. + +"The picture was known to have been painted, for Vasari described it in +his 'Life of Botticelli,' but it was lost sight of until an Englishman +discovered it in an old private collection which had been for many years +in the Pitti Palace, suspected it to be the missing picture, and +connoisseurs agree that it is genuine. There was a great deal of +excitement here when the fact was made known. The figure of Pallas, in +its clinging transparent garment, is strikingly beautiful, and +characteristic of Botticelli. The picture was painted as a glorification +of the wise reign of the Medici, who did so much for the intellectual +advancement of Florence." + +Then Mr. Sumner told them that he was to be absent from Florence for a +week or two, and should be exceedingly busy for some time, and so would +leave them to go on with their study of the pictures by themselves. + +"I have been delighted," he said, "to know how much time you have spent +in going again and again to the churches and galleries in order to +become familiar with the painters whom we have especially considered. +This is the real and the only way to make the study valuable. Do the +same with regard to the pictures by Ghirlandajo and Botticelli, and if I +have not given you enough to do until I am free again to talk with you, +study the frescoes by Filippino Lippi in Santa Maria Novella, and +compare them with those in the Brancacci Chapel; and his easel pictures +in the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries. Get familiar also with his father's +(Fra Filippo's) Madonna pictures. You will find in them a type of face +so often repeated that you will always recognize it; it is just the +opposite of Botticelli's,--short and childish, with broad jaws, and +simple as childhood in expression. I shall be most interested to know +what you have done, and what your thoughts have been." + +"We certainly shall not do much but look at pictures for weeks to come, +uncle; that is sure!" said Malcom, "for the girls are bewitched with +them, and now that they think they can learn to know, as soon as they +see it, a Giotto, a Fra Angelico, a Botticelli, or a Fra Filippo Lippi, +they will be simply crazy. You ought to hear the learned way in which +they are beginning to discourse about them. They don't do it when you +are around." + +"Oh, Malcom! who was it that _must_ wait a few minutes longer, the other +morning, in Santa Maria Novella in order to run downstairs and give one +more look at Giotto's frescoes?" laughed Bettina. + + * * * * * + +Barbara's and Bettina's eighteenth birthday was drawing near. Mrs. +Douglas had for a long time planned to give a party to them, and had +fully arranged the details before she spoke of it to the girls. + +"It shall be your 'coming-out party' here in Florence," she said; "not a +large party, but a thoroughly pleasant and enjoyable one, I am sure." + +And the circle of friends who were eager to know and to add to the +pleasure of any one belonging to Robert Sumner seemed to ensure this. +Mrs. Douglas further said that she did not wish them to give a thought +to what they would wear on the occasion, but to leave everything with +her. Every girl of eighteen years will readily understand what a flutter +of joyous excitement Barbara and Bettina felt, and how they talked over +the coming event, when they were alone. Finally Bettina asked:-- + +"Why does Mrs. Douglas do so much for us? How can we ever repay her?" + +"We can never repay her, Betty," replied her sister. "Nor does she wish +it. I do not know why she is so kind. She must love us, or,--perhaps it +is because she is so fond of papa. Do you know, Betty, that our father +once saved her life? She told me about it only yesterday, and I did not +think to tell you last night, there was so much to talk about. It was +when she was a little girl of twelve or thirteen years and papa was just +beginning to practise. You know her father was very wealthy, and had +helped him to get his profession because the two families were always so +intimate. Well, Mrs. Douglas was so ill that three or four doctors said +they could do nothing more for her, and she must die. Of course her +father and mother were broken-hearted. And papa went to them, and for +days and nights did not sleep and hardly ate, but was with her every +moment; and the older doctors acknowledged that but for him she could +never have lived.--And, just think! he never said a word about it to +us!" + +"Our father never talks of the good and noble things he does," said +Bettina, proudly. "No wonder she loves him; but I do really think she +loves us too. Only the other day Malcom said he should be jealous were +it anybody but you and me. So I think all we can do is to keep on doing +just as we have done, and love her more dearly than ever." + +"I wonder if there are any other girls in the world so happy as we +are," she added after a moment's silence--and the two pairs of brown +eyes looked into each other volumes of tender sympathy and gladness. + +What a day was that birthday! Barbara and Bettina will surely tell of it +to their children and grandchildren! First of all came letters from the +dear home--birthday letters which Mrs. Douglas had withheld for a day or +two so that they should be read at the fitting time. Then the lovely +gifts! From Margery, an exquisite bit of sculptured marble for each, +chosen after much consultation with her uncle and many visits to Via dei +Fossi; from Malcom, copies of two of Fra Angelico's musical Angels, each +in a rich frame of Florentine hand-carving (for everything must be +purely Florentine, all had agreed); from Mr. Sumner, portfolios of the +finest possible photographs of the best works of Florentine masters from +the very beginning down through the High Renaissance. + +Mrs. Douglas gave them most lovely outfits for the party--gowns of white +chiffon daintily embroidered--slippers, gloves--everything needful; +while Howard had asked that he might provide all the flowers. + +When finally Barbara and Bettina stood on either side of Mrs. Douglas in +the floral bower where they received their guests, it was indeed as if +they were in fairy-land. It did not seem possible that any more pink or +white roses could be left in Florence, if indeed all Italy had not been +laid under tribute,--so lavish had Howard been. Barbara carried white +roses, and Bettina pink ones, and everywhere through the entire house +were the exquisite things, peeping out from amidst the daintiest greens +possible, or superb in the simplicity of their own magnificence. + +The lovely American girls were the cynosure of all eyes, and the +flattering things said to them by foreigners and Americans were almost +enough to turn their heads. Mrs. Douglas was delighted with the simple +frankness and dignity with which they met all. + +"You may trust well-bred American girls anywhere," she said to her +brother as she met him later in the evening, after all her guests had +been welcomed, "especially such as are ours," and she called his +attention to Barbara, who at that moment was approaching on the arm of a +distinguished-looking man, who was evidently absorbed with his fair +companion. + +Perfectly unconscious of herself, she moved with so much of womanly +grace that Robert Sumner was startled. She seemed like a stranger; this +tall, queenly creature could not be the everyday Barbara who had been +little more than a child to him. In passing she looked with a loving +smile at Mrs. Douglas, and then for a moment her eyes with the light +still in them met his, and slowly turned away. The soft flush on her +cheek deepened, and Robert Sumner felt the swift blood surge back upon +his heart until his head swam. When last had he seen such a look in +woman's eyes? Ah! how he had loved those sweet dark eyes long years ago! +Oh! the desolate longing! + +Mrs. Douglas's look had followed Barbara--then had sought Bettina, who, +with Margery by her side, was surrounded by a little group of admirers; +so she was conscious of nothing unusual. But Miss Sherman, who stood +near, had seen Barbara's flush and noted Mr. Sumner's momentary pallor, +and afterward his evident effort to be just himself again. What could it +mean? she thought. + +All through the evening she had suffered from a little unreasonable +jealousy as she had realized for the first time that these "Burnett +girls,"--mere companions of Margery, as she had always thought of +them,--were really young ladies, and most unusually beautiful ones, as +she was forced to confess to herself. She envied them the occasion, the +honor they gained through their intimate connection with Mr. Sumner and +Mrs. Douglas, and the impression they were so evidently making on +everybody. She was not broad or generous minded enough to be glad for +the young girls from her own country as a nobler-minded woman would have +been. But that there could be any especial feeling, or even momentary +thought, between Mr. Sumner and Barbara was too absurd to be considered +for a moment. That could not be. + +Drawing near, she joined Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and again sweetly +congratulated them on the success of their party, the beauty of the +rooms, etc. + +"The young girls, too," she said, "I am sure do you great credit--quite +grown-up they seem, I declare. What a difference clothes make, do they +not? I have been a bit amused by some of their pretty airs, as an older +woman could not fail to be," and an indulgent smile played about her +lips. + +As it was time to go to the dining room for refreshments, Mrs. Douglas, +in accordance with a preconceived plan, asked her brother to lead the +way with Miss Sherman. When Barbara entered the room soon after with +Howard, she saw the two sitting behind the partial screen of a big palm. +She felt a momentary wish that she could know what they were so +earnestly talking about, and, presently, was conscious that Mr. +Sumner's eyes sought her. + +But how little she thought that she, herself, was the subject of their +conversation, or rather of Miss Sherman's, who was saying how apparent +the devotion of Mr. Sinclair was to every one, and that surely Barbara +must reciprocate his feeling, else she would withdraw from him; and how +pleasant it was to see such young people, just in the beginning of life, +becoming so interested in each other; and how romantic to thus find each +other in such a city as Florence; and what an advantage to become allied +with such an old, wealthy family as the Sinclairs, and so on and on. + + + + +Chapter X. + +The Mystery Unfolds to Howard. + + _We are in God's hand. + How strange now looks the life He makes us lead: + So free we seem, so fettered fast we are! + I feel He laid the fetter: let it lie!_ + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: SAN MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE.] + + +The weeks sped rapidly on; midwinter had come and gone, and four months +had been numbered since Mrs. Douglas had brought Malcom, Margery, +Barbara, and Bettina to Italy. + +Although social pleasures and duties had multiplied, yet study had never +been given up. A steady advance had been made in knowledge of the +history of Florence, and of her many legends and traditions. They had +not forgotten or passed by the sculptured treasures of the city, but had +learned something of Donatello, her first great sculptor; of Lorenzo +Ghiberti, who wrought those exquisite gates of bronze for Dante's "Il +mio bel San Giovanni" that Michael Angelo declared to be fit for the +gates of Paradise; and of Brunelleschi, the architect of her great +Duomo. + +Through all had gone on their study of the Florentine painters. After +much patient work given to pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, they were now quite revelling in the beauty of those of the +sixteenth century, or the High Renaissance. This was all the more +interesting since they had seen how one after another the early +difficulties had been overcome; how each great master succeeding Cimabue +had added his contribution of thought and endeavor until artists knew +all the laws that govern the art of representation; and how finally, the +method of oil-painting having been introduced, they then had a fitting +medium with which to express their knowledge and artistic endeavor. + +They had read about Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest masters, so +famous for his portrayal of subtile emotion, and were wonderfully +interested in his life and work; had been to the Academy to see the +_Baptism of Christ_, painted by his master, Andrea Verrocchio, and were +very positive that the angel on the left, who holds Christ's garment, +was painted by young Leonardo. They had studied his unfinished +_Adoration of the Magi_ in the Uffizi--his only authentic work in +Florence--and had wished much that they could see his other and greater +pictures. Mr. Sumner had told them that in the early summer they would +probably go to Milan, and there see the famous _Last Supper_ and _Study +for the Head of Christ_, and that perhaps later they might visit Paris +and there find his _Mona Lisa_ and other works. + +They had been much interested in the many examples of Fra Bartolommeo's +painting that are in San Marco--where he, as well as Fra Angelico, had +been a monk;--in the Academy, and in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries; and +had learned to recognize the peculiarities of his grouping of figures, +and their abstract, devotional faces, his treatment of draperies, and +the dear little angels, with their musical instruments, that are so +often sitting at the feet of his madonnas. + +They were fascinated by Andrea del Sarto, whom they followed all over +the city wherever they could find either his frescoes or easel pictures. +His color especially enchanted them, after they had looked at so many +darkened and faded pictures. The story of his unquenchable love for his +faithless wife, and how he painted her face into all his pictures, +either as madonna or saint, played upon their romantic feelings. Margery +learned Browning's poem about them, and often quoted from it. They were +never tired of looking at his _Holy Families_ and _Madonnas_ in the +galleries, but especially loved to go to the S.S. Annunziata and linger +in the court, surrounded by glass colonnades, where are so many of his +frescoes. + +"Do you suppose it is true that his wife, Lucrezia, used to come here +after he was dead and she was an old woman, to look at the pictures?" +asked Margery one morning, when they had found their favorite place. + +"I think it would be just like her vanity to point out her own likeness +to people who were copying or looking at the frescoes, according to the +old story," answered Bettina, with a disapproving shake of the head. + +"Well," said Barbara, "the faces and figures and draperies are all +lovely. But I suppose it is true, as Mr. Sumner says, that Andrea del +Sarto did not try to make the faces show any holy feeling, or indeed any +very noble expression, so that they are not so great pictures as they +would have been had he been high-minded enough to do such things." + +"It is a shame to have a man's life and work harmed by a woman, even +though she was his wife," said Malcom, emphatically. + +"All the more that she was his wife," said Barbara. "But I do not +believe he could have done much better without Lucrezia. I think his +very love for such a woman shows a weakness in his character. It would +have been better if he had chosen other than sacred subjects, would it +not, Howard?" + +They were quite at home in their study of these more modern pictures, +with photographs of which they were already somewhat familiar. Howard, +especially, had always had a fine and critical taste regarding art +matters, and now, among the works of artists of whom he knew something, +was a valuable member of the little coterie, and often appealed to when +Mr. Sumner was absent. + +And thus they had talked over and over again the impressions which each +artist and his work made on them, until even Mr. Sumner was astonished +and delighted at the evident result of the interest he had awakened. + +But the chief man and artist they were now considering, was Michael +Angelo; and the more they learned of him the more true it was, they +thought, that he "filled all Florence." They eagerly followed every step +of his life from the time when, a young lad, he entered Ghirlandajo's +studio, until he was brought to Florence--a dead old man, concealed in a +bale of merchandise, because the authorities refused permission to his +friends to take his body from Rome--and was buried at midnight in Santa +Croce. + +They tried to imagine his life during the four years which he spent in +the Medici Palace, now Palazzo Riccardi, under the patronage of Lorenzo +the Magnificent, while he was studying with the same tremendous energy +that marked all his life, going almost daily to the Brancacci Chapel to +learn from Masaccio's frescoes, and plunging into the subject of anatomy +more like a devotee than a student. + +They learned of his visit to Rome, where, before he was twenty-five +years old, he sculptured the grand _Pieta_, or _Dead Christ_, which is +still in St. Peter's; and of his return to Florence, where he foresaw +his _David_ in the shapeless block of marble, and gained permission of +the commissioners to hew it out,--the David which stood so long under +the shadow of old gray Palazzo Vecchio, but is now in the Academy. + +Then came the beginnings of his painting; and they saw the _Holy Family_ +of the Uffizi Gallery--his only finished easel picture--which possesses +more of the qualities of sculpture than painting; and read about his +competition with Leonardo da Vinci when he prepared the famous _Cartoon +of Pisa_, now known to the world only by fragmentary copies. + +Then Pope Julius II. summoned him back to Rome to begin work on that +vast monument conceived for the commemoration of his own greatness, and +destined never to be finished; and afterward gave him the commission to +paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. + +Returning to Florence in an interval of this work, he sculptured the +magnificent Medici monuments, to see which they often visited the Chapel +of the Medici. At the same time, since the prospect of war had come to +the beautiful city, he built those famous fortifications on San Miniato +through whose gateway they entered whenever they visited this lovely +hill, crowned by a noble old church and a quiet city of the dead. + +They drove out to Settignano to visit the villa where he lived when a +child, and which he owned all his life; and went to Casa Buonarroti in +Florence, where his descendants have gathered together what they could +of the great master's sketches, early bas-reliefs, and manuscripts. Here +they looked with reverence upon his handwriting, and little clay models +moulded by his own fingers. + +They talked of his affection for the noble Vittoria Colonna, and read +the sonnets he wrote to her. + +In short, they admired his great talents, loved his character, condoned +his faults of temper, and felt the utmost sympathy with him in all the +vicissitudes of his grand, inspiring life. + +"It seems strange," said Mr. Sumner one day, as they returned from the +Academy, where they had been looking at casts and photographs of his +sculptured works, "that though Michael Angelo was undoubtedly greatest +as a sculptor, yet his most important works in the world of art are his +paintings. Those grand frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome alone +afforded him sufficient scope for his wonderful creative genius. When we +get to Rome I shall have much to tell you about them." + + * * * * * + +The question as to the best thing to do for the remainder of the year +was often talked over by Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner. Barbara, Bettina, +Malcom, and Margery were so interested in their art study that it was +finally thought best to travel in such a way that this could be +continued to advantage, and they were now thinking of leaving Florence +for Rome. + +There had been one source of anxiety for some time, and that was the +condition of Howard's health. Instead of gain there seemed to be a +continual slow loss of strength that was perceptible especially to Mrs. +Douglas. He had recently won her sincere respect by the manful way in +which he had struggled to conceal his love for Barbara. So well did he +succeed that Malcom thought he must have been mistaken in his +conjecture, and the girls were as unconscious as ever. In Bettina's and +Margery's thought, he was especially Barbara's friend, but in no other +way than Malcom was Bettina's; while Barbara was happier than she had +been in a long time, as he showed less and less frequently signs of +nervous irritability and hurt feelings whenever she disappointed him in +any way, as of course she often could not help doing. + +"Howard ought not to have spent the winter here in the cold winds of +Florence," Mrs. Douglas often had said to her brother. "But what could +we do?" + +They were thinking of hastening their departure for Rome on his account, +when one morning his servant came to the house in great alarm, to beg +Mrs. Douglas to go to his young master at once. + +"He is very ill," he said, "and asks for you continually." + +When Mrs. Douglas and her brother reached Howard's hotel, they found +that already one of the most skilful physicians of the city was there, +and that he wished to send for trained nurses. + +"I fear pneumonia," he said, "and the poor young man is indeed illy +prepared to endure such a disease." + +"Spare no pains, no expense," urged Mr. Sumner; "let the utmost possible +be done." + +"I will stay with you," said Mrs. Douglas, as the hot hand eagerly +clasped hers. "I will not leave you, my poor boy, while you are ill." +And, sending for all she needed, she prepared to watch over him as if he +were her own son. + +But all endeavors to check the progress of the disease were futile. The +enfeebled lungs could offer no resistance. One day, after having lain as +if asleep for some time, Howard opened his eyes, to find Mrs. Douglas +beside him. With a faint smile he whispered:-- + +"I have been thinking so much. I am glad now that Barbara does not love +me, for it would only give her pain--sometime tell her of my love for +her--" + +Then by and by, with the tenderest look in his large eyes, he added, +"May she come, to let me see her once more?--You will surely trust me +now!" + +"Oh, Howard! My noble Howard!" was all that Mrs. Douglas could answer; +but at her words a look of wonderful happiness lighted his face. + +When Mrs. Douglas asked the physician if a friend could be permitted to +see Howard, he replied:-- + +"He cannot live; therefore let him have everything he desires." + +And so, before consciousness left him, Barbara came with wondering, +sorrowful eyes, and in answer to his pleading look and Mrs. Douglas's +low word, bent her fair young head and kissed tenderly the brow of the +dying young man who had loved her so much better than she knew. And +Howard's life ebbed away. + +It was almost as if one of the family were gone. They did not know how +much a part of their life he had become until he came no more to the +home he had enjoyed so much--to talk--to study--to bring tributes of +love and gratitude--and to contribute all he could to their happiness. + +Whatever they would do, wherever they would go, there was one missing, +and their world was sadly changed. + +Mr. Sumner sent the mournful tidings to the lonely grandmother over the +ocean, and accompanied the faithful John as far as Genoa, on his way +homeward with the remains of the young master he had carried in his arms +as a child. + +Then, as it was so difficult to take up even for a little time the old +life in Florence, it was decided that they should go at once toward +Rome. + + + + +Chapter XI. + +On the Way to Rome. + + _Fair Italy! + Thou art the garden of the world, the home + Of all art yields, and nature can decree: + Even in thy desert, what is like to thee? + Thy very weeds are beautiful, thy waste + More rich than other climes' fertility: + Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin grand + With an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced._ + + --LORD BYRON. + +[Illustration: ORVIETO CATHEDRAL.] + + +"We will take a roundabout journey to Rome," said Mr. Sumner, "and so +get all the variety of scene and emotion possible. Something that crowds +every moment with interest will be best for all just now." + +And so they planned to go first of all to Pisa: from thence to Siena, +Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi, and so on to Rome. + +Miss Sherman had asked to accompany them, since Florence would be so +dull when they were gone. Indeed, she had stayed on instead of seeking +the warmer, more southern cities simply because they were here. + +Therefore one morning during the last week of February all bade good-by +to their pleasant home in Florence. + +"It seems like an age since we first came here, doesn't it, Bab, dear?" +said Bettina, as they entered together the spacious waiting-room of the +central railroad station. + +"Yes, Betty; are we the same girls?" answered Barbara, and her smile had +just a touch of dreariness. + +Mr. Sumner and Malcom were seeing to the weighing of the luggage; Mrs. +Douglas, Margery, and Miss Sherman were together; and for a moment the +two girls were alone. + +Somehow Bettina felt a peculiarly tender care of her sister just now, +and was never absent from her side if she could help it. Without +understanding why or what it was, she yet felt that something had +happened which put a slight barrier between them; that something in +which she had no share had touched Barbara. She had been wistfully +watching her ever since she had returned from the visit to Howard, and +was striving to keep all opportunity for painful thought from her. + +At present, Barbara shrank from telling even Bettina, from whom she had +never before hidden a thought, of that last meeting with Howard. No girl +could ever mistake such a look as that which had lighted his eyes as she +stooped to kiss his brow in answer to Mrs. Douglas's request. There +would be no need for Mrs. Douglas ever to tell her the story. The loving +devotion that shone forth even in his uttermost weakness had thrilled +her very soul, and she could not forget it for a moment when alone. + +A certain sense of loss which she could not define followed her. +Somehow, it did mean more to her than it did to any one else, that +Howard was gone from their lives, but she knew that not even Betty would +understand. Indeed, she could not herself understand, for she was sure +that she had not loved Howard. + +Though Barbara did not know it, the truth was that for a single instant +she had felt what it is to be loved as Howard loved her; and the loss +she felt was the loss of love,--not Howard's love--but love for itself +alone. She was not just the same girl she was when she had entered +Florence a few months ago, nor ever again would be; and between her and +Bettina,--the sisters who before this had been "as one soul in two +bodies,"--ran a mysterious Rubicon, the outer shore of which Bettina's +feet had not yet touched. + +The hasty return of Mr. Sumner and Malcom with two lusty _facchini_, who +seized the hand-luggage, the hurry to be among the first at the opening +of the big doors upon the platform beside which their train was drawn +up, and the little bustle of excitement consequent on the desire to +secure an entire compartment for their party filled the next few +minutes, and soon they were off. + +The journey led through a charming country lying at the base of the +Apennines. Picturesque castles and city-crowned hills against the +background of blue mountains, many of whose summits were covered with +gleaming snow, kept them looking and exclaiming with delight, until +finally they reached Lucca, and, sweeping in a half circle around Monte +San Giuliano, which, as Dante wrote, hides the two cities, Lucca and +Pisa, from each other, they arrived at Pisa. + +Although they expected to find an old, worn-out city, yet only Mr. +Sumner and Mrs. Douglas were quite prepared for the dilapidated +carriages that were waiting to take them from the station to their +hotels; for the almost deserted streets, and the general pronounced air +of decadence. Even the Arno seemed to have lost all freshness, and left +all beauty behind as it flowed from Florence, and was here only a +swiftly flowing mass of muddy waters. + +After having taken possession of their rooms in one of the hotels which +look out upon the river, and having lunched in the chilly dining room, +which they found after wandering through rooms and halls filled with +marble statues and bric-a-brac set forth to tempt the eyes of +travellers, and so suggestive of the quarries in which the neighboring +mountains are rich, they started forth for that famous group of sacred +buildings which gives Pisa its present fame. + +They were careful to enter the Cathedral by the richly wrought door in +the south transept (the only old one left) and, passing the font of holy +water, above which stands a _Madonna and Child_ designed by Michael +Angelo, sat down beneath Andrea del Sarto's _St. Agnes_, and listened to +Mr. Sumner's description of the famous edifice. + +He told them that the erection of this building marked the dawn of +mediaeval Italian art. It is in the old basilica style, modified by the +dome over the middle of the top. Its columns are Greek and Roman, and +were captured by Pisa in war. Its twelve altars are attributed to +Michael Angelo (were probably designed by him), and the mosaics in the +dome are by Cimabue. They wandered about looking at the old pictures, +seeking especially those by Andrea del Sarto, who was the only artist +familiar to them, whose paintings are there. They touched and set +swinging the bronze lamp which hangs in the nave, and is said to have +suggested to Galileo (who was born in Pisa), his first idea of the +pendulum. + +Then, going out, they climbed the famous Leaning Tower, and visited the +Baptistery, where is Niccolo Pisano's wonderful sculptured marble +pulpit. + +Afterward they went into the Campo Santo, which fascinated them by its +quaintness, so unlike anything they had ever seen before. They thought +of the dead reposing in the holy earth brought from Mount Calvary; +looked at the frescoes painted so many hundreds of years ago by Benozzo +Gozzoli, pupil of Fra Angelico; at the queer interesting _Triumph of +Death_ and _Last Judgment_, so long attributed to Orcagna and now the +subject of much dispute among critics; and then, wearied with seeing so +much, they went into the middle of the enclosure and sat on the +flagstones in the warm sun amid the lizards and early buttercups. + +The next afternoon they went to Siena, and arrived in time to see, from +their hotel windows, the sunset glory as it irradiated all that vast +tract of country that stretches so grandly on toward Rome. Here they +were to spend several days. + +The young travellers were just beginning to experience the charm which +belongs peculiarly to journeying in Italy--that of finding, one after +another, these delightful old cities, each in its own characteristic +setting of country, of history, of legend and romance. + +They were full of the thrill of expected emotion,--that most delicious +of all sensations. + +And they received no disappointment from this old "red city." They saw +its beautiful, incomparably beautiful, Cathedral, full of richness of +sculpture and color in morning, noon, and evening light; and were never +tired of admiring every part of it, from its graffito and mosaic +pavement to its vaulted top filled with arches and columns, that +reminded them of walking through a forest aisle and looking up through +the interlaced branches of trees. + +They visited the Cathedral Library, whose walls are covered with those +historical paintings by Pinturrichio, the little deaf Umbrian painter, +in whose design Raphael is said to have given aid. + +But Mr. Sumner wished that the time they could give to the study of +paintings be spent particularly among the works of the old Sienese +masters. So they went again and again to the Accademia delle Belle Arti +and studied those quaint, half-Byzantine works, full of pathetic grace, +by Guido da Siena, by Duccio, Simone Martini, Lippo Memmi, and the +Lorenzetti brothers. + +Here, too, they found paintings by Il Sodoma, a High Renaissance artist, +which pleased them more than all else. _The Descent into Hades_, where +is the exquisitely lovely figure of Eve, whose mournful gaze is fixed +on her lost son, toward whom the Saviour stoops with pity, drew them +again and again to the hall where the worn fresco hangs; and after they +had found, secluded in its little cabinet, that fragment which +represents _Christ Bound to a Column_, of which Paul Bourget has written +so tenderly, they voted this painter one of the most interesting they +had yet found. + +To Bettina, the "saint-lover," as Malcom had dubbed her, the city gained +an added interest from having been the home of St. Catherine of Siena, +and the others shared in some degree her enthusiasm. They made a +pilgrimage to the house of St. Catherine, and all the relics contained +therein were genuinely important to them, for, as Betty averred again +and again:-- + +"You know she did live right here in Siena, so it must be true that this +is her house and that these things were really hers." + +They admired Palazzo Publico within and without; chiefly from without, +for they could never walk from the Cathedral to their hotel without +pausing for a time to look down into the picturesque Piazza del Campo +where it stands, and admire its lofty walls, so mediaeval in character, +with battlemented cornice and ogive windows. + +They walked down the narrow streets and then climbed them. They drove +all over the city within its brown walls; and outside on the road that +skirts them and affords such lovely views of the valley and Tuscan +hills. They were sincerely sorry when at last the day came on which they +must leave it and continue on their way. + +"Why are we going to Orvieto, uncle?" asked Malcom, as they were waiting +at Chiusi for their connection with the train from Florence to Orvieto. + +"For several reasons, Malcom. In the first place, it is one of the best +preserved of the ancient cities of Italy. So long ago as the eighth +century it was called _urbs vetus_ (old city) and its modern name is +derived from that. Enclosed by its massive walls, it still stands on the +summit of its rocky hill, which was called _urbibentum_ by the old +historian, Procopius. It is comparatively seldom visited by the ordinary +tourist, and is thoroughly unique and interesting. In the second place, +in its Cathedral are most valuable examples of Fra Angelico's, Benozzo +Gozzoli's, and Signorelli's paintings; and, in the third place, I love +the little old city, and never can go to or from Rome without spending +at least a few hours there if it is possible for me to do so. Are these +weighty enough reasons?" and Mr. Sumner drew his arm affectionately into +that of the tall young man he loved so well. "But here comes our train." + +"This cable-tram does not look very ancient," said Malcom, when a half +hour later they stood on the platform of the little railway station at +Orvieto and looked up at the hillside. + +"No; its only merit is that it takes us up quickly," replied his mother, +as they reached the waiting car. "All try if you can to get seats with +back to the hill, so that you will command the view of this beautiful +valley as we rise." + +The city did indeed look foreign as they entered its wall, left the +cable-car, and, in a hotel omnibus, rattled through the streets, so +narrow that it is barely possible for two carriages to pass each other. + +"Is everybody old here, do you suppose?" slyly whispered Bettina to +Barbara, as they were taken in charge by a very old woman, who led the +way to the rooms already engaged for the party. "I should be afraid to +come here all alone; everything is so strange. + +"Oh! but how pleasant," she added, brightly, as they were shown into a +sweet, clean room, whose windows opened upon a small garden filled with +rose-bushes, and whose two little beds were snowy white. "How delightful +to be here a little later, when these roses will be in bloom!" + +The brown withered face of the old chambermaid beamed upon the two young +girls, and showed her satisfaction at their evident delight, and when +she found that they could understand and speak a little of her own +language, her heart was indeed won, and she bustled about seeking +whatever she could do to add to their comfort, just for the pleasure of +being near them. + +"It must be a delightful place to visit," said Barbara, when finally +they were alone, "but I should not like to have to live here for any +length of time, I know; so gray, so old, so desolate it all seemed on +our way through the streets," and a slight shiver ran through her at the +remembrance. + +Soon they went to the Cathedral; admired its facade, decorated with +mosaics in softly brilliant colors until it looked like a great opal, +shining against the deep blue sky; entered it and saw Fra Angelico's +grand _Christ_, and calm, holy saints and angels; and, close to them +(the most striking contrast presented in art), Luca Signorelli's wild, +struggling, muscular figures. + +They went into the photograph store on the corner for photographs, and +to the little antique shop opposite, where they bought quaint Etruscan +ornaments to take away as souvenirs,--and then gave themselves to +exploring the city; after which they all confessed to having fallen +somewhat under the spell of its charm. + +The next afternoon found them on their way, around Lake Trasimeno, to +Perugia. + +Little had been said about this city, for their conversation had been +engaged with those they had left behind. Malcom, only, had been looking +up its history in his guide-book, and was interested to see the place +that had been bold enough to set itself up even against Rome, and so had +earned the title "audacious" inscribed on its citadel by one of the +Popes. + +"Magnificent in situation!" he exclaimed, and his eager eyes allowed +nothing to escape them, as their omnibus slowly climbed the high hill, +disclosing wide and ever widening views of the valley of the Tiber. + +"I think," said Mr. Sumner, who was enjoying the delighted surprise of +his party, "that Perugia is the most princely city in regard to position +in all Italy. It is perched up here on the summit as an eagle on his +aeried crag, and seems to challenge with proud defiance these lower +cities, that, though each on its own hill-top, look as if slumbering in +the valley below." + +When a little later they were ushered into the brilliantly lighted +dining-room, which was filled almost to overflowing with a gayly dressed +and chattering crowd of guests, most of whom spoke the English language, +all the way thither seemed as a dream. Only the voluminous head-dresses +of the English matrons, and the composite speech of the waiters, told +them surely that they were in a foreign land. + +The next day, after a drive through the city, whose different quarters +present some of the most interesting contrasts to be found in all Italy, +Mr. Sumner took them to the Pinacoteca, or picture-gallery, and before +looking at the pictures, told them in a few words about the early +Umbrian school of painting. + +"It grew out of the early Florentine, and is marked by many of the same +characteristics. It was, however, much modified by the Sienese painting. +It has less strength, as it has also, of course, less originality, than +the Florentine. Its color, on the other hand, is better, stronger, and +more harmonious. Its works possess a peculiar simplicity and +devoutness--much tranquillity and gentleness of sentiment. This gallery +is filled with examples of its masters' painting. It just breathes forth +their spirit, and the best way to absorb it would be to come, each one +of us alone, and give ourselves up to its spell. This is no place for +criticism; only for feeling. Study particularly whatever you find of +Francesca's, Perugino's and Bonfiglio's work. + +"You all know," he continued, "that Perugino, who lived here and +received his art name because he did so, had an academy of painting, and +that Raphael was for some years one of his pupils. Perugino's influence +on his pupils is strikingly apparent in their work. Raphael's early +painting is exactly after his style. In Perugino's treatment of figures +you will find a mannerism, especially in the way his heads are placed on +the shoulders, and in his faces, which are full of sentiment, the +wistful eyes often being cast upward, but sometimes veiled with heavily +drooping lids. + +"Look! here is one of his pictures. The oval faces with the peculiarly +small mouth are characteristic. You will most readily recognize the work +of this master after you have become a bit familiar with it." + +He also took them to the Cambio, once a Chamber of Commerce, to see +Perugino's frescoes, which he told them are more important in the world +of art than are his easel pictures. Here they seated themselves against +the wall wainscoted with rare wooden sculptures, on the same bench on +which all lovers of the old painter's art who have visited Perugia +through four centuries have sat. + +[Illustration: PERUGINO. UFFIZI GALLERY FLORENCE. + +HEAD OF MADONNA. FROM MADONNA AND SAINTS.] + +And here they studied long the figures of those old Roman heroes chosen +by Perugino to symbolize the virtues; figures which possess a unique +and irresistible charm because of their athletic proportions and +vigorous action, while their faces are sweet, womanish, and tender, full +of the pensive, mystic devotion which is so characteristic of this old +master and his pupils. + + + + +Chapter XII. + +Robert Sumner Fights a Battle. + + _So nigh is grandeur to our dust, + So near is God to man, + When duty whispers low, Thou must, + The youth replies, I can._ + + --EMERSON. + +[Illustration: SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI.] + + +Barbara and Bettina had not realized how near they were to Assisi until +talk of driving thither began. In their study of art St. Francis had +figured quite largely, because the scenes in his life were such favorite +ones for representation by the old masters. They had read all about him, +and so were thoroughly prepared for the proposed trip to the home of +this most important old saint. + +Bettina was in a fever of excitement. Drive to Assisi! Drive to the home +of St. Francis! Go through the streets in which he played when a little +boy; walked and rode when a prodigal young man, clad in the richest, +most extravagant attire he could procure; from which he went out in his +martial array; out of which he was taken prisoner when Perugia conquered +Assisi! Drive, perhaps, along that very street in which, after his +conversion, he met the beggar with whom he changed clothes, giving him +the rich garments, and himself putting on the tatters! Or along which +his disappointed father followed him in the fury of persecution, after +he had given his life to poverty and deeds of love! Look upon Mount +Subasio, whither he so loved to retire for prayer! See those very scenes +in the midst of which he and his brethren lived six or seven hundred +years ago! Could it be possible that she and Barbara were about to do +this? It was almost as exciting as when the first thought of coming to +Italy had entered their minds. + +Finally the morning came; and through the winding valley they drove +fifteen miles, until they arrived at the church Santa Maria degli +Angeli, situated on a plain at the foot of the hill on which sits +Assisi. This immense church contains the Portiuncula,--that little +chapel so dear to St. Francis, in which he founded the Franciscan order +of monks, and in which he died,--and is a veritable Mecca, to which +pilgrimages are made from all parts of the Roman Catholic world. + +They spent some time here in visiting the different spots of interest +within the church; in going out to see the tiny garden, where grow the +thornless rose-bushes with blood-stained leaves, according to the old +tradition, at which they were permitted to look through glass; and in +listening to the rambling talk of a transparent-faced old monk in brown, +Franciscan garb, who waxed more and more daring as he watched the +interested faces of the party, until his tales of the patron saint grew +so impossible that even poor Bettina's faith was sorely tried, and +Malcom stole furtive glances at her to see how she bore it all. + +At length they were free, and went on up the hill to the city. They +stopped at a little hotel whose balcony commanded a magnificent view of +the country, lingered a while, lunched, and then went out to visit the +great double church of San Francesco, beneath which the saint is buried, +and where are notable frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto. + +When all was over, and they were taking their carriages for Perugia, Mr. +Sumner said to his sister: "If you do not mind, I will drive in the +other carriage," and so took his seat with Barbara, Bettina, and Malcom. +All felt a little tired and were silent for a time, each busy with his +own thoughts. Finally Barbara asked, in a thoughtful tone:-- + +"Did you notice the names on the leaves of the travellers' book at the +hotel? I glanced over the opposite page as I wrote mine, and among the +addresses were Australia, Germany, Norway, England, and America." + +"I noticed it," answered Mr. Sumner, "and of course, like you, could not +help asking myself the question, 'Why do travellers from all parts of +the Christian world come to this small city, which is so utterly +unimportant as the world reckons importance?' Simply because a good man +was once born, lived, and died here. Surely one renews one's faith in +God and humanity as one thinks of this fact." + +"May not the paintings alone draw some visitors?" asked Malcom, after +thinking for a few moments of his uncle's words. + +"But even then we must allow that the paintings would not have been here +if it were not for the saint; so it really amounts to about the same +thing, doesn't it?" answered his uncle, smiling. + +"What a pity it is," said Bettina, thinking of the garrulous old monk +who so evidently desired to earn his _lira_, "that people will add so +much that is imaginary when there is enough that is true. It is a shame +to so exaggerate stories of St. Francis's life as to make them seem +almost ridiculous." + +When their drive was nearly over and they were watching the ever nearing +Perugia, Malcom turned toward Mr. Sumner with a serious look and +said:-- + +"Uncle Robert, these Italian cities are wonderfully interesting, and I +think I have never enjoyed anything in my life so much as the fortnight +since we left Florence and, of course, the time we were there; and yet I +would not for worlds live here among them." + +Then, as Mr. Sumner looked inquiringly at him, he continued, with an +excited flush: "What is there in them that a man could get hold of to +help, anyway? It seems to me as if their lives have been all lived, as +if they now are dead; and how can any new life be put into them? Look at +these villages we have been passing through! What power can make the +people wish for anything better than they have, can wake them up to make +more of the children than the parents are? In the present condition of +people and government, how can any man, for instance, such as you are, +really accomplish anything? How would one go about it? Now at home, you +know, if one is only man enough, he can have so much influence to make +things better; can give children better schools; can give people books; +can help lift the low-down into a higher place. He can help in making +all sorts of reforms, can be a _leader_ in such things. He can go into +politics and try to make them cleaner." + +Malcom had spoken out of his heart, and, in sympathy with him, Bettina +squeezed Barbara's hand under the cover. + +Barbara, however, was looking at Mr. Sumner, and her quick eyes had +noted the sensitive change of expression in his; the startled look of +surprise that first leaped into them, and the steady pain that followed. +An involuntary glance at Barbara told him that she recognized his pain +and longed to say something to help, but she could not; and it was +Bettina who, after a moment's silence, said gently:-- + +"I am sure you are right, Malcom, but I think I could live all my life +in this dear, beautiful Italy if all whom I love were with me." + +Malcom did not for a moment think that his words would so touch his +uncle. He had spoken from his own stand-point, with thought of himself +alone, and would have been amazed indeed could he have known what a +steady flame within his uncle's mind his little spark had kindled. + + * * * * * + +"What is the matter with Miss Sherman?" whispered Malcom in Margery's +ear, as, soon after dinner, they went out upon the terrace close to +their hotel to look at the moon rising over the distant hills. + +That young lady had disappeared as soon as they arose from the table, +and Mrs. Douglas had sent Margery to her room to tell her they were +going out, but she had declined to accompany them. + +"Mother thinks she is not feeling quite well," answered Margery, drawing +Malcom's face close to her own; "but I think she is vexed about +something." + +The truth was that Miss Sherman was as nearly cross as she dared to be. +Were she with father and sister, instead of Mrs. Douglas's party, why! +then she could give vent to her feelings; and what a relief it would be! +But now she was trying her best to conquer them, or, rather, to hide +them; but the habit of a lifetime will not easily give way on occasion. + +She had never been so happy in her life as since she left Florence with +Mrs. Douglas. Wherever she was, wherever she went, there was Mr. Sumner, +always full of most courteous consideration for her as his sister's +guest. She had been so happy that her sweetness and gentleness were +irresistible, and again and again had Mrs. Douglas congratulated herself +on having found such an enjoyable companion; and Mr. Sumner felt +grateful to her for enhancing his sister's happiness. + +But to-day a change had taken place in the satisfactory tide of affairs. +Mr. Sumner had been willing--more than that--had _chosen_ to drive all +the way back from Assisi in the carriage with Malcom, Barbara, and +Bettina, and it was all she could do to hide her chagrin and +displeasure. + +Mrs. Douglas, with her usual kind judgment, had decided that she was not +quite well, and throughout the drive had respected her evident desire +for silence, though she wondered a little at it. + +So while she and Margery were talking about good St. Francis, whose +heart overflowed with love to every living creature--mankind, animals, +birds, and flowers, and whose whole life was given up to their +service--Miss Sherman hugged close her little jealous grievance and, +brooding over it, gave no thought to the associations of the place they +had just visited, or to the glorious Italian landscape through which +they were passing. + +It was not that she really loved Mr. Sumner after all; that is, not as +some women love, for it was not in her nature to do so; but she did wish +to become his wife; and this had been her supreme thought during all the +months since she had met him. Lately the memory of his agitation when +Barbara had passed him that evening of the party had disagreeably +haunted her. It had so moved her that, truth to tell, she mourned over +Howard's death more because it served to withdraw an obstacle between +these two than for any other reason. That mere girl, she thought, might +prove a formidable rival. All the more had it seemed so, since she daily +saw what a lovely, noble young woman Barbara really was, and how worthy +a companion, even for Mr. Sumner. + +So every moment he had devoted to herself or had seemed to choose to be +in her own society, was an especial cause for self-congratulation. But +now she furtively clinched her little gloved hand, and the lids lowered +over her beautiful eyes as they grew hard, and she did not wish to talk. + +"I wonder what is the matter with Lucile" (for so Miss Sherman had +begged to be called), Mrs. Douglas queried with herself that night, and +sought among the events of the day for some possible explanation. "She +seems as if hurt by something." Suddenly the thought flashed into her +mind: "Can it be because Robert left us to drive with the others? Can it +be that she has learned to care for him so much as that?" And her +woman's nature overflowed with sympathy at the suggestion of such an +interpretation. + +She had not forgotten the desire that crept into her heart that morning +of the day they spent at Fiesole; and now came the glad belief that if +Miss Sherman had really learned to love her brother, it must be that in +time he would feel it, and yield to the sweetness of her affection. She +did not wonder that Lucile should love her darling brother. Indeed, how +could any woman help it? And she was so sensitive that she might acutely +feel even such a little thing as his not returning in the carriage with +them. And her quietness might have been caused by the disappointment. +She would be herself the next morning; and Mrs. Douglas resolved to be +only kinder and more loving than ever to her. + +And, indeed, the next morning the clouds were all dissipated, and Miss +Sherman accepted, with her usual sweet smile, her portion of the flowers +that Mr. Sumner brought to the ladies of his party. + +But the night just passed would never be forgotten by Robert Sumner, and +had marked a vital change in his life. He had walked the floor of his +moonlighted room until the early morning hours, his thoughts given +wholly to the great subject Malcom's unconscious words had opened within +his mind. Could it be that unconsciously, through weakness, he had +yielded himself to a selfish course of living? He, whose one aim and +ideal had ever been to give his life and its opportunities for the +benefit of others? Had his view been a narrow one, when he had so longed +that it should be wide and ever wider? + +It really began to seem so in the pitiless glare of the light now thrown +upon it. He had surely been living for his fellow-men. He had been +striving to make his own culture helpful to those who were less happy in +opportunity. But had his outlook been far and wide enough? Had not the +personal sorrow to which he had yielded narrowed to his eyes the +world,--_his_ world, in which God had put him? Living on here in his +loved Italy, the knowledge he had gained was being sent out to aid those +who already had enough to enable them to follow into the higher paths he +opened. His pictures, every one of which had grown out of his own heart, +were bearing messages to those whose eyes were opened to read. But what +of the great mass of humanity, God's humanity too, which was waiting for +some one to awaken the very first desires for culture? For some one to +open, never so little, the blind eyes? As Malcom had said, no one, no +foreigner certainly, could ever reach this class of people in Italy. The +Church and the heavy hand of past centuries of ignorance forbade this. + +But what of the great young land across the waters where he had been +born--his own land--the refuge of the poor of all countries of the +earth, even of his dear Italy? Surely no power of influence there could +be forbidden. The good that wealth, culture, and art, guided by a heart +consecrated to humanity, could work was limitless there. + +He now saw that his personal sorrow, his own selfish grief, had come +between all this and himself for six long years. In deep humiliation he +bowed himself; and looking out over the great plain at his feet, in +which lay Assisi and the paths the worn feet of St. Francis and his +brethren had so often trod six centuries ago, now all gilded with the +light of the same moon that was shining over the distant land of his +birth, Robert Sumner pledged his life anew to God and his fellow-man, +and determined that his old grief should be only a stepping-stone to a +larger service; that, keeping Italy and her treasures in his life only +as a recreation and a source of inspiration, he would hereafter live in +his own America. + +In the peace of mind that came after the struggle, which was no slight +one, he slept and dreamed,--dreamed of the fair girl he had so loved +with all the force of his young, strong nature, and whom he had so long +mourned. She smiled upon him, and into her smile came the lovelight he +had seen in Barbara's eyes that birthday evening, and then she changed +into Barbara, and he awoke with the thought of the wistful look she had +given him the afternoon before when Malcom's words wounded. + +In the morning, as he gave the flowers he had chosen expressly for her, +and their hands for a moment met, the remembrance of this dream flashed +into his mind, and Barbara, surprised, felt a momentary lingering of his +touch. + +After breakfast Mrs. Douglas declared her intention to spend the morning +in writing letters, and advised the others to follow her example. + +"You know we go to Rome to-morrow, and I prophesy no one of us will feel +like sparing much time for writing during our first days there," she +said. + +Barbara and Bettina spent an hour on their home-letter, then stole away +alone, and finding a secluded spot on the grand terrace in front of +their hotel, sat down, with the great valley before them. The blue sky, +so clear and blue, was full of great white puffs of cloud whose shadows +were most fascinating to watch as they danced over the plain,--now +hiding a distant city,--now permitting just a gleam of sunshine to gild +its topmost towers; and anon flitting, leaving that city-crowned summit +all in light, while another was enveloped in darkness. + +They talked long together, as only two girls who love each other can +talk--of the sky and the land; of the impressions daily received; of the +thoughts born of their present daily experiences; of the home friends +from whom they were so widely separated. Then they grew silent, giving +themselves to the dreamy beauty of the scene. + +By and by Barbara, her eyes dark with unwonted feeling, turned +impulsively to her sister and began to talk of that which had been so +often in her mind,--her visit to Howard just before he died. Something +now impelled her to tell that of which she had before kept silence. Her +voice trembled as she described the scene--the eyes that spoke so much +when the voice was already forever silent--and the wonderful love she +saw in them when she gave the tender kiss. + +"He did love you, did he not, Bab dear?" said Bettina, in a hushed, +awestricken voice. + +"Should you ever have loved him?" she asked timidly after a pause, +looking at her sister as if she were invested with a new, strange +dignity, that in some way set her apart and hallowed her. + +"No, dear, I am sure--not as he loved me. I wish, oh! so much, that I +could have made him happy; but since I know that could never have been, +do you know, Betty, I am beginning to be glad that he has gone from us; +that I can never give him any more pain. I never before dreamed what it +may be to love. You know, Betty, we have never had time to think of such +things; we have been too young. Somehow," and her fingers caressed the +roses in her belt, "things seem different lately." + + + + +Chapter XIII. + +Cupid Laughs. + + _From court to the cottage, + In bower and in hall, + From the king unto the beggar, + Love conquers all. + Though ne'er so stout and lordly, + Strive or do what you may, + Yet be you ne'er so hardy, + Love will find out the way._ + + --ANONYMOUS + +[Illustration: RUINS OF FORUM, ROME.] + + +Mr. Sumner and Mrs. Douglas had been most fortunate in getting +possession of extremely pleasant apartments close to the Pincio. These +were in the very same house in which they had lived with their parents +twenty years before, when Mrs. Douglas was a young girl of eighteen +years. Here she had first met and learned to love young Kenneth Douglas, +so that most tender memories clustered about the place, and she was glad +that her children should learn to know it. + +She soon began to pick up the old threads of life. "Ah me! what golden +threads they then were," she often sighed. Mr. Sumner was at home here +in Rome almost as much as in Florence, and was busy for a time making +and receiving calls from artist friends. + +Malcom had his own private guide, and from morning until night they +hardly saw him. He averred himself to be in the seventh heaven, and +there was little need that he should proclaim the fact; it was evident +enough. Julius Caesar's Commentaries, Cicero's Orations, Virgil, all +Roman history were getting illuminated for him in such a way that they +would never grow dim. + +But at first the others felt sensibly the change from dear, familiar +little Florence. Rome is so vast in her history, legend, and romance! +The city was oppressive at near sight. + +"Shall we ever really know anything about it all?" asked the girls of +each other. Even Miss Sherman, who had been able to get a room in a +small hotel close by, and so was still their constant companion, wore a +little troubled air now and then, as if there were something she ought +to do and did not know how to set about it. + +They drove all over the city; saw its ancient ruins--the Colosseum, the +Forums, the Palatine Hill, the Baths of Agrippa, Caracalla, Titus, and +Diocletian; visited the Pantheon, Castle of St. Angelo, and many of the +most important churches. They drove outside the walls on the Via Appia, +and saw all the many interesting things by the way. They sought all the +best points of view from which they could look out over the great city. + +One afternoon they were all together on the wide piazza in front of San +Pietro in Montorio, which commands a very wide outlook. Here, after +having studied the location of chief points of interest, they gave +themselves up to the delight of a superb sunset view. As they lingered +before again taking their carriages, Malcom told some of his morning +experiences, and Barbara wistfully said:-- + +"I wonder if we ought not to begin some definite study of Roman history +and the old ruins. Betty and I have taken some books from the library in +Piazza di Spagna, and are reading hard an hour or two every day, but it +gives me a restless feeling to know that there is so much all about me +that I do not understand," and she looked inquiringly at Mr. Sumner. + +"Robert and I have talked over this very thing," replied Mrs. Douglas. + +"Shall I tell them what we think?" she asked her brother, as he rather +abruptly turned away. On his assent she continued:-- + +"It is a familiar question, since I very plainly remember hearing my +father and mother talk of it when I was your age, and Robert was but a +lad. My father said it would take a lifetime of patient study to learn +thoroughly all that can to-day be learned of what we call ancient +Rome--the Rome of the Caesars; and how many Romes existed before that, of +which we can know nothing, save through legend and tradition! 'Now, +will it not be best,' he asked, 'that we read all we can of legend and +the chief points of Roman history up to the present time, so that the +subject of Rome get into our minds and hearts; and then try to absorb +all we can of the spirit of both past and present, so that we shall know +Rome even though we have not tried to find out all about her? We cannot +accomplish the latter, and if we try I fear we shall miss everything.' +My mother agreed fully with him. And so, many evenings at home; father +would read to us pathetic legends and stirring tales of ancient Roman +life; and we would often go and sit amidst the earth-covered ruins on +the Palatine. Here, children, I have heard your own dear father more +than once repeat, as only he could, Byron's graphic lines:-- + + "Cypress and ivy, weed and wall-flower grown, + Matted and mass'd together; hillocks heap'd + On what were chambers, arch crushed, column strewn + In fragments; choked-up vaults, and frescoes steep'd + In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd + Deeming it midnight. + +"He used to love to repeat bits of poetry everywhere, just as Margery +does. + +"We climbed the Colosseum walls and sat there for hours dreaming of what +it once was--and so we went all over the city--until I really think I +lived in ancient Rome a part of the time. Often did I weep over the +tragic fate of Roman heroes and matrons as I was in the places sacred to +their history, so deeply impressed was I by the reality of the past life +of Rome. I had not followed the erudite words of any interpreter of the +ruins; I had not learned which was the particular pile of stones which +marks the location of the palace of Tiberius, Augustus, or Septimius +Severus; I could not even give name to all the various ruins of the +Roman Forum, but old Rome was very real to me, and has been ever since. + +"Now," she continued, as she glanced at the interested faces about her, +"we are here for a very short time, and it does seem much the best to +both Robert and me that you should try to get Rome into your _hearts_ +first. Don't be one bit afraid to grow sentimental over her. It is a +good place in which to give ourselves up to sentiment. We will take a +guide for all that which seems necessary. This one afternoon, however, +up here, when you have learned the location of the seven hills and have +clearly fixed in your minds the relative positions of the most important +ruins and old buildings is, in my opinion, worth more than would be many +afternoons spent in prowling through particular ruins; that is, for you. +Were we archaeological students, it would of course be a far different +matter." + +"And we will at once resume our study of paintings," said Mr. Sumner, +drawing nearer. "To-morrow morning, if Malcom has no engagement, we will +go to the Sistine Chapel to see Michael Angelo's frescoes. I have been +so busy until now that I could not get the time I wished for it." + +The next morning, as Barbara and Bettina were getting ready for the +drive according to Mr. Sumner's appointment, Bettina, who was vigorously +brushing her brown suit, heard a sigh from her sister, and looking up +saw her ruefully examining her own skirt. + +"Rather the worse for wear, aren't they, Barbara _mia_?" + +"Indeed, they are. I didn't notice it, though, until we came here into +this bright Rome. We seem to have come all at once into spring sunshine +and the atmosphere of new clothes; and, Betty, I believe I do feel +shabby. I know you have been thinking the same thing, too; for everybody +else seems to have new spring dresses, and they are so fresh and pretty +that ours look doubly worse. Oh, dear!" and she sighed again. + +Then, catching sight of her sister's downcast face, Barbara, in a +moment, after her usual fashion, rose above her annoyance and cried:-- + +"For shame, Barbara Burnett! to think that you are in Rome, the Eternal +City! that you are dressing to go to the Sistine Chapel to look at +Michael Angelo's frescoes! and do you dare to waste a thought on the +gown you are to wear! Oh, Betty! you are ashamed of me, too, I +know.--There, you dear old brown suit! Forgive me, and I never will do +such a mean thing again. To think of all the lovely places I have been +in with you, and now that I should like to cheat you out of seeing +Michael Angelo's frescoes!" and she adjusted the last button with such a +comical, half-disgusted expression on her face that Betty burst into a +merry laugh. + +When the two girls came down stairs and stepped out upon the sidewalk +beside which the carriages were waiting, their radiant faces gave not +the slightest hint that any annoyance had ever lurked there; and no one, +looking into them, would ever give a thought to the worn brown dresses. +No one? not many, at least. Perhaps Miss Sherman, looking so dainty in +her own fresh attire, did. Anyway, as Mr. Sumner handed her into one of +the carriages, and himself springing in, took a seat beside her, she +shot a triumphant glance at Barbara, who was seating herself in the +other carriage with Bettina and Malcom. Mrs. Douglas and Margery had +gone out on some morning errand and would follow them presently so Miss +Sherman was alone with Mr. Sumner. + +Robert Sumner was waging quite a battle with himself during these days. +Ever since that night at Perugia, he had found to his utter dismay that +he could not put Barbara out of his thoughts. Indeed, ever after the +evening of the birthday party she had assumed to him a distinct +individuality. It seemed as if he had received a revelation of what she +was to become. Every now and then as he saw her at home, the vision of +beautiful womanhood that had passed before him that evening would flash +into his mind, and the thought would come that sometime, somewhere, she +would find him into whose eyes could shine from her own that glorious +lovelight that he had for an instant surprised in them. + +It had not seemed to him that he then saw the present Barbara, but that +which she was to be; and this future Barbara had no special connection +with the present one, save to awaken an interest that caused him to be +watchful of her. He had always recognized the charm of her +personality,--her frank enthusiasms, and her rich reserve; the wide +outlook and wise judgment of things unusual in one so young. But now he +began to observe other more intimate qualities,--the wealth of affection +bestowed on Bettina and the distant home; her tender regard to the +feelings of those about her; her quick resentment of any injustice; her +sturdy self-reliance; her sweet, unspoiled, unselfish nature; and her +longing for knowledge and all good gifts. + +Then came Howard's death, and he realized how deeply she was moved. A +new look came often into her eyes, which he noted; a new tone into her +voice, which he heard. And yet he felt that the experience had not +touched the depths of her being. + +While they were on the way from Florence to Rome he had rejoiced every +time he heard her voice ringing with the old merry tones, which showed +that she had for the moment forgotten all sad thoughts. When he was +ostensibly talking to all, he was often really talking only to Barbara, +and watching the expression of her eyes; and he always listened to catch +her first words when any new experience came to their party. He was +really fast getting into a dangerous condition, this young man nearly +thirty years old, but was as unconscious of it as a child. + +At Perugia came the night struggle caused by Malcom's words; the dream, +and the morning meeting with Barbara. When his hand touched hers as he +put into them the roses, he felt again for an instant the electric +thrill that ran through him on the birthday night, when he met that +wonderful look in her eyes. It brought a feeling of possession, as if it +were the hand of his Margaret which he had touched,--Margaret, who was +so soon to have been his wife when death claimed her. + +He tried to account for it. He was jealous for the beloved dead whose +words, whose ways, whose face had reigned supreme over his heart for so +many years, when he caught himself dwelling on Barbara's words, +recalling her tricks of tone, her individual ways. + +He set himself resolutely to the task of overcoming this singular +tendency of his thought; and oh! how the little blind (but all-seeing) +god of love had been laughing at Robert Sumner all through the days +since they reached Rome. + +Instead of driving and walking about with the others, he had zealously +set himself the task of calling at the studios of all his artist +friends; had visited exhibitions; had gone hither and thither by +himself; and yet every time had hastened home, though he would not admit +it to his own consciousness, in order that he might know where Barbara +was, what she was doing, and how she was feeling. He had busied himself +in fitting up a sky-lighted room for a studio, where he resolved to +spend many morning hours, forgetting all else save his beloved +occupation; and the very first time he sat before his easel a sketch of +Barbara's face grew out of the canvas. The harder he tried to put her +from his thoughts, the less could he do so, and he grew restless and +unhappy. + +Another cause of troubled, agitated feeling was his decision to return +to America and there make his home. In this he had not faltered, but it +oppressed him. He loved this Italy, with her soft skies, her fair, +smiling vineyards and bold mountain backgrounds, her romantic legends, +and, above all, her art-treasures. He had taken her as his +foster-mother. Her atmosphere stimulated him to work in those directions +his heart loved best. How would it be when he should be back again in +his native land? He had fought his battle; duty had told him to go +there; and when she had sounded the call, there could be no retreat for +him. But love and longing and memory and fear all harassed him. He had +as yet said nothing of this to his sister, but it weighed on him +continually. Taken all in all, Robert Sumner's life, which had been +keyed to so even a pitch, and to which all discord had been a stranger +for so many years, was sadly jarred and out of tune. + +Of course Mrs. Douglas's keen sisterly eyes could not be blind to the +fact that something was troubling her brother. And it was such an +unusual thing to see signs of so prolonged disturbance in him that she +became anxious to know the cause. Still she could not speak of it first. +Intimate as they were, the inner feelings of each were very sacred to +the other, and she must wait until he should choose to reveal all to +her. + +She well knew that his heart had been wholly consecrated to the only +love it had heretofore known, and the query had often arisen in her mind +whether the approach of another affection might not in the first place +work some unhappiness. That he could ever love again as he had loved +Margaret she did not for a moment believe. She well knew, however, that +the happiness of any woman who might give her life into her brother's +keeping was safe, and her wish for him was that he might be so drawn +toward some loving woman that he might desire to make her his wife, and +so be blessed with family life and love; for the thought that he might +live lonely, without family ties, was inexpressibly sad to her loving +heart. + +We have seen how the coming of Miss Sherman into their lives roused +these hopes afresh; and she now wondered if his evident unrest might be +caused by the first suggestion of the thought of asking her to become +his wife. It was evident that he admired her and enjoyed her society; +and, so far as Miss Sherman's feelings were concerned, she felt no +doubt. Indeed, she sometimes shrank a bit from the free display of her +fondness for his company, and hoped that Malcom and the girls might not +notice it. She easily excused it, however, to herself, although the +closer intimacy of daily intercourse was revealing, little by little, +flaws in the character she had thought so fair. + +How utterly mistaken was Mrs. Douglas! and how shocked would Lucile +Sherman have been this very morning could she have known how strong a +longing leaped into Robert Sumner's heart to take into his hungry arms +that graceful figure in worn brown suit, with brave, smiling young face +and steadfast eyes, put her into his carriage, and drive +away,--anywhere,--so it only were away and away! + +Or, how stern a grip he imposed on himself as he took his seat beside +her dimpling, chattering self, radiant with fresh colors and graceful +draperies. + +Or, of the tumult of his thoughts as they drove along through the narrow +streets, across the yellow Tiber and up to the stately entrance of St. +Peter's. + + + + +Chapter XIV. + +A Visit to the Sistine Chapel. + + _Deep love lieth under + These pictures of time; + They fade in the light of + Their meaning sublime._ + + --EMERSON. + +[Illustration: ST. PETER'S AND CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO, ROME.] + + +They first passed into the great Cathedral in order to give a look at +that most beautiful of all Michael Angelo's sculptures--_Mary holding on +her knees her dead Son_. Barbara and Bettina had studied it on a former +visit to St. Peter's when Mr. Sumner was not with them. Now he asked +them to note the evident weight of the dead Christ,--with every muscle +relaxed,--a triumph of the sculptor's art; and, especially, the +impersonal face of the mother; a face that is simply the embodiment of +her feeling, and wholly apart from the ordinary human! + +"This is a special characteristic of Michael Angelo's faces," he said, +"and denotes the high order of his thought. In it, he approached more +closely the conceptions of the ancient Greek masters than has any other +modern artist--and now we will go to the Sistine Chapel," he added, +after a little time. + +They went out to the Vatican entrance, passed the almost historic Swiss +Guards, and climbed the stairs with quite the emotion that they were +about to visit some sacred shrine, so much had they read and so deeply +had they thought about the frescoes they were about to see. + +For some time after they entered the Chapel Mr. Sumner said nothing. The +custodian, according to custom, provided them with mirrors; and each one +passed slowly along beneath the world-famous ceiling paintings, catching +the reflection of fragment after fragment, figure after figure. Soon the +mirrors were cast aside, and the opera-glasses Mr. Sumner had advised +them to bring were brought into use,--they were no longer content to +study simply a reflected image. + +At last necks and eyes grew tired, and when Mr. Sumner saw this, he +asked all to sit for a time on one of the benches, in a corner apart +from others who were there. + +"I know just how you feel," he said. "You are disappointed. The frescoes +are so far above our heads; their colors are dull; they are disfigured +by seams; there are so many subjects that you are confused and weary. +You are already striving to retain their interest and importance by +connecting them with the personality of their creator, and are +imagining Michael Angelo swung up there underneath the vault, above his +scaffoldings, laboring by day and by night during four years. You are +beginning in the wrong place to rightly comprehend the work. + +"It is the magnitude of Michael Angelo's _conceptions_ that puts him +among the very first of painters; and it is the conception of these +frescoes that makes them the most notable paintings in the world. We +must dwell on this for a moment. When the work was begun it was the +artist's intention to paint on the end wall, opposite the altar, the +Fall of Lucifer, the enemy of man, who caused sin to befall him. This +was never accomplished. Then he designed to cover the ceiling (as he +did) with the chief Biblical scenes of the world's history that are +connected with man's creation and fall--to picture all these as looking +directly forward to Christ's coming and man's redemption; and then to +complete the series, as he afterward did, by painting this great _Last +Judgment_ over the altar. Is it not a stupendous conception? + +"Let your eyes run along the ceiling as I talk. God is represented as a +most superbly majestic Being in the form of man. He separates light from +darkness. He creates the sun and moon. He commands the waters to bring +forth all kinds of fish; the earth and air to bring forth animal life. +He creates Adam: nothing more grand is there in the whole realm of art +than this magnificent figure, perfect in everything save the reception +of the breath of eternal life; his eyes are waiting for the Divine spark +that will leap into them when God's finger shall touch his own. He +creates Eve. In Paradise they sin, and are driven out by angels with +flaming swords. Then, a sad sequence to the parents' weakness, Cain +murders his brother Abel. The flood comes and destroys all their +descendants save Noah. He who has withstood evil is saved with his +family in the ark, and becomes the father of a new race." + +"And do the pictures at the corners, and the single figures, have +anything to do with this subject?" asked Malcom, after a pause, during +which all were busy following the thoughts awakened by Mr. Sumner's +words. + +[Illustration: MICHAEL ANGELO. SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME. + +THE DELPHIAN SIBYL.] + +"Yes, indeed; nothing here is foreign to the one great thought of the +painter. The four irregular spaces at the corners are filled with +representations of important deliverances of the Jewish people from +evil,--David slaying Goliath, the hanging of Haman, the serpent raised +in the wilderness, and Judith with the head of Holofernes. The +connection in Michael Angelo's mind evidently was that God, who had +always provided a help for His people, would also in His own time give +a Saviour from their sins. + +"Ranged along the sides you see seven prophets and five sibyls: the +prophets foretold Christ's coming to the Jewish world, and the sibyls +sang of it to the Gentile world. + +"Nowhere, however, do we see the waiting and the longing for the +coming of the Redeemer more strikingly shown than in these +families,--'Genealogy of the Virgin' they are commonly called,--that are +painted in the triangular spaces above the windows. Each represents a +father, mother, and little child, every bit of whose life seems utterly +absorbed with just the idea of patient, expectant waiting. When troubled +and weary, as we all are sometimes, you know, I have often come here to +gain calmness and strength by looking at one or two of these groups;" +and Mr. Sumner paused, with his eyes fixed on one of the loveliest of +the Holy Families, as they are sometimes called, as if he would now +drink in its spirit of hopeful peace. + +"They are waiting," he resumed after a few minutes, "as only those can +wait who confidently hope; and, therefore, there is really nothing in +the rendering of all this grand conception that more clearly points to +the Saviour's coming than do these. + +"I think this part of the frescoes has not generally received the +attention it merits. + +"The decorative figures, called Athletes, that you see seated on the +apparently projecting cornice, at each of the four corners of the +smaller great divisions of the ceiling, are a wholly unique creation of +the artist, and serve as a necessary separation of picture from picture. +They are with reason greatly admired in the world of art. + +"These many figures, each possessing distinct personality, were evolved +from the mind of the artist. We can never think of him as going about +through the city streets seeking models for his work as did Leonardo da +Vinci. His figures are as purely ideal as the creations of the old +Greeks. Now think of all this. Think of the sphere of the old master's +thought during these four years, and you will not wonder that he could +not sleep, but, restless, came again and again at night with a candle +fixed in his paper helmet to light the work of his hands." + +All were silent. Never before had they seen Mr. Sumner so evidently +moved by his subject; and this made it all the more impressive. They +became impatient as they heard a little group of tourists chatting and +laughing in front of the _Last Judgment_; and when, finally, a crowd of +travellers with a noisy guide entered the Chapel, they quickly decided +to go away and to come again the next day. + +"Thank you so much, Mr. Sumner," said Barbara, in a low, sympathetic +voice, as she found herself beside him as they came out through the long +corridor; "you have made it all very plain to us,--the greatness, the +skill, the patience of Michael Angelo. It is as if he had been inspired +by God." + +"And why not?" was the gentle reply, as he looked down into the upturned +face so full of sweet seriousness. "Do you believe that the days of +inspiration were confined to past ages? God is the same as then, and +close at hand as then; man is the same and with the same needs. + + "The passive master lent his hand + To the vast soul that o'er him planned, + +wrote our Emerson, showing he believed, as I firmly do, that we +ourselves now work God's will, as men did ages ago; that God inspires us +even as he did the old Prophets." + +"I love to believe so," said Barbara, simply. + +"And," continued Mr. Sumner, "this does not lessen any man, but rather +makes him greater. Surely God's working through him makes him truly +grander than the mere work itself ever could." + +As Malcom, Barbara, and Bettina drove homeward, their talk took a +serious turn. Malcom was deeply impressed by his uncle's last words, +which he had overheard, when taken into connection with all the +preceding thoughts about Michael Angelo. Finally he asked:-- + +"And then what can a man do? What did Michael Angelo, himself, do if, as +uncle suggested, God wrought through him?" + +"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Bettina, eagerly. "I have heard papa and mamma +talk about the same thing more than once, only of course Michael Angelo +was not their subject. In the first place, he must have realized that +God sent him into the world to do something, and also that He had not +left him alone, but was with him. Papa always says that to realize this +begins everything that is good." + +"Yes," interrupted Barbara. "He did feel this. Don't you remember that +he wrote in one of his letters that we were reading in that library book +the other day, 'Make no intimacies with any one but the Almighty alone'? +I was particularly struck by it, because just before I read it, I was +thinking what a lonely man he was." + +"Yes, dear, I remember. And in the next place," continued Bettina, "papa +says we must get ourselves ready to do as _great_ work as is possible, +so that may be given us. If we do not prepare ourselves, this cannot +be. You know how Michael Angelo studied and studied there in Florence +when he was a young man; how he never spared himself, but 'toiled +tremendously,' as some one has said. And, next, we must do in the very +best way possible even the smallest thing God sees fit to give us to do, +so that we may be found worthy to do greater ones. But, Malcom, you know +all this as well or better than I do, and I know you are trying to do +these things too!" and Bettina blushed at the thought that she had been +preaching. + +But Malcom laughed, and looked as if he could listen to so sweet a +preacher forever. Never were there two better comrades than he and +Bettina had been all their lives. + +Barbara said little. There was a far-away look in her eyes that told of +unexpressed thought. She was pondering that which the morning had +brought; and underneath and through all was the happy knowledge that her +hero had not failed her. As usual he had committed new gifts into her +keeping. And the gentle, almost intimate, tones of his voice when he was +talking to her,--she felt it was to herself alone, though others +heard--dwelt like music in her ears. + +Mr. Sumner had been calmed by the lesson of Michael Angelo's frescoes, +as he had often been before. In the presence of eternal +verities,--however they may be embodied to us,--our own private +concerns must ever grow trivial. What matters a little unrest or +disappointment, or even unhappiness, when our thought is engaged with +untold ages of God's dealing with mankind? With the wondrous fact that +God is with man,--Immanuel,--forever and forevermore? + +That evening he spent with the family in their pretty sitting room, and +in answer to some questions about the _Last Judgment_, talked for a few +minutes about this large fresco, which occupied seven years of Michael +Angelo's life. He told them that although it is not perhaps so great as +a work of art as the ceiling frescoes, yet because of its conception, of +the number of figures introduced, the boldness of their treatment, and +the magnificence of their drawing, it stands unrivalled. He said they +ought to study it, bit by bit, group by group, after having once learned +to understand its design. + +They talked of the grim humor of the artist in giving his Belial--the +master of Hades--the face of the master of ceremonies of the chapel, who +found so much fault with his painting of nude figures. + +"That was the chief feature of interest in the picture to that group of +young people who stood so long before it this morning," said Mr. Sumner. +"I often notice that the portrait of grouty old Biagio attracts more +attention than any other of the nearly three hundred figures in the +picture." + +"I don't wonder, for I want to see it too," said Malcom, laughing. + +They talked also of Vittoria Colonna, at whose home and in whose +companionship the lonely master found all his happiness, especially +during these years of toil. The girls were much interested in her, and +Mr. Sumner said he would take them to visit the Colonna Palace, where, +among other pictures, they would find a portrait of this noble woman, +who was so famous in the literary life of her time. + + * * * * * + +One morning, not long after, Malcom brought a handful of letters from +the banker's, among which several fell to Barbara and Bettina. + +After opening two or three of his own, Mr. Sumner looked up and said:-- + +"I have here a letter dictated by Howard's grandmother. It contains only +a few words, which were written evidently by some friend, who adds that +the poor old lady is greatly prostrated, and it is feared will never +recover from the shock of his death." + +"Poor woman! I wish it might have come less suddenly to her," replied +Mrs. Douglas, in a sympathetic voice. + +After a little silence, during which all were busy with their letters, +a low cry burst from Barbara's lips. + +Startled, all looked up to find her, pale as death, staring at a sheet +clutched in her hand, while Bettina had sunk on her knees with her arms +about her sister's waist. + +"What is it? oh! what is it?" cried they. + +Barbara found just voice enough to say: "No bad news from home," and +then appealingly held her letter toward Mr. Sumner. + +"Shall I read it?" and as she bowed assent, he hastily scanned the +contents. + +"Howard left a large portion of his money to Barbara," he said briefly, +in response to the inquiring eyes, and handed the letter back to the +agitated girl, who, with Bettina, sought their own room. + +Then he added, striving to keep his voice calm and natural: "It seems +that the very day before he was taken ill, Howard went to a lawyer in +Florence and made a codicil to his will, in which he grouped several +bequests heretofore given, into one large one, which he gave to Barbara. +This he at once sent to his lawyer in Boston, who has now written to +Barbara." + +"This is what poor Howard tried so hard to tell me at the last," said +Mrs. Douglas. "He began two or three times, but did not have the +strength to continue. I suspected it was something like this, but +thought it best not to mention it. How much is it?" she asked after a +pause, during which Malcom and Margery had talked in earnest tones. + +"Nearly half a million," answered Mr. Sumner. + +Barbara the owner of nearly half a million dollars! No wonder she was +overcome! It seemed like an Arabian Nights' tale. + +"How perfectly lovely!" cried Margery; and her mother echoed her words. + +Mr. Sumner looked rather grave. It was not that Barbara should have the +money, but that another should have the right to give it her. Some one +else to bless the life of the girl who was becoming so dear to him! To +whom he was beginning to long to bring all good things! It was as if the +dead Howard came in some way between himself and her; and he went out +alone beneath the trees of the Pincian Gardens to think it all over. + +Meanwhile, the two girls were in their chamber. Barbara threw herself on +a couch beneath the window, and gazed with unseeing eyes up into the +depths of the Italian sky. She was stunned by the news the letter had +brought, and, as yet, thought was completely passive. + +Bettina read several times the lawyer's letter, trying to understand +its contents. At last she said gently:-- + +"Can it be possible, Bab? I can hardly comprehend how much it is. We +have never thought of so much money in all our lives. Why! you are rich, +dear. You have more money than you ever can spend!" + +Barbara sprang from the couch, and threw out her arms with an exultant +gesture. + +"Spend! I hadn't once thought of that! Betty! Betty! Papa and mamma +shall have everything they wish! They shall never work so hard any more! +Mamma shall have a seamstress every day, and her poor pricked fingers +shall grow smooth! She shall have the loveliest clothes, and never again +give the prettiest of everything to you and me! Papa shall have +vacations, and books, and the study in hospitals he has so longed for! +Richard shall have college _certain_ to look forward to; Lois shall have +the best teachers in the world for her music; Margaret shall be an +artist; and dear little Bertie!--oh! he shall have what he needs for +everything he wishes to do and be! And they shall all come abroad to +this dear lovely Italy, and enjoy all that we are enjoying! And you and +I, Betty!--why!--you and I can have some new spring dresses!" And the +excited girl burst into a flood of tears, mingled with laughter at the +absurdity of her anti-climax. + +Bettina did not know what to do. She had never seen Barbara so +overwrought with excitement. Presently, however, she began to speak of +Howard, and before long they were talking tenderly of the young man who +so short a time ago was a stranger to them, but whose life had been +destined to touch so closely their own. + +Barbara was profoundly moved as she realized this proof of his affection +for her, and a depression was fast following her moment of exultation, +when a tap at the door ushered in Mrs. Douglas, who took her into her +arms as her mother would have done. Her sweet sympathy and bright +practical talk did a world of good in restoring to both the girls their +natural calmness. + +Barbara, however, was in a feverish haste to do something that would +repay her parents for the money she and Betty were using, and, to soothe +her, Mrs. Douglas told her what to write to the lawyer, so that he would +at once transfer a few thousands of dollars to Dr. Burnett. Then she +said:-- + +"I would not write your father and mother about it until to-morrow. You +can do it more easily then; and I will write, too, if you would like. +Margery and Malcom are longing to see you. So is Robert, I am sure. And +will it not be best for you to go right out somewhere with us?" + + + + +Chapter XV. + +A Morning in the Vatican. + + _Oh! their Rafael of the dear Madonnas._ + + --BROWNING. + +[Illustration: LOGGIA OF RAPHAEL, VATICAN, ROME.] + + +It was, of course, somewhat difficult for Barbara to adjust herself to +the new conditions. After the first, however, she said nothing to any +one save Bettina about the money Howard had left her, only, as in her +ignorance of business methods, she had need to consult Mrs. Douglas. + +But she and Bettina had many things to talk over and much consultation +to hold regarding the future. One evening, after they had been thus +busy, Bettina said, nestling closer to her sister, as they sat together +on the couch, brave in its Roman draperies:-- + +"You must not always say '_our_ money,' Bab, dear." + +"Why not?" with a startled look. + +"Because it is _your_ money,--your very own;--the money Howard gave you +to spend for him, and yourself enjoy." + +"But, Betty, we have shared everything all our lives. I do not know how +to have or use anything that is not yours as well as mine. If Howard had +known my heart, he would have had it just as I would. I shall give you +half, Betty. Do not, oh! do not refuse it. I shall not be happy with it +unless you are willing. Then you and I will work with it and enjoy it +together. It is the only way. Say yes, dear," and Barbara looked at her +sister with an almost piteous entreaty. + +Bettina could say nothing for a time. Then, as if impelled by the force +of Barbara's desire, said:-- + +"Wait until we get home. Then, if you wish it as you do now, I will do +as papa and mamma think best; for, darling," in a somewhat quavering +voice, "I know if the money were all mine, I should feel just as you +do." And a loving kiss sealed the compact. + +Meanwhile the days in Rome were passing,--lovely in nature as only +spring days in Italy can be; days filled to overflowing with delightful +and unique interest. For cities, as well as people, possess their own +characteristic individualities, and Rome is distinctively an individual +city. + +From her foundation by the shepherd-kings far beyond the outermost +threshold of history, down through the six or seven centuries during +which she was engaged in conquering the nations; through the five +hundred years of her undisputed reign as proud mistress of the world; in +her sad decay and fall; and to-day in her resurrection, she is only +herself--unlike all other cities. + +The fragmentary ruins of her great heathen temples arise close beside +her Christian churches,--some are even foundations for them,--while the +trappings of many have furnished the rich adornments of Christian +altars. Her mediaeval castles and palaces, crowded to overflowing with +heart-breaking traditions, look out over smiling gardens in the midst of +which stand the quiet, orderly, innocent homes of the present race of +commonplace men and women. Her vast Colosseum is only an immense quarry. +Her proud mausoleum of the Julian Caesars is an unimportant circus. + +We drive or walk on the Corso, along which the Caesars triumphantly led +processions of captives; through which, centuries later, numberless +papal pageants made proud entries of the city; where the maddest +jollities of carnival seasons have raged: and we see nothing more +important than modern carriages filled with gayly dressed women, and +shops brilliant with modern jewellery and pretty colored fabrics; and we +purchase gloves, handkerchiefs, and photographs close to some spot over +which, perchance, Queen Zenobia passed laden with the golden chains that +fettered her as she graced the triumph of Emperor Aurelian; or +Cleopatra, when she came conqueror of the proud heart of Julius Caesar. + +We linger on the Pincio, listening to the sweet music of the Roman band, +while our eyes wander out over the myriad roofs and domes to where great +St. Peter's meets the western horizon; and we forget utterly those dark +centuries during which this lovely hill was given over to Nero's fearful +ghost, until a Pope, with his own hands, cut down the grand trees that +crowned its summit, thus exorcising the demon birds which the people +believed to linger in them and still to work the wicked emperor's will. + +We take afternoon tea at the English Mrs. Watson's, beside the foot of +the _Scala di Spagna_, close to whose top tradition tells us that +shameless Messalina, Claudius's empress, was mercilessly slain. + +And so it is throughout the city. Tradition, legend, and romance have +peopled every place we visit. Wars, massacres, and horrible suffering +have left a stain at every step. Love and faith and glorious +self-sacrifice have consecrated the ways over which we pass. And though +we do not give definite thought to these things always, yet all the +time the city is weaving her spell about our minds and hearts, and we +suddenly arouse to find that, traditional or historic, civilized or +barbarous, conqueror or conquered, ancient or modern, she has become +_Cara Roma_ to us, and so will be forevermore. + +Thus it had been with Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and so it now was +with the young people of their household who had come hither for the +first time. + +The days flew fast. It was almost difficult to find time when all could +get together for their art study. Mr. Sumner had told them at first that +here they would study under totally different conditions from those in +Florence, so separated are the works of any particular artist save +Michael Angelo. + +They had already visited individually, as they chose, those historic +palaces in which are most important family picture-galleries, such as +the Colonna, Farnese, Doria, Corsini, Villa Borghese, etc., but they +wished to go all together to the Vatican to hear Mr. Sumner talk of +Raphael's works, and right glad were they when finally a convenient time +came. + +They walked quickly through many pictured rooms and corridors until they +reached the third room of the famous picture-gallery, where they took +seats, and Mr. Sumner said, in a low voice:-- + +"I did not wish to come here immediately after we had studied Michael +Angelo's frescoes. It was better to wait for a time, so utterly unlike +are these two great masters of painting. I confess that I never like to +compare them, one with the other, although their lives were so closely +related that it is always natural to do so. Their characters were +opposite; so, also, their work. One sways us by his all-compelling +strength; the other draws us by his alluring charm. Michael Angelo is in +painting what Dante and Shakespeare are in poetry, and Beethoven in +music; Raphael is like the gentle Spenser and the tender Mozart. Michael +Angelo is thoroughly original; Raphael possessed a peculiarly receptive +nature, that caught something from all with whom he came into close +contact. Michael Angelo strove continually to grow; Raphael struggled +for nothing. Michael Angelo's life was sternly lonely and sorrowful; +Raphael's bright, happy, and placid. Michael Angelo lived long; Raphael +died in early manhood. + +"Still," he continued, after a moment, as he noted the sympathetic faces +about him, "although I have mentioned them, I beg of you not to allow +any of these personal characteristics or distinctions to influence you +in your judgment of the work of these two. Forget the one to-day as we +study the other. + +"You have read much of Raphael's life, so I will not talk about that. +You remember that, when young, he studied in Perugia, in Perugino's +studio, and perhaps you will recollect that, when we were there, I told +you that his early work was exceedingly like that of this master. + +"Now, look! Here right before us is Raphael's _Coronation of the +Virgin_,--his first important painting. See how like Perugino's are the +figures. Notice the exquisite angels on either side of the Virgin, which +are so often reproduced! See their pure, childlike faces and the queer +little stiffness that is almost a grace! See the sweet solemnity of +Christ and the Madonna, the staid grouping of the figures below,--the +winged cherubim,--the soft color! + +"I have here two photographs," and he unfolded and passed one to +Margery, who was close beside him, "which I wish you to look at +carefully. They are of works painted very soon after the _Coronation_; +one, the _Marriage of the Virgin_, or _Lo Sposalizio_, is in the Brera +Gallery at Milan. It is as like Perugino's work as is the _Coronation_." + +After a time spent in looking at and talking about the picture, during +which Bettina told the story of the blossomed rod which Joseph bears +over his shoulder, and the rod without blossoms which the disappointed +suitor is breaking over his knee, Mr. Sumner gave them the other +photograph. + +"This," he resumed, "you will readily recognize, as you have so often +looked at the picture in the Pitti Gallery in Florence--the _Madonna del +Gran Duca_. This is the only Madonna that belongs to this period of +Raphael's painting, and the last important picture in the style. It was +painted during the early part of his visit to Florence." + +"I never see this, uncle," said Margery, as she passed the photograph on +to the others, "without thinking how the Grand Duke carried it about in +its rich casket wherever he went, and said his prayers before it night +and morning. I am glad the people named it after him. Don't you think it +very beautiful, uncle?" + +"Yes; and it is one of the purest Madonnas ever painted--so impersonal +is the face," replied Mr. Sumner. + +"I wish," he continued, "I could go on like this through a list of +Raphael's works with you, but it is utterly impossible, so many are +there. When he went to Florence, where you know he spent some years, he +fell under the influence of the Florentine artists, and his work +gradually lost its resemblance to Perugino's. It gained more freedom, +action, grace, and strength of color. Some examples of this second +style of his painting are the _Madonna del Cardellino_, or Madonna of +the Goldfinch, which you will remember in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, +and _La Belle Jardiniere_ in the Louvre, Paris. But I have brought +photographs of these pictures so that you may see the striking +difference between them and those previously painted." + +Murmured exclamations attested the interest with which the comparison +was made. After all seemed satisfied, Mr. Sumner continued:-- + +"After Raphael came to Rome, summoned by the same Pope Julius II. who +sent for Michael Angelo, and was thus brought under the influence of +that great painter, his method again changed. It grew firmer and +stronger. Then he painted his best pictures,--and so many of them! So, +you can see, it is somewhat difficult to characterize Raphael's work as +a whole, for into it came so many influences. One thing, however, is +true. From all those whom he followed, he gathered only the best +qualities. His work deservedly holds its prominent place in the world's +estimation;--so high and sweet and pure are its _motifs_, while their +rendering is in the very best manner of the High Renaissance. No other +artist ever painted so many noble pictures in so few years of time." + +"Did not his pupils assist him in many works, uncle?" asked Malcom, as +his uncle paused for a moment. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Sumner, rising, "especially in the frescoes that we +shall see by and by. It would have been utterly impossible for him to +have executed all these with his own hand. Let us now go out into +this next gallery through which we entered, and look at the +_Transfiguration_." + +So they went into the small room which is dedicated wholly to three +large pictures:--the _Transfiguration_ and _Madonna di Foligno_ by +Raphael, and the _Communion of St. Jerome_ by Domenichino. + +"Raphael's last picture, which he left unfinished!" murmured Bettina, +and she took an almost reverential attitude before it. + +"How very, very different from the _Coronation_!" exclaimed Barbara, +after some moments of earnest study. "That is so utterly simple, so +quiet! This is more than dramatic!" + +"Raphael's whole lifetime of painting lies between the two," replied Mr. +Sumner, who had been intently watching her face as he stood beside her. + +"Do you like this, Mr. Sumner? I do not think I do, really," said Miss +Sherman, as she dropped into a chair, her eyes denoting a veiled +displeasure, which was also apparent in the tones of her voice. + +"It is a difficult picture to judge," replied Mr. Sumner, slowly. "I +wish you all could have studied many others before studying this one. +But, indeed, you are so familiar with Raphael's pictures that you need +only to recall them to mind. This was painted under peculiar +circumstances,--in competition, you remember, with Sebastian del +Piombo's _Resurrection of Lazarus_; and Sebastian was a pupil of Michael +Angelo. Some writers have affirmed that that master aided his pupil in +the drawing of the chief figures in his picture. Raphael tried harder +than he ever had done before to put some of the dramatic vigor and +action of Michael Angelo into the figures here in the lower part of the +_Transfiguration_. The result is that he overdid it. It is not +Raphaelesque; it is an unfortunate composite. The composition is fine; +the quiet glory of heaven in the upper part,--the turbulence of earth in +the lower, are well expressed; but the perfection of artistic effect is +wanting. It is full of beauties, yet it is not beautiful. It has many +defects, yet only a great master could have designed and painted it." + +By and by they turned their attention to the _Madonna di Foligno_, and +were especially interested in it as being a votive picture. Margery, who +was very fond of this Madonna, with the exquisite background of angels' +heads, had a photograph of it in her own room at home, and knew the +whole story of the origin of the picture. So she told it at Malcom's +request, her delicate fingers clasping and unclasping each other, +according to her habit, as she talked. + +"How true it is that one ought to know the reason why a picture is +painted, all about its painter, and a thousand other things, in order to +appreciate it properly," said Malcom, as they turned to leave the room. + +"That is so," replied his uncle. "I really feel," with an apologetic +smile, "that I can do nothing with Raphael. There is so much of him +scattered about everywhere. We will regard this morning's study as only +preliminary, and you must study his pictures by yourselves, wherever you +find them. By the way," and he turned to look back through the doorway, +"you must not forget to come here again to see Domenichino's great +picture. How striking it is! But we must not mix his work with +Raphael's." + +They passed through the first room of the gallery, stopping but a moment +to see two or three comparatively unimportant pictures painted by +Raphael, and went out into the Loggia. + +"I brought you through this without a word, when we first came," said +Mr. Sumner. "But now I wish you to look up at the roof-paintings. They +were designed by Raphael, but painted by his pupils. You see they all +have Bible subjects. For this reason this Loggia is sometimes called +'Raphael's Bible.' The composition of every picture is simple, and in +the master's happiest style." + +As they left the Loggia and entered "Raphael's Stanze," a series of +rooms whose walls are covered with his frescoes, Mr. Sumner said:-- + +"We will to-day only give a glance at the paintings in this first room. +They are, as you see, illustrative of great events in the history of +Rome. They were executed wholly by Raphael's pupils, after his designs." + +"I shall come here again," said Malcom, in a positive tone. "This is +more in my line than Madonnas," and he made a bit of a wry face. + +"And better still is to come for you," returned his uncle with a smile, +as they passed on. "Here in this next room are scenes in the religious +history of the city, and here," as they entered the third room, "is the +famous Camera della Segnatura." + +"Room of the Signatures! Why so called?" asked Barbara. + +"Because the Papal indulgences used to be signed here; and here," +continued Mr. Sumner, turning for a moment toward Malcom, "are the +greatest of all Raphael's frescoes. We will now stop here for a few +minutes, and you must come again for real study. The subjects are the +representations of the most lofty occupations that engage the minds of +men--Philosophy, Justice, Theology, and Poetry. This is the first +painting done by Raphael in the Vatican, and it is all his own work, +both design and execution. + +"Here on this side," pointing at a large fresco which covered the entire +wall, "is _La Disputa_, or _Theology_. Above, on the ceiling, you see a +symbolic figure representing Religion, with the Bible in one hand and +pointing down at the great picture with the other. Opposite is the +_School of Athens_. Above this is a figure emblematic of Philosophy, +wearing a diadem and holding two books. On the two end walls, broken, as +you see, by the windows, are _Parnassus_, peopled with Apollo and the +Muses, together with figures of celebrated poets,--above which is the +crowned figure with a lyre which represents Poetry,--and," turning, "the +_Administration of Law_, with ceiling-figure with crown, sword, and +balance, symbolizing Justice. In this room the painter had much to +contend against. These opposite windows at the ends, which fill the +space with cross-lights, and around which he must place two of his +pictures, must have been discouraging. But the compositions are +consummately fine, and the whole is so admirably managed that one does +not even think of that which, if the work were less magnificent, would +be harassing. + +"I advise you to come here early some morning and bring with you some +full description of the pictures, which tells whom the figures are +intended to represent. Study first each painting as a whole; see the +fine distribution of masses; the general arrangement; the symmetry of +groups which balance each other; the harmony of line and color. Then +study individual figures for form, attitude, and expression. I think you +will wish to give several mornings to this one room. + +"What do you think of this, Malcom? Do you not wish to get acquainted +with Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Virgil?" added Mr. Sumner, putting +his hand suddenly on the young man's shoulder, and looking into his face +to surprise his thought. + +"I think it is fine, Uncle Rob. It's all right;" and Malcom's steady +blue eyes emphasized his satisfaction. + +"What do you call Raphael's greatest picture?" asked Barbara, as they +turned from the frescoed walls. + +"These are his most important frescoes," replied Mr. Sumner; "and all +critics agree that his most famous easel picture is the _Madonna di San +Sisto_ in the Dresden Gallery. This is so very familiar to you that it +needs no explanation. It was, you know, his last Madonna, and it +contains a hint of Divinity in both mother and child never attained by +any painter before or since." + +"When shall we see Raphael's tapestries?" asked Margery, as they finally +passed on through halls and corridors. + +"I hardly think I will go with you to see those, Madge dear," answered +her uncle. "There is no further need that I explain any of Raphael's +work to you. Your books and your own critical tastes, which are pretty +well formed by this time, will be quite sufficient. Indeed," looking +around until he caught Barbara's eyes, "I really think you can study all +the remaining paintings in Rome by yourselves," and he was made happy by +seeing the swift regret which clouded them. + +"When we return to Florence," he added, "you will be more interested +than when we were there before in looking at Raphael's Madonnas and +portraits in those galleries; and on our way from Florence to Venice, we +will stop at Bologna to see his _St. Cecilia_". + +"How perfectly delightful!" cried Bettina. "I have been wishing to see +that ever since we went to the church of St. Cecilia the other day. I +was greatly interested to know that it had once been her own home, and +in everything there connected with her. She was so brave, and true, and +good! It seems as if Raphael could have painted a worthy picture of +her!" + +As Bettina suddenly checked her pretty enthusiasm, her face flushed +painfully, and Barbara, seeking the cause, caught the supercilious smile +with which Miss Sherman was regarding her sister. She at once divined +that poor Bettina feared that, in some way, she had made herself +ridiculous to the older lady. + +Going swiftly to her sister she threw her arm closely about her waist, +and with a charming air of defiance,--with erect head and flashing eyes, +said:-- + +"Mr. Sumner, St. Cecilia is a real, historical character, is she not? As +much so as St. Francis, Nero, or Marcus Aurelius?" The slight emphasis +on the last name recalled to all the party the effusive eulogiums Miss +Sherman had lavished upon that famous imperial philosopher a few days +before, while they were looking at his bust in the museum of Palazzo +Laterano; when, unfortunately, she had imputed to him certain utterances +that rightfully belong to another literary man who lived in quite a +different age and country. + +Mr. Sumner could not avoid a merry twinkle of his eyes as he strove to +answer with becoming gravity, and Malcom hastily pushed on far in +advance. + +Once at home, Malcom and Margery gave their version of the affair to +their mother. + +"It isn't the first time she has looked like that at both Barbara and +Betty," averred Malcom, emphatically, "and they have known and felt it, +too." + +"I am very sorry," said Mrs. Douglas, with a troubled look. + +"Oh! you need not fear anything further, mother _mia_" said Malcom, +sympathizingly. "Barbara will never show any more feeling. She would not +have done it for herself, only for Betty. Under the circumstances she +just had to fire her independence-gun, that is all. Now there will be +perfect peace on her side. You know her. + +"And," he added in an aside to Margery, as his mother was leaving the +room, "Miss Sherman will not dare to be cross openly for fear of mother +and Uncle Rob. I didn't dare to look at her. But wasn't it rich?" And he +went off into a peal of laughter. + +"It was only what she deserved, anyway," said Margery, who was usually +most gentle in all her judgments. + +It was quite a commentary on Mrs. Douglas's judgment of Lucile Sherman's +character at this time, that she now deemed it best to tell her of +Howard's bequest to Barbara, about which she had heretofore held +silence. + + + + +Chapter XVI. + +Poor Barbara's Trouble. + + _O, how this spring of love resembleth + The uncertain glory of an April day; + Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, + And by and by a cloud takes all away._ + + --SHAKESPEARE. + +[Illustration: A BIT OF AMALFI.] + + +Barbara and Bettina, sometimes accompanied by Mrs. Douglas, sometimes by +Malcom, usually by Margery, saw all the remaining and important art +treasures of Rome. + +They studied long the Vatican and Capitol sculptures; went to the +Barberini Palace to see Raphael's _La Fornarina_, so rich in color; and, +close beside it, the pale, tearful face of Beatrice Cenci, so long +attributed to Guido Reni, but whose authorship is now doubtful; to the +doleful old church Santa Maria dei Capuccini, to see _St. Michael and +the Dragon_ by Guido Reni, in which they were especially interested, +because Hawthorne made it a rendezvous of the four friends in his +"Marble Faun," where so diverse judgments of the picture were +pronounced, each having its foundation in the heart and experience of +the speaker. They had been reading this book in the same way in which +they had read "Romola" in Florence, and each girl was now the happy +possessor of a much-prized copy, interleaved by herself with photographs +of the Roman scenes and works of art mentioned in the book. + +They went to the garden-house of the Rospigliosi Palace to see on its +ceiling Guido Reni's _Aurora_, one of the finest decorative pictures +ever painted. And to the Accademia di San Luca to find the drawing by +Canevari after Van Dyck's portrait of the infant son of Charles I. in +the Turin Gallery, which is so often reproduced under the name of the +_Stuart Baby_. Not many pictures, great or small, escaped their eager +young eyes. They grew familiar with the works of Domenichino, Guercino, +Garofalo, Carlo Dolci, Sassoferrato, etc., and the days of their stay in +Rome rapidly passed by. + +Mrs. Douglas was very desirous to take them for a few days to Naples, or +rather to the environments of Naples. To herself it would be a +pilgrimage of affection; and in those drives, loveliest in the world, +she would recall many precious memories of the past. + +"I hesitated to speak of doing this before," said she, when she +suggested it to her brother, "because I have tried to make the whole +trip comparatively inexpensive, remembering the shortness of the dear +doctor's purse. Now, of course, this needs no consideration." + +So they planned to go there for a short visit; and on their return it +would be time to pack their trunks for Florence, where they were to stop +two or three days before going northward toward Venice. + +A morning ride from Rome to Naples during the early days of May is +idyllic. In the smiling sunshine they rushed on through wide meadows +covered with luxuriant verdure and vineyards flushed with delicate +greens. After they had passed Capua, which is magnificently situated on +a wide plain,--amphitheatre-like within its half-circle of lovely hills, +flanked behind by the Apennines,--Malcom said, as he finally drew in his +head from the open window and, with a very contented look, settled back +into a corner of the compartment, with one arm thrown about his mother's +shoulders:-- + +"It is no wonder that old Hannibal's army grew effeminate after the +soldiers had lived here for some months, and so was easily conquered. +Life could not have had many hardships in such a place as this. + +"I declare!" he added with a laugh as he shook back the wind-blown hair +from his forehead; "it is difficult to realize these days in what +century one is living. My mind has been so full of ancient history +lately that I feel quite like an antique myself." + +"I know," answered his uncle with a smile, "how life widens and +lengthens as thought expands under the influence of travel through +historic scenes. One may study history from books for a lifetime and +never realize it as he would could he, even for an hour, be placed upon +the very spot where some important event took place. What a fact +Hannibal's army of two thousand years ago becomes to us when we know +that these very mountain tops which are before us looked down upon +it,--that its soldiers idled, ate, and slept on this very plain." + +Thus talking, almost before they knew, they came out upon the beautiful +Bay of Naples. They saw the little island of Capri, the larger Ischia +crowned with its volcanic mountains, and, between it and the point of +Posilipo, where once stood Virgil's villa, the tiny island Nisida (old +"Nesis"), whither Brutus fled after the assassination of Julius Caesar; +where Cicero visited him, and where he bade adieu to his wife, Portia, +when he set sail for Greece. + +"Looking out over this same bay, these same islands, Virgil sang of +flocks, of fields, and of heroes," said Mr. Sumner, following the former +line of thought, as he began to take from the racks above the valises +of the party. + +Arrived at their hotel, which was situated in the higher quarters of the +city, they were ensconced in rooms whose balconied windows commanded +magnificent views of the softly radiant city, the bay, and, close at +hand, Mount Vesuvius, over which was hovering the usual cloud of smoke. + +At the close of the afternoon Barbara and Bettina stood long on their +own window-balcony. The scene was fascinating--even more so than they +had dreamed. + +"There is but one Naples, as there is but one Rome and one Florence," +said Barbara softly. "Each city is grandly beautiful in its own +individual way, but for none has nature done so much as for Naples." + +In silence they watched the sunset glow and the oncoming twilight, until +the call for dinner sounded through the halls. + +"I fear to leave it all," said Bettina, turning reluctantly away, "lest +we can never find it again." + +The next three days were crowded to the brim. One was spent in going to +the top of Vesuvius; another in the great Museum, so interesting with +its remains of antique sculptures, so destitute of important paintings; +the third in driving about the city, to San Martino, and around the +point of Posilipo, ending with a visit to Virgil's tomb. + +Then came the Sabbath, and they attended morning service in the +Cathedral,--in the very chapel of San Januarius which is decorated with +pictures by Domenichino, Guido Reni, and Lanfranco, the completion of +which was prevented by the jealousy of the Neapolitan painters. + +The next morning they went to Pompeii, where in the late afternoon +carriages were to meet them for beginning the drive through +Castellammare, Sorrento, and Amalfi to La Cava. + +The absorbing charm of Pompeii, whose resurrection began after nearly +seventeen centuries of burial and is yet only partial, at once seized +them,--all of them,--for, visit the ruined city often as one may, yet +the sight of its worn streets with their high stepping-stones, its +broken pavements, its decorated walls, its shops,--all possess such an +atmosphere of departed life that its fascination is complete, and does +not yield to familiarity. + +After hours of wandering about with their guide, seeing the points of +most interest,--the beautiful houses recently excavated, the homes of +Glaucus, of Pansa, of Sallust, of Orpheus, of Diomedes and very many +others; the forum, temples, and amphitheatre--they sat long amid the +ruins, looking at the fatal mountain, so close at hand, and the +desolation at its foot, and meditated upon the terrors of that fearful +night. + +Malcom read aloud the story as related by Pliny, a volume of whose +letters he had put into his pocket, and Margery recited some lines of a +beautiful sonnet on Pompeii which she had once learned, whose author she +did not remember:-- + + "No chariot wheels invade her stony roads; + Priestless her temples, lone her vast abodes, + Deserted,--forum, palace, everywhere! + Yet are her chambers for the master fit, + Her shops are ready for the oil and wine, + Ploughed are her streets with many a chariot line, + And on her walls to-morrow's play is writ,-- + Of that to-morrow which might never be!" + +The spell was not broken until Mr. Sumner, looking at his watch, +declared it was quite time they should return to the little hotel, take +an afternoon lunch, and so be ready when the carriages should await +them. + +The beauty of the drive from Naples to the Bay of Salerno has been set +forth, by many writers, in prose and song and poem, and remembering +this, Barbara's and Bettina's faces were radiant with expectation as +they started upon it. Malcom and Margery were in the carriage with them; +the atmosphere was perfection; the sun shone with just the right degree +of heat; the waters of the beautiful Bay of Naples were just rippling +beneath the soft breeze, and seventeen miles of incomparable loveliness +lay between them and Sorrento, where they were to spend the night. What +wonder they were happy! + +Just as they were entering the town of Castellammare (the ancient +Stabiae, where the elder Pliny perished) the carriage containing Mrs. +Douglas, Miss Sherman, and Mr. Sumner, which had thus far followed them, +dashed past, and its occupants were greeted with a merry peal of +laughter from the four young voices. + +"How joyous they are!" exclaimed Mrs. Douglas, her own face reflecting +their happiness. "You look envious, Robert." + +Then, turning to Miss Sherman, she added: "I never tire of watching +Barbara and Bettina these days. I believe they are two of the rarest +girls in the world. Nothing has yet spoiled them, and I think nothing +ever will. It has been one of the sweetest things possible to see their +little everyday charities since they have had money in abundance. +Before, they felt that every dollar their parents spared them was a +sacred trust to be used just for their positive needs. Now, their +evident delight in giving to the flower-girls, to the street-gamins, to +the beggars, to everything miserable that offers, is delightful." + +"Do you think Barbara will know how to be wise in the spending of her +money?" asked Miss Sherman, with a constrained smile. + +"As to the wise ways of spending money," answered Mrs. Douglas, stealing +a glance at her brother's imperturbable face opposite, "everybody has +his own individual opinion. I, myself, feel sure of Barbara. Before her +money came, she had received the greater and far more important heritage +of a noble-minded ancestry and a childhood devoted to unselfish living +and the seeking of the highest things. During these eighteen years her +character has been formed, and it is so grounded that the mere +possession of money will not alter it. To my mind it is a happy thing +that Howard's money will be used in such a personal way as I think it +will be." + +"Personal a way?" queried Miss Sherman. + +"I mean personal as distinguished from institutional--you know his first +intention was to endow institutions. For instance, within a week after +Barbara received the lawyer's announcement, she consulted me as to how +she could best make provision for an old lady who has been for years +more or less of a pensioner of her father's family. The dear old woman +with a little aid has supported herself for many years, but lately it +has seemed as if she would have to give up the wee bit of a home she +loves so much and become an inmate of some great Institution, and this +would almost break her heart. Barbara was in haste to put enough money +at her disposal so that a good woman may be hired to come and care for +her so long as she shall live, and to provide for all her wants. Also +she remembered a poor young girl, once her and Betty's schoolmate, who +has always longed for further study, whose one ambition has been to go +to college. This was simply impossible, not even the strictest economy, +even the going without necessities, has gathered together sufficient +money for the expenses of a single year. Before we left Rome, Barbara +arranged for the deposit in the bank at home of enough money to permit +this struggling girl to look forward with certainty to a college course, +and wrote the letter which will bring her so much joy. + +"Dear child!" she continued tenderly, after a pause; "the only bit of +money she has yet spent for herself was to get the spring outfits that +she and Betty have really needed for some time, but for which they did +not like to use their father's money. + +"And I do believe," after another pause, "that the two girls' lives will +be passed as unostentatiously as if the money had not come to them." + +"Why do you speak as if the money had come to both?" asked Miss +Sherman, with a curious inflection of the voice. + +"Did I? I did not realize it. But I will not change my words; for, +unless I mistake much, the money will be Bettina's as much as Barbara's, +and this, because Barbara will have it so." + +The words were hardly spoken by Mrs. Douglas when Mr. Sumner, who was +riding backward and so facing the following carriage, sprang up, crying +in a low, smothered tone of alarm, "Barbara!" + +But Mrs. Douglas had not time to turn before he sank back saying: +"Excuse me. I must have been mistaken. I thought that something was the +matter; that Barbara had been taken ill." + +Then he added, in explanation to his sister: "The carriage was so far +back, as it rounded a curve, permitting me to look into it, that I could +not see very distinctly." + +Miss Sherman bit her lip and rode on in silence. Mr. Sumner's concern +for Barbara seemed painfully evident to her. She had much that was +disagreeable to think of, for it was impossible to avoid contrasting +herself with the picture of Barbara which Mrs. Douglas had drawn. She +thought of the sister at home who so patiently, year after year, had +given up her own cherished desires that she might be gratified; who had +needed, far more than she herself had, the change and rest of this year +abroad, but whom she had forced to return with the father, even though +she knew well it was her own duty to go,--how many such instances of +selfishness had filled her life! + +She felt that she could almost hate this fortunate Barbara, +who so easily was gaining all the things she herself +coveted,--admiration,--wealth,--love? no, not if she could help it! and +she forced herself to smile, to praise the same qualities of heart that +Mrs. Douglas had admired; to talk pityingly of the miserable ones of +earth; adoringly of self-sacrificing, heroic deeds, and sympathizingly +of noble endeavor. + + * * * * * + +What had been the matter in the other carriage? After the burst of +gayety with which the three girls and Malcom had greeted the swifter +equipage as it rolled past theirs, nothing was said for some time, until +Malcom suddenly burst out with the expression of what had evidently been +the subject of his thought:-- + +"Girls, do you think that Uncle Robert is falling in love with Miss +Sherman?" + +The question fell like a bombshell into the little group. Margery first +found a voice, but it was a most awed, repressed one:-- + +"Why, Malcom! _could_ he ever love anybody again? You know--oh! what +could make you think of such a thing? It is not like you to make light +of Uncle Robert's feelings." + +"I am not doing so, Madge dear. Men can love twice. It would not hurt +Margaret should he learn to love some one else. And it would be ever so +much better for him. Uncle's life seems very lonely to me. Now he is +busy with us; but just think of the long years when he is living and +working over here all alone. Still, I am sure I would not choose Miss +Sherman for him. Yet I am not certain but it looks some like it. What do +you think, Betty?" + +"I--don't--know--what--I--do--think,--Malcom. You know how much I love +and admire your uncle. I do not think there are many women good enough +to be his wife." + +Bettina thought, but did not say, that she could not love and admire +Miss Sherman, who had made it quite evident to Barbara and herself that +she cared nothing for them, save as they were under the care of Mrs. +Douglas; who had never given them any companionship, or, at least, never +had until during the past week or two, after she had learned that +Barbara was Howard's heiress. + +Barbara drew her breath quickly and sharply. Could such a thing as this +be? was this to come? In her mind, Mr. Sumner was consecrated to the +dead Margaret, about whom she had thought so much,--the picture of +whose lovely face she had so often studied,--whose character she had +adorned with all possible graces! She listened, as in a dream, to +Bettina and Malcom. He _should_ not love any one else; or, if he +could--poor Barbara's heart was ruthlessly torn open and revealed unto +her consciousness. She felt that the others must read the tale in her +confused face. + +Confused? No, Barbara, it was pale and still, as if a mortal wound had +been given. + +Her head reeled, the world grew dark, and it was silence until she heard +Bettina saying frantically:-- + +"Bab, dear! are you faint? Oh! what is it?" + +With an almost superhuman effort Barbara drew herself up and smiled +bravely, with white lips:-- + +"It is nothing--only a moment's dizziness. It is all over now." + +This was what Mr. Sumner saw when he sprang up in alarm, and then in a +moment said: "Everything seems all right now." + +But poor Barbara thought nothing could ever be right again. And when +their carriage drew up in the spacious courtyard of their hotel at +Sorrento, and Mr. Sumner, with an unusually bright and eager face, stood +waiting to help her alight, it was a frozen little hand that was put +into his, and he could not win a single glance from the eyes he loved +to watch, and from which he was impatient to learn if it were indeed +well with the owner. + +To this day Barbara shudders at the thought or mention of the next four +or five days. And they were such rare days for enjoyment, could she have +forgotten her own heart:--across the blue waters to Capri, with a visit +by the way to the famous Blue Grotto; a whole day in that lovely town, +walking about its winding, climbing streets; the long drive from +Sorrento to quaint Prajano, with, on one hand, towering, rugged +limestone cliffs, to whose rough sides, every here and there, clings an +Italian village, and, on the other, the smiling, wide-spreading +Mediterranean; the little rowboat ride to Amalfi; the day full of +interest spent there; and then the drive close beside the sea toward +Palermo, terminated by a sharp turn toward the blue mountains among +which nestles La Cava; the railway ride back to Naples. + +She struggled bravely to be her old self,--to hide everything from all +eyes. But she felt so wofully humiliated, for she now knew for the first +time that she loved Robert Sumner; loved him so that it was positive +agony to think that he might love another,--so that it was almost a pain +to remember that he had ever loved. What would he think should he +suspect the truth! And she was so fearful that her eyes might give a +hint of it that, try in as many ways as he could, Mr. Sumner could +never get a good look into them during these days. The kinder he was, +and the more zealously he endeavored to add to her comfort and +happiness, the more wretched she grew. She longed to get away from +everybody, even from Betty, lest her secret might become apparent to the +keen sisterly affection that knew her so intimately. She began to feel a +fierce longing for home and for father and mother; and the months which +must necessarily elapse before she could be there stretched drearily +before her. + +Robert Sumner was perplexed and distressed. He had just begun to enjoy a +certain happiness. The struggle within himself was over, and he was +beginning to give himself up to the delight of thinking freely of +Barbara; of loving her; of feeling a sort of possession of her, though +he did not yet dream of such a thing as ever being to her more than he +now was,--a valued friend. There were so many years, and an experience +of life that counted far more than years, between them! + +He had listened to his sister's conversation with Miss Sherman on the +way from Pompeii to Sorrento with an exultation which it would have been +difficult for him to account for. He gloried in the sweet unselfishness, +the simple goodness of the young girl. "My little Barbara," his heart +sang; and full of this emotion when they reached Sorrento, he allowed +the two ladies to go alone into the hotel, while he waited impatiently +to look into Barbara's face and to feel the touch of her hand. + +But what a change! What could have wrought it? Before this, she had +always met his look with such frank sympathy! As the days passed on +without change, and his eyes, more than any others, noticed the struggle +to conceal her unhappiness, the mystery deepened. + + + + +Chapter XVII. + +Robert Sumner is Imprudent. + + _Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well-- + When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us, + There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them how we will._ + + --SHAKESPEARE. + +[Illustration: CAMPO SANTO, BOLOGNA.] + + +Early one morning very soon after the return to Rome, Bettina, with a +troubled face, knocked at Mrs. Douglas's door. + +"Barbara is ill," said she. "I knew in the night that she was very +restless, but not until just now did I see that she is really ill." + +"What seems to be the matter?" + +"I think she must be very feverish." + +"Feverish?" repeated Mrs. Douglas, with a startled look, as she hastily +prepared to accompany Betty back to her room. In a few minutes she +sought her brother, her face full of anxiety. + +"Robert, I fear Barbara has the fever. Her temperature must be high; her +face is greatly flushed, and her eyes dull, and she says her whole body +is full of pain." + +"We must take her away at once out of the atmosphere of Rome," +exclaimed Mr. Sumner, with decision. + +"But she feels so wretchedly ill." + +"Never mind that. If she can only endure the fatigue for a few hours, we +may save her weeks of suffering and possible danger," and his voice +faltered. + +"Remember, sister," he continued, "that I am at home here in this +climate, and trust me. Or, better still, I will at once consult Dr. +Yonge, and I know you will trust him. And, sister, get everything ready +so that we--Barbara, you, and I--may take the very first train for +Orvieto. That will take her in two hours into a high and pure +atmosphere. The others can follow as soon as possible." + +Quickly the plans were made. Malcom, Margery, and Bettina were to be +left to complete the packing of trunks. Dr. Yonge agreed fully with Mr. +Sumner, and on the nine o'clock train northward Mrs. Douglas, Barbara, +and Mr. Sumner left Rome. + +Miss Sherman, quite upset by the rapid movement of affairs, decided to +remain a little longer in Rome with friends whom she had met there, and +join the others later in Venice. + +It was a severe trial to poor Bettina to see her darling sister thus +almost literally borne away from her. But she tried to put faith in Mr. +Sumner's assurances, and bravely resisted the anxious longing to go with +her. She immediately gave herself up to the work of finishing the +packing of their own trunks and of helping Margery all she could. + +Mr. Sumner had commissioned Malcom to go up to his studio and gather +into boxes all his canvases and painting materials; and soon all three +were working as fast as they could, with the design of following the +others the next morning. + +Presently Malcom appeared at Bettina's door with the request that she +should go up to the studio when she could leave her work for a minute. + +"Come alone--by yourself," he added in a low voice. + +Wondering a little at the singular request and the peculiar expression +of Malcom's face, Bettina soon followed him. + +Entering the studio, she found him attentively regarding a small canvas +which he had placed on an easel, and took her place beside him that she +might look at it also. + +"How lovely!" she cried, and then a puzzled look came into her eyes. + +"Why, it is Barbara! It is _like_ Barbara," she added. + +"And what do you think of this--and this--and this?" asked Malcom, +rapidly turning from the wall study after study. + +After a few moments of silence, she said solemnly: "They're all Barbara. +Here she is thinking earnestly; here she is throwing her head proudly +back, as she so often does; and here she is merry and smiling in her own +adorable way. O you darling Barbara!" with a pathetic little catch of +the breath; "how are you feeling just this minute?" and Bettina sank +upon the floor beside the pictures, looking as if she longed to hug them +all. + +"But what does it mean?" persisted Malcom. + +"What do _you_ mean?" springing up with a quick look into his eyes. +"You--foolish--boy!" as an inkling of Malcom's meaning crept into her +mind. + +"What does it mean, Betty Burnett, that my uncle has had nothing better +to do when he has so zealously labored up here, than to paint your +sister's face in every conceivable way?" slowly and impressively asked +Malcom, as he put still another tell-tale sketch over that on the easel. + +"You do not really mean!--it can't be!--Oh!" uttered Bettina in diverse +tones and inflections as she rapidly recalled, one after another, +certain incidents. + +Then there was silence in Robert Sumner's studio between these two +discoverers of his long-cherished secret. + +"Malcom," at length whispered Bettina, "we must never breathe one word +about what we have found here. You must not tell Margery or your mother. +Promise me that it shall be a solemn secret between you and me." + +"I promise, Lady Betty. Your behest shall be sacredly regarded," replied +Malcom with mock gravity. "But," after a little, "shall you tell +Barbara?" + +"Tell Barbara? No! no! How could I tell her! Malcom, don't you know that +it is only by a chance that we have found these pictures? That, whatever +they may mean is absolutely sacred to your uncle? Perhaps they mean +nothing--nothing save that he, from an artist's stand-point, admires my +sister's face. Indeed, the more I think of it, the more I am inclined to +believe that is all," she persisted, as she saw Malcom's expressive +shrug and the comical look in his eyes as he moved them slowly along the +half-dozen sketches that were now standing in a row. + +"And I shall think no more about it," she added, "and advise you to do +the same." + +Bettina, who was usually so gentle, could be prettily imperious when +she chose. And now, wrought up by Malcom's reference to Barbara and her +own fast crowding thoughts, her voice took on this tone, and she turned +with high head to leave the studio. + +"Betty! Betty!" pleaded Malcom, running after her. "Why, Betty!" and the +surprised, pained tone of his voice instantly stopped her on the +staircase. + +"I do not mean anything disagreeable, Malcom," she conceded, "only I +could not bear to have anything said about Barbara or to Barbara, that +might in any way disturb her. That is all,--forgive me, Malcom." And the +two friends clasped hands. + +Malcom went back into the studio, his pursed lips emitting a low, +meditative whistle, while Bettina hurried downstairs, her mind beset +with conjectures. + +It was not Mr. Sumner of whom she was thinking, but her sister. A veil +seemed to withdraw before her consciousness, and to reveal the possible +meaning of much that had perplexed her during the past months. For if +Mr. Sumner had really been learning to love Barbara, might it not also +be that Barbara cared more for him than Bettina had been wont to think? + +Her thoughts went back to many of their first conversations after +coming to Florence; to Barbara's intense absorption in Mr. Sumner's +talks about the old painters; to her unwearied study of them; to her +evident sympathy with him on all occasions. + +Then, in a flash she remembered her faintness in the carriage on the +drive to Sorrento and connected it, as she had never before dreamed of +doing, with the conversation then going on; and recalled all those days +since when she had been so different from the old-time Barbara. + +And poor Bettina sat, a disconsolate little figure, before her +half-filled trunk, just ready to cry with sheer vexation at her +blindness. Then, the thought came that if Mr. Sumner did really love +Barbara all would be well. But, alas! the doubt followed whether, after +all, the pictures meant anything more than the artist's love for a +beautiful face, and his desire to render it on his canvas. She grew more +and more miserable in her sympathy for her sister, and at her enforced +separation from her, and the hours of that day, though of necessity busy +ones, seemed almost interminable. + +The following noon found them together again. + +Bettina entered her sister's room, which opened full upon the +rose-garden they had enjoyed before,--now filled with blossoms and +fragrance,--to find Barbara sitting in a big easy-chair, with a tray +before her, on which were spread toast and tea, flanked by a dainty +flask of Orvieto wine, while the same wrinkled old chambermaid who had +served them two and a half months ago stood, with beaming face, watching +her efforts to eat. + +Barbara's eyes were brighter, the flush gone from her face, and she said +she did not feel like the same girl who had been half carried away from +the hotel in Rome the morning before. So much improved did she seem that +the present plan was to take a late afternoon train for Florence, for +Mr. Sumner said the sooner they could get farther north, the better it +would be. This was carried out, and night found them back in the dear +Florence home, there to spend a few days. + +The city was very lovely in its May foliage and blossoms,--too lovely to +leave so soon, they all averred. But it must be, and after having taken +again their favorite drives, and having given another look at their +favorite pictures, with an especial interest in those by the Venetian +masters whom they would study more fully in Venice, they turned their +faces northward. + +The journey at first took them through rich Tuscan plains, and later +through wild, picturesque ravines of the Apennines. Higher and higher +the railway climbed, threading numberless tunnels, and affording +magnificent views as it emerged into opening after opening, until +finally it passed under the height that divides the watershed of the +Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, and entered the narrow and romantic valley +of the Reno. Not long after they were in the ancient city of Bologna. +After a few minutes in their several rooms, all gathered in the loggia +of their hotel, which commanded a grand survey of the city. + +"How fine this air is after our long, dusty ride!" exclaimed Margery, +tossing back her curls to catch the breeze. + +"I did not expect to find Bologna so curiously beautiful," said Bettina, +after she had seen that Barbara was comfortable in the big chair Malcom +had wheeled out for her--for she was still languid from her recent +illness, and tired easily. + +"Please tell us something about it, uncle," said Malcom. "I am afraid I +have not looked it up very thoroughly." + +So Mr. Sumner told them many interesting things about the old city,--and +how it had figured largely in Italian history from the Punic wars soon +after Christ, down to the middle of the present century, when it finally +became a part of United Italy. + +"What about the university?" queried Malcom again. + +"It has had a grand reputation for about fourteen centuries, and thus +is among the most ancient existing seats of learning in Christendom. +During the Middle Ages students came to it from all parts of northern +Europe." + +Bettina laughed. "I read a curious thing about it in my guide-book," +said she. "That it has had several women professors; and one who was +very beautiful always sat behind a curtain while she delivered her +lectures. This was in the fourteenth century, I believe." + +"A wise precaution," exclaimed Malcom, with a quizzical look. "Even I +sometimes forget what a pretty woman is saying, because my thoughts are +wandering from the subject to her face. And the men of those times could +not have had the constant experience we of this century in America +have." + +"Don't be silly," smiled Bettina; and Mrs. Douglas, slipping her hand +through Malcom's arm, asked: "Do you see those towers?" + +"Yes; and uncle, I remember you spoke of the leaning towers of Bologna +when we were at Pisa; what about them?" + +"I think I simply said that since I had seen these towers, I have +believed that the one at Pisa had been intentionally built in the way it +now stands. My reason is that in all probability one of these was +purposely so built." + +"Which was erected first?" + +"This, about two hundred and fifty years." + +"Let us go and see them at once!" exclaimed Malcom. "There is time to +give a good long look at the city before dinner." + +"That is a good plan," said his mother, "and we will not go to the +picture-gallery until to-morrow morning. Then Barbara will be fresh, and +can enjoy it with the rest of us." + +Mr. Sumner turned solicitously toward Barbara, with a movement as if to +go to her, but her hastily averted eyes checked him, and with an inward +sigh, he went to order carriages for the proposed drive. He had grown to +believe during the past week or two that Barbara had divined his love +for her, and that the knowledge was very painful. + +"I must have thoughtlessly disclosed it," said he to himself. "It has +become so much a part of my every thought. The best thing I can do now +is to convince her that it shall never cause her the slightest +annoyance; that it shall not change the frankly affectionate relations +that have heretofore existed between us. She is so young she will forget +it as she grows stronger, or perhaps I can make her feel that she has +mistaken me. Then she will be my little friend again." + +The drive was thoroughly delightful. Bologna possesses many individual +characteristics. The very narrow streets, the lofty arcades that stretch +along on either side of them, the many venerable churches and palaces, +the quaintly picturesque towers, kept them exclaiming with pleasure. + +"Can we not walk to the Academy?" asked Margery, the next morning. "I do +so wish to walk through some of these dear arcades." + +So Barbara drove with Mrs. Douglas, and the others walked right through +the heart of the old city, whose streets have echoed to the footfalls of +countless and diverse people through a number of centuries that sounds +appalling to American ears. + +Arrived at the picture-gallery, Mr. Sumner told them that though not of +very great importance when compared with many which they had visited, it +yet is very interesting on account of its collection of the works of the +most noted seventeenth-century Italian painters; especially those +belonging to the Bolognese-eclectic school, which was founded by the +Carracci. + +"Nowhere else can these men, the Carracci, be studied as here in +Bologna, where they founded their art-school just at the close of the +sixteenth century. There are also some very good examples of the work of +Domenichino, Guido Reni, Albani, and other famous pupils of the +Carracci. You saw fine frescoes by Domenichino and Guido Reni in Rome +and Naples, and I am sure you remember perfectly Domenichino's +_Communion of St. Jerome_ in the Vatican Gallery. + +"Perhaps," he continued, with an inquiring look, "you know the principle +on which this school of painting was founded, and which gave it its +name." + +Bettina answered: "I think they tried to select the best pictures from +all other schools and embody them in their own pictures. I do not +think," she added, with something of a deprecatory look, "that it can be +called a very original style." + +"Few styles of painting after the earliest masters can be called +original, can they?" replied Mr. Sumner, with a smile. "One great lack +of the human race is a spirit of originality. We all go to those who +have thought and wrought before us, and hash and rehash their material. +But few tell what they are doing so plainly as did the Carracci. The one +great want in their painting is that of any definite end or aim." + +"Whom do you call the greatest painters of the school, uncle?" asked +Malcom, as they entered a large hall opening from the corridor in which +they had been standing. + +"Guido Reni and Domenichino merit that honor, I think. Domenichino died +young, but painted some excellent pictures, notably the _St. Jerome_. +Guido Reni lived long enough to outlive his good painting, but among +his early works are some that may really be called the masterpieces of +this school; such as the _Aurora_ and the _St. Michael_ which you saw in +Rome." + +"What do you mean by his outliving his good painting?" asked Margery. + +"He grew most careless in his ways of living,--was dissipated we should +call it,--squandered his money, and finally, in order to gain the +wherewithal for daily life, used to paint by order of those who stood +waiting to take his pictures with paint still wet, lest the artist +should cheat them. To this we owe the great number of his worthless +Madonna and Magdalen heads that have found their way into the +galleries." + +"How perfectly dreadful," chorused all. + +"I am afraid we shall never see one of his pictures without thinking of +this," said Bettina; "shall we, Barbara?" and she turned to her sister, +who had been silent hitherto, as if longing to hear her talk. + +"Try to forget it now as you look at these paintings, for this room +contains many of his," continued Mr. Sumner, after waiting a moment as +if to hear Barbara's answer, "and they are examples of his early work, +and so stronger than many others. Notice the powerful action of this +_Samson_ and the St. John in that _Crucifixion_. + +"Here are good examples of the work of the three Carracci," continued +he, as after a time they entered the adjoining hall. + +"But what does this mean?" cried Malcom, in an astonished voice, pausing +before a large picture, the _Communion of St. Jerome_, which bore the +name, Agostino Carracci. "How like it is to Domenichino's great picture +in the Vatican! Do you suppose Domenichino borrowed so much from his +master?" + +"I fear so. Yet his picture is infinitely superior to this. And, look, +here is Domenichino's _Death of St. Peter, Martyr_, which was borrowed +largely from Titian's famous picture of the same subject, which has +unfortunately been destroyed." + +"But don't you call that a species of plagiarism?" queried Malcom. + +"Undoubtedly it is. I must confess I am always sorry for Domenichino +when I come into this hall. But we will pass on to better things. I wish +you to study particularly these pictures by Francia," said he, as they +entered a third hall.--"Yes, Betty, you are excusable. You all may look +first at Raphael's _St. Cecilia_, for here it is." + +All gathered about the beautiful, famous picture. + +"How much larger than I have ever thought!" said Margery. "For what was +it painted, uncle?" + +"As an altar-piece for one of the oldest churches in Bologna. Do you +recollect the story about Raphael's writing to Francia to oversee its +proper and safe placing?" + +"Oh, I do!" exclaimed Barbara, as Margery shook her head. "It was said +that Francia never painted again, so overcome was he by the surpassing +loveliness of Raphael's picture, and that he died from the effect of +this feeling,--but," she went on impetuously, "I do not believe it; for +see there!" pointing to Francia's _Madonna with Sts. John and Jerome_, +"do you think that the artist who painted this picture is so very far +behind even Raphael as to die of vexation at the difference between +them?" + +Barbara was so carried away by the picture that she had forgotten +herself entirely, and spoke with her old-time frank eagerness, thereby +thoroughly delighting Bettina and Mr. Sumner. + +"I am glad you feel so," said the latter, very quietly, and with a +strictly impersonal manner. "Francia, who belonged to the old Bolognese +masters of the sixteenth century, was one of the most devout of +painters, and everybody who studies his work must love it. See how pure +and sweet are his expressions! How simple his composition! What harmony +is in his coloring! How beyond those who painted after him!" + +[Illustration: RAPHAEL. ACADEMY, BOLOGNA. + +SAINT CECILIA.] + +They tarried long before Francia's paintings and the _St. Cecilia_. Mr. +Sumner told them to note the more subtle _motif_ of Raphael's picture; +the superior grace of the figures, their careful distribution, and the +fine scheme of color; the sympathetic look in St. John's face; the +grandly meditative St. Paul. + +"I have a theory of my own about the meaning of this picture," said +Bettina. "I thought it out one day when I was studying the photograph. I +know it is always said, in descriptions of it, that all are listening to +the music of the angels, but I do not think any of them save St. Cecilia +hear the music of the angelic choir. She hears it, because she has so +longed for it,--so striven to produce the highest music on earth. But +the others are only moved by their sympathy with her. See the wistful +look on St. John's face, and St. Augustine's also. And St. Paul is lost +in wondering thought at St. Cecilia's emotion. And Mary Magdalene is +asking us to look at her and try to understand her rapt upward look." + +"I do not know," said Mr. Sumner, with a soft look in his eyes, "why you +should not have your own private interpretation of the picture, dear +'Lady Betty';" and he smiled at Malcom as he used the latter's favorite +appellation for Bettina. + + + + +Chapter XVIII. + +In Venice. + + _From the land we went + As to a floating city--steering in, + And gliding up her streets as in a dream + By many a pile in more than eastern pride, + Of old the residence of merchant-kings: + The fronts of some, tho' time had shattered them, + Still gleaming with the richest hues of art, + As though the wealth within them had run o'er._ + + --ROGERS. + +[Illustration: SAN MARCO, VENICE.] + + +Just after sunset the following evening they approached Venice. The long +black train glided along above a sea flushed with purple and crimson and +gold. Like a mirage the fair city--Longfellow's "white water-lily, +cradled and caressed"--arose, lifting her spires--those "filaments of +gold"--above the waters. + +"Can it be real?" murmured Bettina. "It seems as if all must fade away +before we reach it." + +But in a few minutes the _facchini_ seized their hand-luggage, and they +alighted as at any commonplace railway-station. But oh! the revelation +when they went out upon the platform, up to which, not carriages, but +gondolas were drawn, and from which stretched, not a dusty pavement, but +the same gold and crimson and purple of sky reflected in the waters at +their feet. + +"Is it true that we are mortal beings still on the earth, and that we +are seeking merely a hotel?" exclaimed Malcom, as they floated on +between two skies to the music of lapping oars. "Madge, you ought to +have some poetry to fit this." + +"I know enough verses about Venice," replied Margery, whose eyes were +dancing with joyous excitement, and who was trailing her little hot hand +through the cool water, "but nothing fits. Nothing can fit; for who +could ever put into words the beauty of all this?" + +By and by they left the Grand Canal, passed through narrower ones, with +such high walls on either side that twilight rapidly succeeded the +sunset glow; floated beneath the Bridge of Sighs, and were at the steps +of their hotel. + +The next few days were devoted wholly to drinking in the spirit of +Venice. Mr. Sumner hired gondolas which should be at the service of his +party during the month they were to spend there, and morning, noon, and +night found them revelling in this delight. They went to San Marco in +early morning and late afternoon; fed the pigeons in the Piazza; ate +ice-cream under its Colonnade; went to the Lido, and floated along the +Grand Canal beside the music and beneath the moonlight for hours at +night, and longed to be there until the morning. + +Barbara grew stronger, the color returned to her cheeks, and though she +often felt unhappy, she was better able to conceal it. She began to hope +that her secret was safe; that it would never be discovered by any one; +that Mr. Sumner would never dream of it. If only that dreadful +suggestion of Malcom's might be wholly without foundation; and perhaps, +after all, it was. She thought she would surely know when Lucile Sherman +should come to Venice, as she would do soon. + +At length Mr. Sumner suggested that they begin to study Venetian +painting, and that, for it, they should first visit the Accademia delle +Belle Arti. He advised them to read what they could about early Venetian +painting. + +"You will find," he said, "that the one strongest characteristic of all +the painting that has emanated from Venice is beauty and strength of +color, the keynote of which seems to have been struck in the first +mosaic decorations of San Marco, more than eight centuries ago. And how +could it be otherwise in a city so flooded with radiance of color and +light!" + +"I have brought you here," said he one morning, as they left their +gondolas at the steps of the Academy, "for the special study of +Carpaccio's and the Bellinis' works. + +"But," he added, as they entered the building and stepped into the +first room, "I would like you to stop for a few minutes and look at +these quaint pictures by the Vivarini, Basaiti, Bissolo, and others of +the early Venetian painters. Here you will notice the first +characteristics of the school. This academy is particularly interesting +to students of Venetian art, because it contains few other than Venetian +paintings." + +Passing on, they soon reached a hall whose walls were lined with large +pictures. Here Mr. Sumner paused, saying:-- + +"We find in this room quite a number of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio. +Here is his most noted series, illustrating scenes in the legendary life +of St. Ursula, the maiden princess of Brittany, who, with her eleven +thousand companions, visited the holy shrines of the old world; and on +their return all were martyred just outside the city of Cologne. You +have read the story, I know. Look first at the general scheme of +composition and color before going near enough to study details. +Carpaccio had felt the flood of Venetian color, and here we see the +beginnings of that wonderful richness found in works by the later +Venetian masters. He was a born story-teller, and delighted especially +in tales of a legendary, poetic character. His works possess a peculiar +fascinating quaintness. The formal composition, by means of which we see +several scenes crowded into one picture; the singular perspective +effects; the figures with earnest faces beneath such heavy blond +tresses, and with their too short bodies, enable us easily to recognize +his pictures." + +"I think I shall choose St. Ursula to be my patron saint," said Margery, +thoughtfully, after they had turned from the purely artistic study of +the pictures to their sentiment. "I have read somewhere that she is the +especial patroness of young girls, as well as of those who teach young +girls,--so she can rightfully belong to me, you see." + +"What do you think she will do for you?" asked Malcom, with a quizzical +smile. + +"Oh! I don't know. Perhaps if I think enough about her life I shall be a +better girl," and the blue eyes grew very earnest. + +"That is wholly unnecessary, Madge _mia_," tenderly replied her brother. + +"I will tell you a singular thing that I read not long ago," said +Bettina, going over to Margery, who was standing close in front of that +sweet sleeping face of St. Ursula in one of the pictures. "It was in the +life of Mr. Ruskin. His biographer says that Mr. Ruskin is wonderfully +fond of the legend of St. Ursula; that he has often come from England to +Venice just to look again on these pictures by old Carpaccio; that he +has thought so much about her character that he really is influenced +greatly by it. And he goes on to say that some person who has perhaps +received a calm, kind letter from Mr. Ruskin instead of the curt, +brusque, or impatient one that he had looked for, on account of the +irascible nature of the writer, would be altogether surprised could he +know that the reason of the unexpected quietness was that Mr. Ruskin had +stopped to ask himself, 'What would St. Ursula say? What would St. +Ursula do?'" + +"I think that is a pretty story about Mr. Ruskin, don't you?" she added, +turning to Malcom and the others. + +"It is a pretty enough story," replied Malcom. "But I confess I do not +wish Madge always to stop and ask the mind of this leader of the 'eleven +thousand virgins.' Only consult your own dear self, my sister. You are +good enough as you are." + +"I think it is the feminine quality in St. Ursula's ways of thought and +action that appeals so strongly to Mr. Ruskin's rugged nature," replied +Mr. Sumner, in answer to a rather appealing glance from Margery's eyes. +"The tale of a gentle life influences for good a somewhat embittered, +but grandly noble man. As to our little Madge," with a smile that drew +her at once close to him, "the best influence she can gain from the old +legend will grow out of the unwavering purpose of the saint, and her +inflexibility of action when once the motive was felt to be a noble one. +Her needs are not the same as are Mr. Ruskin's." + +Margery slipped her hand into that of the uncle who so well understood +her, and gave it a tender little squeeze. As Mr. Sumner turned quickly +to call attention to one or two other pictures, with different subjects, +by Carpaccio, he caught for an instant the old-time sympathetic look in +Barbara's eyes, which gladdened his heart, and gave a new ring to his +voice. + +"Here are two or three historical pictures by Carpaccio and Gentile +Bellini that put ancient Venice before our eyes, and, on this account, +are most interesting. Their color is fine, but in all other art +qualities they are weak." + +"I must tell you," he went on, "about the Bellini brothers, Gentile and +Giovanni. Their father, who was also an artist, came from Padua to +Venice in the early part of the fifteenth century, bringing his two +young sons, both of whom grew to be greater painters than the father. +They opened a school, and Giorgione and Titian, who, you well know, are +two supreme names in Venetian painting, were among their pupils. The +Bellini paintings are the natural precursors of the glory of Venetian +art. Even in these historical paintings by Gentile Bellini we feel the +palpitating sunshine which floods and vivifies the rich colors of +palaces and costumes. You can readily see the difference between his +work and that of Carpaccio. While Carpaccio has treated the historic +scene in a poetic way, with quaint formality, Bellini's picture is full +of truth and detail. + +"But," he continued, "Gentile Bellini's work, as art, fades in +importance before that of his brother, Giovanni, who gave himself almost +wholly to religious painting. If you will try to shut your eyes for a +few minutes to the other pictures about you, I would like to take you +immediately to one of this artist's Madonna pictures. + +"And, by the way," he interpolated, as they walked straight on through +several rooms, "I am delighted to see that you have learned to go into a +gallery for the express study of a few pictures, and can refuse to allow +your attention to be distracted by any others, however alluring. I am +sure this is the only way in which really to study. Go as often or as +seldom as you choose or can, but always go with a definite purpose, and +do not be distracted by the effort to see the works of many artists at a +single visit; least of all, by the endeavor to look at all there are +about you. For him who does this, I predict an inevitable and incurable +art-dyspepsia. The reason of my express caution now is that I am taking +you into the most attractive room of the gallery, and wish you to see +nothing but one picture. + +"Here it is!" and they paused before a large altar-piece. "You at once +feel the unique character of the Madonna; the stateliness of the +composition, the exquisite harmony and strength of the color.--What is +it, Betty?" + +"I was only whispering to Barbara that these lovely angels, with musical +instruments, who are sitting on the steps of the throne are those that +we have seen so often in Boston art-shops." + +"And they are indeed lovely!" replied Mr. Sumner. "I will allow you to +look at another picture in this room which I had forgotten as we came +hither--for it is by Carpaccio--turn, and look! this _Presentation in +the Temple_! See those musical angels also, sitting on the steps of the +Madonna's throne! I am sure the middle one is familiar to you all, for +it is continually reproduced, and a great favorite. Of what other +painter do these angels remind you?" + +"Of Fra Bartolommeo," quickly replied two or three voices. + +"And I am sure," continued Mr. Sumner, "that Fra Bartolommeo never +painted them until after he had visited Venice, and had learned from the +study of these Venetian masters how great an aid to composition and +what beautiful features in a picture they are. And Raphael never painted +them until he had seen Fra Bartolommeo's work. + +"But now look at Bellini's _Madonna_" as he turned again to the picture, +"for she is as individual as Botticelli's, and is as easily +recognizable. Note her stately pride of beauty, produced chiefly by the +way in which her neck rises from her shoulders, and in which her head is +poised upon it. Everything else, however, is in perfect keeping--from +the general attitude and lifted hand to the half-drooping eyelids. Of +what is she so proud? She is holding her Child that the world may +worship Him. Of herself she has no thought. Botticelli's Madonna is +brooding over the sorrows of herself and Son: Bellini's is lost in the +noble pride that He has come to save man. The color of the picture is +wondrously beautiful. + +"Please note in your little books this artist's _Madonnas_ in San +Zaccaria and Church of the Frari, and go to see them to-morrow morning +if you can; they are his masterpieces. I will not talk any more now. If +you wish to stay here longer, it will be well to go back and look at the +very earliest pictures again, or others that you will find by Carpaccio +and the Bellini brothers." + +Not long after, they got together one evening to talk about Titian and +Giorgione. They had seen, of course, their pictures in the Florentine +galleries, and Titian's _Sacred and Profane Love_ in the Borghese +Gallery, Rome; and were familiar with the rich color and superb Venetian +figures and faces. + +"What a pity that Giorgione died so young!" exclaimed Margery. + +"Yes," replied her uncle. "He would doubtless have given to the world +many pictures fully equal to Titian's. Indeed, to me, he seems to have +been gifted with even a superior quality of refinement. We may see it in +the contrast between his _Venus_ in the Dresden Gallery, whose +photograph you know, and Titian's two _Venuses_ in the Uffizi, which you +studied so carefully when in Florence. But there are very few examples +of Giorgione's paintings in existence, and critics are still quarrelling +over almost all that are attributed to him. Probably the most popular +are the Dresden _Venus_, which has only recently been rescued from +Titian and given to its rightful author, and the _Concert_, which you +remember in the Pitti Gallery, Florence, about which there is +considerable dispute, some critics thinking it an early work by Titian." + +"Why did the artists not sign their pictures?" rather impatiently +interrupted Malcom. + +"Even a signature does not always settle questions," replied his uncle, +"for it is by no means an unknown occurrence for a gallery itself to +christen some doubtful picture. But to go on:-- + +"In Venice there is but one painting by Giorgione which is undoubtedly +authentic. I will take you to the Giovanelli Palace, where it is. It is +called _Family of Giorgione_. He was fond of introducing three figures +into his compositions,--you remember the Pitti _Concert_,--there are +also three in this Giovanelli picture--a gypsy woman, a child, and a +warrior. The landscape setting is exceedingly beautiful, and the whole +glows with Giorgione's own color. + +"About Titian," continued he, "you have read, and can easily read so +much that I shall not talk long. His whole story is like a romance; his +success and fame boundless; his pictures scattered among all important +galleries." + +"Has Venice a great many?" queried Malcom. + +"No, Venice possesses comparatively few; and, strangely enough, these +are not most characteristic of the painter. His name, you know, is +almost indissolubly connected with noble portraits, magnificent +mythological representations, and those ideal pictures of beautiful +women of which he painted so many, and which wrought such a revolution +in the character of succeeding art. Hardly any of these, though so +entirely in keeping with the brilliant city, are in Venice to-day; we +must go elsewhere, to Madrid, to Paris, Florence, Rome, Dresden, and +Berlin to find them. One mythological picture only, _Venus and Adonis_, +is in the Academy, and one portrait of a Doge, doubtfully ascribed to +Titian, is in the Ducal Palace." + +"Then what pictures are here?" asked Bettina, as Mr. Sumner paused. + +"His greatest religious paintings, those gorgeous church pictures, most +of which were painted in his youth, are here." + +"May I interrupt a moment," queried Barbara, "to ask what you meant when +you said that some of Titian's pictures wrought a revolution in art?" + +"This is a good time in which to explain my meaning. Titian's nature was +not devout. You will see it in every one of these religious paintings +you are about to study. The subjects seem only pretexts, or foundations, +for the gorgeous display of a rare artistic ability. To paint beauty for +beauty's sake only, in form, features, costumes, and accessories was +Titian's native sphere, and gloriously did he fill it. In these church +pictures, the Madonna and Child are almost always entirely secondary in +interest. In many, the family of the donor, with their aristocratic +faces and magnificent costumes, and the saints with waving banners, are +far more important. A fine example of this is the _Madonna of the +Pesaro family_ in the Church of the Frari. With such a _motif_ +underlying his work, the great painter fell easily into the habit of +portraying ideal figures, especially of women,--'fancy female figures,' +one writer has termed them,--whose sole merit lies in the superb +rendering of rosy flesh, heavy tresses of auburn hair, lovely eyes, and +rich garments. Such are his _Flora_, _Venuses_, _Titian's Daughter_--of +which there are several examples--_Magdalens_, etc.; together with many +so called portraits, such as his _La Donna Bella_ in the Pitti, +Florence. + +"Titian could paint such pictures so free from coarseness, so +magnificent in all art qualities, that the world was delighted with +them. After him, however, the lowered aim had its influence; poorer +artists tried to follow in his footsteps, and the world of art soon +became flooded with mediocre examples of these meaningless pictures. All +this hastened rapidly the decay of Italian art. + +"But you must remember," Mr. Sumner hastened to say, as he watched the +faces about him, "that I am giving you my own personal thoughts. To me, +the purity of sentiment and the lofty _motif_ of a picture mean so much +that they always influence my judgment of it. With many other people it +is not so. They revel in the color, the line, the tone, the grouping, +the purely art qualities. In these Titian, as I have said, is perfect, +and worthy of the high place he holds in the art-world. + +"I hope you will take great pains to study him here by yourselves,--in +the Academy and in the various churches,--wherever there are examples of +his work. Let each form his own judgment, founded on that which he finds +in the pictures. The work of any artist of the High Renaissance, whose +aim is purely artistic, is not difficult to understand. His means of +expression were so ample that it is easy indeed to read that which he +says, compared with the earlier masters. You will find two of Titian's +most notable pictures in the Academy,--the _Assumption of the Virgin_, +one of the few in which the Madonna has due prominence, and which shows +the artist's best qualities, and _Presentation of the Virgin_." + +"What other Venetian Masters ought we particularly to study?" asked +Barbara. + +"Look out for Crivelli's _Madonnas_, and all of Paul Veronese's work. He +was really the most utterly Venetian painter who ever lived. He painted +Venice into everything: its motion, its color, its intoxicating fulness +are all found in his mythological and banquet scenes. You will find his +pictures in the Ducal Palace, in the Academy, and a fine series in San +Sebastiano, which represents legendary scenes in the life of St. +Sebastian. Go to Santa Maria Formosa and look at Palma Vecchio's _St. +Barbara_, his masterpiece. You will also find several of this artist's +pictures in the Academy worth looking at. His style at its best is +grand, as in the _St. Barbara_, but he did not always paint up to it, by +any means. + +"As to the rest, study them as a whole. The Venice Academy is an epitome +of Venetian painting, from its earliest work down through the High +Renaissance into the Decadence. It was full of pure and devotional +sentiment, rendered with good, oftentimes rich, color, until after the +Bellini. Then the portrayal of purely physical beauty, with refinement +of line and gorgeousness of color, became preeminent. The works of +several artists of note, Palma Vecchio, Palma Giovine, Bonifazio +Veronese, and Bordone, so resemble each other and Titian's less +important works, that there has been much uncertainty as to the true +authorship of many of them." + +"And Tintoretto?" questioned Barbara. + +"I will take you to see Tintoretto's pictures--or many of them at +least," added Mr. Sumner. "He stands alone by himself." + + + + +Chapter XIX. + +In a Gondola. + + _And on her lover's arm she leant, + And round her waist she felt it fold, + And far across the hills they went + In that new land which is the old_. + + --TENNYSON. + +[Illustration: GRAND CANAL AND RIALTO, VENICE.] + + +Lucile Sherman, accompanied by her friends, had arrived in Venice, and +though not at the same hotel, yet she spent all the time she could with +Mrs. Douglas, and wished to join her in many excursions. She had found +it very wearisome to tarry so long in Rome, but there had been no +sufficient reason for following the party to Florence and on to Venice; +therefore it had seemed the only thing to do. + +Now that she was again with them she watched Mr. Sumner and Barbara most +zealously. Her quick eyes had noted the altered condition of affairs +during the latter days of the Naples journey, and she was feverishly +anxious to understand the cause. Her intuition told her that there was +some peculiar underlying interest for each in the other, and when this +exists between a man and woman, some sequel may always be expected. One +thing was certain; Mr. Sumner covertly watched Barbara, and Barbara +avoided meeting his eye. She could only wait, while putting forth every +effort to gain the interest in herself she so coveted. + +And Barbara, of course, was trying to determine whether there was any +ground for the suspicions, or rather suggestions, that Malcom gave voice +to on that dreadful ride to Sorrento. + +And Bettina watched all three; and so did Malcom, after a fashion, but +he was less keenly interested than the others. He sometimes tried to +talk with Bettina about the studio incident, but never could he begin to +discuss Barbara in the slightest way without encountering her sister's +indignation. + +Mrs. Douglas, who had outlived her former wish concerning her brother +and Lucile Sherman, and Margery were the only ones who had nothing to +hide, and so gave themselves simply to the enjoyment of the occurrences +of each hour. + +"We must begin to see Tintoretto's paintings," said Mr. Sumner at +breakfast one fine morning; "and, since the sun shines brightly, I +suggest that we go at once to the Scuola di San Rocco, for the only time +to see the pictures there is the early morning of a bright day." + +"We must not forget Lucile," said Mrs. Douglas, with an inquiring look +at her brother, "for she asked particularly to go there with us." + +"Then we must call for her of course," quietly answered he, as all rose +from the table. "We will start at once." + +"I do not believe," said Bettina, as she and Barbara were in their room +putting on their hats a moment afterward, "that Mr. Sumner cares one bit +more for Lucile Sherman than for anybody else." + +"Why don't you think so?" asked Barbara, as she turned aside to find her +gloves, which search kept her busy for a minute or two. + +"Because he never seems to take any pains to be where she is--he does +not watch for the expression of her eyes--his voice never changes when +he speaks to her," answered Bettina, slowly, enumerating some of the +signs she had observed in Mr. Sumner with respect to Barbara. + +Neither of the girls stopped to think how singular it was that Bettina +should have watched Mr. Sumner closely enough to make such a positive +assertion as this, which, perhaps, is a sufficient commentary on the +state of their minds at this time. + +After a delightful half hour of gliding through broad and narrow canals, +they landed in front of the Church of San Rocco, and passed into the +alleyway from which is the entrance of the famous Scuola. As they +stepped into its sumptuous hall, Miss Sherman remarked:-- + +"I see that Mr. Ruskin says whatever the traveller may miss in Venice, +he should give much time and thought to this building." + +"Mr. Ruskin has championed Tintoretto with the same fervor that he has +expended upon Turner," replied Mr. Sumner, smiling. "I think we should +season his judgments concerning both artists with the 'grain of salt'. + +"But," continued he, as he saw all were waiting for something further, +"there can be no doubt that Tintoretto was a great painter and a notable +man. To read the story of his life,--his struggles to learn the +art,--his assurance of the worth of his own work, and his colossal +ambitions, is as interesting as any romance." + +"I was delighted," interpolated Malcom, "with the story of his first +painting for this building, and the audacity that gained for him the +commission to paint one picture for it every year of his remaining life. + +"And here are about fifty of them," resumed Mr. Sumner, "in which we may +study both his strength and his weakness. No painter was ever more +uneven than he. No painter ever produced works that present such wide +contrasts as do his. He could use color as consummately as Titian +himself, as we see in his masterpiece, _The Miracle of St. Mark_, in the +Academy; yet many of his pictures are almost destitute of it. He could +vie with the greatest masters in composition; yet there are many +instances where he seems to have thrown the elements of his pictures +wildly together without a single thought of artistic proportions and +relations. In some works he has shown himself a thorough master of +technique; in others his rendering is so careless that we are ashamed +for him. But all this cannot alter the fact that he is surpassingly +great in originality, in nobility of conception, and in a certain poetic +feeling,--and these are qualities that set the royal insignia upon any +artist." + +"I cannot help feeling the motion, the action, of all these wild +figures," exclaimed Bettina, as she stood looking about in a helpless +way. "I seem to be buffetted on all sides, and the pictures mix +themselves with each other." + +"It is no wonder. No painter was ever so extravagant as he could be. +There is a headlong dash, an impetuous action in his figures when he +wills, that remind us of Michael Angelo; but Tintoretto's imagination +far outran that of the great Florentine master. Yet there is a singular +sense of reality in his most imaginative works, and it is this, I +think, that is sometimes so confusing and overwhelming. His paintings +here are so many that I cannot talk long about any particular one. I +will only try to tell you what qualities to look for--then you must, for +yourselves, endeavor to understand and come under the spell of the +personality of the artist. + +"In the first place," he continued, "look for power--power of +conception, of invention, and of execution. For instance, give your +entire attention for a few minutes to this _Massacre of the Innocents_. +See the perfect delirium of feeling and action--the frenzy of men, +women, and children. Look also for originality of invention. +Combinations and situations unthought of by other painters are here. +There is never even a hint of plagiarism in Tintoretto's work. In his +own native strength he seizes our imagination and, at will, plays upon +it. We shudder, yet are fascinated." + +"Oh, uncle! I don't like it!" cried Margery, almost tearfully. "I don't +wish to see any more of his pictures, if all are like these." + +"Madge--puss," said Malcom, "this is a horrible subject. Not all will be +like this." + +"No, dear," said her mother, sympathizingly, "I don't like it either. +You and I will choose the pictures we are to look at long. There are +many of Tintoretto's that you will enjoy, I know,--many from which you +can learn about the artist, as well as from such as these." + +"We cannot doubt the dramatic power of Tintoretto, can we?" asked Mr. +Sumner, with a suppressed twinkle of the eye. "What shall we look for +next? Let us ascend this beautiful staircase. Now look at this +_Visitation_. Is it not truly fine, charming in composition, graceful in +action, agreeable in color, and true and noble in expression?" + +All agreed most eagerly with Mr. Sumner's opinion of the picture. Then, +turning, Bettina caught sight of an _Annunciation_, and cried:-- + +"How thoroughly exquisite! See those lovely angels tumbling over each +other in their haste to tell the news to Mary! How brilliant! Surely +Tintoretto did not paint this!" + +"No. This is by Titian; and it is one of his most happy religious +pictures too. I thought of it as we were coming, and am glad to have you +see it. The whole expression is admirable; and the fulness of life and +joy--the jubilation--is perfect. You can in no way more vividly feel the +difference between fourteenth-century painting in Florence, and the +sixteenth-century or High Renaissance work in Venice, than by recalling +Fra Angelico's sweet, calm, staid Annunciations, and contrasting them +with this one." + +"But why do I feel that, after all, I love Fra Angelico's better, and +should care to look at them oftener?" rather timidly asked Barbara. + +"I think," replied Mr. Sumner, after a little pause, "that it is +because, in them, the spiritual expression dominates the physical. We +recognize the fact that the artist has not the power to picture all that +he desires to express. His art language is weak; therefore there is +something left unsaid, and this compels our attention. We wish to +understand his full meaning, so come to his pictures again and again. + +"It is this quality of the fourteenth-century painting that impelled the +Pre-Raphaelites, German and English, to discard the chief _motif_ of the +High Renaissance, which was to picture everything in its outward +perfection. They thought that this very perfection of artistic +expression led to the elimination of spiritual feeling." + +"But how can artists go back now and paint as those did five centuries +ago?" queried Malcom. "Of course, if they study methods of the present +day, they must know all the principles underlying a true and artistic +representation--and it would be wrong not to practise them." + +"You have at once found the weak point in the Pre-Raphaelites' principle +of work, Malcom. It is forced and artificial to do that in the +nineteenth century which was natural and charming in the fourteenth. +That which our artists of to-day must do if they desire any reform is to +so fill themselves with the comprehension of spiritual things--so strive +to understand the hidden beauty and harmony and truth of nature--that +their works may be revelations to those who do not see so clearly as do +they. To do this perfectly they must ever, in my opinion, give more +thought to the thing to be expressed than to the manner of its +expression; yet they must render this expression as perfectly as the +present conditions allow. But I think I have talked before of just this +thing. And we must turn again to Tintoretto." + +Not only this forenoon, but many others, were spent in the Scuola di San +Rocco in the study of Tintoretto's paintings. At first they shuddered at +his most vivid representations of poor, sick, wretched beings that cover +these immense canvases dedicated to the memory of St. Roch, whose life +was devoted to hospital work; then were fascinated by the power that had +so ruthlessly portrayed reality. They studied his great +_Crucifixion_,--as a whole, in detailed groups, and then its separate +figures,--until they began to realize the magnitude of its conception +and rendering. Mr. Sumner had said that nowhere save in Venice can +Tintoretto be studied, and all were anxious to understand his work. + +At the Academy, close by Titian's great _Assumption of the Virgin_, +they found Tintoretto's _Miracle of St. Mark_, and saw how noble could +be, at their best, his composition and drawing, and how marvellous his +coloring of sky, architecture, costume, and flesh. They went to the +various churches, notably, Santa Maria del Orto, to see good examples of +his religious painting; and to the Ducal Palace for his many +mythological pictures, and his immense _Paradiso_. Finally they were +happy in feeling that they could comprehend, in some little degree, the +spirit of this strange, powerful artist and his work. + +One rainy evening, toward the close of their stay in Venice, all sat in +the parlor, discussing a most popular novel recently published. It was +written in an exceedingly clever manner; indeed, possessed an unusual +degree of literary merit. But like many other books then being sent +forth, the tale was very sad. + +The hero, Richard,--poor, proud, and painfully morbid,--would not +believe it possible that the woman whom he passionately loved,--a woman +whose life was filled with luxury, and who was surrounded by +admirers,--could ever love him; and so he went out from her and all the +possibilities of happiness, never to know that her heart was his and +might have been had for the asking. The happiness of both lives was +wrecked. + +"I think no author ought to write such a story," said Mrs. Douglas, +emphatically. "Life holds too much that is sad for us all to justify the +expenditure of so much unavailing sympathy. The emotion that cannot work +itself out in action takes from moral strength instead of adding to it. +It is a pity to use so great literary talent in this way." + +"But do not such things sometimes happen, and is it not a literary +virtue to describe real life?" queried Barbara, from her corner amidst +the shadows. + +"Is it an especially artistic virtue to picture deformity and suffering +just because they exist? I acknowledge that a picture or a book may be +fine, even great, with such subjects; but is it either as helpful or +wholesome as it might have been?" argued Mrs. Douglas. + +"Yet in this book the characters of both hero and heroine grow stronger +because of their suffering," suggested Bettina. + +"But such an unnecessary suffering!" rather impatiently asserted Malcom. +"If either had died, then the other might have borne it patiently and +been just as noble. But such a blunder! I threw the book aside in +disgust, for the author had absorbed me with interest, and I was so +utterly disappointed." + +Mr. Sumner had been reading, and had not joined in the conversation, but +Bettina thought she saw some evidence that he had heard it; and when, +throwing aside his paper, he stepped outside on the balcony, she obeyed +an impulse she could never afterward explain to herself, and followed +him. Quickly putting her hand on his, she said, with a fluttering heart, +but with a steady voice:-- + +"Dear Mr. Sumner, do not do as Richard did." + +Then drawing back in consternation as she realized what she had done, +she gasped:-- + +"Oh, forgive me! Forget what I have said!" + +She tried to escape, but her hand was in a grip of iron. "What do you +mean? Tell me, Betty. Barbara--" His voice failed, but the passion of +love that blazed in his eyes reassured her. + +"I will not say another word. Please let me go and never, _never_ tell +Barbara what I said;" and as she wrenched her hand from him, and +vanished from the balcony, her smiling face, white amidst the darkness, +looked to Robert Sumner like an angel of hope. Could it be that she +intended to give him hope of Barbara's love--that sweet young girl--when +he was so much older? When she knew that he had once before loved? But +what else could Betty have meant? Had he been blind all this time, and +had Betty seen it? A hundred circumstances sprang into his remembrance, +that, looked at in the light of her message, took on possible meanings. + +Robert Sumner was a man of action. As soon as his sister retired to her +own room, he followed, and then and there fully opened his heart to her. +He told her all, from the first moment when Barbara began to monopolize +his thoughts, and confessed his struggles against her usurpation of the +place Margaret had so long held. + +To say that Mrs. Douglas was astonished does not begin to express the +truth. She listened in helpless wonder. As he went on, and it became +evident to her what a strong hold on his affections Barbara had gained, +the fear arose lest he might be on the brink of a direful +disappointment. At last, when he ended, saying, "I shall tell her all +to-morrow," she could only falter:-- + +"Is it best so soon, Robert?" + +"Soon!" he cried. "It seems as if I have waited years! Say not one word +against it, sister. My mind is made up!" + +But he could not tell her the hope Bettina had given, which was singing +joyfully in his heart all the time. And so Mrs. Douglas was tortured all +through the night with miserable forebodings. + +The next morning Bettina was troubled at the look of resolve she +understood in Mr. Sumner's face, and almost trembled at the thought of +what she had done. "But I am sure--I am sure," she kept repeating, to +reassure herself. + +A last visit to the Academy had been planned for the afternoon. They +walked thither, as they often loved to do, through the narrow, still +streets and across the little foot-bridges. Mrs. Douglas, with Margery +and Miss Sherman, arrived first, and, after a few minutes' delay, +Bettina and Malcom appeared. + +"Uncle Robert has taken a gondola to the banker's to get our letters, +mother," said Malcom, in such a peculiar voice that his mother gave him +a quick look of interrogation. + +"Where is your sister?" asked Miss Sherman, sharply, turning to Bettina +as Mrs. Douglas passed into an adjoining room. + +"Mr. Sumner asked her to help him get the letters," replied she, +demurely. + +Miss Sherman reddened, and Malcom's eyes danced. + +"How strange!" said Margery, innocently. + +The pictures were, unfortunately, of secondary interest to all the group +save Margery; and, as Mr. Sumner and Barbara did not return, they, +before very long, declared themselves tired, and returned home. The +truth was, each one was longing for private thought. + +Meanwhile Barbara and Mr. Sumner were on the Grand Canal. The sun shone +brightly, and Mr. Sumner drew the curtains a little closer together to +shield Barbara's face and, perhaps, his own. The gondolier rowed slowly. +"Where to?" he had asked, and was answered only by a gesture to go on. +So on they floated. + +Barbara had obeyed without thought Mr. Sumner's sudden request to +accompany him. But no sooner had they stepped into the gondola than she +wished, oh, so earnestly! that she had made some excuse. + +As Mr. Sumner did not speak, she tried to make some commonplace remark, +but her voice would not reach her lips; so she sat, flushed and +wondering, timid and silent. + +At last he spoke, gravely and tenderly, of his early life, when she, a +little girl, had known him; of his love and hope; of his sorrow and the +years of lonely work in foreign lands; of his sister's coming; of his +meeting with them all, and of how much they had brought into his life. +But, as he looked up, he could not wait to finish the story as he had +planned. He saw the sweet, flushed face so near him, the downcast eyes, +the little hand that tried to keep from trembling but could not, and +his voice grew sharp with longing:-- + +"Barbara! oh, little Barbara! you have made me love you as I never have +dreamed of love. Can you love me a little, Barbara? Will you be my +wife?" And he held out his hands, but dared not touch her. + +Would she never answer? Would she never lift the eyelids that seemed to +droop more and more closely upon the crimson cheeks? Had he frightened +her? Was she only so sorry for him? Was Betty mistaken, after all? + +But when, with a voice already quivering with apprehension, he again +spoke her name, what a revelation! + +With head thrown back and with smiling, though quivering, lips, Barbara +looked at him, her eyes glowing with the unutterable tenderness he had +sometimes dreamed of. She did not utter a word, but there was no need. +The whole flood of her love, so long repressed, spoke straight to his +heart. + +The gondola curtains flapped closer in the breeze. The gondolier hummed +a musical love-ditty, while his oars moved in slow rhythm. It was Venice +and June. + + + + +Chapter XX. + +Return from Italy. + + _To come back from the sweet South, to the North + Where I was born, bred, look to die; + Come back to do my day's work in its day, + Play out my play-- + Amen, amen say I._ + + --ROSSETTI. + +[Illustration: MILAN CATHEDRAL.] + + +When Robert Sumner and Barbara returned, they found Mrs. Douglas alone. +At the first glance she knew that all was well, and received them with +smiles, and tears, and warm expressions of delight. + +In a moment, however, Barbara--her eyes still shining with the wonder of +it all--gently disengaged herself from Mrs. Douglas's embrace and went +in search of her sister. + +"Aren't you thoroughly astonished, Betty dear?" she asked, after she had +told the wonderful news. + +"Yes, Bab; more than astonished." + +And Bettina's quibble can surely be forgiven. Not yet has she told her +sister of the important part played by herself in bringing the +love-affair to so happy a consummation; nor has Robert Sumner forgotten +her prayer, "never, never tell Barbara!" + +When evening came and Barbara was out on the balcony with Mr. Sumner, +while the others were talking gayly of the happy event, Bettina suddenly +felt an unaccountable choking in the throat. She hurried to her room, +and there, in spite of every effort, had to give up to a good cry. She +could not have told the cause, but we, the only ones beside herself who +know this pitiful ending of all her bravery, understand and sympathize +with her. + +An hour later, when she had conquered herself and was coming slowly down +the staircase, she found Malcom waiting to waylay her. Drawing her arm +within his, and merrily assuming something of a paternal air, he said:-- + +"Now that this little family affair has reached a thoroughly +satisfactory culmination, I trust that things will again assume their +normal appearance. For the past month or so Barbara has been most +_distraite_; uncle has so evidently tried to be cheerful that the effort +has been distressing; and you, little Lady Betty, have been racking your +precious brains for a scheme to make things better." + +"And you, Malcom," she retorted, "have had so much sympathy with us all +that wrinkles have really begun to appear on your manly brow." And she +put up her hand lightly as if to smooth them away. + +"Look out, Betty!" with a curious flash of the eyes, as he seized her +hand and held it tightly. "The atmosphere is rather highly charged these +days." + +Bettina's face slowly flushed as she tried to make some laughing +rejoinder, and a strange painful shyness threatened to overtake her when +Malcom, with a smile and a steady look into her eyes, set her free. + +Meanwhile Margery was saying to her mother:-- + +"How pleasant it is to have everybody so happy!" + +"Yes, dear. Do you know why I am so very happy?" and as Margery shook +her head, her mother told her that her Uncle Robert had decided to go +home to America, and that never again would he live abroad. + +"It is more like a story than truth. Uncle to go home, and Barbara to be +his wife! You did not think, did you, mamma, what would come from our +year in Italy? Just think! Suppose you had not asked Barbara and Betty +to come with us! What then?" + +"That is too bewildering a question for you to trouble yourself with, my +child. There is no end to that kind of reasoning. + +"And," she added gently, "it is not a question that Faith would ask. +The only truth is that God was leading me in a way I did not know, and +for ends I could not foresee. That which I did from a feeling of pure +love for my dear neighbors and friends was destined to bring me the one +great blessing I had longed for during many years. Oh! it does seem too +good to be true that Robert is so happy, and that he is coming home." + +And for the seventieth-times-seven time Mrs. Douglas breathed a silent +thanksgiving as she heard the approaching footsteps of her brother. + +For Barbara and Robert Sumner the last days spent in Venice were filled +with a peculiar joy. The revulsion of feeling, the unexpected, +despaired-of happiness, the untrammelled intercourse, the full sympathy +of those dear to them,--all this could be experienced but once. + +Only one person was out of tune with the general feeling. This was +Lucile Sherman. She returned a polite note in reply to that which Mrs. +Douglas had at once sent her containing information of her brother's +engagement to Barbara. In it she wrote that her friends had very +suddenly decided to leave Venice for the Tyrol, and she must be content +to go with them without even coming to say good-by and to offer, in +person, her congratulations. Mrs. Douglas at first thought of going to +her, if but for a moment; then decided that perhaps it would be best to +let it be as she had so evidently chosen. + +In a few days they also left Venice,--for Milan, stopping on the way for +a day or two at Padua. They were to visit this city chiefly for the +purpose of seeing Giotto's frescoes in the Arena Chapel, and Mantegna's +in the Eremitani, although, as Mr. Sumner said, the gray old city is +well worth a visit for many other reasons. The antiquity of its origin, +which its citizens are proud to refer to Antenor, the mythical King of +Troy, accounts for the thoroughly venerable appearance of some quarters. +It is difficult, however, to believe that it was ever the wealthiest +city in upper Italy, as it is reported to have been under the reign of +Augustus. During the Middle Ages it was one of the most famous of +European seats of learning. Dante spent several years in Padua after his +banishment from Florence, and Petrarch once lived here. All these things +had been talked over before they alighted at the station, and, driving +through one of the gates of the city, went to their hotel. + +All were eager to see whatever there was of interest. As it would be +best to wait until morning for looking at the pictures, they at once set +forth and walked along the narrow streets lined with arcades, and +through grassy Il Prato, with its fourscore and more statues of Padua's +famous men ranged between the trees. They saw the traditional house of +Petrarch, and that of Dante, in front of which stands a large mediaeval +sarcophagus reported to contain the bones of King Antenor, who, +according to the poet Virgil, founded the city. They admired the +churches, from several of which clusters of Byzantine domes rise grandly +against the sky, noted the order, the quiet, that now reigns throughout +the streets, and talked of the fierce, horrible warfare that had +centuries ago raged there. + +The next morning they spent among Giotto's frescoes, over thirty of +which literally cover the walls of the Arena Chapel. The return to the +work of the early fourteenth century, after months spent in study of the +High Renaissance, was like an exchange of blazing noon sunshine for the +first soft, sweet light that heralds the coming dawn. They were +surprised at the freshness and purity of color and at the truth and +force of expression. They had forgotten that old Giotto could paint so +well. They found it easy now to understand in the artist that which at +first had been difficult. + +"Do you not think that Dante sometimes came here and sat while Giotto +was painting?" by and by asked Margery, in an almost reverent voice. + +"I do not doubt it," replied Mrs. Douglas. "Tradition tells us that +they were great friends, and that when here together in Padua they lived +in the same house. I always think of Giotto as possessing a jovial +temperament, and as being full of bright thoughts. He must have been a +great comfort to the poor unhappy poet. Without doubt they often walked +together to this chapel; and while Giotto was upon the scaffolding, busy +with his Bible stories, Dante would sit here, brooding over his +misfortunes; or, perhaps, weaving some of his great thoughts into +sublime poetry." + +Afterward they went to the Eremitani to see Mantegna's frescoes, and +thought they could see in the noble work of this old Paduan master what +Giotto might have done had he lived a century or more later. + +Mr. Sumner, however, said that he was sure that Giotto, with his +temperament, could never have wrought detail with such exactness and +refinement as did Mantegna--but also, that Giotto's color would always +have been far better than Mantegna's. The likeness between the two +artists is the intense desire of each to render expression of thought +and feeling. + +The following day, on their way from Padua to Milan, they were so +fortunate as to be all in the same compartment, and as their train +rushed on, their conversation turned upon Leonardo da Vinci, whose +works in Milan they were longing to see. + +During their stay in Florence they had read much about this great +artist, and Mr. Sumner now suggested that each tell something he had +learned concerning him. + +Margery began, and told how he used always to wear a sketch-book +attached to his girdle as he walked through the streets of Florence, so +that he might make a sketch of any face whose expression especially +attracted him; how he would invite peasants to his studio and talk with +them and tell laughable stories, that he might study the changes of +emotion in their faces; and how he would even follow to their death +criminals doomed to execution, in order to watch their suffering and +horror. + +"He did not care much for the form or coloring or beauty of faces;--only +for the expression of feeling," she added. + +"But," said Malcom, after waiting a moment for the others to speak if +they chose, "he studied a host of other things, also. For in the letter +he sent to Duke Ludovico of Milan asking that he might be taken into his +service, he wrote that he could make portable bridges wonderfully +adapted for use in warfare, also bombshells, cannon, and many other +engines of war; that he could engineer underground ways, aqueducts, +etc.; that he could build great houses, besides carrying on works of +sculpture and painting. And there were many other things that I do not +now remember. It seems as if he felt himself able to do all things. I +believe he did make a magnificent equestrian statue of the duke's +father. And he studied botany and astronomy, anatomy and mathematics, +and all sorts of things besides. I really do not see how he could have +got much painting in." + +"He has left only a very few pictures to the world," said Barbara. "We +saw two or three at Florence, but I think only one--that unfinished +_Adoration of the Magi_--is surely his. We shall see the _Last Supper_ +and _Head of Christ_ at Milan. Then there are two or three in Paris and +one in London I think these are all," and she looked inquiringly at Mr. +Sumner, who smilingly nodded confirmation of her words. + +"But," she went on, with an answering smile, "I do not think this was +due to lack of time, for on these few pictures he probably spent as much +time as ordinary artists do in painting a great many. He was never +satisfied with the result of his work. His aims were so high and he saw +and felt so much in his subjects that he would paint his pictures over +and over again, and then often destroy them because he could not produce +what he wished. I think he was one of the most untiring of artists." + +"I have been especially interested," said Bettina, after a minute or +two, "in the story of the _Last Supper_ which we shall soon see." + +She then went on to tell the sad tale of Beatrice d'Este,--the good and +beautiful wife of harsh, wicked Duke Ludovico. How she used to go daily +to the church Santa Maria delle Grazie to be alone,--to think and to +pray; and how, after her early death, the duke, probably influenced by +remorse because of his cruelty to her, desired Leonardo to decorate this +church and its adjoining monastery with pictures in memory of his dead +young wife. The only remaining one of these is the _Last Supper_ in the +refectory of the old monastery. And the famous _Head of Christ_ in the +Brera Gallery, Milan, is only one of perhaps hundreds of studies that he +made for the expression which he should give to his Christ in the _Last +Supper_,--so dissatisfied was he with his renderings of the face of our +Saviour. And even with his last effort he was not content, but said the +head must ever go unfinished. + +"I am glad to hear you say that this _Head of Christ_ was produced +simply as a study of expression," remarked Mr. Sumner. "I am sure this +fact is not understood by many who look upon it. I know of no other +artistic representation in the world that is so utterly just an +expression and nothing more;--a fleeting expression of some inner +feeling of which the face is simply an index. And this feeling is the +blended grief and love and resignation that filled the heart of our +Saviour when He said to His disciples, 'One of you shall betray me.' It +is a simply wrought study, made on paper with charcoal and water-color. +The paper is worn, its edges are almost tattered; yet were it given me +to become the possessor of one of the world's art-treasures--whichever +one I should choose--I think I should select this. You will know why +when you see it." + +"What a pity that the great picture, the _Last Supper_, is so injured," +said Malcom, after a pause. "Is it as bad as it is said to be, uncle?" + +"It is in a pretty bad condition, yet, after all, I enjoy it better than +any copy that has ever been made. The handiwork of Leonardo, though so +much of it has been lost, is yet the expression of a master; any lesser +artist fails to render the highest that is in the picture. Both the Duke +and Leonardo were in fault for its present condition. The monastery is +very low, and on extremely wet ground. Water has often risen and +inundated a portion of the building. It is not a fit place for any +painting, as the Duke ought to have known. And, then, Leonardo, instead +of painting in fresco, used oils, and of course the colors could not +adhere to the damp plaster; so they have dropped off, bit by bit, until +the surface is sadly disfigured." + +"Why did Leonardo do this?" inquired Margery. + +"He was particularly fond of oil-painting, because this method allowed +him to paint over and over again on the same picture, as he could not do +in fresco." + +Mr. Sumner looked out of the window, and then hastened to say:-- + +"I think you all have learned that the chief quality of Leonardo da +Vinci's work is his rendering of facial expression--complex, subtile +expression: yet he excelled in all artistic representation;--in drawing, +in composition, in color, and in the treatment of light and shade. He +easily stands in the foremost rank of world painters. But, see! we are +drawing near to Milan,--bright, gay little Milan,--the Italian Paris." + +One day, soon after their arrival, as they were in the Brera Gallery, +looking for the third or fourth time at Leonardo's _Head of Christ_, +Barbara remarked that she was disappointed because she could not find +any particular characteristic of this great artist's work, as she had so +often been able to do with others. "I feel that I cannot yet recognize +even his style," she lamented. + +"You have as yet seen none of the pictures which contain his +characteristic ideal face," replied Mr. Sumner. "But there is work here +in Milan by Bernardino Luini, who studied Leonardo so intimately that he +caught his spirit in a greater degree than did any other of his +followers. Indeed, several of Luini's pictures have been attributed to +Leonardo until very recently. This is a picture by Luini--right +here--the _Madonna of the Rose-Trellis_. The Madonna is strikingly like +Leonardo's ideal in the long, slender nose, the rather pointed chin, the +dark, flowing hair,--and, above all, in the evidence of some deep +thought. If it were Leonardo's, there would be, with all this, a faint, +subtile smile. See the treatment of light and shade,--so delicate, and +yet so strong. This is also like Leonardo." + +After a few minutes spent in study of the picture, Mr. Sumner continued: +"There is a singular mannerism in the backgrounds of Leonardo's +pictures. It is the representation of running water between rocks,--a +strange fancy. We see the suggestion of it through the window behind +Christ in the _Last Supper_, and it forms the entire background of the +famous _Mona Lisa_, in the Louvre. There is a beautiful picture by +Luini, _The Marriage of St. Catherine_, in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum here +in Milan, to which we will go at once. The faces are thoroughly +Leonardesque, and through an open window in the background we clearly +see the streamlet flowing between rocky shores. + +"But first," he added, as they turned to go out, "let us go into this +corridor where we shall find quite a large number of Luini's frescoes, +which have been collected from the churches in which he painted them. I +think you will grow familiar with Leonardo's faces through study of +Luini." + +During the stay in Milan they went down to Parma for a day, just to look +at the fine examples of Correggio's works in the gallery and churches. +In this city they could get the association of this artist with his +works as nowhere else. + +[Illustration: LUINI. POLDI-PEZZOLI MUSEUM, MILAN. + +MARRIAGE OF SAINT CATHERINE.] + +Mr. Sumner told them that it was a good thing to give especial attention +to Correggio while studying Leonardo, because there is a certain +similarity, and yet a very wide difference, between their works. Both +painters were consummate masters of the art. Their beautiful figures, +perfect in drawing and full of grace and life, melt into soft, rich +shadows. Both loved especially to paint women, and smiling women; but +the difference between the smiles is as great as between light and +darkness. Leonardo's are inexplicable; are wrought from within by depths +of feeling we cannot understand. Correggio's only play about the lips, +and are as simple as childhood. Leonardo's whole life was given to the +study of mankind's innermost emotions. Correggio was no deep student of +human nature. + +"When you go to Paris and see _Mona Lisa_, you will understand me +better," he said in conclusion. + +Delightful weeks among the Italian lakes and the mountains of +Switzerland followed. Then came September, and it was time to turn their +faces homeward. A week or two was spent in Paris, whose brilliance, +fascinating gayety, and beauty almost bewildered them, and in whose +great picture-gallery, the Louvre, they reviewed the art-study of the +year. + +Then they were off to Havre to take a French steamship home. Mr. Sumner +had decided to return with them, and a little later in the fall to go +back to Florence to settle all things there,--to give up his Italian +home and studio. So there was nothing but joy in the setting forth. + + * * * * * + +"How can we wait a whole week!" exclaimed Bettina, as the two sisters +were again unpacking the steamer trunks in their stateroom. "How long +one little week seems when it comes at the end of a year, and lies +between us and home!" + +Barbara's thought flew back to the like scene on the _Kaiser Wilhelm_ a +year ago, when her mind had been busy with her father's parting words, +and her eyes were very dark with feeling as she spoke:-- + +"Have you thought, Betty, how much we are taking back?--how much more +than papa thought or we expected even in our wildest dreams? All this +intimate knowledge of Florence, Rome, and Venice! All these memories of +Italy,--and her art and history!" + +Then after a moment she continued with changed voice: "And our +friendship with Howard!--and the great gift he gave by which we have +been able to get all these beautiful things we are taking home to the +dear ones, and by which life is so changed for them and us!--and--" + +"Barbara!" softly called Mr. Sumner's voice from the corridor. + +"_And_," repeated Bettina, archly, with a most mischievous look as her +sister hastened from the room to answer the summons. + +At last the morning came when the steamship entered New York harbor; and +the evening followed which saw the travellers again in their +homes,--which restored Barbara and Bettina to father, mother, brothers, +and sisters. There was no end of joy and smiles and happy talk. + +After a little time Robert Sumner came, and Dr. Burnett, taking him by +both hands, looked through moist eyes into the face he loved, and had +so long missed, saying:-- + +"And so you have come home to stay,--Robert,--my boy!" + +"Yes," in a glad, ringing voice,--withdrawing one hand from the doctor's +and putting it into Mrs. Burnett's eager clasp--"yes, Barbara and Malcom +have brought me home. Malcom showed me it was my duty to come, and +Barbara has made it a delight." + + + + +Epilogue. + +Three Years After. + + +In one of New England's fairest villas, only a little way from the spot +where we first found her, lives Barbara to-day. For more than two years +she has been the wife of Robert Sumner. The faces of both tell of happy +years, which have been bounteous in blessing. A new expression glows in +Robert Sumner's eyes; the hint of a life whose energy is life-giving. +All his powers are on the alert. His name bids fair to become known far +and wide in his native land as a force for good in art, literature, +philanthropy, and public service. And in everything Barbara holds equal +pace with him. Whatever he undertakes, he goes to her young, fresh +enthusiasm to be strengthened for the endeavor; he measures his own +judgment against her wise, individual ways of thinking, and gains new +trust in himself from her abiding confidence. + +In the library of their home, surrounded by countless rare souvenirs of +Italy, hangs a portrait of Howard Sinclair given to Barbara by his aged +grandmother, who now rests beside her darling boy in beautiful Mount +Auburn. + +Dr. Burnett's low, rambling house has given place to a more stately one; +but it stands behind the same tall trees, amidst the same wide, green +spaces. And here is Bettina,--the same Betty,--broadened and enriched by +the intervening years of gracious living; still almost hand in hand with +her sister Barbara. Together they study and enjoy and sympathize; and +together they are striving to bless as many lives as possible by a wise +use of Howard's gift to Barbara. + +They are not letting slip that which they learned of the art of the Old +World, but are adding to it continually in anticipation of the time when +they will again be in its midst. They believe that study of the old +masters' pictures is a peculiar source of culture, and they delight in +procuring photographs and rare reproductions for themselves and their +friends. Their faces are familiar in the art-stores and picture +galleries of Boston. + +Good Dr. and Mrs. Burnett have grown more than three years younger by +dropping so many burdens of life. They no longer count any ways and +means save those of enlarging their own and their children's lives, and +of making their home a happy, healthful centre from which all shall go +forth daily to help in the world's growth and to minister to its needs. + +Richard, Lois, Margaret, and Bertie, endowed with all the best available +helps, are hard at work getting furnished for coming years. + +Margery, entering into a lovely young womanhood, still lives with her +mother and Malcom in the grand old colonial house in which many +generations of her ancestors have dwelt. + +Mrs. Douglas is quite as happy in the close vicinity of her brother as +she thought she would be. Every day she rejoices in his home, in his +work and growing fame. Barbara grows dearer to her continually as she +realizes what a blessing she is to his life. Indeed, so wholly natural +and just-the-thing-to-be-expected does it now seem that her brother +should fall in love with Barbara, that she grows ever more amazed that +she did not think of it before it happened; and, when she recalls her +surmises and little sisterly schemes concerning him and Lucile Sherman, +she wonders at her own stupidity. + +For Malcom the three years have been crowded with earnest work. He fully +justified the confidence his mother had reposed in him when she gave him +the year abroad, by entering, on his return, the second year of the +University course. + +A few months ago he graduated with high honors, and is now just +beginning the study of law. When admitted to the bar he will enter, as +youngest partner, the law firm of which for over thirty years his +grandfather was the head. + +And through all he is the same frank, wholesome-hearted, strong-willed, +but gentle Malcom that we knew in Italy. + +The other day he entrusted to his mother and sister a precious secret +that must not yet be divulged. They were delighted, but did not seem +greatly surprised. + +Bettina knows the secret. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Barbara's Heritage, by Deristhe L. 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