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diff --git a/old/talby10.txt b/old/talby10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49a194f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/talby10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1373 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext Mrs. General Talboys, by Anthony Trollope +#22 in our series by Anthony Trollope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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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 Project Gutenberg Etext Mrs. General Talboys, by Anthony Trollope + diff --git a/old/talby10.zip b/old/talby10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b57cdd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/talby10.zip |