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diff --git a/3716-0.txt b/3716-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d557d22 --- /dev/null +++ b/3716-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1335 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mrs. General Talboys, by Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Mrs. General Talboys + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3716] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. GENERAL TALBOYS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall "Tales of All Countries" +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + MRS. GENERAL TALBOYS. + + +WHY Mrs. General Talboys first made up her mind to pass the winter of +1859 at Rome I never clearly understood. To myself she explained her +purposes, soon after her arrival at the Eternal City, by declaring, in +her own enthusiastic manner, that she was inspired by a burning desire to +drink fresh at the still living fountains of classical poetry and +sentiment. But I always thought that there was something more than this +in it. Classical poetry and sentiment were doubtless very dear to her; +but so also, I imagine, were the substantial comforts of Hardover Lodge, +the General's house in Berkshire; and I do not think that she would have +emigrated for the winter had there not been some slight domestic +misunderstanding. Let this, however, be fully made clear,--that such +misunderstanding, if it existed, must have been simply an affair of +temper. No impropriety of conduct has, I am very sure, ever been imputed +to the lady. The General, as all the world knows, is hot; and Mrs. +Talboys, when the sweet rivers of her enthusiasm are unfed by congenial +waters, can, I believe, make herself disagreeable. + +But be this as it may, in November, 1859, Mrs. Talboys came among us +English at Rome, and soon succeeded in obtaining for herself a +comfortable footing in our society. We all thought her more remarkable +for her mental attributes than for physical perfection; but, +nevertheless, she was, in her own way, a sightly woman. She had no +special brilliance, either of eye or complexion, such as would produce +sudden flames in susceptible hearts; nor did she seem to demand instant +homage by the form and step of a goddess; but we found her to be a +good-looking woman of some thirty or thirty-three years of age, with +soft, peach-like cheeks,--rather too like those of a cherub, with +sparkling eyes which were hardly large enough, with good teeth, a white +forehead, a dimpled chin and a full bust. Such, outwardly, was Mrs. +General Talboys. The description of the inward woman is the purport to +which these few pages will be devoted. + +There are two qualities to which the best of mankind are much subject, +which are nearly related to each other, and as to which the world has not +yet decided whether they are to be classed among the good or evil +attributes of our nature. Men and women are under the influence of them +both, but men oftenest undergo the former, and women the latter. They +are ambition and enthusiasm. Now Mrs. Talboys was an enthusiastic woman. + +As to ambition, generally as the world agrees with Mark Antony in +stigmatising it as a grievous fault, I am myself clear that it is a +virtue; but with ambition at present we have no concern. Enthusiasm +also, as I think, leans to virtue's side; or, at least, if it be a fault, +of all faults it is the prettiest. But then, to partake at all of +virtue, or even to be in any degree pretty, the enthusiasm must be true. + +Bad coin is known from good by the ring of it; and so is bad enthusiasm. +Let the coiner be ever so clever at his art, in the coining of enthusiasm +the sound of true gold can never be imparted to the false metal. And I +doubt whether the cleverest she in the world can make false enthusiasm +palatable to the taste of man. To the taste of any woman the enthusiasm +of another woman is never very palatable. + +We understood at Home that Mrs. Talboys had a considerable family,--four +or five children, we were told; but she brought with her only one +daughter, a little girl about twelve years of age. She had torn herself +asunder, as she told me, from the younger nurslings of her heart, and had +left them to the care of a devoted female attendant, whose love was all +but maternal. And then she said a word or two about the General, in +terms which made me almost think that this quasi-maternal love extended +itself beyond the children. The idea, however, was a mistaken one, +arising from the strength of her language, to which I was then +unaccustomed. I have since become aware that nothing can be more +decorous than old Mrs. Upton, the excellent head-nurse at Hardover Lodge; +and no gentleman more discreet in his conduct than General Talboys. + +And I may as well here declare, also, that there could be no more +virtuous woman than the General's wife. Her marriage vow was to her +paramount to all other vows and bonds whatever. The General's honour was +quite safe when he sent her off to Rome by herself; and he no doubt knew +that it was so. Illi robur et aes triplex, of which I believe no weapons +of any assailant could get the better. But, nevertheless, we used to +fancy that she had no repugnance to impropriety in other women,--to what +the world generally calls impropriety. Invincibly attached herself to +the marriage tie, she would constantly speak of it as by no means +necessarily binding on others; and, virtuous herself as any griffin of +propriety, she constantly patronised, at any rate, the theory of +infidelity in her neighbours. She was very eager in denouncing the +prejudices of the English world, declaring that she had found existence +among them to be no longer possible for herself. She was hot against the +stern unforgiveness of British matrons, and equally eager in reprobating +the stiff conventionalities of a religion in which she said that none of +its votaries had faith, though they all allowed themselves to be +enslaved. + +We had at that time a small set at Rome, consisting chiefly of English +and Americans, who habitually met at each other's rooms, and spent many +of our evening hours in discussing Italian politics. We were, most of +us, painters, poets, novelists, or sculptors;--perhaps I should say +would-be painters, poets, novelists, and sculptors,--aspirants hoping to +become some day recognised; and among us Mrs. Talboys took her place, +naturally enough, on account of a very pretty taste she had for painting. + +I do not know that she ever originated anything that was grand; but she +made some nice copies, and was fond, at any rate, of art conversation. +She wrote essays, too, which she showed in confidence to various +gentlemen, and had some idea of taking lessons in modelling. + +In all our circle Conrad Mackinnon, an American, was, perhaps, the person +most qualified to be styled its leader. He was one who absolutely did +gain his living, and an ample living too, by his pen, and was regarded on +all sides as a literary lion, justified by success in roaring at any tone +he might please. His usual roar was not exactly that of a sucking-dove +or a nightingale; but it was a good-humoured roar, not very offensive to +any man, and apparently acceptable enough to some ladies. He was a big +burly man, near to fifty as I suppose, somewhat awkward in his gait, and +somewhat loud in his laugh. But though nigh to fifty, and thus ungainly, +he liked to be smiled on by pretty women, and liked, as some said, to be +flattered by them also. If so, he should have been happy, for the ladies +at Rome at that time made much of Conrad Mackinnon. + +Of Mrs. Mackinnon no one did make very much, and yet she was one of the +sweetest, dearest, quietest, little creatures that ever made glad a man's +fireside. She was exquisitely pretty, always in good humour, never +stupid, self-denying to a fault, and yet she was generally in the +background. She would seldom come forward of her own will, but was +contented to sit behind her teapot and hear Mackinnon do his roaring. He +was certainly much given to what the world at Rome called flirting, but +this did not in the least annoy her. She was twenty years his junior, +and yet she never flirted with any one. Women would tell +her--good-natured friends--how Mackinnon went on; but she received such +tidings as an excellent joke, observing that he had always done the same, +and no doubt always would until he was ninety. I do believe that she was +a happy woman; and yet I used to think that she should have been happier. +There is, however, no knowing the inside of another man's house, or +reading the riddles of another man's joy and sorrow. + +We had also there another lion,--a lion cub,--entitled to roar a little, +and of him also I must say something. Charles O'Brien was a young man, +about twenty-five years of age, who had sent out from his studio in the +preceding year a certain bust, supposed by his admirers to be unsurpassed +by any effort of ancient or modern genius. I am no judge of sculpture, +and will not, therefore, pronounce an opinion; but many who considered +themselves to be judges, declared that it was a "goodish head and +shoulders," and nothing more. I merely mention the fact, as it was on +the strength of that head and shoulders that O'Brien separated himself +from a throng of others such as himself in Rome, walked solitary during +the days, and threw himself at the feet of various ladies when the days +were over. He had ridden on the shoulders of his bust into a prominent +place in our circle, and there encountered much feminine admiration--from +Mrs. General Talboys and others. + +Some eighteen or twenty of us used to meet every Sunday evening in Mrs. +Mackinnon's drawing-room. Many of us, indeed, were in the habit of +seeing each other daily, and of visiting together the haunts in Rome +which are best loved by art-loving strangers; but here, in this +drawing-room, we were sure to come together, and here before the end of +November, Mrs. Talboys might always be found, not in any accustomed seat, +but moving about the room as the different male mental attractions of our +society might chance to move themselves. She was at first greatly taken +by Mackinnon,--who also was, I think, a little stirred by her admiration, +though he stoutly denied the charge. She became, however, very dear to +us all before she left us, and certainly we owed to her our love, for she +added infinitely to the joys of our winter. + +"I have come here to refresh myself," she said to Mackinnon one +evening--to Mackinnon and myself; for we were standing together. + +"Shall I get you tea?" said I. + +"And will you have something to eat?" Mackinnon asked. + +"No, no, no;" she answered. "Tea, yes; but for Heaven's sake let nothing +solid dispel the associations of such a meeting as this!" + +"I thought you might have dined early," said Mackinnon. Now Mackinnon +was a man whose own dinner was very dear to him. I have seen him become +hasty and unpleasant, even under the pillars of the Forum, when he +thought that the party were placing his fish in jeopardy by their desire +to linger there too long. + +"Early! Yes. No; I know not when it was. One dines and sleeps in +obedience to that dull clay which weighs down so generally the particle +of our spirit. But the clay may sometimes be forgotten. Here I can +always forget it." + +"I thought you asked for refreshment," I said. She only looked at me, +whose small attempts at prose composition had, up to that time, been +altogether unsuccessful, and then addressed herself in reply to +Mackinnon. + +"It is the air which we breathe that fills our lungs and gives us life +and light. It is that which refreshes us if pure, or sinks us into +stagnation if it be foul. Let me for awhile inhale the breath of an +invigorating literature. Sit down, Mr. Mackinnon; I have a question that +I must put to you." And then she succeeded in carrying him off into a +corner. As far as I could see he went willingly enough at that time, +though he soon became averse to any long retirement in company with Mrs. +Talboys. + +We none of us quite understood what were her exact ideas on the subject +of revealed religion. Somebody, I think, had told her that there were +among us one or two whose opinions were not exactly orthodox according to +the doctrines of the established English church. If so, she was +determined to show us that she also was advanced beyond the prejudices of +an old and dry school of theology. "I have thrown down all the barriers +of religion," she said to poor Mrs. Mackinnon, "and am looking for the +sentiments of a pure Christianity." + +"Thrown down all the barriers of religion!" said Mrs. Mackinnon, in a +tone of horror which was not appreciated. + +"Indeed, yes," said Mrs. Talboys, with an exulting voice. "Are not the +days for such trammels gone by?" + +"But yet you hold by Christianity?" + +"A pure Christianity, unstained by blood and perjury, by hypocrisy and +verbose genuflection. Can I not worship and say my prayers among the +clouds?" And she pointed to the lofty ceiling and the handsome +chandelier. + +"But Ida goes to church," said Mrs. Mackinnon. Ida Talboys was her +daughter. Now, it may be observed, that many who throw down the barriers +of religion, so far as those barriers may affect themselves, still +maintain them on behalf of their children. "Yes," said Mrs. Talboys; +"dear Ida! her soft spirit is not yet adapted to receive the perfect +truth. We are obliged to govern children by the strength of their +prejudices." And then she moved away, for it was seldom that Mrs. +Talboys remained long in conversation with any lady. + +Mackinnon, I believe, soon became tired of her. He liked her flattery, +and at first declared that she was clever and nice; but her niceness was +too purely celestial to satisfy his mundane tastes. Mackinnon himself +can revel among the clouds in his own writings, and can leave us +sometimes in doubt whether he ever means to come back to earth; but when +his foot is on terra firma, he loves to feel the earthly substratum which +supports his weight. With women he likes a hand that can remain an +unnecessary moment within his own, an eye that can glisten with the +sparkle of champagne, a heart weak enough to make its owner's arm tremble +within his own beneath the moonlight gloom of the Coliseum arches. A +dash of sentiment the while makes all these things the sweeter; but the +sentiment alone will not suffice for him. Mrs. Talboys did, I believe, +drink her glass of champagne, as do other ladies; but with her it had no +such pleasing effect. It loosened only her tongue, but never her eye. +Her arm, I think, never trembled, and her hand never lingered. The +General was always safe, and happy, perhaps, in his solitary safety. + +It so happened that we had unfortunately among us two artists who had +quarrelled with their wives. O'Brien, whom I have before mentioned, was +one of them. In his case, I believe him to have been almost as free from +blame as a man can be whose marriage was in itself a fault. However, he +had a wife in Ireland some ten years older than himself; and though he +might sometimes almost forget the fact, his friends and neighbours were +well aware of it. In the other case the whole fault probably was with +the husband. He was an ill-tempered, bad-hearted man, clever enough, but +without principle; and he was continually guilty of the great sin of +speaking evil of the woman whose name he should have been anxious to +protect. In both cases our friend Mrs. Talboys took a warm interest, and +in each of them she sympathised with the present husband against the +absent wife. + +Of the consolation which she offered in the latter instance we used to +hear something from Mackinnon. He would repeat to his wife, and to me +and my wife, the conversations which she had with him. "Poor Brown;" she +would say, "I pity him, with my very heart's blood." + +"You are aware that he has comforted himself in his desolation," +Mackinnon replied. + +"I know very well to what you allude. I think I may say that I am +conversant with all the circumstances of this heart-blighting sacrifice." +Mrs. Talboys was apt to boast of the thorough confidence reposed in her +by all those in whom she took an interest. "Yes, he has sought such +comfort in another love as the hard cruel world would allow him." + +"Or perhaps something more than that," said Mackinnon. "He has a family +here in Rome, you know; two little babies." + +"I know it, I know it," she said. "Cherub angels!" and as she spoke she +looked up into the ugly face of Marcus Aurelius; for they were standing +at the moment under the figure of the great horseman on the Campidoglio. +"I have seen them, and they are the children of innocence. If all the +blood of all the Howards ran in their veins it could not make their birth +more noble!" + +"Not if the father and mother of all the Howards had never been married," +said Mackinnon. + +"What; that from you, Mr. Mackinnon!" said Mrs. Talboys, turning her back +with energy upon the equestrian statue, and looking up into the faces, +first of Pollux and then of Castor, as though from them she might gain +some inspiration on the subject which Marcus Aurelius in his coldness had +denied to her. "From you, who have so nobly claimed for mankind the +divine attributes of free action! From you, who have taught my mind to +soar above the petty bonds which one man in his littleness contrives for +the subjection of his brother. Mackinnon! you who are so great!" And +she now looked up into his face. "Mackinnon, unsay those words." + +"They _are_ illegitimate," said he; "and if there was any landed +property--" + +"Landed property! and that from an American!" + +"The children are English, you know." + +"Landed property! The time will shortly come--ay, and I see it +coming--when that hateful word shall be expunged from the calendar; when +landed property shall be no more. What! shall the free soul of a +God-born man submit itself for ever to such trammels as that? Shall we +never escape from the clay which so long has manacled the subtler +particles of the divine spirit? Ay, yes, Mackinnon;" and then she took +him by the arm, and led him to the top of the huge steps which lead down +from the Campidoglio into the streets of modern Rome. "Look down upon +that countless multitude." Mackinnon looked down, and saw three groups +of French soldiers, with three or four little men in each group; he saw, +also, a couple of dirty friars, and three priests very slowly beginning +the side ascent to the church of the Ara Coeli. "Look down upon that +countless multitude," said Mrs. Talboys, and she stretched her arms out +over the half-deserted city. "They are escaping now from these +trammels,--now, now,--now that I am speaking." + +"They have escaped long ago from all such trammels as that of landed +property," said Mackinnon. + +"Ay, and from all terrestrial bonds," she continued, not exactly +remarking the pith of his last observation; "from bonds quasi-terrestrial +and quasi-celestial. The full-formed limbs of the present age, running +with quick streams of generous blood, will no longer bear the ligatures +which past times have woven for the decrepit. Look down upon that +multitude, Mackinnon; they shall all be free." And then, still clutching +him by the arm, and still standing at the top of those stairs, she gave +forth her prophecy with the fury of a Sybil. + +"They shall all be free. Oh, Rome, thou eternal one! thou who hast bowed +thy neck to imperial pride and priestly craft; thou who hast suffered +sorely, even to this hour, from Nero down to Pio Nono,--the days of thine +oppression are over. Gone from thy enfranchised ways for ever is the +clang of the Praetorian cohorts and the more odious drone of meddling +monks!" And yet, as Mackinnon observed, there still stood the dirty +friars and the small French soldiers; and there still toiled the slow +priests, wending their tedious way up to the church of the Ara Coeli. +But that was the mundane view of the matter,--a view not regarded by Mrs. +Talboys in her ecstasy. "O Italia," she continued, "O Italia una, one +and indivisible in thy rights, and indivisible also in thy wrongs! to us +is it given to see the accomplishment of thy glory. A people shall arise +around thine altars greater in the annals of the world than thy Scipios, +thy Gracchi, or thy Caesars. Not in torrents of blood, or with screams +of bereaved mothers, shall thy new triumphs be stained. But mind shall +dominate over matter; and doomed, together with Popes and Bourbons, with +cardinals, diplomatists, and police spies, ignorance and prejudice shall +be driven from thy smiling terraces. And then Rome shall again become +the fair capital of the fairest region of Europe. Hither shall flock the +artisans of the world, crowding into thy marts all that God and man can +give. Wealth, beauty, and innocence shall meet in thy streets--" + +"There will be a considerable change before that takes place," said +Mackinnon. + +"There shall be a considerable change," she answered. "Mackinnon, to +thee it is given to read the signs of the time; and hast thou not read? +Why have the fields of Magenta and Solferino been piled with the corpses +of dying heroes? Why have the waters of the Mincio ran red with the +blood of martyrs? That Italy might be united and Rome immortal. Here, +standing on the Capitolium of the ancient city, I say that it shall be +so; and thou, Mackinnon, who hearest me, knowest that my words are true." + +There was not then in Rome,--I may almost say there was not in Italy, an +Englishman or an American who did not wish well to the cause for which +Italy was and is still contending; as also there is hardly one who does +not now regard that cause as well-nigh triumphant; but, nevertheless, it +was almost impossible to sympathise with Mrs. Talboys. As Mackinnon +said, she flew so high that there was no comfort in flying with her. + +"Well," said he, "Brown and the rest of them are down below. Shall we go +and join them?" + +"Poor Brown! How was it that, in speaking of his troubles, we were led +on to this heart-stirring theme? Yes, I have seen them, the sweet +angels; and I tell you also that I have seen their mother. I insisted on +going to her when I heard her history from him." + +"And what is she like, Mrs. Talboys?" + +"Well; education has done more for some of us than for others; and there +are those from whose morals and sentiments we might thankfully draw a +lesson, whose manners and outward gestures are not such as custom has +made agreeable to us. You, I know, can understand that. I have seen +her, and feel sure that she is pure in heart and high in principle. Has +she not sacrificed herself; and is not self-sacrifice the surest +guarantee for true nobility of character? Would Mrs. Mackinnon object to +my bringing them together?" + +Mackinnon was obliged to declare that he thought his wife would object; +and from that time forth he and Mrs. Talboys ceased to be very close in +their friendship. She still came to the house every Sunday evening, +still refreshed herself at the fountains of his literary rills; but her +special prophecies from henceforth were poured into other ears. And it +so happened that O'Brien now became her chief ally. I do not remember +that she troubled herself much further with the cherub angels or with +their mother; and I am inclined to think that, taking up warmly, as she +did, the story of O'Brien's matrimonial wrongs, she forgot the little +history of the Browns. Be that as it may, Mrs. Talboys and O'Brien now +became strictly confidential, and she would enlarge by the half-hour +together on the miseries of her friend's position, to any one whom she +could get to hear her. + +"I'll tell you what, Fanny," Mackinnon said to his wife one day,--to his +wife and to mine, for we were all together; "we shall have a row in the +house if we don't take care. O'Brien will be making love to Mrs. +Talboys." + +"Nonsense," said Mrs. Mackinnon. "You are always thinking that somebody +is going to make love to some one." + +"Somebody always is," said he. + +"She's old enough to be his mother," said Mrs. Mackinnon. + +"What does that matter to an Irishman?" said Mackinnon. "Besides, I +doubt if there is more than five years' difference between them." + +"There must be more than that," said my wife. "Ida Talboys is twelve, I +know, and I am not quite sure that Ida is the eldest." + +"If she had a son in the Guards it would make no difference," said +Mackinnon. "There are men who consider themselves bound to make love to +a woman under certain circumstances, let the age of the lady be what it +may. O'Brien is such a one; and if she sympathises with him much +oftener, he will mistake the matter, and go down on his knees. You ought +to put him on his guard," he said, addressing himself to his wife. + +"Indeed, I shall do no such thing," said she; "if they are two fools, +they must, like other fools, pay the price of their folly." As a rule +there could be no softer creature than Mrs. Mackinnon; but it seemed to +me that her tenderness never extended itself in the direction of Mrs. +Talboys. + +Just at this time, towards the end, that is, of November, we made a party +to visit the tombs which lie along the Appian Way, beyond that most +beautiful of all sepulchres, the tomb of Cecilia Metella. It was a +delicious day, and we had driven along this road for a couple of miles +beyond the walls of the city, enjoying the most lovely view which the +neighbourhood of Rome affords,--looking over the wondrous ruins of the +old aqueducts, up towards Tivoli and Palestrina. Of all the environs of +Rome this is, on a fair clear day, the most enchanting; and here perhaps, +among a world of tombs, thoughts and almost memories of the old, old days +come upon one with the greatest force. The grandeur of Rome is best seen +and understood from beneath the walls of the Coliseum, and its beauty +among the pillars of the Forum and the arches of the Sacred Way; but its +history and fall become more palpable to the mind, and more clearly +realised, out here among the tombs, where the eyes rest upon the +mountains whose shades were cool to the old Romans as to us,--than +anywhere within the walls of the city. Here we look out at the same +Tivoli and the same Praeneste, glittering in the sunshine, embowered +among the far-off valleys, which were dear to them; and the blue +mountains have not crumbled away into ruins. Within Rome itself we can +see nothing as they saw it. + +Our party consisted of some dozen or fifteen persons, and as a hamper +with luncheon in it had been left on the grassy slope at the base of the +tomb of Cecilia Metella, the expedition had in it something of the nature +of a picnic. Mrs. Talboys was of course with us, and Ida Talboys. +O'Brien also was there. The hamper had been prepared in Mrs. Mackinnon's +room, under the immediate eye of Mackinnon himself, and they therefore +were regarded as the dominant spirits of the party. My wife was leagued +with Mrs. Mackinnon, as was usually the case; and there seemed to be a +general opinion among those who were closely in confidence together, that +something would happen in the O'Brien-Talboys matter. The two had been +inseparable on the previous evening, for Mrs. Talboys had been urging on +the young Irishman her counsels respecting his domestic troubles. Sir +Cresswell Cresswell, she had told him, was his refuge. "Why should his +soul submit to bonds which the world had now declared to be intolerable? +Divorce was not now the privilege of the dissolute rich. Spirits which +were incompatible need no longer be compelled to fret beneath the same +cobbles." In short, she had recommended him to go to England and get rid +of his wife, as she would, with a little encouragement, have recommended +any man to get rid of anything. I am sure that, had she been skilfully +brought on to the subject, she might have been induced to pronounce a +verdict against such ligatures for the body as coats, waistcoats, and +trowsers. Her aspirations for freedom ignored all bounds, and, in +theory, there were no barriers which she was not willing to demolish. + +Poor O'Brien, as we all now began to see, had taken the matter amiss. He +had offered to make a bust of Mrs. Talboys, and she had consented, +expressing a wish that it might find a place among those who had devoted +themselves to the enfranchisement of their fellow-creatures. I really +think she had but little of a woman's customary personal vanity. I know +she had an idea that her eye was lighted up in her warmer moments by some +special fire, that sparks of liberty shone round her brow, and that her +bosom heaved with glorious aspirations; but all these feelings had +reference to her inner genius, not to any outward beauty. But O'Brien +misunderstood the woman, and thought it necessary to gaze into her face, +and sigh as though his heart were breaking. Indeed he declared to a +young friend that Mrs. Talboys was perfect in her style of beauty, and +began the bust with this idea. It was gradually becoming clear to us all +that he would bring himself to grief; but in such a matter who can +caution a man? + +Mrs. Mackinnon had contrived to separate them in making the carriage +arrangements on this day, but this only added fuel to the fire which was +now burning within O'Brien's bosom. I believe that he really did love +her, in his easy, eager, susceptible Irish way. That he would get over +the little episode without any serious injury to his heart no one +doubted; but then, what would occur when the declaration was made? How +would Mrs. Talboys bear it? + +"She deserves it," said Mrs. Mackinnon. + +"And twice as much," my wife added. Why is it that women are so spiteful +to each other? + +Early in the day Mrs. Talboys clambered up to the top of a tomb, and made +a little speech, holding a parasol over her head. Beneath her feet, she +said, reposed the ashes of some bloated senator, some glutton of the +empire, who had swallowed into his maw the provision necessary for a +tribe. Old Rome had fallen through such selfishness as that; but new +Rome would not forget the lesson. All this was very well, and then +O'Brien helped her down; but after this there was no separating them. +For her own part she would sooner have had Mackinnon at her elbow. But +Mackinnon now had found some other elbow. + +"Enough of that was as good as a feast," he had said to his wife. And +therefore Mrs. Talboys, quite unconscious of evil, allowed herself to be +engrossed by O'Brien. + +And then, about three o'clock, we returned to the hamper. Luncheon under +such circumstances always means dinner, and we arranged ourselves for a +very comfortable meal. To those who know the tomb of Cecilia Metella no +description of the scene is necessary, and to those who do not, no +description will convey a fair idea of its reality. It is itself a large +low tower of great diameter, but of beautiful proportion, standing far +outside the city, close on to the side of the old Roman way. It has been +embattled on the top by some latter-day baron, in order that it might be +used for protection to the castle, which has been built on and attached +to it. If I remember rightly, this was done by one of the Frangipani, +and a very lovely ruin he has made of it. I know no castellated old +tumble-down residence in Italy more picturesque than this baronial +adjunct to the old Roman tomb, or which better tallies with the ideas +engendered within our minds by Mrs. Radcliffe and the Mysteries of +Udolpho. It lies along the road, protected on the side of the city by +the proud sepulchre of the Roman matron, and up to the long ruined walls +of the back of the building stretches a grassy slope, at the bottom of +which are the remains of an old Roman circus. Beyond that is the long, +thin, graceful line of the Claudian aqueduct, with Soracte in the +distance to the left, and Tivoli, Palestine, and Frascati lying among the +hills which bound the view. That Frangipani baron was in the right of +it, and I hope he got the value of his money out of the residence which +he built for himself. I doubt, however, that he did but little good to +those who lived in his close neighbourhood. + +We had a very comfortable little banquet seated on the broken lumps of +stone which lie about under the walls of the tomb. I wonder whether the +shade of Cecilia Metella was looking down upon us. We have heard much of +her in these latter days, and yet we know nothing about her, nor can +conceive why she was honoured with a bigger tomb than any other Roman +matron. There were those then among our party who believed that she +might still come back among us, and with due assistance from some cognate +susceptible spirit, explain to us the cause of her widowed husband's +liberality. Alas, alas! if we may judge of the Romans by ourselves, the +true reason for such sepulchral grandeur would redound little to the +credit of the lady Cecilia Metella herself, or to that of Crassus, her +bereaved and desolate lord. + +She did not come among us on the occasion of this banquet, possibly +because we had no tables there to turn in preparation for her presence; +but, had she done so, she could not have been more eloquent of things of +the other world than was Mrs. Talboys. I have said that Mrs. Talboys' +eye never glanced more brightly after a glass of champagne, but I am +inclined to think that on this occasion it may have done so. O'Brien +enacted Ganymede, and was, perhaps, more liberal than other latter-day +Ganymedes, to whose services Mrs. Talboys had been accustomed. Let it +not, however, be suspected by any one that she exceeded the limits of a +discreet joyousness. By no means! The generous wine penetrated, +perhaps, to some inner cells of her heart, and brought forth thoughts in +sparkling words, which otherwise might have remained concealed; but there +was nothing in what she thought or spoke calculated to give umbrage +either to an anchorite or to a vestal. A word or two she said or sung +about the flowing bowl, and once she called for Falernian; but beyond +this her converse was chiefly of the rights of man and the weakness of +women; of the iron ages that were past, and of the golden time that was +to come. + +She called a toast and drank to the hopes of the latter historians of the +nineteenth century. Then it was that she bade O'Brien "Fill high the +bowl with Samian wine." The Irishman took her at her word, and she +raised the bumper, and waved it over her head before she put it to her +lips. I am bound to declare that she did not spill a drop. "The true +'Falernian grape,'" she said, as she deposited the empty beaker on the +grass beneath her elbow. Viler champagne I do not think I ever +swallowed; but it was the theory of the wine, not its palpable body +present there, as it were, in the flesh, which inspired her. There was +really something grand about her on that occasion, and her enthusiasm +almost amounted to reality. + +Mackinnon was amused, and encouraged her, as, I must confess, did I also. +Mrs. Mackinnon made useless little signs to her husband, really fearing +that the Falernian would do its good offices too thoroughly. My wife, +getting me apart as I walked round the circle distributing viands, +remarked that "the woman was a fool, and would disgrace herself." But I +observed that after the disposal of that bumper she worshipped the rosy +god in theory only, and therefore saw no occasion to interfere. "Come, +Bacchus," she said; "and come, Silenus, if thou wilt; I know that ye are +hovering round the graves of your departed favourites. And ye, too, +nymphs of Egeria," and she pointed to the classic grove which was all but +close to us as we sat there. "In olden days ye did not always despise +the abodes of men. But why should we invoke the presence of the +gods,--we, who can become godlike ourselves! We ourselves are the +deities of the present age. For us shall the tables be spread with +ambrosia; for us shall the nectar flow." + +Upon the whole it was very good fooling,--for awhile; and as soon as we +were tired of it we arose from our seats, and began to stroll about the +place. It was beginning to be a little dusk, and somewhat cool, but the +evening air was pleasant, and the ladies, putting on their shawls, did +not seem inclined at once to get into the carriages. At any rate, Mrs. +Talboys was not so inclined, for she started down the hill towards the +long low wall of the old Roman circus at the bottom; and O'Brien, close +at her elbow, started with her. + +"Ida, my dear, you had better remain here," she said to her daughter; +"you will be tired if you come as far as we are going." + +"Oh, no, mamma, I shall not," said Ida. "You get tired much quicker than +I do." + +"Oh, yes, you will; besides I do not wish you to come." There was an end +of it for Ida, and Mrs. Talboys and O'Brien walked off together, while we +all looked into each other's faces. + +"It would be a charity to go with them," said Mackinnon. + +"Do you be charitable, then," said his wife. + +"It should be a lady," said he. + +"It is a pity that the mother of the spotless cherubim is not here for +the occasion," said she. "I hardly think that any one less gifted will +undertake such a self sacrifice." Any attempt of the kind would, +however, now have been too late, for they were already at the bottom of +the hill. O'Brien had certainly drunk freely of the pernicious contents +of those long-necked bottles; and though no one could fairly accuse him +of being tipsy, nevertheless that which might have made others drunk had +made him bold, and he dared to do--perhaps more than might become a man. +If under any circumstances he could be fool enough to make an avowal of +love to Mrs. Talboys, he might be expected, as we all thought, to do it +now. + +We watched them as they made for a gap in the wall which led through into +the large enclosed space of the old circus. It had been an arena for +chariot games, and they had gone down with the avowed purpose of +searching where might have been the meta, and ascertaining how the +drivers could have turned when at their full speed. For awhile we had +heard their voices,--or rather her voice especially. "The heart of a +man, O'Brien, should suffice for all emergencies," we had heard her say. +She had assumed a strange habit of calling men by their simple names, as +men address each other. When she did this to Mackinnon, who was much +older than herself, we had been all amused by it, and, other ladies of +our party had taken to call him "Mackinnon" when Mrs. Talboys was not by; +but we had felt the comedy to be less safe with O'Brien, especially when, +on one occasion, we heard him address her as Arabella. She did not seem +to be in any way struck by his doing so, and we supposed, therefore, that +it had become frequent between them. What reply he made at the moment +about the heart of a man I do not know;--and then in a few minutes they +disappeared through the gap in the wall. + +None of us followed them, though it would have seemed the most natural +thing in the world to do so had nothing out of the way been expected. As +it was we remained there round the tomb quizzing the little foibles of +our dear friend, and hoping that O'Brien would be quick in what he was +doing. That he would undoubtedly get a slap in the +face--metaphorically--we all felt certain, for none of us doubted the +rigid propriety of the lady's intentions. Some of us strolled into the +buildings, and some of us got out on to the road; but we all of us were +thinking that O'Brien was very slow a considerable time before we saw +Mrs. Talboys reappear through the gap. + +At last, however, she was there, and we at once saw that she was alone. +She came on, breasting the hill with quick steps, and when she drew near +we could see that there was a frown as of injured majesty on her brow. +Mackinnon and his wife went forward to meet her. If she were really in +trouble it would be fitting in some way to assist her; and of all women +Mrs. Mackinnon was the last to see another woman suffer from ill-usage +without attempting to aid her. "I certainly never liked her," Mrs. +Mackinnon said afterwards; "but I was bound to go and hear her tale, when +she really had a tale to tell." + +And Mrs. Talboys now had a tale to tell,--if she chose to tell it. The +ladies of our party declared afterwards that she would have acted more +wisely had she kept to herself both O'Brien's words to her and her +answer. "She was well able to take care of herself," Mrs. Mackinnon +said; "and, after all, the silly man had taken an answer when he got it." +Not, however, that O'Brien had taken his answer quite immediately, as far +as I could understand from what we heard of the matter afterwards. + +At the present moment Mrs. Talboys came up the rising ground all alone, +and at a quick pace. "The man has insulted me," she said aloud, as well +as her panting breath would allow her, and as soon as she was near enough +to Mrs. Mackinnon to speak to her. + +"I am sorry for that," said Mrs. Mackinnon. "I suppose he has taken a +little too much wine." + +"No; it was a premeditated insult. The base-hearted churl has failed to +understand the meaning of true, honest sympathy." + +"He will forget all about it when he is sober," said Mackinnon, meaning +to comfort her. + +"What care I what he remembers or what he forgets!" she said, turning +upon poor Mackinnon indignantly. "You men grovel so in your ideas--" +"And yet," as Mackinnon said afterwards, "she had been telling me that I +was a fool for the last three weeks."--"You men grovel so in your ideas, +that you cannot understand the feelings of a true-hearted woman. What +can his forgetfulness or his remembrance be to me? Must not I remember +this insult? Is it possible that I should forget it?" + +Mr. and Mrs. Mackinnon only had gone forward to meet her; but, +nevertheless, she spoke so loud that all heard her who were still +clustered round the spot on which we had dined. + +"What has become of Mr. O'Brien?" a lady whispered to me. + +I had a field-glass with me, and, looking round, I saw his hat as he was +walking inside the walls of the circus in the direction towards the city. +"And very foolish he must feel," said the lady. + +"No doubt he is used to it," said another. + +"But considering her age, you know," said the first, who might have been +perhaps three years younger than Mrs. Talboys, and who was not herself +averse to the excitement of a moderate flirtation. But then why should +she have been averse, seeing that she had not as yet become subject to +the will of any imperial lord? + +"He would have felt much more foolish," said the third, "if she had +listened to what he said to her." + +"Well I don't know," said the second; "nobody would have known anything +about it then, and in a few weeks they would have gradually become tired +of each other in the ordinary way." + +But in the meantime Mrs. Talboys was among us. There had been no attempt +at secresy, and she was still loudly inveighing against the grovelling +propensities of men. "That's quite true, Mrs. Talboys," said one of the +elder ladies; "but then women are not always so careful as they should +be. Of course I do not mean to say that there has been any fault on your +part." + +"Fault on my part! Of course there has been fault on my part. No one +can make any mistake without fault to some extent. I took him to be a +man of sense, and he is a fool. Go to Naples indeed!" + +"Did he want you to go to Naples?" asked Mrs. Mackinnon. + +"Yes; that was what he suggested. We were to leave by the train for +Civita Vecchia at six to-morrow morning and catch the steamer which +leaves Leghorn to-night. Don't tell me of wine. He was prepared for +it!" And she looked round about on us with an air of injured majesty in +her face which was almost insupportable. + +"I wonder whether he took the tickets over-night," said Mackinnon. + +"Naples!" she said, as though now speaking exclusively to herself; "the +only ground in Italy which has as yet made no struggle on behalf of +freedom;--a fitting residence for such a dastard!" + +"You would have found it very pleasant at this season," said the +unmarried lady, who was three years her junior. + +My wife had taken Ida out of the way when the first complaining note from +Mrs. Talboys had been heard ascending the hill. But now, when matters +began gradually to become quiescent, she brought her back, suggesting, as +she did so, that they might begin to think of returning. + +"It is getting very cold, Ida, dear, is it not?" said she. + +"But where is Mr. O'Brien?" said Ida. + +"He has fled,--as poltroons always fly," said Mrs. Talboys. I believe in +my heart that she would have been glad to have had him there in the +middle of the circle, and to have triumphed over him publicly among us +all. No feeling of shame would have kept her silent for a moment. + +"Fled!" said Ida, looking up into her mother's face. + +"Yes, fled, my child." And she seized her daughter in her arms, and +pressed her closely to her bosom. "Cowards always fly." + +"Is Mr. O'Brien a coward?" Ida asked. + +"Yes, a coward, a very coward! And he has fled before the glance of an +honest woman's eye. Come, Mrs. Mackinnon, shall we go back to the city? +I am sorry that the amusement of the day should have received this +check." And she walked forward to the carriage and took her place in it +with an air that showed that she was proud of the way in which she had +conducted herself. + +"She is a little conceited about it after all," said that unmarried lady. +"If poor Mr. O'Brien had not shown so much premature anxiety with +reference to that little journey to Naples, things might have gone +quietly after all." + +But the unmarried lady was wrong in her judgment. Mrs. Talboys was proud +and conceited in the matter,--but not proud of having excited the +admiration of her Irish lover. She was proud of her own subsequent +conduct, and gave herself credit for coming out strongly as a +noble-minded matron. "I believe she thinks," said Mrs. Mackinnon, "that +her virtue is quite Spartan and unique; and if she remains in Rome she'll +boast of it through the whole winter." + +"If she does, she may be certain that O'Brien will do the same," said +Mackinnon. "And in spite of his having fled from the field, it is upon +the cards that he may get the best of it. Mrs. Talboys is a very +excellent woman. She has proved her excellence beyond a doubt. But, +nevertheless, she is susceptible of ridicule." + +We all felt a little anxiety to hear O'Brien's account of the matter, and +after having deposited the ladies at their homes, Mackinnon and I went +off to his lodgings. At first he was denied to us, but after awhile we +got his servant to acknowledge that he was at home, and then we made our +way up to his studio. We found him seated behind a half-formed model, or +rather a mere lump of clay punched into something resembling the shape of +a head, with a pipe in his mouth and a bit of stick in his hand. He was +pretending to work, though we both knew that it was out of the question +that he should do anything in his present frame of mind. + +"I think I heard my servant tell you that I was not at home," said he. + +"Yes, he did," said Mackinnon, "and would have sworn to it too if we +would have let him. Come, don't pretend to be surly." + +"I am very busy, Mr. Mackinnon." + +"Completing your head of Mrs. Talboys, I suppose, before you start for +Naples." + +"You don't mean to say that she has told you all about it," and he turned +away from his work, and looked up into our faces with a comical +expression, half of fun and half of despair. + +"Every word of it," said I. "When you want a lady to travel with you, +never ask her to get up so early in winter." + +"But, O'Brien, how could you be such an ass?" said Mackinnon. "As it has +turned out, there is no very great harm done. You have insulted a +respectable middle-aged woman, the mother of a family, and the wife of a +general officer, and there is an end of it;--unless, indeed, the general +officer should come out from England to call you to account." + +"He is welcome," said O'Brien, haughtily. + +"No doubt, my dear fellow," said Mackinnon; "that would be a dignified +and pleasant ending to the affair. But what I want to know is +this;--what would you have done if she had agreed to go?" + +"He never calculated on the possibility of such a contingency," said I. + +"By heavens, then, I thought she would like it," said he. + +"And to oblige her you were content to sacrifice yourself," said +Mackinnon. + +"Well, that was just it. What the deuce is a fellow to do when a woman +goes on in that way. She told me down there, upon the old race course +you know, that matrimonial bonds were made for fools and slaves. What +was I to suppose that she meant by that? But to make all sure, I asked +her what sort of a fellow the General was. 'Dear old man,' she said, +clasping her hands together. 'He might, you know, have been my father.' +'I wish he were,' said I, 'because then you'd be free.' 'I am free,' +said she, stamping on the ground, and looking up at me as much as to say +that she cared for no one. 'Then,' said I, 'accept all that is left of +the heart of Wenceslaus O'Brien,' and I threw myself before her in her +path. 'Hand,' said I, 'I have none to give, but the blood which runs red +through my veins is descended from a double line of kings.' I said that +because she is always fond of riding a high horse. I had gotten close +under the wall, so that none of you should see me from the tower." + +"And what answer did she make?" said Mackinnon. + +"Why she was pleased as Punch;--gave me both her hands, and declared that +we would be friends for ever. It is my belief, Mackinnon, that that +woman never heard anything of the kind before. The General, no doubt, +did it by letter." + +"And how was it that she changed her mind?" + +"Why; I got up, put my arm round her waist, and told her that we would be +off to Naples. I'm blest if she didn't give me a knock in the ribs that +nearly sent me backwards. She took my breath away, so that I couldn't +speak to her." + +"And then--" + +"Oh, there was nothing more. Of course I saw how it was. So she walked +off one way and I the other. On the whole I consider that I am well out +of it." + +"And so do I," said Mackinnon, very gravely. "But if you will allow me +to give you my advice, I would suggest that it would be well to avoid +such mistakes in future." + +"Upon my word," said O'Brien, excusing himself, "I don't know what a man +is to do under such circumstances. I give you my honour that I did it +all to oblige her." + +We then decided that Mackinnon should convey to the injured lady the +humble apology of her late admirer. It was settled that no detailed +excuses should be made. It should be left to her to consider whether the +deed which had been done might have been occasioned by wine, or by the +folly of a moment,--or by her own indiscreet enthusiasm. No one but the +two were present when the message was given, and therefore we were +obliged to trust to Mackinnon's accuracy for an account of it. + +She stood on very high ground indeed, he said, at first refusing to hear +anything that he had to say on the matter. "The foolish young man," she +declared, "was below her anger and below her contempt." + +"He is not the first Irishman that has been made indiscreet by beauty," +said Mackinnon. + +"A truce to that," she replied, waving her hand with an air of assumed +majesty. "The incident, contemptible as it is, has been unpleasant to +me. It will necessitate my withdrawal from Rome." + +"Oh, no, Mrs. Talboys; that will be making too much of him." + +"The greatest hero that lives," she answered, "may have his house made +uninhabitable by a very small insect." Mackinnon swore that those were +her own words. Consequently a sobriquet was attached to O'Brien of which +he by no means approved. And from that day we always called Mrs. Talboys +"the hero." + +Mackinnon prevailed at last with her, and she did not leave Rome. She +was even induced to send a message to O'Brien, conveying her forgiveness. +They shook hands together with great eclat in Mrs. Mackinnon's +drawing-room; but I do not suppose that she ever again offered to him +sympathy on the score of his matrimonial troubles. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. 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