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diff --git a/78660-0.txt b/78660-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..613886d --- /dev/null +++ b/78660-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18815 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78660 *** + + + + + + + KNIGHT-ERRANT + + + BY + + EDNA LYALL + + AUTHOR OF "DONOVAN," "WE TWO," "A HARDY NORSEMAN," + "IN THE GOLDEN DAYS," ETC. + + + + NEW YORK: + W. L. ALLISON COMPANY, + PUBLISHERS. + + + + + TO + + EVANGELINE JAMESON + + "Searching my heart for all that touches you, + I find there only love and love's good-will." + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER + + I.--"The Happiest Man in Naples" + II.--A Goodly Heritage + III.--Francesca + IV.--A Cloudless Betrothal + V.--A Threatening Sky + VI.--The Storm Breaks + VII.--"No one but You" + VIII.--Piale Schemes + IX.--The Olive Garden + X.--The "Pilgrim" + XI.--A First Encounter + XII.--A Troubled Night + XIII.--"Pazienza" + XIV.--The New Baritone + XV.--A Dear Adventure + XVI.--On the Stage + XVII.--A Farewell + XVIII.--Francesca's Autumn + XIX.--In England + XX.--A Return + XXI.--Wintry Weather + XXII.--A Rescuer + XXIII.--"Clare" + XXIV.--An English Home + XXV.--A Last Struggle + XXVI.--Behind the Scenes + XXVII.--"High Failure" + XXVIII.--A Restoration + XXIX.--Convalescent + XXX.--Bitter-Sweet + XXXI.--A New Proposal + XXXII.--After Two Years + XXXIII.--Genoa + XXXIV.--Yachting + XXXV.--A Final Choice + XXXVI.--"All Goeth but God's Will" + XXXVII.--At Palazzo Forti + XXXVIII.--At Casa Bella + XXXIX.--Afterwards + + + + +KNIGHT-ERRANT. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +"THE HAPPIEST MAN IN NAPLES. + +"They came at a delicate plain called Ease, where they went with much +content; but that plain was but narrow, so they were quickly got over +it."--_Pilgrim's Progress_. + + +"Presto! off with the paper! let us see how they look!" exclaimed a +fresh, mellow voice. + +"Permit me, signor," interposed the Neapolitan stationer who presided +behind the counter of a shop in the Toledo, and taking the little +white packet from the hands of the speaker he slipped the blade of +his penknife through the wrapper, drew forth with a flourish one of +the cards within, and, bowing and smiling, handed it to his customer. +"There, signor, and accept with it my sincere congratulations." + +The young man glanced eagerly at the card, upon which was engraved in +copperplate the name,-- + + "AVVOCATO CARLO POERIO DONATI." + + +It was to him the sign and symbol of manhood, of freedom; it meant +that he turned his back upon examinations and tutelage; it meant that +he was at length free to declare the love which for many years had +been the great guiding influence of his life. + +"Ah, Signor Pietro," he replied, turning to the friendly old +shopkeeper with a smile which illumined his whole face; "I am the +happiest man in Naples to-day! Come, Enrico, you are not half enough +excited!" and turning to his friend, who stood beside him watching +the scene with good-humored indifference, he caught a similar little +packet from his hand, and, tearing it open, produced a card bearing +the name,-- + + "AVVOCATO ENRICO RITTER." + + +Enrico was of German parentage, but the Ritters had lived for +half-a-century in Naples and were naturalized; nevertheless, spite of +his Italian education, Enrico remained German to the backbone, and +presented in every way a most curious contrast to his friend and +companion. + +"Why, devil take the cards! they're not so much to me as to you," he +exclaimed, with a laugh. "Signor Pietro does not expect to see me +wild with excitement over a trumpery piece of pasteboard." + +"Most matter-of-fact Enrico! Where is your imagination?" cried +Carlo, laughing. "Can the magic word _avvocato_ call up to your +German brain no visions of the future?" + +"Visions!" grumbled Enrico, with assumed despondency; "ay, visions of +hot courts, long cases, rusty gowns, and scant fees." + +Both Carlo and the stationer laughed heartily at the serious face of +the speaker. + +"Well, Signor Pietro, it was ever the same story; was it not? He is +prosaic now as when we came to you years ago for note-books and pens +on our way from the Ginnasio. But come, it is getting late; I must +be off, Enrico. Good-day to you, Signor Pietro, and many thanks for +your congratulations." + +The two friends left the shop and walked on through the busy, crowded +streets to the Piazza del Plebiscito. More than one passer-by turned +to glance at Carlo's beautiful face; for, truth to tell, good looks +are the exception, not the rule, in Naples, and among the swarthy or +sallow Neapolitans his rich, ruddy-brown coloring could not fail to +win notice. The face was singularly attractive, not only from the +beauty of its well-cut features, but from the unaffected modesty of +the expression, and the sweetness of the dark, liquid eyes. He +looked what he had termed himself--the happiest man in Naples. If in +appearance he lacked anything it was height; but we cannot all be +heroes of six feet, and Carlo, though small and slight, was so well +proportioned, so lithe and active, so imbued with the grace common to +most Italians, that it was impossible to wish for any change in him. +He might that day have stood as a true impersonation of Optimism, +while Enrico Ritter, on the other hand, might well have posed as the +ideal Pessimist. + +Enrico was of the Germans, German; there was no mistaking that fair, +straight hair and moustache, that light coloring and broad face, +those small, light-gray eyes, honest, hard, yet with some good-humor +in their expression which contradicted the cynical mouth. What had +first drawn two such curiously contrasted men together it was +impossible to say; scientists might have argued that it was the very +fact that they were polar opposites. But, whatever the cause of +their friendship, friends they were in the best sense of the word, +and their friendship had stood the wear and tear of ten years. + +By this time they had reached the Piazza; the afternoon sun was +shining on the red walls of the Palazzo Reale, lighting up the heavy +arcades of the San Carlo, glorifying the dome and stately front of +the Church of S. Francesco di Paolo. It seemed a strange medley of +ancient and modern, haunted by memories of King Bomba's +cruelties,--haunted by visions of Garibaldi and Carlo Poerio, while +hither and thither plied the busy tramcars, and amid a gay throng of +people dressed in the latest Parisian fashion there filed slowly past +a procession of white-robed monks. + +"Ten minutes to spare before my horse is ready," said Carlo, looking +at his watch; "let us have some coffee;" and so saying he led the way +into the nearest restaurant. Enrico paused to buy an evening paper, +then followed his friend. + +The place was crowded, and there arose a confused babel of voices, a +mingling of French, English, and Italian. Carlo had seated himself +at one of the small marble tables, and, since Enrico seemed more +inclined to read his paper than to talk, was fain to listen to the +discussion going on between two English tourists close by. + +Possibly they thought themselves practically alone in this foreign +assembly; certainly it did not occur to them that their very +Italian-looking neighbor understood and spoke their language as well +as his own, for they were talking freely on subjects which Englishmen +are not wont to speak of in public. + +"But, really now," urged the younger of the two, with some warmth, +"you can't possibly maintain such a notion. Do you think we are not +improved,--vastly improved, in the last two hundred years?" + +"The increase of civilization gives us a better appearance, I grant," +said the elder, "but I do not believe the sum total of evil is +lessened." + +Carlo listened attentively, for this dreary doctrine was opposed to +his whole nature. + +"Why, turn to history," exclaimed the younger man, "see how +indifferent people were to suffering, and then look at our nineteenth +century, with its innumerable charities, its missions, its hospitals, +its guilds." + +"True, quite true," said the elder man, quietly; "a wave of +philanthropy is passing over us; there is much talk--even, I admit, +much good work, but men are not more willing to live the life of the +Crucified." + +The younger man was silent. Hitherto he had been very ready with his +replies, now he fell into deep thought. Carlo Donati, too, was +struck by those last words. They broke in very painfully upon his +rapturous happiness, his joyful anticipations. He had been spared +most of the usual doubts and fears of a lover; he was practically +sure of Francesca Britton's love, and already he had received her +father's permission to propose to her, Captain Britton having only +stipulated that he should wait till his education was finished. + +Now his time of probation was over; within a few days, nay, perhaps +within a few hours, Francesca might be his own. Could he bear on +that day, of all others, to dream of the possibility of a cloud +arising? His sky was so clear, his life had been so happy and +successful, the very thought of gathering darkness on the horizon was +torture to him; "Let my happiness last! oh, let it last!" was his +inward cry, and, as if in answer, there floated hack to him the +stranger's words, and he knew that they were true: "Men are not more +willing to live the life of the Crucified." + +Involuntarily he turned to glance at the man who had disturbed his +peace, and saw a strong, intellectual face, which, notwithstanding +traces of deep thought and hard conflict, bore a calm and tranquil +expression. But the conversation had been checked by those grave +words, the stranger called the waiter, paid for his coffee, tucked +his "Baedeker" under his arm, and rose to go. + +Carlo followed him with his eyes as he left the restaurant; he felt +strongly that curious conviction which comes to some people when a +stranger has unconsciously influenced them, that in this world, or +some other, they will infallibly meet again. + +So engrossed had he been with the two Englishmen and their talk that +he had not heeded his friend. He had not seen the start of surprise +and dismay with which Enrico had noted a paragraph in the _Piccolo_. +What was there in those brief lines which filled him with +apprehension? Why did he glance with such anxiety and regret at +Carlo, and then once again read that unwelcome paragraph? + +"We understand that the season will be commenced at Whitsuntide at +the Teatro Mercadante, with the operatic company of Signor Merlino. +Madame Merlino, whose singing has created a very favorable impression +in America, will be the prima donna." + +All the indifference had vanished now from Enrico's face. A dreadful +annoyance awaited his friend, and that it should reach him to-day of +all days seemed to him intolerable. He would at any rate do his best +to give him a respite, Carlo should at least propose to Miss Britton, +and enjoy if it were even but a few hours of unalloyed happiness. +Seizing his opportunity, when his companion turned to watch the +Englishmen as they left the restaurant, Enrico tore off the corner +containing the unwelcome news, and was about to thrust it into his +pocket when Carlo checked him with a question,-- + +"What is it! About our examinations?" + +"No," said Enrico, composedly; "I saw nothing about them. I only +wanted a scrap of paper to wrap up these confounded cards; thanks to +your eagerness to see them, they're all loose in my pocket." + +So saying, he deliberately wrapped the cards in the paper containing +the bad news, and pushed the rest of the _Piccolo_ towards his +friend. "Take it home with you if you like, I have done with it." + +"And I," said Carlo, laughing, "hope to have little time for it." He +took it nevertheless, stowed it away in his pocket and got up to go. + +"I'll walk with you as far as the stable," said Enrico. "Now follow +my advice and ride home calmly. If you go on in this state of fever +you will not be fit for your interview with that stately old +Englishman, upon whom you have to make a good impression as future +son-in-law." + +"Stuff and nonsense!" said Carlo, laughing gayly. "Make an +impression, indeed! Do you forget that we have been next-door +neighbors this age, and that he knows me as well as you do?" + +"An impossibility," said Enrico, smiling, "for with me I have taught +you, as we say in Germany, to be as you are to yourself. Now with +that old English captain you walk as though treading on eggs, you are +courteous and deferential; you never forget that you hope to be his +son-in-law, and you'll never quarrel with him,--at any rate not until +the hope has become a tame reality." + +The dry, sardonic tone in which this had been spoken, turned Carlo's +indignant protest to laughter. + +"The only topic on which we are likely to quarrel is politics; and as +he knows nothing of Italian affairs, one needs now and then adroitly +to turn the conversation. But don't make me speak against Captain +Britton, to-day, _amico mio_." + +"Ah, poor fellow!" said Enrico, pityingly; "I knew he would prove the +crumpled rose-leaf to destroy your perfect bliss. There is always a +father-in-law, or a mother-in-law, or a cantankerous relative, who +kicks up a row about the settlements. Don't you expect the course of +your true love to run smooth--that's against nature." + +As he spoke he glanced rather anxiously at a large hoarding which +they were approaching, rapidly running his eye over the theatrical +posters, but, much to his relief, the Mercadante bills were not yet +out. + +"You are as depressing as a funeral!" said Carlo, much tickled by the +notion that the substantial Englishman was a crumpled rose-leaf; +"and, indeed, if I have no worse crook in my lot than Captain +Britton, I shall farewell. No one could have been more courteous and +helpful to my mother all these years, no one could have been more +genial and hospitable to me. Of course we all have our faults." + +"Too true!" said Enrico, mockingly. "The Englishman loves a lord, +and has an eye to the main chance, and knows that you are heir to a +certain rich uncle, and that unless the money is secured and tied up +in the orthodox English fashion, it will be flung away upon 'Young +Italy,' or some hare-brained scheme for educating organ-grinders." + +"If we were not in the public street I would punish you well!" cried +Carlo. "There never was such a fellow for imputing low motives to +all the world." + +"Well, well, rail at me as you like," said Enrico, indifferently; +"but as yet I have never found myself at fault in assuming that +egoism rules the universe. Ah, your horse is waiting for you, I see, +and the ostler tries to look hot and tired to cajole a large coin +from you. _A rivederci!_ But I advise you to avoid Naples for the +next few days; don't come to me for sympathy in your rapture, for +I've not the smallest doubt that love is egoism, and marriage is +egoism, and----" + +"You are incorrigible!" cried Carlo, as he mounted the beautiful Arab +which was waiting for him. "I'll not wait to hear you out." And, +with a wave of the hand, he rode off, looking back laughingly at the +interrupted egoist, who, with a shrug of the shoulders, turned away. + +And yet it was something quite other than egoism which brought a +grave look to Enrico's face as he walked home through the sunny +streets. Suddenly perceiving an upright, alert-looking old man on +the opposite side of the way, he crossed the road and hastened after +him. + +"Pardon me, Signor Piale!" he exclaimed, "but may I ask you a +question? You are probably acquainted with all that is going on in +the musical world. Is this true that I see to-day in the _Piccolo_? +Is Merlino's Company really coming to the Mercadante?" + +"_Diavolo!_ it is true enough, more's the pity," replied the old man; +"but I have not said a word of it to my pupil. Carlo is +over-sensitive, he felt that affair too much; only of late has he +seemed to have forgotten it somewhat. He is one whose life should +have been exempt from shadows." + +"I should have thought common decency would have kept Merlino away +from Naples," said Enrico, hotly. + +"Merlino does not care a fig for common decency," said the old +musician. "He is no credit to our profession. Probably he knows +well enough that the Merlino-Donati scandal is just fresh enough in +men's minds to make his operas draw well." + +"Let us, at least, do our best to keep back the ill news as long as +possible," said Enrico; "it will be a frightful annoyance to Carlo +just now, and I do believe it will be the death of his mother." + +"'Tis always the innocent who suffer for the guilty," said the old +singing-master, giving a fierce rub to his parchment-like cheek. "If +ever there was one who deserved to be free from care, why it is +Carlo; there are but few nowadays who could show so blameless a life." + +"You speak very truly," said Enrico. "Let us hope his blameless life +will weigh with worthy Captain Britton, and prove heavier than the +family skeleton." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A GOODLY HERITAGE. + + "It is not best in an inglorious ease + To sink and dull content, + When wild revolts and hopeless miseries + The unquiet nations fill; + * * * * * + Nay, best it is indeed + To spend ourselves upon the general good; + And, oft misunderstood, + To strive to lift the knees and limbs that bleed. + This is the best, the fullest meed. + Let ignorance assail or hatred sneer + Who loves his race he shall not fear; + He suffers not for long, + Who doth his soul possess in loving, and grows strong." + LEWIS MORRIS. + + +The old singing-master had not exaggerated matters. Though inclined +to see everything connected with his favorite pupil through +rose-colored spectacles, his words were in this instance strictly +true. Carlo had passed scathless through all the temptations of +Neapolitan life; his history would bear the full light of day; it was +impossible to imagine any one more strictly honorable, more simple +and open-minded. But then, certainly, Nature had been to him almost +prodigal in her gifts. To begin with, he came of a good family, and +that not in the vulgar acceptation of the word. The Donati were not +of noble birth, but for five or six generations they had been well +educated, and had earned quite an unusual reputation in the various +learned professions which they had followed. Faults of temper or of +judgment they might have shown, but no Donati had ever been guilty of +an act of meanness, nor had there been in anyone of them a single +grain of insincerity. To belong to a family which has earned +well-deserved respect, to be able to look back upon forefathers who +have lived well and bravely, to know that before you existed your +father, and his father before him, spoke for freedom and pleaded the +cause of the people, this is indeed a birthright worth having. An +inheritance of money may or may not be a desirable thing, but an +inheritance of character, an ancestry of generous, true-hearted men, +who did justly, and loved mercy, and walked humbly with their God, +this is a thing that kings might covet. + +Carlo had undoubtedly inherited a noble character, or rather had +inherited certain tendencies, and as yet, by his life, had helped to +develop, not to arrest, their growth. + +At the close of the last century there had been born a certain Bruno +Donati. People had prophesied great things of him; he had +established, with almost unheard-of rapidity, a great reputation as +an advocate, he had married a beautiful heiress, he was assuredly a +man who would "rise"--so said the world. He did rise, but not in the +way predicted. Regardless of his reputation, regardless of self +altogether, he joined the patriot party who were struggling to +overthrow the hated tyranny of the Neapolitan Bourbons. Leaving his +home, and taking a tender farewell of his wife and his little +children, he set off one June morning for Cilento, the place which +had been chosen for a small rising. At first a certain measure of +success encouraged the patriots; they were able to take the little +fort of Palinuro, and to hoist the tricolored flag. + +But those brave pioneers knew well that they were taking their lives +in their hands. They had achieved a success which must draw the +attention of the whole country upon them. In hot haste General +Delcaretto was sent down to attack them with six thousand men, and no +mercy was shown. Twenty of the patriots were shot without trial; +twenty-six others, and amongst them Bruno Donati, were executed. The +young advocate had, as it seemed, sacrificed his life for a hopeless +cause; he was never again to return to his beautiful home, but +General Delcaretto caused his head to be paraded in front of the +house before the eyes of his widow and his fatherless children. +Then, when the people had been ruined, a commune or two suppressed, +and the insurrection completely stamped out, the General returned to +Naples to be rewarded for his gallantry by receiving the title of +Marquis, a decoration of a knightly order, and a pension. + +Bruno Donati's widow did not die until she had educated her two sons, +and had seen that the younger one, also Bruno, was likely to be just +such a man as his father. She did not realize how much alike the +story of the two Brunos would be. + +Both sons followed their father's profession, but the younger one was +so much engrossed in the revolutionary movement of the time that he +did not make much way in it. Instead of so doing, he joined "Young +Italy," studied deeply under the guidance of Mazzini, and at length +enrolled himself in Garibaldi's gallant little army. + +Carlo's earliest recollections were of a hot August day in the year +1862. He, as a little fellow, had sat beside his mother in a +carriage outside the post-office at Pozzuoli, and some one had +brought them the news of Garibaldi's defeat at Aspromonte, and with +that the tidings that Bruno Donati was dangerously wounded. Carlo +could even now see vividly his mother's deathly face as she read the +news, could remember his puzzled wonder as to what it all meant, and +whether it could possibly be that his father would never return. + +But the second Bruno Donati was in some ways happier than his father; +he was brought back from Aspromonte to his own home, where he +lingered for a month--a month which proved of extraordinary value in +his son's education. The child was too young to feel his father's +death as a life-long grief, but he was just old enough to carry away +from that death-bed a beautiful and unfading memory. Upon his +childish brain was stamped the conviction that to die for "_La +Patria_" was a very happy thing, that the sacrifice of self for +others was the only true greatness, and that even such a failure as +Aspromonte was not to be accounted failure--that right could not fail +in the long run. "_Pazienza! pazienza!_" was the word constantly on +the lips of the dying patriot--the word which always connected itself +with his memory in the mind of his son. On Bruno Donati's dying face +there had been that "look of faith in renunciation" which was stamped +upon the face of his teacher, Mazzini, and the look lived on in the +child's heart. + +"Carlino," his father had said tenderly, on the very last day of his +life--"Carlino _mio_, thou wilt be a man one day." + +"How nice it will be when I am a man like you, father?" cried the boy +eagerly. + +The dying man smiled sadly. + +"Remember always to comfort and shield thy mother; and Nita--take +good care of Nita." + +"Why, father, Nita is older than I am, a whole year older!" exclaimed +the child. + +"But Nita is a woman, and my Carlo must be her brave protector; +promise me that, my son." + +"I promise, father," said the little fellow, squeezing the cold hand +that clasped his. "And father, dear father, I may have your sword, +may I not? You'll not leave it to Uncle Guido, who has one already? +For if I have it, father, then I could fight the brigands if they +took Nita; could I not?" + +The dying man smiled, touched by the innocent literalness of the +reply. He caught Carlo to his breast, holding him in a long, close +embrace. + +"Why, father, I do believe you'll soon be well!" cried the boy, +gleefully, feeling the power of those strong arms round him. He did +not know that a sudden strength is often death's forerunner. + +And in a sense he little meant his words came true, for by the next +morning the second Bruno Donati had entered into the martyr's rest, +and it was "well" with him. + +After this Carlo's life had been uneventful; the recollection of his +father did not sadden him, on the contrary, it raised and stimulated +him. For an Italian boy he had an unusually free and healthy life; +his mother could never make up her mind to leave the country-house +where they had been passing their _villeggiatura_ during that summer +of 1862, and in which her husband had died. They lived all the year +round at the Villa Bruno, and a kindly old priest at Pozzuoli taught +the boy until he was old enough to go in every day to the _Ginnasio_ +at Naples. + +Here he entered into his lifelong friendship with Enrico Ritter, and +learnt much through his intercourse with the German family, whose +house became his headquarters when he was in Naples. The Ritters, +deeming the country life dull for the boy, were constantly inviting +him to stay with them, and giving him brief snatches of gayety. +Nominally Lutherans, the worthy Germans were practically +materialists, and it was largely owing to his visits at the Ritters +that Carlo first became dissatisfied with the religion in which his +mother had educated him. Equally was he dissatisfied with the +conventional acceptance of Christianity and the real scepticism which +prevailed in the Ritter household. For a year or two he puzzled his +brain over the vexed question; finally he took the decisive step and +resolved to go no more to church. This caused much pain to his +mother and to his old friend, Father Cristoforo; and though plunging +deeply into that sort of worship at the shrine of beautiful Nature +which is the reaction from formalism, he felt a want in his life. + +Shortly before this a house close to the Villa Bruno, which for some +years had been untenanted, had been taken by an Englishman named +Captain Britton. He had just lost his wife; and the home at San +Remo, where his children had been born, and to which he had returned +year by year when off duty, had grown intolerable to him. He retired +from the service, and, taking a fancy to the neighborhood of Naples, +settled down at Casa Bella, and made up his mind to live and die +there. He had only two children--Francesca, a beautiful girl about a +year younger than Carlo--so named after an Italian friend of the +family--and Sibyl, a fairy-like little child of two years old. Miss +Claremont, Francesca's governess, or, as everyone called her, +"Clare," had the management of the house, and it was largely owing to +her that a very close intimacy soon sprang up between the two +neighboring families. + +Carlo and Francesca were at first not of an age for falling in love. +They became fast friends, and Carlo in his rather lonely life was +enchanted to find that the English girl was allowed almost unlimited +freedom. She was wholly unlike his convent-bred sister, who, since +her mother was an invalid, was allowed to come home now and then for +a day or two. Nita was beautiful, and sang like an angel, and was a +devout little Catholic, and did her best to teach him the error of +his ways. But, to save her life, Nita could not have been a +companion in his games. Now Francesca, though no hoyden, was in the +matter of games as good as a boy. She was not above climbing trees +or running races, she excelled at rounders, she even initiated him +into the mysteries of cricket, enlisting the services of Clare and +the gardeners. + +Then nothing would do but he must teach her to row, and many were the +happy hours they spent on the sea together, sometimes with Clare in +the stern, sometimes with little Sibyl and her nurse, sometimes with +old Florestano, the fisherman, who would tell them quaint legends of +saints, or mermaids, or ghosts, in all of which he believed equally. +Sometimes they would go oyster-catching in Lake Fusaro, or, with +Clare as a delightful third, would scramble about in the Acropolis at +Cumas, seeking to make fresh discoveries. Or they would play +hide-and-seek in the Grotto della Pace, or act thrilling brigand +stories, or dig and search in field or vineyard, and perhaps stumble +across the remains of an old Roman villa or the ruins of a temple, +hidden away by the straggling green growth. + +Those were happy days for all of them. Carlo before long formed for +Miss Claremont that sort of reverential, half-worshipping friendship +and admiration which is not uncommon between boys of his age and +middle-aged women. And Clare was a friend worth having. She +influenced people chiefly by loving them; you never felt with her +that she was trying to doctor you, or to improve your moral or +spiritual health. She discussed many things with Carlo, listened to +his crude, half-fledged ideas with the utmost patience, and would no +more have smiled at them or treated them contemptuously than a woman +would smile with contempt as she watches the staggering steps of a +baby beginning to walk alone. + +Clare sympathized much with the difficulties of his position; she saw +that his deeply religious Italian nature would never rest content in +its present isolation. + +"Do you never feel the need of worshipping?" she asked him one day. + +"Yes," he replied, "but one need not be within the walls of a church +to do that; a boat at sea, or an olive-grove, are more to my taste." + +Just at that time he was the least bit proud of having shaken himself +free from the bondage of Romanism, a fact which was quite patent to +Clare, and proved to her how perilous was his state. + +"And yet," she urged, "I should have thought that you--a follower of +Mazzini--would have had a strong faith in Association." + +The words struck home, unpleasantly convincing Carlo that he had been +rapturously hugging a thing which he called Freedom, and that it was +but an illusion more worthy to be called Isolation. + +"I don't know where to turn to!" he exclaimed, chafed by a remark +which had disturbed his peace, and proved it to be false. + +"Are you trying to find out the best place?" she asked quietly. + +He was silent, and Clare, who had the rare tact to know when she had +said enough, changed the subject. + +But the very next Sunday he astonished her by asking leave to join +their party and drive in to the English church at Naples with them. +His total absence of false shame, and the ingenuous humility which +could thus tacitly own itself in the wrong, promptly and publicly +following the suggestion of a woman, were thoroughly Italian. Clare +reflected that an Englishman would have allowed a week or two to pass +by, in order to prove that he came of his own free will and not at +the instigation of another; or would, perhaps, have toiled over on +foot in the early morning, slinking in at the back of the church, in +terror lest people should comment on the amendment of his ways. + +After a time he formally joined the English Church. Of course he had +some opposition to encounter; but though his old friend the priest +shook his head sorrowfully, and though his mother shed tears, and +though the Ritters chaffed him good-humoredly, his happiness was too +great to be marred by such things; besides, they all loved him so +well that they soon pardoned the obnoxious step which he had taken, +and did their best to forget that he was not as they were. + +A few months after this the first shadow fell upon Carlo's perfect +felicity. It was suddenly arranged that the Britton household should +migrate to England for a year. An aunt of Francesca's had just died, +and some one was urgently needed to look after the motherless +children. Who was so fit for such a task as Clare? and though she +would fain have lived on in that happy Italian home, she could not +linger there when needed in another place, and at any rate she should +have her children for yet another year. That helped to break the +parting. Captain Britton was glad for a time to be with his brother, +and a year of English life, in which to finish Francesca's rather +unconventional education, was deemed a good idea by all. So once +more Casa Bella was silent and deserted, and Carlo was left to his +own devices. + +It was just at this time that Nita returned from her convent. A +great change was at once effected in the peacefulness of the Villa +Bruno, for the girl, while retaining enough of her religious +education to make her persecute her heretic brother with endless +arguments and remonstrances, was yet so wearied of its strict +restraint that she broke out into violent reaction and tyrannized +over her mother, much as she herself had till now been tyrannized +over. + +The Signora Donati was an invalid; she had never recovered from the +cruel shock of her husband's death, nor had she at any time been +noted for strength of character. Carlo had been too loyal ever to +take advantage of this; her slightest wish had been to him a command, +and the two had idolized each other. But somehow it happened that +Nita coming home from her convent felt like an intruder; she could +not find a niche for herself in the home, and, measuring the hearts +of other people by her own, fancied she was not cared for. Perhaps +her mother did show a little too markedly that Carlo was her +favorite; but then it really was difficult not to love the son who +treated her with such tenderness, such respectful devotion, somewhat +better than the daughter, who sought for nothing but her own +amusement, and never voluntarily performed for her the slightest +service. + +It was also, perhaps, true that Carlo did not greatly care for his +sister, at any rate she tried his temper severely. He was impatient +with her aggravating little displays of piety, her deep genuflexions, +her paraded fasts. He was constantly detecting her in petty deceits, +and once, after some worse specimens of publicity than usual, he had +angrily upbraided her. + +"You are not fit to bear the name of Donati!" he cried hotly, his +boyish sense of honor deeply wounded, and his family pride hurt to +find that Nita was no better than the rest of the world. + +"Perhaps I shall not bear it much longer!" she retorted, angrily. + +And those words haunted poor Carlo for many a year. For, not long +after, all Naples rang with the news that Anita Donati had eloped +with her singing-master, a certain basso who had been engaged that +winter at the San Carlo. + +Fortunately, the Villa Bruno was far away in the country, and the +Signora too great an invalid to go into society. She could bear her +agony in solitude, and was not obliged to wear a mask and go about as +though nothing had happened. + +But Carlo was in the thick of the fray, he had to listen to Uncle +Guido's indignant denunciations, he had to bear the brunt of the +endless questions of the outsiders, had to endure the bitter +consciousness that his sister's name was being bandied about in the +city, and that, for the first time, a Donati had incurred +well-merited blame. + +Since then nothing had been heard of Anita, except that about a week +after her flight she had forwarded to her mother a newspaper with the +announcement of her marriage. But the Signora Donati never recovered +from the shock, nor could she ever forgive herself, for she rightly +felt that had her relations with her daughter been happier such a +thing could never have happened. + +Five years had gone by since then, and Time had passed his quieting +hand over both grief and disgrace. Certainly Carlo felt nothing but +happiness--unalloyed happiness--as he rode home from Naples that +sunny spring day. He knew nothing of that ominous little paragraph +torn out of the _Piccolo_, but galloped on over the white, dusty +road, past fields of Indian corn, past olive-gardens and vineyards, +through the long, dark grotto of Posilipo, and on towards the +picturesque little southern town of Pozzuoli. He scarcely noticed +all the beauty round him; he could see nothing but the face of his +dreams; and the very horse-hoofs flying over the road seemed to +repeat, again and again, the word, "Francesca! Francesca! Francesa!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FRANCESCA. + + "Mortal! if life smile on thee, and thou find + All to thy mind, + Think, Who did once from Heaven to Hell descend + Thee to befriend; + So shalt thou dare forego, at His dear call, + Thy best, thine all."-- + KEBLE. + + +While Carlo rode back from Naples, and while Signor Merlino and his +operatic company steamed between the Pillars of Hercules into the +blue Mediterranean, Francesca Britton sat in a little stone belvedere +in the garden of Casa Bella, from time to time raising her eyes from +her needlework to glance at that same blue Mediterranean, or at the +lovely mountains in Ischia, which were plainly visible through the +arched doorway. + +Beautiful as a child, Francesca was more than beautiful in early +womanhood--she was lovely. It was not alone that the outline of +cheeks and chin was perfect, that the nose was finely chiselled, that +the masses of dark hair drawn back from the white forehead were rich +and wavy; all this might be set down in black and white without +conveying the faintest idea of what she was. And in truth this had +happened over and over again; the photographers had done what they +could, but had failed grievously. Photography could not give the +ineffable charm of her ever-varying expression, the depth and +sweetness of her dark-gray eyes, the dimple in her cheek, which +seemed indeed the sign and symbol of her sunshiny nature. It could +not convey the least notion of her shy grace, of her delicate purity, +or of that keen sense of humor which sparkled so deliciously in her +home-life. Outsiders sometimes deemed the beautiful English girl +cold and distant, and a country life had tended to increase her +natural shyness; but even had she lived in the midst of the +fashionable world, Francesca Britton never could have been thoroughly +known out of her own circle,--she was one of those who keep their +best for their own. + +She was roused from a reverie by seeing a little miniature of herself +flying down the straight, sunny walk which led to the summer-house, +bordered on either side by azaleas glowing with crimson blossom, and +tall, white oleanders. + +"Dino sent me," panted the little girl,--"Dino sent me with this for +father. Where is father? They thought he was out here. And only +fancy! Dino says, Fran dear, that Carlo came and rang the bell just +like a visitor, and handed in his card. Think of Carlo ringing the +bell!" + +And Sibyl broke into a peal of laughter as she skipped about the +summer-house. Her sister let her needlework fall, and taking the +card, glanced at it, smiling and blushing in a way that would have +enraptured any one but unobservant Sibyl. + +"Dino, he is nodding, and smiling, and looking so funny!" continued +the little girl; "and he says Carlo has perhaps come a courting, but +he won't tell me what it means. What is courting, Fran? Anything to +do with the new tennis-court?" + +"'Tis a game which you play for love, Sibyl dear. There, run and +take the card to father, he is down in the orange-grove." + +The little messenger flew off again on her errand, and Francesca sat +musing, smiling to herself every now and then as she thought of the +beloved name with its novel prefix. Carlo an "Avvocato;" it was too +funny! And how like him to send in his card and be shown into the +drawing-room so ceremoniously, instead of, as usual, just leaping +over the edge of prickly pear which divided the gardens of Casa Bella +and Villa Bruno. Then delicious tremors, that were neither hope nor +fear, ran through her, and her heart beat fast and loud. She could +bear the stillness no longer, and, rising, she left the summer-house +and walked down the path between the oleanders and the azaleas. All +at once quick footsteps fell upon her ear; then, through the trees, +she caught sight of the lithe, graceful figure so familiar to her. +Ah! how foolish she was. Had they not been the best of friends for +years and years? Why could she not go and meet him naturally to-day? +Scolding herself roundly, she stopped because her feet refused to +advance another step, and, with fingers which trembled visibly, tried +to break off a spray of the crimson flowers. + +"It is too stiff for you!" exclaimed Carlo, turning the corner and +hurrying towards her. + +"No, no!" she protested, laughing; "you always misdoubt my powers;" +and putting force upon her unruly fingers she broke off the spray. +"Here is a buttonhole for the 'Avvocato,' with his friend's +congratulations." + +"The 'Avvocato' is not content, he craves something more," said +Carlo, smiling. + +"Very well; old playmates must not stand on ceremony," she said, +gayly, well pleased that she had regained her self-possession; "come +to the belvedere, and I will put some maidenhair with it." + +They walked together up the path, Francesca pausing to pluck two or +three pieces from a jungle of maidenhair growing about the old stones. + +"There!" she exclaimed as they sat down in the cool little arbor +while she twisted the ferns among the flowers; "now are you content?" + +"Not quite," he said; "I am clumsy, you will put them in for me." + +She fastened the flowers in his coat and again her tiresome fingers +began to tremble. Carlo, blessing the sight, snatched her hand in +his and kissed it passionately. + +"Francesca, forgive me!" he cried, "I could wait no longer; you will +not grudge me that one kiss. My darling, my darling, I have waited +such years for you!" + +His face, glowing with love, and devotion, and eager hope, was raised +to hers. She only saw it for a moment, for something made a mist +rise before her eyes, and when she could see clearly again she did +not dare to meet his gaze; she looked instead out at the blue +Mediterranean. + +"I have loved you, Francesca, since you came back from +England,--since you came and brought light and happiness to us after +that dark time. I told your father,--begged him to let me speak to +you, and he bade me wait. I have waited nearly five years, +Francesca, and, oh! at times I scarcely knew how to trust myself +here. Again and again I almost broke my word; but now your father +gives me leave to come to you, to confess my love. My darling, look +at me,--speak to me!" + +She turned and gazed right into his eager, wistful eyes, a long, +sweet, steadfast look; then her lips began to quiver a little, but +thought better of it and smiled instead. + +"What do you want me to say?" + +"Say," he cried eagerly, "say, 'I will try to love you.'" + +She shook her head. + +"I can never say that," she replied, and once more looked out +seawards. + +But the vehemence, the fire of his Italian nature, half frightened +her. Despair was written on his face, despair rang in his voice, he +did not pause one moment to reflect. + +"Francesca! Francesca!" he cried, "don't tell me I have come too +late. My love! my love! I can't live without you. Unsay that +'never.'" + +Grieved beyond measure that words so playfully meant should have +called forth such a tropical outburst, she wreathed her arms about +his neck, and pressed her face to his. + +"Carlo _mio_," she sobbed, "don't break my heart by misunderstanding +me, I can never try to love you--because--because--I love you +already." + +The depth of love and tenderness in her voice, the sweet abandonment +of her manner--more really maidenly in its perfect sincerity than any +coyness or hesitation--all this heightened to bliss Carlo's rapture +of love. The momentary mistake, the cloud-shadow that had threatened +his sky, made the sunshine all the more exquisite. He could not +speak a word, but only clasped her close in the long sweet embrace +which symbolized their betrothal. + +"My own!" he murmured at last. "My own, you gave me one terrible +minute. To be without you, Francesca, that would be to be crucified!" + +He did not definitely think of the talk between the two Englishmen, +but the thought suggested that afternoon had sunk deep into his mind, +and the agony of the brief mistake gave the emphatic utterance of +that last word a tenfold power. Francesca breathed fast; Love +unfolded to her his wonderful face, hitherto veiled; she was awed by +the thought of the immortal passion the undying devotion of her +lover. The strength and sacredness of that last word he had used, +filled her heart with a wondering love and humility. His happiness, +his life, was in her keeping. And hers in his. Mortal man could +never bear the strain of the one thought without the support of the +other. + +After a while they began to weave golden visions of the future; Carlo +suggesting one place and another, for which he thought she had a +fancy; a certain ideal nook, called Quisisana, on the other side of +Naples, where once, years, before she had said she would like to +build a house if some one would but leave her a fortune; a pretty +villa at Posilipo, which she used to admire. It touched her to see +how he remembered all her careless, girlish speeches, and had +treasured them up for years. + +"Ah," she said, smiling, "I used to think place would make such a +difference; but now, Carlo _mio_, I don't care one bit. We will make +a home in the wilderness, if it so pleases you, or at Naples, in a +corner of an old palace--'tis all one to me so long as we are +together." + +He drew her yet closer to him. They went on weaving their plans +unconscious of a small sprite approaching the summer-house. Sibyl +stood composedly in the doorway for a moment, quite unnoticed by the +lovers. + +"Oh!" she ejaculated at length, "is that the game?" + +Her perplexed and rather disappointed look was most comical. + +"What game?" asked Francesca, laughing and blushing. + +"The game you said people played for love!" + +"Yes, this is it," said Carlo, laughing immoderately. + +"Is that all?" exclaimed the sprite, in a tone of deep disappointment. + +They only laughed. + +"Well, for my part," said Sibyl, who had caught many old-fashioned +little phrases from living always with grown-up people, "for my part, +I think it's very dull." + +She ran off. Carlo watched her out of sight, smiling at her quaint +disapproval. + +"She will miss you, poor little one," he said at last. + +"Yes, that would be one reason for not going far away. And your +mother, Carlo! How selfish of me not to remember her! You must +never be parted from her--never." + +"You will be to her in the place of Nita," said Carlo. "You will +comfort her as I have never been able to do." + +And so once again they plunged into the golden glories of the future. +Clare must be persuaded to come back again, and take Sibyl in charge, +and their paradise should be the Villa Bruno, already dear to them +through many associations. That plan would obviate all difficulties, +and render partings unnecessary; would be the happiest plan for +others as well as for themselves. + +"And we must not be selfish in our happiness," said Francesca. + +"No," he replied, smiling as he remembered his friend's parting +words, "we will prove to Enrico Ritter that love is not selfishness, +and that egoism does not rule the world, as he thinks." + +A gong sounding within the house warned Carlo that he ought to go. +Together they left the little stone summer-house and wandered through +the lovely garden,--a garden wholly un-English. The scorching sun +would not admit of lawns, but nevertheless there was a great charm in +the straight shady walks, with here and there an umbrella-pine, or a +tall and sombre cypress mingling with limes, chestnuts, and +camphor-trees. A long colonnade of white pillars was festooned from +end to end with honeysuckle; vines linked together the bushy +mulberry-trees; Indian corn grew green and ribbon-like beneath; while +about all was that delicious sweetness only to be met with in the +gardens of Italy. The house was solid and unpretentious, its +whiteness relieved by masses of the feathery green pepper-tree, and a +glory of climbing red geranium. Captain Britton sat in the loggia, +which was wreathed with white roses. He looked up smiling as he saw +the two drawing near, then came forward to bestow a kiss upon his +daughter and a hearty hand-shake upon his future son-in-law. He was +a large-limbed, strong-looking man, somewhat heavily built, with +scanty gray hair and whiskers, and a broad smiling mouth. In manner +he was kindly, genial, and patronizing. But, spite of some surface +faults, he was a thoroughly good-hearted man, and there was no +mistaking his genuine hospitality and anxiety to help his friends. +If Carlo occasionally winced beneath his benign patronage, or was +provoked to anger by some show of insular prejudice, such trifles +were soon forgotten in the recollection of the thousand acts of +kindness shown both to his mother and to himself by the neighborly +Englishman. And then the Donati were proverbially susceptible, and +Carlo had long been on his guard, and had schooled himself into +thinking that the small discords and jarring notes which now and then +occurred in the intercourse with the Brittons were really owing to +his own ultra-sensitiveness. Such things were, after all, but +trifles light as air, and were powerless really to disturb the bliss +of being near his love. + +"Hearty congratulations," said the old Captain, warmly. "I had not +much fear that my little Fran would be unkind to you, and I suppose I +must not grumble at losing her. I little thought that some day she +would be changing into a Signora. But, there, we have made half an +Englishman of you already; have we not?" + +"No, no," said Francesca, quick to note that the last words brought a +momentary gleam of anger into her lover's eyes. "Carlo will always +be true to his country, though he speaks English almost like a +native. That is because I taught you, Carlo _mio_; is it not?" + +"Without love of the teacher learning his drudgery," said Carlo, +laughing. "I enjoyed my English lessons." + +"That reminds me of your old master, Signor Piale. Oh, what will he +say to us, Carlo? What will he say?" and Francesca laughed merrily. + +"My kind regards to Signora Donati," said Captain Britton, smiling. +"And if I may be permitted to call and pay my respects-- + +"To-night," interrupted Carlo, eagerly. "Say you will come to-night, +after dinner. My mother cannot leave the house, you know, and she +will be longing to see Francesca." + +"Well, well, no need to stand on ceremony even to-day; we are such +old friends, are we not?" said the Captain, good-naturedly. "After +dinner, then--after dinner. Come, Fran, my dear, no need to see +Carlo off the premises, you'll meet again before long, and the soup +is getting cold." + +Francesca was borne off to the dining-room, and Carlo, turning away, +cleared the prickly pears at a bound, and alighted amid a group of +lemon-trees in his own garden. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A CLOUDLESS BETROTHAL. + + "Let my voice be heard that asketh + Not for fame and not for glory; + Give for all our life's dear story, + Give us Love and give us Peace." + JEAN INGELOW. + + +Villa Bruno was a smaller house than Casa Bella. It was lacking, +too, in the air of cozy English comfort which the Brittons had +managed to impart to their rooms, and the furniture was scanty, +though handsome of its kind. Carlo walked through the veranda and +entered by the open window of the _salotto_, treading lightly, as he +saw that his mother lay asleep on her couch. He stole up to her, and +stood in silence, watching the beautiful but worn face of the +invalid. He thought how great a happiness was in store for her, and +smiled. He imagined Francesca bringing that English air of home into +this room, and thought how sweet it would be when he rode home each +evening to picture those two together waiting for him. Looking on +into the sunny future, he forgot the present; his mother had opened +her eyes, and had watched him for some moments before he saw that she +was awake. + +At last he looked down at her, and met her eyes shining into his with +perfect comprehension. + +"Carlino, you bring me good news!" she exclaimed, drawing his face +down to hers, and kissing the smooth, ruddy-brown cheek. + +"The best news, mother--the best!" he replied, returning her embrace. +"Oh, mother! I'm the happiest man in Italy." + +"Francesca----" began the Signora. + +"Francesca is mine--is mine!" he broke in. "She is coming--you will +see her soon, _madre mia_." + +"And her father?" + +"Was kindness itself. He will bring her in this evening to see you. +No one could have been more friendly. I saw him first, and +then--then he told me I might speak to her--that I should find her in +the garden. Afterwards, her first thought was for you. Oh, mother, +she will be to you the daughter you have so much needed." + +The tears started to the mother's eyes. + +"_Insomma!_ Now I have grieved you, and made you think of poor Nita; +happiness made me forget all else. Forgive me, little mother; I did +not mean to make you think of the past." + +"Ah!" sobbed the Signora Donati. "How can I help thinking of it, +Carlino, when the contrast is so sharp--you coming to me thus with +your joy as a son should, and Nita bringing me only shame and grief +and disgrace--not even sending me one line of love or regret all +these years?" + +"She will come back, little mother,--she will come back," he said +soothingly. "Some day she will feel her need of you. Don't cry +to-night, of all nights in the year. I shall take it as a bad omen." + +Years had raised no barrier between these two; Carlo was as frank and +open with his mother as when he had been a child; she had shared all +his hopes and fears during his long time of probation, and now she +shared his joy, and was soon coaxed back to cheerfulness, as he told +her more of what had passed at the Casa Bella. She was quite herself +again as she went in to dinner upon his arm, her grief was forgotten, +she laughed merrily at his account of Enrico's philosophical +counsels, and felt a glow of pride and happiness as she looked across +the table at the son who had been all in all to her for so many +years. Carlo was too happy to be hungry, but he pledged his mother +over a bottle of Orvieto, and they drank Francesca's health, and +clinked glasses, and made merry. + +The _tête-à-tête_ dinner at the Casa Bella was quieter, but happy, +too, in its way. The old Captain beamed silently from behind the +sirloin. Francesca looked radiant. They talked fitfully of the +weather, of the orange crop, of the silkworms, of the last letter +from England--of everything, in fact, except the one subject that was +nearest their hearts; but, then, old Dino was waiting, and it behoved +them to keep up appearances. Their tongues were unloosed by the +appearance of Sibyl and the dessert, and the disappearance of the +servant. + +"Sibyl," said the Captain, taking the little girl on his knee, "what +would you think if we were to have a wedding here?" + +"A wedding, father?" Sibyl clapped her hands with delight. "Oh, may +I be the bride, father? May I be the bride?" + +"No," said the father, laughing, "that character is bespoken. You +will have to be my little housekeeper. Francesca is to be the bride. +There, you must drink her health: Long life and happiness to the +future Signora Donati." + +Sibyl obediently repeated the words, but made a wry face over the +claret. + +"What horrid stuff, Daddy; do give me a bit of your orange, quick." +Then, with her mouth very full, "But Fran can't be Signora Donati." + +"Oh, yes, she can when she marries Carlo," said the Captain. + +"Marries Carlo?" echoed Sibyl, in astonishment. "Dear me, will Carlo +be married? What a bother! I suppose he'll never play games and be +jolly any more?" + +"Why not?" said Francesca, laughing. + +"Oh, he won't," said Sibyl, looking wise and elderly, "I know he +won't; I asked nurse the other day what it meant to be married, and +she said it was when people grew steady and settled down." + +The two elders laughed heartily. + +"But he will be your brother, you know, Sibyl, and brothers always +play," said Francesca. + +"Carlo, my brother?" + +"Your brother-in-law." + +"Oh, yes, I know about that--that's what he had put on his cards," +said Sibyl, triumphantly; "so he must have known he was going to be +my brother before he came here; Dino said that long word was in-law." + +Then before Captain Britton had done laughing, Sibyl convulsed her +companions by solemnly raising the glass to her lips again, and +repeating in the gravest way imaginable,-- + +"Long life and many games to my future brother--in-law." + +Francesca was eager to go in quickly to see Signora Donati, but she +had to wait till Sibyl was tucked up in bed and her father had +finished his after-dinner nap. Then she threw a white, woolly shawl +about her head and shoulders, slipped her arm into the Captain's, and +crossed over to the Villa Bruno. The Signora was alone; she came +forward to meet them with the prettiest little greeting imaginable. +Francesca loved her dearly, and returned her embraces with all +possible warmth; but above the soft and tender assurances of the +Signora's delight in the news which Carlo had brought her, she was +conscious of her lover's voice singing out in the garden. The joyous +ring about the old Neapolitan song, the unmistakable rapture of the +singer, filled her heart with happiness. The sweet, familiar air +always brought back to her memory that first perfect evening at the +Villa Bruno. + +"He has done nothing but sing since he came back from you," said the +Signora, as the singer drew nearer, every word distinctly heard in +that clear atmosphere: + + "_O dolce Napoli, + O suol beato + Dove sorridere + Voile il creato, + Tu sei l' impero + Dell' armonia, + Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!_" + +The last note still echoed in the air as Carlo stepped into the +dimly-lighted room through the open window, bearing in his hand a +bunch of red roses and myrtle-blossom. It was the picture he had so +often imagined which met his gaze, for Francesca stood beside his +mother, the lamplight shedding a soft glow over her sweet, fair face. +She was dressed in some kind of soft, white dress which made him +think of a baby's robe, her wavy brown hair was a little ruffled by +the white shawl which she had thrown aside, in her sweet, pure +happiness she was exquisite. + +"I did not know you had come," he exclaimed, hastening towards her; +"how was it I never heard you?" + +"We came without ceremony, there was no ringing of bells," said +Francesca. + +"And Carlo was singing at the top of his voice," said the mother, +laughing. "I foresee, Francesca, that he will now be like my canary, +who is so happy that he sings all day long, and I have sometimes to +extinguish him." + +"We have been wondering what Signor Piale will say," replied +Francesca, smiling; "you know he looks upon love as the supreme +obstacle in the way of art." + +"Then he should not compose music to such words as these," said +Carlo, taking up a song from the open piano. + +"Is that his last? I have not heard it," said Francesca. "Ah, he +has dedicated it to me as he promised." + +"Go and sing it, Carlo; it suits you well," said his mother. + +"I am not well acquainted with your Tennyson," she continued, turning +to Captain Britton, "but it seems to me that these words are +melodious and well adapted for music." + +The Captain was not poetical, but he at once launched into an account +of how he had once met the Laureate at Lord Blamton's, while Carlo +and Francesca wandered off to the piano, Francesca glancing through +the accompaniment to see if she could manage it. + +Even in that land of beautiful voices, Carlo Donati's voice was most +remarkable. But Piale was the only person who quite knew what it was +worth, and he had issued strict orders that his pupil was to sing +nowhere save at home and at his lessons. He knew well enough that if +Carlo once sang at a Neapolitan party he would be allowed no peace, +but would become the spoilt and overworked amateur, and fail +altogether to do justice to the severe but excellent training which +he had now almost completed. The voice was a baritone of unusual +power and sweetness; Piale's music suited the pathetic words +admirably: + + "Love is come with a song and a smile, + Welcome love with a smile and a song; + Love can stay but a little while. + Why cannot he stay? They call him away; + Ye do him wrong, ye do him wrong; + Love will stay for a whole life long." + + +The song ended, Francesca sat dreamily playing over the refrain which +her lover had declaimed so passionately; he stood close to her, +deftly arranging the flowers he had brought from the garden in her +hair and dress. Then, after the thanks and praises of the listeners +had been spoken, Captain Britton once more enlarged upon his meeting +with the Laureate, and Carlo, foreseeing that the topic would last +some time, looked longingly out into the dusky garden, then down at +Francesca. + +"The paths are quite dry, it is starlight," he said; "will you not +come out?" + +She smiled and nodded, let him wrap the white shawl about her, and +crossed the room to the window. Carlo lingered a moment to slip a +cluster of red roses into his mother's hand. + +"We go into the garden for a few minutes, _madre mia_," he explained. + +She smiled approvingly, perceiving that he meant to claim all the +liberty which an English betrothal permits, and then turned again to +the Captain with a question, in her pretty broken English, which she +was well aware would keep him happy for some time to come. + +"And this Lord Blamton, at whose house it occurred, is he your +friend?" + +The lovers, supremely indifferent to both Lords and Laureates, +strolled out into the starlit garden. All was still and peaceful; +through the olives they could catch glimpses of the yellow lights in +Pozzuoli, and every now and then a lurid crimson flame and a column +of vapor lit up by the fierce glare, revealed in the distance the +conical form of Vesuvius and its peaceful neighbor, Somma. There was +a delicious fragrance in the air; thyme, and myrtle, and mignonette +filled the dewy garden with their sweetness; everywhere the peace of +a great content seemed to brood. A stranger might have fancied +something disturbing and incongruous in the burning mountain; but to +Carlo Vesuvius was an old friend, not a terror. In his childhood he +had fancied it a sort of symbol of the Deity, vaguely connecting it +with that other pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night of +which old Father Cristoforo had told him. Not a care, not the least +shadow of anxiety, broke the bliss--the unclouded happiness of that +evening. + +Remembering Enrico's advice to keep his happiness to himself, Carlo +took a holiday, and stayed at home till the end of the week, when, +partly prompted by a conscientious wish to break the news to Piale, +and to keep his usual appointment with the old Maestro on Saturday +morning, partly because he wished to search for a betrothal ring to +his mind, he ordered his horse and rode into Naples. + +Piale lived over a shop in the Strada Mont' Oliveto. His apartments +were furnished in a Spartan manner without the least attempt at +comfort or picturesqueness. A marble floor, unrelieved by carpet or +mat, walls painted in pale green, but bare of a single picture, a +grand piano in the middle of the room, a table strewn with +music-paper, books, and pens, and a few straight-backed chairs +stiffly set round it, completed the furniture of this musical +anchorite. When Carlo entered the room that morning he found the old +man poring over the score of some opera, his shaggy gray hair tossed +back from his broad forehead, and the shabbiness of his many-colored +dressing-gown fully revealed by the sunshine which streamed in +through the half-open _jalousies_. He looked up as Carlo entered, +giving him a sharp, searching glance, as though to discover how the +world went with him that morning. Convinced by the radiant happiness +of his pupil's face that at present the sky was cloudless, he grunted +out a rather surly "_Buon giorno_," and closed his book with an air +of reluctance. + +"I want your congratulations, Maestro," said Carlo, coming quickly +forward. "Nothing but the most filial obedience and respect to +yourself brought me away from my paradise this morning. You must +mingle with praise your good wishes for our health and happiness." + +"Hein!" exclaimed the old man, pretending not to catch his meaning. +"You are an _avvocato_, I understand; young Ritter told me as much as +that. _Corpo di Bacco!_ don't come to me for congratulations. +You've mistaken your profession. You are wasting--yes, wasting, the +noblest gift of God." + +"But, Maestro, reflect; how is it possible for me to use my voice as +you would have me? Would you wish me to leave my mother? And then, +moreover, there are other considerations--I am about to be married." + +"Married!" The Maestro turned away with a groan. "Ah, then I wash +my hands of you! You are lost to art--lost to the noblest of the +professions! Farewell to my hopes! All my efforts with you are +thrown away! You might have been the pride of my old age and the +delight of Europe. Instead you choose the career of a lawyer and the +caresses of a woman." + +"You speak scornfully, Maestro," replied the culprit, laughing. "I +shall add two adjectives to your bald remark--'the useful career' and +'a perfect woman.' Why, signor, you who know Miss Britton should be +ready to make excuse for me. What else could you expect? Is the +Muse of Harmony to take precedence of such an one?" + +"Hear him!" cried Piale, in despair; "great Heaven! and it is this +ungrateful one that thou hast endowed with the voice of a seraph and +the dramatic power of a Salvini!" + +"My apologies to Salvini," said Carlo, laughing merrily, "but that, +beloved Maestro, is bathos--a fine example." + +His laughter was so infectious that Piale was obliged to join in it, +then, with a shrug of the shoulders, he shuffled across to the piano. + +"You are incorrigible! I wash my hands of you! But since you are in +so jocular a mood at the prospect of settling down to so monotonous a +life----" + +"Maestro!" broke in Carlo, with indignation. + +"Do I speak unadvisedly?" said Piale, with sarcasm; "not at all. Oh, +I know well enough what it will be. You will sit under your vine and +under your fig-tree, and you will count the olive branches round your +table----" + +"Signor Piale!" + +"And you will say as you look, 'I must work hard,' and you will +become the speaking-machine of the Neapolitan criminals, and you will +use that divine gift for the proclamation of lies, and you will +debase your fine dramatic genius and make it the tool of the +worthless and the guilty. Since all this makes you in so gay a +humor, come sing me your song from _Il Barbiere_." + +Pursing up his lips the old professor began to play the accompaniment +of _Largo al Factotum_; and Carlo, entering into the spirit of the +thing, and with his sense of humor touched by the analogy between the +barber's glorification of his profession and the words that had just +passed, sang magnificently. + +At the end there was unbroken silence. The old professor sat lost in +thought, Carlo watched him with a smile on his lips. Then sauntering +across the room, sang, _sotto voce_, the recitative which followed, +throwing malicious meaning into the-- + +"_Ah! Che bella vita! Oh! Che mestiere!_" + + +"It could not have been better sung!" cried Piale, with a gesture of +despair. "Carlo, perhaps I have dealt unfairly by you. I have never +praised you, never told you what I thought of your powers; I feared +to ruin that modesty which has endeared you to me! But now it is +time that you seriously consider the matter. There, there, don't +interrupt me! Marry if you will, and let your wife tend the Signora +Donati in your absence. But do not allow so glorious a gift to rust +unused." + +"But, dear Maestro," said Carlo, gravely, "you do not realize that +others do not think of the profession as you do. Captain Britton +regards the theatre as the school for hell, the stage is an +abomination to him. He fancies that all actors are like that villain +Merlino. And, indeed, it is wonderful that he made no objection to +having as son-in-law one who is so deeply compromised as I am. I +suppose he hardly realized the fact, he has almost forgotten poor +Nita's existence." + +At the recollection of that sorrowful past he sighed. Piale was +quick to note how the remembrance interfered with his present +happiness. + +"Well, only a brute would dream of holding you responsible for the +sins of others," he said, warmly. + +"Tell me," said Carlo, "have you seen any mention of my sister lately +in any of the musical papers?" + +"I heard that Merlino's company had been in America for the last two +years, and that Madame Merlino had made a good impression there..... +Well, I suppose I must say no more, lad, but it is hard on a master +to have his best pupil lost to the world." + +He changed the subject rather hastily. He could not bear to bring +back that cloud to Carlo's brow by telling him the last news of his +sister. + +His lesson over, Carlo began to ransack the jewelers' shops, and +having at last found a broad gold gypsy ring with a single diamond +which satisfied him, he bent his steps towards his uncle's house, +conscious that Guido Donati--a rather autocratic man--would require +early notice of his nephew's engagement. + +The interview passed off well. Uncle Guido thoroughly approved of +the marriage, and treated his nephew in the most generous and +paternal way, and Carlo came forth in excellent spirits. All seemed +to promise well for his future life. Happy in his love, with the +prospect of a fair inheritance, a hope which practically amounted to +certainty of success in his profession, and with the best of mothers +and the truest of friends, it seemed as if life could offer him +nothing more. His face was radiant as he greeted Enrico Ritter. + +"Well met!" he exclaimed, waylaying Enrico, who, in a fit of +abstraction, would have passed him by. + +"Oh, it is you!" exclaimed Enrico, looking him critically in the +face. "Well, what news?" + +"You will be requested to dance at my wedding before long," said +Carlo, gayly. + +"So!" Enrico whistled. + +"I took your advice, you see, _amico mio_, and stayed at home, that +you might not be afflicted with the trouble of congratulating me." + +"Yes, yes," said Enrico, with a sarcastic smile. "That is your kind +way of putting it--egoist that you are! You stayed to enjoy +yourself, and now you want to make me believe that you were +considering my comfort and not your own. An egoist! A double-dyed +egoist!" + +But his laughter was suddenly checked. They were passing a hoarding +in the Strada S. Trinita, Carlo had glanced at one of the placards, +and now he clutched his friend's arm. + +"Enrico!" he gasped; "my sister's name--I thought I saw it. Look for +me; I can't." + +Huge black letters on a pink ground danced in wild confusion before +his eyes; but surely it was that hateful name of Merlino which had +suddenly darkened his sky, which had struck a blow at his heart and +left him stunned and bewildered! + +"Dear old fellow, you must come on," said Enrico. "I didn't know +those cursed placards would be out yet; but it is true, alas! only +too true." + +Carlo walked on mechanically, feeling as though he were in a +nightmare. His thoughts flew wildly from Francesca to Anita, from +his mother to Captain Britton, from his uncle to Merlino. He had no +definite ideas, only a giddy consciousness that the world, so bright +but a minute before, was now overshadowed, and that a nameless fear +filled his heart. + +"Where?" he faltered, after a brief silence. + +"The Mercadante," said Enrico, following his train of thought and +understanding the laconic question as a friend should. + +"Let us come there," said Carlo. + +Enrico silently complied. After a time his friend looked up with +another question,-- + +"You knew of this before, then?" + +Enrico signed an assent. + +"The day I last saw you," he added, after a pause. + +"What? That thing you tore out of the _Piccolo_? Why did you try to +keep it from me?" + +"I wanted you to have a cloudless betrothal," said Enrico, rather +reluctantly. + +"Ah, _amico mio!_" exclaimed the other, gratefully. "You shield me +thus, and then call yourself egoist!" + +"Of course," said Enrico, who hated to be caught in a kindly action. +"It was pure egoism. Naturally, I wish you to be happy, for it +disturbs me and makes me uncomfortable to see you as you are now. +Purely for my own sake I deferred the evil day." + +Carlo could not help smiling, even then, at the energy with which his +friend tried to establish his own selfishness for the sake of +triumphing in his pet theory. + +"I must find out whether they are yet in Naples," he said, growing +grave once more, and trying hard to collect his thoughts. "Oh, +Enrico, how shall I break the news to my mother? She is unfit to +bear the least shock." + +"I would keep it from her, then--at any rate, till you know what line +your sister intends to take," said Enrico. "But, see, we are close +to the Mercadante. Shall I make inquiries for you?" + +"I wish you would," said Carlo, with a look of relief. "Ask when the +Company arrives in Naples, and where they are to be found." + +Enrico walked forward, Carlo following more slowly; on past two +open-air _caffès_ with groups of idlers beneath a shady trellis-work +of vine and euonymus; on past a stall gayly wreathed with lemons and +greenery, where thirsty Neapolitans were drinking mineral water; on +till the arsenal was in sight, and the red tower of the lighthouse, +while in the foreground was the Teatro Mercadante. Little had he +thought that the sight of its pink walls with their white facings +would ever have caused him such strange emotion. Huge placards were +posted here in all directions. He read them over and over in a sort +of dream, taking in little but that one name in larger type, "MME. +MERLINO." At length, Enrico came forth, having made his inquiries. + +"They do not seem to know the exact date of their arrival," he said, +in answer to Carlo's mute question. "The man was just going off to +his _siesta_, and was not best pleased at being hindered. However, +he wrote down the address for me. You will find them there, whenever +they do arrive. It may be to-morrow or any day next week. They are +coming from America, but by what route the fellow didn't know. +However, you see by the placards there are no performances for +another ten days." + +Carlo took the paper, and read the address. + +"I shall be here again to-morrow," he said. "I will call and see if +they have arrived, and till then I shall say nothing to my mother." + +"That would be wise," said Enrico. "Then she will be spared the +worry and uncertainty. You look tired, _amico mio_. Come home with +me, and have your _siesta_ in peace." + +"No," said Carlo; "I want to go home. I want to tell Francesca." + +"You can't ride back in this heat; you'll get a sunstroke." + +But he only shook his head, and, with an unmistakable air of wishing +to be alone, said good-bye to his friend, and went to order his horse. + +Enrico turned to look after him. Profound dejection was expressed in +his walk. The serpent had all too soon invaded his paradise. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A THREATENING SKY. + + "Come all ye faithful, come, and dare to prove + The bitter sweet, the pain and bliss of love." + TRENCH. + + +Francesca came down one of the shady garden paths to meet her lover; +she held in her hand a forked branch, on which, nestled among the +pale green leaves, grew four fresh-looking lemons. For a moment +Carlo forgot everything in the bliss of seeing her again. It seemed +to him that they had been ages apart; that he had been toiling across +a barren desert to reach this cool green retreat, in which his +betrothed reigned supreme. How beautiful she looked in that +familiar, soft, white dress, and with her white forehead and delicate +coloring shaded by a large hat! The hat was one of those shallow +white ones which can sometimes be bought for two or three _soldi_; it +was not calculated, however, to sustain the embraces of a lover, and +it speedily fell back, leaving Francesca with her wavy brown hair +uncovered. For a minute, Carlo held her from him, that he might the +better see her, with a datura-tree for background, and the soft, +creamy flowers drooping over her head. Francesca, having known him +and loved him for years, saw in one glance that he was in trouble. + +"You are tired, my own," she said. "It was too hot for you to ride +back so early; you should have taken your _siesta_ at Naples." + +"I couldn't rest," he said, with a sigh. "I wanted to get back to +you." + +"Something has grieved you. Does Uncle Guido disapprove of our +betrothal?" + +"No, oh no. How could he do that? He treated me as though I had +been his son." + +"Yet something or some one has been troubling you. But we will not +talk of it now; you shall rest first. Come into the Rose-room; it +will be cool there, and the sun is not off the summer-house yet." + +They went together towards the house. The Rose-room was Francesca's +own little sitting-room. It had a ceiling painted after the Italian +fashion with wreaths of pink roses; it had cool gray walls crowded +with a most miscellaneous collection of photographs and water-color +sketches; it had rose-colored curtains in figured muslin; and, after +the manner of rooms, it betrayed its owner's chief failing--it was in +wild disorder. Francesca was by no means immaculate; like other +girls, she had her faults, and untidiness was one of them. + +"Try my rocking-chair," she said, removing a guitar which reposed +upon the cushions, and trying to find a home for it upon the crowded +table. "I will be back directly." + +Carlo, rescuing the guitar, which was in imminent danger of falling, +lay back in the easy-chair, and waited, letting his hands wander idly +about among the strings. It was sweet to feel already so entirely at +home at Casa Bella--its very confusion was dear to him. Presently +Francesca returned, bearing a big tumbler of St. Galmier, which she +set down upon Dante's _Paradiso_, while she selected the finest of +the lemons from her branch. + +"Lend me your knife, Carlino," she said; "I've lost mine, as usual. +There!" as she cut open the cool, ripe fruit; "isn't that a beauty? +How much, I wonder, for this glassful? I should think half. Ah, how +like me! I've forgotten the sugar." Then, running to the door, +"Sibyl! Sibyl!" + +The little sister came flying down the passage. + +"Run and fetch me some sugar, will you, Sibyl dear? Oh, bother! +Now, what have I done with the store-room key? Look, darling, I +think it must be on my dressing-table, or, perhaps, in the pocket of +my blue gown; or, if not, in my work-basket." + +Sibyl ran away to hunt for the missing key, and Francesca searched +among the contents of the table to see if by chance it had been left +there. + +"Ah, Carlo mio!" she said, with a pretty penitence, "I fear I am not, +as the ladies say who advertise in the newspapers, 'thoroughly +domesticated.' I shall have to mend my evil ways now." + +Carlo pretended not to understand what "domesticated" meant, and they +had much merriment over a dictionary, which declared that it was to +be "tame" and "not foreign." + +Sibyl at last returned with the sugar-basin, claiming one lump as +wages and accepting another to run away. Then Francesca began to +stir the contents of the tumbler with an ivory paper-knife, since +spoons were not handy; and in much laughter and lover-like teasing +Carlo forgot all about the cloud-shadow which had arisen. + +The ring fitted to perfection, and Francesca's delight was pretty to +see; she was not above a womanly weakness for jewelry, and frankly +owned that she always had longed for just one diamond. + +"And what about the old Maestro?" she exclaimed at last. "You never +told me how he bore the news." + +"Well, dear old Piale was, or pretended to be, a good deal depressed. +It seems that he really had set his heart on my going on the stage, +and had not at all realized how impossible that would be." + +"Yet you do not feel as my father does about theatre-going?" said +Francesca. "And Clare! Don't you remember what arguments we used to +have with dear Clare about it?" + +"Yes, she was dead against it; but then she was brought up in a +Puritan family, and the old prejudices lingered with her. For me, I +have no feeling whatever of that sort, but nevertheless the life of +an operatic singer is quite the last I should willingly choose. +Piale talks scoffingly of the humdrum life of an advocate; but for my +part I shall be very well content to stay at home, with the hope of +some day following in my father's steps and doing a little for my +country. Think of the wretchedness of a wandering life! It's all +very well to talk about delighting Europe--practically one would be +little better than an exile--and into the bargain Piale owns that art +requires the sacrifice of domestic life." + +"I knew he would not approve of me," said Francesca, laughing. "We +must have him to our wedding, Carlo, and he shall make a speech. +What fun he will be!" + +Just for a minute, as they talked of theatrical life, Carlo's +thoughts had reverted to Nita, but Francesca's reference to the +wedding soon dispersed the cloud. He had most markedly the Italian +faculty of living wholly in the present, and enjoying it much as a +child enjoys life. They lingered long in the Rose-room. Later on, +when the heat of the afternoon was past, they walked through the +garden and down the vine-clad slopes to the beach, where old +Florestano sat smoking his pipe with his back against a boat. He +sprang up, on seeing them, as quickly as his rheumatism would permit. + +"Going for a row, signor?" he said, when he had finished his lengthy +congratulations, and had made Francesca blush deliciously. + +"Yes," said Carlo, flinging his coat into the stern; "but we shan't +want you, Florestano; we shall never want you any more," and, with a +laugh, he shoved the boat down to the water's edge. + +"Ah, signorina," said the old fisherman, chuckling, "he is one to be +proud of, that he is. Why, I do declare, he might be a fisherman. +Look at him now." + +And with delighted pride the old man watched the skill with which the +strong, active figure in straw hat and shirtsleeves set to work. +Carlo looked round with a bright, glowing face. "Come, Francesca, +let us be off. Good-bye, Florestano. Ah, wait a minute, though! +Have a cigar?" + +He handed his case to the old fisherman, who helped himself with a +smiling face, then he shoved the boat into the water, sprang in, and, +taking the oars, rowed off towards Ischia. + +The fisherman stood on the quiet and lonely beach watching them, and +meditatively stroking one of his huge, projecting ears. + +"Well, well," he remarked, shrugging his shoulders, "some of us be +born to happiness and some to sorrow, there's no helping that. But +all of us ought to be born to a fair chance of living somehow. So +says the young signor, but I doubt me if, for all his hot words and +his seeming near as much of a Socialist as any of us, he'd care to +act it out in his life. Eh, eh! we be all of us ready enough to talk +about others, but to live for them that's another matter." + +And, with a grim chuckle, Florestano pulled out a number of _La +Campana_ from his pocket, and, stretching himself on the pebbles, +began to spell out more lessons in Socialism. + +The sun was low in the heavens when the lovers returned from their +row. Carlo had to hasten home to his mother, but later in the +evening he once more appeared at Casa Bella. Apart from Francesca +all his restless apprehension had returned. + +Captain Britton was asleep in the dining-room. Francesca was in the +dusky drawing-room seated at the piano, where two candles under +rose-colored shades made a little oasis of light. She was trying +over her favorite of all Carlo's songs, "_Dio Possente_," but broke +off with a little cry of surprise and delight as he came towards her. + +"I shall think that my ring is a fairy ring," she cried, "and brings +me all I wish for. I was just longing to hear you sing this." + +Carlo had not felt in a singing humor, but her words drove everything +else from his mind, and he sang perhaps all the better for the real +care and anxiety which were oppressing him, certainly he sang as she +had never before heard him sing. + +"Piale is right," she said at the close, brushing away the tears from +her eyes; "nature meant you for a singer; you were Valentine then, +and no one else." + +Carlo did not speak; she looked up at him quickly, and again saw that +look of care which he had borne back with him from Naples. + +"My darling," she said, making room for him on the ottoman beside +her, "you are keeping something from me; you are unhappy, Carlo +_mio_, and yet you will not let me know." + +"Yes," he said sadly, "I must let you know; that is what I came back +for. You remember Nita?" + +"Your sister? Yes--oh, yes. What of her. Has she written?" + +"No, but to-day in Naples, as I walked down the Strada S. Trinita, I +saw that she was to sing the week after next at the Mercadante." + +Francesca look startled. All in a minute it flashed upon her that +the perfect peace of their betrothal was disturbed, and that it could +never return. + +She knew enough of Nita'a story to be aware how painful it would be +for both Signora Donati and Carlo to have her as the prima donna of a +Neapolitan theatre; but she tried hard to see gleams of possible good +in the news. + +"She may be sorry, and come to see you," she suggested. "Oh, surely +she would come back to Villa Bruno when she is so near to it as +Naples?" + +But Carlo was not hopeful. She listened to all his doubts and fears +with tender, womanly sympathy. She was no spoilt child caring only +for the pleasure of her betrothal; perhaps, indeed, notwithstanding +the ruffled peace, she had never been so happy as she was that +evening when Carlo told her his troubles, and then, with his arm +round her, whispered sweet words about the comfort of telling her. + +Francesca quite agreed with Enrico that it would be better to say +nothing as yet to the Signora Donati; and even in her anxiety there +was keen pleasure in feeling that she had a right to share her +lover's cares. + +The next day was Sunday, and Carlo, as usual, drove in to the English +church with the Brittons. But after the service he left them, +pleading an engagement, and went off to see if Merlino's Company had +arrived. + +The Palazzo Forti was in a gloomy side street, he entered the +courtyard, and found his way up a very dirty staircase to the third +floor, where he rang and inquired whether Madame Merlino had arrived. +An answer in the affirmative from a bright-eyed little servant made +his heart leap into his throat. He had not expected it. He had +walked to the old Palazzo in the firm conviction that his sister +would not yet have reached Naples, and to be told that she was +actually close to him almost took away his breath. He hesitated a +moment. + +"Is she within? can I see her?" he inquired. + +The servant seemed a little doubtful, but said she would ask, and, +taking Carlo's card, she disappeared, leaving him in the doorway. In +all his life he had never felt so uncomfortable. He had never known +Anita well; her convent education had made her practically a stranger +to him, and now years had passed since their last meeting, and +between them was the shadow of her wrong-doing. Then, too, he was +not even sure whether he should see her alone, her husband might be +there; and Carlo, being Italian and hot-tempered, was not quite sure +how the sight of Merlino might affect him. He breathed quickly as +the servant returned. + +"Would the Signor step this way for a minute?" + +Setting his teeth, he followed the maid down a passage, and was +ushered into a good-sized but comfortless-looking room. He was +surprised and relieved to find within it neither his sister nor +Merlino, but a young Englishman of about eight-and-twenty with fair +hair and moustache, arched eyebrows, and keen light blue eyes, in +which there was no mistaking the sparkle of genuine wit; but the face +was a restless one, and the expression of careless good-humor was +sometimes slightly tinged with bitterness. He bowed, then glanced +again at the visitor with undisguised curiosity. + +"You are Madame Merlino's brother, I think?" + +Carlo assented. + +"I should have known you anywhere, the likeness is so strong." + +"I speak English, if you prefer it, sir," said Carlo, noticing that +the stranger's Italian was far from fluent. + +"Do you? that will be a great relief, then. The patience of you +foreigners amazes me. How you can learn our barbarous tongue I can't +conceive. For me, I only learnt enough of yours to satisfy my +singing-master." + +"May I ask whom I am speaking to?" said Carlo. + +"I am Sardoni--that, at least, is my professional name--_primo +tenore_ of 'the happy band of pilgrims' who patrol this wicked world +under Merlino's care. When they brought me your card just now I +thought I might ask to see you, although Madame Merlino is out, for, +to tell the truth, signor, it is quite time that Madame Merlino's +friends and relations did something to save her. You must pardon the +liberty I am taking, but, indeed, it is little use mincing matters in +an affair of this kind." + +Carlo took a long look at the speaker. He was evidently an English +gentleman--a man doubtless with faults enough, but yet, he +instinctively felt, a man to be trusted. + +"My sister is out, you say," he began, with a troubled look. + +"She went out driving this morning," said Sardoni, promptly, "with +her usual cavalier, Comerio, our first baritone. But I know Comerio +well, and he will not long be content to be a mere hanger-on. Every +day Madame Merlino gets more under that man's power. He and she----" + +But here he hastily broke off, for Carlo sprang forward with a +gesture so threatening that any one but an Englishman would have +recoiled a pace. + +"Be silent," he thundered; "how dare you couple my sister's name with +the name of that brute?" + +His dark eyes were all ablaze with anger. Sardoni was silent, not +because he doubted the truth of his own words, but because he was +obliged to pause and admire. + +"I see you are the brother whom Madame Merlino needs," he said, +quietly; "and it is in order that those two names may not with just +cause be coupled together all the world over that I speak to you +plainly." + +The glow of color had faded from Carlo's face, and had left him +unusually pale. He turned away with a groan as Sardoni ended. +Vaguely as he had dreaded his sister's arrival, he had never dreamed +that it would be so bad as this. + +"Her husband?" he said at length. + +"Merlino is a brute, but many degrees better than Comerio. 'Tis a +sort of lion and unicorn business, with your sister for crown. But +you spoke as though you knew Comerio?" + +"I only know what report has to say of him," replied Carlo. "He was +singing here five years ago; his wife and children, I believe, still +live here." + +"Report says nothing of him that is not strictly true." + +"But how is it, then, that Merlino is so blind to his own interests +as to keep him in his troupe?" + +"I can't say, unless it is that tyrants always believe in their own +superiority. And then, too, Comerio is such a wily devil, he always +manages to keep in Merlino's good books. There has never been the +least apparent reason for getting rid of him; and, besides, Merlino +is not so over-burdened with wealth that he can afford to cancel an +engagement. Italian opera is not such a paying concern as people +think." + +"I must try to see my sister," said Carlo, with a sigh, "or write to +her." + +"Then if you see her allow me to suggest that you do not call on her +here, where ten to one you will fall foul of her husband; and if you +write, do so now and entrust the letter to me, for Merlino watches +her correspondence with lynx eyes, and does not scruple to open every +letter." + +Carlo uttered an impatient exclamation of disgust. Every sentence +which the Englishman let fall seemed to reveal to him a fresh glimpse +of the intolerable life which poor Nita was leading. He accepted the +pen and ink which his companion offered him, however, and, drawing a +chair to the table, began with deepening color to write. + +Sardoni glanced at him from time to time; he had taken up a +newspaper, and made as though he were reading it, but in reality his +mind was full of his Italian visitor. Carlo's face was almost as +easy to read as a book, and Sardoni could not help feeling sorry for +him. He had just witnessed one of the most painful sights +imaginable, that of a perfectly unsullied nature being brought for +the first time into near connection with a network of evil. There +was something, too, in the implicit trust which Donati had reposed in +him which appealed to him strongly. What a wretched position to be +in! Powerless to help his own sister without trusting to the help +and believing in the honesty of a stranger and a foreigner! Carlo in +the mean time had finished his letter, and, folding it up, handed it +unsealed to Sardoni. + +The Englishman put it in his pocket-book, remarking as he did so, +"For a perfect stranger you trust me with a good deal, Signor Donati." + +Carlo looked troubled as it flashed across him how unsuspiciously he +had believed the stranger's words. It had never occurred to him that +Sardoni could possibly have any reason for misleading him. He looked +at him searchingly. + +"But then, you are an Englishman," he said, in a tone of relief. + +Sardoni laughed. "That is a compliment to my nation which I shall +not readily forget. But look here," an expression of great +bitterness stole over his face, "there are many of my own countrymen +who would snap their fingers at my word of honor." + +Carlo again looked him through and through, and, as he looked, the +blue eyes seemed to grow less hard, to appeal against that harsh +opinion which had just been mentioned. + +"Oh, as for that," said Carlo, with the expressive gestures of a +Neapolitan, "that is just nothing at all to me. I trust you, signor." + +Sardoni smiled and grasped his hand. + +"I'll not betray your confidence," he said. + +And with that the two men parted. + +Carlo went down the dirty stone stairs, looking pale and harassed. +Sardoni with a flushed face returned to his newspaper, but still did +not take in one word. + +"He trusted me," he thought to himself--"he really did trust me. Oh, +God! if I could only change natures with a fellow like that!" Then, +as some painful recollection brought hot tears to his eyes, he sprang +up, and flinging aside his newspaper, strode across to the piano and +began to play a waltz. "You are a fool, Jack! a fool! a fool! Why +should that Italian make you think of it? A mere countrified +innocent!" + +And with that he played on recklessly, doing his best to forget +Donati's eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STORM BREAKS. + + "God be praised, that to believing souls + Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair." + _King Henry VI._, Part II. + + +How to break the news to his mother? this was Carlo's sole thought as +he walked home on that Sunday afternoon. For an Italian he was an +unusually good walker, having fallen a good deal into English habits +through his close friendship with the Brittons; and perhaps it was to +the free country life which he had always lived, and to his daily +rides to and from Naples, that he owed his brilliant coloring and his +healthy mind and body. + +It tortured him to think that the story which had been a shock to him +would be tenfold worse to his mother. It had been, as Sardoni +observed, his first near connection with evil, but to his mother it +would be the first introduction to evil at all. He had not lived the +life of a Neapolitan student without coming across many Comerios; but +his mother, in her peaceful country life, her tranquil invalid +existence, knew nothing of wickedness. His mind was so taken up with +the difficulty of telling her that he had no leisure to think of the +yet greater difficulty, how to help Anita. + +He could not bear to be the one to bring her these bad tidings; he +half thought of asking Father Cristoforo to go to her; then, ashamed +of shrinking from a painful task, he forced himself to pass the old +man's house and climbed the hill, turning over in his mind a dozen +different ways of approaching the subject, and feeling satisfied with +none of them. + +There was something very beautiful in the devotion of this mother and +son; perhaps only Francesca and Clare knew how entirely Carlo had +given his life to the work his father had left him, or how +wonderfully it had helped to mould his character. To a woman it is +second nature to devote herself to an invalid, nor does it involve +any very serious break in her life; but to a man, obliged to go on +with his daily work at the same time, the strain of attendance in a +sick-room is infinitely greater. If he can live this life for years, +it gives him an established habit of always ruling his life by the +needs of another, and not by his own desires. + +There were two gates to the grounds of Villa Bruno. The one nearest +to Naples was that which led into the stable-yard, and Carlo, from +force of custom, went in this way, although he was on foot. He was +surprised to see a hired carriage in the yard; he wondered if +possibly Frau Ritter had driven out to call on his mother, and paused +on his way to the house to ask a servant who was the visitor. + +"Oh, signor," said the girl, flushing up, "they say it is Madame +Merlino!" + +With an exclamation which was almost a cry, he rushed on towards the +house. His mother had had no preparation whatever--the shock might +be fatal to her. And yet, surely it looked well that Nita should at +once hurry home in this way? Surely that in itself gave the lie to +Sardoni's assertion? And then it flashed across him that Nita would +regard him in the light of the elder brother in the story of the +prodigal son, and he prayed that he might be his direct opposite. + +Flinging open the front door he hurried on, pausing for an instant +outside the _salotto_. There was a sound of voices; he hastily +entered, glanced quickly towards his mother's couch, then towards his +sister, who had risen at sight of him with a look so frightened and +timid that he longed to reassure her, as one longs to still the fears +of a terrified child. + +"Why, Nita!" he exclaimed, kissing her repeatedly, "I have been +trying to find you in Naples, but you were before me after all." + +Something in the tone of his "_Ben venuto_," and in the many +untranslatable Italian phrases with which he greeted her, brought the +tears to Anita's eyes. + +She watched intently while Carlo bent down to kiss his mother. + +"You are cold, _madre mia_!" he exclaimed. "You are faint and +over-tired." + +"Ah, it is my fault!" cried Nita, vehemently. "It is I who have +tired her and broken her heart!" + +He saw that there would be no quieting her just then, and took the +law in his own hands. + +"You must rest a little," he said; "you too are tired; and then, +after dinner, mother will be fit to talk again. See, I will show you +a room--the place is a little altered." + +With some difficulty he enticed her away, but no sooner were they +alone than her tears again broke forth. + +"Oh, Carlo! I am afraid I have been too much for her," she +exclaimed, "and yet--and yet--I wanted so to come." + +"Yes, yes, I am so glad you came; only we must be careful!" said poor +Carlo, distracted at the thought that she was keeping him from his +mother, and much alarmed as he recollected how white and weary the +invalid had looked. "There, you will lie down and rest till dinner +time, will you not?" + +"But I ought to go back," sobbed Nita. + +"Not yet," he said; "you must dine first; and now promise me to rest. +There, I will not stay longer; I am a little anxious--she is not +strong, you know." + +He tore himself away, and returned as fast as possible to the +_salotto_. His mother's face was hidden; he could hear her low, +gasping sobs. + +"_Madre mia!_" he cried, and there was anguish in his voice. "Oh, do +not give way! She has come back to us, _carina_--all will be well, +if only you will take care of yourself." + +"I must tell you----" she sobbed. + +"Not now," he said, "not now, mother. Indeed you must be quiet +or----" + +"I must speak," she said, "it is killing me! I must speak now, that +you may promise me to save her." + +"From her husband?" he asked, anxious to find how much she knew. + +"No, no--from one she loves. Don't look like that, Carlo--her +husband was so stern and cruel, and she was afraid of him, and--and +this man was kind." + +"Kind!" ejaculated Carlo, with scorn indescribable. + +"He always tried to shield her from her husband, and then, when they +were leaving America, she was in debt and he lent her money, and----" + +"Enough, darling; enough," he said with tenderness which contrasted +strangely with his last ejaculation. "She came and told you all, and +now we can help her. If you love me, try to rest." + +But it was too late. The shock and the agitation had brought on one +of the Signora's worst attacks. Carlo hastily summoned a servant, +and the whole household came rushing together in a miserable +confusion of helplessness. But the maids only glanced at their +mistress's face and went away; they would have left their own +relations rather than have stayed in a room where the Death Angel +already hovered. + +It was then, in his terrible lonely watch, that Carlo thanked Heaven +that Francesca was English. The doctor had already been sent for, +but he left his mother for a moment and hurried towards the group of +weeping women gathered round Anita. + +"We have sent for Father Cristoforo, signor," said one, hoping for a +word of commendation for her forethought. + +But Carlo took no notice, nor did his stern face soften. + +"One of you go instantly," he said, "and fetch Miss Britton." + +Francesca knew little of sickness, nor had she ever seen death, but +she had none of the Italian shrinking from a dying bed, in fact, +every thought of herself was swallowed up in the one longing to be +able to help Carlo. Cutting short the servant's tearful description +of the Signora's state, she rushed out, not even pausing for a hat, +and never stopped running till she reached the Villa Bruno. Then she +pushed past the little group who would have detained her, knocked at +the door of the _salotto_, and softly entered the room where, only a +day or two before, they had spent such a happy evening. + +For a moment she stood amazed, able to think of nothing but the havoc +wrought in so short a time. Her lover knelt beside the couch, he +looked ten years older than when they had parted that morning. The +Signora, whose head rested on his arm, was haggard, ghastly, utterly +changed, while the indescribable look of approaching death upon her +face seemed reflected in the young face which bent over her. + +"Darling, is there anything I can do?" said Francesca, when she had +wiped the damp brow and reverently kissed the dying woman. + +"Nothing," he replied, "except to stay here. You do not mind?" He +looked up at her with questioning eyes, which yet were sure of their +answer. + +"Oh, no!" she said. "I am so thankful you sent for me." + +A long sigh escaped him; he tried to stifle it, lest it should +disturb his mother, who lay with closed eyes. And after that the +room was perfectly quiet, so quiet that Francesca could hear the +ticking of her watch; while the canary in the window pecking the bars +of his cage with his little pink beak, seemed to make a noise so loud +that she wondered whether it would disturb the Signora. + +At last there was a change in the wan face; the eyes opened, and the +Signora looked up at Francesca with a smile. + +Perhaps the beautiful face of the girl made her think of her own +daughter, for the smile changed to a look of anguish as she turned +her eyes to her son. + +"Don't forsake Nita, promise me--save her--try to save her!" + +The words were gasped out with an agony of tone indescribable. But +yet it was not till Carlo's answer was given that Francesca's eyes +brimmed over with tears. + +"I promise, _madre mia_--I promise." + +His face was like the face of a saviour, strong, pure, and sweet; his +voice was firm and clear. No one could have helped trusting him. + +A look of rest--even of hopefulness--stole over his mother's face. +She lay still for a few minutes, then turned again to Francesca with +a most beautiful smile. + +"He has never given me one moment's sorrow all his life," she said. + +The words, which would be sweet to remember in after years, which +might bring in time to the lips of the son a reflection of the +mother's smile as she uttered them, were just then more than he could +endure. His fortitude gave way; he had little to reproach himself +with, yet it grieved him now to remember that at times it had been a +hard struggle to leave Naples and return to the quiet of Villa Bruno, +and that sometimes he had, perhaps, lingered a little longer than he +should have done at Casa Bella. Now his days of service were +over--she would no longer need his help. + +With a cry which tore Francesca's heart, he bent down, clasping the +dying form yet closer as he sobbed out a passionate appeal, + +"Mother, mother, do not leave me!" + +But the Signora was past hearing, past speaking--only she felt his +close embrace, and, feebly raising her left hand, passed it behind +his head with that gentle pressure--half caress, half support--which +every woman knows how to bestow on a baby. And thus they stayed till +the door opened, and the old priest and a little acolyte entered, +barely in time to administer the last sacraments. Then Carlo +regained his composure, stung into calmness by a sort of bitter +resentment that an outsider must usurp those last sacred moments, and +that he, heretic and alien, had no part or lot in the ceremony, and +would be expected to leave the room. But Father Cristoforo, who was +a son first and a Churchman afterwards, read his thoughts at once. + +"Stay, my son," he said, with so kind and fatherly a look, that +Carlo's bitter thoughts were banished, and he knelt on, still +supporting his mother. + +Francesca knelt, too, on the other side of the couch, but she could +neither pray nor feel; she watched the scene like one in a dream. +The sunshine streamed in through the window, lighting up the white +unconscious face of the Signora and the grief-stricken face of her +son, the rich vestments and tonsured head of the priest, the curious, +roving eyes of the acolyte with his little silver-toned bell. But +Francesca was still numb from the exceeding pain of watching her +lover's agony. Now he was peaceful once more; his thoughts were +raised above the pain of the parting, but her thoughts would not +follow. The monotonous voice of Father Cristoforo, as he intoned the +service, seemed only to increase her dull stupor. It was not till +the canary in the window broke out into a sudden burst of song that +her heart seemed to awake once more, and to join in the familiar +words, "_Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus._" And +then, as once more the service became unintelligible to her, she bent +her head, and prayed on with fast-flowing tears, "God, I thank Thee +that she is spared the pain--that it is only left for us." + +When she looked up once more all was over. Father Cristoforo, with a +few kind words, went quietly away; from without there was a sound of +bitter weeping; but Carlo knelt on with bowed head and peaceful +heart, and the Signora's face was stamped with that calm majesty of +death which Francesca had never before seen, and the canary in the +window still sang his song of praise. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +"NO ONE BUT YOU." + +"You like to behold and even to touch the Cross, but, alas! when the +command comes to you to bear it!"--FENELON. + + +Francesca had lived many years in Italy, and had more than once +witnessed the passionate demonstrations of sorrow in a bereaved +household; nevertheless, it was something of a shock to her to leave +the quiet room of death and to go to Anita, whom she found surrounded +by the weeping servants. They evidently took a melancholy pleasure +in watching her violent paroxysms of grief. + +To the English girl such a state of things seemed dreadful; she did +as she would have been done by, and induced the noisy mourners to go +away, thinking that poor Anita would find whatever comfort there was +for her in silence and solitude. She could not understand that total +absence of the consciousness of others, which to a northern nature is +so utterly foreign, and she would have left Anita with a few tender +words and a long, close embrace, had not the poor girl clung to her +like a child with such wild sobs and tears, such loud, unrestrained +crying, that Francesca began to understand that she must be comforted +much as Sibyl needed comforting after some dire disaster. + +At length, words began to frame themselves amid the sobs, a constant +repetition of the one bitter regret which overpowered everything +else--"I have killed her! I have killed her! It is all my doing!" + +"You could not tell--you could not know," said Francesca, feeling it +hard indeed to find words to meet so terrible a grief, and weeping, +too, for sympathy. "She has been so much weaker of late--unable to +bear any shock--but how could you know? And, oh, Nita, she must have +been so glad that you came!" + +"No, no," sobbed Nita. "I might have stayed away, and then she would +have forgotten." + +"Never, for she loved you," said Francesca. "Her last words almost +were of you. Oh, if you could but have heard how she begged Carlo +not to leave you!" + +But at this Nita only wept the more. + +"Carlo will hate me," she cried. "Oh, let me go! let me go! Tell +them to put in the horses. I can't stay here any longer." + +"He does not hate you; he loves you," said Francesca, warmly. "He +promised the Signora that he would always take care of you." + +Something in her tone quieted Nita. She lay musing over the words, +wondering if, indeed, her brother knew all and would yet help her, +trembling with fear at the thought of meeting him, and yet trembling +still more when she thought of going back to Naples to face +temptations too strong for her. + +Francesca watched her tenderly, aware that some conflict was going on +in her mind, though wholly ignorant of her story, and far too young +and innocent to dream of the meaning which lay in the dying words of +the Signora. Nita was in trouble, and in some sort of difficulty, +and Carlo had promised to help her. Francesca did not curiously +wonder what the difficulty might be, nor did she for one moment doubt +Carlo's power of saving her. She accepted everything with the quiet +confidence of a child who is vaguely conscious that there is trouble +in the house, but is quite certain that its elders will soon make all +right. Looking at Nita, she saw how strong a likeness existed +between the brother and sister; and even if she had not felt drawn +towards her before by her loneliness and her grief, this would have +appealed to her. The fine profile and the warm, bright coloring were +exactly alike, but the mouth was disappointing, and had the same +weakness which had slightly spoilt the expression of Signora Donati; +while the eyes, though large and beautiful, were lacking in soul, and +might almost have been the eyes of a doll, so little did they vary. +But yet, as Nita lay there in her grief and self-reproach, trying to +make up her mind between two evils, wondering which fear was the +least intolerable, there was something about her which pleaded for +pity. She was so young, so weak--a parasite by nature, she seemed +ready to cling to anything, no matter what it was, so long as it had +the strength which she lacked. + +She was afraid of sleeping in the same house as her dead mother, but +then she was yet more afraid of confessing to her husband where she +had been. She dreaded meeting Carlo, but she still more dreaded +meeting Comerio. All at once it occurred to her to wonder who her +companion was. + +"I have forgotten your name, signorina," she said, looking into the +sweet, pure face above her; "but I think you must be Carlo's English +playmate from Casa Bella." + +"Yes; I am Francesca Britton," she replied quietly, not liking just +then to speak of her happy betrothal. + +"Ah! how shocked I was in the old days at the games you and he played +together!" said Nita, wistfully. "And now--now it is I who have +shocked you all. But you were quite right all the time. I have seen +American life since then, and if we Italian girls had something of +their liberty, there would not be so many broken hearts among us." + +The words reminded her of her grief, and she again burst into tears. + +"Let me fetch Carlo," said Francesca. "He will comfort you as no one +else can. Oh, you must not say you are afraid of him, that is only +because you have forgotten. And I may tell him that you will stay, +may I not?--you could not leave him all alone." + +Nita sobbed out something inarticulate, which Francesca took for a +consent, and hurried away in search of her lover. She found him in +the _salotto_, but the body of the Signora had been carried to her +own room, and Carlo, looking broken-hearted, was trying to write a +letter to his uncle to tell him the news. Softly passing her arm +round his neck, and with her cool cheek leaning against his heated +brow, she stood by him for some moments in silence. + +"I must go home, my own," she said, at length. "Father will have +come back, and will not know where I am. May I ask him to come in +and see if he can help you in anyway?" + +Carlo thanked her. He felt dazed and bewildered; he thought it would +be a comfort to have the help of the kind-hearted Englishman, who +delighted in managing other people's affairs. + +"And then there is Nita!" he exclaimed, with a look of perplexity. +That promise which he had made returned to him. It lay like a heavy +weight on his burdened mind; he had promised to save her, but how to +perform that promise he had not an idea. + +"It was about Nita I wanted to speak to you," said Francesca. "She +said at first that she must go back to Naples at once, and seemed to +dread meeting you. But I think--I really think she would stay if you +went to her and let her see that you care for her still. She is in +terrible distress, and no one but you can comfort her, Carlo _mio_." + +"No one but you!--No one but you!" The words haunted him as he +turned to go to Nita. His mother had trusted all to him; Francesca, +too, seemed to think that with him lay the sole chance of reaching +his sister. Their very confidence seemed to crush him; he was +utterly at a loss to know what he should do or say; he could not even +feel acutely, sympathy seemed dead, his heart cold and numb with +suffering, and yet impelled by the truth of those words, "No one but +you!" he entered Nita's room. Her face was buried in the pillow, she +was sobbing aloud, and took no notice of his presence. He sat down +by the bed and mechanically took her hand in his: her sobs did not +move him, and no words of comfort came to his lips. + +But all at once, as he watched the little hand which lay in his, a +keen pang of pain shot through his heart. The hand was like his +mother's hand, so much like it that he could hardly believe it was +not hers; he pressed it to his lips with love and reverence, for the +first time in his life fully realizing the meaning of brotherhood. +With that pain and that new vision his heart awoke once more, his +work lay before him, his perplexity melted in a rush of love and +pity, and that eager longing to help which swallows up diffidence and +proves its own guide. + +"Nita _mia_!" he said, his tears falling fast on the little white +hand, "do not cry like that. She is at rest--at rest, and very +happy; we dare not wish her back again." + +"But I--but I have killed her!" sobbed Anita. + +"No, never say that--never think it," he cried; "you did right to +come home, quite right. It is the will of God." + +No contact with Enrico's sceptical philosophy had been able to mar +that wonderful child-like faith which is one of the most beautiful +characteristics of an Italian. _E volete di Dio_. The words were +spoken with a grave simplicity which would have startled an +Englishman. He did not pause to think of the proper thing to say, or +reflect for one instant how his words would affect others, he just +spoke out the perfect assurance which, in his terrible grief, had +been his own refuge. + +"You must know, Nita," he resumed, as she grew more quiet, "that I +have heard all; she told me; and she died happy because she was sure +you would be saved from this. You will not let her hope be vain." + +"If you would help me," faltered Anita. + +"I will--I will!" he cried eagerly. That was no time to think of +details or of difficulties, he could only give her his unqualified +promise. Then, when the two had discussed things a little more, it +was arranged that Carlo should write a note to Merlino, and tell him +that Anita would remain for a few days at the Villa Bruno. + +"And, oh! write carefully," exclaimed Nita; "see that you do not +offend him." + +Carlo wrote a cautiously worded letter, and sent it in to Naples by +old Florestano, who also bore the ill news to Guido Donati and to the +Ritters, and, that he might make all the more speed, was prevailed on +to accept a seat in the carriage which had brought Nita that morning. + +Thus in a weary round of petty duties the time wore on, and at length +night came. Carlo slept little, however, and rose the next day but +ill prepared for the work before him. Nothing but the life-long +habit of making his own needs stand second to the needs of others, +kept him up. With regard to the funeral there was little for him to +arrange, as all was managed after the usual custom by one of the +_congregazione_, the relatives not even going to the church or the +grave. But he had to interview Father Cristoforo, to talk to Captain +Britton, to receive Uncle Guido, who drove over from Naples at noon, +and to do his best to shield Anita from reproaches, taking good care +that the elder Donati should not hear one word about Comerio. + +And always through the livelong day, above his grief, above the +well-meant condolences of his friends, there rang in his head one +unanswerable question--how to save Nita and with that Francesca's +words, "No one but you!" In the evening, when all was over and the +sad coming and going had given place to a terrible, oppressive quiet, +his grief and perplexity made him turn to Enrico Ritter, with the +feeling that unless he unburdened his mind to some one he should lose +his senses. It was true that Francesca partly divined his trouble, +but he could not discuss his difficulties with her, could not bear to +unfold to her so dark a page. Sardoni, his informant, was a total +stranger; Captain Britton was the last man to whom he could turn; +while Uncle Guido, with his uncertain temper, and his wrath at the +stain which Anita had already brought upon the family name, was +little likely to give helpful counsel in this matter. Enrico, +"purely to please himself," had hastened over to Villa Bruno, and now +inevitably Carlo turned to him, and, exacting a promise of secrecy, +told him everything that had happened since their last meeting. + +He had chosen his confidant well. Enrico could be trusted to keep +perfect silence; moreover, his sound common sense, his cool, calm, +practical way of looking at things, was precisely what Carlo needed. +His own brain was so over-wrought, so confused with the sudden +calamity which had befallen him, that he was not in the least capable +of seeing any matter in its true light. And then, too, the mere +relief of sharing his perplexities with another was an inexpressible +comfort. Not that Enrico had many suggestions to offer; he listened +for the most part in silence. But then there are times in life when +the silence of a friend is the one thing for which we crave; and +Carlo turned to the unspoken sympathy of the man who really cared for +him when wearied with the condolences of outsiders. Guido Donati had +spoken of returning the next day to discuss the future, but the +really perplexing future was discussed with the German pessimist. + +"There is only one thing I would advise you, and that is, have no +personal communication with Comerio," said Enrico, at length. "I +have seen him, and, into the bargain, know a good deal about him, and +he's the veriest devil you can conceive. Pay him back the money, but +do so through some third person." + +"I'm sure I have no wish to see him," said Carlo, sighing. "If only +I could think of some way of getting rid of him." + +That there would be any difficulty in raising the money had not as +yet occurred to Carlo. He had been extremely careless about money +matters all his life; and though leading too secluded a life to be +precisely extravagant, he had allowed things to drift, well content +so long as he received his small annual allowance from his mother, +and never troubling his head about the amount of their actual income. +He knew that he was to be his uncle's heir, and to receive a very +comfortable allowance from him on his marriage, therefore he left all +details to his mother, took what came to him, and lived on in serene +comfort. Compelled now to face the situation, he was startled to +find how entirely dependent he was upon his uncle; the income upon +which they had lived had been derived from an annuity, and, of +course, ceased at his mother's death; the Villa Bruno was only rented +by the year, and, though its furniture belonged to him, it was worth +but little. His only other possession was his horse, and he could +not well part with that to raise the necessary money, for not only +would it at once have provoked a question from his uncle, but it was +indispensable to him so long as he lived in that remote country +place. In the end Enrico, becoming aware of his embarrassment, said +that he should ask his father to advance him the money; and as the +need of a loan was quite comprehensible to Herr Ritter at such a +time, he very willingly acceded to the request, and Enrico himself +was charged with the disagreeable errand of conveying the money to +Comerio. + +This was one step in the desired direction, and one care off Carlo's +mind; but his perplexity about Anita only increased, for, as each day +he learnt to know her better, he was forced to own to himself how +utterly unfit she was for the difficult life before her. Her beauty, +her weakness, her moral cowardice, her miserable marriage, all were +against her. She seemed incapable of really loving, capable only of +a sort of desire to be caressed and shielded. Carlo gained a certain +amount of influence with her, just because she trusted like a child +to his strength, and was quite certain that he would do what he could +for her; but she left everything to him, and, in those bitter days of +his grief and perplexity, lived on in a placid, restful state which +was almost happiness. + +At length an interruption came to this state of things. One +afternoon Sardoni drove over from Naples; Carlo was heartily glad to +see him, and received him with a warmth which seemed to please the +Englishman. + +"I was afraid you would always dislike me as the bearer of ill news," +he said; "I came partly to give you back your letter, which, of +course, I have not had a chance of giving to Madame Merlino. She is +still with you?" + +"Yes, she is still here," said Carlo, tearing the letter in pieces, +and stifling a sigh as he remembered how different all had been when +he wrote it. + +"I came partly to warn you that Merlino intends soon to send for your +sister," said Sardoni; "indeed, it is really a necessity that she +should come back, for the first rehearsal is on Monday, and the +theatre is to open next Thursday." + +"So soon! And as yet I have done nothing!" exclaimed Carlo. + +"Are you so sure of that?" asked Sardoni, with a keen glance at him. +"You have at any rate succeeded in making Comerio your bitter enemy; +and, by-the-bye, I have discovered one thing which may, perhaps, be +of service to you; Comerio's engagement was for three years, but may +be terminated in half that time either at Merlino's option or at his +own." + +"When does the first half expire?" + +"In three weeks' time," said Sardoni. + +Carlo thought for a few minutes in silence; then he said somewhat +abruptly, "I wish you would just tell me plainly what sort of a man +Merlino is; I can gather but little from what my sister lets fall +about him." + +"I can't draw a very pleasing picture of him," said Sardoni, with a +smile, "for, truth to tell, there is no love lost between us. He has +very little education, but that is a subject of regret to him; since +his marriage he has become moral and respectable, but he is the most +awful tyrant I ever had the misfortune to meet with. Of course his +position tends to foster a love of power; for don't you see the +manager of an operatic company is like a king, not a constitutional +one, but a despot--an autocrat. Then your sister, if you will pardon +my bluntness, was the very last sort of wife he ought to have had. +She is afraid of him and has no notion of holding her own, and +he--great brute--treats her abominably. Why don't you persuade her +to try for a separation?" + +"I could not be a party to that," said Carlo, "so long as he is +faithful to her. That a man has a bad temper is no fit reason for +breaking the marriage vow." + +"Those notions are old-fashioned," said Sardoni, with a rather +pitying smile. + +But the smile quickly died away; for Carlo, with a dignity +indescribable, made him a little bow and dismissed the subject with a +calm--"That is very possible, signor." + +There was a world of expression, both in tone and gesture, and +Sardoni saw that to argue about his suggestion would be useless. + +"If you reject that idea," he said, after a silence, "there is only +one alternative--Comerio must be got rid of. I have thrown out as +many hints as I dare to Merlino, all to no purpose. To tell him the +truth plainly would make him ten times more brutal to your sister, +and is altogether out of the question, even if one had the right. +Why, he would be a fiend incarnate! You know what Italian husbands +are when once their jealousy is stirred up." + +Carlo involuntarily smiled, then, tickled by the speaker's ingenuous +remark, fairly laughed. + +Sardoni looked confused. + +"I beg your pardon," he said; "but indeed I had forgotten that I was +not talking to a fellow-countryman--a compliment to your accent, you +see. Where did you become such a proficient?" + +"Our nearest neighbors are English," said Carlo, not caring to +explain any further, though instinctively his eyes turned towards a +photograph of Francesca which stood on the mantel-piece. Sardoni's +keen eyes noted this. He observed the photograph with secret +admiration and drew his own conclusions. + +"Then how do you propose that Comerio shall be got rid of?" said +Carlo, breaking the silence. "You do not imagine, signor, that we +Italians--about whom, it appears, you are in the habit of +generalizing--carry stilettos and conveniently dispose of our foes by +a stab?" + +"There is only one way of getting rid of him," said Sardoni. +"Merlino is always trying to cut down expenses, and with very good +reason, for, as I told you before, the opera is not always a paying +concern. Now, if before the agreement with Comerio is renewed you +can find a baritone with as good a voice who will sing on lower +terms, then I have little doubt that Merlino would settle with him +and give Comerio his _congé_." + +"You must have been talking with Piale, signor?" said Carlo, +conscious of a vague feeling of discomfort. + +"Piale?" said Sardoni, looking puzzled; "I do not know any one of the +name." + +"Ah! then it was only an odd coincidence. But he is a well-known +professor, and he has a pupil--a baritone--whom he is very anxious to +bring out; he was talking to me about it only a few days ago." + +"Why, then, there is good hope for our plans," said Sardoni. "A +beginner would expect far less than Comerio, and, if he really has a +good voice and some dramatic power, no doubt Merlino would catch at +him. What sort of looking fellow is he? Have you seen him? Is he +presentable?" + +A bright, sudden smile lit up Carlo's sad face for a minute. + +"Of that I am no fit judge," he said demurely, "for I am the pupil in +question." + +"You!" ejaculated Sardoni, in amazement. Then, recollecting his +question, he began to laugh. "Well, I have my answer in an +unmistakable form. There can be no doubt that you are well fitted +for the stage." + +Again his companion made that funny little Italian bow, in which +there lurked so much dignity. There was just a shade of irony in his +expression. + +"I see the prospect does not attract you," said Sardoni; "yet I +should fancy you might do great things on the stage, from the look of +you." + +"But I hope for a very different life, signor." + +"I see. Well, I would be the last to tell you that our life is an +enviable one. Some people seem to fancy that an actor's life is 'all +beer and skittles'--I thought so once myself, but I can tell you +that's a confounded mistake." + +Carlo had never felt less inclined to discuss the merits of +theatrical life; he devoutly wished that Sardoni would go; that +feeling of vague discomfort grew upon him. + +"Well," he said, "I will see if possibly Piale may know of some one +else capable of taking Comerio's place; and I am greatly obliged to +you, signor, for your suggestions and your help." + +Sardoni perceived that he wished to be alone, and, leaving a message +of inquiry for Madame Merlino, took his departure. + +But the discomfort which his presence had kept vague and undefined, +broke into a clear, torturing perception when Carlo was once more +alone. Over and over the words rang in his head--"No one but +you!--no one but you!" He tried to stifle them, he argued with +himself on the folly of the idea--he said it was impossible, +Quixotic, preposterous. Finally, he hurried off to Casa Bella. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PIALE SCHEMES. + + "Wilt thou go forth into the friendless waste + That hast this Paradise of pleasure here?" + The Light of Asia. + + +There are some who consider that a hero must be practically +immaculate, and who grumble sorely if called upon to study the life +of an ordinary mortal who often stumbles when the road is rough, who +shrinks from the Valley of Humiliation, and takes a foolish, fleeting +delight in Bypath Meadow. But if the function of all art is to +picture life,--not to photograph, but to paint it,--then, without +doubt, the typical hero of romance with his faultless features and +his preternatural nobility must disappear forever from the canvas; +for where are these perfect beings who, in spite of cruel +circumstances, never fall, who never harbor selfish thoughts--never +speak hasty words? + +Thank God, one meets plenty of good men, but the best of them would +certainly own that there had been times when they had felt ready to +tear their tongues out in vain regret for irrevocable words--that +they would give almost anything to live over again some misguided bit +of their lives. + +Carlo Donati was not an immaculate hero of romance, but a +nineteenth-century man,--a man of flesh and blood, with a quick, +ardent, sanguine temperament and strong passions. When those words +which the English tourist let fall in the Neapolitan _caffé_ had +arrested his attention, he had been pricked at heart, and for the +time vaguely disquieted. A yet deeper impression had been made upon +him by his promise to his mother on her death-bed. Still, all had +been vague and formless. Now, Sardoni's bald, matter-of-fact +statement had plunged the sword much farther, had called up before +him a plain, unmistakable way of helping Anita. The typical hero +would of course have flung himself into the breach without an +instant's hesitation, but Carlo did no such thing; he did not even +allow his thoughts to dwell on the possibility, but just turned his +back on the whole matter, tried to make Anita's visit as pleasant as +might be, and sought refuge from his own sad memories in daily +meetings with Francesca. + +He did, however, to some extent follow Sardoni's advice, and, +intrusting Piale with as much of the truth as he deemed necessary, +wrote to ask him whether he knew of any singer who might be found to +take Comerio's place. He also wrote to Merlino, obtaining further +leave of absence for his sister, on condition that she drove into +Naples each day next week for rehearsal, and finally returned when +the performances began. The days sped by rapidly enough, and on the +Thursday, true to his promise, Carlo took his sister back, parting +with her at the entrance to the Palazzo Forti, not without regret and +apprehension. Mingled, however, with these came a sense of deep +relief, for, from a selfish point of view, he could not but revel in +his regained freedom: his life could never again be what it had been +before Anita's return, but a sort of after-glow of the old times +seemed to rise in his sky when the cloud of poor Nita's immediate +presence was removed. He felt hopeful, too, for Piale had written to +ask him to call at twelve o'clock, and he thought that perhaps he had +found a desirable baritone. + +The old Maestro received him very kindly, but soon dashed his +expectations to the ground. + +"I know of no one," he said emphatically,--"no one. You speak as if +good baritones were as rife as mushrooms. And, look you, Comerio is +a clever actor, and has a fine voice; you'll not easily find any one +to beat him, and if you did it is unlikely enough that they would +take lower terms. Besides, Merlino is extremely unpopular as a +manager; only just now I had his conductor in, a capital young +fellow--Marioni, and he says that they all find it almost impossible +to work with him. You must give up that idea; I, at any rate cannot +help you in it." + +Carlo sighed, and fell into deep thought. He did not hear footsteps +on the stairs, nor notice that some one entered the inner room, which +was divided from the front one only by a curtain. But Piale heard, +and abruptly changed the subject. + +"You have been neglecting your voice, I fear," he said, looking +critically into his pupil's face, and grieving to see what a change +trouble had wrought in it. "Not that I blame you in the least; there +are times, of course, when even music must go to the wall. Let me +hear you." + +He made him work for a time at _solfeggi_, then broke into an +impatient explanation, forgetting everything but his art. "Out of +practice--shockingly out of practice," he said, with a portentous +frown, "try this." + +He took down a copy of "_Faust_" and played the opening bars of "_Dio +Possente_." The frown and the impatient ejaculation incited Carlo; +he cared intensely to please his old master, and, throwing his whole +soul into the music, and losing his own identity in that of +Valentino, he gave an almost perfect rendering of the song. + +Suddenly the curtain between the two rooms was torn back, and a +black-bearded man, with swarthy face, and extremely small, dark eyes, +with a restless, irritable look in them, hastened forward. + +"Signor Piale, I congratulate you!" he exclaimed, "you have produced +the most promising singer of the day! No wonder you are proud of +your pupil!" + +He was evidently carried away by the excitement of the moment, for +his face, naturally most disagreeable, was illuminated with the same +glow of artistic delight which, as the song proceeded, had softened +Piale's rugged features. + +For a minute an observer would have noticed that the two listeners +had forgotten everything but their art, while Carlo was still +Valentino, not himself. There was a silence; the old Maestro looked +triumphantly happy; the stranger turned his small, restless eyes on +the singer, and Carlo gradually awoke to the recollection that he was +not Valentino going off to the war and praying for the safety of his +sister, but Anita's brother with far greater cause for anxiety, and +with his hopes of assistance from Piale dashed to the ground. + +All at once he came to full consciousness of the actual present, and +found the stranger undisguisedly taking stock of him, looking him +over from head to foot with interest and curiosity. Carlo, +unaccustomed to this sort of appraising stare, felt the blood rush to +his cheeks, yet it was no sense of the stranger's rudeness which +aroused his strong antipathy. He looked hastily at the black-bearded +visitor, looked again, angry with himself at being so much moved, +then instinctively he recoiled a pace. + +"The likeness is extraordinary!" exclaimed the new-comer, turning to +Piale and startling him from his happy reverie. + +"Likeness!" ejaculated the old musician, still half in the clouds, +but dimly perceiving that sublunary affairs were somehow gone awry. +"Likeness! Not at all, signor, not at all; there's not a voice like +that in all Italy." + +"I don't speak of the voice," said the stranger, impatiently, "but +the face is like my wife's--curiously like." + +The old musician looked dismayed; he was fully awake now, art was +forgotten, and a perilous bit of real life lay before him. In two +strides Carlo was beside him, his face flushed, his eyes full of +suppressed anger. + +"Maestro," he panted, "what is this? what is this that you have done +to me?" + +"Forgive me," said the old man, "I am not so much to blame as you +think. I did indeed invite Signor Merlino to hear you sing, but with +the understanding that he should not appear. You broke faith with +me, signor." + +"A thousand pardons," said Merlino, coolly: "but in truth your pupil +ought to be pleased with the compliment. I was so carried away by +his singing that I forgot all. I don't understand what all this fuss +is about." + +He glanced at Carlo, who had turned away at his first words, and +stood now at the window with his back to them, evidently struggling +to restrain an outburst of passion. Piale looked at him, too, with +compunction, but with great bewilderment. How was he to get matters +set right? how disentangle himself from the confusion into which +Merlino's impulsive entrance had plunged everything? + +Carlo stood looking out into the busy street, but he saw nothing, was +conscious of nothing but that Merlino was in the room with +him--Merlino, the cause of all his sorrow and perplexity. He had +conquered by a supreme effort the first savage impulse to fly at the +throat of the man who had caused his mother so much grief, but fierce +anger still burnt in his heart and sent fiery blood coursing through +his veins. A storm of wrathful indignation consumed him as he +thought of Merlino's misdeeds; he was angry, too, with Piale, feeling +naturally enough that a snare had been laid for him; and he was angry +with himself, because even in this moment of confusion he was aware +that he had deliberately turned his back on the question now forced +upon him, and that want of preparation was his own fault. + +For moments of what seemed to us sudden temptation are seldom really +sudden. God has given us our times of preparation, and if we have +wilfully neglected them the conflict is severer, or perhaps ends in +defeat. + +How was he now to think out the frightfully involved question at +issue? How decide on the right course of action? And yet a false +step might prove Nita's ruin. The anguish of that thought, and the +loathing of his own selfish procrastination, calmed his anger. With +an effort he yielded up his will, and therewith forgot Merlino's +presence, because another presence absorbed him wholly. + +He was interrupted by a touch on his arm. Piale stood beside him, +with a look of deep concern on his kind old face. + +"Carlo _mio_," he said, in a low voice, "I apologize to you, and beg +your forgiveness; but since things have so fallen out, perhaps you +will permit me to introduce you to Signor Merlino, who will then +understand us better." + +Carlo assented, subduing the angry thoughts which yet struggled to +find place in his heart. + +"Signor," said the old musician, approaching Merlino, "there is +nothing extraordinary in the likeness you observed. Permit me to +introduce you to Signor Donati." + +Merlino started violently, and for a minute looked abashed, and +greatly confused. Piale with much curiosity watched his pupil, who +had turned from the window as he spoke, and now, with a face as pale +as death, bowed gravely. + +There was an awkward pause, broken presently by Carlo. + +"I brought my sister to Palazzo Forti an hour ago, signor," he said, +speaking to Merlino with grave courtesy; "I am much obliged to you +for sparing her to me so long." + +The speech cost him a great deal, but he was glad that he had brought +himself to make it, for he had no wish to quarrel with Nita's +husband, indeed he fully recognized Merlino's rights, though unable +to think patiently of the way in which he had acquired them, or the +manner in which he now abused them. + +"A few days' rest will doubtless have been good for Anita," said +Merlino, complacently, speaking of his wife much as he might have +spoken of an over-worked horse; "she has had hard work in America, +nor can we afford now to be idle. It is a pleasure to me to make +your acquaintance, signor. If I could induce you to follow your +sister's example and use your great talents professionally it would +give me the greatest satisfaction." + +Carlo's heart began to throb painfully. Could it be that he was +called to this? Could it be that this man--this coarse, brutal +tyrant--was to prove the arbiter of his destiny? The words which a +few days before he had used so emphatically to Sardoni trembled on +his lips, "I hope for a very different life." But he managed to +strangle them. Had he not offered up his will? He stood silent, +waiting for guidance, hoping against hope, as is the way with the +poor mortals, that, after all, his own will might be done. He +waited. At length Piale spoke; the words fell on him like blows. + +"I have long urged upon my pupil, signor, the duty of going on the +stage, for which he is admirably fitted. I am not without hope that +circumstances may prompt him at length to consent. But there is as +yet no vacancy in your troupe, I think, so I fear that you will not +have the honor of introducing to the public both Madame Merlino and +Carlo Donati." + +Carlo stood silently listening to the discussion of his fate, looking +now at Piale's brown, wrinkled face, with its parchment-like skin, +furrowed brow, and crown of bushy, grizzled hair, now at the +disagreeable face of Merlino. He knew that when the Impresario spoke +next he would say that Comerio's engagement might be terminated very +shortly if he so willed; knew that Merlino was once more appraising +him, observing the symmetry of his face and figure, calculating +whether he would "draw." He felt like a slave in the market, but +still he waited and held his peace. + +"It shall not be my fault if I lose the honor," said Merlino at +length; "by good luck Comerio's engagement is terminable at eighteen +months if I so please; may be ended, that is, in a fortnight's time. +What say you, Signor Piale? Could you have your pupil fit to fill +the vacancy in so short a time as that?" + +Piale was not to be daunted, though he knew well enough that the time +was very short indeed for the preparation which would be necessary. + +"Whether Comerio's costumes could be altered for him so soon is +perhaps doubtful," he replied proudly; "they might or might not be +ready in a fortnight's time; but my pupil will be ready--quite ready." + +"Well, I'll risk it," said Merlino, who was a keen-eyed man of +business, and knew that Carlo would prove a good speculation. "I am +prepared to offer you, signor, an engagement of three years, +terminable at the end of the first year at the wish of either party. +As to the salary, we shall not quarrel I think, '_Oro è che oro +vale_,' let me see----" + +He began to make a calculation and to discuss money matters with +Piale, who, in his delight at the prospect of at length inducing his +pupil to go on the stage, was ready to accede to almost any terms. + +Carlo, still with that thought of the slave-market in his mind, +watched the discussion like one in a dream, paying little heed to the +details. It mattered nothing to him, just then, whether he received +five pounds a week or fifty; it mattered supremely that he had prayed +for guidance, and that immediately after there had come to him this +definite offer. He dared not refuse, he hesitated to accept. +Silencing the fiends' voices which urged him at once to decline +Merlino's proposal, at once to seek the selfish peace which that +decision would bring, he braced himself up for a reply. The haggling +at length ended, and Merlino turned to him. + +"Well, Signor Donati, you hear my offer, and Signor Piale approves of +the terms; it rests with you now to accept them or not. It is not +for me to advise you either one way or the other; but, in my own +mind, I have little doubt that, if you work well, you will be one of +the first singers of the day." + +Piale's eyes shone; he could hardly contain himself, so great was his +excitement. It damped his ardor to see that this glorious prospect +brought no faintest gleam of pleasure to his pupil's face. He +scratched his parchment-like cheek ferociously, a trick which he had +when anything annoyed him or tried his patience. At length Carlo +spoke: + +"I am obliged to you for your offer, signor, but you will understand +that it is impossible for me to accept it on the spur of the moment. +The decision will affect others; I must think of them as well as of +myself. I must consult those who belong to me." + +"Well, well," said Merlino, impatiently, "so long as you keep the +matter quiet--so long as it does not come to Comerio's ears, I don't +object to that; but I can't afford to be off with him till I am on +with you." + +"I promise you all shall be kept quiet," said Carlo. "How soon must +you know my decision?" + +"Meet me next Wednesday at the Mercadante--or, better still, if +Signor Piale will permit, at this house, and I will have the contract +ready. That leaves you nearly a week, and I shall quite hope for a +favorable reply. I shall, in the mean time, not breathe a word of +this to my wife, who, of course, will be charmed to have you in the +troupe. Good-day, signor, and let me entreat you not to throw away +this opportunity. A thousand thanks, Signor Piale, for your +courtesy, and pray forgive my impetuous entrance." + +He bowed himself out. + +Carlo watched him as he walked down the street--watched him in a sort +of stupor. When he had disappeared, his eyes turned to a heavily +laden mule just coming into sight, with waving green boughs tied +about its head to keep off the flies; it toiled patiently on, the +lazy boy in charge hanging on to its tail with his right hand, while +he devoured a great hunch of bread clasped fast in his left. Carlo +watched with a sort of envy the placid calm of the sun-burned +lad--that picture of lazy content contrasted so oddly with the state +of his own mind. Piale soon added to the fierceness of the storm by +urgent and almost piteous entreaties that he would accept Merlino's +offer. With tears in his eyes the old musician paced to and fro, +passionately declaiming upon the sacred calling, and the duty of not +allowing such great gifts to rust unused; and Carlo listened with the +reluctant attention of one who does not wish to be persuaded. It was +bad enough to fight against his own convictions; he did not want +Piale's arguments to make the conflict yet more severe. + +"I tell you," urged the old man, "that Italian opera is dying--dying +for want of fit exponents. There is scarcely a man whom one cares to +listen to, and it will never be kept alive by two or three _prime +donne_. You might revive it, and yet you hesitate. _Corpo di +Bacco!_ Is it that you are unaware of your gifts? Is it that your +very modesty is to prove the bane of your life and the destruction of +my hopes? Listen to me--it is the plain truth I am telling you, and +you well know I never flatter. For years upon years Italy has +produced no great tenor, or baritone, or bass; now she has produced +you; and, if you work well, you will be the first singer in Europe. +Italy has produced you, and then you persist in hiding your light +under a bushel! _Diavolo_! 'tis enough to try the patience of a +saint!" + +"Dear Maestro!" said Carlo, with a faint smile, "what can I do more +than promise to consider this offer? How can you expect me to decide +all in a moment? Ah!"--a quick sigh escaped him--"do you not see +what it will involve?" + +"_Hein!_ What it will involve? Why, yes; I understand that it might +postpone your marriage for a time. Art demands some sacrifices." + +"And what right have I to sacrifice Francesca's happiness? To a duty +perhaps even that might be right, but to a dream of fame--never!" He +laughed; the idea when put into words seemed to him so preposterous. + +"Happiness be damned!" cried Piale, with righteous indignation. "I +have yet to learn that Italy produced you, and England produced Miss +Britton, that you might be happy. And do I not know Miss Britton? +Can I for one moment dream that she would wish to hold you back? +Why, by all saints, no! My dear boy you are young--young. Believe +me, a girl is always willing to wait when the good of her lover is in +question. As to Captain Britton, he can't have lived all these years +in Italy and yet retain his Puritan notions in all their strictness. +He may object at first, but, hearing all the circumstances of the +case, he will soon give way. Courage, Carlo _mio_! For a great +gain, a momentary sacrifice!" + +Perhaps it was that word "momentary" which showed Carlo plainly what +he had before felt dimly, that Piale knew nothing whatever about the +sacrifice in question. + +Much as he loved the old man, he could bear his presence no longer, +but hastily took leave with a few incoherent words about "time" and +"thinking it over." He fled from his old singing-master as those in +trouble or perplexity always do flee from glib talk. It is the one +intolerable thing, as exasperating to the nineteenth-century man as +the glib talk of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, was to poor Job. + +"Momentary, indeed! A momentary sacrifice!" The idea made him +indignant and yet pitiful. Had Piale lost his manhood in his +art-life? Had he so little conception of what it was to love that he +could speak thus? And then he tried to imagine to himself the +fulfilment of the Maestro's wish; he had a vision of himself, old and +gray-headed, enjoying the sense of his fame and his world-wide +reputation, and calmly advising some other in the heyday of youth to +renounce love and happiness. + +It was not till he was confronted by a huge poster, in which the +names of Madame Merlino and Comerio shone out conspicuously, that he +once more perceived the true facts of the case. This was no question +between the merits of marriage and of art-life; it was the question +whether he should choose happiness for Francesca and himself, or +choose the possibility of saving his sister. Life is made up of such +decisions--some of them petty, some of them overwhelmingly great, but +all of them momentous. We hate the thought of the choice, long to +gain without losing, hope to triumph without sacrifice, strive and +struggle and fret in the vain effort to break through the inexorable +law that those who find their life must first lose it. Truly, "men +are not more willing to live the life of the Crucified." + +Again those words returned to Carlo's mind; they grated upon him even +more than when he had first heard them spoken--perhaps because, while +far from understanding them, he began vaguely to perceive their +drift. He saw a dim, distasteful vision of self-renunciation; he did +not see that true self-renunciation implies the peace-giving presence +of One in whose service we renounce. + +While he was still all confused and agitated by this inward conflict +he was waylaid by Herr Ritter. + +"Whither away?" exclaimed the old man, kindly. "You are never +thinking of going to Pozzuoli in this heat. Come home with me; it is +long since I saw you. You are looking fagged, Carlo." + +Recollecting the obligation he was under to Enrico's father, Carlo +felt that it would not do to refuse his hospitality, though, truth to +tell, he had never felt less inclined for a visit to the kindly +German household. He, the laughter-loving, felt that he could not +endure the sound of laughter; he, the impulsive and unreflecting, had +actually come to such a point that he desired nothing so much as +quiet and solitude to think out this great question. + +He did not get much quiet in the Ritter household, but he met with +that hearty, vociferous kindness which Enrico's family knew so well +how to bestow. Frau Ritter had never before been so motherly, the +daughters of the house never so anxious to do what they could for +him. Enrico himself was unusually silent; he watched his friend +narrowly, perceiving from his face that matters must be worse rather +than better since their last meeting. Possibly, however, the parting +with his sister might account for the troubled expression he bore; +and when, after dinner, the two friends were left alone, Enrico +turned eagerly to the subject which the others had studiously avoided. + +"Madame Merlino has left you, I suppose?" he began. "She makes her +first appearance to-night, I see." + +"She left this morning," said Carlo, "and sings to-night in _Don +Giovanni_?" + +"Why should you go back to the empty house? Spend the night here," +suggested Enrico. + +Carlo hesitated. + +"It would be my best chance of seeing Comerio," he said, thoughtfully. + +"How do you mean?" + +"If I slept here and went this evening to the Mercadante." + +"_Gran Dio!_ It would scarcely be an enjoyable evening for you, my +friend." + +Carlo made an expressive gesture with his shoulders. + +"Perhaps not, but I should see him and be able to judge better what +to be at." + +"You have not heard, then, of a baritone fit to step into his shoes?" + +"I have heard of one, but it is doubtful whether he will accept +Merlino's offer." + +"What! Has it gone so far as that? Actually an offer? Come, the +clouds begin to disperse! Once get that scamp ousted and your +troubles are over." + +Carlo was silent. In his heart he thought they would be, not over, +but just begun. He had not yet told Enrico of Piale's little plot, +for he knew that his friend would favor no plan likely to make him +unhappy, and felt that he was not yet strong enough to stand +arguments for the side on which he was already biassed. + +"Well, I will stay the night since you ask me," he said at length. +"Will you come with me to _Don Giovanni_?" + +"Yes, if you are indeed bent on going. Your presence will be +commented on, though. You see it is so soon after--" he broke off in +confusion, adding, after a pause, "and you see every one will be +there to-night, for Madame Merlino's first appearance has been much +talked of. Your going may be misunderstood." + +"_Che sarà sarà_," said Carlo, with a quick sigh. "Enough, I shall +go; let us say no more about it." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE OLIVE-GARDEN. + + "Though one but say, 'Thy will be done,' + He hath not lost his day + At set of sun."-- + CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. + + +As Enrico had predicted, the Teatro Mercadante was crowded. Not only +was it the opening night, but the Neapolitan world was curious to see +the new _prima donna_, this girl of good birth and breeding, who had +outraged all the proprieties and eloped with her singing-master. Had +it not been for his inward consciousness that there was something +much worse that people might ere long say of his sister, Carlo could +not have endured all that he was that night fated to overhear. On +every side people discussed the Merlino-Donati scandal; but though he +winced under it, the dread of the future deadened the recollection of +the past, the new danger eclipsed the old shame. + +He sat as though in a bad dream, waiting for the curtain to rise and +disclose to him the face of this enemy of his peace; so engrossed was +he with this thought that he scarcely heard the overture. He wanted +to meet his foe face to face, and with a sort of shudder he reflected +that in a very short time it was possible that he himself might be +standing on that very stage whence Leporello was now descanting upon +his master's vices. A moment more and Comerio--the _Don Giovanni_ of +the evening--would appear. Carlo breathed hard, drew himself +together, and waited through moments which seemed like hours. +Curiously enough the first sight of his foe relieved him; Comerio was +not at all the ideal villain; he was a small-made, supple-looking +man, with very white taper hands, and a face which at that distance +looked refined--much too refined for a Don Giovanni. He sang rather +well, but his acting was so execrable that Carlo forgot everything in +a longing desire to substitute something lifelike for the ludicrous +throwing-up of hands which seemed to be Comerio's idea of dramatic +art. Never once was it possible to think of him as anything but +Comerio the baritone; he walked through his part and threw about his +arms very freely, that was all. And yet his complete failure as an +actor was in Carlo's favor. He wanted to study the man, not to enjoy +the opera, and since Comerio had no notion of throwing himself into +his part, the opera was as good a time to study his own character as +any other. + +For a while all went well. The pretty scene in which Zerlina made +her first appearance amid the crowd of merry peasants could not have +been better chosen for Anita's _début_. She looked so charming, and +sang so well, that she won all hearts, and even Carlo felt a thrill +of pride and pleasure as he listened to her sweet, bird-like notes in +the duet with Masetto, a part which was well filled by Merlino +himself. + +But his pleasure was of short duration. All his miserable +apprehension returned the instant Comerio was on the stage again. To +see him making love to Anita was more than he could endure. + +Next day the newspapers were warm in their praise as to the acting in +the scenes between Don Giovanni and Zerlina; but Carlo knew that this +was just the one part of the opera in which there had been no attempt +at acting. + +The music was poisoned to him that night, and he could hardly endure +the repetition of "_La ci darem_," which roused the audience to +enthusiasm. He never spoke once to Enrico, who for his part could +only speculate as to his friend's feelings, for Carlo showed no other +sign of agitation than a slightly heightened color, sat out the +opera, and greeted two or three friends whom they encountered +afterwards quite in his usual manner. Only one thing seemed ominous, +because it was unnatural, and that was his silence. It grew so +burdensome as they walked home that at last Enrico broke the ice with +an outspoken question, "Well, what do you think of him?" + +"I don't know--I can hardly tell--my head aches too much," said +Carlo, in a voice which betrayed so much suffering that his friend +ventured no more inquiries, and was glad enough when they reached +home. "I shall think things out better to-morrow," were his last +words that night. But when the morning came he was incapable of +thinking at all, and could only lie still and endure the worst +headache he had ever had in his life, while, as though to torture him +yet more, "_La ci darem_" rang perpetually in his ears. + +On the Saturday he awoke to the consciousness that the pain was over, +that his brain was clear once more, and that he must no longer +postpone the decision upon which so much depended. But Frau Ritter +absolutely refused to allow him to go home till the heat of the day +was over; and it was not until late that he managed to escape from +his kindly nurses, and, taking a boat at the Piliero, made his way +home. He felt much shaken by all that he had been through, and would +fain have given himself up to the refreshment of the sweet June +evening, turning his back on the threatening future, and getting what +pleasure he could from the beautiful bay which was so familiar and so +dear to him. But something warned him that now was his time, that he +was not likely again to have such uninterrupted quiet. + +Resolutely he went over in his mind all that there was to be said on +either side of the question. What course would Captain Britton take? +Would he not justly complain of an arrangement which must +indefinitely postpone his daughter's marriage? Would he not be +wrathful at his choice of such a profession? And how was he to +explain to him that choice without altogether betraying Nita's story? +Again, there was the profession itself. Piale thought only of the +reputation he would some day gain, but Carlo, not unnaturally, +thought of the reputation he would lose. He knew quite well how his +friends would regard his choice; he could imagine the expression of +Uncle Guido's face as he exclaimed, "What! a Donati turn actor?" + +And then there was Francesca. His breast heaved, his eyes grew dim; +had it not been for the presence of the boatman he would have given +way and sobbed aloud. And yet Piale was right as far as that went. +Once convinced that he might really save Nita, Francesca would be the +first to bid him go; once sure that he was doing what he thought +right, she would bid him God-speed and bear the pain like a little +heroine. + +With him rested the real difficulty, the terrible decision. Was he +to give her this pain to bear? + +"There will be stormy weather to-night, signor," said the boatman, +turning round in his seat to glance out seawards as they rounded +Posilipo. + +This remark diverted Carlo's thoughts for a moment. The sea was like +glass, far away in the distance he could see a yacht lying becalmed, +her beautiful white sails flapping idly as she rolled. + +The sunset was just over, and already the brief twilight was fading +away, the summer night beginning, and after the sultry, almost +breathless day, a cool wind was springing up; on the horizon could be +seen the dark line which showed that a change was coming, and that +the time of calm inaction was over. + +Was it not like his life? He had had his days of ease, his smooth, +uneventful days, with nothing to mar the tranquil happiness. Then +there had arisen the dark foreboding of coming trouble, and now the +storm had broken. Was he to choose this life of perpetual storm? Or +might he not seek the tranquil haven where he longed to be? Must he +indeed go forth into a world so uncongenial?--into a strife so +distasteful? + +He was not indolent by nature, he was not selfish; but he had, in a +marked degree, that Italian hatred of storm and struggle which to a +northern nature is so incomprehensible. To go out into a life of +perpetual temptation,--a life likely to be full of provocations to +the temper, this was harder to him than to most men, for he dreaded +nothing so much as losing his self-control. What if he should accept +this offer, go forth as Nita's preserver, and then fail himself? In +that case, indeed, all would have been lost, honor included. He +could not risk all this for a mere hope, a mere chance. It could not +surely be expected of a man that he should give up his home, his +prospects of marriage, his profession, everything that he cared for, +all for the sake of saving one woman? No, it certainly could not be +expected! Why, the world would laugh at such a notion. Had any +other man put such a case to him, he, too, would have smiled at it, +and called the propounder of such folly a mere Quixote. How foolish +the old boatman would think him if he steered his frail little boat +out into the troubled waters yonder instead of making all speed to +guide it to the shore! + +He shivered slightly, threw his cloak across his chest, and, for the +sake of a change of thought, began to abuse old Frau Ritter for +having delayed his return so long, and in her dread of sunshine +brought him in for the risk of malaria. But above it all floated the +perverse voice which would not leave him unmolested: "Men are not +more willing to live the life of the Crucified." He left off abusing +Frau Ritter, and began to hum a song, but naturally enough chanced to +begin with an air from _Don Giovanni_. The voice he longed to drown +spoke more and more clearly. Well, _Don Giovanni_ was poisoned for +him, he must eschew it in future. And forthwith he strove to drive +the unpleasant thoughts connected with it from his mind with the +first snatch of song which came to his head. Out into the summer +night rang the noble impassioned address of Valentino to +Mephistopheles: + + "_La croce dai demoni tuoi ci guarda!_" + +The scene in the opera rose vividly before him, the soldier, with his +cross-handled sword uplifted, boldly confronting the devil who so +lately had worsted him, but who now shrank back helpless and +trembling. Good heavens! and he had sought to drown the voice of God +in his heart by those very words, had sought to drive back the good +and to give place to the evil. + +A horror of great darkness fell upon him. It was the crisis of his +whole life. Afterwards, when he recalled the past anguish, he +recalled with it those sombre surroundings, the purple waters, the +great dark cloud drawing nearer and nearer, the hopeless gloom of the +night broken only by the light on Cape Miseno and the red light on +the side of the yacht. Not a sound was to be heard save the +splashing of the oars, and now and then a sort of hoarse shout in the +distance, probably the yacht's captain giving orders to his crew; but +to Carlo the silence was tumult. He was sailor enough to know that +in a few minutes the storm would be upon them. That mattered little, +for they were close to the shore; it was the tumult in his own heart +which absorbed him. + +Vaguely, and as if from a great distance, he heard the boatman giving +thanks to San Gennaro that they were safely in before the squall, he +had indistinct recollections of paying the man a double fare and +bidding him seek shelter for the night at Florestano's hut, then of +plunging wildly on through the darkness across the beach, up the hill +among the dusky vines, his pain increased by a consciousness that +when he had last trodden that path it had been with Francesca. Was +it to be thus with his life? Must he content himself with a memory +of the briefest snatch of happiness ever given to man, and toil on +through long, solitary years over the rough and stony paths of +publicity? It was impossible,--impossible! He rushed on yet faster, +as though by rapid motion he could escape from the tyranny of an idea. + +Just as he reached the olive-garden the storm suddenly broke. The +wind raged over the land, tossing the trees wildly to and fro: the +rain came down in torrents, the lightning cast its angry gleam across +the heaving sea, and the swaying boughs, and the wet, shining shore. +Carlo threw himself down on the ground, beneath the thickest of the +olive-trees, seeking at once shelter from the outward storm and help +in the inward struggle. He would no longer flee from the voice that +had haunted him; he would listen to it--would try to understand it. +What was the life of the Crucified? + +All his soul went into the question, and the confusion within him +seemed to lessen as he waited for the answer, which framed itself to +him amid the raging of the wind and the dull roar of the thunder, +something after this fashion. + +The life of the Crucified was lived by One who delighted to do God's +will. He did not exclude pleasure, or morbidly delight in pain; it +was just that He did not think about pleasing Himself at all. He +took the bitter and the sweet as they were sent, and delighted in +them because He knew the Sender who sought only the good of all men. +This is the life of the Crucified. You think happiness is to please +yourself--it is not that at all, it is to delight in doing His will. + +"Lord," he sobbed, "I am not willing--it is true--I am not willing to +live Thy life. Save me from my selfishness! 'By Thine agony and +bloody sweat, by Thy cross and passion, Good Lord, deliver me.'" + +He repeated the familiar words again and again, hardly conscious of +what he was saying, yet in his anguish finding them a sort of relief. +And, presently, either the words or his own surroundings brought to +his mind what the greatest of modern atheists once termed, with an +involuntary softening of the voice, "That terrible garden-scene." +There had been a struggle--an agony--for the Son of God Himself. He, +too, knew what it cost deliberately to take the course which must +bring bitter grief to those who loved him. He, too, knew how human +nature shrank from isolation, from misconception. Every temptation +now assailing him had also assailed the Son who learned obedience by +the things which He suffered. + +And just as a child will for very awe forget its little grief when +brought face to face with the great grief of its parents, so Carlo +lost sight for a time of his own pain, that past scene becoming far +more real to him than the bitter present. The tears wrung from him +first by his own anguish fell now for another. + +"Lord," he sobbed, "it cannot be that I am willing that Thou shouldst +be crucified afresh--put to open shame--while I live here in this +paradise! Anything rather than that! Lord, choose for me what Thou +wilt. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. 'By Thine agony +and bloody sweat, by Thy cross and passion, Good Lord, deliver me.'" + +An hour later the brief Mediterranean storm was over, the stars were +shining, the yacht was on her course once more, her white sails +spread to catch the softened breeze. + +Then Carlo rose to his feet and went on his way. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE PILGRIM. + + "Joy, so true and tender, + Dare you not abide? + Will you spread your pinions + Must you leave our side? + --Nay; an Angel's shining grace + Waits to fill your place!" + A. A. PROCTER. + + +"Very odd of Carlo not to come in to-day," remarked Captain Britton +from the depths of his easy-chair. "I suppose the heat was too much +for him. Have you heard from him, Fran?" + +"I had a little note from him yesterday, father, only to say that he +wasn't well and that the Ritters insisted on keeping him, but that he +would be sure to be at home again on Saturday. I daresay Frau Ritter +made him stay; it was so sultry, you know, and since Herr Ritter's +illness she is always in terror of sunstrokes." + +"Well, one thing is, this thunder-storm will clear the air," said the +Captain, rubbing his large hands together contentedly. "If I could +be sure your uncle was safely in port, I should feel more +comfortable, though. What did I do with his letter? Ah, here it is! +'The yacht is to leave Leghorn on Wednesday,' he says. They +certainly ought to be at Naples by this time." + +"I looked out for the _Pilgrim_ yesterday," said Francesca, "but +to-day I forgot all about it. How I wish Clare and the girls were +coming too; it was very benighted of them to like a stupid visit to +the North Cape better than a cruise in the Mediterranean." + +"No accounting for tastes," said the Captain, smiling. "If it were +not for this engagement of yours, I should feel sorely tempted to get +your uncle to give me a berth. There is nothing, after all, like the +sea. You smile, Fran. Why, bless your dear little heart! I wasn't +wishing things otherwise with you and Carlo. On the contrary, I +think the sooner you are married and settled the better for both of +you. He has looked sadly worn and out of spirits lately, poor +fellow!" + +"There has been so much to trouble him," said Francesca, with a sigh. + +"Ay, and he is unfit to be left all alone in that dreary house. +Really, I don't see why there should be any more delay. Now that he +has got rid of that sister of his, why shouldn't you be married +quietly and have done with it? No disrespect to the mother in that, +poor soul! Why, it is the thing of all others she would have wished. +I tell you what, Fran, here is such a chance as is never likely to +come again. Your uncle is unexpectedly coming out here, he is sure +to give at least a week to Naples--why should we not have your +wedding while he is here? Upon my word!"--he rubbed his hands with +greater satisfaction than before--"that's the happiest notion that +has come to me for a long time, Fran. You and Carlo shall be packed +off on your honeymoon, Sibyl and I will console ourselves with a +cruise in the _Pilgrim_, and we'll all forget that provoking Madame +Merlino, who has made such a storm in a teacup." + +Francesca blushed vividly. + +"If you really think--if Carlo----," she broke off in confusion. + +Captain Britton patted her head caressingly. "Why, of course, my +love, of course I would take good care that Carlo thought the +suggestion his own. To prolong the engagement would be bad for both +of you. Nothing in the world more trying than long engagements. Not +that you are to think I am in any hurry to get rid of you; but, after +all, we shall scarcely be separated, and an engagement is somehow +neither one thing nor the other. I should like to see you married, +my dear; this sad affair of poor Carlo's has been an annoyance to +me--such things are unsettling, they interrupt the steady routine of +daily life. I confess I shall be glad to go away for a time with +your uncle, and then, later on, to come back and begin our ordinary +life once more." + +Francesca felt like a cat rubbed the wrong way, but knowing that the +rubber meant it all very kindly she bore it with composure. + +"A cruise in the _Pilgrim_ would be the best possible change for +you," she said, laughing lightly, though not altogether without an +effort. "I shall go and see if she is anywhere to be seen; and +really, since you are in such hurry to be off, I shall have to think +about my wedding-dress." + +Glad to put an end to the conversation, she crossed the room, threw +open the window, and stepped out into the _loggia_. The night was +deliciously fresh after the storm; she felt an inexpressible sense of +freedom and relief as she closed the window behind her, and drank in +deep draughts of the cool, moist air. Though her father's words had +grated upon her, there was, nevertheless, a certain amount of truth +in them which she could not but recognize. She, too, had that +longing to go away, to escape from the scene of all the trouble and +sorrow which had lately invaded their home. It would be like +escaping from the hot, lamplit drawing-room into this cool +out-of-doors. And then, perhaps Carlo would begin to be himself +again. Surely, though, she had not liked the way in which the idea +was expressed, the idea itself was a good one. They would go +away--right away from Naples--away from the region of theatres--away +from all that could recall Carlo's loss, and she would comfort him. +Then, later on, they would induce Merlino to let Anita come to them; +she should stay with them at the Villa Bruno, should be made +perfectly happy, should have all kinds of little English comforts +which would be new and delightful to her after her wandering life. +And so her troubles should somehow conveniently disappear, and she +should find that their home was her home. If her trouble was +connected with money, as Francesca fancied, why then Carlo would +somehow manage to clear off her debts, and she, too, should start +life afresh, and they would all live happily ever after. So she +dreamed in her girlish fashion, knowing nothing of the real state of +the case, only fully convinced that this dreary state of things could +not last forever, that somehow it would all come right in the end +like the books. And in that belief no doubt she was right; wrong +only in this, that "coming right in the end" meant to her coming +right in these threescore years and ten. + +To be married, perhaps, next week! How calmly her father had +suggested the idea, and how her heart throbbed as she recalled his +words! She would lay aside her mourning for that one day, would be +dressed, spite of the sadness which had heralded in her marriage, "as +a bride adorned for her husband;" and therewith she began, after the +manner of girls, to picture the dress to herself; it should be long +and white and shining; and as for orange-blossom, why, there was no +lack of that in the garden, always supposing this heavy rain had not +dashed it. Thinking of the orange-blossom, she turned from those +inward visions and looked down into the dusky mass of trees and +shrubs below, starting a little at sight of some one approaching, but +quickly recognizing her lover. + +"Carlo! why, Carlo! is it really you?" she exclaimed, an ecstasy of +happiness in her voice, for she had not in the least expected him. + +He looked up. She was leaning on the rail of the loggia among the +climbing roses, her eyes bright with joy, her sweet face a little +flushed, her white neck and arms gleaming through the black lace of +her dress. He trembled from head to foot. It was too late now to +tell her all--and had he strength to meet her? Would it not be +better just to kiss that hand resting on the white balustrade, and +excuse himself for the evening? But Francesca, who had never since +her betrothal been so long parted from her lover, turned and flew +down the steps to meet him. + +"Oh, I had quite given you up, darling!" she cried. "And are you +really well again--quite well?" + +A terrible pang rent his heart, but he trembled no more; all the man +in him rose up to meet this sore trial. + +"Quite well, _carina_; only wet through, and not fit to touch you," +he said; and by an impulse which he could hardly have explained he +checked the hands which were stealing round his neck, drew them down, +and held them fast in his while he bent forward and kissed her. + +A shade passed over her face. Why did he stop to think about his wet +clothes? What lover ever deigned to bestow a thought on such prudent +considerations? + +He read her thoughts in a glance, and therewith saw a vision of the +future--the shadow deepening on that dear face, the eyes dim with +tears, the brow contracted with pain. To hide his agony from her he +let his head droop forward, resting his burning forehead on her +shoulder. + +"I have been so dreadfully anxious about you, Carlino," she said. +"And, oh! it is so beautiful to have you back again!" + +He did not speak, only his cold hands held hers more tightly; his +face was hidden on her breast. But, though he could hide from her +the sight of his anguish, he could not deceive her; she knew +intuitively that it was no physical pain which made a man like Carlo +bow his head like one overwhelmed. It must surely be that he was +thinking of his mother--and it must have been terribly dreary coming +back from Naples that stormy evening--coming home for the first time +to the empty house. + +"My own dear one," she said, all the deep tenderness in her heart +stealing into her voice, "you'll not shut me out from your sorrow. +What is yours is mine, Carlino. I was so happy when I saw you, I +forgot what a sad home-coming it must be. But, darling, it wasn't +that I forgot her, for I, too, loved her." + +"Pray that I may keep my promise to her," he whispered. "Pray! pray!" + +There was a silence. The tears welled up in Francesca's eyes, not +because she understood his sorrow, but because the sorrow was his, +and because she loved him. She prayed obediently like a little +child. After awhile he raised his head, looked for a moment into her +eyes, then pressed his lips to hers in a long, lingering kiss. + +"Dear love," he said, gently, "we will keep our Whitsuntide together." + +He watched her up the marble steps, then turned away, walking home +through the wet garden paths. And even in his great sadness he could +not but smile faintly as he reflected what Piale's feelings would be +could he now see him, cold, and weary, and wet to the skin. "The +singer keeps his shop in his throat," he said to himself, with a +pathetic little effort to persuade himself that he was now quite +accustomed to the idea. "I must not indulge any more in evening +storms." + +The next day was Whitsunday. Carlo, as usual, drove in to Naples +with the Brittons, and was very glad that the great excitement in +"Uncle George's" probable arrival, excluded all other topics of +conversation. It lasted throughout the drive, and, indeed, engrossed +Captain Britten's thoughts so much during church-time that he was +glad to effect his escape with Sibyl after the sermon, leaving Carlo +and Francesca to the second service, while he hastened to make +inquiries as to the _Pilgrim_. + +To his surprise and delight, he was greeted just outside the church +by his brother. + +Sibyl, who had very vague recollections of her uncle, studied him +with a child's keen criticism. + +"He is like papa," she reflected, "but smaller and finer; his beard +is beautiful, and white, and curly, like a Father Christmas; he +laughs with his eyes. I like him." + +Having satisfied herself on this point, she began to listen to the +conversation. + +"Yes, we got in early this morning," her uncle was saying. "We had +very light winds all the way from Leghorn--in fact, yesterday we were +becalmed, but after the squall we got on better. What a paradise you +live in, to be sure! Ah, is this your little one? Why, Sibyl, you +have grown out of all knowledge! And what have you done with +Francesca?" + +"Francesca will be here directly," replied the Captain. "We may as +well wait for her, if you are not in a hurry. By-the-by, George, I +think you have not heard that she is to be married shortly." + +"What high and mighty nobleman has been so happy as to meet with your +approval?" said Mr. Britton, well aware of his brother's weakness for +titles, and convinced by his beaming face that the marriage was +desirable in his eyes. + +"A young Italian neighbor of ours, Signor Donati; not a noble at all, +but of a good old family, and likely to do well at the Neapolitan +Bar. Oh, I am thoroughly pleased with the affair--thoroughly +pleased, and Donati is heir to a rich old uncle, so it is +satisfactory in every way. + +"I hope he is good enough for dear little Fran," said Mr. Britton, +dryly. Somehow the notion of his pretty niece marrying the first +foreigner who proposed for her did not please him. + +"Well, as to that, I doubt if there is any one in the world quite +good enough for her," said Captain Britton, rubbing his hands, but +slightly embarrassed by the presence of his Prayer-book. "You will +like Donati, though, I am sure of that. He is a fine fellow. Just +now, poor boy, he is in great trouble--lost his mother quite +suddenly, and, of course, he's dreadfully cut up. In fact, I think +the only thing will be to hasten on the marriage, and get him right +away from the place for a bit. Ah, here they come! that's right!" +and he hurried forward lest Sibyl should forestall him as news-bearer. + +Mr. Britton glanced quickly at Francesca's _fiancé_, and felt his +insular prejudice melting away. A more beautiful face he had never +seen. Something of its serenity vanished, however, as Captain +Britton approached,--a sort of shade passed over the forehead, and he +evidently came back to the present with an effort. The Captain +brought him forward, and introduced him in his usual rather +boisterous and patronizing way. Mr. Britton was all the more struck +by the grace and dignity of the Italian, and he held out his hand +cordially. + +"I have been hearing of you, Signor Donati," he said, pleasantly. +"You must let me congratulate you, for, indeed, I think you are a +very happy man." + +The Italian smiled, surely the saddest smile ever seen, as he bowed +his acknowledgments. Mr. Britton was startled and perplexed, but +Francesca's happy face reassured him, and had not the Captain said +that his future son-in-law was in trouble? + +"I want you all to come and spend the day on my yacht," he said, +turning to his brother. "The gig is waiting down by the Arsenal. +Come! you must really take compassion on my solitude. Signor Donati, +I hope you'll put up with that barbarous custom, an early dinner; but +the fact is, our cook's cuddy is so near the men's quarters that if I +dine late the poor fellows are half-grilled at night." + +After a little more discussion, they all set off for the Arsenal, +where the "gig," a term which had baffled Carlo altogether, resolved +itself into a four-oared boat, manned by trim-looking English +sailors, who bore the name of the _Pilgrim_ in red letters across +their blue jerseys, and in gold letters round their hats. Mr. +Britton took his place in the stern, insisting that his brother must +sit beside Sibyl to trim the boat, and, having thus managed that the +lovers should be side by side, gave the word to start. Sibyl gave a +cry of delight as the golden-brown oars were promptly raised in the +air and simultaneously lowered into the water. + +"Oh, Uncle George!" she cried, "how happy you must be with this dear +little boat always waiting for you, and men to do so beautifully just +what you say!" + +"Ah!" said Mr. Britton, laughing. "Wait till you are on board the +_Pilgrim_! I see," he added, turning to Carlo and Francesca, "that +you two have already taught this little one to understand the proud +sense of possession." + +Francesca smiled and blushed. Carlo appeared to be engrossed with a +vessel which they were passing, the huge _Duilio_, then not quite +completed. + +"I suppose," he said, turning back with a bright smile which veiled +the pain at his heart, "I suppose there is no need to introduce you +to our monster vessel, you probably know much more about her than we +do." + +The shipbuilder was not above appreciating the compliment thus +delicately conveyed, and Francesca looked up at the unwieldy form +with its dull red color and its six funnels, and tried to seem +interested in the discussion which arose upon its merits among the +men; its only merit to her was that it seemed to be interesting Carlo +and taking him out of himself. The _Pilgrim_, a pretty, +schooner-rigged yacht, of about 150 tons, was anchored off the +Military Mole, and, like all the vessels in harbor, was gayly dressed +with flags in honor of the _festa_. A somewhat smaller yacht was +anchored close by. + +"They tell me our neighbor the _Aida_ belongs to an Italian Count or +Duke, or something of the sort," said Mr. Britton. "What was the +name, Oxenberry; do you recollect?" + +"Count Carossa, I believe, sir," said the coxswain. + +"Count Carossa!" said Captain Britton, with a beaming face. "The +name seems familiar to me. A friend of yours, perhaps, Carlo?" + +"No, sir; I have never even met him," said Carlo repressively. + +"But the name is familiar to you, surely?" + +"It is certainly a well-known name," said Carlo, still in the same +tone. + +Mr. Britton was a little puzzled, he could not make out whether the +Italian knew of something not to the credit of Count Carossa, or +whether his tone merely implied a great distaste of the Captain's +love of the aristocracy. + +By this time they were alongside the yacht, and the Captain, +forgetting all about the Count, began to admire his brother's latest +toy. + +"A very pretty little vessel indeed, George! I confess I envy you. +Sibyl, what do you say? Shall we not sell the villa and live afloat? +Now, Carlo, don't forgot to take your hat off to the deck, it's a +mortal insult to forget that!" + +Carlo laughed; just for a little time he forgot his cares, and his +first thought, as he glanced round the deck, with its exquisitely +smooth and white boards, its shining brass work, its cunningly +arranged skylights and companions, was this:-- + +"A yacht is the last place in the world for private conversations. +One more day of freedom! One more day's peace of mind for my +darling!" + +As for Sibyl, she was wild with happiness, now watching the gig as it +was hauled up, now trotting off hand in hand with the coxswain to the +forecastle, looking with longing eyes at the rope ladders, and +chattering without intermission. + +It was not without difficulty that Francesca bore her off to be +washed and brushed before dinner, and had it not been for the +fascinations of the shifting table in the saloon, she would hardly +have been induced to stay down below for so dull a duty as eating. + +"Uncle George," she said, leaning forward in her quaint way, "it +would have been nice to come on board the _Pilgrim_ any day, but +being Sunday it's just perfect." + +"Eh--how's that?" said Mr. Britton. "The better the day the better +the deed, is that your idea?" + +"No; but don't you see on weekdays we can have games--different games +every day, if we like, but Sundays are always--always the same. Now +this makes such a beautiful difference. I am glad you asked us on +Sunday!" + +Carlo, to whom the rules of the English Sunday had always been +incomprehensible, could not repress an amused smile, but he wisely +avoided taking part in the discussion which ensued on modern +Sabbatarianism, being, of course, ready enough to speak out his own +opinion if it were asked, but not feeling bound to volunteer it. The +argument was at last interrupted by the entrance of the steward. + +"A boat has just come across from the _Aida_, sir, with Count +Carossa's card, but the Captain can't make out what the men say, all +of them being Italians." + +Carlo at once offered to act as interpreter, and ran up on deck, +returning with the message, which he delivered with an impartial face. + +"Count Carossa presents his compliments to the owner of the +_Pilgrim_, and it would give him much pleasure to make his +acquaintance. If quite convenient to Mr. Britton, the Count will +call upon him in the afternoon." + +"Very happy to see him, I'm sure," said Mr. Britton, who was the soul +of hospitality. "Perhaps, Signor Donati, you would be so good as to +frame a polite message for me and deliver it to the messenger; or +stay, I'll write it on my card." + +This done, they all adjourned to the deck, where, before long, they +were joined by Count Carossa, a fine-looking man of two or +three-and-thirty, to whom Captain Britton took very kindly. There +was much amusing discussion as to the merits of the two yachts, then +of Mr. Britton's homeward route, during which the Count discovered +that Francesca and her father were living in the neighborhood, and +did his best to push the acquaintance, eliciting very easily an +invitation to dinner on the following Wednesday. + +Carlo, after the Count's arrival, had kept sedulously in the +background, and had said but little. Happening to glance at him +once, Mr. Britton was struck by the strange expression of his face. +He hastily turned his eyes towards Francesca; she was smiling in +answer to some polite nothing addressed to her by the Count. + +"I believe that fellow Donati is jealous!" he thought to himself. +"My poor little Fran, you are altogether too good to be left to the +tender mercies of an Italian husband. I wonder if the marriage is, +after all, so advisable as they seem to think." + +Afterwards, when the Count was gone, he said, casually, to Carlo,-- + +"By the way, Signor Donati, I suppose this Count Carossa is a decent +sort of fellow; you don't know anything against him, do you?" + +"Nothing whatever, sir," said Carlo, emphatically,--"nothing +whatever. I only know that he is very rich, and that he leads a +wandering life; I have often heard people wonder why in the world he +does not settle down." + +"Then he is unmarried?" + +"Yes, he is unmarried." + +At that moment Sibyl ran up to beg Carlo to look at "some dear little +tortoises in the dinghy." Mr. Britton nodded to himself with the air +of one who has surmised rightly. + +"Just as I thought," he muttered, "as jealous as he can be." + +The afternoon was spent in rambling about Naples, showing Uncle +George as many lions as he cared to see; then they returned to the +yacht to that curious English meal called "tea,"--a new experience to +Carlo, and it was arranged that they should drive home in the cool of +the evening, taking Mr. Britton with them. + +"It has been such a delightful day," said Francesca; "I think I agree +with Sibyl that being a Sunday it has been all the nicer." + +The lovers were standing near the wheel in the dim starlight; perhaps +Carlo was glad that the light was no clearer. + +"See," he said, "there is Venus just setting; not there; look, out +yonder behind St. Elmo." + +Francesca was just in time to see the last of the planet; after it +was set, the Castle on its lofty height seemed to stand out more +darkly against the evening sky. The harbor was very quiet, but from +the shore came sounds of laughter and merriment, a confused roar of +many voices, and now and then in the distance a line or two of +Garibaldi's hymn floating on the wind. + +"How still and peaceful we are out here!" said Francesca, "and how +noisy and horrid it seems in Naples. Why does a Babel like that +always sound so wicked, I wonder? It makes me think of Vanity Fair +in the _Pilgrim's Progress_." + +"And yet through the uproar we can make out Garibaldi's hymn," said +Carlo. + +"Ah," she said, laughing, "I know you would like to be in the thick +of it all, fighting against the evil as your father and grandfather +fought in their day. Oh, Carlino, what a good thing for me that +there are no battles now!" + +"Yet in a good cause you would not have hindered me, I think, +_carina_? Tell me," his lips trembled,--"tell me, had we lived then +would you have begged me to stay at home?" + +"No, Carlo _mio_," she said, raising her sweet eyes to his; "I would +have told you to go and help your country; I wouldn't have cried till +you were out of sight." + +They were interrupted by a summons to get into the gig, and the four +trim-looking sailors rowed them swiftly across the quiet harbor, the +only sound being an occasional "_Qui va la?_" from the watchman on +board one of the anchored vessels, and a ringing reply from the +coxswain of "Yacht's boat." + +"The peace of my life is over," thought Carlo, as he glanced back +across the quiet waters to the _Pilgrim_ with her golden harbor +light; "now for Vanity Fair." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A FIRST ENCOUNTER. + + "Blest, too, is he who can divine + Where real right doth lie, + And dares to take the side that seems + Wrong to man's blindfold eye. + + Then learn to scorn the praise of men, + And learn to lose with God; + For Jesus won the world through shame, + And beckons thee His road." + FABER. + + +"I have something to say to you, _carina_; let us linger behind the +others; there is no hotter place on earth than these streets of +Pompeii, and I think we know them well enough." + +The whole party had driven over early on the Monday morning to show +Mr. Britton the more recent excavations; he had been to Pompeii +before, but many years ago. + +To Carlo and Francesca, however, those old gray streets and ruined +temples were perfectly familiar, and Francesca was not sorry to +follow out Carlo's suggestions, and despatched Sibyl to tell the +others that they would wait in the Temple of Venus till their return. + +"At which message you may be sure Uncle George will laugh," she said. +"Had we been wise in our generation, Carlo, we should have chosen the +Temple of Isis, but then this is my favorite, and, after all, we are +proof against teasing now." + +Carlo smiled sadly, as he looked across the beautiful expanse of +country. On one side, beyond the ruined streets, lay the verdant +_Campagna_ bounded by Vesuvius and Somma; on the other was a yet more +lovely view of sea and mountains, with the white houses of +Castellamare gleaming in the sunshine. + +"We have not chosen a very shady place," said Francesca. "But, see, +there is just a little patch of shadow down there. Let us come." + +"Do you know what that is?" said Carlo, repressing a shudder. + +"Why, yes, to be sure," she replied gayly; "it's the altar of +sacrifice. How fond Clare used to be of poking about in here--don't +you remember? I wish she had come with Uncle George." + +"And I, too; I would have given anything to have had her here--for +your sake, _carina_." + +There was something so unusual in his tone that Francesca looked up +quickly. + +"Carlo _mio_, you frighten me! What do you mean? Don't lean on the +altar like that! Come and sit down on this step by me in the shade. +Why do you wish Clare here for my sake? What do I really want with +any one now that I have you?" + +"But if, as we were saying last night, there was a battle to fight +and I had to leave you?" + +"Carlino! what do you mean? Surely there is not going to be a +revolution--a war?" + +"Oh, no, it is much tamer than that," he said, with a slightly bitter +smile. Then, a sudden light illumining his face, he put his arm +round her and held her closely. + +"My dear one," he said, speaking rapidly and with great +earnestness,--"my own true love, you gave me fresh courage last night +by your words. _Carina_, there are other wars than those between +nations; there is the great war in which you and I have vowed our +service; you would not wish me, I know, to prove coward in that--to +be a deserter. I must tell you, in plain words, the actual case, +even though it is hard to do it,--even though I would give the world +to keep all knowledge of such evil from you. Francesca, do you know +what killed my mother? I will tell you. It was the knowledge that +Anita was living in hourly peril of proving unfaithful to her +husband! He--that one who would ruin her--that one who dares to call +his foul passion by the name of love, is actually a member of +Merlino's company. Merlino himself suspects nothing, if he did he +would half kill Anita. I have thought of every possible plan for +getting rid of this villain without betraying my sister; but, +darling, there is only one way that will answer, and it is this: to +get rid of this man--this baritone--I must take his place myself." + +"You must offer," said Francesca, faintly; "but perhaps Signor +Merlino will not accept you." + +"The post has already been offered to me by Merlino, and on +Wednesday, Francesca _mia_, I must let him know whether I accept his +offer or not." + +"Ah!" + +She locked her hands together convulsively, but only that one sob of +intense, intolerable pain escaped her. + +There was silence--a silence so deep that the distant sounds of the +workmen busy over the excavations seemed quite near. A little lizard +darted across the pavement close to their feet, and plunged into the +maidenhair that fringed the altar. + +Francesca opened her eyes. + +"My love! my love!" she cried, "don't look like that! See, Carlo +_mio_, I am going to keep my word. I will say, like the wives in the +old days, 'Go and help,' and I'll not cry; I promise you I'll not +cry. And yet--yet--oh! how can I help it when you set me so bad an +example?" + +With a stifled sob she broke off and hid her face on his breast. The +sight of her suffering had unnerved him, but quickly he regained that +strange self-mastery which was all the more remarkable because it was +combined with an ardent, emotional, highly-strung temperament. + +"You are helping me to keep my word," he said, drawing her yet closer +to him. "As a child I promised my father on his death-bed that I +would shield Nita, and my mother's last entreaty you heard." + +"Do I help you?" she said, eagerly; "do I really help? Then I am no +longer unhappy. It was the thought of your going quite away where I +could do nothing--_nothing_ for you--it was that broke my heart. If, +even away, I can help you--if even in this we can work together--then +I can bear it." + +"Your father," he said, hesitatingly, "I must tell him at once,--and, +_carina_, he will not see things in the light you see them." + +"He will not approve of your going on the stage," said Francesca. +"He will be vexed and annoyed, but he cannot help seeing that it is +the only thing to be done." + +Carlo made a faint gesture of dissent. The last sentence was so like +Francesca, so unlike the Captain. + +"He will most naturally wish that I had never spoken to you. Indeed, +I myself could almost wish it, darling; for what have I brought you +but trouble, and grief, and the shadow of a disgrace?" + +"You have brought me yourself, Carlino," she said, with a sweet +mirthfulness in look and tone; "you don't seem to think much of the +gift, it is true." + +"And yet if I had kept silence a week longer all would have been +different. I should have gone off with Merlino's company and there +would have been no discussion and remonstrance; I should not have +vexed your father--should not have felt that I had spoiled your life. +You would have been free, and the pain would have been mine alone." + +"Why, you vain boy!" she exclaimed, half laughing, half crying, "do +you think it was that tale you told me in the belvedere that made me +love you? You know quite well I have loved you for years and years! +And then you talk of going away in silence and leaving me free and +happy. Carlino, I'm ashamed of you!" + +Like two children, they forgot for a little while the dark future, +and basked in the sunny present. Parting was a thought hardly to be +conceived while they sat together in the old Temple of Venus, and +made love to each other after the fashion of lovers in all ages and +climes. + +After a time they talked of Carlo's future life, he spoke warmly of +Sardoni, quoted Piale's high opinion of Marioni, the conductor, and +said all that could be said in Merlino's favor. He wanted to paint +his new life in bright colors for her sake, and he talked cheerfully +of winning Nita's love and confidence, speaking with more assurance +than he really felt. + +And yet Francesca remembered well enough his words a few weeks before +about the wretched, roving life of a singer, and she knew that in his +heart he shrank from it still. + +"Shall you be in Italy, do you think?" she asked. + +"No," replied Carlo, with a sigh. "Merlino will only stay here till +he has got his chorus together again, and given his principals a +short holiday. You see things are different here, travelling +companies are not much in vogue." + +"Then, where will you be?" + +"In England for a time, then in America." + +"America!" she could not repress the exclamation. "That will seem +terribly far away--I hoped, as they had just come back, there would +be no question of going there again." + +"America is the great field for companies like Merlino's; I suppose a +great deal of my life will probably be spent there." + +Francesca sighed. + +"Ah, well, after all it is chiefly in imagination that distance +affects one--our letters will travel just as well across the +Atlantic. You will have to send me all your changes of address, +Carlino; and, as for me, I shall have to learn to write smaller, or +there will never be space enough for all I shall have to say." + +By the time the rest of the party joined them, they had grown +accustomed to the thought of the change--had bravely faced the coming +separation, each strengthening the other to endure; and Mr. Britton +little guessed, as he gayly teased his niece about her indifference +to the knew discoveries, what had passed during that hour in the +Temple of Venus. Francesca only smiled and drew him into a +description of all they had seen, while with her eyes she followed +rather wistfully the lithe figure running with Sibyl down the steep +old street which led out of Pompeii. They lunched in the little +restaurant at the entrance; allowed Mr. Britton to be inveigled into +the region of photographs, bronzes, and lava ornaments; then, in the +cool of the afternoon, drove home again, Francesca nursing a _Dying +Gladiator_ in terra-cotta, which was to go home to Clare in the +_Pilgrim_. + +If Captain Britton thought Carlo rather more silent than usual he put +it down to constraint in the presence of a stranger,--the last thing +Carlo would have been likely to experience. However, the worthy +Captain liked him all the better for it, and talked to him in his +bland, semi-patronizing way, chaffing him not a little on his +light-hearted compatriots who thronged the road in their _festa_ +clothes, closely packed in open carriages. + +"Yes, yes, you Neapolitans are terrible pleasure-lovers," he said, +laughingly. "Look there, now--ten people stowed away in that, and +the horses all decked out with brass ornaments and bells; and yet +they are people of the lower class, who, likely enough, will be +hungry to-morrow!" + +Francesca fully expected that the term, "lower class," would call +forth a remonstrance from Carlo, but he let it pass, and the next +moment she understood why. His eye had been caught by a poster on +one of the walls of Portici in which Madame Merlino's name appeared +in large letters. + +Carlo was invited to dine at the Casa Bella that evening; he had not +yet made up his mind whether he would tell all to Captain Britton +face to face, or whether he would write him a letter. Though a very +fluent speaker, he was not particularly fond of writing English, +however; and if only a favorable opportunity could be found he rather +inclined to an interview with the Captain. + +The opportunity came. Dessert was over, Francesca had left the room, +Mr. Britton excused himself soon after, as he had a great number of +letters to write; the Captain drew his chair up to the table again +and passed the wine to his guest. Carlo knew then that his time was +come; the hand with which he helped himself to snow trembled a +little, but his voice was firm and well modulated when he spoke. + +"It seems a little ungracious to be glad that Mr. Britton's holiday +should be invaded by business letters," he began, "but I particularly +wanted a few words alone with you." + +Captain Britton thought of his scheme for hastening on the marriage, +and quite hoped that the same idea had occurred to Carlo. A kindly +smile played about his broad mouth. + +"I, too, have wanted to speak with you all day, but these family +parties are no time for confidential talk." + +Carlo thought of the Temple of Venus, and was silent. Captain +Britton resumed:-- + +"The fact is I am anxious about you, my dear fellow; you look to me +far from well. I wish that sister of yours was at the other side of +the Atlantic, and that's the truth of it; it was a bad day for all of +us when she returned. When do they leave Naples? You'll never be +yourself again till you are rid of that brother-in-law." + +"I am not likely to be rid of him for some time to come, I fear," +said Carlo, plunging boldly into his subject. "It is about the step +which I purpose taking that I wish now to speak to you." + +Did he mean to propose that wedding journey which the Captain had +planned? His face was grave almost to sternness, but then the +Merlinos were quite enough to account for that. + +"I know it is a step which you will disapprove," resumed Carlo. "And +yet--there is no help for it--take it I must." + +Captain Britton's hopes sank; he began to think apprehensively of all +the things he should least like to happen. + +"Well, short of turning Romanist again," he said, after a pause, "I +don't think anything you are likely to do would disquiet me very +much." + +"It will, however, delay our marriage," said Carlo; "that is, I fear, +quite inevitable." + +"Well, well," said Captain Britton, thinking that he meant to study +for some of the higher branches of the law, "you are both young, and +I can assure you I'm in no hurry to get rid of my little Francesca. +Have you discussed the matter with her?" + +"Yes, and she agrees with me that I must go." + +"Go! Where?" + +"With Merlino's company; it is the only way in which I can keep my +promise to my mother--the only possible way of shielding Anita." + +Captain Britton was so much startled that for a minute he could not +speak, only the color rose to his forehead and his eyes opened wider. +In all his trouble and anxiety Carlo could not help observing that he +bore a comical resemblance to the crimson shade over the lamp, with +its owl's head and round, staring eyes. How was he to make this man, +of all men in the world, understand Nita's position and sympathize +with its difficulties? While he hesitated how best to put her case +without divulging too much, the Captain recovered his breath. + +"Do I understand that you mean to turn actor?" he asked in a sort of +hoarse roar. + +Tone and manner were alike overbearing. + +Carlo made one of his dignified little bows and said gravely, +"Merlino has offered me reasonable terms, and Piale has long wished +that I should go on the stage. Had I only my own wishes to consult I +should certainly not choose the career of a public singer; but, sir, +I promised my mother to shield Anita, and I must do my best--I must +think of her." + +"I should have thought you were bound to think of your promised +wife," said the Captain, wrathfully, "to consult her wishes." + +"Francesca agrees with me," said Carlo; "she would never keep me back +from a duty." + +"Francesca is a fool, then. Duty, indeed! A duty to mix yourself up +with a set of idle, profligate fellows! A duty to pander to the +taste of the dissolute, and play the buffoon on the stage, and be +clapped by all the scum of the town!" + +Carlo by a great effort strangled the words of angry remonstrance +which rose to his lips, and tried to understand the feelings of an +Englishman with Puritan traditions. He would at least try to explain +the state of affairs patiently. + +"It is very hard for me to understand the view you take of the stage, +sir," he began; "we Italians honor and respect our theatre; it is +not, as you would say, the haunt of the dissolute, but the resort of +the whole people----" + +The Captain interrupted him, he was all the more angry because his +companion had managed, so far, to exercise a well-bred restraint. +Some devil prompted him to rouse the Italian's latent passion. + +"Yes," he said, sneeringly, "I know your national tendencies well +enough, but I had thought you were superior to your countrymen. I +see I was wrong; you are as frivolous and pleasure-seeking as the +rest of the lot; it was well said of you Italians that you were only +fit for artists' models and the operatic stage." + +Carlo sprang to his feet, fire flashing from his eyes. + +"No man is called on to sit still and hear his country insulted," he +cried. "The words are not worthy of you, sir; I am sure you will +retract them." + +"If I retract them in part I certainly still apply them to you," said +Captain Britton. "What have you proved yourself but fickle and +frivolous? You have altogether deceived me." + +His patriotic feelings somewhat smoothed, Carlo grew a little calmer, +the personalities were less intolerable. Again he made an effort +patiently to put before the Captain the whole case; this time he was +determined that he would make him fully comprehend it and hear it out. + +"You condemn me, sir, before you have grasped the situation," he +began, his voice so subdued by the strong restraint he was putting on +himself that it sounded low and monotonous. In words plain enough to +make the Englishman wince he briefly described the dilemma. "Knowing +this," he went on,--"knowing, too, that my mother trusted to me to +avert the danger, you surely cannot judge me harshly for taking this +step. I knew the stage was dishonorable in your eyes, but I thought +you would see in time that for me it was a necessity." + +The Captain had risen, too, and was pacing the room with quick, +irritated steps. Nita's story had been a severe shock to him, +Carlo's plain-speaking still caused his ears to tingle, and the +thought of any sort of connection with a family on the borders of +such a scandal was unbearable to him. He had a just pride in his +Britton ancestry, in his honest, God-fearing forefathers; his strong +love of family, his sense of kinship, was the best part of the man. +But virtues generally have their corresponding vices, and the Captain +had an overweening idea of his own dignity, and a habit of looking on +other men's affairs from a lofty height, which often made his +judgment faulty. + +He was blind now to Carlo's unselfishness, blind to his pain, he +struck out remorselessly, thinking only how to rescue Francesca from +further connection with Madame Merlino's brother. + +"Don't talk to me of duty and necessity," he thundered; "you are a +Jesuit in disguise, you are doing evil that good may come, if, +indeed, there is any thought of good in the whole plan. My own +belief is that you are tired of Francesca. If so you couldn't have +set to work better. I shall certainly not give my daughter in +marriage to an actor; you may consider your betrothal at an end." + +For a minute the blow seemed to crush the very life out of Carlo, he +turned deathly white. Twice he made as though he would speak, twice +failed in the attempt, his lips refusing to frame the words. Captain +Britton felt a pang of regret as he saw the result of his own work, +but the regret was soon swallowed up in wrathful recollections. + +"I don't think you in your heart believe all that you say of me, +sir," said Donati, struggling even now to make excuse for Francesca's +father. "All I can do is to bow to your decision. You will let me +see Francesca?" + +Something in his patient dignity, in his manly forbearance, struck a +hard blow at the Captain's pride. What a contrast there was between +his own behavior and the behavior of the Italian! The thought chafed +him, and called forth a burst of passionate anger. + +"I shall not dream of permitting you to see her," he cried furiously. +"I'll have no more of your kissing and caressing for my daughter, +you'll have enough of that at the theatre. Keep your caresses for +the _prima donnas_!" + +In an instant Carlo's whole bearing altered, the burning color rushed +to his cheeks, his eyes blazed, all his pent-up wrath burst forth +like a volcano. For an Italian nature is not unlike the +Mediterranean itself; people are tempted to presume on that calm, +blue peacefulness which looks as if it could never be broken, and +then they find themselves suddenly overtaken by one of its sharp, +characteristic storms; and, just in the same way, they presume on the +infinite patience and the sweet nature of those Southerners whose +only wish it has seemed to please, and are amazed when they find that +sensitiveness and delicacy of perception has two sides. + +Captain Britton had at length exhausted even the patience and +courtesy of an Italian; he was alarmed now at the storm he had evoked. + +Carlo's English had forsaken him, his voice, so subdued a minute +before, was now eager and passionate, his gesticulations were +vehement as he poured forth a torrent of angry remonstrance, a storm +of words so rapidly uttered that to foreign ears they were hardly +intelligible. + +The Captain was only conscious of two things: that he deserved this +burst of indignation, and that he must somehow get rid of his fiery +guest. At such a moment, and in such agitation, he was not likely to +weigh his words. At length Carlo paused for a moment, not because +his wrath had cooled, but because his breath failed him. The Captain +instantly snatched at his advantage. + +"I will at least save my child from further contact with a deceiver!" +he exclaimed hoarsely. "She is mine, and I owe it to her to shield +her from such as you." They were words which could never be +forgotten,--words which in their cruel injustice would rankle like a +poisoned arrow. The same white-heat of passion which causes daily +murders in the Santa Lucia district leapt now to Carlo's brain, yet +through it all he was conscious of a voice in his heart which said, +"Go, go at once while you can control your limbs. Go while there is +yet time." + +The habit of a lifetime prevailed; to turn and leave his foe was to +him more bitter than death, but with a struggle worthy of his brave +progenitors, he obeyed the voice, and strode out of the room without +a word. + +He did not dare to pause for a moment, lest he should see Francesca, +or perhaps hear her voice in the distance and be overcome. With +hurried steps he crossed the vestibule, snatched up his hat from the +stand, flung his coat across his chest, and closed the door of Casa +Bella behind him. Then he stopped for a minute, suddenly conscious +that he felt sick and giddy, and that he was still trembling with +passion. The fiend whom he had worsted assailed him in a new form. + +"You treated him with great forbearance," it argued; "you proved +yourself his superior in every way. He ought to apologize to you for +what he said." + +Carlo walked slowly home. The idea of bringing the Englishman to his +feet and making him crave pardon soothed him a little. "This anger +shall not get the mastery of me," he said to himself. "I will go in +and make my preparations for leaving home just as if this had not +happened." + +And, with the sort of unreal strength which anger gives, he actually +did begin his sorrowful task, called the servants together, told them +that he was leaving Italy, paid them their wages, and dismissed them. +Then, more tried by the sight of their grief and surprise than he +fancied would be the case, he sat down to his desk and began to write +letters. There was the lease of the Villa Bruno to be disposed of, +it was his for another year; he wrote to a house-agent in Naples. +There was the furniture to be sold; he wrote to an auctioneer, asking +that an early date might be fixed for the sale. At any other time +these letters must have cost him much to write, but now he felt +little, for fierce anger crowded out grief and regret. He had not in +the least realized that he was never again to see Francesca; he could +realize nothing but that he had been insulted,--grossly insulted, by +the man who should have been his best friend. And yet, though he was +still beside himself with passion, he was all the time aware of an +inner voice urging him to forgive. The idea made him laugh +scornfully as he directed and stamped his envelopes. What! was he to +forgive one so clearly in the wrong? He had never before felt the +difficulty of forgiving, being naturally generous and sweet-tempered; +but Captain Britton had wounded him too deeply. Words which might +have been pardoned in a mere acquaintance, seemed unpardonable in a +friend who had known him from boyhood. The recollection of them sent +another of those maddening bursts of fury through his frame. He +pushed back his chair and began to pace the room, wrestling with the +demon of fierce hatred which possessed him. For Francesca's sake he +could have forgiven her father almost anything, but so gross an +insult to his love--the love which he knew to be pure, and sacred, +and unblamable--was surely beyond forgiveness. + +It was only slowly and by degrees that he began to reap the fruits of +his brave struggle for self-mastery. He grew a little calmer, and +turned from the torturing recollection of the insult to an inward +picture of Captain Britton himself. Almost dispassionately he began +to consider that big, broad, massive figure, that bluff, +weather-beaten face, with its calculating, far-seeing eyes and wide +mouth. Genial and friendly as he had hitherto thought the Captain to +be, he had never given him credit for much refinement of feeling; he +had known well enough that the Englishman found it very hard to make +allowance for anything outside his own circle; he had long been fain +to admit in his own heart what he would never have admitted, even to +Enrico Ritter, that there was in Francesca's father a slight, but +unmistakable vein of vulgarity. It was, then, only too natural that +the Captain should fail to understand the present state of things, +and, so failing, should supply hideous motives for so unaccountable a +step. Oh, yes, it was natural enough. He ought to have been +prepared for it. But the perception of this brought him no nearer to +forgiveness. + +The night was now far advanced, but sleep was out of the question in +his present state. He began to roam through the house, considering +what things he should save from the sale; some were too precious to +be lost, and must be left to Enrico's keeping; some were small enough +to be reserved as souvenirs of home, to be taken away on his +wanderings. Going up to his bedroom, his eye fell at once upon his +father's sword, which hung above the mantel-piece, and beneath it a +childish device of his own--a golden shield, and upon it, in red +letters, the name of each battle in which the sword had been used. +"Aspromonte," in larger letters curving up to the left and right to +meet the shape of the shield, shone out conspicuously. + +"I'll not be parted from that," he said to himself, a thrill of +loving reverence passing through him and killing the anger and +hatred. "I shall, perhaps, need a sword in my stage wardrobe, and +so, after all, this will be needed to protect Nita. It would seem +like desecration to the Captain to use it on the stage, yet it will +surely be my own fault if it is less honorable than at Aspromonte." + +His thoughts wandered back to that last vividly remembered scene +beside his father's death-bed, and a glow of eager devotion warmed +his heart as he pledged himself anew to keep that promise, to go +forth bravely as the knights of old in defence of the weak and the +tempted, to live the life of the Crucified. + +Then, like lightning, it suddenly flashed upon him how grievously he +had failed. Self had started to the front even in his +self-sacrifice; he had borne but a few strokes from the enemy, and at +the first personal insult had thrown down his colors; reviled, he had +reviled again; suffering, he had threatened; wounded, he had sought +to wound. In anguish he remembered that flood of scathing words, +that fiery retort which had escaped him; and yet there was One who +had borne the worst possible insults in strong silence, and he had +vowed that he would live His life! Instead, he had suffered himself +to be overcome by an unjust judgment, to be maddened by a few words +spoken by a man who had also yielded to the same devil of pride and +anger. How was he to face the difficulties of life in Merlino's +troupe when at the very outset his temper had betrayed him? In +bitter grief and self-reproach he had to learn, as all of us have to +learn, that "We must be humbled utterly in our own conceits before we +can be peacemakers." + +After a while, he was seized with that strong desire to start afresh +which comes to every wounded soldier, whether he fights in the +legions of the Seen or the Unseen. His share of the wrong must first +be set right; that was as clear as it was hard. He doubted if he +could bring himself to do it, but he went so far as to go down to the +_salotto_, take out his desk, and sit down with pen and paper before +him. And at length, just as faint golden streaks appeared in the +horizon heralding the day, the letter was finished and the struggle +over. + +Carlo could not rest till he had done all that could be done, so he +went out into the cold dawn, and, making his way to the Casa Bella, +dropped his missive in the letter-box. Then, when all was over, when +he knew that for the last time he was leaving the house which +contained all that he loved, his desolation suddenly broke upon him. +Wrath had stilled grief, but now that his anger had passed Grief +claimed him for her own. His betrothal was at an end; Francesca was +no longer his; even a farewell was denied him. With heart-broken +wonder he marvelled how it was that only now did he fully take in the +idea. What was Captain Britton? What were all the insults in the +world before the one bitter, desolating fact that he was parted from +his love? + +How he got home he never knew, but he vaguely remembered finding his +way to his own room, and seeing through a mist the sword and the red +letters of "Aspromonte" beneath. Then, in his great anguish, he had +cried aloud, "Strengthen me, O God! that I, too, may be faithful till +death." + +But, afterwards, all was a blank, and when he came to himself the sun +was far above the horizon, and he was lying at full length upon the +floor, feeling stiff, and sore, and bruised. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A TROUBLED NIGHT. + + "Ah, Love! but a day + And the world is changed! + The sun's away, + And the bird estranged; + The wind has dropped, + And the sky's deranged; + Summer has stopped." + R. BROWNING. + + +Francesca kept up bravely all through the long hours of that Whitsun +Monday; at dinner she talked a little more than usual to cover +Carlo's silence, but it was hard work, and she gave a sigh of relief +when at length the ordeal was over, and she was free to go away +alone. Carlo stood up to open the door for her, and as she passed +him she looked up into his eyes and smiled; but once within the +friendly shelter of the drawing-room her own filled with tears. She +would have given much to run up to her room and have a good cry; that +was out of the question, however, for she could not plead a headache +when by doing so she should lose Carlo's good-night. The sound of +the dining-room door opening made her beat a hasty retreat from the +lamplight; she stood in the shade, and made as though she were +looking out of the window, while she hurriedly dried her eyes, for +not for the world would she have been caught crying. Mr. Britton, +coming into the room, descried the slim figure in its black lace +dress, and came towards her. + +"My sweet Fran," he said, "if you will not think me the laziest old +uncle in the world, I am going to bid you good-night. Here is a +budget of letters which I shall get through better in my own room." + +"Must you really see to them now?" she said. "Why, it is not half a +holiday if business follows you out here." + +Something in her voice made him look at her more attentively. He saw +that she was in trouble, recollected that Carlo had scarcely spoken +to her through dinner, and very naturally leapt to the conclusion +that there had been a quarrel between the lovers. + +"I have a long letter from Kate, which, perhaps, you'll like to see," +he said. "She and Clare seem getting on grandly at the North Cape. +They know nothing of your betrothal. May I tell them the news when I +answer this?" + +"I think I will tell them myself," she said, her color deepening a +little. "I will put in a line to-morrow, if I may." + +The tears welled up into her eyes again; she turned hastily and drew +his attention to the distant view of Vesuvius with crimson flame +leaping up, and summer lightning brightening the sky in the +background. But Mr. Britton was too fond of her to be put aside; he +began to feel really anxious about her future. "Dear little niece," +he said, gently, "you must forgive an old uncle's anxiety, but are +you quite happy in your betrothal? Are you quite sure that you have +chosen the happiest life?" + +"I am sure that I have chosen the only man in the world whom I could +love," she said, recovering herself, and looking up into her uncle's +face with such a sweet, bright, love-lit smile that he could only +inwardly protest that no man living was worthy of her. + +"Yet something is troubling you to-night?" he said, uneasily. + +"Yes," she said, her lips quivering; "there is something troubling +Carlo; he is going to talk it over with father, and--and I am not +quite sure how father will take it." + +Mr. Britton looked grave. + +"Dear child, of one thing you may at least be sure," he said, gently, +"your father cares for nothing but your happiness." + +The words fitted in only too well with her own forebodings. + +"Oh, why will people think of nothing but that?" she exclaimed. +"What is happiness to me when Carlo is in the question? Uncle"--she +looked up at him, appealingly--"promise me that whatever happens you +will never think him to blame;--there are things no outsider can +understand. Promise me that you will always be his friend." + +"Well, he must be a cold-hearted person who could refuse such a +petition from such lips," he said, stooping to kiss her. "Don't be +unhappy, dear little Fran; there never yet was a betrothal which was +all sunshine. Wait a little, and your clouds will disperse. Nine +o'clock! I must be off to my desk." + +"I will send up your coffee, then. Good-night," said Francesca, +feeling a little comforted at having enlisted such a helper as Uncle +George on Carlo's side. + +She sat down near the lamp, and unfolded her cousin's letter, trying +hard to feel some interest in the account of the voyage, and the +midnight sun, and the adventures which always seemed to occur to any +one who travelled with Clare. But it would not do; the words +conveyed nothing to her mind; she could only listen for the sound of +approaching steps, for the long delay made her feel certain that +Carlo was at that moment telling her father of his decision. + +At length, after what seemed to her a very long time, she heard the +dining-room door sharply opened and closed, then quick steps crossing +the vestibule. She listened breathlessly, and, by a sudden impulse, +started to her feet, but the next instant she sank down again almost +as though some one had struck her, for she had heard the front door +closed, and knew that her father must have forbidden Carlo to see her +again. + +After that she felt no inclination to cry, only a sense of cold and +wretchedness--a dull, aching misery. She sat crouched up on the +sofa, still holding Kate's letter in her hand. Presently the clock +struck ten, and the study bell was sharply rung. In a minute Dino +appeared at the drawing-room door. + +"Captain Britton is very busy, signorina," said the old butler, "and +does not wish to be disturbed again to-night. He would be much +obliged if the signorina would read prayers." + +The good old servant had no idea how much he conveyed to his young +mistress in that commonplace message. The words cut her to the +heart, but with the true womanly instinct to hide her wounds, she +stood up quickly and said in her usual voice, "Very well, Dino: bring +in the books, then." + +And steadily she went through the usual form, her voice never once +faltering, nor did she give way till the door of her own room was +safely locked, and she was alone for that night of doubt, and +suspense, and grief. + +Meanwhile Captain Britton was not much happier than the two lovers +whose separation he had decreed. He felt as soon as he had dismissed +Dino that he had done a cowardly thing; but the thought of meeting +Francesca that night, or of reading prayers in his present frame of +mind, was more than he could endure. + +At heart the Captain was a kind man; he would have liked to please +all with whom he came in contact, if only they would be pleased in +his own way; but to have his plans crossed, to be disappointed in any +matter upon which he had set his heart, was too much for so proud a +temper to bear. + +Nor could he at all understand Carlo's knight-errantry. That a +brother under the circumstances should be beside himself with anger, +should afterwards give the traitor a good horsewhipping, or even +challenge him--this he could have understood and approved; but the +quiet surrender of home, country, profession, and personal happiness, +in the hope of preventing the evil, this was altogether beyond him. + +The Captain liked well enough to do a good action, but it must be an +action that would be approved of men; nothing would have induced him +to take a line that would expose him to censure; if he did a generous +thing he would take good care that it should win him the pleasant and +cheering approval of his friends and acquaintance. + +And yet, in spite of his anger with Carlo's Quixotic scheme, he was +too kind-hearted a man not to regret the harsh and wholly +unjustifiable words which had escaped him in the heat of the moment. +Keen shame made the color mount to his forehead as he remembered that +he had insulted a guest at his own table. The thought of this +troubled him more than anything. It haunted him all through the +night. He regretted deeply the pain he must give to Francesca; he +felt bitterly disappointed that the marriage should now be out of the +question. He was still indignant with Carlo's blind foolishness in +going on the stage; but everything faded into insignificance before +the one great regret,--a regret which would follow the Captain to his +grave,--that for once in his life he had been guilty of a breach of +hospitality. + +If sleep refused to visit either Carlo or Francesca that night, it +was equally cruel to Captain Britton. He tossed and turned till the +bed-clothes were in a state of chaotic confusion; he tried the window +open, he tried the window shut, he tried a light, he tried total +darkness, he paced the room, he counted alternate black and white +sheep going through a gate, he ate bread, he smoked a cigar,--in +fact, he tried all the remedies for sleeplessness he had ever heard +of. + +At last he gave up all thoughts of rest for that night, and began to +wonder how his neighbor was faring; the young Italian's face haunted +him. Now he saw him boyish, eager, and impulsive, coming nearly five +years ago to tell of his love for Francesca, and receiving his +sentence of probation with an odd mixture of hope, despair, and +courtesy. Again he recalled the day--only three weeks ago, in +reality, though it seemed more like three months--when Sibyl had run +down to find him in the olive-garden, bearing that significant card +with the words, "Avvocato Carlo Poerio Donati," which conveyed to him +so much. He remembered hastening back to the house, and could see +again in imagination the bright look of hope which had flashed like +sudden sunshine over Carlo's face when he had told him to go and find +Francesca in the belvedere. And then, lastly, and most vividly of +all, he recalled that face as he had last seen it. Such anger once +seen is never forgotten; and the Captain knew that so generous and +sweet-tempered a man must have been almost maddened by pain before +his face could have worn that look of vindictive fury, before his +eyes could have blazed with the fierce glow that recalled to him the +eyes of a wounded lion. Had the Captain been a coward, or even a man +with highly strung nerves, he would have trembled before such a look, +for to meet such eyes is to look death in the face. But, with all +his faults, he was a staunch, brave-hearted Englishman, and all that +he had felt was a great surprise when the fierce gleam had suddenly +died away, and Carlo had turned sharply round on his heel and left +him without a word. + +He wondered what had happened to him afterwards, and began to feel +troubled as he remembered the desolateness of the Villa Bruno. + +Only a fortnight had passed since the gentle Signora Donati had been +laid in her grave; he had forgotten all that when in sudden wrath he +had driven her son away. Bitterly did he now repent the unkindness. +Had he been an imaginative man, he would have conjured up a tragic +ending to that night's work, and have suffered yet more; but, +luckily, he was not of an imaginative turn, so he was only vaguely +and increasingly miserable. + +Then he began to think of poor little Francesca, doomed through his +angry command never to see her lover again. No; at least he would +yield on that point, he would go to see Carlo after breakfast, would +apologize to him for his hastiness, and permit him to come once more +to the Casa Bella and take leave of Francesca. This idea gave the +poor Captain a little relief, but he groaned aloud as he thought of +all the grief in store for his child. + +At length he heard the welcome sounds of life in the house. The +night was over; Rosetta was banging the door-mat vigorously against +the porch; Dino was tramping up and down the marble passages, +fetching and carrying. Presently there was the refreshing sound of +the rap at his door and the servant's familiar summons, "Half-past +seven, signor, and a fine morning." + +The Captain rose more promptly than usual, unlocked his door, and +took in his hot-water can; on the lid there lay an envelope directed +to him in Carlo's handwriting. He tore it open with a sense of +sickening anxiety. + +What was it that brought a sudden mist before his eyes? Only a +short, manly letter,--a letter of apology from the man whom he had +wronged. + +Carlo had forestalled him, and the letter which had cost the writer +so much cost the reader yet more. There was very little in it, with +its careful English and neat foreign writing; but the words had come +straight from the heart, and they went straight as an arrow to the +heart of the Captain. + +The Brittons, though so long resident in Italy, kept English hours +and breakfasted all together at eight o'clock. + +The Captain came down that morning with a curiously guilty feeling. +Francesca was in the dining-room before him, apparently absorbed in +coffee-making. He glanced at her anxiously, and saw that she was +pale and worn, and looked as if she had cried till she could cry no +longer. She felt her father's anxious glance and winced beneath it. +Uncle George, with more tact, made as though he noticed nothing, and +adroitly kept the conversation going; while Sibyl was luckily at that +unobservant age which takes no account of faces when once they have +become familiar. It was an uncomfortable meal, and they all hailed +as a relief the appearance of the Captain of the _Pilgrim_, a +weather-beaten Scotchman, who had driven over with a telegram which +had just arrived for Mr. Britton. + +Captain Britton had never felt more glad to have a guest to whom he +could show hospitality. + +"Come, Captain, you must breakfast with us after your long drive!" he +exclaimed, in his hearty voice. "Sibyl, run and tell Dino to lay +another place." + +"Thank you, sir," said the Captain, drawing a chair to the table; "I +breakfasted on the yacht, but I will be glad of a cup of coffee if +Miss Britton has some for a late comer. I thought I'd better come +over with the telegram, sir," he continued, turning to the owner of +the _Pilgrim_, "for I had a feeling it might mean a change of plans." + +"Second-sight on your part, Captain," said Mr. Britton, looking up; +"I am sorry to say it does mean a change of plans and an end to my +holiday. I must go home at once." + +"Nothing wrong at Merlebank, I hope?" said his brother, while +Francesca and Sibyl listened anxiously. + +"Oh, no; it is only a business affair, but I must be home by Friday +at latest. I'm afraid the _Pilgrim_ would hardly manage that, +Captain, eh?" + +There was a general laugh. + +"Well, that would be expecting a little too much of a sailing yacht," +said Captain Graham. "I'm sorry, sir, you are called back to +England. We had looked to have a pleasant cruise." + +Mr. Britton sighed. + +"No peace to the wicked; eh, Francesca? In this world it is always +the way that some people have more work than they wish, and others +not so much. I should like a few words with you, John, in the study." + +The brothers went off together, and the old Scotch Captain turned to +Sibyl. + +"What would you say to a cruise, Miss Sibyl? I think that would be +just the thing for you. You'd make a fine little sailor." + +"Oh, dear Captain Graham, do coax Uncle George to let me!" cried +Sibyl, in an ecstasy. "Oh, Fran, wouldn't it be lovely!" + +Francesca smiled faintly, not wishing to damp the little girl's +pleasure, but feeling a little more wretched than before, as she +wondered whether possibly her father might think it best to send her +away from home. + +"Sea air would do you all the good in the world, miss," said Captain +Graham, glancing at her pale face; "it's only a pity none of your +cousins are on board, then we should have a merry party. Miss Kate, +she doesn't care for the yacht, but the others, why, they are as good +as sailors! Miss Lucy and Miss Molly, they kept a watch all through +our last cruise; and as to little Miss Flo, why, she'd like to live +on board." + +Meanwhile, in the study, the owner of the _Pilgrim_ was trying to do +all in his power for his pretty niece. He had guessed, both from her +face and his brother's depression, that there must have been a +quarrel with young Donati on the previous night. He hoped he might +be able to set things straight again before he left, but he had no +idea how serious was the state of affairs. + +"Look here, John," he said, closing the door of the study, "it has +just struck me, why shouldn't you all have a trip in the yacht now +she is here? There will be plenty of room for you, and the girls, +and young Donati, and a couple of other friends besides, if you like. +Now do think of it, for it quite vexes me that the _Pilgrim_ should +be all down here to no purpose." + +"You are very good," said Captain Britton, hesitatingly; "for myself +there is nothing I should so much like; indeed, I must get away +somewhere, I feel quite knocked up with this tiresome affair." + +"What affair?" + +"Why, I meant to have told you all about it to-day. Poor little +Francesca's engagement is broken off!" + +"Dear me! how is that? You don't mean to say he is tired of her +already?" + +"No, that's the worst of it; the fellow is desperately in love with +her still, but I have had to put a stop to it. I never was so +disappointed in a man in my life." + +"It's a grave affair," said Mr. Britton, thoughtfully, "for I fancy +little Fran's heart is quite given away." + +"That is the miserable part of it. I wish she had never seen Donati! +I wish I'd never come to this place!" and the poor Captain sighed +heavily. + +"But have you not, perhaps, been a trifle hasty?" said his brother, +remembering the promise he had made to Francesca on the previous +night. "Though starting with plenty of insular prejudice against the +man I was very much struck with him yesterday. There is something +noble about his face. Surely he can't be guilty of any great +offence?" + +"He is guilty of the greatest offence possible, he is guilty of an +utter want of common sense," said the Captain, angrily. "I thought +we had made half an Englishman of him, but I might have known that +with his Italian blood and his foolish radical ideas we should sooner +or later fall foul of one another." + +"You are surely not going to break off the engagement because of +political differences?" said Mr. Britton, getting quite on to the +wrong tack. + +"Mere opinions are nothing to me," said the Captain, "but when the +fellow acts--acts upon his insane ideas--comes to me and deliberately +tells me that he has taken a course which will make his marriage with +Francesca out of the question for an indefinite time, what can you +expect me to say?" + +"I don't wonder you were very much vexed about it." + +"Vexed! I was never in such a heat in my life. Wrong as the fellow +was, I am bound to apologize to him for what I said. I'll not shirk +that, though I do believe the mere sight of him will put me out of +temper again." + +"You think there is no hope, then, of setting matters straight? +Surely you would submit to almost anything rather than put Francesca +to so much pain. What if her lover is a little high-flown in his +notions? Anything is better than callousness and indifference." + +"I can't explain it all to you, for did I do so I should break +Donati's confidence, but soon you will see for yourself what line he +has taken up, and then you will see that my anger is at least +excusable. To permit the engagement to go on is out of the question +while he still keeps to his resolution; Miss Claremont, I am sure, +would agree with me. He is deliberately choosing a career which is +bound to degrade him--he is taking the high road to hell." + +The Captain was working himself up into wrathful indignation again. +Mr. Britton could only imagine that Donati had avowed his connection +with some secret political society such as he believed to exist in +Italy. He saw that it was useless to attempt any further +remonstrance. + +"Then, if this is really quite at an end," he said, hesitatingly, +"would it not be doubly desirable that you should all leave the +neighborhood for a time? Take a month's cruise in the _Pilgrim_. +There is no chance of my using her again till August." + +"I wish you could have been with us too," said the Captain, with a +sigh. "Must you really go off at once?" + +"I must be off this evening, there's no help for it," said Mr. +Britton. "I would give much to be with you, but this business will +bear no delay--I feel like a school-boy cheated of his holiday. But +look, let us decide this matter while Captain Graham is here. When +would you like to start?" + +"To-morrow--no. To-morrow Count Carossa dines with us--but on +Thursday--I really think we might start on Thursday. It's very good +of you, George, to propose it. You've no idea what a relief it will +be to me, for we are such near neighbors to Donati that it would be +very unpleasant to be here." + +"Well, that's settled, then," said Mr. Britton. "I'll go and tell +Graham to make preparation for you. He will be enchanted to have you +on board." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"PAZIENZA." + + "We may not make this world a paradise + By walking it together, hand in hand, + With eyes that meeting feed a double strength. + We must be only joined by pains divine + Of spirits blent in mutual memories." + _Spanish Gipsy._ + + +Captain Britton had seldom felt more ill at ease than when he walked +that morning up to the door of the Villa Bruno. A sallow, wrinkled +old servant, with a gay, scarlet neckerchief, was polishing the +door-handle; she nodded to him cheerfully as he approached. + +"Good-morning to you, signor; walk in. You'll find the master in the +_salotto_." + +She made no sign of leaving her door-handle and duster, and indeed +the Captain had long ago asked leave to walk into his neighbor's +house without ceremony, and the Signora Donati and Carlo, though +disliking his unheralded intrusion, had been far too courteous to +return a negative to the tactless request. He crossed the vestibule +and was about to enter the _salotto_ when a sound of voices within +made him pause, hesitate a moment, and then go instead into an +adjoining room. + +He had recognized the voice of Guido Donati, and guessed correctly +that the uncle had driven over in hot haste from Naples on learning +his nephew's startling plan. That he was exceedingly annoyed could +be gathered from the tone of his voice and from the vehement and +extraordinarily rapid utterance, which reminded the Captain of +Carlo's tirade on the preceding night. At last the violent harangue +came to an end, and Carlo's voice was heard; it was low but distinct, +and the Captain could not avoid hearing the words-- + +"I am sorry to vex you, uncle, but my mind is made up." + +"_Madonna Santissima!_ it is made up, is it?" said the other, +furiously. "Then mine, too, is made up; and I am sorry to vex you, +but not a penny of mine shall you ever inherit. Do you understand?" + +There was a silence, but Captain Britton could well imagine the +expressive gesture which Carlo would make. + +"_Diavolo_!" cried the uncle. "You take it calmly. You think you +will live comfortably enough on that voice of yours, and laugh at the +rich old uncle. You will tell a different tale a few years hence, my +fine fellow, when you have a wife and children to support!" + +"I shall never marry," said Carlo, speaking more shortly than the +Captain had ever before heard an Italian speak. + +"What?" cried Uncle Guido. "Then you have thrown over your betrothal +for this mad scheme? An apoplexy on you! I'll have no more to do +with such a fool;" and with that he strode out of the room. + +The Captain only waited till he was sure the angry man had really +gone, and then he knocked at the door of the _salotto_. Nothing but +a conscientious sense of duty could have induced him to face at that +moment his guest of the previous evening; but there was a certain +rugged loyalty about Francesca's father, and he walked sturdily into +the room, bracing himself up to make the necessary apology. Carlo +was standing at the side window, the sunlight fell full upon him, and +revealed to the Captain a very different face to the one which had +haunted him through the night--a face worn with suffering, but strong +and resolute, spite of its haggard look. + +"I beg your pardon for intruding, but the servant told me to come +in," began the Captain, approaching him. + +Carlo turned with an inarticulate exclamation, the blood rushed to +his face, and a look of distress dawned in his eyes; he was tired out +with all he had been through, and felt wholly unequal to another +stormy discussion. + +But he welcomed his visitor with native ceremoniousness, betraying +only by additional courtesy any remembrance of the quarrel. The +Captain remembered the letter of the morning, and all his kindly +feelings returned to him, as he said heartily-- + +"Carlo, I have come to apologize for the words which escaped me +yesterday. I regret them more than I can tell you. You had every +excuse for your anger." + +Carlo grasped his hand. "No, no," he said, quickly, "I was very much +to blame. I am glad, sir--it is a great relief to me--that last +night was not our parting. I am grateful to you for coming here +to-day." + +"I must also apologize for having inadvertently overheard some of +your uncle's words," said the captain, who felt very uncomfortable +when he remembered his involuntary eavesdropping. + +"I knew Uncle Guido would be very much against this plan," said +Carlo; and as he spoke he threw himself wearily into a chair facing +Captain Britton's. + +The Captain was struck by the look of extreme physical exhaustion +both in the face and the attitude; he began to realize the difference +between his own physique and that of the Italian, and faintly to +understand that Carlo had a greater capacity for feeling pain than he +had himself. + +"Did you realize that this scheme of yours--this scheme which I still +most strongly disapprove--would cost you so dear?" he asked abruptly. +"Did you think your uncle would have disinherited you?" + +"I didn't think about the money at all," said Carlo; "but I knew he +would be annoyed." + +"But does this make no change in your feeling? Are you willing to +lose every single thing you possess, and even to forfeit the respect +of your friends for the sake of this plan?" + +"Yes," he said simply; "I am willing, sir." + +When he had spoken he let his head drop wearily on to his hand; he +was calm with the calm of blank bereavement, for like the princess in +the poem, he had found that + + "Not to fear because all is taken + Is the loneliest depth of human pain." + + +The Captain sighed. He was not angry now, only very much annoyed at +the impossibility of inducing one bereft of common-sense to see +reason. + +"You make light of the loss of income," he said at length; "but how +will you fare supposing you fall ill?" + +Carlo looked up with an odd sort of a smile. + +"Well, you will think me unpractical," he said; "but I have never +been ill in my life, and I had not considered that possibility. +However, my salary is a tolerably fair one for a novice, and if the +worst comes to the worst there are always the hospitals." + +"Carlo," broke in the Captain, "I can't bear to think of one who has +led the life you have led going out into such a world. What would +your poor mother have said to it?" + +Carlo's face lighted up as if the suggestion had given him some +unexpected comfort. + +"At least our dead understand us," he said, fervently; "they know +that I am trying to keep my promise." + +The Captain felt that his small stock of patience would not last much +longer, and Carlo, glancing at him, saw that their parting, though +peaceful, would be final; he knew intuitively that although the +Captain had taken back some of his harsh words, he still regarded him +as at any rate a self-deceived deceiver, a man who under the cloak of +duty veiled his craving for change and excitement, or, at best, as an +enthusiast who could but be despised for giving up solid realities +for foolish dreams. Their friendship was at an end; for, though love +is undying, friendship is quite a different thing, and there are +shocks which it will not survive. + +"There is one other thing I wished to say," said Captain Britton, +rising, "and that is, that if you wish you may have one more +interview with Francesca." + +Carlo caught eagerly at this boon, and the Captain suggested that he +should return with him to Casa Bella. + +"Does she know of----" he hesitated how to put it, "of your decision?" + +"I have not spoken to her about it, but I know she infers it," said +the Captain, rather coldly. + +Carlo paced the room for a minute, struggling with his emotion; he +was not sure whether he had strength to meet Francesca and tell her +with his own lips that all was over between them. + +"If you wish to see her we had better come at once," said the +Captain. "My brother is unexpectedly called back to England, and we +have much to see to to-day." + +He was vexed that Donati did not show more gratitude for the +concession he had made, for he was a man who liked to be thanked, and +it had not been easy for him to retract what he had first said. +Something in his tone stung Carlo; he drew himself together. +"_Ebbene, signor_," he said gravely, forgetting his English, as he +often did when much moved, and recovering it with an effort. "If you +will permit it I will accompany you." + +They walked away from the Villa Bruno in silence, Carlo thinking of +the Captain's words, "We have much to see to to-day." How calmly he +classed the supreme struggle of his life, the parting that was as +death to him, with the trivial household commotion caused by Mr. +Britton's journey. + +But once back in his own house the Captain's kinder feelings +returned; he took Carlo to the Rose-room, then held out his hand +cordially. + +"This had better be our final parting," he said, "I leave home on +Thursday. Good-bye, Carlo. Should you even now see fit to give up +this foolish scheme I should be quite willing to reconsider matters." + +"My mind is made up, sir," said Carlo, turning sadly away. + +"So it appears. Well, I will send Francesca to you." + +He closed the door; and Carlo, with a choking feeling in his throat, +looked round the dear, familiar room, the very untidiness of which +breathed of Francesca. The "Dying Gladiator" for Clare reposed +perilously on a shaky pile of books; a kitten was worrying a ball of +red wool on the sofa; and the sock in process of knitting, and which +he knew had been intended for him, lay at a little distance on the +floor. He turned to the window, and looked out at his old friend +Vesuvius with its cloud of smoke, and at the glimpses of blue sea +visible here and there between the trees. Then, with an aching +consciousness that these were left to him, but that he should never +more stand in that little room, he turned and looked round it, as +though he wished to stamp forever on his mind all its girlish +decorations, all its familiar details. But the sound of footsteps +without roused him and dispelled his calm; the door opened, and +Francesca came quickly forward to greet him; she always entered a +room more quickly, yet more gracefully than other people, but now she +almost ran towards him, she wanted him not to notice her wan, +tear-stained face. + +If, however, in one sense love is blind, in another it is +all-observant; in one glance he had read all, and in that glance +there came to him the sharpest of his suffering. + +Stifling the sobs that rose in his throat he held her in a long, +close embrace, but to speak was impossible; and though there was +comfort and rapture in her presence, yet there was also anguish which +threatened to unman him. At length he put her gently from him, and +turned away that he might fight down his emotion. For a few minutes +there was silence, then he came and sat beside her on the sofa, and, +putting his arm round her, drew her head down on to his shoulder. + +"_Carina_," he said, and the mellow baritone voice was firm, yet +terribly sad, "your father would not let me see you last night, but +to-day he allows me this one more meeting with you. He said he had +not spoken to you, but that you knew what had passed between us." + +"Yes," she said, her tears raining down quietly, "I knew it must be +so when I heard you go." + +They talked sometimes in English, sometimes in Italian, as had been +their custom ever since childhood. + +"Darling," he said, tenderly, "I am bound to obey your father's +decree; there could be no right betrothal for us without his consent, +and so you stand free once more. You must try, _carina_, not to let +these three short weeks spoil your life; you will try, my own, my +darling, for it would break my heart if I thought I had ruined your +happiness." + +"Love ought not to weaken us," she said tremulously, for in her heart +she felt that apart from Carlo she should be like a rudderless boat. +"These three weeks ought to give me courage for the rest." + +There was indescribable sadness in the last two words. + +"Ah, darling," cried Carlo, passionately, "don't speak of your +beautiful young life like that." + +And then he was silent again. All the strength and ardor of their +mutual love seemed to rise up against the Captain's decree; if for +the present they were fain to obey it and to part, yet hopes for the +future would rise; perhaps each intuitively knew what was in the +other's heart, but no words passed between them; indeed, when Carlo +did speak it was almost as if he wished to reason away any brightness +which might hover over their future. + +"You see, my darling," he said, "even should this immediate danger no +longer keep me from you, even if Nita no longer needed me, I shall +have cut myself off from you hopelessly,--we must face that. I shall +by that time, if I succeed at all, be to the world Donati the singer, +and your father would certainly not choose me for his son-in-law. +Then, again, Uncle Guido has disinherited me, so that if I give up +the stage I should be penniless and more or less unfitted for work as +an advocate." + +"Has he indeed disinherited you? Oh, Carlino, what troubles you have +had! Don't let me be another, darling. See, I'll not cry any more; +we must think of what is still left us. The worst they can do to us +is to keep us apart; they can't kill our love, they can't check our +prayers for each other--the best part, the highest part no one can +meddle with." + +He held her closely, murmuring tender Italian words of endearment; +and the clock on the mantel-piece ticked on inexorably, measuring all +too quickly the time which, when they were parted, would move with +leaden feet. Rosalind should surely have said "parting lovers" +rather than a "thief going to the gallows" when asked, "Who gallops +Time withal?" And still they lingered over the sweet, unwritable +talk till the clock relentlessly struck twelve, and roused them to +the recollection of the outer world. + +Then Francesca drew off her engagement ring, and placed it in his +hand. + +"There, Carlo," she said, steadily, "I give you back the ring and +your troth, and I will obey my father, and will neither hear from you +nor write to you; but more than that no woman can promise, for love +is not made and unmade to order." + +Carlo put on the ring, which from a token of union had now become +changed to a token of separation. He was too heart-broken to speak, +and after a long pause it was Francesca who at length broke the +silence. + +"Tell me a little more of the sort of life you shall live," she said, +gently. + +So he told her all that he knew, which was little enough; how he +should live with the Merlinos, try to win his sister's love, study +hard for his profession, do his best to be a credit to Piale. + +"And you?" he asked. "There will be new neighbors for you at Villa +Bruno, but it is hardly likely that it will be used by another +occupant except during the summer months." + +"Ah! will it be let?" asked Francesca, her eyes filling. "Well, I +hope we shall not know the people who take it. For the rest, +darling, you can picture me as living the old life, going into Naples +on Sunday, teaching Sibyl, rowing with Florestano. But for this next +month we are to go for a cruise in the _Pilgrim_, and perhaps next +year I may go to England." + +"You would like to be with Clare?" + +"Yes; though I suppose father will not like me to tell her now of +these three weeks, and it will be hard that she should never know. +Carlo, why should not you go to see Clare when you are in England?" + +He shook his head. + +"She would disapprove too strongly of my change of professions," he +said; "and it is not a change that I can explain to all the world. +Then, too, she lives in your uncle's house, and, after what has +happened, he would hardly care to have me there." + +"Uncle George likes you very much," said Francesca, quickly. + +Carlo did not reply, but he thought differently. It was not then, +however, that he could care to discuss so trifling a matter; time was +passing, and he knew that Captain Britton must already be expecting +him to go. The thought broke down all his self-control; his calmness +gave place to a passionate outburst of love and grief, which recalled +to Francesca his sudden change in the belvedere when he had first +asked for her love. + +She clung to him now as she had done then, but it was not of love and +present bliss which she spoke. + +"Patience, Carlo _mio_; patience," she whispered. "It is, after all, +that which we need." + +The word brought back to him the recollection of his dying father, +and calmed the tumult of feeling. He held her sweet face between his +hands, looked long into those pure eyes, and grew strong once more. + +"_Pazienza!_" he murmured, clasping her again in his arms. "God have +you in His keeping." + +* * * * * + +At the gate of Casa Bella Mr. George Britton, much to his dismay, +chanced to encounter the owner of Villa Bruno, quite the last man he +would have chosen to meet. All that he could do was to assume that +nothing had happened, and to bid him a courteous farewell. He held +out his hand. + +Carlo turned upon him a face which haunted the kindly Englishman for +many months to come. But, even in his anguish, he could not be +otherwise than courteous; a look of effort passed over his deathly +features, and + + "With pale lips + That seemed to motion for a smile in vain," + +he said, as he bowed over the Englishman's hand, "_Buon viaggio, +signor! A rivederci!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NEW BARITONE. + + "Small spheres hold small fires. + But he loved largely, as a man can love + Who, baffled in his love, dares live his life, + Accept the ends which God loves for his own, + And lift a constant aspect." + E. B. BROWNING. + + +It was a hot summer morning, and two ragged little Neapolitans were +sauntering along the Chiaja; the elder had flung his arm caressingly +round the other's neck, the younger held in his hand a ragged cap +full of cherries, from which they were eating contentedly as they +walked. A carriage rolled past them, and both boys looked up with +sharp, eager eyes. + +"_Gran Dio!_" cried one. "Look! yonder goes Comerio the singer." + +"'Tis he himself," said the other, with a look of interest; "and in a +vile temper, too; his brow is black as a starless night!" + +"They say he beats his wife," said the elder boy, with a laugh, which +was only checked by the offer of a ripe red cherry which his brother +held up to his mouth. + +Meanwhile the carriage had gone by, and Comerio was, before long, set +down at the entrance to Palazzo Forti. He paid the driver, and then, +with no very amiable expression, made his way up the long stone +staircase and rang the bell. + +A maid-servant, whom he had tried unsuccessfully to bribe on former +occasions, opened the door to him. + +"Is Signor Merlino at the theatre?" he asked, anxious to know whether +the coast was clear. + +"Yes, signor," replied the girl. "What message can I give him?" + +"I will give it to Signora Merlino," said the visitor, preparing to +enter. + +The maid showed all her teeth in a merry smile. + +"But the Signora is still at rehearsal." + +"_Orsù_!" exclaimed Comerio, impatiently, "I might have known. Well, +I will come in then, and wait till they return." + +He was shown into a little ante-room, where for a few minutes he +paced to and fro, but suddenly becoming conscious that in the next +room some one was monotonously humming _La donna è mobile_, he +hastily entered and glanced round. At first nothing was visible, but +after a moment or two he discovered the singer, a little brown-eyed +boy of four years old, who was perched on the window-still, and half +hidden by the curtain. + +"Good-morning, Gigi," he said pleasantly. + +The little fellow flung aside the curtain; he seemed very glad to see +the visitor. + +"Good-morning, signor," he said, smiling till his sallow little face +looked almost pretty. "Are there----" he looked longingly, yet +hesitatingly, in the direction of Comerio's pocket,--"are there any +bonbons?" + +Comerio made a gesture of mock despair. + +"Why, Gigi, how can I have forgotten? I promised you some _marrons +glacês_, did I not? but, indeed, the bad news of this morning drove +everything out of my head." + +"What bad news?" said the little boy, with an anxious look that +seemed to be beyond his years. + +"I am going away, Gigi; I shall never travel about with you any more. +There will be a new baritone,--one who is not likely to carry +_marrons glacês_ in his pocket, or to play games with you, for he +sets up for being a saint." + +"A saint?" said the child. "What is that? I thought they were +things in the sky." + +"A saint is one who is fond of keeping other people in order. San +Carlo will spy out in no time what a naughty little monkey you are." + +"I wish he wasn't coming," said the child, looking ready to cry. "I +don't see why saints want to sing in operas; they should stop in +heaven." + +Comerio laughed. + +"Quite right, little one, so they should," he said, patting Gigi's +head. "But look, my Gigi, will you do one little thing for your old +friend, to please him for the last time?" + +The boy nodded and looked up with bright, intelligent eyes into the +wily face of the baritone. + +Comerio drew out a letter and placed it in his hands. + +"When your mother comes home, run after her into her room, and when +you find her alone--quite alone--give this note to her. Do you +understand? It is a secret; no one else must know--no one at all." + +"I know, I know; I can keep a secret!" cried Gigi, gleefully. "Mamma +and I often keep secrets from papa, she taught me how, soon as ever I +left Salem." + +Comerio gave a cynical smile. + +"Mind you do," he said, commandingly. "I shall find out if you play +me false. And look here, little one, here are two _lire_ for you, +and you can tell any one you like that Comerio came to say good-bye +to you, and told you to spend that at Caflisch's. There, I must go +now. Don't forget me." + +He stooped and kissed the little sallow face, then hastily took his +departure, having seen that the letter was securely stowed away in +the child's pocket. + +Gigi, with a thoughtful look, poked his closely cropped head out of +the window and watched Comerio as he walked down the street. He was +hardly out of sight when a carriage drew up at the door,--a carriage +with one gentleman seated in it, and with luggage on the box. Gigi's +head was promptly withdrawn, and, in a sudden access of terror, he +wrapped himself round in the curtain. + +"I do b'lieve," he said to himself in English, "I do b'lieve it is +San Carlo." + +After a time he heard the door of the ante-room opened and the +servant's voice saying that the Signora would soon be back from +rehearsal; then another voice, so clear and sweet that the child +almost forgot to be afraid, said in reply, "Very well, I will come in +here, then, and wait." + +The footsteps drew nearer. Gigi shook in his shoes, yet felt a +burning curiosity to see the new-comer--this dread being who was to +be ever on the watch to spy out his faults. + +The stranger seemed to walk up to the piano and to turn over the +books lying upon it; then there was such complete silence that Gigi +felt sure he must be reading, and ventured to peer out from his +hiding-place. + +He saw that the visitor was leaning in an easy attitude over the +piano, his head propped up by his hand, and his eyes bent upon the +score of some opera. Gigi could only see his side face, but that +fascinated him, and somehow he did not feel any longer afraid. He +was impatient to attract the stranger's notice, but, though he moved +the curtain, it was of no use, the new-comer seemed quite absorbed in +the music he was reading. At last, in despair, Gigi resolved to +speak. + +"San Carlo!" he said, timidly thrusting his head a little further +forward. + +The stranger looked up in surprise, and when he saw the quaint little +face peeping out from the curtain, he came forward a few steps, +looking very much puzzled. + +"I don't know," said Gigi, politely, "but I think you are the new +baritone." + +Something in this address so tickled the stranger that he began to +laugh. His laugh was a very pleasant one. + +"You have guessed rightly," he said, "but I am not so clever, and +cannot guess your name at all." + +"I am Gigi," said the child, gravely. "Signor Sardoni laughs at my +name and says it is only fit for a pony, but then he is only an +Englishman and knows no better; though, after all, I like him, and I +like to talk in English, as we did at Salem." + +As he spoke, the little fellow lifted a pair of beautiful dark eyes +to the stranger's face; his eyes were his only beauty, they were +wonderfully expressive, and something in their depths was familiar to +the new-comer. He came closer and studied the child's face more +attentively. + +"Gigi," he said, "I think you must be my little nephew, though no one +has taken the trouble to tell me of your existence." + +"Oh, no," said the child--they were talking now in English--"I have +an uncle, but he is not like you; he is not the new baritone; he is +rich, and lives in a beautiful villa in the country." + +"He lives there no longer; the villa is to be let, and he is coming +to live with you," said the stranger, taking the child on his knee. +"Come, tell me the rest of your name, Gigi." + +"I have three," said Gigi, with dignity, "though they alluse call me +Gigi for short. My whole name is Luigi Bruno Merlino, and I shall be +four next month." + +"Then there is no doubt that I am your uncle," said Carlo, kissing +the child on both cheeks. + +But Gigi, with a shrewd look much beyond his years, shook his head +emphatically. + +"If you are the new baritone, then you are San Carlo, and San Carlo +could hardly be my uncle. You set up for being a saint, you know, +and are fond of keeping other people in order; and you will never +play games, but will alluse know when I do what is wrong. I badly +wished you weren't coming, but somehow you are not quite what I +thought." + +The child's words were so comical that they carried no sting; Carlo +could only smile at them. + +"I am glad of that," he said, patting the closely cropped head. "You +must have been expecting a regular ogre." + +"No, not an ogre, but a saint. It was Signor Comerio that told me +about you." + +"Ah," said Carlo, unpleasantly enlightened; "you see, as Signor +Comerio and I have never met, he can only have drawn a fancy picture +of me." + +"I am sorry Signor Comerio is going, he was to have given me some +_marrons glacês_, but he gave me two _lire_ instead just now--at +least he said so. It was a bit of paper, but he said I was to spend +it. In America we alluse have proper money. Do you think this paper +will really buy me _marrons glacês_ at Caflisch's?" + +He began to grope in his pocket, and drew forth an envelope. Carlo +could not help seeing that it was addressed to Signora Merlino. A +sudden recollection flashed across him of his interview in that very +room with Sardoni, and of the Englishman's assurance that Merlino +watched his wife's correspondence with lynx eyes, and did not scruple +to open all her letters. And Comerio had apparently just been to +Palazzo Forti. + +"How stupid I are!" said Gigi, thrusting the envelope back again. +"Did you see, San Carlo?" + +"Yes, I did," said Carlo, without any comment. + +"Signor Comerio said you would always spy out everything," said the +child, pouting. "It was a secret, and I promised to keep it; and he +will be so angry when he finds out." + +"If you promised to give the letter, you must do so," said Carlo, +gravely. + +"Yes, but no one else was to see it," said Gigi, beginning to cry. +"Oh, dear San Carlo, do promise not to tell, for when Signor Comerio +is angry he looks so fierce, and it does frighten me." + +"No one shall hurt you," said Carlo, putting his arm round the child. +"Don't cry, Gigi; I am very fond of you. No one shall hurt you at +all." + +"And you won't tell papa?" said Gigi, still sobbing. "You see there +are things that must be kept from papa, and mamma taught me how when +I came away from Salem." + +Carlo felt sick at heart; he remembered how on that Sunday a +fortnight ago he had first felt the sensation of coming unexpectedly +into a network of evil; now he realized that it was in the very midst +of this that he had ordained to live, and he shuddered as the little +child composedly described his training in deceit. + +"Why do you sit looking so silent, San Carlo?--I mean, looking so +grave?" said Gigi, drying his eyes. "Are you angry with me?" + +"No, I am not at all angry; but I am very sorry you promised to give +that letter and to keep that secret." + +"Are all secrets wrong?" + +"No, there are some things we cannot tell to every one, but they must +never be things of which we are ashamed. Suppose you had a beautiful +diamond, and were travelling along a road where you feared brigands, +you would hide your treasure quite away, and that would be right and +wise; but, if you had stolen a diamond from a shop in the Toledo, and +hid it for fear of having it taken from you, that would be wrong; do +you see?" + +"And was Signor Comerio ashamed of his secret, and afraid that it +would be found out and taken away from him?" + +"Yes, he was," said Carlo; "and that is why I was sorry you had not +said 'no' when he asked you to help him." + +"I will say 'no' another time," said Gigi. + +"That's right," said Carlo, kissing him, and then he quickly turned +the conversation, afraid that the child might question him further, +and lose faith in his mother. + +They were still sitting in the window when Anita returned from +rehearsal. She gave a little cry of astonishment when she saw her +brother, and came forward quickly to greet him. + +"Carlino!" she exclaimed, in her excitement returning to his old +childish name. "Are you come already? My husband has only to-day +told me of your decision." She drew him a little away from the +child, and the tears rose to her eyes as she said, with more +solicitude than she had ever shown for him, "Dear Carlo, do you +realize what you undertake? I know you want to help me--I understood +it in a moment--but do you know what this life is? It is no +play-work, as some people think; a public singer leads the life of a +cart-horse." + +"Plenty of work is what I shall like best," said Carlo, kissing her. +"If only I can shield you, Nita, I shall be well content." + +She shivered a little, and went on in an undertone,-- + +"I saw him for a moment at the theatre, after he knew he was to leave +the troupe; his face terrifies me to remember, for I know he +understands why it is you have taken his place. But Merlino suspects +nothing--that is the one great comfort." + +At this moment Gigi trotted up rather shyly. + +"Mamma," he said, pulling at her dress, "I promised Signor Comerio I +would give you this when you were alone, but I forgot, and pulled it +out of my pocket just now, and San Carlo saw it; so I may as well +give it you now, directly." + +The color rushed into Nita's face; she made as though she would tear +the letter in pieces without opening it, but Carlo checked her. + +"Return it just as it is," he suggested. "Direct it to him yourself, +and I will see that it reaches him safely." + +Nita hastily crossed the room, and enclosed the letter in an +envelope; she knew that Comerio would recognize her writing in a +moment, and directed it hastily, perhaps hardly considering that by +doing so she had crossed the Rubicon. + +But Carlo understood, and knew well that only by showing her all +possible love and tenderness could he hope to fill this blank in her +life. + +"You never told me of this little man's existence," he said, glancing +at Gigi, when she had handed him the letter and he had put it away in +his pocket. "You should have brought him with you to Villa Bruno." + +"He had the chicken-pox," said Nita, indifferently. "I suppose he +took it on board the steamer--indeed, I always thought it a great +mistake to bring him away from America, but Merlino was set upon +having him; he is very fond of the child." + +Carlo felt discouraged; it was quite clear that Nita did not even +pretend to care much for her little son. She went on in a +complaining voice,-- + +"He was happy enough at Salem, and, indeed, is always begging to go +back again. The people there had brought him up, for, of course, I +couldn't drag a baby all over the States with me." + +"It was a farmhouse," put in Gigi, "and I alluse went out with the +pigs every day. I wish there was pigs here." + +Carlo smiled, but thought Gigi deserved better companionship. + +"Merlino knew that we should be in America again in another year," +continued Anita, "but he had some foolish feeling against leaving the +child so far off, and so I suppose we shall have to take him about +with us for the present. Men don't realize what trouble a child +gives. Merlino likes to play with him now and then for ten minutes, +but he would never be bothered with him, and he won't let me have a +nurse even. It is absurd to expect me to see to him when already I +am almost worked to death." + +Carlo thought there was some truth in this, though he was sorry she +seemed to have so little motherly feeling; but that her life was very +hard he could well believe, and she looked delicate and overwrought. + +"How do you manage?" he said. "Is there no one to help you with him?" + +"The stewardess was kind to him when we crossed, and then, when he +was ill, the servant saw to him; but really, poor girl, the landlady +leads her such a life that she can't spare time to make him look +respectable. He hasn't been out since we came to Naples; I couldn't +take such a little scarecrow with me." + +"Maria doesn't do anything for me now," put in Gigi. "I can dress +myself, mamma, quite well, and I haven't been washed at all just +lately." + +"You would have been far better with your pigs at Salem," said Nita, +laughing a little, while Carlo, though perhaps not quite so much +disgusted as an Englishman would have been, began to revolve schemes +for tubbing his small nephew. + +"Then you have really made up your mind to stop here as long as we +are at Naples?" asked Nita. "You will find it a contrast to Villa +Bruno." + +"Piale will prefer to have me close at hand." said Carlo. "And, +indeed, I think it will be better every way. Is there a room for me +here?" + +"Yes, you can have the room where Gigi was ill; there is no need for +him to have a room all to himself now that he is well again; he can +sleep on the sofa in the ante-room." + +"Oh, don't turn him out," said Carlo, and the matter ended in a small +bed being extemporized for Gigi in a corner, much to his contentment. + +"For you know," he said, trotting after his uncle, "when it is all +dark, I feel so alone; and last night I really think there was a cow +under my bed." + +Nita retired before long for her _siesta_, and Carlo, with the +assistance of Gigi, took possession of his new quarters, and unpacked +his worldly goods. When all was done, he flung himself back in an +arm-chair to rest, and Gigi curled himself up like a little dog at +his feet. For a time there was silence, then Carlo was struck by a +happy idea. + +"Gigi," he said, "would you like to come and walk with me in the +Villa?' + +"What's the Villa?" asked the child. "Do you mean Villa Bruno?" + +"No, I meant the Villa Nazionale,--a garden, you know, with beautiful +trees. Would you like to come with me?" + +"Oh, yes!" cried Gigi, with a beaming face; "it will be almost like +being at Salem again." + +"With the pigs," put in Carlo, laughingly. "But look, before I take +you we must make you tidy and clean, don't you think?" + +"Perhaps," said Gigi, with a sigh. + +"Are there any baths here?" + +"Signor Sardoni has one; he is English, you know, and takes it cold +every morning--quite cold; he asked yesterday whether he should lend +it to me, but I guess he was only in fun." + +"Run and ask him, with my compliments, if he will really do so," said +Carlo, much amused. + +There was an interval in which he dozed a little; presently back came +the child, dragging after him an indiarubber travelling-bath, and +followed by Maria, whom he had induced to bring a can of hot water, +fearful lest San Carlo should expect him to plunge into cold like the +English. + +Maria, with a broad smile, suggested that he had better have clean +clothes as well, and managed to find some for him; she might even +have offered to tub him had not the padrona's voice been heard +calling her impatiently, and, with a saucy retort to her mistress, +she ran off, leaving Carlo and his victim to manage as they could. + +Very slowly and reluctantly the tiny fellow divested himself of his +clothes, and stood shivering on the brink; Carlo, had he been of an +introspective nature, would have been amused at the thought that his +first piece of work in his new career was to scrub a grubby little +child; being not at all introspective, but extremely practical, he +only wondered how in the world he was to do it, and where he was to +begin. + +"Come, Gigi," he said, encouragingly, "I shall pretend you are a +pony, as Signor Sardoni says you ought to be; get in quickly and I +will groom you." + +Gigi was imaginative, and this notion suited him very well; he began +to kick and prance, but no longer objected to the soap and water; +indeed, after the first shock he rather liked them; and the scrubbing +was at any rate satisfactory work--more promptly visible in its +effects than any of Carlo's other work was likely to be. Gigi, who +had gone in grim and shivering, came out a beautiful white, wet, +little mortal, with sleek, shining skin, and cheeks glowing like +ruddy apples. + +"I like it," he said proudly, "I like it very much. If I'm good, San +Carlo, will you groom me again some day?" + +"Every day, till you can do it yourself," said Carlo promptly, at +which Gigi clapped his hands. + +"At Salem," he said, "we only had Saturday for tub night, and it was +so cold in the back-kitchen." + +Carlo, after this remark, thought that whatever the drawbacks of +travelling in Merlino's company, the child was better off than in the +primitive farmhouse with his four-footed friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A DEAR ADVENTURE. + +"Next .... I betook me among those lofty fables and romances which +recount in solemn cantos the deeds of knighthood.... There I read it +in the oath of every knight that he should defend to the expense of +his best blood, or of his life, if it so befell him, the honor and +chastity of virgin or matron. From whence even then I learnt what a +noble virtue chastity ever must be, to the defence of which so many +worthies by such a dear adventure of themselves had sworn.... Only +this my mind gave me, that every free and gentle spirit without that +oath ought to be born a knight, nor needed to expect the gilt spur, +or the laying of a sword upon his shoulder, to stir him up, both by +his counsel and his arm to serve and protect the weakness of any +attempted chastity."--MILTON. + + +Gigi, much pleased with his appearance, and with the novel feeling of +cleanliness, capered away to the sola to relate his experiences to +Sardoni. Carlo followed him, and found Merlino just awake after his +_siesta_, and looking rather more like a surly bear than usual as he +yawned and stretched himself. He roused himself, however, to +introduce his brother-in-law to the tenor, not knowing that the two +had met before; and they thought it best not to explain, but bowed +ceremoniously to each other. + +"Papa," said Gigi, gleefully, "San Carlo is going to take me to walk +in the Villa!" + +"San Carlo! what do you mean, child?" said Merlino, his voice +softening as he patted his son's head. + +"Why _him_," said Gigi, with an expressive gesture; "Signor Comerio +told me he was San Carlo, and I wondered what saints wanted with +operas; but he is oh! ever so much nicer than Comerio said." + +The three men laughed involuntarily. + +"Comerio did not at all like getting his _congé_" said Merlino. +"This is just a little display of spite on his part. When did you +see him, child?" + +"He came in to say good-bye to me this morning while you were at +rehearsal, and he gave me this to spend. Oh, dear, San Carlo, might +we go to Caflisch's now?" + +"You must not call your uncle by that name," said Merlino; "it is +rude." + +"Why, I thought it was a kind of politeness," said Gigi, with a +puzzled face; "and that it was only for the very best things." + +"In that case you had better not uncanonize Signor Donati," said +Sardoni, who had watched the scene with a sort of careless amusement. +"If you'll allow me, Gigi, I will also come with you." + +Carlo looked pleased; he could not have explained why Sardoni +attracted him, but already he felt that the Englishman would be his +friend. His discovery of Gigi that morning had broken the blank +desolateness which for the last four-and-twenty hours had overwhelmed +him, and the sight of Sardoni somehow cheered him yet more. Possibly +the mere fact that the tenor was Francesca's fellow-countryman +prejudiced him in his favor; and then, although the Englishman's +careless, witty-looking face was perhaps not of the very highest +type, yet there was something winning about it,--something which +interested Carlo and took him out of himself and his own cares. + +"So you have changed your mind since I saw you the other day," said +Sardoni, as they walked down the Toledo, "You think stage life may, +after all, bear comparison with private life?" + +"I am going to try my fortune as a singer," said Carlo lightly, but +revealing in his face all that he strove to banish from his tone. +Sardoni drew his own conclusions, but had too much tact to ask any +questions. + +"I was never more astounded than when Merlino told me the news," he +remarked; "and I think seldom more pleased; the Company will be well +rid of Comerio, who is a double-dyed villain such as one seldom +meets." + +"I must own that in looks he gives one the impression of being less +of a brute than Merlino himself," said Carlo, lowering his voice +cautiously. + +"Looks are not everything," said Sardoni; "there are some +faces--yours for instance--which can be read in an instant; but there +are others which baffle one altogether. Merlino is not so bad as he +seems; at any rate while he is a brute the other is a fiend." + +"How did he take his dismissal?" asked Carlo. + +"I heard very little about it, but apparently he has taken good care +not to quarrel with Merlino. No doubt he'll move heaven and earth to +get into the troupe again, he is not a man who will stand being +beaten." + +"Yet Merlino would never have us both, I suppose?" + +"No; so it will now be to Comerio's interest to oust you. Don't +think me a brute to speak out plainly, but when I caught sight of +Comerio's face as he left the theatre I thought I wouldn't be in your +shoes for a million of money. That fellow is your enemy, and he may +nurse his revenge for years, but sooner or later, he'll have it." + +A feeling of vague discomfort crept over Carlo; for a minute he was +silent, then, with a look in his face which startled Sardoni, he said +cheerfully,-- + +"I owe you a great deal; it was through you that I first knew there +was a chance of helping my sister in this way, and now you have taken +the trouble to warn me of a danger. One must not dwell on such +things, though perhaps it is well to know of them." + +"I should have thought," said Sardoni, smiling, "that you would be +more likely to curse me than to bless me for having first put into +your head a notion that must have cost you dear." + +Carlo gave a quick glance at his companion, wondering whether he had +the least conception how great the cost had been. Perhaps he was +glad to be spared any direct answer to the remark by their arrival at +Caflisch's and the necessity of helping Gigi to lay out his two +_lire_ to the best advantage. + +Afterwards they strolled on to the Villa, and, while Gigi played +about happily, the two men sat under the trees, Sardoni finding a +sort of idle pleasure in studying his new companion. + +"Do you mean to sing under your own name?" he asked, after a time. + +"Yes," replied Carlo; "I have no object in taking a _nom de guerre_; +with an English name, of course, it is different--you were almost +bound to do so." + +Sardoni gave a sarcastic smile. + +"It was most necessary," he remarked, dryly. "Did my own people know +how I gained my livelihood they would be even more ashamed of me than +they are already." + +Carlo looked surprised, even a little anxious. His interest in +Sardoni grew deeper. + +"They do not then know where you are?" he asked. "That is surely +very hard on them." + +The tenor gave a short laugh. + +"Not at all; I am silent purely out of regard for their feelings. Do +you know what the old Puritans used to call actors? They called them +'caterpillars of the Commonwealth' and 'vagabonds.'" + +"That may be, but family feeling must in the end be stronger than +such prejudice." + +"You judge others by yourself," said Sardoni. "All families are not +so devoted as yours seem to be." Then, his brow contracting sharply, +"Besides, did I not tell you when we first met that in my own +country, men would no longer trust my word as blindly as you seem +inclined to do?" + +"Why will you always force that upon me?" said Carlo, looking full +into his companion's eyes. "Do you wish to make me doubt you? That +is hardly a friendly act, since you are the one light just now in my +dark sky." + +The words sounded strangely in Sardoni's ear, the simile was so +un-English, but the tone touched him more than he would have cared to +own. + +"I force this upon you because I like you," he said, with some +effort. "You are the first man I have seen whose friendship I could +have wished. But I will be friends with no man who does not know the +truth about me; and whoever knew the truth would not care to be my +friend." + +"I should care," said Carlo, quickly. + +The Englishman shook his head. Then, suddenly resuming his usual +reckless, nonchalant manner, he said with a laugh, "Few men, I fancy, +have managed to sustain their _nom de guerre_ so completely; Merlino +himself has not even a notion of my true surname." + +"What induced you to take the name of Sardoni?" asked Carlo. + +"Well, according to the character of my questioner I have two +replies," said Sardoni. "Matter of fact: It occurred to me one +morning while I was breakfasting off sardines. Poetic: I assumed it +in a sardonic mood, while contemplating a journey to Sardinia. We +have some funny improvements on names among us." + +"Are they chiefly Italians in the company?" + +"Oh! we are a very mixed multitude," said Sardoni. "I'll prepare you +for your future lot and give you a faithful description of the 'happy +band of pilgrims.' Let us be more courteous than the playbills, and +take the ladies first. Top of the list stands Madame Merlino, who +needs no description. Next comes Mlle. Elise de Caisne, a little +French flirt. Then the two mezzos, Mlle. Lauriston, ditto, ditto, +and Miss Robinson, who hails from New York, but sings under the name +of Duroc; she is an average American girl, and can be pleasant +enough, also, which speaks well for her--she is hand in glove with +Domenica Borelli. The Borelli is a Maltese lady, in reality +Borg--every one is a Borg in Malta. She is a contralto with a +wonderful compass, a real good painstaking artist, the joy of +Marioni's heart; there exists between them a platonic friendship. +Next we come to the tenors." + +"Headed by Signor Sardoni," put in Carlo, with a smile. + +"And close on my heels," continued the Englishman, "follow my two +rivals, Crevelli and Cafferi---awfully jealous of me--awfully; not of +each other, that's the odd part; but then they are so much alike that +it's always a case of 'Which is which?' and when one is praised the +other thinks it was a mistake and really meant for him; those two are +_bona fide_ Italians, and as like as two peas,--broad forehead, +straight, black hair, correct profile, big moustache, great expanse +of cheek. You'll find some trouble in knowing them apart, but at +last I've induced Crevelli to keep his hair an inch longer than the +other's, just for convenience' sake. + +"That brings us to the basses, and to your brother-in-law; we won't +discuss him: you'll find that he gets well treated because they all +live in mortal terror of him. Then, Gomez. Gomez has raven hair and +a sad cast of countenance, he hails from Seville and stands much on +his dignity. Tannini, alias Joshua C. Tanner, is a jolly Yankee, and +has a keen eye to the main chance. A very practical man is Tanner; +he'll soon be 'calc'lating that he can't understand such a +knight-errant' as you. Next comes Bauer--a good solid lump of +humanity, always in at dinner-time and to be found at odd hours +tucking in, regardless of the coming opera. He reminds me of an old +nursery song of ours, about-- + + 'A duck, who had got such a habit of stuffing, + That all the day long it was panting and puffing.' + +Bauer's often out of breath on the stage, you'll find. Then there is +Donati, the baritone, whose character I have not yet fathomed; and +Fasola, a miserable stick, capable only of third-rate parts, but +supposed to be your under-study; and, finally, our little conductor, +Marioni, who wears himself to fiddlestrings, all out of devotion to +the muse, and tears his hair--you'll see presently how ragged it +is--because he can't get things done as he would wish." + +"I have heard Piale speak very highly of him," said Carlo, and then +he sat silent for a minute or two, musing over Sardoni's odd +description of his future companions, and wondering what this strange +new life would be like. + +"Was Comerio a favorite?" he asked at length. + +"He was hated by some and liked by others; Domenica Borelli, for +instance, was not on speaking terms with him." + +"And yet travelled in the same company." + +"Oh, that is perfectly possible! I don't think she has spoken to him +since we were at San Francisco, a year ago, yet of course they had to +act together. The Borelli is extremely fastidious, she will highly +approve of the change of baritones. But Gomez will hate you, for he +is Comerio's friend; I shouldn't be surprised if he got up a cabal +against you." + +Again Carlo was silent, he looked down the long, shady walk with its +sombre ilex-trees; the prospect of his new life had never before +seemed so distasteful to him, and it was with a sense of relief that +he caught sight of Enrico Ritter coming towards them with his usual +long, imperturbable stride. Enrico seemed his last link with the +past, and he was glad to be able to introduce him to Sardoni. + +"I have just met your uncle," said Enrico, abruptly, as he took the +vacant place beside Carlo. + +"Then, of course, you know all?" + +"Yes, and I find it hard to forgive you," said Enrico. + +"To forgive?" echoed Carlo, questioningly. + +"Yes, to forgive. You have falsified my pet theory," said the +egoist. "Here, give me one of your cards and I'll tell you in two +words what I think of you." + +Carlo, not without a pang, as he remembered how at first sight of +those copper-plate words, "Avvocato Carlo Poerio Donati," he had felt +himself the happiest man in Naples, handed the card to his friend, +and Enrico, crossing out the "Avvocato," scribbled above it the +words, "Knight-Errant." + +Sardoni glanced at it with a smile. + +"You couldn't have put the case more tersely," he said, rising to go, +because he thought the two friends would rather talk out the matter +alone. But before he turned he glanced searchingly at Carlo, and +again surprised on his face the look which had perplexed him before. + +"Does the fellow actually take pleasure in giving up his life to the +service of that chit?" he thought to himself as he walked away. "If +ever there was a commonplace, uninteresting woman in the world, it is +Anita Merlino; she'll not even have the grace to be grateful to him." + +Late in the afternoon of the following day, Carlo, returning from a +long lesson with Piale, happened to meet, in the Piazza Municipio, a +handsome English sailor whose face seemed familiar to him. He +glanced hastily at the name embroidered on his jersey, and read the +word _Pilgrim_. With a great hunger in his heart to know Francesca's +whereabouts, he turned and accosted the man. + +"So the _Pilgrim_ is still here," he said, courteously. "When does +she leave?" + +"To-night, sir," said the sailor, looking pleased at the recognition. +"Captain Britton and the young ladies came on board an hour ago, and +we are only waiting now for the caterer; and there he comes yonder." + +Carlo, glancing round, saw another of the yacht's crew, a +bluff-looking, elderly man, whose duty was to buy the food for his +mates. + +"We shall sail now as soon as we get on board, sir," said the +coxswain. "Can I take any message for you?" + +"None, thank you," said Carlo, and bidding the man a courteous +farewell, he turned quickly away. Hurriedly he walked towards the +Strada Nuova, and looked across the blue waters of the bay. There +was the _Pilgrim_, anchored to the Military Mole, her beautiful white +sails all set, and only waiting for the return of the dinghy to raise +anchor. Carlo saw the little boat threading its way between the +vessels in the harbor, saw it round the yacht and disappear, then +descried Oxenberry's lithe figure springing on board. For a few +minutes all seemed haste and confusion; he could hear the rattling of +chains, and could even make out the figure of the steward seated on +the capstan with his concertina, while the sailors heaved up the +anchor, swinging merrily round to the familiar strains of the +"Shanty." Their hearty voices reached him even at that distance, and +he remembered how as a child Francesca had proudly taught him to sing +the "Shanty" with a proper English accent. Fragments of the the +words seemed now to float across to him, and the tears started to his +eyes. + + "Hurrah, my lads! we're homeward bound, + We're homeward bound for Plymouth Sound; + Up with the sail, and off goes she. + Hurrah, my lads! hurrah! hurrah!" + + +The cheerful old tune seemed to him now like a dirge,--the dirge for +his old life which was passed and over, the dirge for his betrothal +so swiftly ended. + +All at once his heart began to throb wildly, for he saw a slim, dark +figure come on deck with a white shawl wrapped about the head and +shoulders. Francesca stood with her face turned towards him, looking +to the shore and away from the blithe sailors, whose merry song, +perhaps, brought to her mind the very thoughts it had suggested to +Carlo. He gazed on, hardly knowing whether the sight comforted or +tortured him, but, in any case, unable to move, unable for one +instant to relax the strain. + +At last the song ceased, the chain rattled no more, the yacht began +to move, and Francesca shifted her position a little, but still kept +aloof from the rest, still gazed shorewards. And thus she remained +while the summer wind filled the white sails, and the _Pilgrim_ +glided out of the harbor, gently, proudly, but relentlessly, moving +out seawards. + +To the very last, his eyes rested on her till the slim, black figure +became a mere speck in the distance, and finally was lost to sight. +He lingered still for the last glimpse of the _Pilgrim's_ sails, on +which the afternoon's sun glinted with dazzling brightness; then, +when those, too, had disappeared, he became conscious of a creeping +chilliness, which obliged him to grope his way to one of the seats +and wait till he had recovered his self-control. + +It was a vision of Piale's reproachful face which finally roused him. +What would be the Maestro's horror could he see his pupil sitting +there regardless of the dangerous hour of sunset, which was fast +approaching? He drew himself together and walked slowly back to the +Palazzo Forti through the narrow, picturesque streets, so familiar, +but now so desolate to him. Never in his life had he felt so +hopelessly lonely as when he mounted the dirty stairs and reached the +suite of rooms which, for the time being, made his home. + +In the ante-room Gigi was crying piteously; in the _sala_ Merlino, in +one of his worst tempers, was arguing with Anita; while Gomez, who +had just arrived from Seville, stood glowering darkly at the new +baritone. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON THE STAGE. + + "For ill can Poetry express + Full many a tone of thought sublime; + And Painting, mute and motionless, + Steals but a glance of time. + But, by the mighty actor brought, + Illusion's perfect triumphs come; + Verse ceases to be airy thought, + And sculpture to be dumb."--CAMPBELL. + + +Piale had gained the wish of his heart, but, like many other people, +he discovered that, when gained, it proved more of a care than a +pleasure. He had plotted and planned, he had argued and persuaded, +and now at length his best pupil was really to appear on the operatic +stage, but nevertheless the old Maestro was far from happy; he was +haunted by the conviction that Carlo's health would give way, for he +knew him too well not to perceive how sorely the events of the last +few weeks had taxed his powers of endurance. It was all very well +for him to prescribe perfect quiet when the hours of study were over, +but he knew that at the Palazzo Forti quiet was not likely to be +found--knew that wherever he went Carlo would be haunted by the +spectre of his vanished happiness. Often did he anathematize Captain +Britton and the insular prejudice which had cost his pupil so dear; +often did he rack his brains for some means of cheering the +_débutant_. + +Carlo was, indeed, very much altered; for the time he lost the boyish +look which had always before been one of his characteristics; he +lost, too, his fresh, ruddy color; and, whereas he had hitherto been +habitually gay, and only upon occasion grave, he was now only +cheerful when, by a deliberate effort of will, he forced himself to +be so. It was not in those first days of his trouble that he could +all at once attain to the serenity of a perfectly disciplined heart. +He was human, and he was very young; the light of his life had gone +out, and he did not always acquiesce in the darkness,--did not, +except in rare intervals of comfort, feel anything but an aching +void, an unconquerable longing for his own will to be done. + +Not being of a self-tormenting nature, however, he did not trouble +himself much about the right or wrong of his feelings; as far as +possible he ignored them, and went on deliberately with the everyday +business of the life he had chosen. Piale worked his voice as hard +as he dared, and the professor of declamation taught him all that he +had the power to teach; but Carlo, altogether dissatisfied with the +scanty attention paid to acting on the operatic stage, studied his +characters with a minute faithfulness which occupied him even in his +times of so-called leisure; he was incessantly studying, incessantly +observing, and, after three weeks of this sort of work, his heart +began, as it were, to thaw; the personal grief which had held it +frost-bound was softened by the wide love of the human family which +cannot fail to be quickened in the heart of any one who truly +observes life. For to observe truly you must sympathize with those +you observe, and to sympathize with them you must love them, and to +love them you must forget yourself. Without a deep, living sympathy +the artist surely degenerates into a species of vivisectionist, for + + "To be observed when observation is not sympathy + Is just to be tortured." + + +Carlo soon found the happiness which comes to the worker who is +really suited to his work. He learnt to be very grateful to his +newly-chosen profession, for it brought him hours of forgetfulness, +it raised him above the atmosphere of petty misery which seemed to +prevail at the Palazzo Forti, it made him conscious that he had not +chosen his life with headstrong blindness, but that he had gifts for +which he was responsible,--gifts which made the life of a singer his +true vocation. In those days of his trouble he worked with all his +might, and the tremendous effort of memory he had to make stood him +in good stead, and forced him to keep his grief at arm's length. + +Piale saw with relief that he was apparently not in the least +nervous, that he was entirely free at present from all fear of +failure, but the old Maestro was too experienced a hand to imagine +that this calmness would last. + +"You go to your ordeal with a better heart than most _débutants_," he +remarked one day, looking curiously into the face of his pupil. "But +you have good reason to be cheerful about it, for you are safe to be +popular." + +"On the contrary," said Carlo, with a smile. "I am told that ten to +one Comerio will organize a _claque_, and try to get me hissed off. +I'm not at all confident of being popular, but I know that I have in +any case to be a singer." + +"There speaks the true artist," said Piale, with enthusiasm. "Did I +not tell you long ago that Nature meant this for your calling?" + +"Yes, dear Maestro," he replied, quietly. "And you were right, and I +was wrong, as events have proved." + +Piale hardly understood all that he meant; he looked up at him again +with the lingering, scrutinizing, anxious gaze of a painter who takes +a last look at a finished picture. + +"If only your health is equal to the life," he exclaimed, with a +sigh, for he could not but admit to himself that during the last few +weeks there had developed in his pupil's face a look of +constitutional delicacy, which, after all, was a natural enough +inheritance to the son of Signor Donati. + +But Carlo laughed lightly, and put the suggestion aside. + +"Why, Maestro," he exclaimed, "I have never been ill in my life; and +surely, if my sister has been able to bear the work all this time, +you need not fear for a tough fellow like me!" + +"Well, I hope you will understand as well as Madame Merlino how to +take care of yourself," said Piale, in the tone of a doubter. + +As he walked home Carlo for the first time studied the placards which +announced a second series of operas at the Mercadante, with the +Company of Signor Merlino. On Tuesday evening Gounod's Faust, and, +below, a list of the characters:--"_Faust_, Signor Sardoni; +_Mefistofele_, Signor Merlino; _Valentino_, Signor Carlo Donati; +_Wagner_, Signor Gomez; _Marghérita_, Madame Merlino; _Siebel_, Mlle. +Borelli; _Marta_, Mlle. Duroc." Just above was pasted a narrow strip +of yellow paper, contrasting boldly with the pink placard, and upon +this, in large black letters, was printed, + + "DEBUTTO DI SIGNOR CARLO DONATI." + + +He was startled and rather ashamed to find that the mere reading of +the announcement made him tremble from head to foot. At the next +opportunity he questioned Sardoni. + +"How do people feel at their first appearance?" he said, with an air +of curiosity, which was nevertheless a little anxious. + +"Oh!" said Sardoni, with his careless laugh. "Some feel as if they +were going to be hung, others as if they were entering one of the +chambers of the Inquisition. Comerio, I believe, used to say that he +had suffered more acutely when he went to be married, and Bauer +declares that it was not half so bad to him as a visit to the +dentist." + +"And you?" asked Carlo. "How did you feel about it?" + +"I hardly know--besides, I should be no guide to you, for we are as +different as chalk and cheese. I think I was in too dare-devil a +frame to feel at all." + +"I can understand better to-day how Valentino felt before his first +battle," said Carlo, musingly. + +Sardoni laughed. + +"I do believe you think of your parts night and day!" he exclaimed. +"I declare I'm half afraid of you. You will be so much in earnest +that you'll kill me in the duel scene, and that would be awkward. +What do you say to a private rehearsal now? It's as well you have to +fight me and not Gomez, for he hates you like poison; and what could +be easier than to stick you by mistake on the stage, and get you out +of his friend's way?" + +"What with you and Piale it will be hard if I don't turn into a +coward and a valetudinarian," said Carlo. "The Maestro does nothing +but fear the breakdown of my health, and you are always warning me of +hidden dangers from Comerio and his allies." + +"We only wish to instil a little prudence into your knight-errantry," +said Sardoni. + +The change of baritones had been much discussed in Merlino's Company, +and Carlo had to run the gauntlet of criticism, while feeling +bewildered at the endless introductions to his new companions; he +thought he should never learn to know them all, and the fact that he +was Madame Merlino's brother was not in his favor, for Anita was not +popular, and Carlo was sufficiently like her in face to make them +prejudiced against him. Moreover, they all regarded him as a sort of +amateur, and were inclined to resent his sudden change of profession, +while Comerio's unexpected dismissal was by some deemed unjust. + +His heart failed him a little at the thought of casting in his lot +entirely with these not very congenial people; even in Domenica +Borelli he was disappointed, she seemed to him cold and reserved and +exclusive; he supposed that the very qualities which repelled him +seemed to Sardoni's English eyes recommendations. Marioni, the +conductor, received him with mingled coldness and anxiety; and had it +not been for Sardoni's friendship he would have been in a most +uncomfortable position. But all this improved after the first +rehearsal; the conductor speedily thawed, and he began to understand +better the stiff armor of propriety in which Domenica Borelli encased +herself, and the alarming American frankness of Mlle. Duroc. + +And so at last the great day came. Carlo awoke to the consciousness, +but was surprised to find how indifferent he felt about it; perhaps +he had been through too much of late to suffer very greatly from +apprehension, or perhaps he had not yet realized how great the ordeal +would be. In the most matter-of-fact way he inspected his hat, hose, +and shoes, the only part of his costume which he had to provide for +himself; then, having arranged that they should be sent to the +theatre, he found himself with the rest of the day on his hands, for +Piale had given strict orders that he was only to sing for +half-an-hour just before he dined. Suddenly he bethought him of his +old friend Florestano, and he felt a desire that the old fisherman +should witness his first appearance; so, taking the delighted Gigi +with him, he went down to the Piliero, hired a boat, and was rowed to +the old fisherman's hut. Florestano, who had all an Italian's love +of the theatre, was delighted and flattered at the proposal, and they +rowed back with him to Naples, where Carlo took him to the Mercadante +that he might choose his own seat; then, with many good wishes, the +old boatman went off to his Socialist club, and Carlo having taken +Gigi home, returned once more to the Mercadante, begged the keys from +the doorkeeper, who was just about to take his _siesta_, and, locking +himself into the empty theatre, began to pace the stage, going +through, in dumb show, all that he would have to do in the evening. +Still he felt strangely indifferent, and he began to think that his +nature must be a very prosaic one, not realizing that strong feeling +often takes the form of numbness for a time. + +Sardoni watched him on his return with the greatest curiosity; he +practised his scales for half-an-hour, dined composedly, read the +_Piccolo_, played "Tombola" with Gigi, and did his best to avert a +quarrel which was brewing between Gomez and Merlino. Finally he went +off to the theatre with Piale and Enrico Ritter, and seemed to be so +much occupied with cheering the old Maestro, who was in a pitiable +state of nervousness, that he had little time to think of himself. + +"_Giusto Cielo!_" exclaimed the old man, "I would give all I have +were this night's work well over." + +And as they went down the stairs Sardoni heard Carlo's rare but +delightful laugh as he rallied the Maestro on his depression. +Apparently Piale had been advised that it would be better not to be +behind the scenes, for when Sardoni reached the theatre he found +Carlo alone in the dressing-room which they were to share. + +"I thought I should have found your Maestro coaching you up to the +last minute," he exclaimed; "it is well he has gone, or his +nervousness would have infected you. At present you look as cool as +a cucumber." + +"Only metaphorically," said Carlo, throwing down the book he had been +studying; "this room is like an oven." + +"You'll find that is always the way," said Sardoni; "they bake us in +summer and freeze us in winter, and, whenever they can manage it, +poison us with bad drainage." + +The dresser began to urge him to be quick, for as usual Sardoni was +behindhand, and had allowed barely time to scramble into his +complicated double costume before the call-boy came to summon him. +Carlo, who did not appear till the second act, seeing how matters +were, and pitying the dresser, who only grew more stupid the more +Sardoni swore at him, offered his help, and won the gratitude both of +the Englishman and the Italian. + +"Now if I'd had Gomez in here he would have made confusion worse +confounded," said Sardoni, rushing off in response to a second +summons and the alarming news that the overture was ended. + +When he returned at the end of the first act he found Carlo almost +ready, standing with the patience of a martyr while the dresser put +the finishing touches to his costume. He made a wonderfully handsome +and soldierly-looking Valentino in his crimson velvet doublet, the +conventional amount of stage armor, and the picturesque plumed hat +which added so much to his height. + +"Tan-colored tights!" exclaimed Sardoni; "that is an improvement on +Comerio's get-up; he always insisted on sky-blues, in which he looked +like a circus-rider." + +The remark roused Carlo from the state of abstraction in which he had +for some time been wrapped, and, turning round with a smile, he asked +whether the house was good, and if Sardoni had been well received. + +"The house is crammed," replied the tenor, "but at present rather +cold. Your appearance will stir them up." + +"The Signor will be a great success," said the dresser, already won +by Carlo's patience and courtesy. + +"He carries a brave enough front," said Sardoni; "I should not have +thought you would prove such a cool hand." + +"Ah, well! it is the first battle of the campaign," said Carlo, with +a laugh; "let no man boast till he has been under fire." + +"_Per Dio!_ no battle, but a triumph," said the dresser, as he left +the room. "Best wishes for your success, signor." + +Carlo thanked him, and began in a practical, matter-of-fact way to +study the construction of the sword which had to break in two at the +challenge of Mephistopheles. Sardoni, to amuse him, told him stories +of various stage _contretemps_, and was just marvelling at his +companion's perfect composure when Donati suddenly started forward +and grasped his arm. + +"They have begun the Kermesse chorus!" he gasped. + +And then at last the realization broke upon him: he was, after all, +Carlo Donati, a novice, with a terrible ordeal before him, and +failure would mean ruin. All recollection of his part seemed to +leave him. He looked distracted. + +"Come and wait at the wings," said Sardoni, "and take a look at the +audience. You are sure to do well. Keep up your courage, _amico +mio_." + +"If it were only fame which depended on it, or only myself----" he +faltered, "but to fail means the ruin of all our plans." + +"You will not fail, you will succeed, and your plan too; it deserves +to. Come!" + +With kindly persistence he took his arm and drew him towards the +door. The noise without seemed to bewilder Carlo; the orchestra, +even at that distance, sounded deafeningly loud in his ears; the +clear, joyous chorus of the citizens seemed to mock his wretchedness; +he dragged himself on in obedience to Sardoni, who took him to the +green room, where they found Anita and Merlino. Nita was crying, and +wiping away her tears with anxious care lest they should make too +much havoc with her rouge. + +"Here is my wife more upset over your _début_ than she was over her +own," said Merlino, more pleasantly than Carlo had ever heard him +speak before. "Come, Nita, see what a fine figure he cuts as +Valentino. You may well be proud of him." + +Carlo glanced down at her, vaguely noticing her white dress, her long +plaited hair. She did not make up well as Margherita, and he dreaded +acting with her because she recalled to him the terrible stake for +which he was playing. + +"Give me your good wishes, Nita _mia_," he said; and then, disgusted +to find how his voice trembled, he turned away and followed Sardoni +to the wings. Sick and dizzy he looked out across the crowded stage +with its skilfully-grouped soldiers, and students, and citizens, to +the section of the house which could be seen. His breath came in +short, quick gasps, and his fingers played nervously with his +sword-hilt. Sardoni felt intensely curious to see how he would get +through his task. + +"_Mestier Divin! Mestier Divin!_" shouted the soldiers, and Carlo's +fingers tightened on the sword. He became at last able to think of +nothing but that the chorus was drawing nearer and nearer to an end, +and that at the close would come that dead silence in which he, Carlo +Donati, must cross the stage and either fail or succeed. His dresser +approached him. + +"The charm, signor? You have it all right?" + +"I have it, thank you," he replied, and unclasped his hand, where the +medal burnt like fire. + +"It will soon be over," said Sardoni, cheerfully. + +"I know," he gasped, his lips almost refusing to frame the words. + +"Oh," said Sardoni, "I meant the ordeal, not the chorus. Look to +your goal; that's the only way with a high jump or with this sort of +business." + +It was all very well to talk of looking to the goal, but just then +Carlo was hardly able to see with his bodily eyes much less with the +eyes of his imagination. The crowded stage became misty and confused +to him; he could no longer distinguish the faces in the audience: +they were just a terrible, criticising, impersonal mass. + +"_Inutil sarà!_" sang the sopranos. + +"_Al primo apparir!_" roared the basses. + +And then came the mocking strain once more from the orchestra as the +concluding bars of the chorus were played; and all his life long that +sweet, blithe air seemed to Carlo like the merriment of Punchinello +the clown, who jested with an aching heart. The last chord was +crashed out, his hour was come! With a supreme effort he moved +forward, and, as the opening bars of his recitative were played, +walked mechanically through the little lane which opened for him in +the stage crowd. He believed that he must have walked slowly, but +his feet seemed no longer his own; he felt as if he were nothing but +throbbing heart and bounding pulses, and it was only from force of +habit, after so many rehearsals, that he moved to the right place, +his eyes fixed on the medal in his hand, which in reality he was too +much dazzled even to see. + +Suddenly an inspiration came to him. Valentino, too, would be +oppressed, troubled, by the merry-making crowd; what did he, with his +grief and anxiety, want with all this publicity? He was +Valentino--he breathed, thought, looked, and felt like Valentino; and +in a voice subdued and sad, but so clear and sweet that it reached to +the remotest corner of the gallery, he sang the brief recitative, +"_Oh, santa medaglia!_" as he placed the charm on his heart, then +glanced quickly, distastefully, at the gay throng surrounding him. + +There was a burst of applause which instantly made him feel _en +rapport_ with his audience. He advanced to greet Wagner and Siebel, +while to Piale and Enrico, in the theatre, and to Nita, at the wings, +there came a pang, as Valentino told how he was sad because he was +leaving his sister, who had now no other protector; and to many of +the audience it was comprehensible that the new baritone's voice +should tremble as he uttered the words, "_Mia madre piu non è_." + +Already he had the sympathies of the house, but the test of his +success would be in the song, "_Dio Possente_" and for this Piale +waited in trembling expectation. He need not have feared, however. +Not one of the audience had ever heard anything to equal the +devotional fervor of the prayer for Margherita's safe keeping, or the +manly outburst of martial ardor succeeding it; the song, both in +conception and rendering, was perfect; and the Italian audience, +which would not have scrupled mercilessly to hiss him had he not +altogether pleased them, broke into applause so enthusiastic that +Piale hardly knew whether to laugh or to cry, so great was his +emotion. The song was vehemently encored, and Carlo's reputation was +established. + +Even when he was not singing his was the figure upon which all eyes +rested, for he was the one man on the stage who was actually living +his part; while, in the scene where he drove back Mephistopheles with +his cross-handled sword uplifted, and sheltered the retreat of the +soldiers, his impassioned assurance that the cross was all-powerful +against evil stirred every heart. + +"That is a piece of symbolism quite after Carlo's fancy," remarked +Enrico Ritter. But for once he did not grumble at the attack on his +beloved theory of egoism. He joined in the tumult of applause; and +when, at the close of the act, the new baritone was called again and +again before the curtain, Enrico felt a thrill of pleasure which he +did not take the trouble to analyze. + +Meanwhile, Carlo was like a different being; he knew that he had +truly found his vocation. The music, the success, the applause, had +excited him to the highest pitch, and the sympathy he met with from +every one astonished him. Only Gomez held sulkily aloof and said not +a word, but the rest were warm in their congratulations. Merlino, +with the triumphant sense of having secured a first-rate singer at an +unusually small salary, was quite benevolent and fatherly; while, +perhaps, Domenica Borelli's words pleased him more than all. + +"You are the first real actor I have ever sung with, signor," she +said in her grave, low voice. "You have taught me much to-night." + +Piale was at last persuaded to return to his place in the audience; +and, as Sardoni was pretty constantly on the stage, Carlo was left to +himself during his rather long waiting time, He was glad to be alone; +he wanted time to realize the great happiness which was still left +for him in his darkened life. The sense of having given pleasure to +those hundreds of people was in its novelty almost overpowering; and +yet, in all his excitement and happiness, there was an under-current +of fear, which made him again and again repeat the words, "Not only +with our lips, but in our lives." + +For though the artist has his triumphs, yet there must always mingle +with them the humbling perception of his own incompleteness, the +sense that as yet his personal life is far from being the "true poem" +he wishes it to be. + +There were other thoughts, too, which made him grave; this night's +work might, he hoped, prove to be one good, decisive blow in the +warfare he was waging for Anita's deliverance, but it also meant his +more complete severance from Francesca; with a sigh he wondered if +any news of his success would reach her. + +All his nervousness had now disappeared, and when once more he went +to the wings his heart beat high with hope, and the inspiriting march +roused every soldierly instinct within him, contrasting strangely +with the Kermesse Chorus which had so jarred upon him as he waited +for his first entrance. + +Once more his acting carried all before it. The pathos of his happy +ignorance, his eager welcome of Siebel, and his breathless inquiry +for Margherita, his utter absence of suspicion and his martial +enthusiasm, appealed to everyone. Then, when at last Siebel +contrived to hint to him that all was not well, his agony of suspense +as he questioned the boy, and his grief and despair when he learnt +all the truth, though it could be conveyed alone by look and gesture, +moved the people to tears. + +Merlino's creditable rendering of the "Serenata" received less notice +than might have been expected, but the audience were eagerly awaiting +the reappearance of the _débutant_, and the passionate indignation of +his meeting with Faust and Mephistopheles seemed to stir all hearts. +Other baritones had sung Gounod's music well, but this man not only +sang magnificently, but transformed himself into Valentino, giving +them by his genuine dramatic talent such a notion of the character as +they never had before, and out of a comparatively small part creating +the chief interest of the opera. Breathlessly they watched the duel +which, for once, seemed real and life-like. The avenger had the +sympathies of the house, and when, mortally wounded, he staggered to +his feet again in pursuit of his foe only to fall a second time, +there were few dry eyes in the theatre, for into the mere dumb action +he had infused a rare pathos, and had made them understand the strong +vitality that yet lingered in the dying soldier. + +Both the singing and the acting in the death-scene were exceptionally +fine; the mingling of wrath and grief, denunciation and reproachful +love, which he managed to convey in his last words with Margherita +appealed to all, while at the end he produced a novel effect. With +panting breath, and with more of sorrow than of anger, he sang, "_Tu +morrai tra cenci vil_." Then, suddenly diverted from the present, he +pressed to his lips the cross on his sword-hilt which one of his +fellow-soldiers held towards him, and afterwards turning again +towards Margherita with a look so beautiful that once seen it could +never be forgotten, sang with a depth of tenderness the brief--"I die +for thee," kissed her bowed head, with a sort of triumphant +resignation gasped the last--"Like a soldier I die!" and fell back +lifeless. + +Feeling much more like Valentino's ghost than like himself, he went +forward again and again to receive the plaudits of the people; then, +warned by Merlino that he would certainly be called for at the close +of the opera, he flung on his own hat and cloak over the Valentino +costume, and with an irresistible craving for fresh air and darkness +rushed from the theatre. At the stage-door he encountered Piale and +old Florestano. + +"Why, my friend," he exclaimed, turning to the fisherman, "you will +miss the best part of the opera." + +"It's naught to me now, signor," said the old man; "it ended for me +at your death. I'll take my boat at the Piliero and be starting +home." + +"I will walk part of the way with you," said Carlo. + +And with Piale on his other side, he strode along, drinking down deep +breaths of the cool night air, and realizing with a relief +indescribable that the horrors he had been living through were, after +all, not real. + +Never had hope been so strong within him as when he parted with old +Florestano and walked back with Piale to the Mercadante. He had left +behind him despair, and gloom, and failure--they seemed to have died +with Valentino, while within him there had arisen a buoyant +expectation--almost an assurance--that his work would not be in vain, +that Nita would be saved. Francesca's sweet voice seemed to be +saying to him again and again, '_Pazienza! Pazienza!_' while the +very first sound that reached him on returning to the theatre was the +chorus of angels with their ringing cry of "_E salva!_" Then, when +the final chorus, "_Cristo risuscito_," had died away into silence, +he heard amid the clapping loud cries for "Donati," and with that the +Italians call "_una stretta al cuore_," he led Anita before the +curtain, and once more received the plaudits of his fellow-citizens. +Behind the curtain, the very scene-shifters and carpenters were eager +to congratulate him; Marioni, the conductor, was ready to swear an +eternal friendship; Merlino beamed upon him complacently; Piale shed +tears of happiness; and it became evident that Carlo, for the time +being, would prove the idol of the Neapolitan world. + +Next afternoon, when by sober daylight he read the accounts of his +first appearance in Enrico's office, his friend, with a cynical +smile, exclaimed, "Your head will be turned with all this triumph." + +And then suddenly there flashed upon Carlo the vision of what he had +forfeited. He was too simple-hearted, too genuinely honest, not to +enjoy to the full his artistic success; but he thought to himself +there was not much fear that the man who had lost Francesca Britton +would be dazzled by such delights as public approval can bring. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A FAREWELL. + + "Here once my step was quickened, + Here beckoned the opening door, + And welcome thrilled from the threshold + To the foot it had known before. + + Ah me! where the past sowed heart's ease, + The present plucks rue for us men! + I come back; that scar unhealing + Was not in the churchyard then."--LOWELL. + + +The summer season at the Mercadante was over, Piale and Merlino were +well satisfied with its result, and the Neapolitans talked of little +else but their new baritone. They were justly proud of him, and +grumbled sorely on learning that he was to leave them for an +indefinite time. Carlo, during the series of representations, had +studied hard, appearing as Rigoletto, as Count Rodolpho, as +Plunketto, as Guillaume Tell, as Enrico, as Figaro in the _Barbiere_, +as the Conte di Luna, and twice in his favorite character of +Valentino. It was with a feeling of deep regret that, on the morning +after his final appearance, he awoke to the recollection that it +would be long before he should again sing to an audience of his +fellow-citizens. + +Gigi, who had a provoking habit of waking very early, had for some +time been amusing himself with the flowers and wreaths piled on the +table, and now, sitting on the edge of the bed, was trying to crown +himself with one of the laurel wreaths, which continually baffled his +efforts by slipping down on to his neck. + +"Never mind, my Gigi," said Carlo, laughing. "It is too big for both +of us. We must grow to our crowns." + +"Did they give them you last night? How lucky you are! I wish +people threw me such nice things." + +"_I_ throw them to you," said Carlo, making a long arm and tossing +one trophy after another across to the child. Gigi laughed with +delight. + +"Will they alluse give you such a lot, do you fink?" he asked, +anxiously. + +"No; make hay while the sun shines," said Carlo, adroitly throwing a +wreath so that it alighted on the child's brown head. "Crowns and +enthusiasm will not be met with out of Naples." + +With a sigh he recollected that he had but one more day left in his +native country. His heart felt very heavy as he wondered how long it +would be before he again set foot on Italian soil, and he began to +consider what he should do with the time which remained to him. Nita +had promised to go with her husband to see one of his relatives at +Sorrento; therefore he was quite free to do what he pleased. He lay +musing sadly, glancing now and then at the funny little figure on the +other bed sporting about in the tiniest of nightshirts among the +flowers and laurels. + +"Well," he reflected, "It will be a black day for me. I'll do what I +can to make it bright to the child." + +"Gigi," he said, "I am going to Pozzuoli to-day. Will you come with +me?" + +Gigi sprang to his feet and executed a _pas seul_ of ecstatic delight. + +An hour or two later they had reached the familiar little town with +its domes and campaniles, its irregular white houses, its groups of +antiquity-sellers, and its air of quiet, picturesque decay. Carlo +wandered through the well-known streets, feeling like a ghost +returned to its old home. + +Every now and then he would be stopped by some passer-by, and +questioned and congratulated, but the return made him realize more +than he had yet done how entirely he had separated himself from his +past. Gigi was crazy to see the boat-building, and they stood for +some time on the beach, in the very place that had been Carlo's +favorite haunt as a boy; then they made their way to the Villa Bruno, +and wandered about in the garden, and finally went to the house to +ask for some water for Gigi. + +"I made sure you were the Count, signor," said the peasant in charge. +"He said he should be coming to see the place again to-day." + +"What Count?" asked Carlo, quickly. + +"Count Carossa, signor. He has been twice to see the Villa, and they +say he is sure to take it now." + +Carlo knitted his brows. + +Why did Count Carossa choose to settle down in so out-of-the-way a +place? If he wanted a summer house, why did he not choose one at +Portici or Posilipo? And then, like lightning, there flashed through +his mind the recollection of the Count's eagerness to know Captain +Britton, of his prompt acceptance of the invitation to dine at Casa +Bella, of his evident admiration of Francesca. Even at the time he +had wondered sorrowfully whether Captain Britton's patience would +long prefer the claims of a poor and absent lover, to the importunity +of the dozens of wealthy suitors who would doubtless besiege him with +offers for his daughter's hand. + +If Count Carossa really chose that house,--a house which in itself +had no special recommendations,--he should regard it as a positive +proof that he was in love with Francesca. And, if so, what might not +follow? A vision rose before him, which would not so readily have +presented itself to an Englishman, and he realized how attractive the +handsome, wealthy nobleman would be to such a man as Captain Britton. +He took up the tumbler of water which Gigi had relinquished, and +hastily drained it; then he took the child back again to the garden, +and threw himself down under an acacia, still with that distasteful +vision before his eyes, till a sudden recollection of Uncle George's +fine English face came to his aid. + +"I am a fool!" he thought. "Whatever the Captain's faults, he would +never be false to the traditions of his country. A forced marriage +might well be among our own people, but the English feel very +differently about such matters. Mr. Britton would do all that could +be done to prevent it, even if the Captain had been too much taken by +the title. And for the rest--should Francesca ever wish it--why, +then, there would be nothing to be said. In that case,"--he smiled, +because in his heart he was so perfectly sure of her unchangeable +love--"in that case I suppose I should wish it myself, since her +happiness would be mine." + +With a sigh, he dismissed vague fears for the future, but the +undeniable sorrows of the present were not so easily laid aside. +Once more he lived through his last meeting with Francesca,--once +more he recalled all that she had said to him in the Temple of Venus, +and then saw again in imagination the solitary black-robed figure on +the deck of the _Pilgrim_. If only he could have borne it all for +her! But in that lay the really hard part of the lot he had chosen; +he had deliberately made the choice which involved suffering, not +only for himself, but for another. + +It was hard, there was no gainsaying that; it was hard to think of +leaving this dear, familiar garden, with its lovely glimpses of +Ischia and of the blue sea in between; it was hard to leave the place +where his happy childhood and boyhood had been spent; but it was far +harder to think that Francesca would be left with an aching heart in +the midst of all this loveliness, that the very beauty of the place +would but remind her of past happiness. But then there came to his +mind one of those golden maxims of Mazzini which had already done +much to shape and color his life: "Ever act--even at the price of +increasing her earthly trials--so that the sister soul united to your +own may never need, here or elsewhere, to blush through you or for +you." At least, he had tried so to act; he had gone forth in a good +cause, and with a reasonable hope of success. And yet even now his +temptations were not over, for, as he lay there in the shade watching +Gigi, who was chasing a white butterfly down the moss-grown walk, +there spoke to him the very devil himself, disguised under a specious +show of common-sense and worldly wisdom. + +"Have you not, after all, been unintentionally unjust?" urged the +tempter. "Are you not making the innocent suffer for the guilty? +Surely there must be a screw loose there--injustice can never be +right! A word of warning to Merlino would have been quite enough to +induce him to send Comerio about his business. Why should Francesca +suffer in order to save Nita from a disagreeable scene with her +husband, which she deserved?" + +"But then," he reflected, "I could only have told Merlino through a +deliberate breach of Nita's confidence. She would never have trusted +me again; she would never have understood that I longed to help her; +Comerio would have seemed her only protector; she would have been +driven desperate, and would have gone to him. Would not Francesca +have had cause to blush for me then? There could have been no +happiness for us bought at such a price as that--besides, it would +have been wilful disobedience to what I was told to do." + +It had been a sharp encounter, but he had worsted his foe, and was +left strong in the possession of that _mens conscia recti_ which had +helped to bear him up through Captain Britton's insults and +remonstrances, and Uncle Guido's anger. Moreover, there came to him +one of those intervals of comfort which make all sorrow worth while, +and he knew that it would be thus, too, with Francesca. + +"San Carlo! San Carlo!" shouted Gigi, tearing up the path towards +him. "I've caught it at last--just you see!" + +His rosy face beamed with happiness, his eyes shone, and in his fat, +little, brown hand he clasped the white butterfly. + +"A souvenir of a happy day, and the first butterfly for our +collection," said Carlo, showing Gigi how to dispose his treasure in +one of the orthodox little boxes. + +The child threw his arms round his neck. + +"I do love you so!" he exclaimed. "There was no collections, or +treats, or anything nice at all till you came." + +Before long, Gigi discovered that he was hungry as well as thirsty. +They had wandered along the deserted Baja shore in search of more +butterflies, and the only place where food was to be had was the +little Hotel de la Reine, to which they accordingly repaired, Gigi +sturdily climbing the outside staircase and entranced to find a +number of peasants seated at the inn table in the one available room. +It was a _festa_; they all seemed very merry, and though the child +could hardly understand their dialect, he liked to watch them; and +indeed, though it made Carlo feel more than anything had yet done +that his home was indeed gone, this visit to the wayside inn was not +a little amusing to him. The breakfast itself was odd enough to make +him laugh. First came some dubious-looking oysters from the Lucrine +lake, and a long roll of sour bread of quite a venerable age. Then +came a dish of eels and _spigali_--the latter fairly eatable; this +was followed by maccaroni mashed with tomatoes, which was quite +beyond Gigi's fastidious American palate; and, to crown all, there +arrived an omelette soaked in rum, and a dish full of very grim snow +to cool the _chianti_. + +"I guess it's the queerest breakfast I ever had," said Gigi, at the +close. + +"It is our last in Italy," said Carlo. "Come, let us drink to our +return;" and laughingly he clinked glasses with the child, and +pushing the flask of _chianti_ towards the peasants, begged them to +share it. Then, to Gigi's delight, every one clinked glasses, and +all the peasants were eager to drink with San Carlo; and there was +such bowing, and smiling, and good fellowship, as he had never before +seen. Afterwards, amid much laughter, some game was begun, and Gigi, +seeing that they all seemed to be counting their fingers, thrust out +his brown little hand to the amusement of all present. + +"What is it? Whatever are they doing?" he asked, laughing +delightedly just because every one else laughed. + +"What! don't you know how to play mora?" exclaimed Carlo; "you shall +be initiated. With your permission, ladies and gentlemen, we will +join your game!" + +And so they did, and Carlo's enjoyment of the very mild diversion +would certainly have surprised any onlooker who knew his story. + +While they had been eating, a shabby-looking fellow with a guitar had +been playing to them, and a hungry-eyed boy of fifteen had sung in a +hard, tired, monotonous voice, one after another of the familiar +songs of the country. + +A sudden impulse seized Carlo, perhaps the doleful, unmelodious voice +annoyed him,--perhaps he only yielded to his natural love of giving +pleasure, but suddenly he sprang up, motioned to the musicians to +take his place and finish the _chianti_, and taking the guitar, burst +forth into one of his favorite national songs. + +The host and hostess came running into the room to listen. It was +whispered from one to another that the singer was none other than +Signor Donati, the famous new baritone, and the merry peasants +listened entranced. At the close there was quite a babel of thanks +and applause. + +"My friends," said Carlo, "to-morrow I leave Italy, and I have a +great wish to hear once more Garibaldi's hymn sung as I know you can +sing it,--will you join in the refrain?" + +"We will! we will!" cried the peasants, excitedly. + +He struck a few chords on the guitar, and then broke out into the +soul-stirring hymn, and with one accord the men and women sprang to +their feet and joined in the chorus. + +Gigi, not at all understanding what it was that excited every one so +much, slid down from his place at the long table and stood looking +out of the open window across the lovely Bay of Baja, then glanced +back into the room as once more the peasants shouted the refrain. He +wondered what it could be that moved them so much, wondered why San +Carlo's eyes shone with so bright a light, and why there was such a +funny thrill in his voice as he sang the final verse of the song--a +thrill which sent a sort of indescribable tingle through the child's +veins and made the tears start to his eyes. + +"What was it all about?" he asked, as after a chorus of farewells, +and thanks, and good wishes from the peasants, Carlo took his hand +and led him away from the little inn. "What could it have been +about, San Carlo, that you should all look so eager?" + +"It was about _La Patria_," said Carlo, gravely. + +"Then that is why it made me tingle so," said Gigi, with a pleased +look on his comical little face. "I really am Italian, though Signor +Sardoni will call me a little Yankee. They was Yankees at Salem, and +I don't want now to go back to Salem. I mean to be an Italian +alluse, and stop with you." + +"What!" said Carlo, with a laugh, "have you proved faithless to your +old friends the pigs?" + +"I don't want pigs now that I have got you," said Gigi. "I hope,--I +do hope they won't never send me back to Salem!" + +Carlo laughed. + +"Since you are so fond of your country, it is a shame you should +leave it without seeing the tarantella danced. Come with me, little +one." + +He led the child through a vineyard, spoke a few words to a peasant +girl who appeared to know him, and soon Gigi found himself in a vast, +gray, domed building, in which Carlo woke the echoes for his +amusement. It was an old Roman ruin called the "Temple of Mercury." +Presently the dark-eyed peasant girl came back again, followed by two +younger and prettier sisters, and by an old woman in a very dingy, +ragged dress, brightened by an orange handkerchief upon her head. +She carried a guitar, and, leaning against the wall, she began to +chant a monotonous air and to play in excellent time, while two of +the barefooted girls began to dance the _tarantella_, relieved every +now and then by the third, who took her turn while one of the +beginners rested. + +Gigi was delighted, and indeed the scene would have had charms for +most people,--the weird-looking old ruin, which echoed loudly to the +twanging guitar, the picturesque group of peasants who had sauntered +in to look and listen, the stoical-looking musician, and the pretty +peasant girls with their exquisitely graceful movements and their +white feet twinkling through the mazes of the dance. Gigi clapped +his hands and danced, too, for happiness, so that even the stolid old +guitar-player nodded complacently at him, and the merry girls +laughed, and danced with more spirit than ever, as if they enjoyed it +with all their hearts. + +The remembrance of the scene lingered long with Carlo. For days the +familiar air rang in his ears and the harsh voice of the old woman, +as she chanted, + + "_E la luna mmiezu mare + Mamma mia maritame tu_." + + +Slowly they wandered back to Pozzuoli, passing through the familiar +Piazza, pausing beside the fountain under the trees to speak to the +philosophical-looking lame beggar, who had been a boy with Carlo, and +was now eager in his congratulations. Then they made their way to +the cemetery, that Carlo might visit the grave of his father and +mother for the last time, and place upon it some of the wreaths and +flowers he had received at the Mercadante. Gigi took much interest +in this, and connected no sad thoughts with the graveyard. + +"I do so like cemeteries; I think they are such lovely places," he +said, happily. And as they walked between the graves he trotted +along, contentedly chanting to himself the refrain of a game which he +had learnt in America, "Here we come gathering nuts in May," so that +Carlo could not help smiling, even in the midst of his sadness. + +"There is one more pilgrimage I must make," he said, as he drove back +to Naples, "and you shall come with me, little one,--you shall not +leave Italy without seeing Carlo Poerio's cap and blouse." + +"Who was he--a saint?" asked Gigi. + +"He was a patriot, one who loved his country and suffered for it. +And they shut him up in prison for years and years, and treated him +cruelly, and would have killed him had they dared, only the people +loved him so much." + +"And did he get away from prison?" + +"Yes, he got away. They were going to send him to prison in South +America, but he managed to escape, and they never caught him again. +My father knew him and loved him, and that is how I came by the name +of Carlo." + +"I wish my name was it too," said Gigi, wistfully. "I wish they had +called me after that brave prisoner." + +"Never mind; you were named Bruno, after my father, you know." + +"Was he a patriot?" + +"Yes, indeed he was." + +"But they didn't put him in prison, did they?" + +"No, but they killed him--wounded him in battle. He died for Italy." + +Gigi looked awed, and with a sort of fearful delight gazed up at St. +Elmo, which they were approaching. Carlo led him into the disused +monastery of San Martino, to the room which he had visited, year by +year, ever since he was Gigi's age, and there, within a glass case, +they saw the red blouse and the cap which Carlo Poerio had worn in +prison. + +Gigi heaved a portentous sigh. + +"I wish they hadn't been so cruel to him," he said, wistfully. "How +ever did he bear it, do you think?" + +"He thought about freeing his country from the bad men who were cruel +to him and to the others; he loved Italy better than himself, and +thought only of saving her." + +"Did no one come and see how cruel they were to him in prison?" asked +Gigi. "I wonder God didn't send some one!" + +"Some one did come at last, a brave Englishman who was not afraid to +speak out and make the world listen." + +"Is that why you are so fond of Englishmen?" + +Carlo smiled. "That is one reason." + +"What was the Englishman's name?" + +"His name was Gladstone." + +"It's an easy name. I guess I'll remember it," said Gigi, to the +amusement of a party of English tourists who were passing by. + +"It is a name very dear to Italians," said Carlo. "But now, my Gigi, +we must be going home." + +"I'm glad we came to see it," said Gigi, taking a last look into the +glass case, "but it's a dre'ffly shabby old coat, isn't it?" + +"Come here," said Carlo, "there is one more thing you must see." + +They followed the English tourists and went out on to a little +balcony which hung right over the cliff, and from which could be +gained a most wonderful bird's-eye view of Naples. The tourists went +their way, but Carlo lingered, looking with loving eyes at that vast +expanse of white houses, with its lovely background of sea and +mountain. Posilipo to the right, Castellamare and Sorrento to the +left, and, out in the distance across the blue waters, Capri, made +yet more beautiful by a rainbow which seemed to span it. How he +loved it all! How lingeringly his eye dwelt on the domes and +minarets below; how wonderful that vast subdued roar of the city +sounded in his ears! To leave this place was, to him, as bitter as +death. + +Silently he walked back with the child to the Palazzo Forti, found +that Nita was still at Sorrento, and went to seek Enrico that he +might spend his last evening with his friend. Between ten and eleven +Enrico returned with him, and the two made their way together up the +long staircase. + +"I will come in and see your friendly Englishman once more," said +Enrico, "and will say good-bye to your sister, if she has come back." + +But Nita and her husband were still out, and Sardoni had gone to the +San Carlino; Carlo, however, fancying he heard his voice in the +_sala_, entered quickly, receiving a severe shock when he saw that +Gomez was not, as he had fancied, talking to the tenor. Seated at +the table, facing the Spaniard, was a man with a high, rounded +forehead from which the closely-cut hair receded so much that in +profile the effect was most curious, so large was the expanse of +pallid face, so small the expanse of dark, silky waves. The nose was +hooked, the expression very quiet, the eyes cold, but capable of +lighting up, for as soon as the stranger became aware of Carlo's +presence a gleam kindled in them, and, turning to Gomez, he said +politely, but with a smile which made Carlo shudder, "Pray introduce +me to my rival, that I may have the pleasure of congratulating him on +his great success." + +Enrico wondered whether his friend would refuse to be introduced to +Comerio. For an instant Carlo seemed startled out of his presence of +mind, and there was a perceptible pause before he determined that his +only plan would be to ignore what he really knew to Comerio's +discredit and meet him, as far as was possible, like an ordinary +stranger. For Nita's sake he must control the anger which the mere +sight of the fellow had stirred up in his heart. + +"Perhaps," said Gomez, with his usual stolid gravity,--"perhaps +Signor Donati does not care to be introduced to so formidable a +rival." + +The speech, which had been intended to put Carlo in a still more +awkward predicament, signally failed, for with ready courtesy he +seized it and turned it to his advantage. + +"As a rival I decline to be introduced to Signor Comerio," he said, +in the pleasantest manner imaginable. "There can be no question of +rivalry between a veteran and a novice; but as a fellow-artist I am +happy to make his acquaintance." + +He bowed. Comerio, with hatred in his heart and a smile on his lips, +bowed in reply; the two men exchanged a few remarks on musical +matters, and before long Comerio took leave, owning himself beaten. +There was undoubtedly something in Donati's imperturbable courtesy +and fearless honesty which baffled his malice. + +As Sardoni had remarked, however, Comerio was not a man who could be +beaten with impunity; he was a man who would have his revenge in the +end, even if he had to nurse it for years, and Carlo felt this as he +parted with him, and understood why the Englishman had spoken so +strongly and had recommended caution. His foe was no mean +antagonist, there was a "no-surrender" look about him, a sort of +indomitable persistence stamped upon his pale face, and the future +looked to Carlo darker and more perplexing after that meeting with +his enemy. + +Enrico tried, without much success, to rouse him from his depression, +and Carlo, fully understanding his intention, tried hard to turn his +thoughts to other matters. + +Just at the last, he asked hesitatingly for the one thing upon which +he had set his heart. + +"You will sometimes see the Brittons," he said, his voice trembling +ever so little, "write and tell me about it when you do, _amico mio_." + +"Of course," said Enrico, shortly. Then, after musing for a minute +over the situation, "_Madonna Santissima!_ it makes me mad to think +that both you and Miss Britton should be sacrificed to such a fiend +as Comerio." + +"Write long, write often," pleaded Carlo. "Tell me everything,--the +least thing about her." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +FRANCESCA'S AUTUMN. + + And did she love him?--What if she did not? + Then home was still the home of happiest years, + Nor thought was exiled to partake his lot, + Nor heart lost courage through foreboding fears, + Nor echo did against her secret plot, + Nor music her betray to painful tears; + Nor life become a dream, and sunshine dim, + And riches poverty, because of him. + JEAN INGELOW. + + +"Tell me all about it over again, Florestano; I think you have made a +mistake in choosing to be a fisherman. You should have been a +professional tale-teller. Tell it me all over again from the very +beginning." + +The old fisherman pulled his red Phrygian cap lower over his wrinkled +forehead, shook back his grizzled locks, glanced up at his brown sail +to see that all was well, then looked across at the sweet, eager face +opposite him, and felt willing enough to obey the request. + +Neither the healthy life on board the _Pilgrim_, nor the weeks among +the Swiss mountains which had followed it, had been able to keep the +color in Francesca's cheeks; she was as pale as a lily, and almost as +fragile-looking, but the mouth and eyes were as sweet as ever, and +betrayed nothing of her story. She sat in the stern of the little +fishing-boat and listened to the old man with half-averted face while +they sailed homeward, letting one of her long white hands trail +through the water, and looking steadily down into those dark blue +depths as once more Florestano repeated the story of Carlo's first +appearance. + +"_Gran Dio!_ he is good as a piece of bread!" exclaimed the old +fisherman. "Who but he would have thought of coming all the way out +here to fetch a shabby old fellow like me, and giving me a fine place +at the theatre, where I could see as well as those who carry a heavy +purse, and are too fine to walk on foot, and spend their days in +idleness? He came, signorina, bringing with him the little boy, his +nephew." + +"Was he looking well?" asked Francesca, still keeping her face turned +away. + +"_Ebbene_, signorina! he was grave and quiet, doubtless thinking of +the evening, and now I come to think of his face, I remember it was +browner than it was wont to be; he had lost his color, being shut up +so much studying." Florestano could hardly help smiling to himself, +because he thought he had given these reasons with such an admirable +air of conviction. "But except for that he was just like himself, +signorina, just like. He would take an oar on the way back to Naples +as if we were back in the old times, and I was rowing him to school +once more, as I did for many a year in the warm weather. And then, +when in the evening I saw him stand on the stage, with all the people +praising him, and he looking so fine in his velvet dress and his +sword, then I did feel proud to think that only a few hours back he +had taken my oar from me that I might rest a bit. He couldn't have +treated me better, signorina, if I'd been his own father." + +"And the people applauded him a great deal?" asked Francesca. + +"_Capperi!_ you may believe me, signorina, the noise made my head +ache for days after. How he bore it I don't know, but afterwards, +when they called for him, he came before the curtain looking as +modest and natural as if he were but just an ordinary man in his own +home, and bowed as though he were pleased that we had found pleasure +in his acting. And when I went to thank him and take leave I came +upon him just at the stage-door, and he said he wanted a breath of +fresh air, for the theatre had been nearly as hot as the crater of +Vesuvius; and he walked with me down to the Piliero till I could have +thought he had been a boy again: he seemed so like himself that I +could hardly believe 'twas he that had been Valentino a few minutes +since, with all the house crying over his death." + +"Then he acted very well?" + +"He just made it real, signorina! Gran Dio! I can never forget his +face as he drove back the devil with the cross, stepping out boldly +before the soldiers as though he feared naught. 'Twas fine to see the +old devil cringing and backing! I can tell you, signorina, that I +came away that night believing in the old faith once more. There's +more in the Cross than they would wish to have us think down at our +club in Naples." + +Francesca thought she would have liked to tell her father that story, +but Carlo's name had never passed between them since her betrothal +had been ended, and she knew that she would not be the first to break +the silence. + +Comforted and yet saddened by her talk with the old fisherman, she +was set down on the beach and made her way through the vineyard to +the familiar olive-garden, where she found Sibyl helping two or three +peasant women to gather the olives. There was something which +soothed her in the silvery shade of those gnarled old trees; she sat +down on the grass, leaning against one of the terraces, and watched +Sibyl's little blue-clad figure flitting hither and thither, and the +peasants in their sombre stuff gowns and gay handkerchiefs tied over +their heads. Under one of the trees a baby had been laid on a +tattered old shawl, while close by its mother, busy with her basket +of olives, sang a quaint little Neapolitan song to keep it quiet. +The air was quite familiar to Francesca, but she had never before +caught the words and, listened now attentively as the mother sang:-- + + "Ah! com'è bella la mia Bimba, + Quando parlo e quando ride + Quando meco ella deride, + I sospiri del mio cor. + Questo giglio inamorato + Bimba mia chi t' hai la dato? + O capisco t' el donava + L'innocenza del tuo bel cor. + Bella Bimba! Bella Bimba! + Tu sei l' angelo d' amor." + + +The chorus, with its light-hearted repetitions of "_Bella Bimba_," +brought the tears to Francesca's eyes, but the baby tired of lying on +the ground, began to cry, and with the natural instinct of +helpfulness, which was perhaps her strongest characteristic, +Francesca sprang up and begged leave to nurse it. Then, as she paced +to and fro with her little white-capped charge, hushing it to sleep +with one of Carlo's songs, she realized as she had never done before +that to tend the children of others is the sacred right of every +childless woman; and somehow her world, which had seemed just before +so hopelessly narrowed, broadened out again and looked less dark and +dreary. + +Presently the peasants finished their work and went away. Francesca +gave the sleeping baby to its mother, and, taking Sibyl's hand, +strolled homeward. + +"Why, who can be here?" exclaimed Sibyl, "some one talking with +father. Look!" + +Francesca's heart leaped into her mouth, for she caught sight through +the trees of a panama hat exactly like Carlo's. In an instant a +hundred wild hopes and conjectures had passed through her mind, to be +all too quickly dispelled, for us they drew nearer Captain Britton +came down the path to meet them, and she saw that the panama hat +belonged to Count Carossa. For a moment she could not help hating +him; what right had he to take Carlo's house, to dress like him, to +walk down that path which was forever associated in her mind with the +day of her betrothal? It was all she could do to greet him as usual. + +"I find Count Carossa is going in to Naples this evening to the +ball," said Captain Britton, "so I have offered him a seat in our +carriage. What time had you thought of starting, Fran?" + +Francesca had thought of going early and returning early, but quickly +realized that Count Carossa would probably stay late, so she proposed +that they should go an hour later than she had first intended, and, +without being discourteous, managed to seem perfectly indifferent as +to the arrangement. The Count was piqued by her manner; she was the +first pretty foreigner he had ever met who was not willing to flirt +with him, and he was determined to win her. She was obliged to +promise him a dance, to stand by and look polite while her father +invited him to dinner that evening, and later on even to accept some +white azaleas which he brought with him from the Villa Bruno, not at +all understanding that the mere sight of them would recall to her the +image of her absent lover, of whose existence the Count had no idea. + +He was a good talker, and the Captain was delighted with him, while +for the present he was very willing to spend most of his energies on +his host, leaving Francesca unmolested, and enjoying the sight of her +as she sat at the head of the table, looking exquisite in her white +dress and with the flowers nestled against her snowy neck. Something +had brought a faint tinge of color to her cheeks; perhaps it was that +the Count had asked a few innocent questions as to the former +inhabitants of the Villa Bruno, or perhaps it was vexation at the +thought that she had been obliged to accept his flowers. She felt +certain that her cousin Kate would have managed to avoid accepting +them, would have framed some quick and dexterous reply, or thought of +a good excuse. But no way of escape had suggested itself to her: to +have refused them point-blank would have been both rude and prudish, +and though she disliked the Count, yet she was too innately courteous +to tolerate for a moment anything which would needlessly wound the +feelings of another. And then, with a sudden pang, some Italian +phrase spoken by the visitor recalled Carlo to her mind, and she +remembered how short a time it was since he had sat in that very +place at the table, and the tears would well up into her eyes. She +had become of late, however, rather an adept in the matter of +managing tears. She knew to a nicety how far they might rise without +being noticeable, and both to her father and to the Count she seemed +a very self-possessed little hostess, only intent on making +everything easy and pleasant. + +The Captain had with a ponderous effort turned the conversation from +the Villa Bruno, but after a while the Count innocently reverted to +it. + +"I suppose you, like all the rest of the world, were taken by +surprise by Signor Donati," he remarked, readjusting his +table-napkin, which had slipped out of his collar, and failing to +note the expression of the Captain's face: "they say no one had +notion that he sang at all, so strictly had Piale kept him." + +"He never sang out of his own house," said Captain Britton, trying +desperately to make his voice and manner natural, and not daring to +look at his daughter. "But I have heard him sing there. There was a +song of Piale's which he used to sing; Piale has written some very +pretty things, and this had the merit of having English words. Let +me see, what was it called, Francesca?" + +He had seldom felt more flurried and uncomfortable; he fancied the +Count could read all that was passing in his heart, and in despair he +tried to turn the conversation to Piale's music and appealed for help +to Francesca, though he knew that it was cowardly to do so. + +"It was called 'Love for a Life.' The words were Tennyson's," said +Francesca. "Do you read English at all?" she asked, turning to the +Count. + +Then, as he began to lament his ignorance of her native language, her +heart, which had been beating wildly while she replied so composedly +to her father's question, grew quieter, and even felt a little glow +of justifiable satisfaction. + +"I managed that rather well," she thought to herself. + +Captain Britton, grateful for her help, and admiring her calmness all +the more because it contrasted with his own blundering speech, seized +the next chance for intervening with his favorite story of how he had +met the Laureate at Lord Blamton's, and by the time that was ended +Francesca was able to leave the dining-room. + +"After all," she thought to herself, "to hear his name is better than +silence. If father had not been there, if I had been just alone with +some one who didn't know, it would have been a sort of comfort even +to hear him spoken of. I wonder if the Count went to hear him? I +wonder if he really admired him? I wonder if he will perhaps talk +about him at the ball to-night? I hope he will, and yet--and yet I +half fear it. Could I possibly manage my face? If he praised him +could I look just as if Carlo were any ordinary singer? If he found +fault could I help growing angry? Why," she laughed to herself, but +with more of sadness than mirth, "Carlo's turning actor has forced me +to turn actress! Oh, my love! my love! I wonder where you are! I +wonder what you are doing! I wish,--oh, how I wish we weren't going +to this ball to-night! To be forced to dance with a heartache is +about as pleasant as to be forced to eat with a headache." + +But Francesca changed her mind when she entered the ball-room an hour +or two later, for the very first person she caught sight of was +Enrico Ritter. Hitherto, to tell the truth, she had rather disliked +Enrico, had even been a little jealous of him, grudging the time +which Carlo spent in his company, and resenting his habit of spending +long days at the Villa Bruno. Now he seemed to her the only man in +Naples worth looking at, and she thought how delightful his blunt, +uncomplimentary, almost rude manner would be after Count Carossa's +veiled lovemaking, which, with its familiar Italian, would seem to +her like a horrible parody of Carlo's. + +When she came into the room Enrico was at the far end talking to some +Americans whom Francesca knew by sight. She felt almost certain that +he saw her, and waited in trembling hope for his approach; but he +never came, and before long she was surrounded by a little throng of +worshippers, and her card was speedily filled. When Count Carossa +had written his name there was only one vacant place for the waltz +which followed the _cotillon_. + +"Will you not let me have this one, too?" he asked, beseechingly. + +She avoided his eager, brown eyes, and glanced quickly in Enrico's +direction. He was making one of those profound, awkward-looking bows +of his to a pretty little Neapolitan, and she felt a conviction that +he did not mean to ask her to dance. It was hard to be avoided by +the one man in the room whom she desired to talk to, and persecuted +by the one she most wished to avoid! She felt angry with Enrico and +angry with the Count, and though she seldom asserted herself her +spirit rose now, and she said, quietly,-- + +"Thank you; I shall not dance after the _cotillon_." + +"You are quite right; it is a tiring affair. But you will permit me +to sit out with you, signorina?" + +"I wish his eyes were green, or gray, or anything but brown," thought +Francesca to herself, naughtily. "I wish he was French, or German, +or anything but Italian!" Then aloud, "No, I don't think I shall +make any promises. But perhaps I shall sit out with the partner I +happen to choose in the _cotillon_. We will see how things arrange +themselves." + +She smiled, and there was the least little touch of coquetry in her +manner, for which she hated herself. But, then, what was a poor girl +to do in such a predicament? Must she throw away her sole chance of +hearing about her lover for the sake of sitting out with his rival? +If the Count was conceited enough to think that she meant to choose +him in the _cotillon_ it was surely no fault of hers; but he +evidently did think so, and she somehow felt vexed with herself, and +yet was unable to see how she could have acted differently. She +foresaw a time of trouble, since men would be provoking enough to +fall in love with her face, and it was clearly impossible that she +should go about the world labeled with the notice,--"This is to +certify that the heart of Francesca Britton is given to one Carlo +Donati, and therefore no lovers need apply." + +However, she had not much time to think over the difficulties in +abstract, she was obliged to dance, and smile, and listen to dozens +of pretty speeches, and when most bored by them to reflect, "Enrico +is here, and will certainly know all about Carlo. Enrico is here, +and there is yet one chance of a talk with him." + +The excitement and the eager hope made her happier than she had been +for a long time, and, moreover, the mere exercise was doing her good +and bringing the color to her cheeks; although she had hated the +thought of the ball beforehand, she was too young and too genuinely +fond of dancing not to forget her grief every now and then, and +really to enjoy it much as Sibyl might have done. + +All this time Enrico had watched her critically. At first he had +intended to ask her to dance, and to write and give Carlo a faithful +and particular account of every word she had said. But when he saw +her surrounded by admirers, and dispensing her favors with the +unconscious dignity of a little queen, then something like resentment +began to stir in his heart, and he wondered whether after all she +deserved Carlo's devotion, whether it was even remotely likely that +she would be faithful to him. + +He was angry with her for looking so lovely, and for smiling so +charmingly; with all his philosophy he never once asked himself the +question, how was she to help it? He was angry with her for being +admired by other men, and angry with her for looking happy while she +danced, and he hugged his old conviction to his heart--"There is no +such thing as love in the world! all is selfishness under the sun." +And yet, though he professed to hold firmly to his creed, he longed +to-night to see it falsified; he would have liked, at any rate, to +think that his friend and the beautiful English girl were those +strange exceptions which, according to the proverb, prove the rule. + +At length the _cotillon_ was danced, and the time arrived when +Francesca, the acknowledged _belle_ of the evening, was seated in the +middle of the room with a mirror in her hand, while those who were +eager to be her partners went up one by one behind her, and looked +over her shoulder so that their faces were reflected in the glass. +If she refused them, she threw her handkerchief across the mirror, +and it seemed to-night as if no one pleased her, for one after +another was rejected, and Enrico was enchanted to see the look of +confidence with which Count Carossa had approached her changed to +undisguisable chagrin as he retired into the ranks of the refused. + +"Go and try your chance," urged a voice in Enrico's heart. But he +reflected that it was well enough to see other men rejected, but not +so pleasant to be refused oneself. + +"For Carlo's sake," urged the voice; "it is your sole chance of +talking to her." + +Much against his own inclination he moved forward and looked grimly +down upon the mirror. His face was so funny a contrast to all the +worshipping faces which had preceded it, that Francesca could have +found it in her heart to laugh at it had she not been so happy and +relieved. To the astonishment of every one, including Enrico +himself, she made the sign of acceptance, and with the proud sense of +possession his good-humor returned, and he was ready to believe +nothing but good of her. + +"I thought you were never coming," she said under her breath, when +talking was possible. + +"Did you wish for me?" he asked in his cold, rather sarcastic voice. +"I thought you were far too well provided with cavaliers to care for +so indifferent a dancer." + +"You ought to have known that you were the one man in the room I +should care to talk with," she said quickly, stung by his tone, and +by the perception of what he must have thought of her. But the next +moment she half regretted her words, for Enrico's whole face changed +and he lifted his eyes to hers with the look in them which she could +not bear to see, save in the eyes of the man she loved. + +"I thought you would tell me of Carlo," she said, determined to speak +out boldly, though she would have preferred a more quiet place for +the talk. "Have you heard from him?" + +"Three times," said Enrico, recovering his usual manner. + +"Ah! so often!" she exclaimed, with mingled jealousy and pleasure in +her tone. + +They were interrupted for a minute or two by the necessity of +attending to the dance. In the next interval he saw that the +jealousy had given place to unclouded satisfaction, and it was almost +in the tone of her old childish days that she said, "Oh, you will +tell me all about him, will you not? You are his friend, I know, and +for his sake you will still be mine, I hope." + +"Indeed, I will," he said very kindly, "if you will let me. You +never liked me in the old days; I daresay I was very disagreeable." + +"No, it was my fault," said Francesca. "I was so jealous of you +because you took up the time, and I was afraid he cared for you more +than me, but now--but now I am not jealous any more." She laughed a +little, and glanced up at him with a humorous look in her dark gray +eyes. + +"I would do anything to serve you," said Enrico, "I cannot help still +thinking of you as one who belongs to Carlo, and for that reason your +slightest wish shall be a command to me." + +"Thank you, you are so kind; you understand so well, Enrico," she +replied, quickly adopting the tone of brotherly and sisterly intimacy +which he had carefully instilled into his last remark. She was very +grateful to him for putting in that saving clause, "for that reason," +and dismissed forever from her mind the fear which had seized her not +long since that Enrico was going over into the tiresome ranks of her +adorers. He was going to do no such thing; he was going to be to her +just the strong, kind, brotherly friend she needed. + +"I am glad it is over," she exclaimed, as the music ceased, "do let +us get somewhere away from all these people. Are you engaged for the +next dance?" + +"No," said Enrico, hardly knowing whether to be amused or charmed by +her unconventional frankness. + +"Ah! I am so glad, for I saved it on purpose, and made Count Carossa +so cross. Please, please sit out with me somewhere and tell me about +the letters." + +Enrico in his secret soul felt a thrill of pride as he reflected that +the belle of the evening had besought him to stay with her. Then all +selfish thoughts faded away in admiration of the love which made shy, +timid Francesca so innocently bold, so delightfully unlike the girls +whom he was in the habit of meeting in society. + +He led her into the conservatory, which was prettily hung with +Chinese lanterns, and here, at the far end, they discovered a +charming little nook, with a rustic seat half hidden by ferns and +flowering plants. + +"I will send you the letters to read if you like; I could always do +that," began Enrico. + +"No," she said, with a sigh, "I don't think it would be right, for my +father made me promise not to write to him or receive letters from +him, and that would seem like a sort of subterfuge. But it can't be +wrong to hear about him now that we have met at last. Where did he +write from?" + +"The first letter was from Malta; he seemed fairly cheerful, made +great fun over the colorless island, and grew very patriotic over his +comparisons. I am afraid he feels his exile a great deal. You see +he is such a thorough Italian; all his interests are bound up with +the country. Then, too, he was a good deal pained because those +idiots down at the Circle of Social Instruction--the club, you know, +in which he had always taken so much interest--quite misunderstood +his turning public singer, upbraided him with his desertion of the +cause--much they knew about it!--and called him frivolous and +self-seeking, just as if they were a parcel of English Puritans, if +you will pardon the comparison." + +Francesca sighed. "It seems as if all the world were against him." + +"But that is what such knight-errants must expect," said Enrico. + +"I can't see why," said Francesca, sadly; "of course they would +expect the evil to be arrayed against them, but when their +fellow-soldiers turn upon them that seems hard. Still I think he was +prepared for it; he counted the cost before he set out,--not that +that makes it any easier to bear." + +"He wrote again from Gibraltar, where they seemed to have had a busy +time," continued Enrico; "and then again he wrote on board the +steamer and posted the letter in England, so they are safely there, +though the letter, being posted on landing, gave no particulars as to +his first notions of the country." + +Francesca was silent for a minute, the bare, dry facts were so +unsatisfying, she wanted to know all the little details, she longed +so terribly to see the letters themselves. Enrico partly understood, +but found it impossible to come to her help. He had had no idea that +it would have proved so hard to give any coherent account of his +friend's long letters. While he was racking his brains for some +quotable sentence, he became aware of voices at a little distance +beyond their leafy screen; he heard the word "Donati," and then, as +the speakers drew nearer, the whole conversation became distinctly +audible. + +"Well, his uncle is furious about it,--disowned him on the spot." + +"You mark my words, Badia, there's a woman in the case. For all +Donati's high reputation I would stake my life on it. These fellows +who set up for being moral, if once they are touched, go to greater +lengths than we should." + +"For the matter of that," remarked the other, "it is likely enough he +should turn singer with such a voice; magnificent! the finest +baritone I ever heard." + +"_Corpo del diavolo!_ you are as innocent as a child, my friend! +Would a man throw over a fortune, and a good match, and a profession +to boot? Besides, see how quickly it was all arranged! One week we +were congratulating him on being an _avvocato_, the next this fair +unknown had lured him on to the stage." + +"What about a match? I heard nothing of that." + +"I assure you I have it on the best authority that he was betrothed +to Miss Britton, and left her for the sake of the fair unknown." + +"Capperi! This is truly a chapter from a romance! Let me see, who +was there in Merlino's Company? The little De Caisne, do you think? +or Domenica Borelli?" + +The reply was inaudible, there came a sound of laughter, then the +voices died away in the distance. + +Enrico had been on the point of dashing forward to put a peremptory +stop to the malicious gossip, but the recollection of Francesca's +presence made him pause. To discuss the matter before her was out of +the question, and even had she not been there it would have been +almost impossible to interfere to any purpose, so cunningly were the +falsehoods interwoven with the truth. He was so angry that at first +he could not spare time to look at his companion, but when the +speakers had left the conservatory he turned to Francesca, an +indignant exclamation trembling on his lips. The exclamation was +never uttered, however, for the sight of her face almost choked him; +it was bathed in tears, of which she seemed unconscious, for she made +no effort to hide them; her hands were tightly locked together, and +the tears rained down over her lovely pink and white cheeks. She had +not stirred since their conversation had been interrupted, her face +was still turned to his, just as it had been when he told her of +Carlo's letters. Enrico longed to rush after the slanderers and +crack their skulls together; he had never in his whole life felt so +savage and yet so tender, so eager to comfort and yet so conscious of +his own unfitness. + +"Don't heed those brutes," he entreated. "After all, you know every +public character is exposed to this sort of thing, and really, upon +my soul, if one were not so angry one would be obliged to laugh at +such an absurd notion." + +Francesca did not speak, but she was recalled to the present, and +made an effort to stop crying. + +Enrico thought she had never looked so lovely before, and felt that +her tears were making sad havoc of his philosophy, and that, in +self-defence, he must do what he could to check them. + +"See," he began, in his kindest voice, "if you go back to the +ball-room presently, and people notice that you have been crying, it +will make an opening for more of this infernal gossip." + +"Yes," she said, with a quiver in her voice which made his heart +ache. "I had not thought of that;" and hastily drying her eyes, she +raised them to his, all bright and shining, and pathetic as the eyes +of a little child in trouble. "Do you think it shows much now?" she +asked. + +Enrico was no lady's man, he neither perjured himself to please her +nor evaded the question by a compliment, as many would have done. He +looked gravely into those dark, gray depths, and critically at the +wet lashes fringing them. + +"It does rather," he said; "but we need not go back yet, they are +still dancing." + +"How sad the music sounds!" she said, with a sigh; "and yet it is a +waltz I used to be so fond of. It seems as if those hateful words +had taken the sweetness out of everything." + +"Don't think of them!" exclaimed Enrico. "After all, you know it is +but the way of the world. People would be dull if they did not +invent little scandals of this kind. Carlo has done an altogether +unprecedented thing, has actually loved his sister better than +himself; but the world can't look into his heart, and naturally, +after its invariable custom, credits him with low motives." + +"It is just that which makes it so hard," said Francesca. "I didn't +think they could have been so cruel; people, too, who must really +have known him. How can they--how can they think such things? All +his life gives the lie to it!" + +There was a silence; the music rang out more distinctly; it seemed to +say to Francesca: "After all, 'tis a hollow kind of merriment, but we +are bound to go on. The fiddler is longing to get home to his dying +wife, but he must play on to the end! And the dancers have aching +hearts, but they must dance, dance and be merry. This is pleasure, +you know, the world's pleasure!" + +"You see," said Enrico, "the world has always been very kind to you, +and so you have been deceived. People naturally make much of you, +and that, of course, is pleasant." + +"I don't think I can ever enjoy anything again," said Francesca, with +the firm conviction of two-and-twenty that the particular cloud in +its sky is going to prove more powerful than the sun. + +But there was, nevertheless, some truth in her remark. She would +enjoy again, but never in the same way; she would enjoy as a woman, +but never again as a happily-ignorant girl. + +"Everything seems hollow and unreal," she went on; "I have believed +in it all so much!" + +"You must not let me convert you to my creed," said Enrico, with a +smile, "or how could I ever face Carlo? It is an odd coincidence +that while you, through this business, get your first glimpse behind +the world's scenes, and are disillusioned, I, in watching you and +Carlo, have felt almost ready to throw over my pet theory of +universal egoism." + +"What arguments you and Carlo used to have in the old days," said +Francesca, recovering herself, and feeling much cheered by his words. +Then, with a little smile, she added, "I have been talking just like +a horrid old woman we used to know in England. I wished her a merry +Christmas one day, and she shook her head and looked so glum as she +grumbled out, '_Merry_ Christmas indeed! there's no merriment in this +world.' I do hope I shan't grow like her." + +Enrico laughed. + +"I shall tell Carlo that story when next I write. You will not allow +me to send any message from you I suppose?" + +"No, I can't do that," she sighed; "he knows I can't. But oh, +Enrico, it is such comfort to know that you write to him. Write +often--promise to write often." + +Once again they talked over all the news in Carlo's letters, then, +leaving the flowery retreat, made their way back to the crowded +rooms. Francesca was speedily claimed by her next partner, and +Enrico leant meditatively against the wall, watching the gay scene, +and musing over that pathetic complaint which the girl had made to +him, "They have taken the sweetness out of everything." + +Years after, if any one had asked him what was the most touching +sight he had ever seen, there would have risen in his mind a picture +of that gayly-lighted ballroom, and of Francesca's sweet, sad face, +upon which, spite of all her efforts, there yet lingered the traces +of tears. Again and again she was whirled past him, her feet flew +over the ground, but her face always bore the same expression, and he +knew well that it was only a sense of duty which kept her up, and +that she danced with a sore heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +IN ENGLAND. + + "And hast thou chosen then? Canst thou endure + The purging change of frost and calenture; + Accept the sick recoil, the weary pain + Of senses heightened, keener nerves and brain-- + Suffer and love, love much and suffer long-- + And live through all, and at the last be strong? + * * * * * + Thou shall need all the strength that God can give + Simply to live, my friend, simply to live." + _On Art as an Aim in Life_--F. W. H. MYERS. + + +"_Morning News! Morning News!_ Shocking murder at Mountford!" This +cheerful announcement, in the harsh shout of a newspaper boy, awoke +Carlo, one morning early in the autumn, to the recollection that he +was in England. He started broad awake in a moment from dreams of +Francesca and Casa Bella, and with a pang of realization, to which he +was now too well accustomed, knew that he was altogether parted from +her, and looked with blank, hopeless, miserable depression round the +unfamiliar hotel room. + +It was one of those narrow, gloomy places often met with in inns; at +the foot of his own narrow iron bedstead was a second just as narrow, +and though the general impression conveyed was of meagre bareness in +respect to the furniture, yet one felt cramped and oppressed by the +proportions of the room. + +"Soles and whiting! soles and whiting!" sang a nasal-voiced fishwoman +in the street. And then, after an interval, came a cry so extremely +comic that Carlo burst out laughing. + +"Are you awake, San Carlo?" exclaimed Gigi, appearing, with the +suddenness of a Jack-in-the-box, from beneath the clothes on the +other bed. + +"_Giusto Cielo!_ what can the woman be calling?" said Carlo. "Gigi, +if you love me, jump out of bed and see!" + +Gigi, nothing loth, sprang up and darted to the window. + +"It's black things in a basket," he announced. "Oh, now I can hear +what she says; it is 'Pickled cockles! pickled cockles!'" + +By the time the cry had died away in the distance Carlo was grave and +depressed again, he tried to live through his dream once more and to +forget the distasteful reality, while all the time he was listlessly +watching Gigi in the performance of his toilette, a sight which might +well have tickled the gravity of an unaccustomed observer. Necessity +had taught the little fellow to be far more handy than most children +of his age, and now that Carlo had instilled into his mind the duties +of cleanliness and godliness, his business-like way of setting to +work was most edifying, beginning sedulously with soap and water, and +ending with the paternoster which Carlo had taught him in Italian. + +The place seemed to grow less desolate as the child very slowly and +deliberately repeated the familiar words, and Carlo's heart grew +lighter. True, he had as yet made no way at all with Anita, and the +future still looked black and unpromising, but at any rate Gigi was +the better for the change of baritones, and what right had he to fear +for the result of work which he had begun in obedience to a direct +call? + +"_Perciocchè tuo è il regno, e la potenza, e la gloria, in +sempiterno. Amen_," repeated Gigi; then, springing to his feet, and +relapsing into English, "May I go down and play, San Carlo?" + +Carlo patted the little brown head. + +"Why, yes, to be sure, old man, take your soldiers and play in the +coffee-room. I'll be down directly!" + +Once up and dressed he began to look at life from his customary +cheerful standpoint, and, with a curiosity which was almost boyish, +drew up his blind and looked eagerly forth, for this was, in reality, +his first glimpse of England, since they had landed quite late on the +previous evening, in darkness and confusion indescribable. + +"_Capperi!_ what a land of chimney-pots!" was his first exclamation. +And in truth the prospect from the window was one which to a +Neapolitan would seem most extraordinary. The room was at the back +of the hotel, and on the fourth storey; it overlooked a narrow +by-street, and thousands of roofs, and from every roof there rose +these extraordinary-looking chimneys, stout, red ones, tall and +attenuated gray ones, square ones, with blackened tops, and here and +there a grisly-looking cowl, whirling and creaking in the most +gruesome way. The sky was gray and leaden, a strong west wind was +blowing, and Carlo had not stood many minutes at the open window +before he found that his linen had suffered severely from the smuts. + +"What a melancholy-looking place!" he thought to himself; "if I stay +looking at it much longer the blue devils will get the better of me +again, and that doesn't pay." + +He turned away, whistling "_O dolce Napoli_," and reflecting that he +would have some fun with Sardoni over his first impressions of +England. + +Sardoni was down before him, and was half-way through a substantial +breakfast of ham and eggs, which reminded Carlo of the English +breakfasts that Captain Britton had always refused to give up. + +"You're late," said the tenor, nodding to him. "Had you come down a +few minutes ago you would have witnessed a most interesting scene." + +"I am late because I have been admiring the beautiful view of +chimney-pots from my room," said Carlo; "you should have prepared me +for them, they quite took my breath away. What with the +chimney-pots, and the pickled-cockles, and the soles and whiting, I'm +already quite learned in English life." + +"San Carlo, mayn't I have some of that yellow stuff?" pleaded Gigi, +who had been watching Sardoni's operations with hungry eyes. + +"Yes, if you like; what is it?" + +"Man alive!" cried Sardoni, laughing heartily, "do you mean to say +that you never saw marmalade! No Englishman dreams of breakfasting +without it. There!" he almost emptied the pot on to his friend's +plate, "eat and be thankful, and own yourself a convert." + +"Delicious stuff!" mumbled Gigi, with his mouth very full, and +heaving a sigh of satisfaction. Then, as his elders laughed, he +added fervently, "I should like to be alluse eating sweet things." + +"What has been happening?" asked Carlo, when the child had finished +his breakfast and had gone back to his toys. + +"Well, Marioni has been tearing his hair a little, and Merlino has +been swearing much. He got out of bed with the wrong foot foremost, +and I believe there is something gone amiss with the manager of the +theatre here, or the orchestra or something. I really didn't hear +the rights of it; all I know is that he ramped and roared a good bit, +and that it ended with exit Marioni, left wing, tearing his hair, and +exit Merlino, right wing, in a vile temper." + +"The fact is he tries to do too much," said Carlo. "A man can't be +in himself impresario, singer, and business agent all at once. It's +more than human nature can stand." + +"Certainly more than human temper can stand," said Sardoni. +"However, he is not likely to have more officials than he can help, +for he knows well enough that this English tour is a frightful risk. +And for the matter of that you are worth ten officials to him: you +seem to me to take pleasure in being his slave." + +"I have liked him much better since I worked with him," said Carlo. +"There is a sort of rough honesty about him, after all. I fancy that +with a different education he might have been a fine character." + +"There's no denying anyhow that at present he's a fine tyrant," said +Sardoni. "It's my belief that you would find excuses for the devil +himself, Valentino!" + +"Valentino" had become Carlo's nickname with the company. One +evening at Naples there had been a discussion in the green-room about +an article in some journal on the merits of the new baritone, in +which his "Valentino" in particular had called forth the warmest +praise, and was termed "a new creation." Gomez, who had never lost +an opportunity of making himself disagreeable to the new-comer, had +turned to him with his contemptuous smile and said, "I congratulate +the Signor Valentino, and it is certainly true that he plays the part +as though he were to the manner born." + +To Carlo and Sardoni, who were the only ones present who were capable +of understanding the speech, a hundred hateful innuendoes were +conveyed in look and tone; but the others caught up the idea as +though it had been a jest, and Tannini, drawing the sword which he +wore in his costume of Ceprano, smote him on the shoulder and, with +the most nasal of Yankee twangs, shouted, "Arise, Sir Valentino!" + +"Knight-errant," put in Sardoni, seeing that it would be well to let +the Spaniard's innuendo pass for jest. + +And so, like the "San Carlo" spitefully suggested by Comerio, +"Valentino" became a household word among the troupe and lost all +bitterness, becoming, indeed, a sort of symbol of the familiar +teasing, the playful fondness, which Carlo speedily won from his +companions. + +It seemed that Sardoni had not exaggerated matters in speaking of +Merlino's temper, for at this moment he entered the coffee-room with +the ominous double crease in his brow and the dark look about his +eyes, which always betokened a stormy day for those in his immediate +neighborhood. At such times he was certainly a most +repulsive-looking man and at first Carlo had felt that he could not +live with him, that the mere sight of him would be intolerable. By +this time, however, he had somehow called into existence a sort of +fondness for his brother-in-law: he had the rare and enviable gift of +seeing people as they might have been under happier circumstances, +and the still rarer power of treating them as such; and so the +constant society of the Impresario had been quite tolerable to him, +or only intolerable at rare moments when his natural impatience +overmastered him, and made him feel ready to break with everything +and rush back to a peaceful life in his native land. + +"So you're down at last," said Merlino, who resented it as a personal +injury if any one lay in bed after he did. As he had an inconvenient +habit of always waking early, however late he had been the night +before, his companions sometimes found this trait in his character +rather provoking, particularly as with most people the career of an +operatic singer does not tend to promote the virtue of early rising. + +"I hear that Marioni has been in already," said Carlo. "What has +gone wrong?" + +"Everything!" said Merlino, savagely. "I wish to goodness, that +instead of lying in bed till this hour, you had been down at the +theatre in the place of that blockhead!" + +"Well, I will go now if anything can be done," said Carlo, ignoring +the rudeness and unreasonableness of the remark. + +"_Insomma!_ Much good now! That is so exactly like you, Donati, +always ready with patience and cool common-sense over other people's +difficulties! I know there would be a cursed difference in your tone +if the difficulty were yours and not mine!" + +Sardoni was on the point of breaking in with a remonstrance, but +Carlo gave him a glance which made him hold his peace; and taking up +a paper, he appeared to be reading the leading article, though in +reality he was listening to his two companions. He remembered, not +without certain twinges of conscience, that Carlo had been helping +the baggage men and seeing after all the lost goods of the troupe, +when he himself had turned in on the previous night: probably +"Valentino," who was always seeing after other people's worries, had +been the last of the Company to go to bed. + +"I'm sorry I'm late," said Carlo. "How has Marioni managed to put +his foot in it?" + +"He declares the orchestra is not half ready, and he has been +quarrelling with the manager about the rehearsals." + +"Ten to one he has made some mistake," said Carlo. "The manager is +not likely to speak Italian, and Marioni's English is," with a laugh, +"well, asking his pardon, is really grotesque. Just think now, the +other day at Gibraltar I heard him talking to an English violinist, +and he said, 'What! not are here no lockomoteeves?' The poor fellow +could hardly keep his countenance! And then, too, there's no +convincing Marioni that a gesture conveys nothing at all to the +ordinary Englishman; he expects them to understand just as if they +had been born and bred at Naples." + +Merlino smiled. + +"There's something in that, after all. Perhaps it is not so bad as +he makes out." + +"If you think it would be any use I will come round there with you +now," said Carlo. + +"Well, I wish you would," said Merlino, gruffly, "for your English is +better than mine. Oh! confound you! Never mind the child! He's +well enough here." + +"Let me come with you, papa; I'll be so good--so good," said Gigi, +who a little while ago would infallibly have burst into tears at the +prospect of this disappointment. + +Merlino, who really loved his son, was touched by the entreaty, and +made no further objection; so the odd-looking trio set off together, +and Sardoni, throwing down his paper, stood at the window and watched +them down the street with a comical expression about the corners of +his mouth. + +"It's as good as a play to see how that fellow can turn Merlino round +his finger! And all the time the old brute treats him like a dog. +I'm hanged if I understand how Valentino does it, and how he keeps +his temper, for he's got a pretty hot one for all his sweetness. +Jove! I should like just to poke the devil up in him for once and +see what he'd do. He's none of your milk-and-water saints or he +could never act as he does." + +But if to Sardoni, who held the key to the enigma, Carlo's character +and life were perplexing, to the rest of the troupe they were +altogether incomprehensible. Some of them admired him; others found +his unselfishness convenient, and did not scruple to trade on it; +others were jealous of his success, and suspected him of trying to +curry favor with Merlino; and though before long all, except Gomez, +had been so far conquered by the charm of his manner as to treat him +with friendly familiarity, not one of them was capable of fathoming +the beauty of his character. He was merely in their eyes a pleasant +exchange for Comerio,--a youngster who, at present, seemed unspoiled +by his success, a good travelling companion, who was always ready to +make fun of petty discomforts, and who seemed quite naturally, and +with an utter absence of ostentation, to take upon himself the "dirty +work" of the Company. + +It soon came to be considered just "Valentino's way" to yield the +comfortable seat in a railway carriage, or to leave the better room +at a hotel to some one else, or with an unconscious air, which was +often highly amusing, to act as safety-valve for the Impresario's +temper. It was a very convenient way, there was no doubt about that; +and his help seemed so spontaneous, and was so free from all +suspicion of conceit or superiority, that it was indeed help worth +having. + +Nevertheless, like the art of an actor, all this seemingly natural +and unstudied action was the result of sheer effort and often +wearisome consideration; it was merely that Carlo succeeded, as very +few do succeed, in veiling the effort and letting people perceive the +result only. How hard he found life in Merlino's Company only he +himself knew. With Nita his great love helped him to endure +patiently, and Merlino came in for a share of this, too. But with +the others who were not akin to him, who were many of them positively +obnoxious to him, it was otherwise. Nothing but hard struggling with +his own temper brought him through each day's difficulties. + +Bauer would patronize him in a bland, superior way, pat him on the +shoulder in season and out of season, embrace him in his fervent +German fashion, and call him "_Mein Junge_." And then, with his +sensitive, artistic nature all untuned, Carlo would wonder to himself +whether it was pride or a right self-respect which made him inwardly +rebel. How far was he bound to submit to the patronizing familiarity +of a greedy, conceited, irritating, underbred old German, whose +presence jarred on him like a false note? Sometimes he tried to +throw a sort of careful coldness into his manner towards old Bauer, +but that only worked mischief. Then he tried to carry off all the +petty annoyances with a laugh. This answered better, but, after all, +the weariest thing on earth is forced merriment, and his own troubles +were making him very heavy-hearted. + +Again, there was Fasola, the second baritone, with his aggravating +habit of reading a bitter meaning into the most innocent remarks, +with his contemptible jealousy, with his determination to be +aggrieved. Genuinely sorry for the man, and feeling that it must be +hard to see a young novice in the place he coveted yet could by no +means fill, Carlo went out of his way to help and please him; but +Fasola, while accepting help readily enough, was the most touchy and +querulous of mortals, and always contrived to be at cross-purposes +with the new-comer, and to take offence on every possible occasion. + +Then, too, Carlo was always confronted by the difficulty of how to be +friendly, yet not intimate, with those who were no better than they +should be. Domenica Borelli severely kept to the rule of not being +on speaking terms with any one of whom she disapproved; but this way +of cutting the Gordian knot did not commend itself to him, and he +struggled on in the difficult endeavor to be courteous to those who +were altogether distasteful to him, to steer between a weak tolerance +and a priggishly expressed disapproval, to be true to his own +principles and yet to avoid anything like Pharisaism. Hitherto he +had been little accustomed to difficulties of this kind, for he had +lived very simply and in a perfectly harmonious atmosphere. He was +ashamed to find how the petty vexations chafed him, and often felt +inclined to throw up everything and own that he had attempted +something beyond his powers. This was generally late at night or +early in the morning, when he was fagged and dispirited. But, then, +again, he would take heart and begin once more, with hope and courage +springing up anew, and a sort of eagerness for the fray of which but +a little while before he had been so weary. + +Sardoni was the only one who troubled himself to wonder about the new +baritone; he could not have told why it was that he had from the very +first been so attracted by him, but the attraction only grew more +powerful the more he saw of him, and his reckless nonchalance was +fast melting away in the deep interest of this half-avowed +friendship. He could have laughed at himself for being so absorbed +in the study of a fellow-actor that his ordinary pleasures palled +upon him; but there was no disputing the fact, and when Carlo was +near he was always conscious of a sort of fascination which compelled +him to throw off his cold indifference, which roused him into a +pleasant warmth of wonder, and made him look and listen, and wait +upon Donati's utterances as though they were most remarkable. And +this, to tell the truth, they seldom were, for Carlo was not +particularly intellectual, neither was he brilliant and witty; it was +rather that he was what the Italians call "_Simpatica_," and full of +an undefined charm which made him as lovable as he was +incomprehensible. + +He came in soon after noon looking fagged and much inclined for a +peaceful cigar. + +"Have you been all this time at the theatre?" asked Sardoni. + +"Yes, two mortal hours of altercation, the manager, the local +conductor, Merlino, and Marioni, all in battle array." + +"With you as a go-between, I suppose, alternately used and abused?" + +"Something like it," he replied, laughing at a recollection of the +dispute; "the whole affair really rose out of a jealousy between +Marioni and the local man. It seems to me that jealousy thrives like +a weed in art life,--I shall soon be grudging you your superior +parts, _amico mio_." + +"You're welcome to the parts," said Sardoni, "if you would make over +a little of your superfluous applause to me. However, I intend to be +proud of you, and not jealous, for did I not have my finger in the +pie? And does not Italian opera owe me a deep debt of gratitude for +having secured your services?" + +At this moment Merlino entered abruptly. Though the difficulties had +been smoothed away by Carlo's mediation the dispute had very much +ruffled the manager's temper. + +"Where is Anita?" he asked, fiercely. + +"I have not seen her this morning," said Carlo, foreseeing a bad time +for his sister; "by-the-by, how about those letters?" + +But Merlino with a grievance was like a dog with a bone; he would +gnaw it, and worry it, and bite first on one side, then on the other, +and when at last you thought it was safely buried he would exhume it +and begin his operations all over again. + +"Not up yet, I'll be bound!" he exclaimed, wrathfully; "it's +abominable; she never stirs a finger to help me, and everything gone +wrong as usual!" + +He strode out of the room, and doubtless opened the vials of his +wrath on Nita's head, for she appeared before long looking very much +discomposed, but with a resentful light in her eyes which Carlo had +learnt to understand too well. + +All else would have been bearable enough to him if only he could have +won Nita's love; but after the first day or two, when she had really +been grateful to him for saving her from what in her better moods she +fully recognized as a sin, she had never felt or pretended to feel +for him any sort of affection. When alone with him, or when she +wanted anything done, she would often be civil and even friendly, but +when other people were present she seemed to take pleasure in +snubbing him, and never allowed him to forget for a moment that he +was her junior. The "elder sisterly" style of treatment is never +very congenial to a man, and it was particularly irksome to Carlo, +because he and Anita had so very little in common. It was, perhaps, +this which made it so hard for him to win his way with her. They had +none of the happy associations of childhood which form so strong a +bond between most brothers and sisters; they had grown up apart, and +when, at rare intervals, Nita had returned from the convent, there +had been little love lost between them. At nineteen she had left +home forever, and cast in her lot with Merlino, and now, after an +interval of five years, the brother and sister were almost strangers +to each other, and Carlo, often in despair, struggled to break down +the wall of division which seemed to have risen between them. If he +had been as indifferent to her as she was to him they might have +drifted on without much discomfort, but he loved her, not only as the +one specially left to him by his mother on her death-bed, not only +with the family love which had first come to his aid in that time of +numb grief, but with the divine love which had given him power to +sacrifice himself for her sake. It is often harder to understand the +characters of those closely related to us than the characters of mere +ordinary acquaintances, our very nearness hinders us from taking true +and just views, and perhaps Carlo's love blinded him to some extent +with regard to Nita. He credited her with virtues which she did not +possess, and then was wounded when, in daily life, she was weighed in +the balance and found wanting. He would say to himself: "Is she not +the child of my father and mother? Then how is it possible that she +should not at heart be really loving, really true?" But he did not +realize, as a dispassionate spectator would have done, that, although +Nita might originally have inherited many good gifts, her life and +education had been quite enough to paralyze them. + +In fact her character was the natural outcome of a long course of +tyranny. Tyranny in the convent had first taught her to be +deceitful; deceit had by degrees become ingrained in her nature, she +had come to think of lying as a very venial sin, and it did not in +the least trouble her to gain the ends she desired by crooked means. +Was she not obliged to outwit the tyrants? At her marriage she had +escaped into what she had imagined would prove love and liberty, but +in three months' time she had learnt that she had made a terrible +mistake, and had sold herself into a slavery almost intolerable. + +When a woman makes so terrible a discovery there are only two courses +open to her, either she must sink or she must swim, there is no idle +drifting in such case. Nita never attempted to love her husband, she +never tried to bridge over the differences between them; he +tyrannized over her as was his nature, and she yielded in miserable, +slavish despair, fearing him and hating him with her whole heart. So +inevitably she sank, and there was not wanting--there never is +wanting--a Comerio to help her. Sardoni considered her heartless and +commonplace, and so she was, yet not so heartless as to be insensible +to the charm of Comerio's devotion when contrasted with her husband's +cruelty, and commonplace enough to fall with the greatest ease into +the trap laid for her. Comerio's evil influence increased with a +speed which alarmed her, she stood on the very brink of the +precipice, but yet at the supreme moment some blind impulse had made +her turn and rush back to her mother. Then she had thrown herself +upon Carlo's mercy, had confessed all, and begged his help; he had +replied by the gift of his life, and now, the danger for the moment +tided over, poor Nita felt a sudden reaction, and wished with all her +heart that she had acted differently. In her worst moments she hated +Carlo for having ousted her lover, in her better moments she tried to +goad herself into a sort of gratitude to him for what he had done; +while often, in revenge for the humiliation of feeling that he knew +her weakness, she delighted in trying his temper, and showing to the +troupe that she had not the least intention of joining in the chorus +of admiration which the outer world accorded to the new baritone. + +Tyranny induces deceit, and it also engenders the desire to +tyrannize. Nita, who had been made so miserable by her husband's +overbearing nature, retaliated whenever she could on Gigi, or on her +luckless dresser, or, strange to say, most frequently of all on +Carlo. She was so certain of his love, so sure that he would never +fail her, that she was not afraid to do this; and at present the +consciousness that she could pain him was rather pleasant than +otherwise, it gave her a feeling of power which flattered her pride. + +"You seem to have worked up Merlino into a pleasant state," she said, +sarcastically, in reply to Carlo's greeting. + +He disliked her way of speaking against her husband, and tried to +turn the subject. + +"There has been a good deal to worry him to-day, but all is straight +now. We have been down at the theatre, it seems a better one than I +should have expected." + +"All is straight, you should say, with the exception of the +Impresario's temper," said Nita, sharply. "I wish you would leave +him alone and not interfere, you only make it a great deal worse for +me." + +Nita's unreasonableness was at times enough to madden a man, and +Carlo could not help sympathizing a little with Merlino; he knew +quite well that if he had not gone to the theatre her reproach would +have been, "You never try to put Merlino into a better temper, you +never try to smooth matters for me." + +He was silent, and Nita, who had hoped to stir up a discussion, +finding it impossible to quarrel alone, walked over to the window +where Gigi was contentedly playing with his soldiers, and without a +word of warning swept the whole of the miniature camp into its box. + +"Go away! we can't have your toys all over the place!" she said, +giving him a vindictive little push. + +Gigi, whose tears were terribly near the surface, burst into a roar, +and Carlo, who on principle never interfered between mother and +child, had much ado to keep silence while the little fellow was +ignominiously turned out of the room. + +"It's all your fault," said Nita, returning a little flushed from the +contest, "you make a great deal too much of the child, he must be +taught his proper place." + +She sat down with her writing-case at the vacant table. + +"I am going to the post-office directly," said Carlo, by way of +breaking the uncomfortable silence; "shall you have any letters?" + +"What affair is that of yours?" she asked, angrily. "Is is not +enough that my husband is spying on me all day long? If you think I +am going to put up with you as spy you are mistaken! It was bad +enough before you came!" + +And with an impatient gesture she gathered her things together and +left the room. + +Sardoni, glancing up, saw the pained look on Carlo's face, and was so +stung by it that he could no longer keep silence. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed; "if Madame Merlino were not your sister I +should give her a piece of my mind." + +He was curious to know what Carlo would say. + +For a minute he was silent; then, stifling a sigh, he replied +lightly, but not altogether without effort, "You see those who cannot +flog the horse flog the saddle. Merlino has vexed her, and she uses +me as safety-valve." + +"And Merlino appears to do the same; you are between two fires." + +"But with a good comrade to cheer me when I am down in the mouth. +Some day, _amico mio_,"--and as he spoke that bright, sudden, Italian +smile seemed to make his whole face shine--"some day I hope to have a +chance of giving as well as taking from you." + +Sardoni felt choked; for some minutes he sat in deep thought, then +looking up quickly, said, in his abrupt English way,-- + +"I mean to take you at your word. To-morrow is Sunday. Is there any +rehearsal?" + +"Marioni has arranged to take _Trovatore_, with the orchestra and +chorus, but he'll not need us." + +"Good; then will you give me your company in the afternoon? I have a +disagreeable piece of work to do, and should be glad of your help." + +Carlo seemed really pleased by the request, and, in truth, his +interest in Sardoni was a capital thing for him, and helped to take +him for the time being out of his own troubles. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A RETURN. + + "In vain Remorse and Fear and Hate + Beat with bruised hands against a fate, + Whose walls of iron only move + And open to the touch of love. + He only feels his burdens fall, + Who, taught by suffering, pities all."--WHITTIER. + + +"How dismal the place looks!" exclaimed Carlo, as, after service the +next day, he walked with Sardoni through the quiet streets, with +their shuttered shop-fronts and deserted roads, to the station. "A +good thing, I daresay, to have the shops closed and to give the +people a rest, but there is such a sleepy air about it all; they +don't seem to enjoy it." + +Sardoni laughed. "Sunday afternoon is always a sleepy time in +England, I don't know why; I assure you the most orthodox and +energetic may be caught napping that one day of the week." + +"They don't seem to know how to enjoy," said Carlo, feeling quite +oppressed, as foreigners always do by the extreme quiet. "Ah, here +comes a band, that makes it a little more lively! _Giusto cielo!_ +What is this? A revolutionary club? See! they have 'Blood and Fire' +on their banner, that's rather too strong." + +"That, my dear Valentino, is the pet abomination of the true +respectable Briton,--it is the Salvation Army, a band of religious +workers." + +"They will at any rate rouse up the sleepers," said Carlo, laughing. +"They make it seem a little less like a city stricken with the +plague, I must say. It is cool to criticise your national customs +after being here so short a time; but really your Sunday does seem to +me rather too drowsy-respectable; it has little of the _Festa_ about +it." + +"That all depends on your definition of a _Festa_," said Sardoni. +"The average Briton, who has been religiously brought up, goes to +church morning and evening, eats a heavier dinner than usual in the +middle of the day for the sake of sparing his servants, abuses the +Salvation Army for disturbing the Sabbatical calm, and nods serenely +through the afternoon over a volume of sermons." + +"They read sermons to themselves, do you mean, besides hearing two in +the churches?" asked Carlo, with an air of such ingenuous +astonishment that Sardoni burst into a laugh. + +"Why, yes, to be sure; many of them wouldn't think it Sunday +without," he replied. + +"Poor things! poor things!" said Carlo, with a pity, which to the +Englishman was highly comic. + +"One man's meat is another man's poison, you see," said Sardoni. +"But, look here, don't be too outspoken on these subjects, for, to +tell you the truth, your sort of saintliness is not likely to be +understanded of a northern people. We like to take our pleasures +sadly and our religion, too." + +"We sang the Jubilate this morning," said Carlo, reflectively; "but +certainly this doesn't look much like it." + +"For goodness' sake do hide your light under a bushel," said Sardoni; +"for if you come out with all these broad notions in the place I'm +going to take you to, it will be all over with me. I'm taking you as +a sample of the troupe, and if you shock the prejudices of the +natives you'll be worse than useless." + +"Where in the world are we going?" asked Carlo, looking perplexed. + +By this time they had reached the station, and for reply Sardoni +handed him his railway ticket. This conveyed to him nothing at all, +and in silence he followed his friend to a smoking carriage, and, +knowing intuitively that Sardoni did not care to talk, lit a cigar +and gave himself up to the enjoyment of the beautiful wooded country +through which they were passing. + +Sardoni watched him silently. + +"After all, I doubt whether he'll make any impression on them," he +thought to himself. "Now if he were a stiff, churchly-looking +fellow, with a cross on his watch-chain and the ascetic type of face, +there might be some good in his coming; or, on the other hand, if he +were one of your priggish-looking, truly-pious young men, then I +might gain a sort of reflected respectability. But there's no +classifying Valentino, he won't fit any of the conventional notions. +Imagine my father here at this moment; what would he see in him? +Merely a very handsome Italian in a delightfully easy and comfortable +attitude, travelling reprehensibly on a Sunday afternoon, idly +enjoying the scenery and a cigar. And yet that fellow is a hero, if +there ever was one, and a saint of the real sort, and no mistake. I +could wish for this one afternoon to shake him into the goody-goody +mould though; that, at any rate, has the merit of catching the eye of +the respectable and virtuous, and getting a good deal more credit +than it deserves. Now Valentino, looked at casually, might be +anything. I believe if he thought more highly of himself he would +get the credit he deserves, but, confound it, he never seems to think +of himself at all." + +They got out at a small wayside station, and making their way up a +steep hill found themselves on a wide, deserted-looking common, where +here and there a solitary horse or cow grazed, and where the mingled +heather and gorse, set like jewels in the smooth green of the turf, +unloosed Carlo's tongue. + +"How beautiful!" he exclaimed; "I never saw anything like it before." + +Sardoni seemed pleased by his admiration. + +"You see we have something besides chimney-pots in England," he said, +with a laugh. "Look there." + +And he pointed to the rugged and rather wild-looking hills in the +background. These, however, seemed to be much less to Carlo's taste +than the smiling common with its near beauty and its glow of rich +warm color. He did not care much to look at them; but the narrow, +winding lane into which they soon passed charmed him, and he seemed +to find pleasure, which quite amused Sardoni, in the high hedges with +their tangled growth of blackberry bushes, travellers' joy, and red +hips and haws. + +"A hedge like this is quite a novelty to me," he said. "We have +nothing of this sort. Do you know this part of the country well?" + +"I know every inch of the ground," said Sardoni. "Down there to the +right is the village--look; you can just see the church tower through +those trees." + +He leant over a field gate and gazed down on the little country place +with a softened look in his eyes, which Carlo was quick to note. + +"This is Sardoni's old home," he thought to himself; but he only +said, "It is a perfect little place, just like the English villages I +have read of. I'm glad you brought me out here." + +"We'll cross this field," said Sardoni, not quite in his natural +voice. "I don't want to pass through the village, for some one is +sure to recognize me. This is where I used to live, you know." + +"And you are going home?" + +Sardoni nodded. Just at that moment he could not have spoken a word +to save his life. + +Carlo, too, was silent, but his silence was perfect sympathy. It was +the Englishman who first broke the pause. + +"It's your doing, old fellow!" he said, rather huskily. "I should +never have come if it hadn't been for you!" + +He did not explain himself, and Carlo asked no questions, only looked +glad and surprised; and quickly putting himself in Sardoni's place +said,-- + +"Let me wait for you here; you had better be alone." + +"No," said Sardoni, with a forced laugh. "Alone, there is no knowing +what I might do; I must have you, Valentino, to keep me up to it. I +can assure you there'll be none of the fatted-calf business. I'm +nothing but a disgrace to them, and this is the hardest day's work +I've had for an age." + +Glad as Carlo was at his friend's resolve to seek out his people, he +was sorely perplexed as to the part he himself was to play. +Naturally enough he felt that he would be very much _de trop_ in a +family reconciliation, nor could he understand how Sardoni could +tolerate the presence of a comparative stranger at such a time. +However, he was too unselfish to object on his own account, and wise +enough to let Sardoni choose his own way of setting to work. They +crossed the field, walked through a little copse, entered a +sunny-looking garden and made their way towards the Vicarage, a +pretty, gray old house with many gables and a moss-grown, red-tiled +roof. Carlo could guess how his friend's heart was beating, as with +heightened color he walked steadily up the well-kept drive; but +Sardoni spoke not a word till they stood in the porch and heard the +bell echoing in the quiet house. Then he turned to his companion and +said, with a touch of his ordinary jesting tone,-- + +"The cat will be out of the bag at last--my name will no longer be a +secret!" + +As he spoke, steps were heard within, and through the half-glass door +they could see a neat maidservant crossing the hall. Sardoni was +relieved to see a strange face: it would have humiliated him +dreadfully to be recognized by the parlor-maid. + +"Is Mr. Postlethwayte at home?" he asked, in his strong, decided +voice. + +A look of perplexity came over the maid's face. + +"No, sir; there's no one of that name living here," she replied. + +"What! is he gone then?" exclaimed Sardoni, turning pale. "The +vicar--who is vicar, now?" + +"Mr. Stanley is vicar now," said the maid. "Will you come in and see +master, sir? He could, perhaps, tell you what you want to know. You +see, sir, I've only been here in this situation a few days myself, so +I don't know the names hereabout." + +"Thank you--no--I'll not come in," said Sardoni; and he turned away +and walked down the drive again with never a word. + +"_Amico mio!_" said Carlo, when he ventured at last to beak the +silence; "what can I do for you? Shall I go and make inquiries in +the village?" + +They had by this time left the Vicarage garden, and were in the +little copse; Sardoni threw himself down in the shade of an old +elm-tree. + +"I wish you would, old fellow," he said, in a broken voice. + +Carlo was just about to go when it suddenly occurred to him that he +should have to master that extraordinary name which Sardoni had +spoken at the door. + +"It's stupid of me," he said, "but I couldn't quite catch the +surname. Say it over to me more slowly." + +"Postlethwayte," said Sardoni, not turning his head. + +"Pothelswayte," repeated Carlo, with infinite pains. + +Spite of his trouble Sardoni laughed. + +"You'll not ask me to call you that?" said Carlo, when, after many +practisings and corrections, he had at length arrived at the right +pronunciation. + +"No, it is too crack-jaw a name for an Italian; besides, I prefer to +go _incog._ with the troupe. But I'll not be Sardoni any more with +you: call me Jack." + +"One thing," said Carlo, as he prepared to go. "How much am I to +ask?" + +"Ask when my father left, and why, and where he has gone; but give no +reason for asking. Don't let them think you are my messenger." + +Carlo promised to do his best, and taking the path pointed out to him +by Sardoni made his way through the quiet little churchyard and +across a stile into the village street. For a moment he felt rather +at a loss to know how to proceed, and half afraid lest the villagers +might talk some unintelligible _patois_; however, he went boldly up +to a group of big boys who were idling about and asked whether they +could tell him where the sexton lived. Their dialect puzzled him not +a little, but he managed to make out which house it was, and walking +through the pretty strip of garden, with its hollyhocks and dahlias, +knocked at the door. A little bent old man, with a weather-beaten +face and a friendly but toothless smile, opened it. + +"You keep the keys of the church, I am told. Am I permitted to see +it?" asked Carlo. + +"Yes, sir; certainly, sir," mumbled the toothless old man. "Fine +day, sir! Step in a minute, will ye, sir?" + +Carlo stepped in, and found himself in a snug little room which smelt +strongly of apples. The old man took a couple of large keys from a +nail, and then, with a great effort, tried to reach his hat from a +peg on the wall. + +"Allow me," said Carlo, handing it to him in his pleasant, courteous +way. + +"Thank ye, sir," said the old sexton, turning a kindly look on the +handsome stranger. "Time was when that there hook warn't a bit too +high for me,--not a bit, sir; but, what with the rheumatiz and old +age, why I be agoin' down as fast as my grandchilder be acomin' up." + +"You've been here a long time, I daresay?" said Carlo, feeling rather +like a detective. + +"Oh! ay, sir; that I have, sir, that I have! Why, I've been sexton +here these forty years past, and born and bred in the place, too! +Six vicars I've seen in this here parish. Our late Vicar's son, +bless him, he used to say, 'Why, Johnson, you're like the brook! +Vicars may come and vicars go, but you go on for ever!' But lor! I +never rightly understood which brook it was he meant." + +"Wasn't there some one named Postlethwayte here once?" asked Carlo, +bringing out the name with laudable precision. + +"Why, yes, sir. It was poor Master Jack as I was just telling on. +Aw! he was a rare one for a jest, he was! The poor Vicar never held +his head up again after he left." + +"Did the Vicar die?" asked Carlo. + +"Aw no, sir, he didn't die; he be alive and well, bless him! But +there was trouble with Master Jack--the old story, sir; the old +story!--a pretty girl to put him off his balance; and then, when it +all came out, he, just desperate-like at the blame he got at home, +made away with some money that warn't his, and rushed off and was +never heard of no more." + +Carlo could hardly have regulated his expression to the casual +interest of a stranger had not his profession taught him to command +his face and make it answer at all times to his will. He was glad +that the sexton was silent for a minute while he fitted the key in +the heavy oak-door of the church. + +"That's a sad story," he said at length. "What became of the poor +Vicar?" + +"He couldn't stay here, sir; he felt the disgrace so bad he went away +to foreign parts; and it's my belief, sir, that he had hopes of +finding Master Jack, though other folks said different. However, I +never heard as how they met, and the Vicar he be back in England now, +and I wish we'd got him here again. Not but what Mr. Stanley is a +good young man in his way, you understand, sir; but he ain't our old +Vicar, and nothink won't make him." + +"Has he taken some new living, then?" asked Carlo. + +"Ay, sir, he be just settled in since midsummer; the parish o' +Cleevering in Mountshire--that's his new sitooation, and not a patch +upon this parish, as far as money goes--at least, so folk say. "Now, +sir, just you step and see our monument. That's Sir Gerald +Fitzgerald, as was killed in the Civil War; Naseby or Marston Moor I +b'lieve it was,--at any rate, the last battle before King Charles was +taken. Belike you know, sir, how it was called; I'm not much of a +scholard myself." + +"Nor I," said Carlo, not at all desiring to be put through an +examination in English history, and feeling extremely shaky as to +dates. + +He stayed long enough to please the sexton, and duly admired the +village church, then, having gladdened the old man's heart with a +shilling, he bade him good-day, and rejoined Sardoni, whom he found +still stretched at full length under the elm-tree. + +He got up quickly as Carlo drew near, and looked anxiously into his +face. + +"Well?" he exclaimed, in the sharpened voice of fear and apprehension. + +"It is all right," said Carlo, reassuringly. "Your father has got a +new living. He is just settled down at Cleevering in Mountshire." + +"How did you find out? Did they suspect anything?" + +"No; but they spoke of you. I learnt it from the old sexton." + +"What! dear old Johnson! Is he still alive? Did you really see him?" + +"He seemed very fond of you all, specially of you, and he spoke so +warmly of your father. But, Jack, you must forgive me, I couldn't +help hearing it, for the old fellow would ramble on, and I couldn't +shut him up without making him suspicious, I heard--well, what you +wouldn't tell me that day at Naples." + +He looked up at him apologetically. + +"'Pon my soul!" exclaimed Sardoni, "you're the oddest fellow I ever +knew. You look as if it were you that was to blame, not me!" + +"I was sorry to know it, since you didn't wish me to know." + +"All right, Val--all right!" said Sardoni, in a choked voice. "I +might have known it wouldn't turn you against me! As I told you +yesterday, you would make excuses for the devil himself--and so would +old Johnson! Tell me just what he said." + +They sat down again in the shade, and Carlo repeated the whole +conversation, Sardoni listening with averted face, and nervously +crushing in his fingers the fallen leaves which lay on the grass +beside him. + +"As to the money," he said, when Carlo paused, "I swear to you, +Donati, I didn't know what I was doing! I was mad!--if not, is it +likely that, to escape my father's blame, I should have done what the +world would blame a thousand times more? Embezzlement is an +unpardonable crime, but to ruin a girl is an offence very easily +condoned by society." + +"That's true--to our shame be it spoken!" said Carlo, with a gleam of +indignant light in his eyes. + +"I was mad--desperate!" resumed Sardoni. "It all came out at her +death--and I--why I felt like a murderer! My father was not one to +spare a fellow in such a case. I couldn't stand it; to stay at home +was more than a fellow could bear; I was bound to get away from him. +And then came a mad impulse to take this money which was within my +reach, and break off with the old world altogether and rush to +America." + +"And in America you met Merlino?" + +"Yes. I got on much better than I deserved. But, somehow, a thing +like that makes a fellow think, and when I saw the game Comerio was +playing, and how helpless and friendless your sister was, I couldn't +help feeling sorry for her, and angry to think that I was the last +sort of man who could help her." + +"You did help--we owe everything to you!" said Carlo, warmly. + +"Well, when your name was announced that day at Naples, I had just an +impulse to see you and tell you the truth, and somehow,--there's a +bit of the magician about you, Val,--you stung me up far worse than +my father had ever done, and to some purpose. Hulloa! you are +shivering with cold; let us walk on." + +He looked back sadly enough at the old home which his wrong-doing had +desolated, then, turning away with a heavy sigh, left the copse and +re-crossed the field. Carlo said little, but took his arm, and as +they walked back to the station wondered in his own mind what would +be the wisest thing for his friend to do. + +"We are not very far from Mountshire, I suppose, here," he said at +length. "Shall you go there or shall you write?" + +"Neither," said Sardoni. "I can't go through a day like this again, +Val." + +"But if, as the old sexton thought, your father had been trying to +find you all these years? Surely you could at least write." + +"And send him a playbill?" said Sardoni, sarcastically. "No, no; +that idea of old Johnson's won't hold water. I know my father better +than he does. He's one of the best men in the world, and also one of +the hardest. I won't run the risk of reviving the old disgrace in a +new parish; I will hold my peace, and be to every one, except you, +just Sardoni the tenor." + +Carlo was sorry that his friend had made this decision, but he knew +that had he been in Sardoni's place arguments would only have +irritated him. So he held his peace, and comforted himself with the +reflection that in so small a country as England the chances were +greatly in favor of a meeting between the father and son. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +WINTRY WEATHER. + + "Come through the gloom of clouded skies, + The slow dim rain and fog athwart; + Through east winds keen with wrong and lies, + Come and lift up my hopeless heart. + Come through the sickness and the pain, + The sore unrest that tosses still; + Through aching dark that hides the gain, + Come and arouse my fainting will." + --_A Threefold Cord._ + + +The autumn wore on, and the cold weather set in. Merlino's Company +had become pretty well accustomed, however, to wintry weather during +their American tour, and no one suffered much except Carlo, who, +having never left Italy before, found the English climate fearfully +trying. Unselfish as he was, he was by no means so devoid of +common-sense as Captain Britton thought him, and, knowing how much +depended on his health, he took all possible precautions. He was not +one of those short-sighted and aggravating people who seem to take +pleasure in prematurely wearing themselves out, and who give their +friends constant trouble just because their zeal outruns their +discretion. There was in his character a strong vein of that +matter-of-fact good sense which is to be found in most Italians, +though not in the popular English conception of them. Sardoni was +quite surprised when, one day after "Treasury," he consulted him as +to the best tailor in the place where they were staying, and then +went off promptly and ordered a fur-lined coat which must have cost +considerably more than a month's salary, and which proved the envy of +all the other men in the Company. + +"You are the most inconsistent fellow I ever met," said Sardoni, when +the coat came home; "you go in for a luxurious thing like that, and +yet seem to be willing to go without most things that other men care +for." + +"It's not a bad thing in coats," said Carlo, looking at the brown fur +with satisfaction; "and this is the first time I've felt warm for a +month. You see I really must get rid of this cough, or I shall soon +have a voice like a fog-horn." + +"Well," said Sardoni, with a laugh, "I'm glad you're no ascetic, for +they are bad to live with, as I know to my cost. There's nothing +like it for driving a fellow the other way." + +But, spite of the fur coat, Carlo's health did not improve; the +constant travelling, the draughts on the stage, the necessity of +turning out every night, ill or well, in rain or snow, and the +constant strain of physical hard work and mental excitement, all told +on him severely. Nor was it possible for a man of his temperament to +go through all the suffering and grief of the past few months without +paying for it. It was not only the change of physical climate which +told upon him, it was the change of moral climate. + +To have lived always with such tender, devoted love as had been his +at home is in some ways a good preparation for after life, but it +inevitably makes the plunge into the loveless outer world much +harder--safer, perhaps, but more bitter. The world is the gainer, +insomuch as it receives a loving, unsullied nature into its midst, +but to the man himself the process is very painful; he is, as it +were, transported suddenly from the tropics to the arctic regions. +Even Carlo's great success, which in itself was enjoyable enough, had +many drawbacks, for it stirred up jealousy, or perhaps won him +admiration and small attentions with which he would thankfully have +dispensed. Already he had proved the truth of Enrico's remark--"The +men will trouble you with their jealousy, because of your success, +and the women with their love, because of your face." + +There were endless little annoyances of this sort, which in good +health and spirits he could take lightly, but which began +increasingly to prey upon his mind, while every day it seemed to him +more difficult to put up with Merlino's rudeness, and with the petty +insults and hateful innuendoes with which Gomez delighted to try his +patience. Sardoni used to watch him curiously at such times; he +never got quite so far as not to show that he felt provoked, and this +no doubt, prompted Merlino and Gomez to persevere; for to badger an +obtuse man is no sport, but to worry a sensitive man and see how long +he will stand it is interesting to some people. Even Sardoni owned +to a kind of pleasurable feeling in watching these encounters; more +than once he surprised a look of vindictive anger on Carlo's face, +and always he could see that his color rose, and that the blood must +be tingling in his veins, for he was hot-tempered, though he had his +temper well in control. Curiously enough the only real outburst of +passion into which he was betrayed was due to Sardoni himself, not to +the cross-grained Impresario or the malicious Spaniard. + +It arose in this way. Christmas was over, and Merlino's troupe had +wandered from big town to big town, sometimes meeting with unusual +success, sometimes performing to woefully empty houses, or at best to +houses which had been "filled with paper." Carlo had by this time +become well accustomed to the life; he was familiar with every face +in that little moving army, with its curiously assorted nationalities +and its several ranks and grades, its principles, its chorus-singers, +male and female, its leading instrumentalists, who had to supplement +the local orchestras, its stage carpenters, its baggage men, its +dressers. Most of them were individually known to him, many of them +were his friends, while some had been won over by Gomez into +champions of the departed Comerio. + +Towards the middle of January Merlino had arranged to take one of the +London opera-houses, and give a series of twenty performances, a +project bold to rashness at that time of year. The Company betook +themselves to various dreary lodging-houses in the neighborhood of +the theatre, and Carlo, under very depressing circumstances, made his +first acquaintance with London and his first appearance on a London +stage. + +It seemed as if everything conspired together against him at that +time; the weather was trying in the extreme, there were heavy +snow-storms, and then for days after the great piles of blackened +snow would lie on either side of the streets. The dense, yellow +fogs, and the utter absence of sun, made him so miserable that life +seemed hardly worth living; while to add to the physical discomforts, +his throat became so seriously affected by the climate that he often +hardly knew how to get through his work. Merlino was in a state of +nervous irritability natural enough and almost excusable to one who +was playing so risky a game; Mlle. de Caisne, who travelled under +Nita's chaperonage, had fallen hopelessly in love with the new +baritone, and was a constant thorn in his side; while Nita herself +was so tryingly foolish and unreasonable that it was all he could do +not to lose patience with her. Things were in this state when +suddenly a far worse trouble arose to threaten him. One morning, +sorely chafed by some dispute which had arisen, he as usual took +refuge in silence, and leaving Sardoni to continue the conversation +with Nita and Mlle. de Caisne, turned to the window and took up the +outside of the _Times_, glancing with no special purpose down the +columns in which concerts and matters connected with the musical +world are advertised. He had taken up the paper casually enough, +little thinking that instead of a distraction it would prove an +additional care, when, suddenly, and with a shock indescribable,--a +shock which for the time half paralyzed him, he read the words: +"Signor Comerio begs to announce his arrival in town. All +communications with regard to concerts or other engagements to be +addressed to Antico and Co." + +For some minutes he stood still, dimly hearing the voices in the room +behind him,--dimly seeing the dreary street, with its grim, smutty +houses and iron railings; then, without a word, he folded the paper, +left the room, and with a craving to get away alone out of the reach +of all interruptions, made his way into St. James's Park. + +Comerio had followed them? Comerio was in England--in London at that +very minute? What could possibly have induced him to come to London +at this time of year, save the one desire and intention of meeting +Anita? The news sent a sort of horrible flash of light across some +of the dark hints which Gomez had lately dropped. A miserable +feeling of utter hopelessness took possession of him; he had tried +and struggled, he had given up all for the sake of preventing this +evil, he had borne shame, and pain, and wretchedness indescribable, +and here were his plans defeated. How could he hope to overcome so +wily a foe as Comerio? How was it possible to save his sister when +she refused to be saved? He could not even feel that he had any +influence with her, it seemed to him that as time went on she only +treated him with a more contemptuous indifference, or at times even +with open dislike. Had he given up all for her sake only to be hated +by her in return? Had he lost all that was dearest to him only to +fail in this attempt? + +Those brief lines in the _Times_ had fallen like a bomb-shell into +his life. + +He had wandered miserably round the dreary-looking park. The fog was +not quite so dense as it had been on the previous day, he could see +through a misty haze the chill, gray-looking water, and the ducks +swimming about aimlessly, and here and there in the distance the +outlines of great houses. Presently he heard the Westminster chimes, +and he remembered how, long ago, Francesca had told him of the words +which belonged to them-- + + "Lord, through this hour, + Be Thou our guide, + So by Thy power + No foot shall slide." + +But he was too hopeless to pray, and the next moment Big Ben warned +him that he must hurry back for a rehearsal of _Un Ballo in +Maschera_. He reached the theatre, feeling harassed and ill, and +made his way to the green-room, where he found Sardoni, looking more +cheerful than he had done for some time past, and with a mischievous +gleam about his eyes. + +"You basely deserted me in the argument," he exclaimed, as Carlo +entered; "but I'll have my revenge on you! You're the most careless +fellow on earth, leaving diamonds straying about loose in a London +lodging-house!" + +Carlo, glancing down quickly, saw that Francesca's ring, which he +always wore, was not on his hand. + +"Where is it?" he said, hastily, feeling annoyed that he could have +forgotten it even for a moment. + +"Ah! that is the question," said Sardoni, taking him by the shoulders +in teasing fashion, and meaning to have a little fun out of him +before he yielded the ring, which was on his own finger. + +Unluckily the light at that moment happened to flash on the diamond, +and Carlo, in a sudden paroxysm of anger, wrenched himself away from +the teasing hold, and dashing at Sardoni, with all his force, took +him so completely by surprise that, before a bystander could have +uttered a word of remonstrance, the tenor had measured his length on +the floor, and the ring had been seized by its rightful owner. + +Sardoni had gone over like a ninepin, being utterly unprepared for so +furious an onslaught; he was angry and astonished. + +"What the devil are you after!" he exclaimed, as he picked himself up. + +"Jack, Jack,--I didn't mean it!" exclaimed Carlo, his wrath spent in +that one lightning-like flash, and shame and regret overwhelming him +as he partly realized what he had done, and saw the look of grave +inquiry with which one of the officials belonging to the theatre +regarded them as he entered the green-room. + +Sardoni was silent till they were once more alone. He could not keep +his anger in face of Carlo's shame and dismay. + +"I didn't know there was anything particular about the ring. Gigi +brought it down from your washhand-stand; I only meant to chaff you a +little." + +"It was the ring which belonged to my betrothed," said Carlo. "Not +that that is any excuse, indeed, I think it makes it rather worse." + +He was evidently so unhappy about it that Sardoni quite lost all +feeling of offence. + +"Well, you know, old fellow, I always wanted to poke up the devil in +you and see what you'd do." + +Carlo turned away with a sigh. + +"I can't think why I did it! I was beside myself. If I had done it +to Gomez, now, it might have been easier to understand; but to you, +Jack, you whom I'm really fond of! I can never forgive myself." + +He was very quiet now, and sad and ashamed; in all his life he had +never been guilty of such an unreasoning fit of anger. + +"Never mind, Val," said the Englishman, almost as much surprised by +the vehement regret as by the attack itself. "I declare I like you +the better for it, I do indeed. Why, to hear you talk one might +suppose you had meant to murder me!" + +"I meant nothing, that's the horrible part of it to me," said Carlo. +"I wanted the ring and to be free from your teasing. There wasn't a +moment to think--it was all over in a flash. How am I to tell that I +mayn't murder some fellow one of these days by a like impulse?" + +"My dear boy!" Sardoni laughed till he was almost convulsed, "you +who wouldn't hurt a fly!" + +"Well, you laugh," said Carlo; "and it's good of you to take it +lightly; but I can't see that there's a pin to choose between me and +the man who murders in sudden anger. Anyhow, I know I can never be +hard on such a murderer again." + +"That's like the story of the fellow who saw a man going to the +gallows, and exclaimed, 'There but for the grace of God goes----' I +forget the old buffer's name. However, Val, I don't think you need +be afraid, for you have plenty of that sort of thing and little +enough of the devil's help." + +"That's what I can't understand about it," said Carlo, in the most +outspoken way. He hardly ever spoke of religion, but when he did +speak it was with the direct simplicity and naturalness hardly to be +ever met with in England save in children. "That's what puzzles me. +How can I say the Veni Creator one hour and know it is true, and the +next turn upon my friend like that? My blood was made hot just by +that trifle." + +At that moment the call-boy appeared to summon them, but in the many +and wearisome delays, and repetitions, and scraps of rest, Carlo +apparently had time to think out his problem; for as he and Sardoni +walked home together he said, just as if no rehearsal had +intervened,-- + +"I see how it was, Jack. I was horribly anxious, and had lost faith; +then quickly into that vacant space steps the devil, and presto! I +am made to knock down my best friend." + +Evidently the whole affair was so graphically before his own mind +that Sardoni suppressed his inclination to laugh. + +"You are an old-fashioned fellow, Val," he said; "not at all up to +the modern lights, as I told you once before. A fellow that does +believe in the devil and doesn't believe in divorce! My dear boy, +you're an anachronism! But what made you so horribly anxious? +Anything gone wrong?" + +"No, of course it's all right; but at first it took my breath away, +and I thought all was lost. Comerio is in London." + +Sardoni gave a low whistle of surprise and dismay. + +"Are you sure it is true! Who told you?" + +"No one, I saw it in the _Times_ this morning." + +"What! while I was finishing the argument? You had plenty of +self-control, then, for you betrayed nothing at all." + +"_Il Diavolo_ had not then arrived on the scene; he joined me in St. +James's Park," said Carlo, with the utmost gravity. + +"I hope he is not with us in Pall Mall," said Sardoni, mischievously. +"It makes me feel quite uncanny to hear you talk. Let us hope he has +left you." + +"Why, certainly," said Carlo, with perfect good humor, and +unconsciously borrowing one of Gigi's Americanisms. "I couldn't do +with him at all on the stage. How could I have rehearsed Renato to +any purpose if I had been worrying over Comerio's arrival all the +time?" + +"Oh!" said Sardoni, reflectively; "so you think that his province is +to make people worry." + +"To seize on every one's vulnerable point," said Carlo. "I see now +that to worry oneself and be over anxious about others is a sin." + +"One that most people consider a virtue and love to parade," said +Sardoni, with some recollection of his old home-life in his mind. + +"Myself I never thought of it before, but it must be so," said Carlo. +"One needs a thing like this every now and then to make one think. I +hope you'll forgive me, Jack, for having been in such a fury with +you?" + +Sardoni laughed away his apologies, declaring again that he liked him +the better for it; but it was not the passion which made him feel +this, it was the contrast between the sudden outburst and Carlo's +usual life; it was the thought, "this fellow is no weakly, amiable +character, he is strong enough to keep under this hot southern +nature. After all there's hope for me yet, if he, with such fire in +his veins, has managed to turn out what he is." He was far from +troubling himself to go into the matter in such detail, but this was +the real reason that he was so strongly drawn to his friend after +their quarrel. + +Sardoni was not a little curious to know more about Carlo's love +affairs, but he could not make up his mind to speak to him about the +matter: instead, he threw out a casual remark that afternoon, when it +happened that he and Anita were practising a duet in the drawing-room +which they had to sing at night. + +"Mlle. de Caisne is doing her best to captivate your brother, don't +you think?" he said, by way of leading up to the subject. + +"Yes, the little goose," said Nita; "it makes me quite cross to watch +her." + +"Our Valentino doesn't exactly enjoy it either, I fancy," said +Sardoni. "I understand from him that he was to have been married at +one time." + +"Yes, he was betrothed to Miss Britton, an English girl who lived +near us. It was broken off when he went on the stage; in some ways +it is rather a pity, for she was well off, and he'll not find such a +pretty girl again in a hurry. But, after all, as I told him only the +other day, these marriages with foreigners seldom turn out really +well." + +"What did he say to that?" asked Sardoni, marvelling at the +indifferent way in which she spoke of the sacrifice which she must +have known had been made for her sake. + +"Oh, he said nothing at all! only blushed up like a girl, and looked +as he always does when I say what he doesn't like." + +While she was speaking the door was thrown open, and the servant +announced "Signor Comerio." Sardoni, charmed to think how Comerio +would hate him for being in the way, greeted him in the friendliest +manner, and determined to stay and be hated to the bitter end: he +could see from Anita's manner that she was not wholly unprepared for +Comerio's sudden appearance. + +"But I interrupt a _tête-à-tête_," said Comerio, in his soft, +flattering voice. "What did I hear from Madame Merlino's lips? +'When I say what he doesn't like!' Does our _prima donna_ ever say +anything distasteful to mankind?" + +Nita laughed. + +"We were talking of my brother," she said, taking her revenge on +Sardoni for not at once going away by saying what she knew would vex +him. "I was trying to persuade him the other day that it was just as +well his engagement with Miss Britton was broken off, and naturally +he didn't like it." + +Sardoni bit his lip. He would have given much to have refrained from +introducing the subject, and he thought Madame Merlino showed very +bad taste in speaking of it before Comerio, while to make matters +worse, Carlo happened just then to come into the room. + +Now, Comerio had his back to the door, but he could see all that was +passing in the mirror, and he was quick to seize the opportunity of +wounding his foe. + +"Miss Britton, the beautiful English girl?" he exclaimed. "Yes, yes; +I saw her only the other day. She's quite the rage just now at +Naples." + +Sardoni glanced from the cold, clever, cruel face of Comerio to the +face of his friend. The words evidently stung Carlo. He paused for +a minute with his hand on the door, but quickly regaining a composure +that under the circumstances was masterly, he came forward, greeted +Comerio in his ceremonious Italian way, and contrived to keep the +conversation pretty much in his own hands throughout the call. +Sardoni, in his careless easy fashion, helped him not a little by +making a running fire of jests and bad puns, while all the time he +was studying that strange trio who beneath his eyes were acting so +grave a drama--Nita, nervous and excited; Comerio, with his +contemptible hatred and contemptible love showing occasionally +through the thin veneer of ordinary politeness; and the Knight-Errant +himself, with his manly, alert-looking face, and his enviable way of +saying the right thing at the right minute. + +Certainly, Comerio gained little that afternoon; but his pursuit had +unsettled Anita, and though Carlo could not make out that she saw him +except every now and then in the green-room when many others were +present, yet he knew that there had never been a time when his hopes +had so nearly been defeated. + +It was some relief to get away from London, for in the provinces he +felt that the sword of Damocles was not so immediately above them. +In the mean time, however, his cough grew worse, and he began to look +very delicate--at least, so thought Gomez and Sardoni, the only two +people who really watched him. + +It was one night at Birmingham that Gomez managed to give his enemy +the sharpest stab he had yet delivered. For some days Carlo had been +in wretched voice, and on this particular evening he was conscious +that his performance had been worse than usual. He came into the +green-room feeling worn-out and dispirited. Gomez, Sardoni, Nita, +and two or three others were grouped about the fire. Nita, in her +elder-sisterly fashion, began to upbraid him. + +"You sang execrably, Carlo!" she said, thrusting her little +daintily-shod foot nearer the blaze, and looking far from pleasant as +she lifted her bright, cold eyes to his. "You put me out altogether +in that last scene. It's intolerable!" + +"I am sorry I put you out," he said, with the pained look which he +seldom managed now to repress when Nita attacked him. + +"Don't discourage him; that's not fair on a beginner!" said Gomez. +"See, Donati, there's a _critique_ on your 'Rigoletto' in the evening +paper." + +And he handed it to him with a sarcastic little bow. + +"Too bad! too bad!" exclaimed some of the others; but they laughed +nevertheless, for the new baritone had hitherto received nothing but +praise, and they thought a change of diet would be good for him, +while to them it was undoubtedly sweet. + +Carlo took the paper without a word, and read the notice through, +knowing quite well that Gomez would not have drawn his attention to +it had the criticism been favorable. It was not his way to pretend +to be indifferent to the Press; he did care for the praise or blame +or suggestion, and never tried to disguise his feeling, though +nothing would have induced him to win favorable notices by any +efforts of his own. Criticism had, however, much to do with his +future, and on his success hinged all his plans for Nita's +protection; so that he fully recognized the fact so well put by +Macready, that "We cannot 'read our history in a nation's eyes,' but +we can in the daily papers." + +"It is quite true," he said, throwing down the journal with a stifled +sigh. "I acted badly last night and sang worse. They have every +reason to pitch into me." + +"The fact is, you're not fit to sing at all," said Gomez, affecting a +tone of friendly advice. "You are ill, and need a long rest." + +"No, no," said Carlo, quickly; "it's nothing but this awful climate. +I shall be all right when it gets warmer. I mean to go in for an +Ammoniaphone, and see if manufactured Italian air won't work wonders." + +"Well," said Gomez, "Comerio prophesies that he shall go to America +with us next September, and I believe his prophecy will come true." + +Carlo glanced at his sister, and read in her face excitement--even, +he fancied, hope. He was deeply wounded, as Sardoni, who had been +idly looking on without taking any part in the talk, could see. + +"Ladies and gentlemen for the last act!" announced the call-boy; and +the little group round the fire dispersed. + +Carlo, whose part in the opera was over, left the green-room with +Anita, walking with her to the wings. + +"I hope I shall be able to stay with you," he said, in a low voice, +feeling that he must win from her some word which would contradict +the look he feared he had seen in her face. + +"Do you?" she said, coldly. "It is satisfactory to see how you like +the life. I should have thought, now your voice has gone off so +much, you would have been glad enough if Merlino chooses to end your +engagement in the summer. For my part, I wish he would!" + +The tone of bitter dislike in which she spoke was more than he could +bear. He turned away, and shut himself into his dressing-room, where +presently Sardoni found him, with his arms on the mantelpiece, his +face hidden, and his whole frame shaken with sobs. + +"Why, Val!" exclaimed his friend, "has that brute of a Spaniard vexed +you so much?" + +"Go, go!" he exclaimed vehemently in Italian. "You can't understand!" + +"I'll be hanged if I go!" said Sardoni, laying a hand on his +shoulder. "Bless your innocence! do you think no Englishman has ever +shed tears? I know what it was; it was not Gomez--it was something +Madame Merlino said to you just now." + +Carlo raised his head, thrust both hands through his hair, and, still +keeping his face hidden, said in a voice which struggled in vain to +steady itself,-- + +"She hopes it will be as he said. She wishes me to go. It is all of +no use; I can do nothing for her--nothing!" + +"Now, look here!" said Sardoni; "it's not a bit of good for you to +try to think rationally to-night. You are bothered by that +_critique_, and by your bad reception just now, and by that brute +Gomez--and by a hundred other things, likely enough. You just shelve +it all till to-morrow; and come and have some oysters with me, and +then go to bed like a Christian." + +Carlo made an effort to recover himself, and before long was walking +home arm in arm with Sardoni, his hat pulled over his eyes. + +"The fact is, old fellow, you're a long bit too sensitive for +knocking about with men of the calibre of Gomez and Comerio," said +Sardoni. "However, you would never act as you do if you weren't +sensitive, so it cuts both ways." + +"For oneself it pays better to call it being thin-skinned," said +Carlo, regaining his matter-of-fact tone. "Once humor your emotional +side, and you are lost. I don't know how I came to break down just +now. This east wind plays the very devil with one. When do you +think it will change?" + +"Oh, very soon now," said Sardoni, drawing on his imagination, for +they were not half through March. + +"You don't think it is true what Gomez said--you don't think I am +really losing my voice?" said Carlo, longing for Sardoni to +contradict the conviction that was becoming a daily torment to his +mind. + +"Not a bit of it!" said the Englishman, cheerfully; "nothing but the +climate. Keep up your heart, old boy! you'll soon be used to it, and +then you can snap your fingers at Comerio and the rest of them. You +may be quite sure that Merlino won't part with you in a hurry. Why +you are his ace of trumps!" + +And all the time Sardoni knew that his friend was on the verge of a +breakdown; and Carlo himself suspected as much, yet found a sort of +comfort in having his fears reasoned away. + +We have all of us been glad at one time or another to win through a +dreary bit of life by the help of illusions, even though we partly +guessed they were illusions all the time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A RESCUER. + + "Such was the life Thou livedst, self-abjuring, + Thine own pains never easing, + Our burdens bearing, our just doom enduring, + A life without self-pleasing."--FABER. + + +Mr. George Britton was a man who seldom ate the bread of idleness, +and since his hurried visit to Naples in the early summer his +holidays had been few and far between. A cruise of a few days in the +_Pilgrim_ before the close of the yachting season had been all he +could snatch from his busy life, for he was one of those men who are +always going out of their way to help other people, and this cannot +be done without an expenditure of time and labor which is often +scarcely realized. He was so kind-hearted, so genial a man, that he +numbered his friends by hundreds; and his life brought him into +contact with such hosts of people that it was often all he could do +to remember the names of those he had helped, to say nothing of their +faces. He had not, however, altogether forgotten Carlo Donati; more +than once he had thought of his pretty niece's ill-fated love story, +but having promised to say nothing about it, even to Miss Claremont, +he had thought it best to mention Carlo's name as little as possible. + +"Yes, I saw him," had been his cautious reply to Clare's questions; +"but the Signora Donati is dead, and I fancy there will not be so +much communication between the two houses now. I myself liked the +fellow very much, but he has some political ideas which annoy my +brother." + +That was all that had passed with regard to Carlo during the nine +months which had since gone by. Clare felt a little sorry and +disappointed as she realized how hard it is not to grow apart from +old friends whom there is no chance of meeting; but she remembered +that it was the way of the world, and that in her wandering life she +must try to be content with touching people closely for the time, and +then passing off the scene to make room for fresh comers. It crossed +her mind once or twice to write to Carlo and send him her sympathy in +his trouble about his mother; but such letters are hard to write, and +she was so busy that somehow the time never came. She contented +herself with inquiring after him in her next letter to Francesca; but +Francesca was a shockingly bad correspondent, and when, in two +months' time, she replied to the letter she made no mention at all of +Carlo. + +Mr. Britton's business often took him from Ashborough, where his own +works were carried on, to a place in the neighboring +county--Mardentown; and one cold, dreary, March afternoon he was +pacing the platform of the Mardentown station, waiting for the train +that was to take him home. He was not alone. One of his many +acquaintances had walked to the station to see him off, and was +pouring out some of his own troubles into the shipbuilder's +sympathetic ears, when he became conscious that his friend was not +listening quite so attentively as usual, and following the direction +of his eyes, exclaimed,-- + +"Oh! you are noticing those Italians. I thought they all went off +yesterday: there was quite a crowd of them last night. It's an +Operatic Company; that's the Impresario, that sullen-faced man with a +black beard; and that's his wife, the _prima donna_ of the party. I +suppose the rank and file went off yesterday and left a few of the +swells behind." + +"Curious," said Mr. Britton, glancing again at the little group; +"that fellow is like a man I met at Naples last year! But, after +all, foreigners always look more or less alike. He's a handsome +fellow; isn't he?" + +"The young one, do you mean? Yes, but too small; that's always the +way with Italians. He looks bigger on the stage, though. I saw him +the other night in _Marta_. What on earth was he called--Sardoni? +No; that was the tenor. I forget. One mixes up these outlandish +names so. Look, they are sending him to the bookstall to get the +local papers; no doubt they want to read the criticisms on their +singing." + +The talk turned once more upon other matters, and the two friends +paced up the platform; then, warned by the big bell that the train +was coming into the station, retraced their steps. + +"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Mr. Britton, clutching his friend's arm. +"Look! A child on the line!" + +He rushed down the platform, while at the same instant warning cries, +shouts, and a heart-rending shriek in a woman's voice, filled the +air. It was all over in a few seconds, and yet there seemed time to +take in all the details--the horror of the spectators, the utter +helplessness of the child himself, who stood terrified and +bewildered, hearing the shouts, seeing the train approaching, and yet +too completely paralyzed by fear to move, literally frightened out of +his wits. Mr. Britton dashed on and had almost reached the spot when +a slight lithe figure darted across the platform in front of him; it +was a wonder that they did not knock each other over, but the Italian +just swerved to the left in time, leapt down on to the railroad, and +ran like the wind to the rescue of the child. There was a moment of +intense pain to all the spectators; people held their breath; would +the child be saved, or would he and his rescuer be cut down together? +The chances seemed about even: not a little depended on the man's +strength, and the child might, no doubt, help or hinder his own +rescue. The train was slackening speed, yet it seemed to advance +with a rapidity that was frightful to watch. It was almost upon the +child; the women hid their faces, the men strained their eyes to see +what would happen, while the rescuer gave a cry, at the sound of +which the child turned, ran a step or two with uplifted hands, and +was caught up in the strong arms of the man who had saved it from +death. The next instant they were in the six-foot way, and the train +passed on and hid them from view. + +Mr. Britton drew a deep breath, and, now that the horror of the +moment was over, found time to wonder at the cowardice of the +spectators. There were several men on the platform, some of them far +nearer than he had been at the time the alarm had been given; but no +one had rushed instantly to the rescue except himself and the young +Italian who had intercepted him. + +"Of course," he overheard one man remark to another, "I made sure the +people who belonged to him would save the poor little beggar. They +say he's the child of Merlino, but if so, Merlino did nothing but +shout and tear his hair. Look here! there'll just be time for a +brandy-and-soda; I declare it's given me quite a turn." + +The speakers ran at full speed to the refreshment-room, and Mr. +Britton, with indignation in his heart, turned to see whether the +rescuer was in sight again. He was at that moment appearing at the +far end of the platform, the child still in his arms. Mr. Britton +joined in the eager little crowd which speedily surrounded him; but +every one was talking and asking questions, so he held his peace, +only looking and listening and feeling strongly drawn to the young +Italian, who seemed not to consider himself at all in the light of a +hero or to be troubled by the fear that the spectators might do so. +An Englishman's first impulse would have been to escape from the eyes +of the crowd; the Italian seemed not to consider at all what the +onlookers might think of him; he was a little flushed and excited and +much taken up with the child, who clung to him and refused to be +given to his father. + +"The dear little fellow," said Merlino, kissing his son, with tears +in his eyes. "He is not hurt? You are sure he is not hurt?" + +"Not a bit, only frightened. How in the world did he get down there?" + +"He owes his life to you, sir," said the station-master; "I never saw +a closer shave!" + +"It seemed almost upon us," said Carlo, "relentless as Juggernaut." + +But, though he did not under-estimate the danger, it did not appear +to make him feel the need of a brandy-and-soda. He turned in the +most practical and matter-of-fact way to choose a carriage. + +"You get in, Nita," he said, opening the door, "and I'll give you +Gigi on your lap." + +Mr. Britton, puzzled at the comparative indifference of the mother, +took possession of a corner-seat in the same carriage, and felt +relieved to see that as she took the child she bent down and covered +his face with kisses. In truth, poor Nita in that moment of horror +had for the first time realized what the loss of her child would be +to her; the agony of seeing him in danger, without being able to stir +a finger to save him, had touched into life the motherly love which +till now had lain dormant in her heart. But the shock had almost +stunned her for the time, and it was not till she held Gigi in her +arms that any sign of feeling escaped her. Carlo's face lighted up +as he saw how closely she held the little fellow, and both he and +Merlino were so much taken up with the child, that it was not till +just the last minute that they thought of the luggage. + +"Did you see it in, Gomez?" asked Carlo, turning to the Spaniard who +had ensconced himself comfortably in the corner opposite Mr. Britton, +and beside Mlle. de Caisne. + +"I? No, I imagined you had given directions," replied Gomez, with +the most irritating air of calm dignity. + +Carlo sprang up and put his head out of the window. + +"It is gone," he said, "it must be all right." + +"Ah, but my bag!" exclaimed Nita. "You really might think of things +for me! I must have left it on one of the benches." + +The train was on the point of starting, Carlo flung open the door and +rushed in search of the lost property, while Merlino, fuming with +impatience and anxiety, hurried across the carriage to look from the +window. + +"_Santo diavolo!_ we are moving!" he exclaimed. "What induced you to +be so careless, Nita! Valentino will be left behind--he'll be too +late for the opera. There! I told you so," as the train steamed on +relentlessly, and a porter closed the door with an authoritative +bang, regarding neither the nerves nor the anxieties of the +travellers. + +"There's not a creature who can take his part to-night, you know +there's not, and Marioni won't have rehearsed anything else," stormed +Merlino, swearing at his wife, and wholly disregarding the presence +of a stranger. The babel that ensued was deafening, Gigi adding not +a little to the confusion by bursting into tears, and crying as only +children of that age can cry. Mr. Britton began to wish that he had +chosen another carriage, yet was obliged to own that these people +interested him, and that there was something rather amusing in this +glimpse of life behind the scenes. He got out his train-book to see +whether there was any other train which would bring the missing +singer away from Mardentown in time for the opera, and wondered +whether these people were going to Ashborough, or to its near +neighbor and rival, Queenbury. + +Just at this minute, however, the train stopped at a suburban +station, and to the relief and astonishment of all, Carlo suddenly +appeared at the door. + +"Where on earth did you come from?" exclaimed Merlino. + +"The guard's van," said Carlo, taking the vacant place beside Mr. +Britton, and evidently perceiving that the atmosphere was disturbed. +"I am afraid I gave you all a fright, but there was no chance of +getting back to you, only just time to make a dash at the last +carriage. I seem fated to run races with the train to-day." + +There is nothing more strangely trying than the sudden reaction after +great anxiety. Merlino, whose temper was always irritable, was now +in the worst possible humor; the very perception that he owed a deep +debt of gratitude to his brother-in-law chafed him into greater +rudeness and harshness. As for Carlo, when he had put the bag up in +the netting, he resigned himself to the inevitable, and bore the +storm for the most part in silence, interposing a word or two when he +thought it would be any use, but knowing too well that Merlino in +this sort of humor must be allowed to have his fling, and that any +sort of argument would only make matters worse. + +At the first opportunity he took Gigi on his knee, and drawing a +little further from Merlino, and nearer to Mr. Britton, began to do +what he could to check the loud crying, which was irritating both the +father and mother, and which had resisted all Nita's coaxing and +Merlino's threatening. + +"See, Gigi, you must be quiet," he said, lowering his voice a little. + +"I thought you were lost," sobbed the child; "I was so +frightened,--and--and I've lost my poor, dear, little soldier!" + +When he had recounted this catalogue of woes his tears rained down +faster than ever. + +"You shall have another. Where did you lose it!" + +"It dropped down where the train goes, and I jumped down to look for +it, but I couldn't see it nowhere, and then they shouted, and the +train came by." + +"Well," said Carlo, holding the child closer, "you must never get off +the platform again at a station; and as to the little soldier, why, +we will get a new one to-morrow at Ashborough. See--dry your eyes, +and be a man, and then we will hear about Lionbruno if you like." + +"I don't want Lionbruno," said Gigi. + +"Well, then, the 'Fair Fiorita,' or the 'Fairy Orlanda,' or shall it +be about Buchettino and the Ogre?" + +"I think I'd like about Giucca, and, 'eat, my clothes, eat!'" said +Gigi. + +"Very well," said Carlo. And in English, since that was the language +which Gigi liked best to talk, but with all the graphic imagery of an +Italian, he told the story of Giucca's two visits to the farm; of how +in his poor clothes they drove him away with scorn, but when he came +in velvet vest and gay raiment they invited him to dinner; and how in +irony he had put the food in his hat and in his pockets, saying, +"Eat, my clothes, eat! for you were invited,"--taking care to make a +good dinner for himself into the bargain. + +"Another," said Gigi, when this story was ended. By this time +Merlino and his wife had settled down into their respective corners, +Merlino and Gomez had taken up their papers, Nita and Mlle. de Caisne +appeared to sleep; of the stranger Carlo had taken scarcely any +notice, nor would it have embarrassed him, probably, had he known +that Mr. Britton was listening to the stories quite as attentively as +was Gigi. + +"What shall it be? 'The Shepherd who made the King's daughter +laugh?'" asked Carlo. + +"No," said Gigi, "I'm so tired; I'd like to have about _Il Cristo_." + +"Which story do you want?" + +"Something new," said the child. "I'm so tired,--so tired." + +"Well, once upon a time," began Carlo, who had no feeling at all as +to the mixture of sacred and secular,--"once upon a time, _Il Cristo_ +was very tired, he had been going about from town to town you must +know, and in the towns he never had a minute's quiet, for, of course, +the people wanted to see him, and all day long they were coming and +going, and talking and asking his help, so that he had no rest, and +not even time to eat." + +"That's like you, _zio caro_," put in Gigi. + +"And just at this time he was sad as well as tired; for you must know +that in that country was a bad king, and this one had taken one of +_Il Cristo's_ friends, with whom he used to play when he was a little +boy, and had shut him up in a great gloomy old castle by the side of +a lake, and when he had kept him in prison a long time he sent his +soldiers one evening and ordered the good man's head to be cut off. +When _Il Cristo_ heard that his friend was dead you can fancy how sad +he was, and how he wanted to be alone for a little while out of the +hurry and the rush of the town: and he knew that his followers, too, +were tired, for they had been travelling about, and had had hard work +to do." + +"Were they in his troupe, do you mean?" asked Gigi. + +"Not exactly; but they travelled about with him; they were the men +who tried hardest to do what he said. And just before this they had +been travelling by themselves, which was much harder than travelling +with _Il Cristo_." + +"Did they travel on stuffy cars like this?" + +"No, there were no cars then; most likely they walked, and it was hot +like a furnace, and the sun beat down on their heads and the dust +came in great clouds, and when they got back to the town they were +tired out. Then _Il Cristo_ saw how it was with them, and he said, +'Come away from the town and the hurry and bustle, come right away +into the country and have a rest.' + +"Then they were glad, and he took them in a ship to a place where he +thought they would be quiet--a nice country place." + +"I guess it was like Salem," said Gigi, _sotto voce_. + +"But when they got there, why, what do you think? the people from the +towns had got there before them by a quicker way, and there was a +crowd waiting for them which you should have seen!" + +"Then the troupe didn't get a holiday after all?" + +"Yes, but they did. _Il Cristo_ took the work himself, and they +rested, and just heard him talk." + +"I guess they liked that better than walking in the sun," said Gigi, +thoughtfully. "Why do you know, _zio_, I feel kind o' rested +listening to you here in this car; and they had the country and _Il +Cristo_ too. Do you think he would have been like that to tired men +in our profession?" + +"Why, yes, of course," said Carlo, smiling a little at the way the +child identified himself with the troupe. + +"I wish he'd take us to a country place. You look kind o' tired. I +think he might." + +"So he will when we really need it." + +"Did _Il Cristo_ travel about always like we do? And do you think he +got nasty hotels and lumpy beds?" + +"Often no bed at all; he said so once, not grumbling you know, he +never grumbled." + +"We do sometimes, don't we, when they're real bad?" + +"Yes; but he made the best of things, and thought of other people +before himself; so now, you see, when he was tired and sad he first +took care of the followers, and gave them a rest, and then gave the +great crowd of people a real good time, and let them come and talk to +him, and cured the ones who were sick, and taught them how to be +good, and before he sent them home again gave them plenty to eat." + +"I guess I'm rather hungry just now," said Gigi. "May I have a brown +dog?" + +A "brown dog" proved to be a substantial-looking biscuit, and by the +time this had been discussed Gigi had grown sleepy. Gomez at the +next station changed to a smoking carriage, and Carlo, taking +possession of his empty corner, made the child comfortable, and +suggested a _siesta_, while Mr. Britton was glad to have an +opportunity of studying his features at leisure, and trying to +compare them with his recollections of Carlo Donati when he had last +met him. He saw that there was a likeness, yet at the same time a +great difference, and this Signor Valentino, as he fancied his name +to be, had a look of strength about him which Donati had lacked. It +was hard to describe the great fascination of the face, the curves of +the smooth cheeks and chin were beautiful, the dark moustache so +slight that it did not hide the finely chiselled lips; the forehead +was specially developed just above the eyebrows, the ear small and +set high up in the shapely head, while the rough, dark hair, the high +cheek bones, and the deep, brown eyes would alone have stamped him as +an Italian. He had pulled his red Phrygian train-cap to a +comfortable angle, and had leant back in the corner, with the child +still in his arms. Mr. Britton could have wished that he had not +chosen to go to sleep, for he would have liked to talk with him, and, +perhaps, to say a word or two about his prompt rescue of the little +boy, but he was evidently tired, and though from time to time he +raised his eyelids and glanced out of the window at the country +through which they were passing, he never seemed to notice his +English travelling companion, or to have the slightest wish to talk. +In fact, Carlo had for the time being forgotten his present +surroundings altogether, Gigi's words had returned to him: "I wish +he'd take us to a country place." Now there were times when his +longing for Italy was the keenest of pains, but there were also times +when the mere recollection of his old home made him very happy. It +was thus this afternoon; half asleep, half awake, his mind went back +to the old familiar scenes; he saw the blue bay of Baja, and the +pearly gray mountains of Ischia, and the smiling campagna, and the +near hills, with their outlines broken here and there by umbrella +pines. Then he wandered down the long, shady walks of the Casa Bella +garden, and once more Francesca was with him, and just then the +recollection of her was enough to make him happy; there were times +when he hardly dared to think of her at all; there were times when +memory was anguish, but there were also times when he could smile to +himself with the happiness of the mere thought that Francesca lived +and that he loved her. + +"Is this Ashborough?" asked Nita from the other end of the carriage. + +He was startled back into the present by a voice which seemed to him +to be Captain Britton's. + +"Yes; this is Ashborough, madam." + +Could this traveller be the Captain's brother--the "Uncle +George"--whose arrival at Naples he so well remembered? + +He felt uncertain. It might be only that his half-dreamy +recollections of Casa Bella had made him fancy some familiar tone in +this Englishman's voice. It was hardly likely that Mr. Britton +should happen to get into the same carriage with them. Besides, he +had never connected him with the neighborhood of Ashborough; he +fancied Merlebank was in another county. And even if this should +indeed be Francesca's uncle, would it be very desirable to introduce +himself under the circumstances? + +While he wondered what to do, the train had steamed into the station, +and his doubts were solved and his opportunity lost at the same +moment. Some one on the platform recognized the gray-bearded +Englishman, and threw open the carriage-door. + +"Ha, Britton! are you here? I'm just off to Queenbury, and will take +your vacant place." + +"How are you?" said the Englishman, with a hearty grip of the hand. +"Any of my people here, do you know?" + +"The carriage wasn't up just now; hindered, very likely; the town is +in an awful confusion--the races on Monday, you know." + +Carlo heard no more. He had to carry Gigi to the nearest fly, and +the flies seemed scarce and mostly engaged. When at length he had +secured one, and made over Gigi to his mother, he had to rush off and +see to the luggage, and there was no time to think any more of his +own plans. + +In the meantime, however, Mr. Britton had not lost sight of him. He +felt strangely curious as to the movements of these operatic people, +and being obliged to wait till his own carriage came up, he strolled +to and fro, glancing now out of the station at the driving rain and +the chilly March night, now at his late companions. As usual, it +appeared that "Signor Valentino" did the work, the others all crowded +into the one available fly, and sat impatiently waiting while he +hunted up truant trunks and portmanteaux. + +"What an age you have been!" was the greeting he received. "You +can't get in here! Perhaps there'll be another fly by this time. Do +you think the man can take all the luggage outside?" + +"He'll have to," was the reply. "There's nothing else to be had nor +any chance of getting anything. It seems it is the race week." + +"Can't you change places with him, Signor Gomez?" said Nita, for once +in her life prompted to think for her brother. "His cough is so bad +he oughtn't to be out on such a night." + +Gomez made a dignified excuse, and suggested that if they delayed any +longer it would be impossible to dine before the opera. + +"And by-the-bye, Val, my dear fellow, just stop in passing at the +theatre," exclaimed Merlino; "you'll notice it on your way to the +hotel, and might just see that all is right there." + +"Very well. Is my umbrella handy?" + +They gave it to him and drove off, while Carlo began to wrap up his +throat in a huge muffler, looking distastefully enough at the dark, +muddy street, and the torrents of rain. He was just about to set off +on his wet walk when, on turning to ask the nearest way to the hotel, +he suddenly confronted Mr. Britton. + +"I am expecting my carriage every minute," said the Englishman, in +his kindly voice, which, but for the absence of the slight tone of +patronage, would have been exactly like Captain Britton's. "I hope +you'll allow me to drive you to your hotel." + +"You are most kind," said Carlo. "I should indeed be very grateful; +but perhaps I ought to tell you----" + +He was interrupted. Mr. Britton, glancing round to see if the +carriage had come, chanced to notice a huge advertisement of Signor +Merlino's Operatic Company, and his eye was instantly caught by a +name in large black letters--SIGNOR CARLO DONATI. + +"I must beg a thousand pardons, Signor Donati, for not recognizing +you before!" he exclaimed, shaking him heartily by the hand. "I +thought I knew your face on the Mardentown platform, but I heard them +call you by the name of Valentino, and, moreover, had not the +slightest idea that you were in England or that you had changed your +profession." + +"The change was only just decided on when you left Naples, sir," said +Carlo, his color rising a little. "I hope you have good accounts +from Casa Bella?" + +He tried to subdue the eagerness of his tone, but it was some time +since he had heard from Enrico, and the thought of hearing of +Francesca in so much more direct a way made every pulse in him beat +feverishly. + +"Very good, indeed," said Mr. Britton. "They all seem well. +Francesca is coming to stay with us in the summer, I believe. It was +an old promise, and I think the change will be good for her. Here is +the carriage at last. Now I am quite at your disposal. Shall we +call first at the theatre, and then shall I drop you at your hotel? +Or are you, too, in a hurry to get your dinner?" + +He had kindly made a rather lengthy speech, because he saw how much +the Italian was moved by his reference to Francesca. Carlo asked to +stop at the theatre, and Mr. Britton, who understood now that his +brother's objection to the marriage had had to do with the stage and +not at all with political matters, determined to show that he, at any +rate, did not share in his prejudice. + +"I suppose Valentino is just a nickname; it misled me altogether," he +said. "But for that I think I should have spoken to you, and asked, +at any rate, whether you were related to Signor Donati, the +Neapolitan advocate." + +Carlo smiled. Not for many months had he had such a pleasure as that +friendly talk with Francesca's uncle. + +"It is the name of what is supposed to be my best part--Valentino in +_Faust_," he explained. + +"I see. Well, I must manage to hear you in it. It is twenty years +and more since I heard an opera." + +"Then you have never heard Faust?" exclaimed Carlo, almost +incredulously. "We are to give it to-night; may I really have the +pleasure of getting you an order?" + +"You are very good; I should like nothing better," said Mr. Britton, +fully understanding that since his lady-love could not be present to +hear him the next best thing was to have her old uncle, who might +possibly tell her something about it. He felt convinced that such a +thought had flashed through the young man's mind, and liked him the +better for it, because, after all, it was so human, so precisely what +he himself would have felt at four-and-twenty. + +"You have a very bad cough!" he exclaimed, quite agreeing with the +prima donna that Donati had no business to be out on such a night. + +"Oh, it is only chronic!" said Carlo, lightly, as if that made it an +affair of no account. "Is this the theatre? Will you then come in +with me, and choose your place for to-night?" + +The ticket chosen, Carlo and Mr. Britton made their way through long +and not particularly clean passages to the region behind the scenes. +Here all seemed confusion; carpenters and scene-shifters hurried to +and fro; there was a babel of talking, shouting, hammering; and +Carlo's arrival was evidently hailed as a relief by the man in +authority, who came quickly up to him to explain some difficulty that +had arisen, and to ask whether Merlino would soon be at the theatre. +Mr. Britton, meantime, was learning that scenery and stage illusions +were disenchanting enough when nearly viewed, and in his own mind was +wondering whether anything could possibly teach him to walk +respectably on the sloping stage. It was evident that Carlo was a +practical man, for his suggestions were received as orders, and +something like method began to be traceable in what had at first +seemed the wildest chaos. + +"I must not keep you waiting any longer," he said, after a few +minutes, coming up to Mr. Britton; "thank you for all your kindness. +They seem to have got behindhand here, and I must stay and help them +a little." + +"Will you not come and dine with me at the club?" said Mr. Britton; +"it is close by." + +"You are very good," said Carlo, looking at his watch, "but, to tell +the truth, it is too late for me to dine now. I shouldn't be able to +sing if I did." + +"I hope you don't intend to starve yourself," said the Englishman. +"Surely that can't be good for the voice." + +"No," said Carlo, laughing; "I shall send out for some oysters, or +perhaps take a raw egg or two." Then, seeing Mr. Britton's look of +commiseration, he laughed. "You know we make up for it at supper. I +shall be as hungry as a hunter by the time the opera is over." + +"Then I cannot take you to the hotel?" + +"I think not, thank you; I must be here for the present. When all is +ready I dare say I shall run and see that Gigi is none the worse for +his fright, but they tell me it is close by. You will remember me to +Miss Claremont." + +"She will be delighted to hear you are in England; you must come over +to see us at Merlebank; we are not much more than two miles from the +town. Good-bye then for the present, and I hope you'll find the +little boy has suffered no ill effects." + +It was not till nearly eight o'clock that Carlo could snatch a minute +to run and see after Gigi; hurrying along the wet and cheerless +street he made his way to the hotel, and on the doorstep came +suddenly upon Sardoni, who had gone on to Ashborough on the previous +night with the rest of the troupe. + +"So here you are at last," he exclaimed, "doing the dirty work as +usual, I see. How are you, Val? I declare you look better." + +In truth the meeting with Mr. Britton and the pleasure of having +rescued Gigi had acted as a sort of stimulus, and Carlo, spite of a +very tiring day, felt better than he had done for some months past. + +"I'm as strong as a horse," he said, laughing, "should come in neck +and neck with the winner of the Mountshire Handicap on Monday. Where +is Gigi?" + +"Sitting on the stairs when I last saw him; the place is packed, and +I'm afraid they won't have given you much of a room; Gomez snapped up +the only decent one." + +Carlo waited for no more, but ran upstairs till he came upon the +disconsolate figure of the little boy. + +"Have you had something to eat, _mio caro_?" he asked taking the +child in his arms and carrying him on. + +"Yes, but there's no bed for me," said Gigi, piteously. + +"How's that? one was ordered. Where have they put my portmanteau?" + +"Up at the top," said Gigi, mournfully, "in No. 62; but there's no +bed for me." + +Carlo rang to inquire, only to be told that, the house being quite +full for the race week, no more beds were available; and the only +room, No. 62, proved to be a servant's room vacated just for the +occasion, a dismal little place under the roof, smelling strongly of +stale ham sandwiches. In the corner was one narrow truckle-bed. + +"Never mind, Gigi," said Carlo, passing his arm round the child's +neck, and waking a smile on the dismal little face; "you've slept in +the overland trunk before now. Let us see if you have grown too long +for it; you know it was rather fun last time. Yes?" + +Gigi measured himself by the trunk, to the infinite amusement of the +chambermaid, who volunteered to find him a pair of sheets. + +"But as to blankets, sir, they're every blessed one of them in use," +she added. + +"Never mind, one of mine doubled will do for him," said Carlo, +ruthlessly stripping the truckle-bed. "Now, Gigi, unlock the trunk +for me, and we'll turn the things out on the floor and make room for +you." + +Gigi thought this fine fun; and what with pillows and blanket from +the truckle-bed, and clean sheets which the chambermaid brought hot +from the fire, the improvised crib was comfortable enough. But to +Carlo it somehow suggested a coffin, and the thought of the danger +the child had been in made him shudder as he bent down to kiss him. + +"I do love you so," said Gigi, clinging to him with all his might. +And Carlo hurried back to the theatre with the words ringing in his +ears, and the feeling of the little child's arms still about his neck. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"CLARE." + + "But when I met him he was still the same; + The quiet, happy face that lighted up + As from a sunshine in the heart within, + Rejoicing whomsoever looked on it, + But far more whomsoever it looked on." + _Ugo Bassi_: MRS. HAMILTON KING. + + +The schoolroom at Merlebank was one of those comfortable, nondescript +sort of rooms, which have a charm for most people; it was a room +where you did not feel bound to be on your best behavior,--a room +where you could read with both elbows on the table, or lounge in +unconventional ease by the fireside. It was essentially a snug room, +its green Brussels carpet was comfortably shabby, its curtains were +old-fashioned and faded, its walls were crowded with frameless oil +paintings, which the girls had brought home from the School of Art, +and the books in its crowded bookshelves had evidently seen good +service. Miss Claremont loved the room, and it was in a great +measure her presence which helped to make it one of the pleasantest +retreats in the house. In lesson hours she knew well enough how to +make any unwary visitor feel himself _de trop_, but at all other +times, on half holidays, or on Sundays, or in the long evenings, she +liked nothing better than to sit and talk to any one who chose to +seek her out. She had now been at Merlebank for many years, and had +given to each of the children the "mothering" they so much needed. +In person Clare was short and slight, she was an +insignificant-looking little woman, and took scant pains with her +dress. But all these details were observed only by strangers; to +those who knew her she was just "Clare," the one being in the world +whose sympathy was always available, the only person who could +brighten up a dull dinner, or entertain stupid visitors, or find good +points in those whom the girls themselves condemned as odiously +vulgar. + +All the troubles and anxieties of the household gravitated by a +natural law to the schoolroom. Clare would sit by the fire in +winter, or by the open window in summer, and would listen to Mr. +Britton's anxieties about the children, or to the grandmother's grief +about her failing eyesight, or to Kate's difficulties in her +district, or to the boy's hopes and fears with regard to +examinations, or first loves, or vanished pocket-money. Her clear, +light-blue eyes could sparkle with fun, or grow soft with pity, or +become thoughtful and patient, as she weighed the pros and cons of +some puzzling question; she was the most delightful of confidantes, +and her wide circle of friends did not scruple to work her pretty +hard, for Clare was always supposed to like to hear every one's woes. +Probably she really did like it, and few went away from her +uncomforted, for somehow you were apt to leave the schoolroom feeling +as if she had removed a crape veil from before your eyes, so that the +most common and trivial matters of every-day life became far more +interesting than you had imagined them to be. + +Late on that March evening Mr. Britton, returning from Ashborough, +made all speed towards the schoolroom, and as he had hoped, found +Clare still sitting over the fire reading. + +"The children have all gone to bed," she explained; "Kate waited till +half-past ten, but she was tired with her choir practice." + +"I am glad to find you up," said Mr. Britton, "for I have a message +to you from an old friend of yours, who, to my great astonishment, +proves to be in England." + +"Not Francesca!" exclaimed Clare. + +"Her next-door neighbor, young Donati; he sends you his kind regards +and is very anxious to see you." + +"Well, that is really a delightful surprise," said Clare. "I should +like so much to meet him again, for as a boy he interested me a good +deal. What can have brought him to England?" + +"He has developed a voice, and has turned into an operatic singer. +That quite explains my brother's determination to have less to do +with him, for you know the Captain disapproves of the stage as much +as you do. However, I think I have managed to put two and two +together, and to form a pretty shrewd guess as to Donati's reason for +his sudden change of profession. It seems he has a sister; did you +know her?" + +"She was being educated in a convent when I was in Italy, but I saw +her once or twice. Poor girl! she made some very foolish marriage, I +believe, not long after we came to England. I never heard the rights +of the story, but I know she eloped with some one." + +"Oh, that was it! Well, she seems to have paid dearly for her folly, +poor thing! for her husband is a brute, a more sullen, ill-tempered +fellow I never saw. He is the Impresario of this travelling company +which Donati has joined; the sister, Madame Merlino, is the prima +donna. Let me see, what did he call her? Nita, I think." + +"That was her name. I remember her as a demure little girl, shocked +at Francesca's freedom." + +"Well, she seems to be one of those pretty helpless, unhappy wives +who stand in such grave need of a protector. Now, when I was at +Naples I heard nothing at all about this sister, but on the Sunday, +Donati was introduced to me by my brother as one of the most +promising young advocates at the Neapolitan bar, and his praises were +sung to me in a way which I own rather prejudiced me against him. I +couldn't help liking the fellow when I saw him, however; and you can +imagine my surprise when, on the Tuesday morning, I found that my +brother had quarrelled with him, and that their friendship was at an +end. He had decided on some course of action which the Captain +disapproved, and said you would also disapprove. However, the matter +was a private affair of Donati's and he bound me over to silence, +telling me however, that I should soon see all for myself, and should +then agree with him. I got quite on a wrong tack, and thought it was +some political difference, but surely this is the true explanation. +I appeal to you now, Miss Claremont, as a reader of romances:--given +a pretty actress, with a brute of a husband, and doubtless some not +too reputable admirers, is it not conceivable that circumstances +might arise which should induce her father or her brother to +sacrifice everything in order to save her?" + +"Quite," said Clare; "and Carlo Donati would be the very man to throw +himself into the breach in that way; there was something chivalrous +about him, something one doesn't often meet with nowadays. Do you +remember Mrs. Browning's lines? + + "'The world's male chivalry has perished out, + But women are knights-errant to the last.' + +I always thought she wouldn't have written that if she had known +Carlo." + +"I think there is no doubt that he is playing the part of +knight-errant now," said Mr. Britton, musingly; "and that he has a +hard time of it. I doubt if he will succeed, though. The sister +seemed to be a very shallow, heartless little woman. He is a noble +fellow, much too good to be wasted on such a life." + +He gave Clare a detailed account of what had passed that afternoon. + +"I am sorry he has gone on the stage," she said. "I hoped he would +have done great things. It seems to me that a man like that might +have wonderful influence in public life." + +"And yet in some ways he is admirably fitted for his present work," +said Mr. Britton. "His voice is very fine, and his acting really +first-rate; I went to hear him to-night, and was delighted with him. +Would you care to see him to-morrow? I want you to look him up, for +I think, poor fellow, he is leading the life of a dog; and he seemed +so pleased at the thought of meeting you again. I have promised that +the carriage shall take the Vicar into Ashborough in the afternoon; +he preaches at St. Cyprian's in the evening. Would you like to go +in, too? You might, perhaps, go for a drive with young Donati." + +"It would be the best chance of seeing him alone," said Clare. +"Thank you, I think I will go, and on Sunday I suppose he is sure to +be disengaged." + +Accordingly the next day Clare, having set down the Vicar at St. +Cyprian's parsonage, drove to the Royal Hotel, and sent in her card +with a little pencilled message asking Carlo to come for a drive. As +she waited there she felt a little anxious, and even shy, for after +all it was many years since she had seen Carlo. Would time have +raised a barrier between them? Would Signor Donati, the public +singer, be less approachable than the frank, light-hearted, Italian +boy, who at one time had almost worshipped her? The first glimpse of +him, however, dispelled all her fears; he came quickly forward with +the same eager boyish manner which she recollected so well, and took +both her hands in his. + +"How good, how kind of you to come!" he exclaimed. "This is the +greatest pleasure I have had for a long time. Gigi," he turned to +pick up a small boy, "this is Miss Claremont. Should you mind, +Clare, if I brought him with me? Sunday has come to be considered +his special property." + +Clare was delighted to welcome the little fellow, and made many +inquiries about his narrow escape of the previous day. + +"What a great pleasure it must be to you now to feel that you saved +him!" she said. "I have often wondered how a rescuer would feel +afterwards." + +"It's a satisfaction to feel that I have not failed in one thing +undertaken," said Carlo, rather sadly. + +At first sight Clare had thought him hardly altered, but on looking +more closely at him she saw that his face, when in repose, bore signs +of friction; and, though still very young-looking, told plainly of +grief and sorrow undergone. + +"That is a sad way of putting it," she said. "I thought, too, that +you had had such very great success,--Mr. Britton led me to believe +so." + +"You see," he replied, "every artist leads a double life; just at +that moment I was thinking more of my own personal side of the +question, but really sometimes I think I'm making a failure of both." + +"But you have surely had a very rapid success?" + +"Don't think I am ungrateful for my reception," he said. "I know I +have made what the world calls a success, but I'm not yet satisfied +with myself; and each time I go on the stage I feel that I may fail +utterly. An artist's life is a life of eternal anxiety. But then to +counterbalance that we have moments of inspiration, and they are +worth all." + +Clare was surprised at his sudden fervor. + +"You really like your new profession, then?" she said. "I remember +you were always fond of music." + +"I don't know how I should get on without it," he said. "It is not +only the music that is such a great delight, it is the getting out of +one's own world, the living in the characters of others, the sense of +holding the attention of one's audience and playing upon their +emotions, and the pleasure of giving pleasure. Besides, there is a +kind of satisfaction in being what you were meant to be." + +"Had you long intended to take up this way of life?" + +"No; but Piale had fully educated me for it. I was an advocate, you +know, though I had never practised." + +"And I suppose it was your wish to be near your sister which prompted +you to make the change?" she said. + +He was surprised, and yet relieved, that she had guessed as much. + +"It was my last promise to our mother," he said. But he was quite +silent as to the sacrifice it had been to him to take up the +profession; and Clare, who had not the faintest suspicion of his love +for Francesca, could not, of course, realize what he had been +through. She wondered whether his plan had been a wise one, and +recalled Mr. Britton's description of Madame Merlino, and his +conviction that in this case chivalry would not avail. + +"I know you don't approve of the stage," he said. "Had I thought you +would have seen things as I saw them I should have written to you +when we first came to England, for I was horribly lonely then." + +"I wish you had," she said, with warm sympathy. "Indeed, I should +not have argued with you through the post! Nor will I argue now. It +is quite impossible for me really to judge: I know too little about +the stage." + +"Yet you do disapprove in your secret heart," he said, rather +wistfully. He could not help longing for Clare's benediction on his +efforts. + +"Perhaps it seems to me a little like doing evil that good may come," +she said, hesitatingly. "But that may be only my British prejudice." + +Then, seeing a sad look in his eyes, she added, quickly,-- + +"But, as I said before, Carlo, it is impossible for me to judge. +What did Captain Britton say to it?" + +"He shared in the British prejudice." + +A look of such deep pain flashed across his face that her heart smote +her; she had spoken without very much thought, forgetting that Carlo +would probably feel sore-hearted still at the recollection of the +quarrel with the Captain which Mr. Britton had mentioned. Of the +true state of the case he had nothing to tell her, and the best of +friends cannot avoid now and then wounding each other in the dark. + +"As a matter of fact, you know," she said, in her sweet, bright way, +"I am a very ignorant woman as to these matters. I have never been +inside a theatre, I have never come across people connected with the +stage, and I have no doubt that the evils connected with theatrical +life are painted more darkly than they need be. Indeed, I should be +very glad if you could convert me." + +"Then this shall be the first step in your conversion," he said, +smiling. "Look at these two ladies whom we are just going to pass on +the left." + +Clare looked, Gigi kissed his hand, and the ladies bowed and smiled +as Carlo raised his hat. + +"The tall one has a beautiful face!" exclaimed Clare. "So dignified +and sweet." + +"That is Mlle. Borelli, our contralto; she is one of the noblest +women I know. The other is Mlle. Duroc, her great friend." + +"A nice face, but not so striking as the other," was Clare's comment. +"Well, Carlo, I am glad to have seen them. Perhaps you will some day +convert me altogether and make me approve of theatres." + +The talk turned on other matters, and before they parted Clare made +Carlo promise to come over to Merlebank the next afternoon, and to +bring Gigi with him. + +Curiously enough, however, the question of theatrical life was to be +handled once more that day, and not with Clare's moderation. + +St. Cyprian's was some way from the Royal Hotel, but Carlo, having +chanced upon a very dreary service in the morning at a neighboring +church, was determined to go farther afield, and, hearing from +Sardoni that it was considered one of the finest churches in England, +resolved to seek it out. + +"It's at least a mile," said Sardoni; "however, the choir is worth +hearing, and if you're going I don't mind going with you." + +So the two set off together, arriving somewhat late, and having to +content themselves with places at the very back of the church. Carlo +felt strangely tired; but he was very happy in having met Clare and +Mr. Britton once more, and he was glad Sardoni had volunteered to +come with him. The beautiful building, and the music, and the +service, which was always associated in his mind with Naples and +Francesca, would, even in their mere external aspect, have been a +refreshment; and he was gaining the rest he much needed when the +sermon began, and startled him back into his working-day existence. +For the preacher, sitting in his country vicarage, and well +conversant with all the pleasures of the country, which seemed to him +the only pleasures worth enumerating, had written a fierce diatribe +against the pleasures of the town, and notably against theatre-going. +Perhaps it had not occurred to him that members of the obnoxious +theatrical profession might be numbered in his flock; apparently he +considered them all to be reprobates, for he spoke of them in no +measured terms, and denounced their profession as an unhallowed +calling. Carlo was the more pained by the attack, because the +preacher was evidently a man of great earnestness, a good, upright, +honest man, not a mere denouncer. It was hard, too, to have his +brief respite from work disturbed and spoiled by so untimely an +assault. He tried not to listen, but the mere desire not to hear +made it impossible for him to lose himself in other thoughts, and +whether he would or no the words fell upon his ear. + +"My brethren," continued the preacher, "I look at the hoardings in +your town and see how, even in this solemn time of Lent, the world +seeks to ensnare you. I see that, not content with the usual number +of theatres, another must be opened for the performance of operas; +and I fear that you may be tempted perhaps to snatch at a passing +pleasure. Let me urge you to withstand the temptation; let me +implore you, as you value the health of your own souls, to shun this +false and ensnaring pleasure, the influence of which must be +harmful--may be deadly. Most truly, most wisely do we sing the +words-- + + "'Christian, dost thou see them + On the holy ground; + How the troops of Midian + Prowl and prowl around?'" + + +Carlo was for the moment so much tickled by the implied comparison +between the wandering troupe of Merlino and the prowling troops of +Midian, that he had some difficulty in keeping his countenance. He +did not dare to look at Sardoni; but, taking up a book, read the rest +of the hymn, reflecting sadly that even the much-abused members of +the "unhallowed calling," did sometimes try their best to overcome +"By the merit of the holy Cross." The attack grieved him; it seemed +like the embodiment of the cause which had separated him from +Francesca. He had learnt, moreover, to love his profession; he +believed in it with all his heart; he knew that it need no more be an +unhallowed calling than the calling of the poet, or the painter, or +the sculptor, or the novelist. This preacher clearly failed to +understand the highest meaning of art--he had no sense of the +artistic side of life; neither had he any sense of humor, or he would +instantly have perceived the ludicrous turn which might be given to +his application of the "troops of Midian." + +This particular Midianite began to wonder whether, if he from the +stage had begged people to shun the church and to refrain from giving +at the offertory, the preacher would not have denounced him as a man +who wilfully robbed another of his daily bread. He went on to +picture to himself the immediate consequences of any marked +falling-off in the attendance at the theatre: he thought of the heavy +loss to Merlino, the severe trial to his temper, the consequent +misery and suffering of all about him, the possible effect on Anita. +Then he went on to generalities, and tried to imagine the effect upon +art if the best and purest followed the preacher's advice, and went +no more to the theatre. He saw how the good, and the elevating, and +the lofty in the drama would perforce fail for lack of support; and +how the only thing that would pay would be that which pandered to the +lowest and vilest tastes. He felt that the members of his +profession, in such a state of things, would be placed in a grave +dilemma; unfit for any other calling, they would be forced either to +let their talents rust unused, and to sink into poverty and distress, +or to debase themselves by taking work which they knew to be unworthy +of them. + +He would have liked to put such a case to the preacher, and he felt +curious to see what sort of man he was; but they were quite at the +back of the church, and an intervening pillar hid the pulpit from +view. + +Feeling, somehow, that the sermon had shut him out from the +fellowship which he expected to find in a church, and had made him an +alien even in the body to which he rightfully belonged, he made his +way out again into the dark, dreary street, up which the March wind +blew gustily. A sense of intolerable fatigue came over him. + +"What a pace you are walking at, Jack!" he exclaimed. "One might +think you were blessed with the seven-leagued boots, and were keeping +up with Sirocco!" + +Sardoni modified his pace; and Carlo, glancing at him, saw an +expression about his mouth which boded no good. + +"I'm sorry we came in for that sermon," he said. + +"Well, at any rate, it will serve to show you what British prejudice +is!" said Sardoni, speaking more fiercely than the occasion seemed to +warrant. "I don't know what effect it will have as to theatre-going, +but I know that I shan't darken the doors of a church again in a +hurry!" + +Carlo was silent, knowing that his companion was far too angry to be +reasoned with; and not another word passed between them on their way +back to the hotel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +AN ENGLISH HOME. + + "Nor hath thy knowledge of adversity + Robbed thee of any faith in happiness, + But rather cleared thine inner eyes to see + How many simple ways there are to bless." + LOWELL. + + +The next day, according to his promise, Carlo went over to Merlebank. + +"How good of you to come," said Clare, hastening forward to greet him +as he was shown into the drawing-room; "I was afraid this gloomy +afternoon might frighten you away. I must introduce you to +Francesca's cousins whom you have so often heard of." + +Carlo looked eagerly enough to see if he could trace any likeness to +Francesca in the four girls who came up in frank and friendly fashion +to shake hands with him. Kate, the eldest, was about her age, and he +instantly perceived that she had the same English gray eyes--dark +gray, with no blue in their depths. Though, however, she was a +nice-looking girl, she made no pretensions to beauty; but every now +and then a tone in her voice would thrill him by its likeness to +Francesca's and he felt much attracted by her, though he perceived at +once that she was passing judgment on him, and that her manner was +more critical and less friendly than that of the younger girls. + +Lucy, the second sister, was fairer and prettier, and seemed to be +the sweet-tempered one of the family, but she interested him less +than Kate, whose slightly aggressive manner piqued him into +curiosity. Molly was a rather tomboyish young person of fourteen, +with a frank hail-fellow-well-met manner; and Flo, the baby of the +family, was just eleven, a slim little girl, with short, fair hair, +and very short petticoats, who enjoyed life in a kittenish sort of +way, and, while much petted by every one in the house, had somehow +just escaped spoiling. + +Clare sat, looking wonderfully natural, in the corner of the big +Chesterfield sofa, and made him sit beside her, where they could talk +comfortably together, a little removed from the group of girls who, +on the other side of the hearth, clustered round Gigi and made much +of him. The drawing-room was such a room as Carlo had never before +seen, and after the weary round of dingy lodgings and second-rate +hotels to which he had of late been accustomed he could fully +appreciate it. It reminded him just a little of the _salotto_ at +Casa Bella in its air of comfort and homelikeness, but whereas the +Casa Bella room had a semi-Italian air, from its Cantigalli _plaques_ +and pottery, and its striped silk _couvrettes_, this room was +thoroughly and typically English. A second room, visible by day, was +curtained off in the evening, when snugness reigned supreme; a fire +of coals, crowned by a huge log, burned in the low, wide grate, and +sent a ruddy glow over the brass fender and dainty brass fireirons; +while a warm-toned Persian carpet and wallflower-red curtains +harmonized well with the salmon-tinted walls, upon which were +gathered a wealth of pictures that at once attracted Carlo's eye, +though the names on the massive gilt frames Brett, Ansdell, Vicat +Cole, and Millais, conveyed to him as a foreigner, no special meaning. + +Clare was a little afraid of alluding to Casa Bella after her rather +careless speech of the preceding day, but she spoke of the Ritters, +and of other mutual friends, and asked endless questions about Naples +and Pozzuoli which Carlo was enchanted to answer. For many months he +had been utterly cut off from all his old ties, and from the people +who could sympathize with them; it was delightful to him to go over +the familiar ground once more with some one who knew it and loved it +almost as well as he did. To be with Clare again made him feel +strangely young and light-hearted. He forgot Anita and Comerio; he +forgot all the petty jealousies and disputes of the company; he even +forgot his own private troubles, found genuine relief in speaking +Francesca's name, and could almost have fancied that he was once more +a boy, resolving to work and wait till he could present his name to +Captain Britton with the prefix of _Avvocato_. + +"You can stay a nice long time, I hope?" said Clare. "Mr. Britton +will be coming in soon, I think, and he specially wished to see you. +He so much enjoyed your singing on Saturday." + +"This is my off day," explained Carlo, "so I am not bound to be back +by any special time. It is _Fra Diavolo_ to-night, and I have no +part in that." + +"Is that your only chance of a holiday? Do you mean that you sing +all the other nights of the week?" + +"That just depends on whether the engagements dovetail into each +other. Very often they do. When the town is important we generally +stay a week, and then the round seldom varies. Arrive on Sunday, +_Faust_ on Monday, _Fra Diavolo_ Tuesday, _Somnambula_ Wednesday, +_Lucia_ Thursday, _Barbiere_ Friday, _Rigoletto_ Saturday, on to the +next place on Sunday." + +"Is the travelling always done on Sunday?" + +"Not always, but very frequently. You see it is the only day you +close your theatres. Now with us the theatres are shut on Friday, +but we play our best operas in our best style on the _Festa_. There +is something to be said for both sides of the question. Last week we +had engagements of two and three nights only at small places, and +travelled here in detachments, the bulk of the company by special +train on Friday evening, the rest of us on Saturday afternoon. So at +Ashborough the days are slightly varied, and on Thursday we move on +to Queenbury for two nights." + +"It must be a very hard life," said Clare. + +"It is no light work, as some people seem to fancy, specially when +the winter is so severe." + +"Yes, you must have felt the cold dreadfully." + +"I have at any rate learnt to appreciate warmth. The only drawback +is that in England it seems impossible to be warm on both sides at +once. You may scorch your shins at the fire, and yet the back of +your leg will still be frozen! But I see you understand here how to +build up a glorious fire. We don't come across such fireplaces as +that." + +While he talked he watched with the interest of a foreigner all that +was going on, wondered for what reason the footman appeared with a +trivet and a bright copper kettle, and speculated as to the little +folding-table which was being set up on the other side of the +fireplace. A daintily-worked cloth was spread over it, then came the +explanation in the form of a beautifully inlaid ebony and silver +tray, with the most fascinating of silver tea-services, and delicate +blue and white china cups. + +"This is just like Salem," announced Gigi. "We've never had real +proper tea since Salem." + +Carlo, seeing that Kate had some unknown designs on the copper +kettle, hastened to offer his services. + +"Tea-making is a process I have never seen," he said wondering what +on earth he was to do with the kettle now that he had valiantly +seized upon it. + +"Thank you, a little in the teapot, please," said Kate. "That will +do." + +He restored it to the trivet, and noticed that Kate's hands were +exactly like Francesca's. He could not take his eyes off them as she +measured out tea from a pretty little silver caddy with a silver +cockleshell. They were not luxuriously brought up girls, in spite of +their father's wealth. They were accustomed to helping themselves, +and did not care to have servants always at their beck and call. +Indeed, Kate was of so independent a nature that she would willingly +have dispensed with Carlo's assistance, and observing that the kettle +did not boil, she set it further back on the trivet, and with +something a little defiant in her expression, prepared to take it off +at the critical minute. + +"What was the first edition for?" asked Carlo. + +"Oh, that was to warm the teapot, a very important part of the +matter," she explained. + +"Pray let me have my share in this mysterious process," said Carlo, +forestalling her as she was about to carry off the kettle in triumph. +"It has to me, you know, all the interest of a new experiment in +chemistry." + +"You don't mean to say Francesca hasn't introduced afternoon tea yet +at Casa Bella?" + +There was a general exclamation. + +"You see in Italy we naturally enough go in more for cooling drinks. +She was very clever at making lemonade." + +He felt himself coloring at the recollection of that hot summer day +in the Rose-room, and was glad to turn his back on the five pairs of +eyes, and to put the kettle again on the trivet. A further diversion +was made by the entrance of the servant with cakes and thin +bread-and-butter and a great dish of crumpets, which was set down in +the fender to keep hot. There was something charmingly easy and +informal in the whole thing, Carlo thought; he wondered what it was +that gave the English their special power of making homes, and once +more the tone of Kate's voice took him back with a pang that was half +of pleasure, half of pain, to the thought of Francesca. For a minute +he called up the picture of what might have been. He saw the Villa +Bruno with the alterations which she would have made in it; he +possessed in imagination the wife and the home which he had +renounced; and the dream was so sweet that it was almost worth the +revulsion of feeling which quickly followed. + +There must have been a brain-wave between him and Kate, for at that +moment she startled him with the question. "I suppose they have new +neighbors now at Casa Bella? Who took your house when you left?" + +"It was taken by Count Carossa," he replied. "Mr. Britton met him at +Naples on Whit-Sunday. He has a yacht not unlike the _Pilgrim_, and +was anchored close by." + +"I remember now, father mentioned him. What sort of man is he? Will +Uncle Britton like him?" + +"I believe he was much taken with him," replied Carlo, hearing his +own calm replies with a sort of astonishment. + +"Uncle is dreadfully fond of people with titles," said Kate. "It is +his one weakness. Is Count Carossa really nice, do you think?" + +"I have only met him once," replied Carlo. "He is quite young and +very rich, rather an original sort of man, has travelled a great +deal, and is a good _raconteur_." + +He ran off the list of his rival's merits unfalteringly, but was +secretly relieved by an interruption. + +"Don't you hear wheels?" exclaimed Lucy, opening the drawing-room +door that she might listen better. + +"Yes, it is father!" cried little Flo, "for Bevis is waking up. +See," she said, drawing Carlo's attention to a very old deer-hound +which lay stretched out comfortably on the hearth-rug. "Bevis always +does that when he hears the carriage, but when it is only people +coming to call he sleeps right on." + +In the hall there was a little bustle of arrival and welcome. The +return of the father and son from business made one of the +pleasantest of the daily events in that quiet country household. +They brought with them a sort of atmosphere of the world which was +refreshing. Generally there were commissions to be delivered, or +library books to be eagerly seized upon, and invariably there was +some sort of news to be discussed. Carlo realized something of this +as Mr. Britton came into the room with Lucy, his favorite daughter, +clinging to his arm, and the dog Oscar, son to the elderly Bevis, at +his heels. + +The shipbuilder never showed to greater advantage than in his own +house. Looking now at his clear gray eyes, his refined face, his +thick white hair and snowy, well-kept beard, he seemed to Carlo the +perfection of an English gentleman. His manner was delightful, a +little more courteous than the manner of the Englishmen Carlo had +hitherto come across, but free from all suspicion of formality, a +manner that was genuinely friendly without being in the least +over-familiar. He gave Carlo a hearty welcome, and turned to +introduce him to his son, who seemed to be much what Mr. Britton must +have been forty years ago. + +Harry Britton had not yet acquired, however, his father's easy, +genial way of talking; he seemed not quite at his ease with the +Italian; and, after the greetings were over, moved away with a +perceptible air of relief, which tickled Carlo not a little, and +began to open the shiny black bag which he held in his left hand. +From this he proceeded to dole forth various purchases which the +girls had asked him to make, ending with the evening paper, which he +as usual brought dutifully to Clare, with a little time-honored joke +which had for them all a halo of happy associations. + +Carlo watched the little bit of by-play, and understood it all +perfectly. It brought back to his mind the old days when Clare was +in Italy, and had been to him just such a true, staunch, cheery +friend as she was now to Harry Britton. To his tired brain there was +something indescribably refreshing in that glimpse of home-life. It +was a scene which he never forgot, and which often returned to him +with a sense of comfort in his wandering, homeless life. For there +are people so genuine, so English, so whole-hearted, that they can +make even afternoon callers feel, for the time being, one of +themselves--can send them forth again with a pleasant, living picture +in their hearts, and a consciousness that there is true friendliness +and good fellowship in a world which had seemed to them for the most +part a place of weary formality and routine. + +He felt a great wish to do something for these people, and knowing +that etiquette forbade them to ask him to sing, and that Clare was +anxious to hear him, he took advantage of some reference which Mr. +Britton made to his singing in Faust, to offer to sing them "_Dio +Possente_." + +The unmistakable look of real delight which greeted the suggestion, +and the eager way in which Molly and Flo ran to open the piano, +pleased him more than the loudest public applause could have done. +He sang very well, and entranced his hearers, rousing even Harry out +of his shy reserve. + +"Do you ever sing English songs?" he asked, when the chorus of thanks +had ceased, volunteering his first uncalled-for remark to the Italian. + +"Not very often," replied Carlo, wondering whether he could get +through "Love for a Life," and, after a moment's debate, decided to +risk it for the sake of pleasing Francesca's cousin. "There is one +song by my old Maestro with English words. Perhaps you know it?" + +He struck a few chords, then broke into the introduction to the song +which transported him once more to that first happy day of his +betrothal. To sing it was hard, and yet his very emotion gave him a +power which he would not otherwise have possessed,--it made him able +to bring tears into the eyes of more than one of his listeners--it +set kind-hearted Mr. Britton weaving plans for a reconciliation, and +imagining a happy ending to Francesca's love-story. + +"I sang that for you," said Carlo, with a little bow of +acknowledgment for Harry's warm thanks. "Now, if you are not quite +tired of me, I should very much like to sing one song for Miss +Claremont. You must choose it, Clare," he said, turning to her, and +looking with a smile into her sympathetic eyes. + +"May I really choose?" she said. "Then I should like that old +favorite of mine, 'The Pilgrim of Love.'" + +"That will also be an indirect compliment to the yacht," said Carlo +laughing. "Or was that called after the _Pilgrim's Progress_? But +let me see, can I get through the words? How do you pronounce that +bit I always used to come to grief over?" + +"'Nay, nay, courteous father'?" suggested Clare, recalling merry +disputes in the Casa Bella drawing-room. + +"That was it! 'Curteous' or 'corteous'--how do you say it?" + +They laughed over the old discussions, and discussed them over again, +and after some little delay Carlo sang the song, and finally left +them to be haunted for many a day to come by the refrain, "No rest +but the grave for the pilgrim of love." + +"He seems a nice sort of fellow!" was Harry's comment, when, the +guests having departed, his natural manner returned to him. "I say, +it didn't matter, did it, my asking him if he sang English songs? I +thought none of those operatic fellows did." + +"Oh, dear no," said Clare. "Nothing pleases Carlo so much as to give +pleasure." + +"Well, it was awfully jolly of him to sing such a lot. He doesn't +seem a bit stuck up. But, I say, why on earth can't they be called +like ordinary Christians? Carlo and Gigi! Did you ever hear of a +more horsey and doggy couple!" + +"That's just your narrow-mindedness," said Clare, laughing. "Carlo +is as good a name as Charles, and Gigi sounds no more foolish to an +Italian than Johnny or Tommy to us." + +"Well, Clare, for my part I don't understand your Signor Donati. If +he is the sort of man he seems to be, why does he live such a useless +life?" said Kate, with the severity of three-and-twenty. + +"He may have many reasons which we don't understand," said Clare. +"However, I candidly confess that I wish he would leave the stage. +He looks to me terribly delicate." + +"He is far too good for that company," said Mr. Britton. "I +shouldn't be at all surprised if he did leave the stage before long. +I hope he may--I hope he may! There's something about him which +quite fascinates one, though I do wish he could have been an +Englishman." + +The laughter evoked by this truly British remark was only checked by +the warning clock, which made Clare and the younger girls beat a +hasty retreat to the schoolroom, and sent Kate to read to her invalid +grandmother, and to moralize in her own mind over Carlo's mistake in +choosing so unworthy a profession. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +A LAST STRUGGLE. + + "O sweet, they tell me that the world is hard and harsh of mind. + But can it be so hard, so harsh, as those that should be kind? + That matters not; let come what will; at last the end is sure, + And every heart that loves with truth is equal to endure." + TENNYSON. + + +"Now, Miss Claremont, suppose just for once you were to come to the +theatre?" remarked Mr. Britton at breakfast the next morning. "I see +they are giving _Il Barbiere_ on Wednesday night, and I have a sort +of hankering to hear it once more. Will you come? Shall I take a +box?" + +But Clare was too staunch to her Puritan traditions, though she owned +that she would much have liked to hear Carlo. As yet, however, he +had not converted her; she still regarded the stage as at least a +necessary evil, and felt bound to refuse Mr. Britton's offer. + +"Then ask Signor Donati over to lunch to-morrow; it will be your last +chance of seeing him; and I am afraid it is no good asking him to +dinner, because, apparently, he can't sing after eating, and has to +dine at some unconscionably early hour." + +"I shall be going in to Ashborough at twelve o'clock in the +pony-carriage, Clare," remarked Kate. "I can leave a note for you, +if you like; or will you come in with me?" + +Clare, who was fond of driving, said she should like to come, so when +lessons were ended she joined her ex-pupil, and, well wrapped up, was +able to enjoy even the stretch of bleak, dusty road that lay between +Merlebank and Ashborough. + +"We need not leave the note, for there is Signor Donati!" exclaimed +Kate, as they drove down the High Street. "I do hate to see a man in +fur like that. He seems to coddle himself dreadfully. Harry says he +took quite an age wrapping up his throat last night." + +"We will just stop a minute or two, if you don't mind," said Clare. +"I will speak to him, and see if he can come." + +Carlo did not at first notice them. He was walking rather slowly +down the street, with Gigi, as usual, clinging to his hand. He +looked ill and depressed, but when Gigi eagerly drew his attention to +the pony-carriage and its occupants, his face lighted up, and he +seemed for the time to return to his old self. + +"We were just coming to ask you to lunch with us to-morrow," said +Clare. "Will you come, you and Gigi? I suppose you couldn't dine +with us, could you?" + +"I am afraid not, thank you, for I'm singing both to-night and +to-morrow; but I shall be very glad to come over to lunch." + +He had a short, hard cough, which made Clare look at him anxiously. + +"You look very poorly to-day, Carlo," she said. + +"I awoke to the sad consciousness that the wind had gone back to the +east," he said, laughing. + +"And that cough? It seems very bad." + +"Oh, it is only chronic!" he said, with a smile. "We have all +suffered more or less from the long winter. It must be nearly over +now; don't you think?" + +"April and May are often nearly as cold," said Kate, perversely. + +"Are they?" he said, with an expressive gesture. "My friend Sardoni +has just given me a song called 'Welcome, cold North-easter,' but the +very words makes one's teeth chatter!" + +"One o'clock to-morrow, then," said Clare as they drove on again. + +He took off his hat and bowed in foreign fashion, and was sedulously +imitated by Gigi. + +"Dreadfully Italian!" said Kate, whipping up the ponies with a touch +of irritation in her manner. "I can't bear a man to be a sort of +barometer--pretending to know which way the wind is before he had +been out: such nonsense!" + +"I have known many people with susceptible chests who were able to do +that," said Clare. + +"But no Englishman looks so miserable just because it happens to be a +cold day," said Kate. "It seems so effeminate to mind a little fresh +air." + +"My dear, if you had to work hard through a very hot summer in Italy +do you not think you might look flushed and over-tired?" + +"Ah, but to feel heat is quite a different thing!" protested Kate. +"There's nothing unmanly in that; why, don't you remember last August +how limp and good-for-nothing Harry was in that very hot week?" + +"Yes, because he was unused to it. You are illogical, Kate; it is +not a bit more effeminate, as you say, to feel the physical effects +of cold than of heat; the only difference is that you understand one +feeling and don't understand the other." + +"That may be," said Kate, "but I don't like Signor Donati; and as to +saying that he works hard, why, what man who is hard-worked would be +sauntering down the High Street like that, with a child? I don't +call his sort of profession work at all!" + +In the meantime Carlo slowly made his way back to the hotel. + +He was so tired and overdone that it was all he could do to bear +Gigi's chatter. He wondered how he should get through with his +"Count Rodolpho," remembered distastefully that he should have to +make love to Mlle. de Caisne, who never would sink her own +personality in that of "Lisa," and would have given all he possessed +if any one had come to him with the news that for some good reason +there could be no opera that night. Everything in the future which +he had to undertake looked to him like a huge mountain which he must +perforce climb; and, worst of all, he knew that the instant he +faltered Comerio would come forward and offer to take his place. If +it had not been for that thought he could have borne up better, but +the consciousness that Gomez was carefully keeping watch on his +health, like a vulture hovering over a dying man, and longing to +swoop down on him,--this was almost maddening. He was troubled, too, +about Sardoni, who, for the last day or two, had been unlike himself, +moody and melancholy in the daytime, and wild and reckless towards +night. He seemed to shun Carlo as much as possible, and when they +were thrown together was so bitter and sarcastic that his friend +could not imagine what had come over him; it was so unreasonable, so +altogether improbable, that the sermon of Sunday night should still +be rankling in his mind, that such a notion never occurred to Carlo. +He was altogether perplexed and felt very anxious about him, nor +could he help perceiving with a pang that in the time of his own +greatest need Sardoni had deserted him, wholly failing to notice his +desperate struggle to keep up. How he got through his work he +scarcely knew; luckily for him, his throat was not much affected, +though he was feeling far too weak and ill to be in good voice. At +any rate, he did not break down, and he began to see that at present +he must content himself with this poor comfort, and put up with cold +receptions and the wretched consciousness of artistic failure. He +went home wondering what poor old Piale would have said could he have +heard him, and congratulating himself that the dear old Maestro was +not likely even to see the unfavorable critiques on his singing which +must inevitably follow upon so wretched a performance. + +On the Wednesday morning, after a very restless night, he woke much +worse than on the previous day, and feeling positively sick at the +thought that he must either get through the trying part of "Figaro" +that night or confess his illness, get a medical certificate to prove +his inability to appear, and thus give all into the hands of Gomez +and Comerio. For he knew too well that no doctor in his senses would +permit him to sing in his present state, that he would infallibly be +ordered to rest; and for this reason, while taking every possible +precaution throughout the winter, he had avoided doctors as he would +have avoided the plague. It was still just possible that he might +struggle on till the warm weather came, then, in June, Merlino might, +and probably would, renew the contract with him, and he should go to +America with the troupe and once more baffle Comerio. If he could +only hold out! + +He lay in bed as long as he dared, then, knowing that Gomez would +publicly comment on the fact if he failed to make his appearance, and +that Merlino invariably wanted him if he happened to be late in the +morning, dressed hastily, noticed with relief that he did not look +nearly so ghastly as he felt, and went down to the crowded +coffee-room. The hotel was full of people who had come down to +Ashborough for the races; they were a noisy, disreputable crew; and +as Carlo entered the room where they were all breakfasting before +going to the racecourse, it seemed to him like coming into a +pandemonium. His head was aching miserably, but his ears seemed +preternaturally alive to the slightest sound, and he could distinctly +hear several comments on "one of those operatic fellows" as he +steered his way through the throng to the fireplace, nodding to +Merlino and Tannini as he passed them. + +"Good-day, Donati; how are you?" said a voice at his elbow. + +He looked round and saw the Spaniard's malicious face. + +"Good-morning," he replied. + +"How are you?" repeated Gomez. + +"I'm cold," said Carlo, drawing nearer to the fire, and determined +that Gomez should gain nothing from his catechism. "They don't know +how to build up fires in this place." + +As he spoke he felt the Spaniard's searching glance, and knew that +Gomez was far too shrewd not to find out the true state of the case. +For although his rich, ruddy-brown coloring deceived many people, yet +keen observers might easily note that day by day his cheeks grew more +hollow, and that there were lines of pain about his mouth and eyes. +There was to him a sort of horrible humiliation about it, for he had +never been ill in his life, had thought it impossible that his +perfect health should be broken, had almost laughed when Captain +Britton had suggested the idea to him. It was useless, however, to +blink the fact any longer; and when the place was quiet once +more--the noisy guests gone off to the races, and Merlino and Marioni +to the theatre--Carlo gave way, shivering from head to foot almost +like one in a fit of ague. + +"Cold morning, sir," said one of the over-worked waiters, putting +fresh coals on the fire. "Have you breakfasted, sir?" + +"I won't take anything, thank you," said Carlo, feeling not the +slightest inclination for food. + +"Some nice hot rashers, sir, or an egg?" suggested the waiter. But +Carlo was not to be tempted. + +"We shall have to put you on my '_Don't be dainty_'," said Gigi, +taking off his bib embroidered with this moral precept and trotting +up to Carlo with it. + +It was impossible not to laugh. The waiter smiled politely and +withdrew, but returned before long with a cup of coffee. + +"Try that, sir," he said kindly; "it's just fresh made and will do +you good. You have a heavy cold coming on, sir." + +Carlo was touched by the man's courtesy, he did not deny the advent +of the heavy cold. + +"Gigi," he said, "I'm afraid we must give up going to Merlebank to +lunch. You shall take a note over there, if I can find someone to +send with you." + +"Are you ill, _zio caro_?" asked the child, frightened by the look of +pain which he for the first time noticed in the face so familiar to +him. + +"The waiter says it's a heavy cold coming on, and anyhow I must save +up for to-night. I'm sorry to disappoint you." + +"I wish we could go," said Gigi, wistfully, "but I more wish you +wasn't ill;" and he raised his quaint, pitiful little face to Carlo's +with one of those childish caresses which made Carlo feel that +everything he had been through was worth while. + +He sat down to write to Clare, and Gigi ran back to his beloved +soldiers, monotonously chanting in his rather pretty little voice,-- + + "'Pray, Mr. Frog, will you give us a song, + But let it be something that's not very long.' + 'Indeed, Mrs. Mouse,' replied Mr. Frog, + 'A cold has made me as hoarse as a hog.'" + + +Carlo was fain to confess that day that it was a relief to get rid of +his little companion. He sent him off to Merlebank with a friendly +scene-shifter, and sat in a great armchair drawn close to the fire, +bearing miserable headache and backache, yet finding a sort of relief +in the consciousness that he could cough and shiver to his heart's +content now that no one was near. + +The morning passed in a strange quiet, like the pause before a storm; +the very streets were deserted, for all Ashborough was on the +racecourse; Nita, who was not singing that evening, was still in her +room; Mlle. de Caisne was closeted with her dressmaker; there was +nothing to break the peace of Carlo's solitude, if indeed such +feverish misery could be called peace. + +The clock struck twelve, and he started from a troubled waking dream +of Francesca to the recollection that in another eight hours he +should have to transform himself somehow into Figaro; and with +nervousness far greater than that which he had felt at his first +appearance, he made his way to the private sitting-room which was the +joint property of Merlino's troupe, and began to practise. But five +minutes completely exhausted him, he shut the piano, and in a sort of +despair stretched himself at full length on the hearth-rug. + +"I don't know what is going to happen to me," he thought to himself, +with the misery of a thoroughly healthy man for the first time +attacked by serious illness. "But if I am to sing, I can sing, that +much is certain; I'll at least die in harness." + +Resolutely driving back the crowd of cares that surged in upon him, +taking advantage of his physical weakness, he lay in a sort of +enforced quiet,--the quiet which can only come to a good man well +schooled in self-discipline. He was failing, and knew it all too +well, but he knew still better that he was but a unit in the great +army of One who cannot fail, knew that + + "He + Alone may say, ''Tis finished all and very good.' + We only do a part, and partly well, + And others come and mend it." + +He must have dozed for a few minutes, for on suddenly opening his +eyes he found that Nita had come into the room, and was looking down +upon him with her beautiful heartless face, and once again that look +of suppressed excitement which had pained him so much at Birmingham. + +"You are ill," she said, breathlessly. "You are not going to sing +to-night?" + +He was on his feet in a moment. "Certainly I am going to sing," he +said. "Marioni advised me not to go out this morning, to save up for +the opera, as I have a cold coming on." + +"Where is Gigi?" she asked, with nervousness, which he hailed with +relief. Since the child's narrow escape from death she had certainly +learnt to think much more of him, and that she should trouble herself +as to his safety was something quite new. + +"Gigi has gone over to Merlebank with a note; I meant to have gone to +see Miss Claremont, but thought it was wiser to save up for Figaro. +I sent him over with Adamson, he'll take great care of him." + +"But here is Adamson coming down the street alone. What can have +happened to the child? Why did you send him?" + +She refused to hear reason, but Carlo was only too glad to be +scolded, for every word revealed to him how much she loved the child. + +The discussion was soon ended by the arrival of the scene-shifter, +with a message to the effect that Master Gigi was staying to lunch at +Merlebank, and that Miss Claremont would bring him back in the +carriage that afternoon. + +Nita was pacified, and asked Carlo to accompany her while she +practised a new song; she seemed to forget her first impression on +seeing him, got absorbed in the music, and thought no more of his +possible illness and Comerio's possible advent. He was relieved, and +presently went down to lunch with her, made a feint of eating +something, and heard with satisfaction that a plan was proposed for +hiring a brake and going on to the racecourse, since he knew that he +should be left in peace most of the afternoon. But as the hours +passed by he grew steadily worse, and not even the rest and solitude +prepared him for the great effort of the evening. He was sitting +crouched up by the fire, his head resting on his hands, when Domenica +Borelli came into the room. She was tall and stately, with something +both in her face and in her way of walking which revealed her +character, a noble-minded, upright woman, whom to know was to revere. +She was some years older than he was, and off the stage her face bore +the stamp of its thirty years. + +"I thought perhaps you would just go through '_Dunque io son_' with +me," she said, as she crossed the room; then as she drew nearer, and +could see his face more clearly, "but I'm afraid you are really ill, +you don't look fit to be up." + +"I would rather not try the _duetto_ now, if you don't mind," he +said. "Don't say anything to the rest; I may be better to-morrow." + +"But you ought to see a doctor," she said; "you ought to have a rest, +I am sure. Signor Merlino must find a substitute till you are fit to +sing again, since Fasola is able to take so few of your parts." + +"It may come to that," he said, with a sigh that was almost a groan. +"I wish I had a respectable under-study, who could at any rate do the +work on occasion." + +Domenica Borelli had a woman's quick perception, she instantly +understood the whole story, that story to which Merlino was deaf and +blind, though it concerned him so nearly. For the first time she +understood Carlo. Hitherto she had liked him as a fellow-artist, now +she felt that she longed to be his friend. + +"Is there anything I could do to help you?" she said, and there was +something in her kind, quiet, unsentimental tone which conveyed to +him perfectly the sense of that true friendship which, though many +deny it, can most assuredly exist between man and woman. + +In his great distress of mind and body her help was precisely what he +needed. + +"Indeed you can," he said, with tears in his eyes. "If at any time I +should be obliged to leave the troupe,--if I should fall ill,--will +you be a friend to my sister and to Gigi?" + +It was asking a hard thing of her, for she particularly disliked +Anita, but, guessing his reason for asking her, she could not +possibly have refused him. + +"There is one other thing," he continued; "I am unhappy about +Sardoni, he is in some trouble, I think. Be his friend, too, as you +are mine." + +She colored, not feeling at all sure that Sardoni was the sort of man +with whom friendship would be possible. + +"I don't understand Signor Sardoni," she said, doubtfully. + +"Nor I, just now, but he has been a good friend to me. I wish you +would see a little more of him; you might be his good angel." + +She made no very definite promise, but something in her face +satisfied Carlo. + +"And you?" she said; "you mean to go on singing----" + +"Till I come to grief,--yes. I shall make you a miserable Figaro +to-night, but perhaps you'll put up with me." + +There was something which touched her very deeply in his humility, +for she knew how painful it must be to his artist nature to face the +thought of attempting a part to which he could not possibly do +justice. + +"I shall have the satisfaction of acting with a brave man, at any +rate," she said. "It needs no small courage to face an audience when +you know you can't please them. Perhaps with rest, though, you may +be feeling better; I shall not stay tiring you any longer." + +"You don't know how much good you have done me!" he said, gratefully, +feeling that her promise in case of his illness had removed part of +the burden from his mind. + +She left him to prepare as best he might for the evening, and to +count the quarters chimed by the clock in the Town Hall much as a +prisoner might have counted them while waiting for the hour of +execution. Sounds of bustle and confusion in the street warned him +that the races must be over; he left the sitting-room, feeling quite +unable to meet the scrutiny of Gomez, or to endure the talk of any of +his _confrères_, and dragged himself up to No. 62; and here, after a +while, Gigi found him. + +"What! gone to bed so early, San Carlo!" he exclaimed, trotting up, +with his merry little face, but growing grave and gentle as the truth +began to dawn on his childish mind. "Are you better now?" he asked, +very anxiously. + +"I am only resting. Don't look so frightened, _mio caro_." + +"They sent you some flowers," said Gigi, putting a lovely bunch of +snowdrops and aconites on the bed; "and here is a letter too." + +Carlo tried to seem pleased, and to take an interest in the child's +account of his day at Merlebank; then he opened Clare's letter. Mr. +Britton would send the close carriage over for him in the morning, +and hoped he would be well enough to come and say good-bye before +leaving Ashborough to-morrow. The kind words cheered him, but he was +much too ill to look so far ahead, and the words of an old eastern +poem floated through his mind-- + + "To-morrow!--why, to-morrow I may be + Myself with yesterday's seven thousand years." + + +"You must go down to dinner, little one," he said, after a silence, +in which Gigi had sat watching him with big solemn eyes. "If any one +asks why I don't come, say I have a bad headache, and shall rest till +it is time to go to the theatre." + +The hours passed by and Gigi did not return. Carlo imagined that +Domenica Borelli had kept him, and was grateful to her. The clock +struck seven; he prayed in brief, disconnected sentences that he +might be able to get through his work, that no evil might befall +Anita, that he might judge rightly as to what could be done. Again, +with a quickness which startled him, the quarter was chimed; he tried +to think of Figaro, sang a snatch or two of "Zitti, Zitti," and felt +that he would have given anything to be able to escape from that +night's performance. + +Should he even now follow Domenica's suggestion and send for a +doctor? There was yet time. For an instant the thought of the +intense relief to himself was almost more than he could withstand. +But then, on the other hand, he argued, people who had never been ill +were apt to think themselves dying when there was nothing serious the +matter with them, and, if he gave up tamely now, Comerio would +certainly put himself forward to fill the vacancy in the troupe. No; +he must fight for his post to the last gasp. The half hour struck as +he formed his final resolution, and with an effort he flung back the +rugs and coats which were heaped up on the bed, staggered to his +feet, lit the gas, and, standing before the mirror, threw himself +into one of Figaro's characteristic attitudes, and sang a bar or two +of "_Largo al factotum_." + +"Passable, if I can only hold out," he thought to himself. "And, +after all, I'm not the first man who has made merry, and sung, and +paced the stage with aching bones. Was it Grimaldi or Liston who +made the people laugh till they cried while he was bearing torments?" + +He made his way to the sitting-room and looked in to see if Sardoni +was there, but heard that he had already started. Merlino joined him +in a grumbling humor; Gigi trotted up to say good-night; and then, +feeling like one in a bad dream, he found himself walking through the +street among jostling passengers, and getting a sort of confused +vision of the bad faces which always make their appearance in a town +where races are being held. The distance between the Royal Hotel and +the theatre was quite short, but it seemed to him that night almost +endless; it was only by a great effort that he kept up with Merlino, +and when he reached his dressing-room he felt as if he could not have +stood another minute. + +"You are ill, sir?" said Sebastiano, the dresser, with anxiety. + +"It's all right, I will rest a minute," he replied breathlessly. +"Where is Signor Sardoni?" + +"In the green-room, Signor; he dressed earlier than usual. Let me +call him." + +"No, no," said Carlo, quickly. "I am better alone." + +And so perhaps he was, yet Sardoni's defection pained him--his friend +had studiously avoided him the whole day. The dresser proposed all +sorts of remedies, and Carlo patiently endured the well meaning +chatter till he was thoroughly equipped in his Spanish costume and +had been duly "made up;" then he begged that no one might disturb him +till the very last moment, and sat crouched up by the little fire, +hearing in the distance the familiar sounds of the overture and the +succeeding choruses. At last his hour came. + +"Quite time, Signor," said Sebastiano, rapping on the door. He threw +it open and walked slowly along the winding passages, arriving at the +wings just in time to encounter the chorus as they came off the +stage. Some rumor as to his illness had got abroad, and many good +wishes and inquiries were made in the quick, silent Italian fashion +from his friends among the chorus singers. With very few exceptions +he was extremely popular in the Company, and much sympathy was felt +for him when it became apparent that he was far more fit to be in bed +than at the theatre. An attendant handed him a guitar, he heard the +orchestra begin the introduction to his song, and his thoughts flew +back from this miserable present to the sunny past. He remembered +how on his last day of unalloyed happiness he had sung this very song +in Piale's room in the Strada Mont' Oliveto, and how the old Maestro +had been in despair over his refusal to go on the stage. + +"Thank Heaven he is not here to-night to be tortured by my bad +performance!" was his last reflection as he drew himself together and +walked on to the stage. The house was full, but by this time he had +become rather discerning in the matter of audiences, and perceived at +once that it had a larger proportion than on the previous night of +the rowdy element, introduced into Ashborough by the races. He +hardly knew whether to be relieved or vexed at seeing Mr. Britton and +his son in the stalls, and, indeed, was able to spare little time to +think of them, since he had to devote all his powers to conquering +the agony of nervousness which had overwhelmed him. In vain he +struggled to feel himself Figaro, his head swam, every bone in his +body seemed to assert itself achingly as though protesting that it +belonged to one, Donati who ought to have been in his bed at that +moment, and not at all to the blithe, merry barber of Seville. + +"Courage!" he said to himself. "If I can't get into my character +I'll at least walk through the part like a man, for Nita's sake!" + +He set to work manfully, fully conscious that the conductor was +eyeing him with fear and trembling, and anticipating some dire +mishap. Still he struggled on, exerting himself to the utmost and +trying to disregard the evident symptoms of disappointment which +began to be manifest in the audience. He would not be influenced by +them, though he was too keenly sensitive not to perceive the sort of +wave of impatience and disapproval which passed over the faces of the +listening crowd. Endless seemed the song! At each brief interval it +seemed to him more impossible that he should ever get through it +safely, and the mockery of the oft-repeated words, "_Ah! che bel +vivere, eke bel piacere!_" made matters still worse. At length the +end drew near; with relief at the prospect, and with a desperate +effort, he dashed off into the final and more florid repetitions of +"_Ah, bravo Figaro!_" not without, even at that moment, a humorous +perception of the effect such words from such a singer must produce +on the hearers. "Were I there instead of here I should laugh till I +cried," he reflected. + +But it was almost over; he had survived the last long florid passage; +there remained only four more notes. Exhausted, strung up to the +very highest pitch of endurance, he tried to take the quick breath +which was indispensable at that moment, but to draw it seemed +impossible. He felt a sharp stab of pain as though a knife had been +suddenly plunged in his side, yet the fatal white stick in Marioni's +hand was raised, and with a last effort he forced himself to attack +the high G. + +What followed was to him ever after a sort of nightmare recollection. +His voice failed utterly, and the high note, which should have been +the climax of the song, broke into a discordant sound that only +ceased to ring in his ears when overpowered by a storm of hissing. +Such a hopeless failure was too much even for the patience and +kindliness of an English audience: hisses resounded on all sides. It +was intolerable to have paid money to listen to such a miserable +performance. The people were really angry, and would not be pacified. + +For a moment or two Carlo stood looking at the angry, contemptuous +faces with a sore-hearted sense of rejection and a keen, personal +pain; then seeing that they would no longer tolerate his presence he +turned and walked away, but had only gone a few steps when a sudden +remembrance that this defeat meant Comerio's probable triumph all at +once overpowered him. The brightly lighted stage became black as +night, the hisses were drowned by a rushing sound in his ears, and he +fell back in a dead faint. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +BEHIND THE SCENES. + + "When fog and failure o'er ray being brood, + When life looks but a glimmering, marshy clod, + No fire out-flashing from the living God-- + Then, then, to rest in faith were worthy victory!" + GEORGE MACDONALD. + + +Sardoni and Gomez, the Almaviva and Fiorello of the evening, were +close at hand; Fiorello's part was practically over, but he had +lingered near to see how Donati would get on; when he saw him hissed +off the stage a quiet smile stole over his dark features, but when he +saw him fall back fainting he rubbed his hands with satisfaction, +lingered but a moment to assure himself that the baritone lay +motionless on the boards with his guitar beside him, then rushed as +fast as he could to his dressing-room, flung on a thick brown ulster, +caught up his hat, and hurried out of the theatre. Just outside the +stage door he encountered Mr. Britton. + +Now Mr. Britton was one of those kindly-looking, courteous men who +are constantly stopped by passers-by in the street who have lost +their way or who need any kind of help; Gomez instinctively turned to +the pleasant-looking stranger. + +"Pardon me, sir, but can you kindly tell me whether it is too late to +send a telegram from the post-office?" he asked breathlessly. + +"Oh no, you will find it open," said Mr. Britton looking at him +keenly. + +Gomez thanked him, and ran at full speed down the narrow side street, +and two minutes later he might have been seen standing at one of the +little screened desks in the post-office, writing the following +message in Italian:-- + +"Valentino ill; was hissed off stage to-night after '_Largo al +factotum_.' Get paragraph put in one of London papers. See it +to-morrow, and telegraph promptly to M., offering your services." + +Meantime, Sardoni, far too much startled and shocked to pay the +slightest attention to Gomez, rushed forward to his friend's help, +flung the guitar out of the way, and raising Carlo's head, looked +anxiously at his motionless features and pale lips, bitterly +reproaching himself with the absorption in his own affairs which had +made him blind to all else. Some sense of the contrast between that +still form and the noisy confusion in the theatre first reminded him +that the curious audience were watching this unexpected scene in the +opera with eager eyes, and that although the hisses had changed into +a babel of question and surmise, Carlo was still exposed to every +sort of ruthless criticism. + +"Tell those idiots to let down the curtain," he said impatiently, as +Marioni came hurrying forward, with his pale face and his bushy hair, +looking more distraught than usual. The little conductor had flung +down his baton and rushed from the orchestra the instant Carlo had +fallen, but he was too excitable to think, as Sardoni thought, of +practical matters. And yet it was a relief to him to be told to do +something; he rushed away to give the order, and the next minute the +curtain descended, veiling from the audience the crowd of actors and +attendants which had gathered round poor Figaro. Mr. Britton who had +been admitted at the stage door, was just in time to see Carlo borne +into the green-room, and to follow with those who came after; he had +heard so much of theatrical jealousies and quarrels, and had formed +so low an opinion of theatrical people, that he was surprised to see +the real sympathy and concern shown by every creature present. + +"He has been ill this long time," said old Bauer; "but he had too +much spirit to give in. Poor lad! those brutes ought to have seen +how it was with him." + +"Thought more of the bad bargain they had made than of the singer's +feelings," said Tannini, with his Yankee twang. "Well, 'tis the way +of the world." + +"Are you the doctor, sir?" asked Domenica Borelli, noticing Mr. +Britton for the first time. + +"No, I am a friend of Signor Donati's," he replied, glad to get +speech of her, for he had noticed her quiet, womanly way of helping +Sardoni and Merlino to do all that could be done for Carlo. "Shall I +go and fetch a doctor?" + +"I think it would be well----," she began. "But, stay, he is coming +to himself; perhaps there is no need, and I know he would dislike +having one called in." + +"It's something new for every one to be waiting on Valentino," said +old Bauer. "A reversal of the usual order." + +"Yes," said Mlle. Duroc; "he was the factotum of the troupe as well +as of the opera. But, see, he is reviving." + +And now Mr. Britton observed a marked but perhaps not wholly +unnatural change in Merlino. While his brother-in-law had remained +unconscious he had been as kindly and solicitous as any man could +possibly be, but the moment Carlo came to himself, Merlino, relieved +from the anxiety, remembered that as Impresario he was left in an +awkward predicament. + +Carlo opened his eyes for a moment, caught a confused vision of the +faces round him, then closed them again for very weariness, and began +to wonder, in a dreamy, but troubled way, where on earth he could be. +He heard Merlino swearing and raving, and Tannini, and Bauer, and the +local manager, and Marioni all talking at once. + +"_Santo Diavolo!_" cried Merlino. "Was ever Impresario worse +treated? Here is the best house we have had for months, and what can +I do but give back the money? There is no going on without a Figaro!" + +"Had Donati told you this morning that he was ill you would have had +time to telegraph for Comerio, who no doubt would be willing to help +you in such an emergency," remarked Gomez, who had glided into the +room. + +Mr. Britton glanced sharply round at him, instantly recognizing his +face, though he was now once more in his Fiorello costume. He +perceived at once that the man was no friend to Carlo, and wondered +why he had rushed to the telegraph office. + +"_Accidente!_ why did you not do so?" said Merlino, turning upon his +brother-in-law with a wrathful gesture. "I ask you now what am I to +do? Is all this money to be lost?" + +"You might telegraph to Comerio now and secure him for to-morrow, at +any rate," suggested Gomez. "He could join us at Queenbury and take-- + +"No such thing," interrupted Carlo, catching at Sardoni's arm, and +dragging himself up. "Give _Fra Diavolo_ to-morrow, and that will +give me a day's rest; and go quickly and say to the audience that I +am unwell, but that, since the opera can't be continued without the +leading part, I will do the best I can, if they'll put up with me." + +There was a vigor and force in his tone which astonished every one; +Merlino, with a look of relief, hurried away to pacify the audience; +and, though the others had serious doubts whether Donati could +possibly get through so trying a part, they would not side with +Gomez, who began to remonstrate with him. + +"I never saw any one more afraid of being supplanted," said the +Spaniard vindictively. "For my part I call it mere obstinacy and +conceit to attempt what it is clearly impossible for you to do." + +"I calculate it doesn't much affect you, my friend," said Tannini, +dryly. "Your part is over for to-night, so just shut up, will you? +If the rest of us who have to sing with Donati make no bones about +it, why should you take upon yourself to grumble?" + +Gomez turned away with a muttered curse, and Carlo looked gratefully +at the American. + +"I'll do my best not to put you out; I shall be glad for Merlino's +sake and my own too if you and the audience will tolerate such a bad +Figaro. Come to my room with me, will you, Jack?" then, as he caught +sight of Mr. Britton, and received a hearty grip of the hand, "How +good of you to come round! I had no idea you were here. I was so +ashamed to give you such a miserable rendering of that song." + +Mr. Britton was not sorry to leave the green-room and to go with +Carlo and Sardoni into one of the little dressing-rooms. There were +not many chairs to be had, and Carlo, without ceremony, dropped into +the one drawn close to the tiny fireplace, unable to hide any longer +the severe pain he was suffering, though when questioned he made +light of it. + +"You surely ought not to sing," said Mr. Britton. + +"It won't do my voice any harm if I can only get breath enough," he +replied. "And the pain isn't continuous, only just a sharp stab in +the side every now and then." + +"Dear old fellow, it was madness of you to come at all," said +Sardoni. "You must give in; you must put up with Comerio's return; +there is no help for it." + +Carlo leant his head on his hand and was silent, as if struggling +with himself; both speakers seemed to have forgotten Mr. Britton's +presence. + +"It's no good looking ahead," said Carlo, after a pause. "Of course +it will be all right. But don't argue now, Jack; I've got to sing if +they will have me, and there's an end of it." + +As he spoke there was a knock at the door, and Merlino entered. + +"I think they will hear you," he said. "They are in a bad temper, +but they see we are doing all that can be done, and they'll hardly +hiss you off again. They are very easily pacified these English +audiences." + +Carlo glanced at Mr. Britton with the strangest mixture of pain and +laughter in his dark, shining eyes. The contented look of the +Impresario as he painted the sort of reception which probably awaited +him tickled his fancy. + +"A glass of porter before you go on?" said Bauer, pressing it upon +him. + +"Try this raw egg, signor," said his dresser, eagerly. + +"Or a troche," suggested Sardoni. + +"Or a Stolberg," said Merlino, producing a little box full of +dark-looking lozenges. + +With a smile and a gesture he thanked them, and made everyone laugh +by quoting Figaro's words, "_Oh, che vita! che vita! oh, che +mestiere!_" + +"Was there ever such a fellow?" said Bauer. "I verily believe he +would make us laugh if he were on his death-bed." + +"If the audience do but realize his courage he will be well +received," said Mr. Britton, who was standing at the wings beside the +old German singer. "There is nothing that pleases the British public +like pluck." + +In truth, to face again the audience which had so lately refused to +hear him was no very pleasant task to Carlo, but then he had a habit +of grasping the nettles of life which stood him in good stead. More +sensitive than most men, he had turned his weakness into strength by +resolutely refusing to make the smallest concession to it, and he was +able even with overwrought nerves and failing physical powers to +endure with composure the trying ordeal. It was as Merlino had said, +the audience kindly consented to put up with him; they allowed him to +appear without a single hiss. Indeed, the chilling silence was +broken by five or six resounding claps from the third row of stalls. + +"That is Francesca's cousin," he thought to himself, and he felt glad +to have one friendly face among the hundreds of coldly critical ones. +He was glad, too, to have such friends as Domenica Borelli and +Sardoni to sing with that night, and was cheered by Mr. Britton's +kindness. If only he could get through his work he thought that, +spite of the dark future, he should feel perfectly happy. But that +was the great question. All thought he had attempted what was +physically impossible, and he shrank in horror from making another +exhibition of himself on the stage. "If I do faint again," he +reflected, "I hope I shall do it decently in my dressing-room." + +By sheer force of will he got through the long weary duet with +Sardoni, but it left him so worn out with pain that he could hardly +stand. He got off the stage somehow, and the moment they were out of +sight Sardoni took him by the arm and half dragged him to his room, +where, with an irrepressible groan, he threw himself on the floor +beside the fire, seeming to find a sort of relief in thrusting the +guitar under his arm so that he actually lay upon it. + +"Pleurisy," thought Mr. Britton, who had followed to see if he could +be of any use; but Carlo was evidently in such pain that he did not +like to talk to him, so he turned instead to Sardoni, to whom he had +taken a great fancy, and who, to make up for his past selfishness, +was devoting himself to his friend in a way that pleased the +Englishman. They discussed all possible means of helping him, and +Sardoni going out to fetch some restorative brought back word that +Mlle. Borelli had been encored in her cavatina which would give Carlo +a little longer space to recover his strength. + +"Are you sure I am not in your way here?" asked Mr. Britton. "I +don't feel as if I could sit in the audience not knowing how our +friend is getting on." + +Sardoni, who realized that the stranger must be some relation to +Francesca Britton, warmly assured him that he was the greatest +possible help; and Carlo, though too much exhausted to speak an +unnecessary word, gave him a glance which conveyed more than many +sentences. + +All too soon came the unwelcome call-boy. Again Carlo braced himself +up for the effort, and Sardoni and Mr. Britton watched him anxiously +through his scene with Rosina. + +"He is on the stage a great deal after this," explained Sardoni, "but +the most trying part is over for him as far as singing goes when he +is once through this scene." + +"Will he get through, do you think?" + +"If he does it will be by the skin of his teeth," said Sardoni. +"But, like the _Barbiere_ himself, he is a '_Bravo giovinotto_.' No +other man whom I know would do it, but he perhaps may." + +"Ah, I thought so!" he exclaimed, as, the duet over, the baritone +beat a hasty retreat, and on reaching the shelter of the wings would +have fallen had he not promptly caught him. "It is as I said, by the +skin of his teeth." + +They carried him back to his room, but had barely restored him to +life when Sardoni was obliged to go on the stage again, leaving him +alone with Mr. Britton. + +It was the strangest evening the Englishman had ever spent, as he sat +in the dismal little dressing-room, with its bare floor and +whitewashed walls, its confusion of stage dresses and the garments of +prosaic life. Some one had brought in two or three cushions from the +green-room, and as soon as Carlo had recovered his senses they had +laid him on these upon his left side, the position which seemed to +give him the greatest ease. The firelight played on his face, and +Mr. Britton, as he watched him, found his thoughts wandering back to +the time when he had first met him with Francesca outside the English +church at Naples. He recalled the strange, sad smile which had +passed over the young Italian's face when he congratulated him on his +betrothal, and he felt irresistibly drawn to a man who could +deliberately choose a career so self-denying, so little likely to be +understood. + +He was startled to find that his thoughts of Francesca must have +affected his companion. + +"We may not be alone again," said Carlo, turning his face towards +him. "If anything should happen to me, will you promise to give this +to Francesca "--he indicated their betrothal ring--"and tell her how +good every one was to me?" + +Mr. Britton felt a choking sensation in his throat, but he promised, +and then, partly to break the uncomfortable silence, remarked that he +had heard from Casa Bella that morning. + +"They are well?" asked Carlo. + +"Quite well. Francesca comes to England in June." + +The next moment he regretted his words, for they seemed to give the +finishing touch to Carlo's suffering. He turned abruptly away, and, +though his face was hidden, Mr. Britton could see that he was +struggling to suppress a tempest of passionate emotion. So little do +people understand each other, that it had never occurred to the +Englishman, with all his kind-heartedness, to picture to himself the +torture of a lover who knows that his love will be close at hand, yet +that he is to be denied even a sight of her. But that silent, bitter +struggle taught him much, and once more set his kind heart to weave +plans for helping the course of true love to run smooth. + +Before anything more had passed, the call-boy rapped at the door, and +Mr. Britton in dismay turned to see what his companion would do. He +had yet to learn that Italian storms, if violent, are brief, and that +an Italian nature, if it has strong emotions, has also a wonderful +self-mastery upon which it can fall back in time of need. Carlo rose +promptly, rearranged his disordered costume in a business-like +fashion, and smoothed his hair; then, fearing that Mr. Britton might +regret the words which had escaped him, said in the manner which won +him so many friends, "Do you mind coming with me to the wings? I +like to feel that you are there." + +And before the Englishman had recovered from his surprise at this +unlooked-for composure, Figaro was in the thick of the noisy group on +the stage, acting better than he had done all the evening, and +endeavoring to play the part of peacemaker, and to put an end to the +altercation. + +Mr. Britton could hardly believe as he watched the lithe, active +figure, now here, now there, that a few minutes ago he had seen the +same man lying in the extremity of mental and bodily pain; and when +once more in the interval between the acts he and Sardoni had to +restore the Italian to his senses, he could no longer keep his +astonishment to himself. + +"What in the world can our friend be made of?" he exclaimed. "I +should not have thought it possible for a man of his temperament to +persevere in the teeth of such difficulties." + +"I suppose pluck and goodness generally do go together," said +Sardoni; "and though you may be Donati's friend, no one who is not in +this troupe can have much idea of what he really is. He's out and +out the best fellow I ever came across." + +"He seems very much liked by most of the Company." + +"Yes, and with good reason. They all apply to him one of their +expressive Italian sayings--'Good as a piece of bread'--a description +which would not hold for the rest of us." + +"He is coming to himself," said Mr. Britton, and there was silence in +the room, broken at last by Carlo's voice. + +"How much more, Jack?" he asked, faintly. + +"The second act," said Sardoni, "three more scenes for you." + +He closed his eyes again, and they noticed that as the evening +advanced he became less and less willing to speak an unnecessary word. + +The opera, which had seemed to all the singers interminable, did at +length end, and with it the last remains of Carlo's strength. More +dead than alive he was carried to Mr. Britten's brougham, which had +been ordered round to the stage door, and leaving the kindly +Englishman to see him safely home, Sardoni hurried off in search of a +doctor. + +Carlo had fancied that if only he could get through the opera he +should be perfectly happy, but when his work was really done he was +suffering too acutely to be able to bestow a thought on the future or +on Anita. Too faint to speak, he allowed Mr. Britton to help him up +to his room, never troubling himself to consider the impression that +No. 62 would make on the rich ship-builder. The miserable little +place was to him now a haven of rest, and there was deep relief in +the consciousness that he could now suffer in peace, that no call-boy +would rap at his door, that there was no longer the horrible +necessity of acting and singing before a critical audience. But to +Mr. Britton that dismal little attic was the climax of the evening. +Its total lack of comfort appalled him, and when he had left the +patient to the care of Sardoni and the doctor he drove home, vowing +that Carlo should be moved to Merlebank the very next day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +"HIGH FAILURE." + +"We are like soldiers in a vast, widely-extended battlefield (wrapped +in obscurity) of which we know not the phases, of which we seem +utterly powerless to control the issues; but we are responsible for +our own part--whatever goes on elsewhere, let us not fail in that. +The changes of the world, which men think they are bringing about, +are in the hands of God. With Him, when we have done our duty, let +us leave them."--DEAN CHURCH. + + +Clare was much concerned when she heard the bad news which Mr. +Britton and Harry brought home that evening. + +"You didn't wait to hear the doctor's verdict?" she asked, when the +bare outline of the story had been given her. + +"No, it was so late, and I thought I should only have been in the +way; but I fear there's not the least doubt the poor fellow is in for +pleurisy." + +"It was awful to see him towards the end," said Harry. "Leaning up +against the woodwork when he had to be on the stage with nothing +actually to sing or do, and every now and then, when he was singing, +suddenly folding his arms--so--as if the pain was almost unbearable." + +"What do you think, Miss Claremont--if we had one of the St. John's +nurses down, could we manage to look after him all right here?" said +Mr. Britton. + +Clare was delighted at the proposal, for she had always been fond of +Carlo. She did not understand all Mr. Britton's reasons for taking +an interest in the young Italian, but his kindness and hospitality +did not at all surprise her, because he was a man who was forever +going out of his way to help other people, and Kate, who was +housekeeper, used sometimes to protest that really Merlebank might as +well call itself what it was in fact--a sanatorium for his friends +and acquaintances. + +"There is no doubt he must be moved from his present quarters," said +Mr. Britton. "I never saw such a room,--the little child sleeping in +a portmanteau, a miserable truckle-bed, a sloping skylight through +which you could see the stars--such a room as no servant of mine +should sleep in." + +So the plans for Carlo's reception at Merlebank were discussed, and +the next morning Mr. Britton drove in to the Royal Hotel to see what +sort of a night the Italian had passed. At the entrance he +encountered the doctor. + +"How is your patient to-day, Kavanagh?" he asked. + +"Very bad, poor fellow,--must be moved at once to the hospital." + +"Nonsense, he is a friend of mine; I want him brought to Merlebank. +You'll give leave for that, I hope?" + +"Oh, certainly, if you really want to have him, but I must warn you +that he is likely to be laid up for some time,--acute pleurisy, and +we shall do well if we ward off complications." + +"Poor fellow! I thought he was in for it last night. He is an old +family friend of ours, and I shall be particularly glad to help him +if I can. How about a nurse? Shall I telegraph for one?" + +"I can see to that, if you like," said the doctor. "His sister seems +a most empty-headed creature, and the sooner he is away from her the +better." + +Mr. Britton was just wondering whether he had better ask to see +Sardoni, when he caught sight of Gigi strolling listlessly down the +passage. + +"How is your uncle, little man?" he asked. "Can I see him?" + +"He's ill," said Gigi, mournfully, and without further remark he +slipped his little brown hand into Mr. Britton's, and led the way to +No. 62. The door was open, and a babel of Italian could be +heard--four people all talking at once. + +Mr. Britton half hesitated, but the child led him on. The next +moment a curious scene met his gaze. In the dismal little attic, +which by daylight looked even more forlorn and comfortless, a stormy +discussion was being carried on. The Impresario, who was evidently +in the worst of tempers, held in his hand an open telegram; Gomez, +with a sarcastic smile on his usually grave face, stood playing the +part of general irritant _con amore_; Madame Merlino and Sardoni +seemed to be having a battle-royal; and the sick man lay in the midst +of the strife of tongues evidently in great pain, but listening with +strained anxiety to all that passed. Mr. Britton heard an impatient, +"Can't you see how bad this is for him?" from Sardoni, and +disconnected remarks about "Comerio's coming," which gave him the +clue to the matter which was being discussed. + +He waited at the door, for Donati was far too much absorbed in what +was going on to notice him, and indeed had to concentrate all his +faculties on the effort to meet this crisis. That which he had +feared had come to pass: Comerio had telegraphed to offer his +services, and all through the weary night Carlo had been trying to +solve the difficult problem whether, should this happen, it was his +duty to explain all to Merlino or not. Superficial people are fond +of saying that the right is always clear. Carlo did not find it so. +It was only after hours of mental struggle and suffering that he at +length arrived at the conclusion that, all things considered, he was +not justified in arousing Merlino's suspicion. He went so far, +however, as to propose another alternative. + +"Look," he said, speaking with difficulty, "Paul Cremer's English +Opera Company might very possibly have a spare baritone. Telegraph +and see, and I will defray the expenses of any one they can send." + +He broke off to cough--the effort had cost him hideous pain, and Mr. +Britton could see that great drops of perspiration stood on his brow. + +"_Accidente_! It only shows how little you know of such things," +said Merlino, angrily. "We are secure of Comerio, and had far better +have him than some stranger. I should have thought you were above +such petty jealousy as that, Donati." + +"Then will you reply to the telegram?" asked Gomez. + +"I suppose I must," said Merlino, in his grumbling way. "It's a +confounded nuisance." + +And with muttered imprecations he left the room, evidently regarding +Carlo's illness as a wilful injury and a personal insult. + +Gomez having gained his object, followed the Impresario, and Mr. +Britton drew near to the bed, and spoke to Sardoni, but Carlo lay +with closed eyes, and took no notice of what was passing until he +heard Nita get up from her chair beside him, and move towards the +door. Then he started up with sudden energy. + +"Nita," he exclaimed, "do not go yet--I want to speak to you!" + +She turned back reluctantly, and at the same moment he became aware +of Mr. Britton's presence. + +"How kind of you to come!" he said. "Will you excuse me just for a +minute?--I want to speak to my sister--there is not much time left." + +"We will wait in the next room," said Sardoni, "if Madame Merlino +will tell us when she leaves you." + +Nita assented, and, still reluctantly, sat down again beside the bed. +When they were alone, he turned towards her. + +"I had hoped to tide over this time in England," he said, striving +with all his might not to let the physical pain overmaster him. "It +is hard to feel that, after all, I have perhaps only made your danger +greater. You must forgive me for failing you like this, Nita!" + +"Don't distress yourself--I know of no danger!" she replied, +crushingly, and with an expressive motion of her small, shapely head. +There had been a time when she had told him a very different story, +but he bore the set-down patiently and caught at the ray of hope. + +"That is, indeed, true? Then God be thanked! I can go content!" + +She laughed--the most heartless little laugh conceivable. + +"Perhaps we do not mean precisely the same thing by the word +'danger.' There is no danger that my husband will ill-treat me, +because one who loves me better will be here as my protector." + +"Nita!" he groaned. + +"Now, listen to common-sense!" she said, with angry gesticulation. +"Merlino and I are not happy together: Comerio and his wife are not +happy together. Why are four people to live in misery because of a +conventional law?" + +"Because they have vowed to be true to each other through +everything,--because the only hope of their leading pure, noble lives +is destroyed when they shirk their duty, and give up trying to love +each other,--because it is not a conventional law, but God's command!" + +She laughed again. + +"Bravo!" she exclaimed. "My confessor himself could not have read me +a more correct little homily. As far as the marriage laws are +concerned, _mio caro_, you are quite curiously orthodox. As a matter +of fact, though, I always find these little homilies are propounded +by the unmarried. Strange, isn't it?" + +"You'll break my heart if you talk like that!" he exclaimed. + +"Nonsense! Hearts don't break so easily, I assure you, You will go +back to Francesca Britton and be happy; Comerio and I, too, shall be +happy; while as for Merlino, he will merely lose a valuable soprano +and baritone whom he never deserved." + +She had rattled on, paying no attention whatever to his suffering. +He was now so much exhausted that it was physically impossible for +him to speak more than two words. + +"Our mother!" he faltered. + +"Is in Paradise, and will be ready to pray for me when I am in +purgatory!" + +His next words were hardly audible. + +"_Il Cristo!_" he gasped. + +"My confessor does not allow me to talk of religion with heretics," +she replied, triumphantly. + +He turned away, and lay so absolutely still that Nita became +frightened; however, it was an excellent opportunity to escape, and +she availed herself of it, glancing in for a moment at the next room +where Sardoni and Mr. Britton had waited. + +"He has done with me now," she said cheerfully, though all the time +her conscience was pricking her. + +Mr. Britton had seldom seen so pretty a woman for whom it was so +difficult to get up any sort of regard. Without knowing why, he +heartily disliked Nita. + +"She does not seem particularly anxious about her brother," he +remarked. + +Sardoni gnashed his teeth. + +"He has given up everything to help her, and she--little vixen--won't +do the slightest thing to please him. Let us come back to him." + +Mr. Britton was horrified to see the change that had come over Carlo. +It was not merely that the bodily pain seemed to have increased so +much, but that he was in such terrible distress. Sardoni, however, +seemed to understand all, and Mr. Britton walked to the window and +left the two friends together, though he could not avoid hearing, +every now and then, a sentence or two. + +"Failed--hopelessly!" were the only words that escaped Carlo, and +Sardoni seemed to be cheering him, and denying that all was lost, +promising his help, talking of letters, and speaking hopefully of the +future. Some mention of the hospital brought Mr. Britton to the +bedside. + +"The doctor says you may be nursed at my house," he said, kindly. "I +couldn't think of allowing you to go to the hospital,--Miss Claremont +is longing to have you at Merlebank." And then, to silence the +Italian's thanks, and doubts, and evident wavering, he bent down and +whispered a few words in his ear: "For Francesca's sake you must not +refuse me." + +They were interrupted by a suppressed sobbing from the other side of +the bed, and found that Gigi was sitting in a disconsolate little +heap on the floor, crying as though his heart would break. + +"Put him up here, Jack, by me," said Carlo. "What is it, Gigi? are +you hurt?" + +"Oh, don't go away from me!" sobbed the child. "Don't leave me so +all alone." + +"Let him come to Merlebank, too," said Mr. Britton, who was apt to +make kind-hearted offers without at all consulting Kate or the +household arrangements. + +"You are very good, but he ought to be with his mother," said Carlo, +after a minute's thought. It cost him much to send away the little +fellow, but he knew that Anita had really begun to care for him, and +hoped that the child might prove her greatest safeguard. Mr. Britton +guessed as much, but of course there could be no explanation to Gigi +himself to whom the refusal must have seemed barbarous. He sobbed +pitifully. + +"Look, _mio caro_, I love you dearly, and would like you to have this +time in the country," said Carlo, drawing the child close to him; +"but in some ways it is better not. Say, do you, too, love me a +little bit?" + +"Yes, yes," sobbed Gigi, clinging to him. + +"Then, will you stay here to please me, and help the mother, and run +errands for them all when you can, and write me long letters----" He +broke off, unable to say another word. + +"_Carino!_" said the child with a depth of love and tenderness in his +tone. Then, as Sardoni told him how ill Carlo was, "I will be +good--good," and choking back his tears he slid down from the bed and +sat like a sorrowful little statue on the edge of his portmanteau. + +Mr. Britton, anxious that no more time should be lost, hurried to his +office to telephone to Merlebank for the landau, and in an hour's +time he was back again to help in all the arrangements. + +The patient seemed a little easier, both in mind and body, though +apparently no one but Sardoni had seen him, and there was no change +as to his substitute. + +At the last moment Madame Merlino came to say good-bye to him, +expressing very prettily her thanks to Mr. Britton for saving her +brother from the hospital; but she seemed particularly anxious not to +be left alone with the invalid, and apparently no words passed +between them. When they parted, however, he drew her face down to +his and gave her a lingering kiss, and Mr. Britton noticed that as +she raised her head her eyes were full of tears. What was the +meaning of it all, he wondered? Had she, after all, a heart? Did +Carlo's silence appeal to her when his words had failed? or was it +that his manner had somehow conveyed a confidence and trust in her +higher nature which had wakened it from long sleep? + +There was not much time for reflection, for just then the doctor +arrived to superintend the removal of the patient, and before long +Mr. Britton had taken leave of the various members of Merlino's +troupe, who had become known to him during this little episode, and +was driving home with his new guest. + +People seem to have a notion that to be ill means to be more or less +free from temptation; that with physical weakness comes spiritual +strength; and that if the sick are in some ways to be pitied, they +are in other respects to be very much envied. As a matter of fact, +however, this idea is cruelly false. No healthy-minded, active man +ever found it easy to be laid aside--ever submitted without a fierce +struggle to the humiliation of dependence and bodily weakness. Far +from necessarily becoming saints during illness, the bravest and best +of men often find it as much as they can do to be even decently +patient, and know only too well the mental misery of the time-- + + "When the sensuous frame + Is rack'd with pangs that conquer trust." + + +The faith which had come to Carlo's help when he parted with Anita +was not proof against the severe physical strain of the removal to +Merlebank; his mind seemed incapable of hope, capable only of +dwelling on the one horrible fear that Comerio's evil influence would +prevail. Sleepless nights, and wearing anxiety, and severe bodily +pain had made it almost impossible for him to see things in due +proportion, and his artistic power of calling up before him graphic +pictures of any subject that arrested his attention, became a torture +almost unendurable. + +The doctor and kind-hearted Mr. Britton had no idea of what was +passing in the sick man's mind as they drove along the road between +Ashborough and Merlebank, and when once he opened his eyes for a +minute and they could not help seeing the look of grievous distress +in them, they only thought of the bodily suffering, and said to him +reassuringly, "It will soon be over." He could have smiled at the +incongruity of the words had he not been down in the black depths +where smiles can by no means come. + +The carriage rumbled along with a dull, hollow, monotonous sound, and +presently drew up at the great door at Merlebank; he caught a vision +of Clare standing in the porch with two or three servants, but it was +far less distinct than the mental picture from which he could not +escape. Then the doctor half smothered him with wraps, and since to +breathe was agony, he found himself resenting almost childishly the +infliction of great shawls, which necessitated two breaths where one +might have sufficed. Was he losing his self-control, he wondered? +It was clearly impossible for him to govern his thoughts,--was it +also impossible to regulate his feelings? He prayed in a sort of +blind, wretched despair; but in that state of blank depression +nothing in heaven or earth seemed real to him but his own failure and +that indelible mind-picture of Nita and Comerio. Dimly he felt his +misery increased by the beauty and luxury of the room to which he was +borne, and even by the kindness of his attendants. What did he in +his misery want with outer comfort? "I have miserably failed," he +thought to himself; "and now, I suppose, am going to die. I wish +they had let me die in the hotel room! I wish they would let me +alone!" + +To turn from this haunting picture was now an effort to which he was +wholly unequal; it exercised a deadly fascination over him, and when +Clare spoke to him he grudged the interruption. Every one seemed +intent on relieving his physical pain; and it was not that which +absorbed him: it was the far worse mental torture caused in great +measure by the bodily suffering,--the torture of the conviction that +all his efforts had been vain, and that evil would triumph. Without +one ray of comfort he tossed through that weary day and night; sleep +was out of the question, he became less and less capable of thinking +rationally, and the doctor, on visiting him the next morning, looked +very grave. Clare and Mr. Britton waited anxiously for his verdict. + +"There is evidently something weighing on his mind," said Mr. +Kavanagh, as he walked downstairs. "The local symptoms are +subsiding, but I fear he is in a critical state. These southern +temperaments are always hard to deal with--it is touch and go with +them. Keep him as quiet as possible, and I will look in again this +evening." + +Clare felt sad at heart as she kept watch while the nurse rested +after her night's work; she could guess pretty accurately what it was +that was weighing upon Carlo's mind, but how to comfort him she did +not know. He lay quite still with closed eyes, his lips just parted +that he might breathe with less effort; but the hand which lay +outside the bed-clothes was tightly clenched, and the face bore an +expression of silent misery, which was almost more than Clare could +endure. + +"Is the pain still so bad?" she asked at length. + +He opened his eyes; they were so hopeless, so full of dumb distress, +that it seemed to her they must be the eyes of some other man. She +could not have believed that Carlo could ever have gone down to such +depths of wretchedness. + +"Much better, thank you," he answered, just above his breath: and +Clare was thankful that his eyelids fell once more, for she could not +keep back her tears. And so the hours passed on, and she knew that +she was close to a man who was passing through the worst suffering +that can be borne, and yet felt as powerless to reach him as if he +had been a thousand miles away. At last, early in the afternoon, he +seemed to make an effort to break the rigid quiet in which he had so +long lain. She stood up to arrange his pillows afresh, and he took +her hand in his and held it fast in a fevered grasp. + +"If I could only sleep, Clare! if I could only sleep!" he exclaimed. +They were the first words he had voluntarily spoken, and she took +them as a good sign; clearly he began to see that he must do all that +he could to free himself from absorption in this one painful idea; +even in his illness the duty of self-mastery lingered vaguely with +him, spite of his failing powers. + +"There is one sovereign remedy for sleeplessness," said Clare. "Let +us see whether it will have any effect on you;" and taking a Bible +from the shelf she began to read in a low, soft, slightly monotonous +voice from the Book of Job. Whether it was the musical rhythm of the +words, or the continuous sound, or the graphic picture set forth in +that grand old poem, it would be hard to say; but for some reason the +mental picture of Anita and Comerio gradually faded, the perception +of his own pain passed away, he seemed to be living quite out of the +nineteenth century--to be Job and not himself,--though it was, in +fact, the personal perception of the truth of the poem which made its +effect on him so powerful. + +"'For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,'" read Clare; +"'and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in +safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came.'" + +When Eliphaz the Temanite began to argue, Carlo felt himself sliding +away into blissful drowsiness, and soon Clare perceived that the old +charm had worked well and that he was sound asleep. He slept for +some hours; when he opened his eyes the level rays of the setting sun +were streaming through a window which was hidden from him by the +bed-curtains, and casting a vivid light on a picture just opposite to +him. Now Carlo was one of those who respond more easily to that +which appeals to the artistic side of them than to that which appeals +to the intellect. The deepest philosophical treatise, the most +eloquent sermon, could not possibly have conveyed to him all that was +conveyed by that well-known picture of the thorn-crowned Shepherd +bearing through the wilderness the sheep that had gone astray. +"FINCHÈ _l' abbia trovata!_" urged a voice in his heart: "UNTIL he +find it!" It seemed to him that he had never till that minute +realized the eternal constancy of the Good Shepherd, never taken in +the truth that while men strive, and fail, and faint by the way, the +work they have tried to do does not fail, but is eternally carried on +in ways unknown to them. He saw that for the present all he could do +was to suffer patiently; but the picture of Nita and Comerio, though +it did its best to rise again in his mind, had lost its power of +torture; he could always efface it almost instantly with this other +picture of the tireless and persistent Shepherd, who in the end must +inevitably win back His own, spite of false hirelings, and ravening +wolves, and horrors of the wilderness. One glance into his eyes +showed Clare that he was himself again, and the doctor, too, on his +second visit, was surprised and pleased to find what a favorable turn +his patient had taken. The alarming prostration had passed: that +terrible depression which seems incapable of wishing to live or of +making any effort to recover had given place to a strong desire for +health. Though speaking was still an effort to him he asked two or +three eager questions. + +"Shall I get better, do you think?" + +"Oh, there is not a doubt of it, if you go on as well as you have +begun," said the doctor. + +"Will my voice be injured?" + +"There is no reason that it should not be as good as ever when you +recover your strength." + +"How soon could I possibly be fit to sing in public again?" + +The doctor liked his spirit, and answered with a smile, "This day +nine weeks, if you have no relapse. But don't excite yourself about +it, and don't talk too much. What you want now is perfect rest of +mind and body." + +"One word more," broke in Carlo. "Is there anything I can do to get +well sooner?" + +"You can help me very materially by obedience to orders, and by +keeping yourself quiet. All anxiety and excitement will retard your +recovery. This attack of pleurisy is the best thing that could have +happened to you, for you are altogether overworked and overstrained, +and you must have rest. In these hurrying days people seem to have +forgotten how to rest, that's the worst of it. If you'll only go on +as you have begun this afternoon though, I shall be quite satisfied +with you." + +As Sardoni had once remarked, however, Carlo was in some respects +"old-fashioned," and the doctor found that he had not forgotten even +in his overstrained, nineteenth-century life the secret of rest; that +he was fast learning what Thomas à Kempis deemed the work of a +perfect man, "To pass through many cares, as it were without care; +not with the indifference of a sluggard, but with that privilege of a +mind at liberty." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A RESTORATION. + +"Some say that the age of chivalry is past. The age of chivalry is +never past as long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, and +a man or woman left to say, 'I will redress that wrong, or spend my +life in the attempt.' The age of chivalry is never past so long as +men have faith enough in God to say, 'God will help me to redress +that wrong; or if not me, surely He will help those that come after +me. For His eternal will is to overcome evil with good.'"--CHARGES +KINGSLEY. + + +Kate Britton was an indefatigable worker; parish work was her +delight, and to her mind the luckless wight who did not go +district-visiting, who was not an ardent teetotaler, who could not +show a well-ordered Sunday-school class as the visible fruits of +persevering work, hardly deserved toleration. Like all workers who +are worth much she was full of enthusiasm, and would have been +greatly missed in the village; but she was "ill to live with" because +she had not yet learnt to see things from any point of view but her +own, and had an overweening idea of her own importance. Carlo Donati +was just now much on her mind; she had a feeling that he must have +been brought to Merlebank for some special purpose; and as it was +Kate's way to think always of the impression she might make on +others, rather than of the impression she might receive from them, +she began to consider how she could bring her influence to bear on +the Italian, and her enthusiasm was roused by an idea which came to +her one day as she mused over his life. What a glorious thing it +would be if she could convince him that he was leading a life +unworthy of a true man, and induce him to give up his profession! + +With this in view, Kate put up with the infliction of the invalid's +presence, and when in a fortnight's time he was well enough to spend +most of the day in the morning-room, which adjoined his bedroom, she +was really glad to have an opportunity for beginning her operations. +As a rule she cordially disliked young men, and the one thorn in the +otherwise perfect bliss of her parish-work was the inevitable curate; +in her fear that she might be supposed to make her work an excuse for +flirtation, she ran to the opposite extreme, openly avowed herself as +a man-hater, and snubbed the entire biennial succession of deacons, +who were ordained to the title of the quiet little country parish, +but at the close of their two years' novitiate invariably passed on +to larger spheres of work. + +The morning-room was a bright, sunny, cheerful room facing south, and +Carlo enjoyed his change of quarters very much; he was glad to see +Kate, too, for she interested him, and he delighted in tracing the +slight likeness to Francesca, which he had noticed when he first came +to Merlebank. Kate, who was inordinately self-conscious, quickly +perceived that his eyes followed her as she moved about the room +arranging flowers in the vases, and she felt provoked, for it would +be so horribly like a story-book if the invalid were to fall in love +with her; yet she could not snub him as she snubbed the curate, +because she wanted to influence him for his good, and longed for the +honor and glory of persuading him to quit the stage. Reflecting that +this was the Monday in Holy-week, she thought she would supply him +with suitable literature--at any rate the offer of books would make a +good opening for conversation. So she began boldly, yet with an +effort that surprised her; somehow, although she had astonishing +theories as to the universal depravity of young men, she had an +undefined consciousness that Carlo Donati was not so immeasurably +beneath her as the curates and the men to be met with at dances and +tennis-parties. This perception did not please her. + +"Clare said your things had been put in here," she began; "but I +don't see anything but music, no books at all." + +"I don't think I have any," said Carlo: "I am not much of a reader." + +Kate felt dismayed, she could hardly conceive that any one could get +on in life without her particular little library of good books. It +was a slight relief to her to discover that among the pile of operas, +wedged in between _Masaniello_ and _Semiramide_, were a shabby little +Italian Testament and a very minute English Prayer-book. + +Carlo on seeing this last gave a quick exclamation. + +"Did I leave that out? Will you give it me, please?" + +"And even this is not yours, but Francesca's!" she said, laughing, as +accidentally she dropped the book and noticed her cousin's name on +the fly-leaf. + +He colored. + +"She lent it to me the first time I went to the English church, and +since then I have always had it," he explained. + +"It is dreadful print," said Kate, in her matter-of-fact way. "You +had better let me lend you a clearer one." + +But Carlo held out his hand for it, and his fingers closed over it +jealously. + +"It will do very nicely," he said. "I don't suppose I shall read it." + +Which illogical statement would possibly have roused Kate's suspicion +had she not been racking her brain for the devotional books most +appropriate to his case. + +She went across to her own particular bookshelf, and, to do her +justice, chose out a few books really worth reading, eschewed a +_Treasury of Devotion_ as likely to be uncongenial to one of Carlo's +turn of mind, and returned bearing _The Christian Year_, Taylor's +_Holy Living and Dying_, and a book of meditations for Holy-Week, of +which she was fond. He thanked her, but when later in the morning +she saw him again, she found to her great disgust, that he was poring +over _Les Huguenots_, and that her books were pushed aside. + +"You didn't like them?" she said, with a touch of disappointment in +her tone. + +"I'm afraid I didn't read much," he said, apologetically; "you see to +have this music within reach was more than I could resist. We have +not yet done _Les Huguenots_, but we shall rehearse it in the summer, +and give it in America this autumn. Do you know it well?" + +"I have never heard an opera in my life," said Kate feeling annoyed +at his astonishment. "Do you really mean to go back to such a life? +It must surely be very bad for you." + +"But you see the doctor quite gives me hope of being as strong as +ever again," replied Carlo, thinking she must refer to his health. + +"I didn't mean that," replied Kate; "I meant it must surely be a very +bad life in other ways." + +"It is very much like other lives, I fancy; it is what you like to +make it," he replied, quietly. He did not feel that he could very +well enter into a discussion with a young girl on the special +temptations of stage-life, and there was a silence. + +"But surely all the applause and praise must be very trying?" said +Kate. + +"Applause always makes me think of a _méringue_," said Carlo, +laughing a little; "sweet and evanescent, and leaves you longing for +more. I don't deny that it is a great pleasure, and a great help, +but I think it is a very innocent and legitimate pleasure." + +"It must surely make you very vain?" + +"Well, I hope not," said Carlo, smiling. "Of course, every artist +has to be careful not to get into the way of thinking that his powers +are merits instead of gifts. Years ago I heard Togni play at Naples, +and you know when our people applaud they applaud tremendously; I +shall never forget the deafening outburst; but it seemed to me like a +great thanksgiving to God who had given such power to men. It was +not Togni we applauded, it was the wonderful beauty and power which +he had unfolded for us." + +"But clearly," said Kate, "the life must be full of excitement. +Surely your constant craving to get back to it again shows how +engrossing and dangerous it must be." + +He could not explain to her that it was no anxiety for applause which +made him so eager to be back once more in Merlino's troupe, so he +turned the conversation, and Kate naturally concluded that her remark +had struck home. She despised him for evading the subject, but +noticing that he looked tired, offered to read to him. + +He seemed relieved at the proposal, and opening the _Christian Year_, +asked her to read over again something which had taken his fancy. + +"Exactly like his perverseness to choose the Tuesday in Whitsun-week +on the Monday in Holy-week," she reflected, knowing nothing of his +Whitsuntide associations. Moreover, the poem was the last one she +would have expected him to like; it seemed a mockery to her that a +man who was "fooling away his life on the stage" should be struck +with the lines, + + "And whereso'er on earth's wide field + Ye lift for Him the red-cross shield, + Be this your song, your joy and pride-- + 'Our Champion went before and died.'" + + +It had never occurred to her as a possibility that an operatic singer +could appreciate sentiments of that sort. And she would have been +scandalized and dismayed could she have known of the unconscious, +matter-of-fact way in which Carlo would go from the altar to the +theatre, or, if it suited him better as to time, from the theatre to +the altar. + +Very much perplexed as to the Italian's character, she walked that +afternoon down to the village, but had scarcely left the grounds when +she encountered the Vicar. + +"I was just coming to your house," he remarked. "I hear you have a +young Italian staying with you, and was coming to inquire after him. +Is he better?" + +"Oh, he is much better, thank you," said Kate. "I wish you would go +to see him, for perhaps you who feel so strongly about such matters +would be able to persuade him to leave the stage. I can't understand +him at all; he seems quite wrapped up in his profession, and it is so +sad to think of a really good man wasting his life in work of that +sort." + +"I shall be very happy to see him," said the Vicar; "it will be quite +a treat to me to talk Italian again!" And without more delay he made +his way to the house, smiling to himself a little at Kate Britten's +eagerness to influence all she came across, and rather pleased at the +prospect of a new acquaintance in his small and not very interesting +parish. He had preached only a little while ago against theatres, +and it was satisfactory to be brought face to face in this way with a +veritable member of the profession. + +Having received a message that Signor Donati would be very glad to +see him, the Vicar followed the servant upstairs to the morning-room, +where he found the invalid on a couch drawn close to the fire. He +was surprised at his fluent English; his accent, too, was perfect, +and it was only by a very slight peculiarity in the intonation, and +every now and then by some unusual little bit of phraseology, that he +betrayed his foreign birth. His face, however, was unmistakably +Italian, and, though he was evidently weak and tired the Vicar +thought him looking much less ill than might have been expected after +so serious an attack. The formal greetings were only just over when +Carlo, having thoroughly studied the strong, intellectual face of his +visitor--his calm, deep-set eyes, and the sort of general air of +"iron-gray" which characterized him--exclaimed, with an excitement +which surprised the Vicar,-- + +"I believe, sir--indeed, I am quite sure--that we have met before!" + +Now, the Vicar had at that moment been thinking of his sermon at St. +Cyprian's, and admitting to himself that this actor, at any rate, did +not at all fit-in with his preconceived notion of the members of the +"unhallowed calling," so, naturally enough, he thought that Carlo +must refer to this occasion. + +"Can you have been in the congregation at St. Cyprian's when I +preached there the other day!" he exclaimed. "I little thought I was +addressing any one connected with the stage." + +"Ah! was it indeed you who preached that sermon?" said Carlo, +quickly. "Yes, I was there with my friend Sardoni, the tenor of the +company; but we were quite at the back of the church, and could not +even see the pulpit. Was it indeed you who preached? That is one of +the oddest coincidences I ever knew." + +"But when can you have met me before?" said the Vicar, looking +puzzled. "Can I have met you in Italy and have forgotten?" + +"Do you remember being in Naples last May, and going one afternoon +into one of the _cafés_ in the Piazza Plebiscite, and talking with +your companion as to the improvement of the world in general in the +nineteenth century?" + +"With Stanley!--yes, yes, I remember it quite well!" said the Vicar. + +"Do you remember how you said that men were not more willing to live +the life of the Crucified? Well, I was sitting close by and heard +you, and I owe you much, for those words haunted me continually, +and--but this will, I fear, shock you--they helped me to choose my +present profession." + +The Vicar smiled a little. He could just perceive, though not so +clearly as Carlo perceived, the irony of the situation. Mr. Britton +had given him a hint as to Donati's motive in going on the stage, and +had expressed a hope that the Vicar, if he had any opportunity, would +do his best to dissuade him from returning to it, feeling convinced +that Madame Merlino's case was hopeless. And now to be told that it +was in some degree owing to words of his that the choice had been +made was, to say the least of it, startling, while the knowledge that +the Italian had been listening in St. Cyprian's to his tirade against +theatres vexed him not a little. The Vicar was a kind-hearted man, +though many people considered him hard; but, as a matter of fact, the +idea of having denounced such a man as Donati to his face, and having +probably pained him, caused him serious annoyance. + +"I have always disapproved of the stage," he said after a brief +pause. "But I am exceedingly sorry that you heard that sermon the +other night, for it must have seemed hard and unjust to you, I am +afraid." + +"I will tell you quite candidly just how it was," said Carlo. "It +did vex me, I must allow, but then I was beginning to feel ill and +overdone, and had had rather a rough time of it through the week, and +it seemed hard to lose the sense of fellowship which one counts on +getting, at any rate, in church. But what vexed me most of all, and +perhaps made me exaggerate your denunciation, was that my friend +Sardoni, who does not go in much for church services, happened that +night to have come with me." + +"Did it do him harm, do you think?" asked the Vicar. + +Carlo hesitated. + +"He was very angry about it," he said, at length; "unreasonably +angry, I thought. But he has a good deal to trouble him, and there +were reasons which made any attack from the Church on our profession +specially painful to him." + +He broke off as the door opened, and looked with feverish eagerness +towards the servant who entered with the afternoon letters. Just at +this time he seemed to live in perpetual craving for post-time; for +not only was he terribly anxious to hear from Sardoni how matters +were going on in the Company, but he had always an undefined hope +that some one at Merlebank would hear from Francesca, and that at +least some fragments of the letter might be read or quoted in his +presence. This afternoon there arrived the letter from Sardoni for +which he had looked and waited so long. + +"Will you excuse me just for one minute?" he said. "This is from my +friend Sardoni, of whom we were just speaking. If you will allow +me--I am ashamed to ask such a thing--but I am very anxious to see +how things are going with them." + +He opened the envelope, tossed it aside, and began to read eagerly. +Involuntarily the Vicar glanced at the handwriting of the direction. +It was large and marked--a peculiar and thoroughly characteristic +hand. The color rose to his forehead--his lips trembled. He waited, +partly to recover his self-control, partly to allow Carlo time to +glance through the letter, then, with undisguised eagerness, he +exclaimed-- + +"This friend of yours, Signor Donati,--what did you say he was +called?" + +"Sardoni; he is the _primo tenore_ of our troupe. Such a +good-hearted fellow! I don't know what I should do without him." + +"But that perhaps is an assumed name! What is his true name? Is he +not an Englishman?" + +"He is English, but he keeps entirely to his _nom-de-guerre_," said +Carlo. + +"Even you, his friend, do not know his true name?" + +"Yes, I do know it; but he does not wish it generally known. Have +you any special reason for asking? Good heavens!" he exclaimed, as +an idea suddenly occurred to him; "can it possibly be that which +altered him so much after the sermon? Sir, I beg you to tell me your +name? I have only heard you spoken of as the Vicar." + +"My name is John Postlethwayte," said the Vicar, watching with +anxiety indescribable the effect of his words on the Italian. + +There was no mistaking the intense excitement which dawned in Carlo's +face. + +"You saw and recognized this writing?" he asked, breathlessly, +pointing to the envelope; then as the Vicar signed an assent, "Thank +God, I have come across you! I see there can be no doubt that you +are his father!" + +Tears started to the Englishman's eyes. Carlo observed this with +relief. The Vicar did not seem nearly so hard and uncompromising as +Sardoni had led him to expect. + +"My son was here, then, in Ashborough!" he exclaimed--"was actually +in the church that night, and never came near me! I have spent my +life in looking for him!--have wandered all over the Continent in the +hope of finding him once more!--and does he now avoid and shun me +when we are in the same town?" + +"It must have been that which made him feel the sermon so much," said +Carlo. "He knew you disapproved of the stage; he was afraid you +would not believe that he had turned over a new leaf--he told me that +long ago; and then, of course, when he heard you speak so strongly +against actors and their calling he would naturally be repulsed and +disheartened!" + +The Vicar paced the room in great distress. It was indescribably +bitter to him to realize that his son should have happened to hear +that one sermon, and to reflect that the whole course of his life +might have been altered had his theme been of reconciliation and +charity. + +"But all will be well now," said Carlo; "for, if you have searched +for him, then you must really care to be reconciled to him--and, +indeed, he wishes your forgiveness. The very first day after we +landed in England, he went straight to your old home, fully expecting +to find you there. It was then he told me all about it, and gave me +his true name. Poor Jack! I shall never forget his misery when he +found a stranger in your place." + +"Did he go, indeed, to the old home?" said the Vicar, eagerly. "My +poor boy, if only I had been there to meet him! But surely he could +have found out in the village where I had gone to?" + +"He did send me to make inquiries," said Carlo, "and the old sexton +told me you were at Cleevering, in Mountshire. But when Jack found +how, through his fault, your home had been broken up and your work +spoiled, he said he could not write to you or seek you out. Indeed, +I doubt if we shall ever get him here unless we take him altogether +by surprise. He would say that he would not come back to be a +disgrace to you in a new parish." + +"Then I must go to him!" said the Vicar. + +Carlo hesitated. He pictured to himself the sort of meeting that +might take place in one of the second-rate hotels, or in the dingy +lodgings which Merlino's troupe frequented, where privacy was out of +the question, and where Sardoni, because of his surroundings, would +certainly not show to the greatest advantage. He thought of the +gossip which would be set afloat in the troupe, and realized how +distasteful it would all be to his friend. + +"If you don't mind," he said, "I think it would be much better if I +wrote to him and begged him to come down and see me; I think I could +write urgently enough to bring him, and on Good Friday there will of +course be no opera, and it is possible that he might even be able to +arrange to stay over Easter Monday. Will you mind just handing me +that pocketbook, and I will see where the Company will be? Ah, yes, +I thought so; they will be at Worcester, and on the Saturday will be +giving _Marta_. I have no doubt that Merlino will let Caffieri take +Lionello in Jack's place; he did so once in the autumn." + +Spite of his excitement and anxiety the Vicar could not but perceive +that his visit was tiring the invalid. + +"I am ashamed to have forgotten your illness in my own great joy," he +said, rising to go. "I little thought what news awaited me when I +came here." + +"This is worth being ill for," said Carlo. "I shall write to Jack by +the first post to-morrow." + +Probably the doctor would highly have disapproved had he known of the +little plot which was being worked out in his patient's room; but +only Clare and Mr. Britton were taken into the secret, and in truth +the excitement and hope acted like a sort of tonic, and Carlo forgot +for a time his own anxieties in planning his various arrangements for +that eventful Good Friday. Sardoni had written to say that he would +come at half-past three in the afternoon, and Carlo awaited his +arrival in some trepidation. Remembering the unpleasant sensation he +had experienced at Piale's house of having been entrapped, he +abandoned the rather stagey idea which had first suggested itself to +him, of allowing Sardoni to be shown in upon his father without any +preparation. Nevertheless, he was too thorough an Italian not to be +dramatic, and the Vicar was glad enough to trust the management of +all to one who really knew his son much better than he could pretend +to do. He listened to the Italian's ideas with some surprise, but he +did not call them in question. Sardoni might now be expected to +arrive at any minute, and the Vicar, waiting with Carlo in the +morning-room was enduring tortures of suspense and anxiety. + +"When we hear him arrive," said Carlo, quietly, "I want you to go +through that inner door into the next room; leave the door ajar. +Then, when Jack comes, I will tell him the whole truth, and how I +came across you, and how you recognized his writing. That being +settled, I shall ask him to help me to my bedroom. When you hear us +get up, then leave my room where you have waited by the other door, +leading into the passage, and come back here. I know you are +thinking me like a stage-manager, but, don't you see, this is the +only means of getting me out of the way. You will now meet alone and +unobserved; Jack will have been prepared, and will not feel that we +have dealt unfairly by him; and yet he will in a sense be surprised +when he goes back to find you there, because he will have been +bracing up his mind to the idea of seeking you out at the Vicarage." + +All these little considerations would never have occurred to Mr. +Postlethwayte; he was dreadfully afraid that something would not +work, that he should make a blunder and forget when to make his exit, +or by what door. But Carlo seemed to have perfect confidence in his +little plot; and when the supreme moment arrived, the Vicar, waiting +in the inner room, began to feel confidence in the man who had +planned all with such perfect appreciation of the feelings of others, +and whose sole thought of himself had been how, when his work was +over, he could best be got out of the way. + +And now a brisk, familiar step was heard in the passage, the +maid-servant announced in the most prim and ordinary way, "Signor +Sardoni," and the next moment Jack strode into the room. The Vicar +bit his lip hard as he heard the hearty, cheerful voice which had +been silent to him for so many years. + +"Well, old fellow, how are you? Why, you are looking almost yourself +again. This is a case of Mother Hubbard's dog; I thought I should +find you ready to make your last will and testament, as you were so +anxious to see me once more. I shall take back good news for the +troupe; we are all longing for you back again, though Comerio tries +hard to be civil, and to win golden opinions. And that reminds me, +Val; I've just hit upon a way of turning an honest penny." + +"What's that?" said Carlo, getting in a word with difficulty. + +"Why, I mean to write a sensational article for one of the Reviews, +on the Italian Character. The motto to be the old nursery rhyme, +adapted, + + "'When they are good, they are very, very good, + And when they are bad they are horrid.' + +That man is a fiend, his cunning and malice are beyond anything I +ever knew." + +"Presently I want you to tell me all," interposed Carlo, seizing at +once on the momentary pause. "But, Jack, first of all, there is +something I must tell you. What parish do you think this house is +in?" + +"Parish! How should I know?" said Sardoni. + +"It is in the parish of Cleevering," said Carlo, quietly. + +Sardoni sprang to his feet. + +"Good God, Donati!--and did you bring me here for that reason? Have +I not told you that nothing will induce me to revive the old +disgrace? Look here! that attack we heard in the church the other +night on the stage--that was spoken by my father! Do you think, +after that, he would care to have me coming home?" + +"I know he would," said Carlo. "Don't be angry, Jack; just hear me +quietly to the end. I did not betray you, but your father has found +you out." He told him graphically just what had happened, then +continued: "Do you think he was thinking of the 'disgrace' when he +threw up everything to go and search for you on the Continent? Do +you think he cares a rush for what people say when his first impulse +was to go straight to Worcester and see you? Perhaps it would have +been better, after all, if I had not suggested this other plan." + +"No, no!" broke in Sardoni; "I could never have stood that. But yet, +I doubt if I can do it, Val. It was hard enough last time with you. +And alone! No, I can't do it! You'll never know what it is to an +Englishman--the mere walking up to the house and ringing the bell!" + +"But you would at least do as much as that for one who has tramped +all over Europe for you?" said Carlo. + +"It's not that," said Sardoni, brushing his hand impatiently across +his eyes. "It's not that I mean! Upon my soul, Donati, I think you +are too good to understand how it is with me." + +Carlo replied only by one of his expressive gestures. + +"Too tired to discuss the matter further, we will say. Give me an +arm, will you, Jack? I will go to my room and rest, and will see you +again later on." + +"I forgot how ill you had been!" said Sardoni, with compunction. +"And now I have tired you, and thought only of my own affairs, like +the brute that I am!" + +He helped him into the adjoining room, and Carlo, conscious of much +the same sensation about the heart as he had felt on the night of his +first appearance in public, dismissed him. + +"If you ring the bell in the next room," he remarked, "they'll show +you to your room, or, if you make up your mind to go to the vicarage, +steer for the church tower, and you can't mistake the house, for they +say there is none other near." + +"I wish you were about, and could go there with me," said Sardoni, +with a sigh. + +"You are much better alone. I told you last time I should only have +been in the way. Now for my _siesta_. _A rivederci!_" + +Sardoni turned away slowly and with a sort of reluctance--almost as +if he were already in imagination rehearsing that difficult return +which Carlo had spoken of. To steer straight for the church tower! +What a walk that would be!--what a fight would be involved in every +step! He closed the door, and once more re-entered the morning-room. +Was that Mr. Britton standing by the window? But at the sound of the +shutting of the door the figure turned, and crossed the room in eager +haste. + +Sardoni's heart beat like a sledge hammer; the tears rushed to his +eyes. + +"Father!" he faltered. "Did you come?--are you here?" + +And Carlo himself would have been satisfied could he have seen the +manner of their meeting. + +When they could speak, the Vicar replied to the incoherent question. + +"It was your friend's doing! He thought this would be the best +place." + +"It is all his doing!" said Sardoni, in a choked voice. + +There was a pause, broken at last by the father. + +"Let us come home together!" he said. + +And Carlo, lying tired-out in the next room, heard the door of the +morning-room open, and knew that all was well, and pictured to +himself how the two would walk together towards the house by the +church, and how Sardoni would smile to himself when he found that +there was no question as to ringing of bells, since the father would +throw the door wide, and himself take him into the new home where +even dark memories would not be allowed to enter and spoil the peace +of their reconciliation. + +But what passed he never actually knew, because there are things too +sacred to be put into words--things which men learn to take on trust +even with their closest friends. + +Sardoni returned in the evening, and talked of Anita, and Comerio, +and Gigi, and of the various vicissitudes of the Company in the last +three weeks. But on Easter Eve, in the morning, when Carlo, like a +true Neapolitan, desired to begin the _Festa_, the Vicar came true to +his appointment, and with him came his son. + +"You will have the necessary third without me," whispered Clare, +thinking they would rather be alone. "I will go." + +"No," said Carlo. "I should like to have you both, if you don't +mind. Jack, this is my friend, Miss Claremont." + +Clare welcomed him quietly, and the two friends just gripped each +other's hands, and not another word passed between them till they had +joined in their Easter communion. + +The Vicar was a man of large experience, and he had learnt not to be +very much surprised at the extraordinary coincidences of life, and to +believe in the truth of the saying that it is the unexpected which +happens. But, with all his knowledge of life, he would hardly have +credited the words of one who had foretold to him that within a few +weeks of his denunciation of the stage he should be under the deepest +of obligations to an operatic singer, and should have joined with +him, and with his long-lost son, in the most sacred act of worship +and sign of fellowship. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +CONVALESCENT. + + "Look not on thine own loss, but look beyond, + And take the Cross for glory and for guide." + MRS. HAMILTON KING. + + +When the excitement of Sardoni's visit was over, Carlo flagged a +little, but the weariness and languor were far less trying to bear +than what followed. He could live patiently enough through those +days--could even enjoy the family life going on around him--could be +quietly amused at Kate's efforts to conform him to her own ideal of +what a young man should be--could find comfort in talking to Clare +about the old days at Casa Bella, and about his mother. + +But by-and-by, when his strength returned, there came very different +days--days when he felt that to live any longer without Francesca was +more than mortal man could bear--days when in very truth his own +words to her in the belvedere were fulfilled, and to be without her +was to be crucified. His love for Francesca was no light sentiment, +no passing fancy; it was the strongest, most ardent love that man can +feel for woman. He loved her with his whole being--with the +passionate warmth of a southern nature--with the force of a pure and +noble soul--with the lofty, undying devotion of an awakened spirit. +It was inevitable that he should suffer; and though of course such +times were nothing new to him, he could not in his present state +plunge into work, or into the affairs of other people, as in his +ordinary life he had found comfort in doing. + +Worst of all, he knew that his kindly host--the only one able to +guess what was the matter with him--desired nothing so much as to see +him quitting the stage and marrying his niece. + +But if pain was inevitable, failure was not so. He loved as a man +loves at four-and-twenty, but he had the strength of one who has +resolutely denied himself and honestly tried to be true to his +profession; "his strength was as the strength of ten." And when Mr. +Britton urged his view of the case upon him with the best and kindest +of intentions, he always fell back on the certainty that his duty had +been made clear to him, and on the faith which was his great +stronghold, and which, in its fearless unselfishness, differed as +much from credulity as day from night. + +Strangely enough, the man to whom he instinctively turned most at +this time was Sardoni's father. He disagreed with the Vicar on +politics, on many theological points, on the question of the stage, +and on most other things, and yet there was something in the man's +great goodness which made all else quite a secondary consideration, +which even made one forget his tendency to lay down the law, and only +delight in the sense of his devotion. Without that touch of +dogmatism he would have been a saint; his failing interfered a good +deal with his influence in most quarters, but with Carlo hardly at +all. The beautiful goodness of the man attracted him too strongly, +and quite eclipsed all else. It was a relief, too, when he was +allowed to go out again for the briefest of airings on sunny days +when the wind was favorable; and after a time he was able to read +Dante with Kate and Lucy, and to study Zampa, and, little by little, +to find that the outer world was not so altogether flavorless as in +his dark days it had seemed. + +One sunny spring day, when the doctor had allowed him to go for a +short drive, Clare and Kate took him for the first time outside the +Merlebank grounds, and drove him through the little village of +Cleevering. By this time he had himself pretty well in hand--had +schooled himself into a sort of content with incompleteness--had +worked himself round to the state in which he could feel that it was +at any rate something to be with Francesca's relations, to hear her +name every now and then, to be at least certain of knowing if she +were in any particular need or trouble. + +"We may as well call for the letters as we are passing the +post-office," said Kate, drawing up at the village shop. She sprang +out of the chaise, Carlo offering to hold the pony for her. He had +neither ridden nor driven since he had left Italy, and the mere +feeling of the reins between his fingers awoke new life within him; +it was long since he had been able really to desire any attainable +thing, but now he was seized with a strong desire to ride once more, +and the mere capability of wishing was a relief. He had an almost +boyish pleasure in feeling the movements of the pony's head as it +champed the bit, in hearing the impatient pawing of the ground. + +"Two letters for you, Clare," said Kate, reappearing; and Clare took +them rather anxiously, and opening the one from her home began to +read. + +"None for me?" asked Carlo. + +"Not one," said Kate, tossing two or three envelopes on to the vacant +seat. He instantly detected that one of them bore the blue stamp of +Italy. Was it from Francesca? he wondered, or perhaps from Captain +Britton to his brother? It was something to be staying in a house +where letters were received from Casa Bella, and yet it was a sort of +torture to him to sit quietly in the pony-chaise, obliged to content +himself with studying the length of King Humbert's moustache and the +big letters of "NAPOLI" on the postmark. Doubtless, he thought, the +letter had been posted as they went in to church on Sunday, and he +hardly knew whether the thought made him feel nearer to his love or +more hopelessly cut off from her. He did not dare to ask any +questions lest he should awaken Kate's suspicion, but he hoped +against hope that she would speak and put him out of his suspense. +Kate, however, talked of the scenery, and the weather, and the +spring-green of the trees, and of every unimportant thing under the +sun; but of that letter she said not a word, and he had to endure +walking upstairs behind her when they reached the house and seeing +her disappear with it into her own room. + +It was hard; but then sore need had taught him to be thankful for +small mercies, and he cheered himself with the reflection that at any +rate he was now tolerably certain that the letter was from Francesca +herself, that by this time she knew of his illness, for Clare had +mentioned it in one of her letters, and that it was even remotely +possible that the Captain might have permitted her to send some +message. Torturing himself with hopes and fears after the manner of +lovers, he waited as long as he could make himself wait upstairs, +then, with the hope predominating and the impatience no longer to be +resisted, found his way into the drawing-room and looked eagerly +round for Kate. The room was empty, but on the mantelpiece there +gleamed the blue King Humbert and the big "NAPOLI," and the direction +in Francesca's own writing to "Miss Britton, Merlebank, nr. +Ashborough, Inghilterra." + +He longed to snatch it up and kiss it, but restrained himself because +even the envelope was not his; with a sigh he crossed the room and +tried to make the time pass by playing all Francesca's favorite airs, +and after what seemed a long while the footman came in with the +afternoon tea, and was soon followed by Mr. Britton. + +"You are early home this afternoon," said Carlo, leaving the piano +and shivering a little as he came over to the fire. + +"I have an appointment at Cleevering at half-past five, and thought I +would snatch a cup of tea on the way," said Mr. Britton. "You don't +look quite so well; I'm afraid you have been overtiring yourself." + +"Oh, no, thank you," said Carlo, wondering how his companion could +stand within a yard of Francesca's letter and not notice it. "I have +been for a drive to-day, and enjoyed it very much." + +"That's right," said the shipbuilder, in his kindly voice. "We must +begin to lionize you now that you are getting stronger. You ought to +go over to Tancroft Castle: it is a fine old Norman ruin. You would +find a great deal to interest you there." + +Carlo thought differently; at any rate just at the present moment he +was inclined to wish all fine old Norman ruins at the bottom of the +sea. It was horrible to feel that he, with his ardent love, must be +patiently polite, and must depend on others for the smallest scrap of +tidings from Francesca. At length old Bevis, the deer-hound, came to +his help by stretching up his head and licking his master's hand. +Mr. Britton bent down to pat his old favorite, and as he raised his +head again his eye was attracted by the foreign letter on the +mantelpiece. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "a letter from Casa Bella? What news?" + +"I do not know," said Carlo. "I was not here when Miss Britton read +it." + +Something of the chafed, impatient craving, which was making tumult +in his heart, found its way into his voice. Mr. Britton, +understanding all perfectly well, felt very sorry for him. He took +up the letter, and going out into the hall called his daughter. + +Kate came running downstairs in reply to the summons, looking hurried +and annoyed. + +"How early you have come home, father!" she exclaimed "I was just +trying to get the 'Mothers'-Meeting' accounts right." + +"I am sorry to have interrupted you, my dear; but will you make tea, +for I have to go down to the village directly?" + +Kate, in no very good temper, approached the tea-table, perceived +that the tray was crooked, and set it straight with a gesture +betraying inward irritation. Carlo, as usual, offered his services +with the kettle, but was so absent-minded that he was far from +proving an efficient helper, and only made Kate feel that everything +was conspiring together to annoy her. Surely only a lover could have +been so absent as to go on filling a teapot till it overflowed, and +to be deaf to repeated orders to stop? Was this tiresome Italian +really going to fall in love with the daughter of his host like the +hero of a novel? + +All his apologies could not make her unbend from the chilly reserve +in which she encased herself. + +"What news from Casa Bella?" asked Mr. Britton, when the disaster on +the tea-tray no longer engrossed the general attention. + +"Oh!" said Kate, bestowing a cup of tea on Carlo with a frigid air +that was quite lost on him, "Francesca writes to ask if she may come +next week instead of in June. It's very provoking, for I shall be so +busy just then, and there will be no tennis or anything to amuse her." + +Carlo did not dare to raise his eyes lest the wild rapture of hope +which was filling them should become visible to Kate. He sat +mechanically stirring his tea, making so strong an effort to control +his face and keep his joy secret, that he felt as if his features +must have become as expressionless as a block of wood. + +"I don't fancy she is much of a tennis-player," said Mr. Britton. +"Is there no enclosure for me?" + +"Oh, yes, I beg your pardon, father; I quite forgot; there is a line +for you from Uncle Britton and a little note from Francesca, too." + +Mr. Britton glanced through them, then deliberately handed +Francesca's note to Carlo, possibly intending his daughter to draw +her own conclusions from the act. + +"I am glad she comes earlier, you two are old friends, and it would +be a pity that you should not meet." + +But Kate observed nothing, for she was full of her preconceived +theory. She did not notice the quick flush which rose to Carlo's +brow as he took the letter; instead, she was secretly resolving to +lose no opportunity of snubbing the Italian, and proving that she was +quite indifferent to him, and was above that despicable feminine +weakness of falling in love with a handsome face and a fine voice. + +"Will you have any more tea, Signor Donati?" she asked in her coldly +polite voice. + +"No more, thank you," said Carlo, looking up for a moment from the +letter. + +His eyes startled her, there was an expression in their dark liquid +depths which she had never seen before in the eyes of any man. She +got up quickly. + +"If you'll excuse me, father, I will just finish those accounts," she +said. "Clare and the girls will be down directly." + +Meanwhile, Carlo, feeling like one in a beautiful dream, which is +only marred by the dim consciousness that there there must be an +awaking, read and re-read the following note:-- + + +"DEAR UNCLE GEORGE,--Thank you so much for your letters; I never +thought it possible that father would let me come, but something in +your note to him has made him consent; and also, perhaps, something +that has happened here makes him see that I had better leave home for +a little while. It was just like you to keep your promise in that +way, and be Carlo's friend, and just like you, too, to write so +often, for I have been dreadfully anxious. Father says, can you +conveniently meet me, or send some one to meet me at Charing Cross by +the tidal train on Wednesday morning? He does not much like me to +come such a long way alone, and the lady with whom I travel from +Naples only goes as far as London. + + "Ever, dear Uncle, your loving niece. + "FRANCESCA BRITTON." + + +He had his moments of unalloyed bliss, then came the inevitable +awaking. + +"Do you think I ought to go away?" he said, returning the letter to +Mr. Britton. + +There was something so appealing in his tone that Mr. Britton felt a +genuine thrill of pleasure in being able to answer, with a clear +conscience,-- + +"Certainly not; the most scrupulous sense of honor can't demand that, +since her father is perfectly well aware that you are staying with +us." + +"What do you think makes him willing to let us meet?" said Carlo, +anxiously. + +"Well, to speak quite frankly, I think that probably Francesca has +just refused some good offer of marriage, and that my brother finds +that it is hopeless to see her settled in life as he would wish while +her heart is here at Merlebank. Very possibly he hopes,--as I, too, +confess I hope,--that circumstances will lead you to see that it is +useless for you to continue any longer on the stage, and that all may +end well, and you and Francesca be 'very happy ever after,' as they +say in the stories." + +Carlo was silent, for suddenly, in that comfortable English +drawing-room, there flashed across his mind the old temptation, which +he thought could never have risen again after the decisive blow dealt +it in the garden at Villa Bruno. This time the strong point of his +character, his genuine humility, was appealed to. + +"See," urged the tempter, "you are wrecking Francesca's life and your +own all from an overstrained notion of self-sacrifice. Is it likely +you will succeed in saving Anita? leave that to better and wiser +people. All the best men and women you know think you are +mistaken,--think that you will fail. Are you going to be so +headstrong and conceited as still to persist in this unnecessary +sacrifice? You have tried your best, and have failed,--you know that +you have miserably failed. To go on longer would be mere presumption +and vanity." + +He turned away and stood in the window, looking out at the mellow +western sky and at the grassy slopes beneath the trees in the park, +where sheep were peacefully feeding. The sight made him think of the +thorn-crowned Shepherd. But instantly the fiend turned even this to +his advantage, and beset him more vigorously than ever. + +"Are you so stupid and vain as to think the world needs such a man as +you to take care of it? Go home to Italy, and live the peaceful life +for which you are so much better fitted. Do you think the Good +Shepherd needs your help? Do you think He can't get on just as well +without you?" + +But the vision of the Constant Shepherd would not fade, and a voice, +less vehement but more familiar to him, said plainly, "Follow Me." + +"Do you mean to say," resumed the fiend, "that you are going to bear +all your life this miserable incompleteness? Remember what you have +suffered this last fortnight! If you think you can bear such misery +for long you are mistaken. All your life long--think of it!--think +of it! If you dream of being strong enough to bear such a life you +vastly over-rate your own powers." + +But again, more clearly, the other voice repeated, "Follow Me!" + +At this minute Clare and the younger girls entered the drawing-room. + +"Have you had tea, Signor Donati?" said Molly, who dearly loved +officiating at the tea-table in the absence of her elders and betters. + +"Did you like your drive?" chirped Flo, dancing up to him in her +free, childish fashion. + +He came back with an effort to the outer life, and began to hand +about plates of cake and bread-and-butter, and to wait upon every +one, as was his wont, while Mr. Britton told Clare about Francesca's +visit. + +"Why that will seem delightfully natural to have both you and +Francesca here with me," said Clare. "You will like to meet her +again, and hear all the news from Pozzuoli." + +"Yes, unless my doctor has permitted me by that time to set to work +again," said Carlo, quietly. + +"Oh, but he will not; you know he said nine weeks from the first." + +"Yes, yes," said Mr. Britton, "you need at least three more weeks' +rest before thinking of work,--myself I doubt if even then you will +be fit for it; we shall see what Kavanagh says." + +No more passed on the subject just then, but after dinner, when Harry +had left the dining-room to escort Kate down to one of her evening +classes in the village, Carlo spoke once more about it to Mr. +Britton, having gained much in the interval. + +"What I want to ask you is this," he began, in his direct, +unembarrassed way; "Am I justified in staying on here in the same +house with Francesca when I have not the least idea of renouncing the +stage, when I hope to be able to resist all temptations to yield, +when I sincerely believe that Captain Britton's expectations will be +frustrated?" + +"I like you the better for thinking out the matter so frankly," said +Mr. Britton; "but it seems to me that the responsibility rests with +my brother. If he chooses to send Francesca here I don't see that +you are bound to trouble about his expectations. I suppose it will, +at any rate, be some comfort to you both to meet even as ordinary +acquaintances with other people around, and I advise you to get what +pleasure you can out of the slight concession my brother has been +willing to make. 'Take the goods the gods provide you.' You can +certainly do that with a clear conscience." + +"Thank you," said Carlo, gratefully, "it has been a great help to +talk it over with you. I think I may stay." + +The week of rapturous expectation that followed was the happiest he +had known since the abrupt ending of his betrothal. He went about +with a glad light in his eyes, which made Kate more and more +repressive; his step was no longer the step of an invalid, his voice +grew stronger each day, he felt in harmony with the delicious spring +weather, for all cares had faded from his mind, and he was conscious +once more of youth and hope,--conscious that of late he had felt +preposterously old, and that now he felt ridiculously but +delightfully young. + +Counting the days, and indeed the very hours, he lived through the +interval, and at length the day on which Francesca was expected came. +But, to his surprise, as it advanced, the expectation changed to +torment; he could only sit watching the clock, and from time to time +looking from the window with a restless agitation which put happiness +out of the question. At last the supreme moment arrived; he heard +the wheels of the carriage and the sudden rush of girls from the +schoolroom; then Clare looked in for a minute. + +"She is just here; but don't come out into the hall, Carlo, for the +wind is so cold to-day." + +He made some sort of reply and felt relieved that Clare left the +drawing-room door open as she hastened out to greet her pupil. Good +heavens! how was he to meet her like an ordinary acquaintance! His +breathing was labored, his heart throbbed, he trembled from head to +foot; yet through it all he listened with longing indescribable. Ah, +yes! that was her voice! above all the tumult within and without. + +"How are you, dear Clare?" it said; and again, after a pause, "A +beautiful crossing, thank you. Why, Flo, how you have grown!" + +The voice was drawing nearer and nearer, the oppression grew +frightful. With an effort he rose to his feet, and at that instant +caught the first glimpse of his love as she crossed the hall--the +pure, sweet, delicate face, with its lovely coloring; the slight, +lithe figure; the gray eyes, seeking him out eagerly, yet so shyly. +He went quickly forward to meet her, unable to feel for very excess +of feeling, bewildered and overpowered by the tumult that her +presence caused. + +And yet it was all over so soon, this meeting which he had rehearsed +so often, both waking and sleeping; a conventional hand-clasp, a +smile carefully regulated, a few quick words of Italian, since his +native tongue came naturally to him, and for the moment he could not +remember a single word of English. After that there was a pause +which he did not dare to break because he knew he could not steady +his voice, all he could do was to try to look and move naturally, and +to get back the perception that his arms were his own in time to hand +about the cups of tea which Kate, in her cool, business-like way, was +preparing. + +After a while he began to hear what the others were saying, and soon +Francesca's sweet, low voice thrilled through him once more, and +before long he was carried away by the happiness of the present, and, +forgetting the past, dared to put in his oar, so that the +conversation became general, he taking a natural share in it, and +falling back to the old footing of the days when Francesca had been +his playmate and friend. + +At first the mere possibility of looking at her, talking to her, and +waiting on her kept him happy. When Mr. Britton was present he was a +little less at his ease, because he knew that the kindly host was +well aware of their story; but by day, when only old Mrs. Britton, or +Clare, or the girls were present, he seemed really able to ignore the +past, and act as though their three weeks' betrothal had never been. +The sense of helping her to play this part, the knowledge that he +could shield and protect her, was no small incentive, though at times +he half wished that Captain Britton had permitted Clare to be told, +because her sympathy would have been so well worth having. + +As to Kate, both the lovers were unable to help being amused by her, +for Francesca quickly perceived her desire to convert Carlo to her +own ideas, and Carlo instinctively knew that she had perceived it. + +But one rainy morning, when the two girls were at work in the +morning-room, Francesca found that there are times when an undeclared +love-story has its disadvantages. + +"I have hardly seen you alone, yet," began Kate, "and there is so +much I wanted to talk to you about. But you see I have been so +frightfully busy since you came; indeed it has been one incessant +rush of work all through the spring, and having Signor Donati here +takes up more time than people might fancy." + +"It was so good of uncle to ask him here," said Francesca, keeping +her eyes fixed on her needlework. + +"Father is always doing that kind of thing. But we have never had a +visitor here for so long whom I felt to understand so little; I don't +think I like him very much." + +"Don't you?" said Francesca, stifling a strong inclination to laugh. + +"Well, he is so deceptive; he gives you the impression of being so +good and thinking so much of other people, and yet I can't make out +that he has done one single stroke of good, useful work in his life. +He seems to me exactly like the figtree which had nothing but leaves. +How can he bear to waste his life on the stage?" + +"You must not malign my old friend," said Francesca, flushing +crimson, yet still feeling more amused than angry, because Kate was +so ludicrously mistaken, and so perfectly convinced that she must +infallibly be right. + +"Well, since you are his friend, do just candidly tell me,--Is he so +good as Clare makes out? Is he really so delightful as my father +seems to think?" + +The sceptical stress on the "Is he?" made the question all the more +embarrassing. To be coolly asked her unbiassed opinion of the man +she loved was a new experience to Francesca; for a moment she lost +her presence of mind. What in the world could she say? How was she +to gain the composed tone needful for a reply? + +"Oh, yes, indeed he is!" she said at length, in a tolerably natural +tone. "I have known him for years and years, you know." + +And then, because the answer seemed to her so absurdly inadequate, +and because she was vexed with Kate for having asked such a question, +she felt ready to cry. + +But, luckily, Kate was not observant. She went on serenely, "Well, +for my part, I don't understand that kind of man. I don't think I +understand Italians at all." + +At that moment Carlo entered, overhearing the last words. He at once +guessed that Kate had been attacking Francesca as to his character, +and knowing that they would feel uncomfortable, said in his easy way, +"Not even after all our Dante readings, Miss Britton? Has not our +great poet raised your opinion of his countrymen? I am afraid you +are very hard on the South." + +"Well, frankly," said Kate, "I don't understand southern natures; and +why you are so wrapped up in your country I can't imagine." + +"You see, to you, Italy is merely 'a geographical expression,' as +Prince Metternich used to say. To me, it is the land for which my +father, and his father before him, fought and died." + +He broke off rather abruptly, afraid of repelling her English nature +by too much warmth of utterance. He had not lived so much among +English people without learning to restrain his speech, and bring it +round pretty nearly to the conventional terseness of a true Briton. +Francesca knew that, had they been alone, a torrent of Italian would +have escaped his lips, and the full force of his eager patriotism +would have been revealed. + +"You will think me very blunt," said Kate, "but I really don't see +what you Italians have to be so proud of. I don't see that you have +any great men to boast of--except, of course, painters and musicians." + +Carlo laughed. "You will at least allow us Dante?" + +"Dante belongs to the world," said Kate. + +"True, that might also be said of Shakespeare; yet Shakespeare is +English and Dante is Italian." + +"Dante counts among the artists," said Kate, in her decided tone. +"You have no other great men." + +Francesca sat watching the disputants, intensely amused at Kate's +calm, argumentative manner; as to Carlo, he seemed gradually losing +his English sobriety, and the more Kate attacked his nation the more +Italian he became. + +"What!" he exclaimed. "Do you then wish for greater men than +Galileo, than Savonarola, than Columbus, than Daniele Manin, than +Mazzini, than Garibaldi? Is it nothing to have produced a man of +science like Galvani, a saint like Francesco of Assisi, patriots like +Pellico and Poerio?" + +Now Silvio Pellico was no hero to Kate; she smiled at the mention of +his name. He only meant to her a long dull Italian book which she +had struggled half through, until, to her delight, she had been +promoted to _I Promessi Sposi_. She had not lived with Pellico in +his stifling cell under the _piombi_ at Venice, or wearied with him +through his long years in the Austrian fortress, as Carlo had done in +his childhood. + +"You care so much for your country," she remarked, "but after all, +patriotism seems to me a very narrow thing--we ought instead to love +the whole human race." + +He started to his feet with a gesture that surprised her. + +"Believe me!" he exclaimed, "you are mistaken. There is no true love +of race till you love your own land; just as there is no 'charity,' +in the wide sense of the word, till you have genuine love for those +of your own family. For what else are we set in families and in +nations? And how is it that we have any number of people vaguely +longing to work for 'humanity' and sentimentalizing about the +'masses' in the humanitarian cant of the day, and a mere handful of +men and women ready to make their own homes the heaven on earth that +a home might be? It is because we all want to begin at the wrong +end, to launch out on the great undertakings before we have been +faithful to the smaller duties. Because we mistake the meaning of +sacrifice, and choose our own way even in that, and hunger for the +great, and the striking, and the picturesque, but are slow to +sacrifice ourselves for one akin to us, or for a cause which is +unattractive, or for a unit instead of a vague multitude." + +There was a force and passion in what he said that appealed to Kate's +honest nature. But the words struck home, because she knew only too +well that, while ready to slave for her school-children or for the +poor, she was often cross and tyrannical to her own brothers and +sisters. She thought Carlo must be alluding to her, but, as a matter +of fact, she was far from his thoughts; and what made him able to +speak with so much fire on an abstract subject was that he spoke of +the things which he knew, of the things which he had proved by fierce +and long conflict. + +"And yet," said Kate, angry at having the tables turned on her, "you, +who speak so enthusiastically about sacrifice, and all the rest of +it, can be content to sing, and act, and amuse people, while the poor +are starving, and sinning, and dying! You can be content to fiddle +like Nero while Rome is burning! Oh, it seems to me unworthy of you! +You can't be content with such a life!" + +He turned his clear, deep eyes full upon her. + +"With what I make of it--no," he replied. "With the life itself, +with my calling--quite content--quite! See! a year ago I talked +Socialism, and theorized, and longed to solve the problems of the +day, and thought that by speaking and agitating the Utopian age would +be brought on. But I see now that it is quite possible to theorize +about the better arrangement of the world, and all the time to be +neglecting perhaps your own relations--to wish to reclaim all the +waste lands, and to misuse your own tiny strip of garden." + +But here the conversation was abruptly ended, for at that minute Miss +Claremont and Lucy came in armed with Dante and dictionaries, and +Carlo said no more, but opening his copy of the _Inferno_, began, at +Clare's request, to read to them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +BITTER-SWEET. + + "Thou Who hast Thyself + Endured this fleshhood--knowing how, as a soaked + And sucking vesture, it can drag us down + And choke us in the melancholy Deep-- + Sustain me, that with Thee I walk these waves + Resisting! Breathe me upward, Thou in me + Aspiring, Who art the Way, the Truth, the Life!-- + That no truth henceforth seem indifferent, + No way to truth laborious, and no life-- + Not even this life I live--intolerable!" + "_Aurora Leigh._" + + +In the grounds at Merlebank there stood a pretty little log-hut, +fantastically built, and divided within into two rooms. It had been +the work of one of Mr. Britton's summer holidays many years ago, and +had been specially built for the children. At first they had played +in it incessantly, had learnt a fair amount of cookery with the help +of the little stove in the outer room, and had found the place +invaluable in all adventuring games wherein desert islands figured. +But now they had rather outgrown this sort of thing, and "Mavis Hut," +as it was called, served only for refreshments at garden-parties, for +a convenient place to keep the lawn-tennis box, and occasionally for +church decorations. + +On the afternoon after the discussion with Carlo, Kate happened to be +arranging the church vases in the inner room of Mavis Hut. She had +been round the garden gathering the wet flowers, had taken all she +wanted from the greenhouses, and now sat comfortably down to her work +at the rough, wooden table, with the brass vases and the lovely red +and white flowers all ready to hand. + +She felt still a little sore at the implied rebuke in Carlo's words +that morning, but she was too good and well-meaning to blind herself +to the truth. He had given her, whether consciously or +unconsciously, a home-thrust; and Kate, though she disliked him in +consequence, fully admitted the justice of the remarks as applied to +herself. She sighed a little as she arranged her vases, then finding +her own failings no very pleasant study, she turned her thoughts back +to Carlo himself. He puzzled her more and more, but though she would +have liked to think him conceited, or priggish, or hypocritical, she +could not do so; the worst she could say of him was that he was +living a worthless life, and that he was an inconsistent sort of man. +His absence of self-consciousness appealed to her strongly, however, +because it was incomprehensible to her; and, though persuading +herself that she despised and disliked him, she knew all the time in +her secret heart that this was largely owing to her own perversity. + +The sun had been shining brightly a few minutes before, but as Kate +arranged her flowers she noticed that the summer-house grew dark, and +was not surprised to hear before long a steady downpour of rain. + +"I daresay it will be over before I have finished," she thought to +herself, and was going on with her work when, to her surprise, the +door of the hut was opened, and Carlo walked into the outer room, +evidently seeking shelter from the rain. + +"What a bother!" thought Kate. "But, after all, though I can see him +through this crack in the woodwork, he can't see me. I don't think I +shall let him know I am here; he would interrupt me, and perhaps talk +again as he did this morning--and, besides, I dislike him!" + +Hardly had she taken her resolution, when once more the outer door +opened, and Francesca hurried in, wet and flushed. + +"You here!" she exclaimed, in a voice so startled that Kate's +attention was instantly arrested. + +Carlo had been standing at one of the little lattice windows, +watching the torrents of rain. She had not perceived him till she +had closed the door behind her. He turned instantly. There was no +time for thought. It was impossible that any recollection of Captain +Britton or Anita should cloud that perfect moment. He was only +conscious of two things--that Francesca was present, and that there +was no longer the dreary necessity of behaving as though their love +was non-existent. + +"_Carina! Carina mia!_" he cried, crossing the hut at lightning +speed; and the next moment Francesca was clasped in his arms. + +All had passed so quickly that there had been no chance for poor Kate +to make her presence known, and she sat now in the inner room +petrified with astonishment. Her first thought was one of +indignation, but when she saw that Francesca clung to her lover, +sobbing pitifully, her heart was touched; and though she told herself +that she "distinctly disapproved of this sort of nonsense," she began +to see that there must be something in the past of her cousin and +Signor Donati of which she was unaware,--probably an undeclared +love-story, well known to her father. What so likely as that he +should have interested himself in the young Italian on this account, +and himself have hastened Francesca's visit in the hope that the +barrier between them--whatever it might be--would be removed? + +All this flashed through Kate's mind as she watched the two who stood +but a few paces from her, and heard with unwilling ears the mingled +love and grief so little intended for any outsider. Yet what could +she do? To leave the summer-house she must pass through the room in +which they were talking--must not only put an end to the interview, +but embarrass them past bearing. + +Again, if she even moved a muscle, Carlo with his preternaturally +sharp hearing, would certainly notice it: she did not dare even to +raise her hands to stop her ears, lest he should overhear the +movement; and so in sore vexation she remained an unwilling spectator +of all that passed. True, when they spoke low and fast in Italian, +she could not always follow them, but very often they would suddenly +relapse into English, and then every syllable could be heard through +the thin wooden partition. + +"Tell me," said Carlo, when, after a time, they sat down on the +rustic seat at the other end of the hut, Francesca's head drawn close +down on his shoulder,--"tell me, darling, this one thing. Why did +your father wish you to leave home? Mr. Britton showed me your +letter to him, and you said----" + +"Well, I didn't mean to have told you," said Francesca, breaking in +quickly; "but it was this, Carlino. Count Carossa--the man who took +Villa Bruno, you know--made father an offer of marriage for me, and +that, of course, had to be declined, though father was vexed, and +really wanted me to accept him. Then I had to speak, for I was +afraid we should be constantly having such troubles; so I told him +that though, of course, I would always obey him, and would consider +my betrothal with you at an end, yet there was an inner sense in +which it could never end for me, and I said all I dared to him about +the future, yet could not move him. He doesn't see what a false +position it puts me in--how hard it is to go out into the world, and +keep people at a distance without being rude or prudish. Even Enrico +Ritter at first was angry with me, because he thought I ought to have +been able to freeze away the stupid men who will crowd round one at +parties. Enrico is very good to me now, though; he is the one man +worth speaking to in Naples, because he tells me when he has heard +from you, and if you are well." + +"He writes to tell me when he has seen you," said Carlo. + +"It is only such a pity," continued Francesca, "that he is not +Italian instead of German; then perhaps he would be a better talker +and tell me more about you. He somehow gets in so little and +stumbles so, and it is just as if I were starving and he were doling +me out crumbs instead of bits of bread." + +"It is a shame to abuse the dear old fellow," said Carlo, smiling; +"yet that is just what I have felt all these months with his letters. +Perhaps, after weeks of waiting, I get one very long, very clever, +very philosophical, and then in the postscript he will remark, 'Miss +Britton is all right; I saw her in the English Church on Sunday.' +Not another word! If only Enrico could know what it means to be in +love! And yet such crumbs are better than nothing. And he is the +best and truest of friends." + +"Yes; there is something so staunch and faithful about him. Oh! he +has been so good to me, especially once at a ball when we overheard +some wretches talking about you, and saying such horrid things of +you." + +"What sort of things?" + +"Oh, I can't tell you--hateful things about your reasons for going on +the stage. You see people can't understand the real reason, and so I +suppose they try to invent one. I can't think, Carlo _mio_, how you +bear it so patiently; how you could let Kate lecture you this morning +about your useless life, and never get even a little bit angry. You +wouldn't have done it a year ago." + +"I am growing old, you see," he answered, smiling, "and that was +nothing--nothing at all. I am a little sorry that I shock her, but +you see it is inevitable." + +"And your sister, what of her? Are you happier about her? Have you +learnt to understand each other better?" + +He sighed. + +"It is uphill work. Did you know that Comerio followed us to +England?" + +"No, Enrico never told me that; I suppose he thought I should not +know anything about such a bad character." + +"He came to London when we were there in the winter. That has been +the hardest part of it all; for I was beginning to knock up then, and +all the time there was the horrible feeling that he was hovering over +me like a vulture, only waiting for me to fall that he might pounce +down." + +"That was what made you struggle on through that last opera," said +Francesca, wiping away her tears; "Harry told me all about it the +other day. But what happened? Did he take your place?" + +Carlo sighed an assent. + +"He is there now." + +"How hard it must have been for you to be helpless! What torture to +have to lie there ill and think about it all!" + +"Yes; it was hard till one remembered that of course it must be all +right, and then it was a great comfort to be able to try to get well. +Besides, I have a great hope that Nita's little boy will prove a +safeguard to her; she begins really to care for him. My one fear is +that Comerio may manage to get round Merlino and induce him not to +renew his contract with me in the summer. I know he will move heaven +and earth to go to America with the troupe and to get me turned off." + +"And Signor Merlino? What is he like? Do you dislike him so much as +when you first saw him?" + +"Do you know I have really grown fond of him. He is tyrannical, and +has a bad temper, but I believe he honestly lives up to his lights. +Now and then one gets out of heart with the whole concern, and then +Merlino seems intolerable, but that has never been more than a +passing mood with me." + +"And you don't think stage life so black as it is painted by my +father, for instance?" + +"No, I do not," said Carlo; "it is less morally trying than I +fancied, but more physically tiring. However, I shall be well set up +after this long rest. I have written to propose going back at the +end of next week, or, if it fits in with their arrangements, on the +following Monday." + +"So soon," said Francesca, with a little sob. "Oh, Carlino, I don't +think you are strong enough; and it seems such a miserable, wandering +life for you." + +"All life without you, _carina_, must be hard," he said, stroking the +crisp, brown hair from her forehead tenderly; "my only comfort is in +hoping and fighting for Nita's safety. You must not think of the +mere discomforts of the life--they are nothing--less than nothing. +Indeed, I frankly tell you that never have I suffered so terribly as +in this idle time, with everything so comfortable and luxurious all +round. It seemed impossible to be willing to live without you, to +endure this separation any longer. But, then, no impossible order is +ever given except by bad generals--there is comfort in that. It is +not impossible, _carina_, and it must be done." + +"But I--I only have to stay at home; I can't even watch you +fighting," sobbed Francesca. "That was always the fate of women. I +have the wretched, easy life, and can only wonder and wonder what is +happening to you. Oh, it is so hard! so hard!" + +"Yes," he said; "it is the hardest lot. Yet, my own, you told me to +go out; and even if you asked me, which I know you never would do, I +could not now turn back." + +"Of course not," she said, eagerly; "you will go on, and in the end +right must win. Perhaps they will no longer care for each other, or +perhaps,--indeed, I try not to wish it exactly--Comerio might die, +or----" + +"Don't let us try to look on," said Carlo, with a shudder. "God +helping me, I'll be faithful to death, but I can't manage more than a +day at a time. And see, my own, the sun is shining again and the +rain over. It is hard to say it, but I don't think we have any +business to stay here longer. Your father might justly complain, and +we will not give him cause to do that." + +She clung to him, while her tears rained down. Kate could not see +her face, but the sunlight fell full upon his, revealing plainly the +terrible struggle he was passing through. It was all she could do to +keep from sobbing when this man, whom she had disliked, and half +despised,--this man, whose life she had compared to the barren +fig-tree, began to speak. "See, _carina_," he said, falling back to +his native language, and speaking with the direct simplicity which is +as rare as it is attractive; "God is so just--so fair--don't you +think He must be nearest those who suffer? We have to be separated, +darling, but yet there is compensation for us both. We can surely +trust Him with our lives--yes, and delight in that!" + +"But I can't help being afraid for you," she sobbed; "you are so far +away, and how can I tell what may be happening when that bad man +hates you so, and wants to get rid of you?" + +"Yet it is often when we fear most that we learn not to fear," he +said. "Oh, I remember so well the first time that came to me! I was +about Gigi's age; it was at the time of one of the earthquake panics, +and I remember waking in an awful fright and trembling at the +darkness and loneliness, then finding that there was One nearer than +my mother, and that the house might fall or be swallowed up, yet He +would be with us." + +What followed was inaudible to Kate, but presently through her tears +she saw that after a long embrace they parted, that he held the door +open for Francesca, and let her pass out into the sunshine alone, +then shut himself in once more, and began to pace to and fro in +agitation which alarmed her. + +She saw how strong a restraint he must have put on himself while +Francesca was present, but now the limits of endurance seemed to be +passed; he could but let his wild grief drive him as it would. Kate +held her breath for awe while he paced to and fro, pausing for a +while with a groan, and resting his head on his upraised hands as +they clutched for support at the rough, wooden wall, then once more +pacing the little room faster and yet faster, till with a stifled cry +he threw himself down on the ground, and broke into passionate +sobbing and tears. + +The waiting seemed terribly long to her; she tried not to look at +him, and fixed her eyes on the red and white flowers in the +altar-vases, but still each stifled sob fell on her ear; and she, who +had ever deemed herself a model of self-control, found her tears +streaming down merely for sympathy. She had never seen a man cry +before; indeed, she had cherished the idea, common to most girls, +that men never do cry. The sight frightened her; it moved her +strangely, and the relief was indescribable when at last he grew +calmer. + +Presently, with intervals between, came broken snatches of prayer, +spoken always in Italian. + +"My God! it must be that since Thou hast shown me Thy will Thou wilt +give me strength to do it." + +* * * * * * + +"I know that Thou art stronger than these fiends that tear me." + +* * * * * * + +"If I could but feel Thee near all would be light, but I am in +darkness and torment--past feeling--past thinking." + +* * * * * * + +"Yet the darkness is no darkness to Thee. Suffer me not to be false +and selfish--a coward--a recreant!" + +Again, after a long pause, the stillness of the hut was broken, but +there was the dawning now of hope and triumph in his tone. + +"My Lord, I thank Thee that Thou wert no passionless angel here, but +a man--a man tempted as I am tempted. By Thy victory, by Thy faith, +by Thy perfect love, oh, Christ, save me now!" + +Kate waited in cramped, painful stillness, half fearing, half hoping +to hear more; but he did not say another word, and after a time rose +to his feet, and crossed the hut to look at the weather. The sun was +shining brightly; he stood by the window for some minutes, apparently +in deep thought; then, with a sigh, glanced lingeringly round the +little room, arranged his manifold wraps in the Italian fashion +against which Kate had been wont to inveigh, and left the +summer-house. + +When his footsteps had died away in the distance Kate snatched up her +vases and fled. School hours were not yet ended, and it was almost +an unheard-of thing for her to go to the schoolroom during the +younger girls' lessons; but she felt that for this Clare would +forgive a breach of rules, and went boldly in with her request. + +"Clare," she said, breathlessly, "will you spare me ten minutes for +something that will not wait?" + +Miss Claremont looked up in surprise, but one glance at Kate's face +was enough for her; she rose directly, gave two or three brief +directions to Molly and Flo, and followed Kate to her bedroom. As a +girl, Kate had worshipped Miss Claremont; but she was now just at the +time when the stage of worshipping one's elders and betters is ended, +and the stage of friendship with them has hardly begun: there had +been something not exactly amounting to a coolness between them for +the last two years; but Clare, though she was human enough to be a +little grieved, had understood it all perfectly and knew that in time +Kate would need her again, and would fall back into the old loving +confidence, with the friendship of a woman substituted for the +extravagant worship of a girl. + +"You are in trouble, dear?" she asked, sitting down on the sofa, with +that air of being perfectly at leisure and not in the least hurried +which was peculiar to her. + +Not without many tears Kate told her story. + +"And, oh, what can I do?" she sobbed. "I have been an eavesdropper +against my will; but what ought I to do?" + +"The whole story is such a complete surprise to me," said Clare, +slowly. "You must leave me a minute or two to think. Poor children! +poor children! It was natural enough! I wonder the thought never +crossed my mind; but somehow I had always fancied quite a different +love-story for Francesca, and I suppose that blinded me." + +"I know what you are thinking of," said Kate. "I, too, thought that +she and Harry cared for each other; and I used to be so jealous +because he liked to be with her better than with me. Don't you +remember that summer long ago, when you first came to live here?" + +"Yes, I remember well," said Clare. "I suppose on his side it was a +mere passing fancy, and on hers genuine cousinly liking, for she is +exactly the same with him now. You understood that she had actually +been betrothed to Carlo?" + +"She said so, distinctly. I think it must have been at the time he +went on the stage, and that must clearly have been to save his sister +from this Comerio. Oh, Clare! the horrible part to me is that I've +misjudged him so cruelly! I can never forgive myself." + +"I suspected from the first that it was in order to be with his +sister that he took to the stage," said Clare. "But I little thought +what he had had to give up." + +"Oh, if you could have seen him!" said poor Kate, crying anew at the +recollection of the scene she had witnessed. "It was so terrible I +can never forget it--I can never be the same again! I used to think +it grand to be above that sort of thing, but I never knew till now +what love meant." + +Clare was not sorry that Kate's theories as to the depravity of man +were annihilated. She let her talk on, putting in a sympathetic word +now and then. + +"I can't think how he can have helped hating me when I lectured him +on things I knew nothing about, and told him he was like Nero, and +talked just as if my life were perfection and his life useless." + +"There is no pain so sharp as to find that we have misjudged +another," said Clare; "and have blamed them when rather they should +have been honored and revered. But a sharp lesson like this stamps +'Judge not' on one's heart as nothing else can: it is a lesson we +most of us have had to learn, dear." + +"You don't think we ought to tell them that I was in the hut?" + +"No; that could only make you all three very uncomfortable. I think +you acted for the best in a very difficult position, and Carlo and +Francesca may just as well keep all the comfort they can from that +one interview; but I think it may be well to let your father know +that we know." + +"There can be no doubt that he must have learnt the story at Naples," +said Kate. "I should like him to know about this afternoon, it will +make me feel less of a hypocrite; but I wish you would tell him, +Clare." + +"I will, if you like, dear," she answered. + +"And do come down quickly to afternoon tea, for I don't know how I +shall meet them as if nothing had happened," said Kate. + +"We will be quite punctual," replied Clare. "But I would not dread +it too much; such things pass off more easily than you would fancy +possible just now. Don't think of your own part in the matter at +all, just put yourself in their place." + +Left to herself once more, Kate sat still musing. The strange and +almost unprecedented insight she had gained that afternoon into the +heart and life of another had altered her whole world. Through that +revelation she saw everything in a new light, and the change +bewildered her; she wanted time to think, for all her preconceived +theories were overthrown; and though the actual sight of that +struggle and victory had taught her more than thousands of sermons, +or libraries of "good books," it had also sent her away with a +crushing sense of her own shortcomings. Very honestly she sat and +looked at her life. Her greatest wish had always been not to work +among the respectable and humdrum poor, but to rescue the bad from +lives of shame. She was constantly hankering after this particular +work, and bitterly resented the assurance that she was too young to +handle such subjects. Unluckily she was very intimate with some of +those workers whose zeal outruns their discretion, and who spoil +their brave efforts by making untimely allusions to them--by dragging +them into conversations at table or in the drawing-room, till the +hearers can only wonder what has become of English reserve. A doctor +discussing horrible diseases and their cure in his family would be +loudly and universally condemned; but those whose work it is to wage +war on vice seem too often, in their eagerness, to think themselves +justified in talking "shop" in and out of season. Kate had moreover +acquired the terrible failing which seems to be becoming more and +more of a danger among the really good and earnest--she was so eager +in wishing to fight the evil that she began to take a sort of +indignant delight in tracing evil back to its source, particularly +when any well-known character was involved. She took her excitement, +not in reading the malicious gossip of society papers, but in +discussing the latest scandal with the religious world. Yet nothing +can be more certain than that social purity is never advanced by +scandalmongering, albeit the scandal may have filtered through +district-visitors and enthusiastic suppressors of vice. + +This afternoon, in the light of the new revelation, Kate remembered +with burning shame how angry she had been when two or three times she +had tried to make inquiries as to the state of morals in theatrical +life, and Carlo had courteously but firmly turned the conversation. +She had accused him in her own mind of shuffling and evading the +topic, had imagined everything bad of him; and now she found that +this very man who would not discuss the matter, and who had none of +the surface enthusiasm of her friends, had quietly devoted his life +to the work of saving one woman. + +"What is it that keeps him silent?" she thought to herself. "And +what is it that makes me love to talk? Is the silent work 'golden'? +Is the talk unwholesome? Yet 'out of the abundance of the heart the +mouth speaketh.' There can be no harm in it then. No, that won't +hold, though! because our hearts ought to be full of what we want to +save them to, not what we want to save them from. And yet we can't +very well talk of that side, or people would think it was all cant. +That is an odd thing about Carlo Donati; he never seems afraid that +people may think he is talking cant; I do believe he goes right on +without thinking what people think of him at all. I fancy it is that +he has no conceit, and that I have a great deal; he does things +quietly, and I with a fuss and a flourish. Who would have dreamt +that with his quiet, easy way of going on, and all the time he was +singing, and reading, and talking to us, he was living through such a +fierce struggle! Oh, what a goose--what a goose I have been! How +hateful and contemptible to be afraid he was in love with me, when it +was merely thinking of Francesca that made him look like that! And I +have been snubbing him, and looking down on him, and talking such +nonsense about him to Francesca herself! How they must despise me!" + +With relief she turned, as Clare had advised her, from the thought of +herself to the thought of her cousin and of Carlo. Hitherto she had +considered Francesca to be very charming, very innocent, very +reprehensibly idle; one of those girls who did not take up "parish +work," and who were deserving of mingled pity and blame. Now she +asked herself honestly whether she could, in Francesca's position, +have given up all so bravely. And Madame Merlino, from all she had +gathered about her from various sources, was no "interesting case, +but a very ordinary, commonplace, ill-tempered person, who as yet +apparently was far from grateful for the sacrifice which had cost the +lovers so much. + +"For some charming, delightful person who cared for me I might have +done it," thought Kate; "but for one of those women like Madame +Merlino, who just get into danger because they are weak and foolish, +who are dull, and uninteresting, and heartless,--no, I could never +have done it! Never!" + +Again she went back to her recollections of that scene in the hut. +What was it that had given Carlo power to choose this hard, +distasteful life? Why had he been able to leave Francesca, and bear +shame and loss, and grief? It was not that his love for her was less +keen than the love of other men; on the contrary, the passionate +fervor of his love had terrified Kate, had transcended all her dreams +of what love in the best of men might mean. + +It must be because he was trying with all his might, trying +continuously, to live the Christ-life, which most of us do +spasmodically, and not with the whole force of our nature; because +his faith was perfect trust in One who was stronger than the +darkness, the danger, the misery which overwhelmed, him; One whom he +knew and loved; One whom he desired above all things to serve with +the free devotion of a man, not the grudging submission of a slave. +It was clearly a faith which was independent of his feelings, +independent of his intellect, independent of his surroundings; he had +owned himself past feeling and past thinking; he had been overwhelmed +with the temptation of that valley of the shadow of death, yet all +the time had held unshaken to the one fact, which he knew as he knew +his own identity--"Thou art with me!" + +The clock striking five recalled her to the necessity of going +downstairs, and of getting through as best she might the dreaded +meeting. + +"It serves me right," she thought to herself sadly. "I have been +conceited and patronizing, have looked on everything and spoken of +everybody as from a superior height, and now I learn that I have been +taking false, distorted views, and have to begin life all over again." + +The loss of her old self-confidence was no pleasant sensation, +however salutary it might be; she entered the drawing-room +apprehensively, and hardly knew whether to feel relieved or +disappointed when she found Carlo bending over his copy of Verdi's +Ernani, and looking exactly as usual. Perhaps she had not expected +to see him bearing a long face, or an expression of conventionally +pious resignation, but yet it astonished her to find that after +passing through so much a man could in two hours' time so completely +have regained control over look, and voice, and manner. + +"I shall quite miss this delightful English institution of +kettledrum," he remarked, pushing aside his book, and as usual coming +forward to help her. "I'm afraid nothing would make it fit in, +though, with the hours we have to keep." + +A great lump rose in Kate's throat as she remembered how foolish and +disagreeable she had been to him on the day when Francesca's letter +had arrived, and had made him so absent-minded. + +"And tea, I suppose, is not good before singing," she replied, +putting forth the first platitude that came into her head. + +"No," he said, with a smile which was wholly pleasant and had no +suspicion of sarcasm. "There are a few things which must be +renounced even by the Neros who fiddle while Rome is burning!" + +The genuinely humorous look in the eyes which but a little while ago +she had seen full of tears, touched Kate, she felt half choked, and +her usually ready words faltered. + +"I want to beg your pardon for saying that," she began, hesitatingly; +"I don't really know anything about stage life,--I--I--" (the +admission was hard to make) "have never even been inside a theatre; +only somehow one gets into the way of picking up other people's +notions and echoing them without really finding out the truth. I had +no right to say such a thing, I hope you will forgive me." + +His warm-hearted, Italian reception of the apology a little +overwhelmed her, and she was glad that the entrance of Clare and the +girls made the talk more general. + +"The English seem to have a rooted idea that an actor must be a +dangerous sort of fellow, and they generally look askance at a +foreigner," said Carlo. "I don't think there are many Merlebanks +ready to befriend fog-stricken singers, and I assure you I have +become well accustomed to being regarded as a sort of dynamite, to be +kept at a safe distance." + +"The effect of Puritan traditions," said Clare. "But there is +certainly something in the argument that now the stage is so greatly +improved the attitude towards it ought to be changed. I am not sure, +Carlo, that in the end you may not convert me." + +"It is not I who ought to convert you, but the many English actors +and actresses now living, who by their noble efforts to raise the +drama, and by their own pure and upright lives, give the lie to the +whole view which the Puritans were no doubt quite warranted in +holding. Or, if you will not be converted by the living, at least +study the lives of the dead; think of such a man as Phelps, such a +woman as your Mrs. Siddons!" + +The talk was interrupted by an abrupt question from Molly,-- + +"What can have become of Francesca? I never knew her late for tea +before." + +Kate felt herself coloring, but was relieved when Carlo quietly +turned off the remark. + +"Don't you think she may be finishing her sketch in the church?" he +said. + +"Oh, yes," said Molly, quite satisfied, "and perhaps she will stay on +and hear them practise the anthem for to-morrow. It is our yearly +festival to-morrow, you know. By-the-bye, Kate, have you done the +vases?" + +"Yes," said Kate, snatching up a biscuit, and crossing the room to +feed Bevis, that her burning cheeks might not attract notice. + +Francesca did not appear till dinner-time. Kate glanced at her then +apprehensively, and saw that she had not been nearly so successful as +Carlo in getting rid of all traces of her emotion. It must have been +patent to any one with eyes in his head that she had been crying; and +Harry, with the inconvenient candor which cousins and brothers often +exhibit, commented across the table on her appearance. + +"Why, Francesca, you look dreadfully tired. Has Kate been showing +you all the harrowing sights in her district, or telling you of the +horrors of the Ashborough slums?" + +She blushed and faltered; Kate longed helplessly to come to her +rescue, but before she could think of a single thing to say, Carlo +had dashed recklessly into the conversation, not at all troubling +himself about his matter or his manner, but only desirous to turn the +subject somehow, and save Francesca from embarrassment. + +"To slum!" he exclaimed, quickly, catching at the last word; "that is +your new English verb, just invented, is it not? I was told in +London that slumming had become a fashion. Is it so at Ashborough, +too?" + +"Not quite so much; the old houses in Ashborough are notorious for +being infested with a particular kind of vermin, to which the +fashionable have a mortal antipathy. I don't think it is likely to +become very popular here to slum." + +By this time Kate had recovered her presence of mind, and bravely +kept the ball going, Clare helping her adroitly, and the lovers +feeling relieved that all had been so well tided over. Kate was +conscious all through the evening that Carlo was shielding Francesca +from observation, talking more than usual to cover her silence, +carrying Harry off to sing when he was making his way to the shady +corner of the drawing-room where she had ensconced herself, and +skilfully contriving to lead the conversation round to cards by +volunteering to show them some Italian tricks, from which they +somehow glided naturally into a rubber. + +"He is managing us all," thought Kate to herself, admitting that the +sensation was novel; "but it is for Francesca's sake; he does not +seem to think about himself. How will he dispose of me, I wonder?" + +She was not left long in doubt, for at that minute he turned to her. + +"You have no class this evening?" he inquired. "Then I wish you +would play us once more those _Kinderscenen_ of Schumann's which you +played the other night." + +"Yes, Kate, do play," urged Harry; "I always get on better at whist +with music going." + +Whereupon, Carlo began to tell them a story which he had once heard +of a gambler's wife, whose miserable lot it was every evening to sit +at the piano, where, in a mirror, she could see the hands of her +husband's dupes, and reveal to him by her playing what cards they +held. + +While he talked he had been finding her music for her, then, with one +swift glance towards the quiet corner where Francesca sat with her +needlework, he went back to the card-table. + +Kate could see him from where she sat, and as she played on dreamily, +musing over that strange afternoon, and watching Carlo's untroubled +face, she said to herself again and again, "I have been a fool! a +fool! He is the bravest man I ever met, and the best!" + +Miss Claremont told all to Mr. Britton that evening, and it was +agreed that when she could find a good opportunity she should allow +Carlo to see that she knew about his betrothal and its abrupt ending. +A few words spoken by Mr. Kavanagh, the doctor, after his final visit +to Carlo the next morning, made her doubly desirous to talk the whole +matter over with him, and she was not sorry that the festival evening +proved too cold and damp for him to risk going to church, so that he +was left quite alone, and gladly accepted her invitation to come and +chat comfortably over the schoolroom fire. + +"This sort of life is very spoiling," he said, throwing himself back +in an arm-chair with the easy grace which characterized all his +movements, and glancing round the delightfully snug, homelike room. +"I can't think what it is that you English people do to your houses; +there is a charm about them one does not seem to get elsewhere." + +"I wish you could have seen a little more of English home-life," said +Clare. "If only you had been strong enough there are several people +about here whom I should have liked you to meet." + +"It is better not, perhaps," he replied; "I should only grow +discontented with the life I shall have to go back to, and feel the +contrast all the more between houses like this and the dingy +lodging-houses and third-rate hotels which we have to frequent." + +"It must be a wretched life, wandering from place to place," she said. + +He sighed a little. + +"There are a few discomforts, but, after all, they are but trifles. +No; what I shall feel most is the going away from this home where all +is congenial; away from all of you who can talk well on every subject +under the sun; you who have so many interests, and who read and +think. Some people do not seem to feel the atmosphere they live in, +but to me it makes all the difference; it is stimulating to live in a +household like this, and to be with a man like Mr. Britton; and it is +depressing to live perpetually with people who take little interest +in anything outside their own profession, and to hear nothing but +gossip and stage talk." + +"Then they are not very highly educated, I suppose, the members of +Signor Merlino's Company?" + +"No, except as regards music. Of course, you know, I am not a bit +intellectual myself, and am nothing of a reader; but, all the same, I +breathe better in this sort of atmosphere, perhaps merely because it +is what I was accustomed to at home. If it were not for Sardoni, who +is witty and clever, I don't know how I should bear the monotony of +it. Sometimes I would give anything to be older and cleverer; many +men would be able to alter the atmosphere,--Enrico Ritter, for +instance, with his brains and his power as a talker, might work a +revolution in the green-room." + +Clare could have smiled at the notion of Enrico's gaining more real +influence by his ready tongue than Carlo by his fascinating character +and unselfish life, but: she would not for the world have said +anything which, even for a moment, could have broken the unconscious +simplicity that was one of his great charms. + +"I suppose Signor Sardoni is your only friend?" she said. + +"Oh! he is a sort of brother to me, but many of them are my friends. +That is one thing which makes up for many other shortcomings in stage +life--the wonderful good-nature. I can't tell you how good-natured +most of them have been to me, though I came among them as a novice, +and am by far the youngest in the Company." + +"I had always heard that there is so much jealousy in professional +life." + +"Well, that is true, too. There are jealousies and quarrels, but +then so there are in private life; and nowhere in private life, +setting aside Merlebank, have I met with such real, genuine kindness +as from men like Sardoni, and Caffieri, and Marioni,--indeed from +almost all of them." + +"Do you know I was talking this morning to Mr. Kavanagh?" said Clare. +"I am such an old friend that I hope you will forgive me for +meddling." + +"My best nurse has certainly the first right to interview the +doctor," said Carlo, smiling. "I like Mr. Kavanagh. though he seems +rather inclined to think that everything must give way to the supreme +duty of minding your own health. He reminds me of Marioni, who is so +wrapped up in his profession that if the world were turned +topsy-turvy he would only wonder what the effect would be on Italian +opera." + +"Mr. Kavanagh tells me he is a little afraid you do not quite +understand his English." + +"That is either a libel on his pronunciation or on my intellect. I +understand him perfectly." + +"He said," continued Clare, "that he did not think you could have +grasped his meaning to-day after he had been sounding you, because +you seemed hardly to bestow a thought on the matter, though he told +you that this continuous public singing would either kill you or cure +you. Did you gather that from what he said?" + +"Yes, I did. He told me there was no disease of the lungs, but a +slight delicacy, and that using my voice in this way would be a case +of kill or cure. Of course I hope for the cure, but if the other +thing comes why there is no more to be said. A singer may as fitly +die in harness as any other man." + +"But do you really mean to run so grave a risk? Life is surely a +gift not to be treated lightly! Are you wise to try the sharp +American winter, the long journeys, the singing, which you are told +is a doubtful experiment?" + +"It must seem stupid and headstrong to you, I am afraid, and I can't +altogether explain it; but if what you believed to be your duty +called you one way, and the care of your health called you another, I +think you would agree that health must go to the wall." + +"I want to tell you," began Clare, a little nervously, "that I have +just learnt the true facts of the case. Mr. Britton, as you know, +knew much and guessed the rest; and I hope, Carlo, you will not be +vexed that I, too, should know about it. It was very blind of me +never to have seen how matters were with you and Francesca." + +"You really know about that?" he exclaimed, with relief. "Then we +can talk quite plainly. I am glad that you know, more glad than I +can tell you. I have longed to talk to you about it all these weeks. +And then, too, you will be such a comfort to Francesca. You will +take care of her next week--when I am gone." + +His voice shook, and Clare felt the tears starting to her eyes for +sympathy. + +"You told me that you promised your mother to be with Madame +Merlino," she said; "but if she had known all that the promise would +cost you do you think she would have wished you to keep it?" + +"Perhaps not; but I don't see that one can get any sort of guidance +out of that. It is not because I made the promise that I must go on +with the life, but because I know it to be right--know that I am +called to do it." + +"I suppose it would not have been possible to induce your sister to +leave the stage?" + +"No. Her husband would never have consented to it for one thing; and +then, even if she had done so, there would have been nothing to +prevent Comerio from ending his engagement with Merlino, and +following her wherever she chose to settle down. There was no way +but this--there is no way." + +"Such a case is surely a heavy indictment against theatrical life," +said Clare. + +"Do you think so? That seems to be hardly just. A scandal connected +with the stage is in every one's mouth, but the sins of private +people are hushed up and kindly forgotten, though there is not really +more immorality among us than among them. If an actress loses her +reputation you hear of it, because she has to live in the 'fierce +light' of public life, and so you come to think that we are worse +than the other professions. However, I feel with you, that Nita +would probably have been safer and happier had she been brought up in +a home like this, for instance, and had married in private life. +Such a brave, noble woman as Domenica Borelli, or any woman capable +of taking care of herself, may well become an actress if that is her +true vocation. If she is not able to take care of herself, and is +yet unable to retire from the stage, why then her husband, or father, +or brother must do all he can to shield her." + +Clare was silent for some minutes; it was very hard to withstand the +mingled humility and self-reliance which seemed so strangely blended +in Carlo's character. He was a man who listened to advice and +suggested with the patience and deference of a child, but when once +convinced of the right nothing could shake him; and she knew that it +was his genuine goodness that gave him this power, the fearless faith +which she had long ago noticed as the strong point in his nature, and +which during all these years had been strengthening and developing. +Young as he was, he seemed to her indeed well fitted to be poor +Nita's champion, even while in her heart she longed to persuade him +to turn back, blinded by her love for him and for Francesca. + +The thought of Mr. Kavanagh's words returned to her with so keen a +pang that to be silent was impossible. + +"Yet surety," she urged, "there is a noble mistake which you may be +falling into--an exaggerated self-sacrifice, a needless throwing away +of life and happiness? After all, you know the command is to love +our neighbors as ourselves." + +"Do you quite think that?" he said. "I thought it was now 'Love one +another as I have loved you.' It ought not to be as impossible as it +seems to live out that rule." + +He sighed, because he remembered that a few weeks ago the struggle +had been to endure the being laid aside, while now his heart sided +with Clare, and he only longed to be able to think her arguments +right. + +"You must recollect how ill you have been," she continued. "It is +true you have recovered wonderfully fast, but it was a very severe +attack of pleurisy; it seems to me that you ought to think very +seriously indeed before venturing on the Western winter. And even if +your health stands the life, it is so miserable for you; I can't bear +to think that you should have to go on with it year after year." + +As she spoke, a vision of his future life rose before him. He +thought of the monotonous gossip of the green-room, the perpetual +bustle and confusion, the manifold packings and unpackings, the +desolate lodgings, the long journeys; the thought of the insults of +Gomez, the ill-temper of Merlino, the stinging words and cold manner +of Anita, the unwelcome love and admiration of sentimental women, +and, above all, of the daily martyrdom of separation from Francesca. +His heart sank down like lead. + +"It is humiliating to be such a creature of moods," he said; "last +night I had got to the point of being content and even happy to have +been called out to battle, and here I am hankering after love, and +home, and peace again. Man is a contradictory animal, Clare!" + +"If you are sure--quite sure--that you are choosing rightly, I will +not say a word," she replied. "But you and Francesca are very dear +to me, and I can't bear to think that you may be throwing away your +life on a hopeless task, and bringing such a terrible grief to her. +She is so young and fragile, so little fitted to bear great sorrow." + +He tried to speak, but his voice failed him; he pushed back his chair +and took several turns up and down the room, then returned to the +fireside and stood with his elbows on the mantelpiece and his head in +his hands. + +"You see, Carlo," she resumed, "I can't help wishing Francesca to +have the happiest life, and though I would be the last to say that a +single woman may not be extremely happy and useful, yet it does no +good to blink the fact that her life is incomplete. You will think +it strange that a very happy old maid of fifty should speak like +this, but Fanny Kemble's words are very true,--'Those who are alone +must learn to be lonely;' and we old people, who know how hard that +is, shrink from the thought of the young ones setting out on the +rough road by which we have travelled." + +"Clare, for God's sake say no more!" he exclaimed, turning towards +her a face so full of anguish that she solely regretted her words. +"I must not turn back like a coward, even for love of her; but it is +hard--so fearfully hard--when the very saints of the earth tempt one! +And that she should have to suffer--that seems so unjust--so +intolerable!" + +She signed to him to sit down on the sofa beside her, and looked with +her quiet, shining eyes into his troubled ones. + +"Francesca will not think that intolerable; to share your pain will +be her comfort. And since you are called to make this choice which +will bring shadow on both your lives, why then I have nothing more to +say. Once sure of God's will we need not trouble about the rest." + +"And if I choose my own will now, why I should not be fit to make +Francesca happy," he said, musingly. "Sometimes, Clare, it seems to +me that the Donati are fated to give their lives for a forlorn hope." + +Clare mused over the well known story of the two patriots. They had +been called to give up home, and love, and at last life itself, to +save their country from tyranny; the third Donati seemed to be called +to give up home, and love, and possibly life also, to save one soul +from sin. It was a less picturesque lot, but who would dare to say +that it was lower? + +"It is strange," she said at length, "but your very name means, 'A +given man.'" + +"Does Carlo mean 'man'? I never knew that before." + +He fell into deep thought, and Clare noticed that his face gradually +resumed its usual expression. + +"After all," he said, presently, "it does seem strange that we should +eternally be slipping back to a short-sighted selfishness. +Betweenwhiles, one can only wonder at the fuss one makes over sorrow, +and then comes a slight change in weather, or health, or people, or +devils, and the struggle begins all over again. I see there is some +truth in Captain Britton's accusations,--we Italians do love pleasure +and ease, and do cordially detest storm and strife." + +"Dear boy, I think English people are much the same!" said Clare, +laughing. Then growing grave again, "But tell me, Carlo, is there +nothing I can do for you? Since I can't see you as happy as I should +wish, let me at least have some little way of helping you." + +He took her hand in his courtly Italian fashion and kissed it. + +"It is thinking what you have made of life, Clare, that will help us +most," he said. + +She colored, and her eyes filled with tears. + +"To be able to talk to you, and write to you freely will be a comfort +to Francesca, and do you think, Clare, you would sometimes write to +me?" + +"Of course I will," she replied warmly. + +"Thank you, that will be something to look forward to. You see it is +rather dreary to have no belongings in the world. Enrico Ritter is +my only correspondent; for, though my old Maestro writes every now +and then, he confines himself strictly to his one subject." + +At that moment they were interrupted by one of the extraordinary +coincidences which afford subject-matter to the Society for Psychical +Research. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +A NEW PROPOSAL. + + "Choose well; your choice is + Brief and yet endless."--GOETHE. + + +"Two gentlemen to see you, sir," announced the servant, advancing +with a visiting-card on the salver. + +Carlo having just given out that he had no belongings in the world, +wondered who could possibly have arrived at this time in the evening +to see him, and while the footman crossed the schoolroom had had time +to wonder whether Merlino and Sardoni might, for some reason, need +him; whether it could be a plot of Comerio's, whether Uncle Guido had +at last relented and come to seek him out and make up their quarrel. + +To his utter astonishment he read on the card the name of "Piale." + +"Now, of all extraordinary things, that the dear old Maestro should +come here just as I was speaking of him!" he exclaimed. "And the +other? He sent in no card? Is he young, light-haired, +German-looking?" + +"No, sir," replied the servant, "middle-aged and looked like an +English gentleman. He gave no card, sir." + +Carlo's hope that possibly Enrico might have come over with Piale +faded away, and asking Clare to excuse him he went down quickly to +the drawing-room, where with one swift glance he perceived a +stranger, tall, thin, business-like, evidently English, and dear old +Piale himself, with his thick bush of grizzled hair, his +parchment-like skin, and his eager, fiery eyes. + +The warmth of the greeting between master and pupil must have amused +the stranger; but perhaps he was well used to demonstrative +foreigners, for the business-like air never forsook him for an +instant as he watched the face and figure of the young Italian. By +the time he had thoroughly scrutinized him, had taken in his various +merits and defects, had glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and +at the open piano, the two friends remembered his presence, and +Piale, with pride and emotion, said, as he turned towards him,-- + +"There, sir! now let me introduce to you my best pupil--not looking +so much the worse for his illness as I had feared!" + +"I had the pleasure of hearing Signor Donati several times in town +last winter," said the Englishman, pleasantly; "and I am glad to make +his acquaintance." + +"And your voice, my son?" said Piale, eagerly--"it has really not +suffered, you think?" + +"It seems all the better for the rest," said Carlo; "and I hope to be +at work again in a week's time." + +"Let me hear you!" said Piale. "Come! what will you sing to me? +'_Il balen?_' '_Largo al factotum?_' What have we here? +'_Carmen!_' Are you studying that?" + +"Yes; we are to give it in America this autumn." + +"Let me hear what you make of the Toreador's song!" said the Maestro, +seating himself at the piano. + +"But you are tired with your journey," suggested Carlo. "You say you +have travelled night and day. Let me come over to-morrow to +Ashborough and sing to you there." + +"Bah!" exclaimed Piale, with a snort of contempt. "Am I to find more +refreshment in eating or drinking or sleeping than in music, my +friend?" + +And with an expression of intense satisfaction he thundered out the +introduction to the song, while Carlo obediently braced himself up to +sing, anxious as ever to please the autocratic old man, but a little +nervous about attempting this particular song, which he had only +studied by himself, and slightly troubled by speculations as to the +English stranger and Piale's hurried journey. Once before the +Maestro had plotted against him, and he could not help fancying that +the stranger had something to do with a possible engagement. + +All this faded, however, the instant he began to sing. Piale's +accompaniment was exhilarating. For the first time he began to feel +that he was Escamillo, and his rendering of the song brought a look +of perfect serenity over the Maestro's face, and drew forth hearty +exclamations of "Bravo! bravo!" from the business-like Englishman. + +He had hardly returned to himself and ceased to be the Toreador, when +both visitors beset him, Piale with an impetuous gust of words, the +stranger with more eagerness of manner than might have been expected +of an Englishman. He listened half bewildered to the proposal, only +taking in by degrees that the stranger was a well-known London +manager, that he was offering him an immediate engagement, precisely +the engagement which would most advance his professional +career,--that the terms were higher than anything he had ever dreamed +of attaining to, that they made his weekly pittance in Merlino's +Company seem more than ever scanty and insufficient. As in a dream, +he listened to the praises heaped on him--to the assurances that he +would be the lion of the London season, that already his appearance +was eagerly awaited, since, even in the unsuccessful winter +performances, and with health, and weather, and surroundings against +him, he had made his mark in the musical world. For a minute he was +dazzled by the brilliant prospects held out before him. Fame, a +rapid and striking success, wealth and ease, thoroughly competent +fellow-artistes, the London world at his feet, and his future +assured,--what wonder if such a glowing possibility should for a +minute attract him! And attract him it did. He longed for it as a +few hours before he could not have believed it possible that he +should have longed for anything having no connection with Francesca. +It seemed to him impossible to turn from this bright future to the +dismal drudgery in the provinces with Merlino, the poverty, and hard +work, and scant sympathy. He was young, and longed for happiness--an +artist, and longed to bring his art to its highest perfection under +the best conditions--a human being, and appreciation was cheering, +and lack of recognition depressing. + +But, for all that, above the eager representations of Piale and the +London manager, and above his own personal craving for this new life, +he could distinctly hear the inner voice, which had never failed him, +repeating again and again, "Remember Anita! She has no one but you! +Be faithful!" + +Long before he had ended the struggle, came the necessity of making +some sort of reply to the offer, but no one ever passed through a +temptation and found all the time he desired for preparation. Every +inch of the ground had to be contested, and even in his courteous +thanks there was an unusual amount of hesitation, which the London +manager put down to diffidence and inexperience. Piale, however, +knowing him better, began to fear that it boded a refusal. + +"You are not strong enough for the drudgery of a travelling Company," +he exclaimed. "Everything points to your accepting this offer." + +Carlo looked at him a trifle reproachfully, and his manner became +less diffident and his words more to the point. + +"The offer is indeed a very tempting one," he said; "but I fear I +must refuse it. You see, sir, Merlino is my brother-in-law, and my +engagement with him--though it may be ended next month, if either of +us wishes it to be ended----" + +The manager interrupted him. + +"But the mere fact that the Impresario is your brother-in-law is +surely in your favor. He would be interested in your success--would +wish you to seize on this opportunity, which may be turned to very +good account, I assure you." + +Carlo gave Piale a glance which said as plainly as words, "See what a +difficulty you have landed me in!" + +The Maestro responded to it by a suggestion which relieved his +conscience, and proved of some use to Carlo. + +"Take a few hours to think it all over," he suggested. "I will come +and see you again about it to-morrow." + +"That is not a bad idea," said the manager. "But I must beg for a +final answer to-morrow morning, for Metasti has failed me suddenly, +and we are in great need of a baritone. If you refuse--but you'll +not refuse, I hope. Signor Piale, you must talk him over!" + +And after a little friendly banter, and a few skilfully-framed +compliments, the manager rose to go, shaking hands cordially with +Carlo. + +"And I shall hope soon to number you in my Company!" were his parting +words. + +"Don't on any account come to the door!" said Piale, excitedly. "The +damp night--your throat!--for Heaven's sake take care of your throat! +And to-morrow I shall come over to receive your definite +acceptance--nothing less, mind--a definite acceptance--or, _diavolo!_ +I shall think you have gone clean demented!" + +For the greater part of that night Carlo fought the terrible craving +that had seized him to accept the London offer. He was ashamed to +find how ardently he longed for all that the manager had suggested; +while Piale's assurance that he was not strong enough for the hard +work in Merlino's Company had in it a truth which made it doubly +dangerous. It was to be a case of kill or cure--the doctor had told +him as much; and though at first the idea had not in the least shaken +his purpose, yet now that he was alone, with all around him dark and +still, he began to consider the two possibilities. + +There was that glowing picture of life and success which the London +manager had painted. In imagination he lived through the inspiriting +reception, the artistic triumph; he thought of Piale's delight; he +began even to fancy that, to crown all, it would prove indeed that +"nothing succeeds like success," and that Captain Britton would at +last be won over, would join in the general homage, and see that +after all a son-in-law on the operatic stage was not a man to be +despised. He was human and very young, and for a while he revelled +in this thought. + +Then, in sharp contrast, he saw another picture. + +He was back in Merlino's Company, toiling through the familiar round +of operas, overworked, underpaid--doing, as Sardoni put it, the +"dirty work" of the troupe; his voice gradually failing, till he had +sunk below the level even of Fasola, and had to content himself with +the minor parts; and so on through a weary indefinite time; till at +last, left behind by his companions in some far-away American hotel +or hospital, he died alone among strangers, with no one near him who +could even understand his native tongue. + +To be killed by his work! When looked at in this fashion--when seen +in detail--it was no attractive prospect! At four-and-twenty no +healthy man can contemplate death without a strong natural +repugnance; the mere "lust of finishing" chains him to this world +where his work has but just begun. The old whose work seems ended, +or the young whose bodies are worn out by disease, may naturally long +to die: but Carlo was not worn out either mentally or physically; he +was at the threshold of life; and notwithstanding all he had been +through, life looked beautiful and desirable, and death dark and +unattractive. Whether right or wrong, these were his feelings, and +he could not alter them in order to fit in with the ideas of the +religious world. + +And yet, without direct disobedience to his orders, he must choose +the hard course and refuse the easy one. Tossing miserably to and +fro, he wondered whether his whole life was to be like this; wondered +whether every one had this hard wrestling with temptation; wondered +how it was that most men seemed to drift along so comfortably. Did +they all the time wage an unseen warfare like this? Or was he +naturally more selfish and indolent? Or had the devil a special +spite against him? + +Then, in the midst of his questionings, there floated back to him the +familiar words, "Men are not more willing to live the life of the +Crucified." + +Willing to live the life, indeed! Why, he had forgotten all about +it! Had been thinking of a life of ease, and glory, and pleasure; +had had his own interests in view, not the interests of other people; +had consulted his own will, not the will of the All-Father. Slowly +the ruling power of his life resumed its sway over him; and then, +tired out with all he had gone through, he fell asleep from very +exhaustion. + +When he woke the night was over, the sun was shining, the thrushes +and blackbirds were singing, the rooks were cawing, and by the light +of the early morning he could see the familiar picture of the +Constant Shepherd. The night of temptation was over, too, the +darkness had passed, and what he had to do was as clear as day to +him; moreover, he knew that he could do it. + +He must definitely decline the London offer. He must not, as he was +half tempted to do, mention it to Merlino, by way of inducing him to +renew his engagement at once or to raise his salary. If he did this +Merlino's suspicions might be roused; his brother-in-law would +certainly wonder what prompted him to refuse so good an offer. Then, +when Piale came over that day, he must beg him to mention Comerio to +the London manager; he must move heaven and earth to procure for his +rival the offer which he had declined. To say that he liked doing +this would be untrue. It was undeniably bitter to him, but he saw +that it would safely dispose of Comerio during the summer; and, +moreover, he wished to be just, even to his enemy, and since he had +been the means of ending one engagement for Comerio, it seemed but +fair that he should do his best to help him when opportunity offered. + +He found, however, that Piale hardly understood this view of the +case, and his interview with the Maestro was stormy. In the end, +however, Piale had to submit to the inevitable; and with a sigh and a +shrug of the shoulders, owned that he could not stand against the +folly of a man who had no eye to his own interests, and who +deliberately threw away the very ticket which would have brought him +a prize in the world's lottery. + +He stayed to lunch at Merlebank, and diverted the Brittons very much +by the mingled fondness and ferocity with which he seemed to regard +his pupil. He tried to win them over to sympathize with his +disappointment; and it transpired that the instant he had heard of +Metasti's illness, he had hurried to London to see if he could not +obtain the engagement for his pupil. + +"But, you see, he is bent on his own destruction," concluded the old +man, with a gesture of impatience. "One might as well try to argue +with a mule! However, my son, since you are set on going to America, +let me give you one piece of advice--beware of damp beds; take my +advice, and always sleep between the blankets." + +Carlo made a gesture of horror. + +"Now, dear Maestro, you really expect me to be too self-denying!" + +"Self-denying, indeed! why, yes, the life of an opera-singer is one +eternal practice of self-denial!" said Piale, gesticulating with his +knife and fork. + +Carlo laughed lightly. + +"And I do my best to be your very good pupil, but at hotel blankets I +draw the line!" + +Francesca and Clare did all they could to talk the old man into a +good humor, and to console him under his disappointment; and when +Carlo parted with him at the Ashborough station, he was not at all +sure that it was not emotion which made his answers so curt and his +voice so gruff. + +"You will not forget about Comerio?" he pleaded, at the very last +moment. + +Piale replied only by a grunt. But there was nothing but affection +in his parting glance; and apparently he must have conciliated the +London manager, and spoken in high terms of Comerio, for in three +days' time Carlo received the following letter from Sardoni:-- + + +"DEAR VAL, + +"Our worthy Comerio has fallen on his feet, and has obtained the +height of his ambition--an engagement for the London season. Lucky +is he who deserveth nothing! By what rule of philosophy or religion +do you explain such an event? However, it is an ill wind that blows +nobody good. We shall be quit of him, and--Heaven be praised!--this +is the last week I shall have to keep an eye on him by day and share +dressing-rooms with him by night. Your costumes are already being +taken in and up; Comerio growled not a little at the nuisance of +having them all refitted when he first came back. He remains in +Merlino's good books, and has been fishing hard for America in the +autumn; but when anything goes wrong it scores one to you, for the +Impresario always swears that it would never have happened had you +been in the Company. We go to Brighton on Whit-Sunday, and open the +next day with _Faust_. It is supposed that the Whitsuntide holidays +may make the thing a success; I have my doubts. However, with you as +Valentino it may be. Write and tell me whether you come back on the +Sunday or Monday, and I will meet you at the station. Monday will be +all right, if you don't want to call a special rehearsal after the +pleurisy; but as I'm sure you could do Valentino in your sleep, I +don't see that we need be bothered with that. If you are at the +Vicarage, you might mention that we sail in September, and that I +could spare a few days in August if they would like it. Gigi sends +affectionate messages by the yard. He talks of little else but your +return. + + "Ever yours, + "SARDONI." + + +Once again Carlo and Francesca kept their Whitsuntide together. It +had fallen earlier than on the previous year, and it was no small +comfort to Carlo that his last day at Merlebank should have chanced +to be that quiet Sunday, when he was able to walk through the sunny +grounds to church with Francesca, and later in the day to have a long +quiet talk with her as to the future. Of Mr. Kavanagh's kill-or-cure +verdict he would not allow her to hear a word; she was quite anxious +enough about him already, and Clare agreed with him that there was no +need to mention it. But the doctor's verdict troubled kind-hearted +Mr. Britton; and when on the Monday morning the carriage was +announced and all the family met together in the hall to wish Carlo +good-bye, he watched with deep sympathy the silent handshake that +passed between the lovers. They both tried so bravely to keep up +appearances, that Mr. Britton was touched with compassion and drew +Francesca aside into his study. If the work should indeed prove too +much for Carlo, Francesca would never see him again. He would at +least give them the comfort of a less public farewell; the Captain +might possibly be vexed, but Mr. Britton was willing to risk +something for the niece who was almost as dear to him as his own +children. + +"Donati," he said, "just come in here one minute, will you?" then, +closing the door after Carlo, he gave him a little push on the +shoulder, indicating that he should go across to Francesca. + +Carlo did not speak, but he gave his host a grateful look, and Mr. +Britton kindly turned his back on them and began to make hay in the +papers on his table, to unlock a drawer with a most unusual rattling +of his keys, and to behave as a kind-hearted uncle should behave +under the circumstances. Presently, crossing the room, he opened the +French window, signed to Francesca that she might beat a retreat into +the garden and avoid the assembled family, then pioneered Carlo +through the hall to the carriage, talking to him as if they were just +ending the discussion of some business matter. There were manifold +hand-shakings, good wishes, regrets, and entreaties from Flo that he +would come again; but at last the ordeal was over, Carlo was shut +into the carriage with Mr. Britton and was driven rapidly along the +dusty road to Ashborough. He was quite silent, and sat gazing out at +the green hedgerows, seeing nothing, however, but the inward vision +of the woman he loved. Not till they had reached the town did he +dare to trust his voice, but a sudden perception that the time left +to him was short roused his native courtesy, and he tried to thank +his host for all the great kindness shown to him during his illness. + +"My dear fellow," said Mr. Britton, "I can only say it has been a +great pleasure to have you. I look on you as my prospective nephew, +you know, though for the present we must keep that hope to ourselves." + +Carlo grasped his hand, those kindly words of hope seemed to put new +life into him, and all through that dark day they rang in his ears. +Travelling to Brighton, among the hosts of holiday excursionists, he +could not help remembering the drive back from Pompeii on that last +Whit-Monday. It was less than a year ago, and yet how endless the +time seemed to him! How should he ever get through a whole lifetime +when eleven months had seemed so long and weary? But, fortunately, +he had long ago discovered that by trying to take in the idea of life +as a whole we only give ourselves mental indigestion, and that a day +at a time is as much as a man can healthily swallow. He turned quite +away from both past and future, and taking out his copy of _Ernani_, +began to study the part of Don Carlos with the close attention and +imaginative power which made his impersonations so great a contrast +to the average attainments of an operatic singer. + +Sardoni was waiting for him at the Brighton station, and though the +thought of returning to the old life had been distasteful, yet +somehow he fell back into his old place very naturally, and talked +cheerfully enough as they drove through the crowded streets to the +Merlinos' lodgings. + +"Merlino has engaged a room for you," explained Sardoni; "they are +staying close to the theatre, and I thought you would rather be with +them. Marioni and I are down by the sea." + +"And Comerio has gone?" + +"Thank Heaven, yes! He came to see us off at Victoria last night. +That London engagement came in the very nick of time. If it hadn't +been for that I believe he would have managed to prevent your coming +back. These are your quarters, and look! there is Gigi on the +balcony." + +On catching sight of them the little fellow beat a hasty retreat, and +came rushing headlong down the stairs, where, with a cry of joy, he +flung himself into Carlo's arms, and clung with all the strength of a +child's eager love round his neck. + +"Mamma is upstairs," panted Gigi. "Come and see her." + +Carlo, still carrying the little brown-faced fellow in his arms, went +up to the sitting-room, looking anxiously towards the pretty, slim +figure standing in the bow-window. The brother and sister had been +long enough apart to see each other with something of the freshness +of observation which comes to relations after they have been +separated for some time. + +Nita thought she had never before noticed what a beautiful face he +had; Carlo perceived, as he had never perceived before, the worn, +unsatisfied expression which was now so plainly visible about her +mouth and in her eyes. "If I could only comfort her," he +thought,--"if I could only get the least bit nearer to her!" But +more than ever he felt that she kept him wilfully at a distance, and +that her love for Comerio was an impassable barrier which must make +her cold and distant to the man who had taken his place. + +This was the hardest part of all, that he loved her, and yet could +not win her love; that he had lost all to help her, and that she +would not be helped; that he tried ceaselessly to break down the +barrier between them, and that she as persistently tried to build it +up again. + +There was nothing for him to do but to go on patiently, never +despairing; but it was hard work, and his heart sank within him at +the prospect, even while he talked cheerfully to Merlino and dined +composedly, and answered Gigi's questions about Merlebank. He +lingered behind the others to see the last of the little boy, then +made his way along the colonnade to the stage-door of the theatre. +The door-keeper looked up from his newspaper and gave him a friendly +greeting, for Merlino's Company had had a very successful week at +Brighton in November, and Carlo invariably won the hearts of all the +officials by his pleasant manner and unwillingness to give any +trouble. + +"Hope you're better, sir," said the man. "I have a letter for you +here." + +He handed him an envelope; Carlo thanked him and passed on to his +dressing-room, where, not without a certain repugnance, he perceived +the crimson velvet costume, worn last Monday by Comerio, laid out for +him. Then he looked again at the handwriting of his letter, and, +failing to recognize it, began to wonder whether it would prove to be +an unwelcome love-letter or a forgotten bill. It was late, however, +and he dressed before satisfying his curiosity; then making his way +to the green-room, opened it and glanced at the contents. + +The letter was neither addressed nor signed, but he had not lived +through all these months of public life without receiving sundry +anonymous communications, some of them kindly, some of them grossly +insulting. + +This particular missive consisted solely of an Italian +proverb:--"_Aspetta tempo e luogo a far tua vendetta, che la non si +fa mai ben in fretta:_"--Wait time and place to act thy revenge, for +it is never well done in a hurry. + +There was a vagueness about this which puzzled him. Was it from some +outsider who would warn him that his haste in getting rid of Comerio +had been impolitic? Or was it from Comerio himself, and did it imply +that, although he might not at once revenge himself, yet Carlo was +not to think that he had forgotten--that vengeance would most +certainly follow him. + +While he waited for his first entrance he showed the note to Sardoni, +who at once solved the mystery by recognizing Comerio's handwriting. + +"That is from our friend the Corsican," he remarked; "I should know +his writing anywhere." + +"Is Comerio a Corsican? I never knew that. Then such a message is +doubly significant." + +"Why?" asked Sardoni. + +"Because a Corsican never forgives. A Neapolitan may kill his man in +sudden passion, but a Corsican will wait for years, and strike at +last with the cool premeditation of a devil." + +Sardoni looked grave, he could believe anything of such a man as +Comerio, and he resolved to keep a sharp watch and play the part of +detective in the interests of his friend. It was not a very cheerful +missive to receive just before going on the stage; but though Carlo +candidly owned that the thought of a stealthy vengeance dogging his +steps sent an occasional cold chill through his veins, yet he +reminded himself that one can grow accustomed to almost anything, and +that, after all, his enemy's vengeance was powerless to shorten the +life that had been marked out for him by a single hour. And perhaps +his own private troubles helped him to give a yet more powerful +rendering of the duel scene and the death of Valentino. + +"It frightens me to act with you," was Nita's comment; "you make it +all too horribly real, you die so dreadfully." + +"Yet he is not so violent as Comerio," remarked old Bauer. "He does +not push you away, for instance, but dies like a Christian, kissing +the cross and forgiving you." + +"The difference is," said Marioni, "that Comerio dies like an angry +blusterer and Donati like a heart-broken hero. His voice seems +better than ever after the rest." + +The next morning Carlo felt a not unnatural reaction after the strain +of the previous day; the long rest had, as Marioni remarked, +strengthened his voice, but he felt ludicrously stiff after his two +falls in the duel scene, and quite perceived that though being out of +practice might not affect his acting at the time, yet it told +severely on him afterwards, and made the work, to which in course of +time he would become inured, a hard and wearing toil. After +breakfast he strolled with Gigi through the Pavilion gardens; then, +remembering that he had asked that letters from Merlebank might be +directed to him at the General Post-office, he went to inquire if any +had arrived, not exactly expecting any, but with a lover's restless +hope for the improbable. His heart beat quickly when an envelope in +Clare's writing was handed to him, but it only enclosed a letter from +Enrico Ritter, which had arrived just after he had left Merlebank. +Now that Francesca was in England Enrico's letters meant much less to +him, and he sauntered down Ship Street, and yielded to Gigi's +entreaties to go on the beach before he began to read it. The letter +was unusually short and abrupt, and had evidently been written in +great haste. + +"Prepare your mind for bad news, _amico mio_," it began. "Your uncle +has died suddenly of an apoplexy, and I have just learnt the +conditions of his will. He has kept to his word, and has +disinherited you, leaving every penny he possesses to the Little +Sisters of the Poor. We are all, as you may imagine, in a fine state +of indignation, and find it beyond human nature not to speak evil of +the dead. I must warn you, too, that you have a living enemy, who is +doing his best to rob you, not of money but of your reputation. Some +person or persons unknown have set on foot a scandal about you and +Mlle. Borelli, and it is all over the place. Something of the sort +was suggested last autumn; the first I heard of it was a mere +surmise, half jestingly made at a ball; Miss Britton also overheard +the words, and for her sake I made as light of them as possible, and, +indeed, they were, I believe, lightly meant. Now it is possible, of +course, that these words started the current slander, but I think it +very probable that Comerio may have had a hand in the affair, and +thought it best to tell you plainly the truth that you and Mlle. +Borelli are the talk of Naples. You can now take whatever steps you +think fit, and, of course, can count on us to fight your battles." + +Carlo looked up from this ill-fated letter with a dazzled, confused +feeling that all the world was against him. The calm, blue sea, and +the pleasure-boats, and the merry children playing on the shore, +contrasted painfully enough with his troubled life. His uncle was +dead, and had never forgiven him! The thought was a real grief, for +he had loved the autocratic old man, and had hoped that some day all +might be made right between them. Then there was that vile, that +extraordinary slander. Burning wrath consumed him as he pictured to +himself Domenica Borelli, of all women on earth, singled out to be +the victim of such hateful gossip. And what could be done? How +could such a slander be stamped out? It might be met with +authoritative denial, but what would Neapolitan gossips care for +that? Though very possibly Comerio might have circulated the story, +yet it could not definitely be traced home to him; no one had heard +him publicly make such a statement, and a prosecution was out of the +question, even if he had been rich enough to afford it. No, he could +do nothing but endure as patiently as might be; but he realized only +too painfully that slander, however false, however actively +contradicted, does in this world leave a slur, and that the purest +life and the highest motives are no protection against those whose +work consists of + + "Peddling in the devil's hardware, + Gossip and innuendo." + +And, alas! how little he had as yet gained. How far from satisfied +could he as yet feel about Anita. For a mere hope he had lost +everything: the love of poor old Uncle Guido, the inheritance that +was his by right, the home and country which he loved, the wife who +should have been his, and now either deliberate malice, or mere +careless and baleful talk, had robbed him of the last thing left to +him,--his fair and stainless reputation. + +He was very young, and when the first hot indignation had died away, +he could only wonder, with a sort of blank astonishment, how that +particular charge could possibly have been brought up against him. +People might justly have reproached him with his hasty temper, his +impatience, his love of ease and pleasure, with a hundred other +faults of which he was perfectly conscious; but to fasten upon him +that particular accusation, to charge him with the very sin from +which he was trying at all costs to save another, that seemed to him +hard measure, it wounded him as nothing else could have wounded him. + +Those who know life well, and have bought their experience, and have +gained that long-sighted vision which belongs to the full-grown, can, +even in the first pain of a personal attack, "rejoice and be +exceeding glad," and realize that the devil thinks their work worth +molesting. But the young have always a feeling that the devil is not +so black as he is painted and that the world is, after all, kindly +disposed, and so their first experience of injustice comes like a +crushing blow; it amazes them, and they learn with a shudder that the +world will always impute low motives, and that they must learn to +expect this and bear it with composure. + +The news in the letter which would have most painfully affected +many--the account of the lost inheritance--was the last point which +occurred to Carlo. Still he did not regard money with absolute +indifference, or consider that there was any particular merit in +poverty, and it was not in nature that a man of four-and-twenty +should lose a fortune and feel no pang of regret. Money was a power, +there was no denying that, and he was living now from hand to +mouth--a process less pleasant in practice than in theory. In the +reaction from inordinate love of riches there is nowadays a good deal +of cant, about "holy poverty" and "contemptible wealth;" but Carlo, +being a very practical and simple-natured man, did not affect to look +on the loss of his inheritance from any superior height of +other-worldliness. It chafed him sorely to owe money to Herr Ritter +and to see no immediate prospect of paying back the principal; it had +cost him much to ask his doctor whether he would allow him to pay by +instalments for the constant attendance through the weeks at +Merlebank; it had pained him to have to calculate the cost of his +journey to Brighton, and to find that his donations to the servants +who had been so good to him must be of the smallest. For money in +itself he cared not at all, but being in the true sense of the word a +gentleman, he had a horror of being in debt, and found the constant +care necessary to make both ends of his scanty income meet a most +irksome duty. Such matters cannot be looked at in a vague, +impersonal way; and though the ideal hero of sentimental romance is +always above such contemptible considerations, yet a straightforward, +honorable man is bound to care for the possession of such money as +will enable him to pay his way honestly in the world. Carlo thought +with a sigh of the thousands of pounds which he had been led to +expect as his inheritance, and then of the constant struggle to live +on his small salary. Comerio had received six guineas a-week, but he +as a novice had consented to take only half that amount, and Piale, +thinking that he would never continue in a travelling company after +the first year, had been fairly well satisfied with the arrangement, +and indeed, would have consented to anything so long as his wish of +inducing his pupil to go on the stage had been gratified. Carlo had +no intention, however, of accepting better offers at the end of the +first year, so he saw before him an indefinite time of hard work and +small pay, for he could not afford to bargain with Merlino or quarrel +with him as any other novice might have done. + +As Carlyle remarks, "No beautifulest poet is a bird of paradise, +living on perfumes, sleeping in the ether with outstretched wings. +The heroic, _independent_ of bed and board, is found in Drury Lane +Theatre only." + +Out of his three guineas a-week he must somehow manage to pay for +board, lodging, and clothes, must give the conventional gratuities to +his dresser, must provide certain parts of his stage wardrobe--to +wit, shoes, tights, wigs, and feathers,--must pay the interest on the +loan from Herr Ritter, and try to put by as much as might be towards +Mr. Kavanagh's account. He knew, of course, that many a clerk, many +an English curate, had to count himself lucky if he got as large a +salary, but then it was less possible for him to economize. +Lodgings, hastily sought in a foreign country, often proved dear as +well as comfortless; bills, even at third-rate hotels, seemed to +mount up with frightful rapidity; while to play any pranks with his +diet was out of the question, since his voice was dependent on +regular and suitable food. He longed impatiently to be free from +this grinding poverty which was so foreign to his nature, nor did it +comfort him much to reflect that he was better off than many members +of travelling companies, since, at any rate, Merlino always paid his +way, was a man with capital, and was not forever trembling on the +brink of bankruptcy. It only made him feel very sorry for his +brother artistes, and slightly curious to know how they managed to +live at all. + +He had reached this point in his reflections when Gigi came running +up to him. + +"I do so dreadfully want a spade and pail, _zio caro_!" he said, +looking up at him with his wistful brown eyes. + +"There are many things, my Gigi, which we do so dreadfully want, but +can't have," he replied, laughing a little, and stroking the child's +brown cheek. "You and I, Gigi, must learn to go without, and must do +what we can to amuse each other." + +And forgetting poverty, and slander, and even poor old Uncle Guido, +he transformed himself into so delightful a sea-monster that Gigi +rushed in blissful terror and excitement to the shelter of the +nearest boat, and by the time the chase was over, and he had been +devoured and resuscitated in the conventional manner, all thought of +spades and pails had vanished from his mind, and he had fallen back +to his old refrain of "I do love you so!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +AFTER TWO YEARS. + + "Heart, thou must learn to do without-- + That is the riches of the poor; + Their liberty is to endure; + Wrap thou thy old cloak thee about, + And carol loud, and carol stout! + * * * * * + Why should'st thou only wear no clout? + Thou only walk in love-robes pure? + Thy step alone be firm and sure? + Thou only free of fortune's flout?-- + Nay, nay! but learn to go without, + And so be humbly, richly poor." + _A Threefold Cord._ + + +The bright spring sunshine was streaming into a sitting-room in the +Lafayette at Philadelphia, and Nita's sweet, clear soprano woke the +echoes with that most charming of songs, "_Caro nome_." Carlo, who +from the first had constituted himself her accompanyist at her daily +practice, was seated at the piano, and something in the faces of both +brother and sister showed plainly that time had passed. Two years +had gone by since Carlo had rejoined the Company at Brighton, and +spite of excessively hard work--spite of the weary day and night +journeys, with too often an exhausting performance at the end of +them--his healthy, vigorous nature had asserted itself, and all signs +of delicacy of chest had disappeared, while further cultivation, and +increasing physical strength, had rendered his voice more than ever +notable. The daily round of work had been monotonous enough, and yet +the second and third years of his professional life had certainly +seemed far shorter to him than the first had done. But then nothing +flies so fast as fully occupied time, especially when no very +important events come to interrupt the routine. And nothing had +happened worthy of note in these two years. Comerio's vengeance had +not as yet taken effect--he had not followed them to America; and +scarcely any changes had been made in the Company. Mademoiselle de +Caisne had, indeed, gone back to Italy, finding it impossible to make +the slightest impression on the new baritone: her place had been +filled by a very young American girl. It seemed probable, too, that +Sardoni and Domenica Borelli would not remain very much longer in the +troupe. They had now been betrothed for several months, and were to +be married in New York before Merlino's Company sailed for Italy, +which they expected to do towards the end of May. Carlo hardly knew +how to face the thought of life without his two best friends, but +their contracts with Merlino both expired in the following autumn, +and he could not but admit that their married life would probably be +much happier if they carried out Sardoni's idea, and settled down in +London, where they might both hope to gain a fair livelihood by +teaching, eked out by occasional engagements. But, though little had +happened, the general tone of the Company had certainly been raised; +the Impresario had become a trifle less rough and overbearing; Nita, +though she was still as far as ever from being a happy wife, seemed +to rebel less bitterly against her lot; while Carlo's character had +grown and developed as a man's character does develop when he is +trying incessantly to live the highest life. + +As he played the accompaniment of "_Caro nome_," his thoughts +involuntarily turned to Francesca, and he began to wonder whether +Sardoni would soon come back from his walk and whether he would have +remembered to call at the post-office for letters. It was possible +that he might to-day hear from Enrico, and he was terribly hungry for +news, for Clare, with the best of intentions, was too busy to write +very often, and when she did write could only give him second-hand +reports, while Enrico was as far as ever from understanding the sort +of details for which a lover craves. + +He looked up eagerly as the door opened and Sardoni entered. + +"Did you remember the letters?" he asked, glad that the song should +have ended at such an opportune moment. + +"For a wonder, yes," replied Sardoni, who since his engagement to +Domenica had been ludicrously absent-minded. "But there were none +for you, Val, only one for Madame Merlino." + +Carlo was sadly disappointed, but yet was so well used to +disappointment that by the time he had played through a few bars of +"_Caro nome_" his face had resumed its usual expression. + +Sardoni left the room again, and Nita, throwing herself back in a +rocking-chair, began to read her letter. As she read, an +uncontrollable exclamation of surprise escaped her. Carlo, who was +turning over the pages of _Rigoletto_ and still whistling the air of +"_Caro nome_," looked up quickly. + +"Is anything the matter?" he asked, and as he spoke he noticed for +the first time the big letters of the "Napoli" post-mark. + +She read on without answering, but something in her face roused a +nameless fear in his heart; did the letter concern Comerio? The +handwriting was not Enrico's or his fears would have been instantly +aroused; he would have imagined that some evil must have befallen +Francesca--some evil which his friend did not dare to tell him +abruptly and without preparation. But that fear was not awakened. +It must, then, surely be connected with Comerio, this Italian letter! +If only she would speak and put him out of his suspense! + +He sat down near her and waited, not wishing to force himself upon +her in any way; and at length she looked up and, with a strange tone +in her voice, said, "I have heard from Mlle. de Caisne, Carlo. You +had better read her letter, and she encloses these." + +In some surprise he took the papers she handed to him, and glanced at +the first. It was a half-sheet of paper, on the back of which the +following words were written in Italian, "An advertisement cut out of +the _Times_." Neatly pasted on the other side were a few brief lines +of English print,--"On the 26th inst., at Naples, by the British +Consul and by the Rev. J. Smith, RENATO, CONTE CAROSSA, to FRANCESCA, +elder daughter of Captain JOHN BRITTON, R.N." + +Carlo neither spoke nor moved; the blow struck at his heart had been +so fearfully sudden that after the first moment of agony he felt +nothing, but was like one paralyzed. Still holding the advertisement +in his hand, he stared at those words which had shattered his whole +life; then, as sensation slowly returned, a horrible craving to know +more seized him, and he snatched up the next paper. It was a leaflet +printed in silver, an English wedding-hymn, beginning, "The voice +that breathed o'er Eden;" he read it through from beginning to end +with a sort of blank, dazed feeling. Then he took the next slip. It +was a cutting from the _Roma_, just a short paragraph stating that +the marriage of Count Carossa had called forth general attention, +owing to the fact that his bride was the acknowledged _belle_ of +Naples. That the beautiful English girl had made a charming bride, +and that according to the English custom the wedding party had been +entertained at breakfast after the ceremony at Casa Bella, the +residence of Captain Britton. + +Lastly, he read with feverish haste Mlle. de Caisne's letter, rushing +impatiently through the preliminaries till he came to the following +remark,--"The marriage of Count Carossa is the great topic of the day +here, and knowing how intimate you and your brother were with the +English owners of Casa Bella, I send you full particulars. The +wedding was really a beautiful sight, the bride wore a dress of +ivory-white satin with a very long train; and it really is wonderful +how even in this climate English girls seem to preserve their +complexion. Miss Britton's is the most charmingly delicate coloring +I ever saw. Every one is envious of Count Carossa. I only hope he +deserves so fascinating a wife." + +Carlo folded the papers and put them back in their envelope. Every +vestige of color had left his face, and Nita began to wonder whether +he would ever move or speak again--he looked as if he had been turned +to stone. She was frightened, and yet the sight did not appeal to +her, it even made her a little angry and impatient, for she had not +heart enough to understand him. + +There was a long, burdened silence, broken at length by Nita. + +"Well," she said, with a bitter tone in her voice; "now, at any rate, +you will know what it means to have a legal bar between you and the +one you love." + +At this his stony despair suddenly changed, the frozen blood seemed +to boil in his veins, and a look of anguish, which terrified her, +dawned in his eyes. Her words had most cruelly, most recklessly, +thrust the terrible truth before him. He got up quickly, and walked +with unsteady steps to the door, by a sort of blind instinct +perceiving that to be away from his sister would be a relief. + +But Nita had no sooner spoken than she regretted her words, and would +have given anything to recall them. She rushed after him and caught +his hand in hers. + +"Don't go, Carlo!" she cried. "I am sorry I said that--I am sorry +for you. Carlino! Stay!" + +Her presence was almost more than he could endure, but though past +thinking definitely of anything but the crushing blow he had received +and the torturing pain it caused him, the mere habit of considering +others before himself made him pause now, though he longed sorely to +be alone with his trouble. + +"Ah, why should we have such things to bear?" she cried passionately, +thinking even now far more of her own trouble than of his. + +"God help us both!" he groaned. + +Then, dropping her hand, he turned away and flung himself face +downwards on the couch, unable to resist any longer the paroxysm of +grief which overwhelmed him. + +Nita watched him much as Kate Britton had watched him in the hut; her +woman's soul was touched to the quick, and though only a minute +before she had cried, "Why should we have such things to bear?" she +saw now, with a sharp pang of regret, that Carlo's grief was the +direct consequence of her own weakness. She fell down on her knees +beside him. + +"Carlino!" she sobbed, "forgive me--forgive me! It is I who have +brought it all on you." + +He did not look up or speak, but put out his hand for hers and held +it fast in a grasp that seemed to burn her. She thought he grew +calmer and ventured to speak again, longing to awaken his pity for +her own case. + +"Don't you see now, Carlo, that you have been expecting too much of +me?" she pleaded. "Oh, don't you see now how all those ideas of +yours are in practice impossible?" + +Her last word, emphatically spoken, seemed to fill him with strength. +In an instant he was on his feet, while she still knelt on, looking +up at him in awe and astonishment. Somehow it seemed to her that she +was face to face with the perfection of manhood. + +"Nothing is impossible!" he said. + +And the words seemed to ring and pulsate in her ears as no words had +ever done before. + +She cowered down and hid her face, trembling before the first divine +revelation which had ever come home to her innermost heart. It was a +relief to her when she heard him leave the room, but the pitifulness +of the story overcame her again; the love, so far beyond any love of +which she herself was yet capable, had at length touched her heart, +and she sobbed for grief and pity. + +"Why,--oh why," she thought, with bitter regret, "did I not from the +first resist the evil thoughts that came? It must have been possible +for me, too!" + +In the meantime Carlo had locked himself into his own room, and +there, pacing to and fro, looked his sorrow in the face like a man. +Thousands, as he was well aware, must have been called to bear the +same thing before, but yet there were circumstances which made his +case doubly hard; the utter want of preparation, the dearth of all +but the most public accounts of the marriage, the knowledge that of +his own free will he had left Francesca and gone out into the world. +For eight long years he had loved her, and though there had been +grief, and trouble, and separation for them, yet he had been sure of +her love through all, and had been free to lavish on her his heart's +devotion. But now in one moment all was ended between them, and the +thought of his love, which, in spite of the separation, had been an +unfailing solace to him through these weary years of public life, was +now only a torture, a peril. There would be no beautiful reality, +all his own, to which he could come back when the day's work was +over, as to some sacred and safe retreat; she was now the wife of +another, and he must no longer think of her as his betrothed. His +safe retreat had become a place of torment. He saw that life would +be one long battle, and that the best he could hope for after long +conflict, was so far to subdue himself that he should dare to meet +her as a friend; be able, perhaps, to serve her in some faint, +far-off way; be at least able to carry a brave front, and cast no +shadow on her wedded happiness. + +But was she happy? Had she, perhaps, been forced to acquiesce, in +obedience to her father's wishes? Count Carossa might well prove an +importunate suitor, and decline to accept as final her first refusal. +Had she been forced against her will to accept him? Or had he really +won her heart; and did she now see that the past was but a girlish +dream, evanescent, and not wholly sweet? He hardly knew which of +these possibilities pained him most; he glanced now at one, now at +the other, till the misery of ignorance and suspense almost maddened +him. And then, with a pang of the worst pain he had yet felt a +horrible new idea shot through his mind. + +There was that vile slander which had been set on foot two years ago, +and which still inevitably worked its poisonous way, growing more +dangerous with age, as slanders do. Francesca had heard the first +rumors, Enrico had told him as much, she herself at Merlebank had +half hinted something of the sort. At first she had indignantly +refused to credit them, but when the tale was in every one's mouth, +why then her very innocence and ignorance of the world would surely +make her credit them the more easily; and how ready the Captain would +be to believe anything of the sort touching an operatic singer, he +realized only too bitterly. More and more as he thought of it this +seemed to him the only explanation of the marriage. He could not +believe that anything else could possibly have robbed him of +Francesca's love. But if all around her believed him to be not only +guilty of such a sin, but to be such a contemptible hypocrite as to +have sought his own pleasure under the cover of protecting his +sister, might she not possibly have been induced to believe the +slander too? And, once believed, such a story must inevitably kill +love. For a while he sat rapt in the miserable contemplation of this +thought, then suddenly his mind revolted from the idea of any kind of +distrust in Francesca. No, it was not possible! She would believe +in him against the whole world, would love him for ever, not for any +merit in himself, but because of the truth, and purity, and beauty of +her own nature. She had been coerced into the marriage with Count +Carossa. Again he fell back into the weary round of surmises, +rejecting each in turn, but always confronted by the terrible +realization that, however the marriage had been brought about, it was +a fact,--a fact which gave the death-blow to his hope, and doomed him +to go through life alone. + +For he must go on living, and must face the thought at once. Indeed, +into his simple, healthy mind no thought of death had entered, though +most truly life looked to him desolate enough; but it is in times of +great trouble that a good man's real character is tested, and every +dull, monotonous day of work in Merlino's Company had added something +to his manly steadfastness, and gave him power now to go straight on +and do his duty without flinching. He brought back his thoughts with +an effort to the present,--_Rigoletto_ that evening, the necessity of +dining at once, the fear lest his trouble should at all mar the +happiness of Sardoni and Domenica, his best friends, and a resolution +to keep the news from them if possible till their wedding was over. +With this thought in his mind he turned to the glass, saw that +trouble was very legibly stamped on his face, and resolved to dine +alone at some restaurant, that he might escape observation. On the +staircase he met Anita, she looked up at him in a scared way. + +"Do not speak of this to any one else," he said, in a low voice; +"above all, not to Sardoni or Domenica. Let it be only between us +two, at any rate till after the wedding." + +She promised, although she was far from understanding the motives +which prompted the request, and Carlo with a heavy heart passed on, +and walked slowly down Broad Street. He remembered, as he walked, +the sense of horrible loneliness which had seized him when he walked +back from the Strada Nuova to Palazzo Forti, after the _Pilgrim_ had +sailed from Naples; but that suffering had been light indeed compared +to what he was called to bear to-day. It seemed to him now that he +was alive and yet dead, that the outer shell of everyday existence +would go on in a mechanical way, just as if nothing had happened, but +that the heart had been destroyed, and that nothing could ever bring +it back to vitality. + +In a sort of dream of pain he watched the passers-by, and wondered +whether in their careless talk they, too, might be robbing some one +of his reputation, and doing the devil's work in the world. A +feeling of strong resentment rose up in his mind, he walked more +quickly, the color came back to his face, and his hot, southern blood +began to burn and tingle in his veins; if he could have been suddenly +confronted by the unknown being who had set on foot this slander he +could have killed him, at least so in his hot indignation he fancied. + +Once more Nita's bitter words rang in his ears:--"A legal bar between +you and the one you love." + +"After all," urged the tempter, "are you not aiming at the +impossible? Why should you think of her as his wife when the thought +tortures you? What! you mean to allow no thought that you could not +lay bare to her sight, or the sight of her husband? Fool! Give up! +Is such love as yours to be cramped, and fettered, and starved; love +that has lasted all these years?" + +"You'll forgive me making bold to stop you, sir," said a familiar +voice. He looked round and saw Adamson, the scene-shifter. "I +wanted to catch you alone, sir, and at the theatre there be always +others within hearing; and I guessed you'd be glad to hear, sir, that +it's all come right." + +The sudden reaction from the terrible temptation to the story of the +honest-looking old man, who had been one of his first friends in the +troupe, taxed his powers to the utmost. His brain seemed to reel, +but with an effort he dragged himself back to the recollection of +Adamson's trouble. His daughter, a pretty American girl, sang +soprano in the chorus, and for some time her father had been very +uneasy about her, and Carlo had watched with a good deal of interest +the progress of a small drama in which his dresser, Sebastiano, +played the part of lover. + +"It's all come right, sir," repeated Adamson; "and it's all owing to +you. I don't know what you've done to Sebastiano, sir, but he's kind +o' altered. They're a going to git married right away!" + +The need of giving the old man his hearty sympathy restored Carlo to +himself. He went into a restaurant and ate his dinner soberly, but +in his dark sky there were two gleams of light: the first was the +recollection that Nita's heart had been at length reached; the +second, that his hopes for Sebastiano had been fulfilled. There came +to him, too, the perception that there was still one way in which he +might safely serve Francesca. He could pray that her marriage might +be a happy one. There was at least that still to be hoped for. + +He went back to the Lafayette, found a letter which he had written +earlier in the day to Enrico, and added the following brief +postscript:-- + +"Why did you tell me nothing of Count Carossa's marriage? Send me +all the particulars, if you can, to New York." + +More than that he could not bring himself to put even to his friend, +but to Clare he wrote a long letter and poured out all his trouble, +for she was a woman, and he knew she would understand. Then, +relieved a little by this, he took the letters himself to the post, +and made his way to the theatre. In Locust Street, close to the +stage-door, he met Sardoni, who was much too full of his own affairs +to be very observant. + +"The day is fixed at last," he said, cheerfully; "it is to be at New +York next Sunday week. Will you be my best man, old fellow?" + +"Of course I will, Jack, if you wish it," said Carlo. "Does your +father come out for the wedding?" + +"No; but he has asked us to stay with him in the autumn, and your +letter has evidently done a good deal towards reconciling him to the +notion. We owe everything to you, Val." + +Carlo turned into his dressing-room, only to be confronted by +Sebastiano. He had heard too much of marriages that day, but yet +must congratulate his dresser, and, as he put on his jester's costume +of red and yellow motley, must listen to the story old Adamson had +told him, all over again. + +"Why, signor!" exclaimed Sebastiano when he had finished his tale, +"see! You have put the red stocking on the left leg instead of the +yellow one! One might think that you were in my case!" + +Carlo smiled good-naturedly, congratulated the dresser again and +dismissed him; but when he was alone he bowed his head on his hands +and sat for a long time motionless, overwhelmed by a sense of utter +desolation. What was there left to him? Well, there was a certain +increasing fame. But, after all, what was that? Success was sweet, +and yet in a way it did but make him feel his loneliness the more. +Often enough the tears would start to his eyes when he read glowing +praise of his artistic work, because he could not help thinking how +such things would have pleased his mother. The chief worth of all +such recognition is the pleasure it gives to those who love us, and +he now stood practically alone in the world; success and fame would +be his, but neither father nor mother, neither wife nor child, would +be present with him to make them seem worth while. + +The voice of the call-boy roused him from his sad thoughts. He wrung +his hands together. + +"My God, help me!" he groaned. + +Then taking up his jester's cap with its gold coxcomb, he made his +way to the wings and was soon transformed into the malicious, mocking +Rigoletto, playing the part with his customary skill, and receiving +with his usual quiet modesty the thunder of applause which rewarded +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +GENOA. + + "Ah, well, the world is discreet; + There are plenty to pause and wait; + But here was a man who set his feet + Sometimes in advance of fate. + + "Never rode to the wrong's redressing + A worthier paladin. + Shall he not hear the blessing-- + 'Good and faithful enter in?'"--WHITTIER. + + +A month passed by. In his outer life Carlo went through the series +of farewell performances at New York, attended Sardoni's wedding, and +travelled back to Italy. In his inner life he fought a terrible +battle and came out conqueror. + +No further details of Francesca's marriage had as yet reached him to +relieve his misery of ignorance and suspense. Apparently both Clare +and Enrico shrank from touching on so difficult a subject, and all he +had received by way of answer to his letter was a copy of the _Roma_ +from Enrico, containing the same paragraph which Mlle. de Caisne had +enclosed. + +The shrewd-looking official, who presided at the bureau in the hall +of one of the hotels at Genoa, sat speculating to himself as he saw +the much-talked-of baritone pass into the breakfast-room on the +morning after Merlino's Company had landed in Italy. + +There was something about Donati's face which he could not +understand: it was not the face one would have expected in a man who, +at six-and-twenty, had achieved a striking success, and who was said +to be the finest baritone in Europe. Sorrow had not hardened him or +soured him, but it had added a sort of depth to his expression, and +just now he bore always the look of one who had imposed on himself a +strong restraint. + +The official was pleased when, on leaving the breakfast-room, Carlo +came to the _bureau_ to buy some stamps, and he adroitly seized the +opportunity to prefer a request. + +"Will you write your name in the visitors' book, signor?" he said. +"Every one in the place is looking forward to your appearance +to-night, you will see the theatre will be packed from floor to +ceiling! Your full name, if you will favor us, signor; the autograph +will be valuable." + +Carlo smiled a little at the thought that his very commonplace +handwriting should be in demand; then, happening to glance up the +page at the names of the other visitors, his heart suddenly leapt +into his mouth as he read, "Il Conte Carossa, e Contessa Carossa." +The names were both apparently written in the Count's writing. He +turned quickly to the _concierge_. + +"Count Carossa is still in the hotel?" + +"Yes, signor; that is to say, he is out just at this moment, but he +has taken his rooms for a week. The Contessa is in the _salotto_. I +saw her go in just now." + +For a moment he hesitated. Francesca was here under the same roof +with him! Dared he seek her out? Dared he hear from her own lips +the whole truth? When he had landed on the previous evening he had +sent off another urgent letter imploring Enrico to write, or, if +possible, to come and see him at Genoa, where they had accepted a +brief engagement; but now to be told that Francesca was close to him +threw him completely off his balance, and an impulse scarcely +resistible drove him towards the _salotto_. Should he not enter that +room? Should he not see her at least for this once? And yet every +throbbing pulse within him warned him not to do so, proved to him +beyond dispute that for Francesca's sake and for his own he had far +better not seek her out. + +With a struggle that seemed to him bitter as death, he forced himself +to pass by that closed door, and to go upstairs to his room. He was +not left long in peace, for Gigi--who had grown into a very manly +little fellow of nearly seven years old, and who had been greatly +improved by two years at a good school in New York--came bounding in +with an eager request. + +"_Zio caro_, don't you remember you promised to take me to Villa +Pallavicini this morning? I guess we'll never be likely to get a +finer day, and I do so dreffly want to see the fountains!" + +Though sick at heart, Carlo would not refuse the little fellow's +petition, and he dragged himself over to Pegli, trying hard to enter +into Gigi's happiness, listening to his raptures over the beautiful +gardens, and smiling politely when their conductor--a wizen, +shrewd-looking, little man--made time-honored jokes, and tried to be +facetious. Neither the glorious views of sea and mountain, nor the +lovely groves of ilex, olive, eucalyptus, and pine trees, nor the +glowing color of the aloes and rhododendrons, could rouse in him that +day the slightest pleasure. Gigi chattered merrily as they rowed in +a little boat under charge of a broad-shouldered, kindly old boatman +through the stalactite cave, and gave a shout of delight when, as +they passed on, and came in sight of the fountains, they saw one of +the gardeners carrying out the usual practical joke of turning the +watering-hose in the direction of some visitors, who fled with +good-natured laughter. + +"Look, _zio caro!_ oh, do look!" cried the child, clapping his hands. + +And Carlo, glancing round, saw, only a stone's-throw from him, on the +bank, a little group of visitors, and among them Count Carossa and +Francesca. + +She did not see him, and, after one long look, he turned away with a +sick, dizzy feeling, and knew that he was answering the boatman's +remarks at random, and vaguely wondered whether, after the first +shock, that sight would grow more bearable to him. + +How he lived through that day he never quite knew, but he had learnt +the truth of the words which he had spoken to Anita at Philadelphia +that "Nothing is impossible;" and when the evening came, though +Sardoni had dined with him, and stayed afterwards talking of +Domenica's perfections, and of his anxiety about his father's first +sight of her, Carlo had betrayed nothing, but seemed as ready as ever +to sympathize with his friend's affairs. + +So engrossed was the tenor with his own happiness that he was amazed +when, that evening at the theatre, Anita drew him aside, and, with +tears in her eyes, begged for his advice. + +"You are Carlo's friend!" she said, in low, hurried tones; "for God's +sake tell me what to do! The Contessa Carossa is sitting in the +stalls! Shall I tell Carlo before he goes on?" + +Sardoni stared. + +"Who in Heaven's name, may the Contessa Carossa be?" he asked. + +"_Insomma!_ I forgot you had not been told! He kept it from you +because he would not have you troubled at the time of your wedding. +She is Francesca Britton, the girl he was to have married! He heard +when we were at Philadelphia that she had become the wife of Count +Carossa." + +Sardoni gave an inarticulate exclamation of rage and regret. + +"He must be told!" he said. "A sudden shock like that might make him +break down. I will tell him myself!" + +Nita thanked him. She was dressed in the coquettish costume of +Carmen, but for the first time Sardoni noticed a softened look about +her face. He saw that she had begun at last really to care for her +brother, and that apparently Comerio, who was also engaged at Genoa +during the summer season, had not regained his old influence with +her. This, however, was but the first night of the engagement,--he +wondered greatly whether her strength would hold out to the end. And +then he thought wrathfully of Francesca Britton, and remembered with +compunction how he had talked of nothing for the last few weeks but +his own happiness; and with regret, and perplexity, and admiration +for his friend all mingled, he knocked at the dressing-room door, +determined to speak out plainly and prepare his companion for what +awaited him. + +Carlo had just dismissed Sebastiano, and was fully equipped in the +picturesque costume of Escamillo, the Toreador, with its green velvet +jacket and knickerbockers faced with gold, broad red-and-gold sash, +tan-colored gaiters, and red flag thrown across the left shoulder. +There was no time to be lost, and Sardoni began abruptly. + +"I have just been talking to your sister, Val. She thought, and I +think, too, that you ought to be prepared beforehand. Count Carossa +and his wife are in the theatre." + +An exclamation of wonder and dismay escaped Carlo. He began to pace +the room in terrible agitation. + +"Why did you keep your trouble from me, Val?" said Sardoni, +reproachfully. "And what, in Heaven's name, can have made any woman +forsake a man like you?" + +Carlo turned upon him with a fierce gesture. + +"Not one word against her!" he cried. "She was free--quite free! +And what am I to deserve her, indeed?--a stage-singer with a +tarnished reputation!" + +"What! You think, then, it was that slander?" ejaculated Sardoni, +understanding better why Carlo had kept all from him during this +month. + +"I don't know!--I can't tell! For God's sake, Jack, don't talk, or I +think I shall go mad!" + +Again he walked to and fro, struggling with the thoughts which rushed +in wild confusion through his brain. Why did Francesca come to hear +him sing? It was so altogether unlike her to do so under the +circumstances. Had she come to prove her indifference?--or did she +still care for him, and snatch at this chance of seeing him?--or was +she too much in awe of her husband to decline to go to the theatre? +Each thought seemed to him almost equally intolerable. But time was +passing, and he must somehow manage to get himself in hand. As he +walked he prayed, and as he prayed he became once more willing to +face whatever was sent. For he wasted no time in vain questionings +as to why this particular trouble should have come to him, and how it +could possibly work for the general good. His strength lay in a +habit of taking even the smaller details of life as God's ordering, +and in a firm conviction that no man is ever set to do anything that +is beyond his strength. + +Francesca had married Count Carossa. That being so, he must and +could learn to bear the thought. Nothing was impossible! + +"Forgive me, dear old fellow, for speaking sharply!" he said, turning +back to Sardoni. "After all, Jack, I shall know now if she is happy +or not; and if all is well with her, why nothing else matters much." + +Sardoni bit his lip; when he could see clearly again he found that +Carlo was putting on his Spanish hat, and preparing to go to the +wings. He went with him, choosing a position from which he could +watch his friend's entrance and reception. + +The part of Escamillo, though small, suited him admirably, nor could +any scene have been better chosen for his reappearance in Italy than +the picturesque entry of the bull-fighter. Sardoni wondered greatly +how the Contessa Carossa felt down there in the stalls, as she +watched with the rest the entrance of the torchlight procession, and +saw the crowd group itself and look expectantly towards the back of +the stage, till, amid a chorus of "Hurrah for brave Escamillo!" the +slight, graceful figure in Toreador costume advanced through a little +lane of torches. + +Carlo's fame had preceded him, and the Genoese audience greeted him +warmly; he took off his black velvet hat and bowed with the mingled +dignity and simplicity of manner which made him at once revered and +loved by so many. Then, quickly turning from the homage of the +audience to the business of his part, and resuming the bold, genial +bearing of Escamillo, he drained the wine-cup handed to him, tossed +it across the stage to one of the chorus, and broke forth into the +well-known Toreador Song. + +His beautiful voice, the vigor of his acting, the imaginative power +conveyed by each look and gesture, held the audience spell-bound, and +Sardoni marvelled how, under the circumstances, he could sing the +refrain of-- + + "Bear thou in mind, when combat thee elates, + Two bright eyes fondly regard, + For thee a fond heart waits, Toreador." + + +At the close of the first verse the theatre rang with shouts of +"Bravo." And then once again came the graphic description of the +bull-fight, till, by mere gesture and expression, he brought the +whole scene vividly before the audience. Most of them had heard +Carmen before, and had seen the baritone more or less energetically +flap his red flag. But Carlo actually made them feel the suspense +and excitement of the real contest. He surpassed himself, and when +once more the refrain had been sung the whole house rose, and with +frantic cheering gave the new baritone an ovation. Not one of the +applauders guessed that the song had been to the singer a torturing +effort, a mockery almost intolerable; or dreamed how his heart was +aching as he stood there acknowledging their thanks. Not till the +end did he dare to look towards the place where they had told him +Francesca was sitting; but, as he stood close to the footlights, +bowing his acknowledgments, he ventured one keen, searching glance; +he would, at least, learn if she looked well and happy, would try to +gauge the Count's character. + +But he had expected too much of himself; all was confusion; he could +only see that the Count was frantically applauding him, and that +Francesca's eyes were shining and her cheeks glowing. After that +brief glance the whole house swam before him, and the only thing for +him to do was to get through, as quickly as might be, his brief +dialogue with Carmen, and march off amid the greetings of his +comrades while the orchestra once more played the Toreador air. The +moment he was behind the scenes his brisk, blithe step changed, there +was a sort of relief in being able to relax the strain he had put on +himself, yet never, even in the first shock of the news of +Francesca's marriage, had he felt such an overwhelming sense of loss +and loneliness as now when he had actually seen her sitting beside +her husband in the theatre. His first impulse was to lock himself +into his dressing-room, but something made him hesitate; if he were +alone he should think, and if he thought, he should be lost; the only +chance of his being able to keep his faculties clear for the rest of +the opera lay in avoiding thought as far as possible. After a minute +he forced himself to go to the green-room and to join in the +conversation, and there he remained through the interval, till the +call-boy summoned him again, and Sebastiano handed him a striped +scarf instead of the red one. Flinging it across his shoulder he +stepped on to the stage, changed himself with an effort into the +Toreador with his careless geniality, received with cool indifference +Don José's indignation, and, when challenged to fight, gave a +masterly representation of southern passion, springing like a tiger +on his foe, and with drawn knife, fighting desperately. All was +speedily over, and again he waited behind the scenes to sing the +refrain of the Toreador Song in the distance. + +"You look tired, Donati," remarked Caffieri. "Confoundedly hot, +isn't it?" + +He assented, though all the time he was shivering from head to foot. +It was doubly hard to sing those words in cold blood off the stage. +But he got through them somehow, and leaning wearily against the wall +of the passage waited till the cries of "Donati!" rose to a roar, and +then he pulled himself together, crossed the stage, and stepped out +before the curtain to accept the homage which just then meant to him +so little. + +"What must be borne can be borne," he said to himself again and +again; "and at least Francesca is happy." + +And now the end of the opera was drawing near, and his part was +almost over. Nita watched him with mingled wonder and sympathy as +they waited side by side for their last entrance: he was grave and +silent, and the chorus from the stage of "Viva Escamillo!" jarred +upon him she fancied, yet, though the wistful look in his eyes told +plainly of his trouble he was still ready as usual to think of other +people. + +"There is a horrible draught here!" he exclaimed, "you will take +cold, Nita." + +And so saying he wrapped his red scarf round her white shoulders, +snatching it off again adroitly when they advanced on to the stage. +Somehow she had never felt so near to him as at that minute. She +knew so well what it was that made him tremble as, with his arm round +her, he sang the pathetic little farewell of the Toreador, knew so +well what it cost him to utter the words, "If thou lovest me, +Carmine, them shalt smile by-and-bye; thou shalt be proud of me." + +Together they were just singing their mutual avowal of love, the +house was hushed to catch the exquisitely blended voices in the last +soft repetition of "Yes, I love thee!" when from the gallery there +rose a hoarse cry--the most terrible cry that can be raised in any +great gathering--the cry of "Fire!" + +With a shriek Nita tore herself away and rushed from the stage, and +in one instant it seemed to Carlo that the whole house was in an +uproar. He shouted an assurance that there was no danger; he begged +Marioni to go on with the opera; but it was all in vain. Then he +stood like a statue in the front of the stage, though all around him +his companions were flying, though women were shrieking, though +Marioni dragged him by the arm, imploring him to save himself while +yet there was time. He shook himself free, and remained gazing down +at the seething mass of people in the stalls, spite of all the +confusion keeping his eye steadily on Count Carossa and his wife, +till at length, with a pang of wrath and astonishment he saw the +Count force a way through the crowd for a beautiful fair-haired girl +beside him who seemed to be almost fainting with terror, and leave +Francesca to take care of herself. + +But indignation soon gave place to a thrill of wild exultation. At +least it was his part to shield her now,--her husband had left her, +and that time which he had thought might possibly come in some dim +future had arrived--he might serve her--might, perhaps, save her from +death. + +He rushed to the side of the stage, leapt down into the deserted +orchestra, dashed aside the music-stands which impeded his progress, +cleared the barrier at a bound, and, with the agility which was +natural to him increased by the fearful excitement, forced his way to +Francesca. + +"Carlino!" she cried, joy, fear, and relief mingling in her tone as +she snatched his hands in hers; "I knew you would come. I couldn't +go with Count Carossa!" + +He dropped her hands, perplexed, troubled, utterly surprised. That +Francesca under the circumstances should have spoken thus, seemed to +him wholly unlike her. The marriage had been a forced one, +undoubtedly, but yet how doubly strange of her to come and hear him +that night; how immensely she must have altered to greet him now with +such words. Terror must surely have made her forget all else. + +"Don't be afraid," he said, very gently, yet with a manner so +restrained that she instantly noticed it; "even if this is not wholly +a false alarm our best hope of escaping unhurt is just to stay here +quietly. See, if you don't mind my holding you like this I think I +can prevent your being pushed by the crowd." + +"Carlo," she said, quickly, relapsing into English, "are you angry +with me?" + +"I? How can you ask such a question? I am not angry at all, not in +the least." + +"I couldn't help it; I couldn't go with the Count, and not know what +had happened to you. Are you thinking of what people will say?" + +"No, that matters very little. But I fear you did wrong to stay." + +"Wrong, when I love you?" + +"For God's sake be silent!" he cried, in a voice wrung with pain. "I +dare not let you speak such words to me. Let us say no more at all. +Perhaps the way will soon be clear, and I can take you back to the +Count. I don't understand how he could possibly leave you behind; he +is very much to be blamed." + +Her eyes were full of tears. + +"You must not be vexed with him," she said, falteringly; "it was my +doing. I would not go, and it was right that he should think first +of his wife; she was almost fainting." + +"His wife!" gasped Carlo. "His wife! Francesca! speak! speak! tell +me what you mean!" + +His manner terrified her. + +"Why, he married Flora Britton, that pretty Scotch cousin of mine; +she had been staying with us since her mother's death." + +For answer Carlo, regardless of all else, caught her in his arms, and +had the panic in the theatre caused their death he would scarcely +have murmured, for in that moment of exquisite relief, in that +restoration to him of all he thought he had lost, he lived through +whole years of rapture. + +"My own! my darling! Can you ever forgive me?" he cried. + +"I don't understand," sobbed Francesca; "but nothing matters since +you love me still; nothing matters now we are together once more." + +He thrust his hand impatiently into the Toreador costume, and drawing +forth an envelope held it towards her. + +"I can't tell you," he said; "but look at these, and you will perhaps +forgive me." + +With blank astonishment she looked at the cutting from the _Times_ +announcing her own marriage to Count Carossa. + +"Ah, who could have done so cruel a thing!" she exclaimed. "This +never could have been in the _Times_ at all, or, of course, we should +have heard of it. Who could have had it printed like this on +purpose?" + +"I see it now!" said Carlo. "It must have been Comerio's vengeance!" + +His wrath was almost swallowed up in the strange perception that +began to steal over him of how completely evil had defeated its own +ends. Comerio's vengeance had actually been the means of winning for +himself Anita's sympathy and love. + +"The hymn we sang at Flora's wedding," observed Francesca, "and her +monogram 'F. B.' just like mine--how horribly it must all have fitted +in! This letter, too!--who wrote it?" + +"It is from Mlle. de Caisne; she was engaged at the San Carlo, but +I'll never believe that she had anything to do with that false +notice. Comerio was singing at the San Carlo, too. He must have +induced her to write the account and send the papers, and himself +have inserted that thing. I don't like Elise de Caisne, but she +would never have lent herself to a fraud like that." + +"How horribly the people cry out near the doors!" exclaimed +Francesca, able now for the first time to realize a little what was +going on round her. "Oh, Carlo! how frightened I should be if you +were not here with me!" + +The panic had evidently not been without some cause, for clouds of +smoke came from the back of the stage, and a strong smell of burning +filled the place. It was quite apparent that whatever fire there was +must be behind the scenes, but Carlo, with good reason, feared for +Francesca the dangers of the crowd far more than the danger of the +flames. + +They were now almost alone in the stalls, and the space between them +and the stage was perfectly clear, for every one had fled from the +source of danger and had rushed to the doors, where a horrible +struggle was going on. + +"Is Captain Britton in Genoa?" asked Carlo. + +"Yes, we are all here in the _Pilgrim_--Uncle George, and Kate, and +Clare. Oh, how frightened they will be if they hear of this panic +before we get out!" + +"Where had they arranged to meet you?" + +"Uncle George and father were to call for me at the hotel where +Renato and Flora are staying. It was such a chance that I came at +all, for you know how little father likes theatre-going. But they +came to the yacht this morning and begged to have me for the day, and +said they had taken places for _Carmen_, and father never likes to +say 'No,' and so I came, not knowing till we landed that Flora had +planned it all on purpose that I should hear you sing." + +"They will be terribly anxious about you! Do you think you could be +brave enough to walk into this smoke, which is driving every one else +away? I believe we should have a very fair chance of escaping +through the orchestra." + +"Yes, yes--let us come!" she cried. "I am not afraid of anything +with you!" + +He wrapped her shawl round her, cleared the way for her towards the +orchestra, lifted her over the barrier, and, quickly following +himself, advanced cautiously through the smoke-filled passages. +Before long he stumbled up against Sardoni. + +"You here, Jack!" he exclaimed. "Can we get out? How did it happen?" + +"You can get out all right," said Sardoni. "The fire is almost got +under; they are working away splendidly with the fire-engines. I was +just coming to look for you. How it started no one knows, unless it +was from one of the matches flung down when they were smoking in the +camp-scene,--and yet I don't see how that can have been. You'll get +none of the fun here; come and look at it." + +"Not now; Miss Britton's people will be anxious; we must get out as +quickly as may be. There is no crowd at the stage-door, I suppose." + +"A fire-engine or two blocking the way, perhaps--nothing worse. But +what in Heaven's name has happened, Val?" + +He glanced for an instant at the sweet, girlish face, which, not long +before, he had watched with indignant wonder. + +"Comerio's vengeance!" said Carlo, in a low voice; then, turning +back, he said, "Francesca, this is my friend Sardoni, of whom you +have often heard." + +Francesca shook hands with him warmly. + +"And how about Madame Merlino?" she asked. "Is she quite safe?" + +"I took her back to the hotel with my wife," said Sardoni; "and I +believe on the way back I passed Count Carossa." + +"He was obliged to try and get his wife out quickly," explained +Francesca. "Oh, I hope Flora wasn't hurt in the crowd! Do let us +get back to them!" + +"Come with us, Jack, if you don't mind," said Carlo; and together +they made their way through the crowded streets to the hotel, which +was not far off. + +In the entrance-hall they found a number of people clustered round +the poor little Contessa, who was lying on the floor quite +unconscious, while the Count, who had had his arm broken in the crush +round the door of the theatre, received no sympathy at all from +Captain Britton, who had just come ashore from the yacht, and was +beside himself with anger and anxiety. + +"'She would not come!'" he stormed. "Of course not! An English girl +has sense enough not to make for the door in a panic! And you ought +to have stayed with her! How dare you take my daughter out, and then +forsake her like a----" + +Mr. Britton hastily interposed. + +"John, don't waste time in talking!" he said. "Let us come round +quickly, and see if we can't find her." + +"_Gran Dio!_" cried the Count, starting forward, "here she is!" + +Captain Britton turned, and saw that Francesca was just entering the +hotel, leaning on the arm of an actor gorgeously attired in Spanish +costume. It flashed upon him, even at that moment, that it was a +strange reversal of things which should bring him to scold a Count +for his desertion and to thank an opera-singer for rescuing his +daughter. + +"My dear, dear child!" he exclaimed, bending down to kiss her; "we +have only just heard of the fire--we have been terribly anxious about +you! You are not hurt?" + +"Not a bit!" said Francesca. "Carlo made me stay quite still, and +then helped me out through the orchestra and by the stage-door----" + +"Carlo!" exclaimed Captain Britton, in amazement. And, glancing +round, he saw that the "Toreador" was shaking hands with Mr. Britton, +and answering as best he might the torrent of questions which +assailed him on all sides. + +"It is Signor Donati, the new baritone, of whom all the world +speaks!" said one of the little crowd. "Via! I tell you I should +know him anywhere. The shops are full of his photographs." + +"And he has saved the pretty signorina from the fire!" exclaimed +another. + +Captain Britton, forgetting for once in his genuine glow of emotion +that many eyes were watching him, drew near to the hero of the +evening. + +"Carlo, my dear boy!" he exclaimed, seizing his hand in a hearty +grip; "I can never thank you enough--never!" + +Something in his throat choked him, and Mr. Britton, having suggested +that rumors might possibly have reached the _Pilgrim_, and that Clare +and Kate might be anxious, he quickly availed himself of the chance +of escaping from so trying a scene, and, with a parting shake of the +hand, and a "To-morrow!" spoken _sotto voce_, which conveyed much to +Carlo, he drew his daughter's arm within his, and led her away from +the hotel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +YACHTING. + + "Let us be like the bird for a moment perched + On a frail branch while he sings, + Though he feels it bend, yet he sings his song, + For he knows he has his wings."--VICTOR HUGO. + + +"You look pale, Nita; I am afraid the fright of last night has done +you harm," said Carlo, coming into the Merlinos' private sitting-room +the next morning. "It is just as well that the damage done to the +theatre will prevent our keeping this engagement. They say the place +is to be closed for a fortnight, and after the horrors that went on +in the crush last night it is only decent." + +"The wonder is that more were not killed," said Nita, with a shudder. +"Oh, I am so glad not to have to sing again to-night; I should always +be hearing again that horrible cry." + +"Do not dwell on it, think of something else, it has made you look +quite ill," said Carlo, debating whether he should talk to her of his +own happiness, but coming to the conclusion that she seemed too sad, +and that it would be better not to touch on the subject. + +"It is not the fright that has made me ill," she said at length. "I +must tell you, Carlino, all about it. Comerio has been here." + +"Here this morning!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes," she shivered from head to foot, "and I made him own that Mlle. +de Caisne knew nothing of that advertisement. He got her to write +the letter easily enough, for you know she was vexed with you, and he +made her believe that it was Miss Flora Britton whom you were in love +with, and then he posted the letter for her, and put in the cutting +from the _Times_. Just think of his boasting to me of the cleverness +of the trick!" + +Carlo, with a muttered ejaculation, paced hurriedly to and fro, +trying to keep his indignation within bounds. + +"He told me how he had got it printed," she continued, "and expected +me to praise him for it." + +"And you?" asked Carlo, with dawning hope in his tone. + +"I told him that I would never speak to him again," said Nita, trying +in vain to repress a sob. "But, Carlino, I am afraid of him, so +terribly afraid. He looked as if he could have killed me, and just +went away without another word. Oh, if only I had never seen him! +If only I had believed, like you, that nothing is impossible, and had +resisted from the first! But he was always so strong, and I so weak +and friendless." + +"But you have resisted now," said Carlo, trying to comfort her. "And +as to fearing what he may do, I would try not to trouble about it, +for, depend upon it, he values his own safety too much to do anything +desperate; besides, if evil is strong, good is more strong." + +"It doesn't seem to be in this world, at any rate," said Nita. + +"Do you think not? Perhaps it doesn't always conquer here at first, +but that matters little if in the end it wins." + +"You will not leave me?" she pleaded. "If you leave the Company my +last chance is gone. Ah, do you remember how I hoped at Birmingham +that you would go, and that Comerio would take your place? If he had +spent those two years in America with us I should have been in his +power now." + +She shuddered, for something had shown her that morning the true +nature of the man whom she had loved. + +"I will never leave you," he said, quietly. + +Through those three years of lonely work he had struggled on, bearing +Nita's selfish indifference, her fits of perverse ill-nature, and not +daring to look on to the future. Now the change had come upon him so +suddenly that he was almost overpowered by it. He had reaped the +reward which can only come to those who live by the day; having +toiled faithfully through the darkness, he emerged suddenly into a +flood of glorious sunshine. + +"An English gentleman to see you, signor, in the _salotto_" announced +a waiter. + +Carlo's heart beat quickly as he went downstairs, yet he was less +embarrassed than Captain Britton, who met him with an overpowering +shake of the hand, and then relapsed into silence. + +"Francesca is none the worse for the fright, I hope?" asked Carlo, +anxiously. + +"Indeed, I think she is all the better for it," said the Captain, +smiling a little. + +There was another silence. + +"The fact is, Donati," resumed Captain Britton, dragging his chair +forward with a business-like air, and planting both elbows on the +table; "there is no use in beating about the bush; I have come here +to ask you a plain question, and I hope you'll give me a plain +answer. Do you still care for my child or not? Just answer me yes +or no." + +The bluff speech of the old sailor nearly took away the Italian's +breath, but if Captain Britton really expected him to answer in a +monosyllable to such a question he was disappointed. + +His face glowed, his eyes shone, yet, spite of the passionate +eagerness of his tone, there was a dignity in his manner which +appealed to the Englishman. + +"I love her, sir, with my whole heart!" he said. "I love her, and +must always love her. We belong to each other, and though we may +have to go through life apart, yet she is mine and I am hers, and +nothing can come between us." + +"So it seems," said the Captain, rather ruefully. "Well, I frankly +tell you that I would rather see my daughter married to a plain +working-man than to an opera-singer; but I have talked the matter +over with my brother and Miss Claremont, and since your love has +stood the test of a three-years' absence, and since Francesca will +not lend an ear to any other proposals, I am bound to consider what +is most for her happiness, though I can't candidly tell you that it +is such a match as I should have chosen for her." + +"Indeed," exclaimed Carlo, with a lover's genuine humility; "I know I +can never deserve her, but----" + +"Nonsense," interrupted the Captain; "I meant nothing personal of +that sort! You know well enough, Carlo, that I am very fond of you, +that I can never forget that you saved her life----" He began to +feel choked, and broke off abruptly. + +"As to that," said Carlo, smiling, "it was nothing at all. We only +sat still when others were running away, and I really think we forgot +fire and danger altogether at first." + +"Let us speak out plainly once for all," said Captain Britton, +clearing his throat, "and then have done with it altogether. I +dislike your profession, but I understand that you have a great +future before you in the musical world, and I suppose nature meant +you for an opera-singer, and that there is no use in running one's +head any longer against a stone wall. After all, a man need not be +affected by his work, and perhaps dramatic talent was meant to be +used. I don't deny that there's something in that argument. And the +great thing is that the stage doesn't seem to have spoilt you, and +that I know you'll make my child a good husband." + +Between his rapture of happiness, his anxiety not to irritate the +Englishman by allowing his feelings to appear too plainly, and his +dazzling visions of the future, Carlo found his powers taxed to the +utmost. But with an effort he forced himself to enter into a sober +discussion of the case, recalled to Captain Britton's memory the fact +that Uncle Guido's inheritance had gladdened the hearts of the Little +Sisters of the Poor, and then told him plainly just how matters stood +with regard to Anita. + +The Captain was touched by his simple yet very graphic way of telling +a story. He began faintly to perceive the rare beauty of his +character. + +"You are going to Naples now, at once, did I understand?" he asked, +when at length Carlo paused. + +"We thought of going there now, since the theatre will be closed +after this panic, and our engagement at the San Carlo will soon be +beginning. My brother-in-law is going to take a fortnight at the +baths at Lucca, for he has not been well lately. I shall go home to +Naples with Nita and her little boy." + +"Then come with us in the _Pilgrim_" said the Captain. "My brother +begged that you would do so, and Sibyl will be enchanted to have the +little boy as a playmate." + +After Nita had been consulted, and the matter had been a little more +discussed, the invitation was accepted, and by the evening a general +dispersion had taken place. Merlino had gone off to his course of +baths; Sardoni and Domenica had started joyfully on what they called +their second wedding tour to the Italian lakes; Carlo, Nita, and +Gigi, were welcomed on board the _Pilgrim_; and, in advance of all, +Comerio, with hatred in his heart, was making the best of his way to +Corsica. + +Although, as Carlo had observed when he first set foot on the yacht +years ago, the _Pilgrim_ was not at all a place for talking secrets, +yet the lovers were somehow well content, and enjoyed to the full +those happy days of reunion. The rest of the party had a kind way of +playing whist in the saloon when it grew dark; and as to the man at +the wheel they were quite untroubled by his presence, nor disturbed +themselves at all about the watch, who discreetly kept to the +forecastle end, and no doubt found plenty to say among themselves as +to the betrothal, which was now an acknowledged fact. + +"It is almost too good to seem true," said Carlo one evening, as they +sat together under the square-sail which was spread to catch the +light summer wind. On one side they could see the dark Italian +coast, on the other the beautiful outline of the mountains in Elba, +while the moon made an ever-shifting track of light on the sea as +they glided gently on, and the red light from the port side cast a +ruddy glow on the white sail towering above them. "How little I +thought," he added, "of having such a home-coming." + +"Yes," said Francesca; "and that it should have been in the dear old +_Pilgrim_! How strange that is! I used to be so miserable here +three years ago, and now it does seem, as you say, almost to good too +be true." + +And the same happy faculty for living in the present, which had stood +Carlo in good stead through his years of trouble, helped now to make +his happiness perfect. No lurking fear of Comerio spoilt those +cloudless days, no anxieties as to Nita's future, no troubles as to +money matters. Marriage seemed still a far-away prospect, but they +were betrothed, and there could never again be between them that +wearing separation, that maddening dependence on outsiders for the +least news of each other. + +"I had heard nothing of you for two months," said Francesca, as +again, to make their present brighter by contrast, they talked over +the troubles of the past; "but that was better than having false +news. You have had the hardest part, darling, and yet you'll never +know how bitter it was to me in one way." + +"What way?" he asked, tenderly. + +"I couldn't tell you at Merlebank, but it was knowing that you were +so poor, and having money myself, and not being able to help you. +Ah! you'll never know how hard it was to be able to give to any one +in the world except to the one you love best. There is a little +matter-of-fact bit in _Aurora Leigh_ which I used to say for comfort." + +"What was that? Say it to me now." + + "'Let us be content in words, + To do the thing we can, and not presume + To fret because it's little." + + +"I did fret, though, for, after all, we are most of us like _Alice in +Wonderland_,--very fond of giving ourselves good advice, but seldom +taking it!" + +They laughed a little, and now it was the trouble that seemed like a +dream, and the happiness that had become true, and real, and +indisputable. And together they paced the quiet deck, while below +Nita's sweet, clear voice sang the familiar air of "_Oh, dolce +Napoli_," which Francesca loved because of its happy associations. + +"See Naples and die!" said Carlo, smiling. "I often thought, over in +America, that I would gladly have done so; but now I think not, +_Carina_, much as I love it. Let us hope people in real life don't +die of joy." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +A FINAL CHOICE. + + "So oft the doing of God's Will + Our foolish wills undoeth! + And yet what idle dream breaks ill + Which Morning Light subdueth? + And who would murmur and misdoubt + When God's great Sunrise finds him out?" + E. B. BROWNING. + + +"And so, after all, you have overcome the British prejudice and have +only managed to lose your fortune!" exclaimed Enrico Ritter, looking +his friend in the face with a critical air. "It seems that you have +got back your health again, too. Upon my word, I think +knight-errantry is a profitable calling, always supposing you haven't +a cantankerous relative to cut you off with a shilling. I shall +think of taking to it myself soon." + +Carlo had landed at Naples late on the previous evening, and now, +after the mid-day breakfast with the Ritter household and a long talk +with his old friend, was making his way back to the Palazzo Forti in +the cool of the afternoon. He was in the best of spirits, and had +just been giving Enrico the account of all that had passed during the +last few weeks. + +"You still set up for being an egoist, I see," he replied with a +laugh. + +"Well, every man must have his theory of the universe," said Enrico, +with a mischievous side-glance at his friend. "Ah! by-the-bye, you +should shake your fist at that house over there on the right; it +belongs to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and ate up all your money." + +"I should have been glad enough of some of it in America," said +Carlo, with a smile. "However, no doubt our poor Neapolitans wanted +it quite as badly. Oh, wait! how fast you walk! Let us stop and see +the view from this terrace just for half a minute--dear old Capri +again, how natural it looks! You would laugh if you knew how +homesick I have been over in the New World." + +"I must make a note of that," said Enrico. "In my future +knight-errantry I'll take good care to keep in Italy." + +And so, with laughter and friendly teasing, they walked through the +busy streets until they came in sight of the dingy old palazzo, at +the door of which an ostler was holding a beautiful cream-colored +horse. + +"Come in and see Anita," said Carlo; "she will have had her _siesta_ +by this time." + +And Enrico, though he detested Madame Merlino, consented to go in to +please his friend, and made himself very amiable to her while Carlo +opened a telegram which had arrived for him during his absence. + +The message was sent from Pozzuoli by Captain Britton, and was to +this effect,-- + +"We hope you will dine with us to-night. I have ordered a horse to +be sent round for you. Do not fail us." + +"Nita, should you mind if I went to Cassa Bella?" he asked. "The +Captain seems to want me over there, for he has even taken the +trouble to send a horse for me. I will be back, of course, to-night." + +"If that was the horse we saw waiting outside you will get there in +no time," said Enrico; "it beats your old Arab." + +But this Carlo would not allow, and amid much lively discussion as to +his old favorite, he nodded a farewell to Nita and Gigi, and ran +downstairs, his heart beating fast at the prospect of seeing +Francesca again so soon. + +"_Auf wiedersehn!_" said Enrico, as he watched his friend ride away. +And the bright look and gesture in response kept recurring to him as +he walked back to his office. + +"What in the world is that fellow made of!" he said to himself. "He +is forever upsetting all my calculations and disturbing my pet +theories. He even seems to have roused up that heartless, insipid +Anita; for the first time I actually saw a kind of likeness between +them. One could at least tell that they were brother and sister." + +To be once again on the familiar road to Pozzuoli made Carlo's heart +glow within him. Every tree, every house, seemed like an old friend; +his eye noted each slight change wrought during the three years of +absence, while his mind recalled the past with little but a tender +remembrance of the bygone happiness. As he drew near to the grotto +of Posilipo he instinctively slackened his pace a little, glancing up +with eyes full of glad recognition at the lovely hillside, with its +tangled growth of birch, and pine, and cactus, clustering about the +place which is supposed to be the tomb of Virgil. + +It was at this moment that a close carriage drove quickly past him; +he would have taken no particular notice of it had he not, with his +keen and practised observation, noted even in the brief moment of +passing the remarkably fine eyes of one of the occupants. Where had +he seen them before? Both the eyes and the searching glance seemed +familiar to him, and racking his memory he at length brought back a +mental picture of a water-seller's stall, and of a young man of +strong and sinewy frame, who had arrested his attention last night by +a certain picturesqueness of attitude as he stood watching the crowd +glass in hand; for an instant they had looked full at each other, and +the piercing glance of the stranger had lingered in his memory, and +he had thought to himself as he passed on that even in Italy one did +not often encounter such splendid eyes. + +Entering the lofty archway of the grotto he passed on into the dark +tunnel, which seemed to him more than ever like the long nave of some +vast cathedral, the lights gleaming at intervals making the +surrounding gloom only more apparent. He smiled a little to himself +at the recollection of sundry boyish terrors never confessed to any +living creature and never given way to; he remembered how, now and +then on his way home from Naples, there had been times when the +horrible feeling of an unknown "something" waiting to spring out upon +him from the darkness had set his heart beating fast, and had made +him resort in desperation to a Paternoster; and he acknowledged to +himself that there was perhaps some slight excuse for those past +terrors, since, after all, the grotto was an eerie place, and the +road, even at this hour in the afternoon, lonely enough. + +But recollections of old times began to give place to the absorbing +consciousness that he was on his way to Francesca, and as he left the +dimly-lighted tunnel behind him and emerged into the dust and the +afternoon sunshine, he fell into a happy reverie. He was to see her +again, and she was his, and the trouble was all over, and the +separation ended, and life was so bright that already those weary +years seemed to him like a dream and the glad anticipation like a +return to real waking existence. + +She would be waiting for him at the gate of Casa Bella, and they +would go once more to the old belvedere where he had first told her +of his love; he would make her stand once more under the datura tree +where she had stood long ago when the trouble was just beginning to +darken on the horizon, and he should see her now again as he had seen +her so often in his dreams, with the creamy flowers drooping down +over her dusky hair and her eyes shining into his. + +He smiled to himself with the rapture of the thought, and touched up +his horse, grudging every moment that kept him from his love. + +He had ridden about two miles beyond the grotto and had nearly +reached the cross road which leads towards Agnano, when he was roused +from his dream of happiness by his horse shying violently at the +sudden apparition of a man rushing across the road. All his +attention was needed to quiet the animal, and it was only when he +found himself surrounded by four formidable-looking ruffians that he +realized another danger. There was just time for him to give his +horse a smart stroke over the shoulder which made it bound forward, +but the effort was useless, for one of his assailants instantly +caught the reins in a firm grip and the next moment he was dragged +from his seat. With all his might he struggled to free himself, but +it was only for a minute or two that he could even keep his footing; +a hand held his throat so tightly that to cry out for help was +impossible, to breathe at all difficult, and, though he fought +gallantly, and by adroitness and agility rather than strength, +managed to give his captors some trouble, it was inevitable that he +should succumb. Bruised, shaken, half choked by the relentless grip +on his throat, he at length felt his strength overborne, and +struggling to the end, was forced down on the dusty road. Then came +a moment's breathing space, for the hand at his throat relaxed its +hold and another and a coarser hand was substituted for it. One of +the men broke the silence, speaking in a low, hurried voice,-- + +"Now then, Lionbruno, the blow--quick!" + +To move was impossible. Three powerful men held him down in the +dust, a fourth was apparently told off to murder him. He had time +for only two thoughts--Comerio's vengeance and Francesca's grief; and +the pang of this last thought was so terrible that the prompt blow on +the head which put an end to consciousness was, perhaps, more +merciful than preparation or delay. + +When he came to himself he remembered nothing that had passed, but +awoke to a consciousness of intense physical misery. He gasped for +breath and became aware that his mouth was tightly bandaged; there +was, moreover, a covering over his face--perhaps a shroud! and in the +horror of that thought he instinctively tried to raise his hand and +make feeling supply the place of sight, but he found that his arms +were tightly strapped to his sides. Restored still further to life +by the mere astonishment and dismay, he perceived that he was in a +carriage which was being driven rapidly along a rather rough road, +his head ached terribly and felt heavy and confused, and he was +sinking back into a sort of stupor and vaguely wondering how long he +should have to bear the pain of the jolting vehicle, when the silence +was broken by a voice near him. + +"_Per Dio!_ who would have thought such a small made man would have +given us so much trouble!" + +"He fought so well that our courteous Lionbruno was in fifty minds +about knocking him on the head," said another speaker, sarcastically. + +"_Accidente!_" broke in a much younger voice; "nothing of the sort, I +tell you. Comerio has had to pay a good price for his pretty prima +donna, but he has not given us a lira too much for this business,--it +was a risky thing in full daylight. _Sacramento!_ the fellow is +coming to himself!" + +The mention of Comerio's name had brought back everything to Carlo's +remembrance, and the intolerable words which followed filled him with +an anguish which, for the time, made the physical pain non-existent. +He started forward, found his feet unfettered, and began to writhe +and struggle in a vain effort to free his arms. Instantly strong +hands forced him down again, and heavy boots kicked his shins into +unwilling stillness. + +"Be so good as to use your common-sense, signor!" said the young +voice at his elbow. "You are our prisoner, and wholly at our mercy. +Your life is in no danger at present, but if you resist we shall put +an end to you to save ourselves trouble." + +"Bravo! bravo!" cried another voice, stifling a laugh. "Lionbruno is +such an orator that we shall soon have him as a Deputy, and then he +can travel free of cost!" + +There was a little more stifled laughter, then silence again, broken +only by the sound of the horses' hoofs and the rumbling of the wheels. + +Terrible thoughts rushed through Carlo's mind. He saw Anita at the +mercy of Comerio, her husband away, Sardoni out of reach, himself +altogether powerless. The intolerable realization of his own +helplessness almost maddened him, and his brain, still confused by +the stunning blow, refused to be controlled. If he could have seen +with his eyes--if he could have asked one question--if he could have +freed his arms from the cords which bound them,--the horrible +suspense and anxiety would have been more bearable; but he was, as +his captor had said, wholly at the mercy of others, and the +perception of this made him beside himself. It was the same struggle +magnified a thousand-fold which he had passed through at the time of +his illness--for a man the hardest struggle possible,--to endure an +unnatural and undeserved restraint, to be altogether helpless while +conscious of strength, and know that for that strength there is a +terrible demand. Such burning wrath consumed him, such +uncontrollable resentment, that it was, perhaps, well for him that +action was impossible, or with the blind impulse of a confused brain +and a despairing heart he might have done some rash deed which, in a +cooler moment, he would bitterly repent. + +At length the carriage stopped, and Carlo was dragged out. The rough +handling made him tingle from head to foot, and with all his might he +resisted, for he knew that at present he stood on a road where there +was at least a possibility of meeting with help, and to what these +brigands were hurrying him he had no idea. + +"No use, signor!" said the voice at his side. "We are four to one, +and you only make matters worse for yourself." + +Something in the tone of the speaker appealed to Carlo. His blood +cooled a little, and he allowed himself to be led through what he +felt sure must be a thick wood, for he could hear the rustle of +leaves as they forced their way on, and could feel boughs brushing +against him. As to the distance they walked, he could not form the +slightest idea. It seemed to him as if the journey would never end, +and his assailants were evidently in a hurry, for, spite of the +rough, uneven ground, they went at a sharp pace, and when exhaustion +made him hang back a little, he found himself impatiently urged on by +Lionbruno, who, throughout the walk, grasped his arm, while the men +who brought up the rear pushed, kicked, and hustled him at every +opportunity. + +At last he was so worn out that it was all he could do to drag one +foot after the other, the craving for air and light became more and +more keen, and had it not been for the iron grasp in which he was +held he would have fallen to the ground. A sort of dull comfort in +the thought that it must sooner or later end was his only +relief,--and presently the way became clearer, he heard other voices, +and felt other men approaching him. Some one tore off the bandages +which had kept him blind and dumb for so long, and then, dazzled and +confused, he looked round. + +He found himself in a domed building, which seemed to him a smaller +edition of the old Roman bath at Baja, known as the Temple of +Mercury. It was lighted only by two torches, which, however, shed a +pretty strong light on the strange group beneath. Half-a-dozen +rough, ill-clad men were clustered together close to a stone bench, +on which was seated the leader of the gang, a powerful-looking man, +whose rugged face and uncompromising mouth instantly checked all the +hope that rose in Carlo's heart when he found himself capable once +more of seeing and speaking. + +Brancaleone was not at all the ferocious and cruel-looking brigand +chief of his boyish fancies; he was much more like an officer of the +martinet type, but his face was as hard as a rock, and he was +evidently a person from whom no quarter was to be expected. + +"Successful, you see, in my first enterprise, _padre mio!_" said the +young fellow who had been addressed as Lionbruno. Carlo looked at +him, and saw that he could not have been more than eighteen at the +outside. Undoubtedly he was the same picturesque figure whom he had +noticed yesterday by the water-seller's stall; and now, as he stood +beside the chief, bowing respectfully yet speaking with the freedom +of a son, the likeness between the two faces was quite noticeable. +In twenty years time, if he lived the same lawless life, the young +face would be probably an exact reproduction of the old. + +Brancaleone turned his haughty gaze upon the prisoner. + +"Your name, signor?" he inquired. + +"I am Carlo Poerio Donati," he replied. "For what purpose have you +brought me here? If money is your object, I am as poor as any man in +Naples." + +The chief did not answer, but ordered one of the banditti to search +the prisoner. The man obeyed, and handed the contents of Carlo's +pockets to the leader, who at once singled out the watch and chain +and handed them to Lionbruno. + +"This is your share, my son; you have done well," he remarked. + +The rest of the things he pushed collectively towards the three men +who had helped in the capture; they snatched eagerly at the purse, +and grumbled much to find so little money in it. + +Meanwhile Carlo stood motionless. Sometimes it seemed to him that +the whole scene must be some wild imagination of his own brain. Had +he, perhaps, been so overwrought by the hurrying griefs and joys of +the past few weeks that his mind had become deranged? Or was he +asleep, and was it all a dream arising out of some confused +recollections of the struggling he had witnessed in the panic, and +fantastically blended with the gipsy camp scene in Carmen! A +horrible giddiness seized him--the result, probably, of the blow he +had received and the exhausting walk which had followed. He +staggered a little, but recovered himself, and once more turned to +the chief with the same question,-- + +"For what purpose have you brought me here?" + +"You bear a name, signor, that I once revered," said the chief, +coldly; "and for the sake of that I will answer you, though I am not +usually questioned by my prisoners. You come here to replenish my +purse. There are those who were willing to pay well for my son's +little escapade, and your stay here will be quite free of cost to +yourself." + +"I will double the sum if you will release me at once!" exclaimed +Carlo. + +But the chief shook his head. + +"In the words of the proverb, signor, '_E meglio aver oggi un uovo +che dimani una gallina_,' nor do I ever turn from my word. Rocco, +make haste with the irons!" + +Again that horrible giddy confusion rose in Carlo's brain; he was +very dimly aware of what happened during the next few minutes; but +the paroxysm passed, and he found that they were leading him through +a catacomb, and that Lionbruno, torch in hand, headed the procession. +The passage ended in a sort of rude cell, which showed signs of +habitation, and here his guards left him, with Lionbruno only as +sentinel. He noticed that his arms had been unstrapped, but that +there was a chain round his waist to which one foot and one hand were +attached, and the weight of iron was so great that he could only move +with difficulty. He remembered that Poerio himself had worn such +fetters for years, and again the dream-like feeling crept over him. +He could hardly persuade himself that he was actually Carlo Donati, +the singer, living in the peaceful days of King Humbert. + +Meanwhile, the son of the chief was regarding the first prisoner for +whose capture he was responsible with something like embarrassment. +He had expected on the part of his victim an abject terror, a piteous +appeal for mercy, which would effectually have steeled his heart +against him, which would have genuinely pleased his pride, and made +opportunities for cruelty delightful. But now that he had got his +wish, and with exceptional coolness and daring had kidnapped his man +in broad daylight and within a few miles of Naples, he found, much to +his disgust, that, far from feeling himself a hero, he had a vague +sense of discomfort and shame for which he could not in the least +account. + +"You still feel the effects of the blow, signor?" he inquired, +pushing together with his foot the shavings which had accumulated +about a carpenter's bench that stood in a corner of the cell. "You +had better lie down and rest." He made a gesture towards the pile of +shavings, wondering greatly at himself as he did so. + +Carlo, however, took no heed of the suggestion; instead, he drew +nearer to his jailer. + +"I am your prisoner," he said, gravely, "and wholly at your mercy, as +you reminded me just now; but we are fellow-men. Do not keep me any +longer in the dark! Tell me what Comerio means to do!" + +"What is that to us?" replied Lionbruno. "For the present our share +of the work is done, and for the rest who cares? In any case +Brancaleone will get his money. As for your fate, I don't care a fig +about it one way or the other!" + +"You are more of a man and less of a brute than you would have me +think," replied Carlo; "but it is not of my fate I ask. Tell me what +Comerio means to do! I know that he is at the bottom of this plot; I +should have known it even had I not heard your words in the carriage!" + +"So you did hear them? And that was what made you fight again for +your freedom? Take my advice, signor, and do not ask too many +questions. _Corpo di Bacco!_ Must you, then, hear all? Well, in +two days' time you will have your limbs freed from those irons, or, +if not, why, your soul will be freed from your body, which comes to +the same thing in the end!" + +"Can you not speak plainly? Do you mean that my life depends on +Comerio's whim?" + +"Not on Comerio at all, but on your sister. Look here, it is all as +orderly as a ceremony on a _festa_! Comerio goes to her to-night, +wins her consent to leave the country with him, and exchanges a white +handkerchief with our Neapolitan agent, who on Wednesday night will +pass it on to us, and from that moment you are a free man once more. +Or, on the other hand, Madame Merlino refuses her lover's suggestion +definitely, Comerio disappears from the scene, having dropped a red +handkerchief with our agent, and on Thursday you look your last on +this world. That is the matter in a nutshell, signor." + +Carlo's heart gave a bound, then a cold chill ran through him; he had +indeed grown pretty well accustomed to the idea of possible violence +at the hands of Comerio; he knew the Corsican's nature too well to +expect him to behave, for instance, like an Englishman or an +American; but, although he had never been lacking in courage, it +appalled him to think that for two days and two nights he must wait +in this dismal cell, and at the end of the time be murdered in cold +blood. Yet what was the other alternative? Either Anita must live +in sin, or he must die--there was no escape from the dilemma! To +desire his own life meant that he desired her moral death; to pray +for his own safe-keeping meant that he prayed for her ruin. And yet +he clung to life with the strong natural instinct of a healthy man. +Only a few weeks ago all had been hard and dreary for him; but now, +with Francesca his own once more, with the prospect of fame sweetened +by her loving sympathy, with health and vigor, and all the ardent +desires of youth, how was it possible for him to be willing to be +done to death in this dismal catacomb? + +After all, under the circumstances, would it be such a sin on Anita's +part? Was not Merlino ill-tempered enough to excuse such a step? +Were not his own notions about marriage old-fashioned, as Sardoni had +always declared? Thoughts such as these just glanced through his +mind, yet gave him but a momentary struggle, because the life he had +lived for the last three years made him on this point practically +invulnerable. The real anguish lay in the temptation to put +Francesca above everything--above his conscience, above his sense of +honor and duty. How could he desire that which must condemn her to +grief and loneliness, which must cause her the most cruel of shocks +and blight her whole life? It was the old, old story of the innocent +suffering for the guilty, of the strong bearing the burden of the +weak, and his mind revolted from the thought of sorrow visiting the +woman he loved best; he turned in horror from the apparent injustice +of the law of life. + +But while he lay there face downwards on the heap of shavings in +dumb, hopeless anguish, there came to him all at once the strangest +consciousness that, although he was chained, fettered, and +guarded,--a most helpless prisoner, not even knowing where his +underground cell could be, yet that in his keeping lay Anita's fate. +He knew, as he knew the fact of his own existence, that if he could +not bring his will to accept this thought of being murdered, neither +would she allow herself to be saved from wrong-doing at the expense +of his life. At this very moment she, too, was probably wrestling +with deadly temptation. Her love for him so lately awakened would +impel her to save him at all costs, while Comerio's power over her +would be increased tenfold by this devilish scheme which had been so +cunningly laid. Clearly the Corsican was determined to win her, +while, for the time, Carlo had staggered under the blow dealt him by +his enemy, and was pausing, as men must, to look the evil in the +face, to count the cost as they are distinctly told to do, that so +they may be ready for the worst. + +Anita was even now making her final choice. Whatever the scientific +or spiritual explanation of the matter might be, he knew that there +was between them some direct power of influence, some will-force, +which made her decision depend on his actual readiness for sacrifice. +It was clearly impossible that she should be saved by a figment of +the imagination--a mere belief in his readiness. He must definitely +desire that she might be saved from Comerio, cost him what it would, +before she could be so influenced by his devotion as to choose what +was really right. It must be a living fact, not a hazy illusion, +which would save his sister. + +And yet how could he desire that which would bring bitter grief to +Francesca, disappointment to all his hopes of work in the world, a +sudden end to his career? It would not even be a beautiful and +glorious death like his father's or his grandfather's, but a +miserable end like some animal in a slaughter-house, a horrible +degrading death in a den of robbers without a single friend to +comfort him, without one farewell to those he loved! And with that +the tears started to his eyes, for he saw once more the carriage just +outside the arsenal gates, he remembered how Francesca had smiled at +him for the last time when he parted from her on leaving the yacht, +and recalled the bright hope which had thrilled in her voice as she +spoke that "_A rivederci!_" + +"My God!" he cried, "how can I be willing to die! It is more than +man can bear!" + +Choking with emotion, and with a craving for air, he raised himself a +little, turning his face instinctively towards the light. + +Apparently Lionbruno added to his character of brigand the more +peaceful callings of carpenter and carver, and by some curious irony +of fate his carvings were almost all of them ecclesiastical; in this +secret retreat of banditti were to be found delicately-carved +alms-boxes, destined for some rich cathedral or church; beautifully +designed rosaries, which might some day find a home in the private +oratory of a wealthy noble; and crosses by the dozen, because for +them the market was always good. Carlo was so much accustomed to +observe things carefully, that he instinctively took in all these +little details, spite of his grievous trouble. Lionbruno had set up +a couple of torches in a carved sconce, had lighted a small lamp with +a tin reflector, and, seated on a stool beneath it, was working with +apparent laziness, but with wonderful effect, on a crucifix. For +some minutes Carlo watched in silence the carving of one of the +pierced hands, then a flood of light suddenly overpowered his +darkness. Was it more than a man could bear, this that had come to +him? + +He could not submit, no healthy human nature could submit, to +objectless pain or needless sacrifice; but could not he, too, seek +only to do God's will and quietly take the consequences, facing +world, and flesh, and devil, as the Divine Man had done in the +strength of dauntless faith? + +Yes, he felt that it was possible. There was in the very depths of +his being something upon which he could at will fall back, a strength +infinitely greater than this craving for the joys of life, and love, +and freedom; stronger, too, than that side of his love for Francesca, +which made him tremble at the thought of her grief and loneliness. + +Carlo was no theologian, probably he could not have put into +many-syllabled terms his own firm belief, but he had the insight of a +pure heart and the vigor of one who has always tried to conquer his +own weaknesses. In a very simple and literal way he believed that +God was his Father, not in name only, but in very truth. He knew +that he, in common with every human being, had it in his power to +live as a son or as an alien; and he knew, by that most sure proof, +the experience of daily life, that he could only overcome the +cravings of selfishness, by a constant effort to come into closer +union with that life-giving Spirit to whom he was truly akin, that so +his spirit might not starve, but grow and develop. + +The confusion, caused by physical weakness, and the shock of finding +himself at the mercy of the merciless, began to fade, as he realized +the strength of that wisdom, and love, and peace, which reigns above +all the sin of the world, and which is, in truth, "taking it away" by +the eternal power of love and sacrifice. He felt a sort of surprise +that only a few minutes ago the struggle within him had been so +desperate, the revolt against his fate so vehement. After all, what +did it matter if, for a time, evil seemed to triumph and might seemed +to conquer right? Had it not always seemed to be so since the +beginning of the world? And yet had not good steadily advanced, +triumphing through apparent defeat? Above all the anguish of his +grief, and pain, and loss, there came to him, as there had often come +during those three years, a wonderful happiness, the pure delight of +realizing the perfect will of God, and with his whole heart trying to +do it. + +Looked at through this other atmosphere, the future seemed less +formidable to meet, though not one whit less important. A wave of +horror passed over him as he realized what might be happening at that +very moment, and all thought of self died within him, as in terrible +reaction, he passed from the vision of perfect Purity and Love to the +thought of impurity and sin. In an agony he prayed, willing now to +die a thousand deaths rather than that Anita should sink into this +black abyss, this hellish contradiction to all love and light. + +It mattered nothing to him that many would consider his adhesion to +Christ's law as to marriage mere old-fashioned prejudice; it mattered +nothing to him that the worldly-wise would say he was throwing away +his life for the sake of keeping his sister from the infringement of +a conventional law. He knew that it was not so. For since it is the +pure in heart who see God, it is also the pure in heart who +intuitively shrink from evil, and realize without analyzing the +hatefulness of impurity. + +So the night hours passed by, and he prayed unceasingly for Nita's +safety. + +It was not till morning that the thought of his own position returned +to him. + +"This must be Tuesday," he reflected, as he rose from his rough bed. +"To-morrow I shall die." + +But the thought had lost its bitterness, for, after all, death would +mean victory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +"ALL GOETH BUT GOD'S WILL." + + "Whatso it be, howso it be, Amen. + Blessed it is, believing, not to see. + Now God knows all that is; and we shall then, + Whatso it be. + God's Will is best for man whose will is free. + God's Will is better to us, yea, than ten + Desires whereof he holds and weighs the key. + * * * * * + He knows all wants, allots each where and when, + Whatso it be."--CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, + + +"You have passed a bad night, signor," remarked Lionbruno, glancing +up from his work at the prisoner. + +Carlo, who to the last retained his sense of fun, saw the double +meaning which the remark might bear, and smiled. + +"I have not slept," he replied. "And you?" + +"I," said Lionbruno, shrugging his shoulders, "have had to wake also, +that I might keep guard." + +"Do you think, then, that escape would be possible in such irons as +these?" + +"No, it would be impossible, even if the approach to the upper air +were not well guarded. But it is one of Brancaleone's laws that a +prisoner should be watched night and day. It would have been irksome +enough had I not turned you to account as a model." + +The crucifix was now quite finished, and the carver, struck by the +face he had had to watch through those long hours, had reproduced it +in the wood with marvellous accuracy, catching precisely the +expression of pain, with steadfast hope underlying it, which the +prisoner's face had borne through the night. + +The features, too, had been reproduced so accurately that Carlo could +not but recognize himself. He looked shocked, then pained, finally a +faint smile dawned in his eyes, and he fell into deep thought. + +Lionbruno left him for a few minutes, returning presently with a long +loaf of bread tucked under his arm, a flask of _chianti_ swinging +from his wrist, and a huge basin of maccaroni in his hands. + +"Come," he said, with rough good-nature, "let us eat. I am hungry if +you are not." + +In silence they shared the food. The cell was now only lighted by +one torch, which cast an orange glow over the carved crosses and +crucifixes, and shone upon the faces of the two strangely-contrasted +men. Carlo, worn-out with all he had gone through, looked pale and +exhausted, but Lionbruno was in no wise fatigued by his want of +sleep, and ate with the voracious appetite of a school-boy. Carlo +watched him with a good deal of curiosity, wondering greatly what his +history could be. + +"Where did you learn to carve like that?" he said at length, glancing +once more at the crucifix. + +"It was the one useful thing taught me at school, the one thing I +ever took the pains to learn," said Lionbruno, with a laugh. "And +when I had mastered all they could teach me, why, I ran away." + +"Was it at Naples?" + +"No, at Rome," continued Lionbruno, throwing himself lazily on the +heap of shavings, and yielding to the fascination of Carlo's manner, +as most people did. "_Diavolo_! what did I not suffer in those +years! Cooped up in a great stone building, watched every moment, +guarded as though I had been a girl, and nothing to hope for in the +future but the wretched life of a priest." + +"A priest!" echoed Carlo, in astonishment. + +"Ay, a preposterous notion, was it not? A mere whim of my +mother's,--peace to her soul." He crossed himself with indescribable +rapidity. It was the last almost unconscious tribute he still paid +to the faith which his mother had held, but in which he himself had +ceased to believe. "My father, willing to please her on her +death-bed, promised that they should make a priest of me, and he did +his best; but what would you have? It is not possible to turn a wolf +into a sheep-dog, or an eagle into a canary. I bore it till I was +seventeen, then, one night,"--he rubbed his hands with glee at the +mere recollection,--"one delightful, moonless night, the happiest in +all my life, I broke loose from the fold, got a disguise, was within +an ace of being caught, and at last got home to Corsica, +half-starved, but free, and as happy as a king." + +"Then Corsica is your home?" + +"_Insomma!_ I have run on, forgetting that possibly you will be free +again to-morrow, and may betray us." + +He looked annoyed, and half inclined to be angry. + +"Do not be uneasy," said Carlo. "This is my last day in the world, +and even did I wished to do so I could not possibly betray your +haunts." + +"You seem to look death in the face calmly enough; but it is far more +likely that you will be set free." + +Carlo shook his head. + +"If I were set free it would mean that my whole life had failed. +Something tells me that it is not so. Therefore, you see, I must +face the thought of death. And, while we are speaking of it, just +tell me how it will be. Am I to be shot?" + +Lionbruno's great black eyes were full of wonder, they were very much +like the eyes of some animal. He was completely puzzled by his +companion, and somehow awed by him. + +"No," he said; "that could not be, here." + +"What then, stabbed?" + +Lionbruno shook his head. + +"Poisoned, or perhaps hung?" + +Again the young brigand made a gesture of dissent; then, with +unmistakable meaning, he drew out his knife, and passed it lightly +across his own throat, glancing significantly at the prisoner. + +Carlo had too vivid an imagination not to shrink a little from the +picture which presented itself to his mind; he grew suddenly cold, +and felt a strange stirring in his heart, and a tightening about the +muscles of his throat. But he quickly recovered himself, and, with +no perceptible effort, returned to the interrupted story. + +"And so you escaped from your school-life, and from all _espionage_. +At first it must have been delightful." + +"_Dio!_ I should think it was!" exclaimed the boy. "To be out in +the woods night and day, to have done with the hateful old routine, +and for work to have nothing but adventure and excitement--why, it +was paradise!" + +"I fancied all the banditti had been captured at the time of the +great extermination," said Carlo. + +Lionbruno's face grew dark. + +"That time gave us a blow from which we shall never recover," he +said. "But my father somehow baffled all detection, and he will +always baffle it, for he is more than a match for the Italian police +in a body. Nothing but treachery could possibly beat him, and among +the whole band there is not one man who would betray him, though they +offered him his weight in diamonds." + +"I can imagine that he would always meet with obedience and loyalty," +said Carlo, recalling the powerful face of the chief. + +"Anywhere he would be king of men," said Lionbruno, proudly. "And +since the world gave him the cold shoulder, he must be king of +banditti. Did you hear but a month or two back of the highway +robberies in Corsica! They were planned and carried out by +Brancaleone. Do you remember how Count Feroni was carried off in +Sicily, and kept up in the mountains till the ransom was paid? That +again was due to Brancaleone. And the great jewel robbery in Naples, +that, too, was the work of our band. We are like the lightning, +here, there, and everywhere; our work is done in a flash, and +then--_presto!_ all is darkness once more, and no one can lay hold of +us." + +"I remember now hearing of the disappearance of Count Feroni," said +Carlo; "though the details were never published, perhaps for the sake +of our country's honor. Do you know what that work of yours did? It +killed the Count's mother; she died of the shock before his return." + +"_Ebbene!_ we must all die sooner or later," said Lionbruno, coolly. + +There was an indignant light in Carlo's eyes which made the young +Corsican shift his position uneasily. + +"And this work of yours yesterday," continued Carlo; "it will not +only end in murder, it will break hearts, and blight lives. Will you +be proud of doing such devil's work as that?" + +"A man must live," said Lionbruno, gloomily. "I only do what I was +brought up to do. As to cruelty, Brancaleone would not have the hold +which he has on the hearts of the people were he a cruel chief. No +prisoner has ever been ill-used by him, and if a man must be put out +of the way, why, it is done promptly and without barbarity. The day +for such things is past; we too, are civilized, our plots are more +refined, as well as more successful, now that we have the telegraph +always at our command." + +Carlo started. + +"Do you mean, then, that the telegram I had yesterday was your doing? +Was it a mere trick?" + +Lionbruno laughed, and rubbed his hands together. + +"Was it not clever? The first idea was a note of invitation from the +English Captain; but then there would have been the danger of the +handwriting not being right. The telegram was my notion, and the +sending it in English made it doubly safe; it was only because I had +thought of it that I was given the charge of the whole affair, for, +after all, I am young for such work. _Dio!_ what sport it was! The +watching for the yacht, and dogging your steps everywhere, while all +the time you were so happily ignorant; then the breathless race to +Pozzuoli to send the telegram, and the anxiety of the afternoon when +we did not know whether, perhaps, you might not after all refuse to +go. How happy I was when I saw you by the Grotto of Posilipo! And +you, too, looked happy. Ah, I shall never again have a better bit of +sport!" + +Carlo shuddered, the unblushing avowal made him recoil as from some +hellish thing. He did not say a word, but Lionbruno noted his +expression, and never forgot it. + +"Come!" he said, his tone suddenly changing, "I can't stay all day in +this dull hole. We will see what the others are up to." + +"Can I not stay here in quiet?" pleaded Carlo. + +But Lionbruno was inexorable. A prisoner must be watched day and +night, and Carlo had to endure as best he could the long hours of +that weary day, while his young guard whiled away the time with +cards, _mora_, and idle jesting with the elder men of the band. + +At length night came, and once more prisoner and jailer made their +way through the winding catacomb to the inner cell. Lionbruno, who +had slept at intervals through the day, took up his carving once +more, and Carlo, wearied with the noise and confusion which for so +many hours he had had to bear, and still suffering from the effects +of the blow he had received, stretched himself again on the heap of +shavings. + +"My last night," he reflected, then, turning to the young Corsican, +asked what time the messenger would arrive the next day. + +"Possibly not till midnight," replied Lionbruno, pausing in his work +to look at the prisoner; "but you will be placed in readiness at +eleven. Alter all, I would as soon not see you murdered, though I +know you think me a sort of devil. + +"I think you nothing of the kind," said Carlo, with a vigor of denial +which startled his companion. "The pity of it is that you are a man, +meant for something very different, and yet willing to do the devil's +work." + +"I am only taking by force the share of property that the world won't +give me fairly," said Lionbruno, doggedly. "If all things were +equally divided there would be no need of banditti. As for your +devil, I don't believe in him, nor in your God either; and that, +too," he pointed to the crucifix, "it is all a fable! If it were +true, why, instead of paying a hundred _lire_ for a carving like +this, to put in a private oratory, men would be dying on crosses +themselves!" + +Lionbruno, with his school recollections, and his angry bias against +everything connected with the Church, would certainly have had the +best of it in an argument, but Carlo was too well accustomed to +living with people who despised all that he most revered, to feel +moved to speak; he had learnt long ago that, as a rule, words do but +stir up strife, and that he at any rate must keep to deeds. He was +quite silent now, and through the long, quiet hours the vehement +words that had last sounded in the cell kept ringing in his ears. +Partly from the strain of physical and mental suffering, partly from +a growing sense of nearness to the unseen world, he had all along +found it very hard to realize his surroundings; the old Roman +building, hidden away below the earth's surface, the winding +catacomb, the gloomy little cell with the carvings leaning against +the rocky wall, all seemed to him more like scenes that he had read +about than actual places where he was now living. Brancaleone, too, +and his followers, seemed to him like people in a dream that is over, +though he had listened all day to their foul talk, and wearied of +their noisy quarrels. But something in the words which his companion +had last spoken roused him to a greater feeling of reality; he made +an effort to realize to himself the sort of life that this mere boy +of eighteen was living, and the more he realized it the more he +pitied him, and the more he felt drawn to him. Again and again his +eyes turned to the dark, resolute, handsome face of the young +Corsican; it had not yet acquired the cold wickedness of +Brancaleone's face, it was too young and boyish for that, too full of +mere animal delight in existence; but another year or two of this +wild life would make him merely a younger and more headstrong edition +of his father. + +"You do not sleep, signor," observed Lionbruno, looking up from his +work as the prisoner moved restlessly and the dismal sound of +clanking irons echoed through the quiet cell. + +"They say a condemned prisoner always sleeps well on his last night," +said Carlo; "but I never felt more wakeful in my life." + +"Then tell me your story," said Lionbruno, "for it is dull enough +with nothing to do but keep guard. I told you of my life yesterday, +now tell me of yours." + +Willing to please his companion, and with a feeling that on this his +last night it would comfort him to go once more over his memories of +the past, Carlo told in his spontaneous, graphic fashion the story of +his life, and Lionbruno listened with rapt attention, partly because +the prisoner was a good raconteur, but chiefly because he was +conscious of something which was a most novel contrast to anything he +had yet come across in the world. It was nothing but a summary of +facts which Carlo gave him, but Lionbruno was artist enough to have a +quick eye for beauty, and a capability of reading between the lines, +as it were, while the mingled openness and reserve of the story, the +lack of self-consciousness, yet the innate modesty of the speaker, +forced him to perceive a new idea. + +His own words returned to him,--"If it were true, men would be dying +on crosses themselves!" Then he looked from the carved crucifix to +the face of the prisoner, and again back to the crucifix. After all, +was it something more than a fable? Deep down in his heart there +wakened a new, uncomfortable, unwelcome conviction, which he did his +best to smother, because he saw that it would work havoc in his life, +and Lionbruno in this respect was as lazy and conservative as most +people; a revolution in society was what he longed for, but a +revolution in his own heart and life could not be tolerated, the bare +idea made him feel as uncomfortable and perturbed as a wealthy +landowner who thinks with dread of a possible reform of the land laws. + +All the next day he was markedly civil to his prisoner. He even +sacrificed himself so far as to remain in the dreary little cell, +instead of insisting, as before, on spending the time with the rest +of the gang. Carlo spoke little, for grief and suspense and the +long-continued sleeplessness had brought him almost to the last stage +of exhaustion, but what few words he did say were courteous and +pleasant, and in tone not otherwise than cheerful. Lionbruno began +to think more and more distastefully of the scene that would be +enacted that evening, and, as the time drew near, he could bear it no +longer, but summoning one of the elder men to keep guard in his +place, sought out the chief and begged to speak alone with him. + +Brancaleone led the way from the gloomy underground retreat to the +open air. Already it was dark, but here and there, through the thick +foliage, were little spaces through which stars gleamed down coldly. +Lionbruno gave a gasp of relief as he found himself once more above +ground, for the atmosphere down below was not a little trying to one +accustomed to an out-door life. + +"_Padre mio_," he said boldly, "should the red flag be sent to-night, +why should you not keep the prisoner longer and make money out of +him? He has rich friends, he is a popular singer, thousands would be +interested in his fate, we could extort an enormous ransom." + +"Is that all you have to say?" said Brancaleone, with scorn. "Did +you ever know me go back from my word? If Comerio is true to his +bargain, do you think I shall play him false?" + +"At least I have some right to speak for the prisoner since I was the +one who took him," said Lionbruno, with deep resentment in his voice. + +"No right whatever," said the chief, coldly; "you are merely one of +my band; your duty is to obey orders, not to think." + +"I tell you," said Lionbruno, with an angry gesture, "if you kill him +you will regret it some day. A man like that can't be murdered +lightly." + +"What do you know about him?" said the chief, tauntingly. + +"I know that he is the only true man I have ever seen, while we are +brutes--worse than brutes!" said Lionbruno, with passionate vehemence. + +Brancaleone suddenly turned upon him and grasped him by the shoulder. +"Say another word, and you yourself shall be the one to cut his +throat!" he said in a voice that was none the less furious because +low and restrained. + +With a heavy heart Lionbruno followed the chief back into the secret +retreat, returning an impatient oath to the teasing inquiries of the +other men, while he lighted his torch at the fire before making his +way through the catacomb. + +"Bring the prisoner in at once," said the chief, eyeing his son +distrustfully. + +Releasing Nicolo from his post in the cell, Lionbruno, still bearing +the torch, came close to the pile of shavings and bent down over the +prisoner. + +"I have tried to save you," he murmured, "but it was all in vain. +When I took you prisoner I did not know what I know now. Give me +your pardon, signor. I would gladly undo the past, were that +possible." + +Carlo grasped his hand. + +"Undo it by breaking with it and starting afresh," he said. "And, +look, will you do one thing for me?" + +Lionbruno made a gesture of assent. + +"See, to-day, while you slept, I wrote this letter; if necessary you +can read it, there is not a line in it that can betray you. Promise +me when I am dead to send it. I have no stamp, but there is the +address." + +Lionbruno glanced at the note, saw that it was directed to "Miss +Britton," and without further comment thrust it into his pocket. + +"Brancaleone orders you to be brought in," he said huskily. "Are you +prepared, signor?" + +"Quite," replied Carlo, standing up, and speaking as calmly as though +no terrible ordeal awaited him. + +And yet it was not that he shrank from it less than other men would +have done; he looked regretfully round the little gloomy cell, and +slowly followed his guide through the winding catacomb and out into +the larger building, perceiving even then the picturesqueness of the +scene with its deep shadows and glowing torchlight. Brancaleone sat +smoking as composedly as though no murder were contemplated that +night; close by, Nicolo stirred the contents of a caldron which hung +over a charcoal brazier, while the rest of the men were playing cards +and quarrelling among themselves. The chief turned his cold eyes on +the prisoner. + +"My messenger may arrive any time within the next hour," he said. +"You will therefore be ready for your fate, whatever it may be. +Should we have been betrayed, and should a rescuing-party be sent +with him, you will instantly be shot. Should you see him wave a +white handkerchief, it will mean that you are free; should he wave a +red one, you will feel the sharpness of this knife." + +Carlo replied only by a slight gesture. His dignity appealed to +Brancaleone, who eyed him curiously, knowing that never before had he +met with such a prisoner. + +"Rocco! Maso! take your places!" he called peremptorily. + +Two of the men instantly threw down their cards; and Carlo found +himself taken to that end of the building which was farthest from a +dark archway, presumably leading to another catacomb, and from thence +to the upper air. On either side of him stood a ruffianly-looking +Neapolitan, with a loaded pistol held within a few inches of his +temple; and to the right hand, and a little in advance of the others, +sat the chief ostentatiously sharpening his knife. It was an ordeal +that would have tried the strongest nerves; the horrible, grim +suspense of it was a torture such as Carlo had never conceived; and +nothing but long practice in self-control could have enabled him to +keep under the sickening anticipations of the butchery that was soon +to take place. With a strong effort he turned from such thoughts, +not even allowing himself to watch the dark archway opposite, where +his imagination kept picturing a confusion of red tokens and white +tokens, until he was as much dazzled as Gigi used to be over the +Pears' soap puzzle in England. With a pang he remembered that he had +never said good-bye to the little fellow; and a hundred trifling +recollections of unfinished work rushed through his brain, till a +flash of Brancaleone's knife in the torchlight recalled him to the +terrible present. Then he fixed his eyes steadily on the cross which +Lionbruno was carving, and again the thought of his visible +surroundings faded. + +By and by came visions of what lay beyond this hour of torture. He +thought of the evil defeated, of Anita saved for ever from Comerio's +influence. He pictured to himself how she would pass unscathed +through her hard life, with Gigi to shield her, with Francesca to +comfort her and cling to her for his sake, with a love for him which +should be an actual safeguard, not a vague regret. But with the +thought of Francesca, there came once more the wild clinging to life. +She would be his, indeed, in another world; but he craved for her +now, he shrank back from the parting--the unknown change. + +For, reason about it as we may, all endings are hard. We ended our +school-days regretfully, and shrank a little from stepping out alone +into the fuller and freer life, for which all along we had been +preparing. It was not that home was less dear; it was not that we +were less eager to begin life; it was only that human nature cannot +say their revocable "never again" without a pang. + +And, after all, the past had been happy, spite of all the troubles. +Standing there, face to face with death, he seemed to live it all +through once more. He thought of his quiet childhood, of his +mother's devotion, of his happy betrothal. Once more he lived +through the story of his love for Francesca, with its brief gleams of +rapture and its long years of wearing separation; once more he lived +his art-life--triumphed in this character, failed in that, faced +abuse on and off the stage, felt the glow of genuine success. And +again he lived through the pain and bliss of that night at Genoa, +with its violent reaction, its rapture of faithful love; again he +felt Francesca clinging to him, heard her words of perfect trust, +knew that the anguish of the past had been a mere device of Satan. + +But Brancaleone moved, and the torchlight fell again on the cold +steel blade. In a few minutes there must come that awful +helplessness, that violence, and anguish, and slaughter. His heart +throbbed wildly; and once more, to calm himself, he turned his eyes +to Lionbruno's cross. The boy's words returned to him, "As to that, +it's a mere fable! If it were true, men would be dying on crosses +themselves!" + +"How little I have done to prove that it is truest truth, and no +fable," he thought, sadly. + +"Yet for these last three years you have honestly tried to follow +me," said a voice in his heart. And the words of comfort brought him +a great gladness, for he knew that, slowly and stumblingly, and with +an amount of effort that proved his own weakness and the strength of +the Divine help that had been his, he really had tried to live the +life of the Crucified, with its whole-hearted seeking of the Divine +will. After all, was any happiness to be compared to the happiness +that came to him even in this last extremity? Was there not a deep +truth in the poet's idea that the Divine will is sweetest to us "when +it triumphs at our cost." + +"If ever a man were ready to die it is that man," reflected +Lionbruno. "But, _Corpo di Bacco!_ how shall I sit patiently by and +see him murdered!" + +He shuddered, and yet something in the beautiful, manly face raised +him above the thought of the scene of bloodshed. How was it that +this man, in the first flush of youth and strength, could willingly +give up everything--even life itself--to save another from sin? How +was it that he could stand for an hour face to face with a most +horrible death, yet show neither fear, nor resentment, nor +bravado--only a noble, intrepid calm? + +Into the brigand's semi-cultivated mind the sight flashed something +more than the unwelcome conviction of the previous night. All his +shallow unbelief died in the light of that revelation. It was not +that he now believed there was a God, he knew it; he knew that the +Son of God must indeed have taught men how to live and die; he saw +that he had before him, on the one hand a proof of the heights to +which men could rise who followed at all costs the guidance of the +Holy Spirit; on the other of the depths to which men could sink who +sought at all costs their own pleasures. + +The place had been strangely still for some minutes. Nicolo had left +his caldron, and now lay on the floor smoking; the card-players had +finished their game, and seemed to think it was not worth while to +begin another before the event of the evening came off; one swarthy, +black-bearded fellow shuffled the cards, the others lounged at ease, +watching the prisoner indifferently. + +When at length a voice in the distance spoke the password, every one +present started slightly. Carlo drew himself up to his full height, +and looked steadily towards the dark archway; Brancaleone rose, and, +with one hand on his victim and the knife in the other, glanced over +his shoulder, ready either to strike or to forbear; Lionbruno dropped +his cross, and glanced in great agitation from the archway to the +prisoner, and back again to the archway. The footsteps drew nearer; +the messenger suddenly turned the corner, and emerged into sight; the +torchlight fell on the token in his hand--was it white or red? With +a gasp of relief, Lionbruno sprang forward and seized the +handkerchief, waving it joyfully in the air; while the messenger +advanced and handed a sealed packet to the chief, who at once +sheathed his knife and turned to the prisoner. + +"You are free, signor," he said, gravely. + +"Nita is ruined! I have failed!" thought Carlo. + +The sharpest pang he had ever had to bear shot through him: and, +without a word, he fell to the ground. + +"_Diavolo!_" exclaimed the chief. "I have often seen a prisoner +overcome on hearing his death-sentence, but never yet on getting a +reprieve!" + +Lionbruno looked with many conflicting feelings at the face which had +grown so familiar to him. "_Per quanta è vero Dio!_" he remarked, +with an expressive gesture, "he really did then care more for his +sister's honor than for his own life!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +AT PALAZZO FORTI. + + "Love is enough: ho, ye who seek saving + Go no further; come hither; there have been who have found it, + And these know the House of Fulfilment of Craving; + These know the cup with the roses around it; + These know the World's Wound and the balm that hath bound it; + Cry out, the World heedeth not, 'Love, lead us home!' + + "He leadeth, he hearkeneth, he cometh to youward; + Set your faces as steel to the fears that assemble + Round his goad for the faint, and his scourge for the forward; + Lo his lips, how with tales of last kisses they tremble! + Lo his eyes of all sorrow that may not dissemble! + Cry out, for he heedeth, 'O Love lead us home!'" + WILLIAM MORRIS. + + +On that Monday evening, after Carlo had started for Casa Bella, Nita +dined alone, Gigi hovering round, and always ready to accept +promiscuous mouthfuls off her plate like a pet dog. When the child +had gone to bed, she sat down to the piano, her fingers roaming over +the keys and playing a sort of subdued accompaniment to her reverie. + +"I'm going to turn over a new leaf," she thought to herself; "it is +after all rather pleasant to be good, and not so hard as I thought. +I have enjoyed these days on the yacht with the Brittons; it was not +half so dull as I expected. There was something so peaceful and +quiet about it. I think I'm tired of being naughty. Now I'll be +like Carlo; that will be a novelty." + +She was interrupted by the entrance of the servant with a visitor's +card. Holding out her hand for it carelessly, she glanced down at +the name and saw that it was Comerio's. A terrible fear seized on +her. + +"Say I do not receive to-night. I am engaged--not well!" she +exclaimed breathlessly. + +The servant retired, but in another minute came back still bearing +the card, on which Comerio had pencilled a few words. + +"You must see me on a matter of life and death!" + +Nita's color came and went, but to refuse now seemed to her +impossible, and the next minute she was alone with her lover. Yet, +after all, did she love him or hate him? Of one thing only she was +conscious--that with all her heart she feared him, and that over her +he had some strange, deadly influence. + +"How can you dare to come here!" she cried, passionately. "Did I not +tell you I would never speak to you again?" + +Comerio smiled. + +"I come because I love you," he replied; "because I knew you would +not keep to your threat; because, happen what may, I will never give +you up. I have waited for you all these years, Nita, but now you +will be mine." + +"Never!" she cried, vehemently; and, with a growing sense of terror, +she tried to pass him and reach the door. + +"Do not speak too hastily," he said, intercepting her; "you are +altogether in my power. Your brother has thwarted me for long; now +it is my turn. If you wish him to die, to be murdered for your sake, +you will refuse to come with me. If you wish to save him you will +leave Naples with me to-night; we will fly to Australia and begin our +new life there!" + +"Oh! it isn't true," sobbed Nita; "it can't be true! Carlo could +never be in your power!" + +"Not true?" said Comerio, with a mocking laugh. "It is as true as +the Gospel. Do you think the Pozzuoli road is so much frequented +that I couldn't have him waylaid? I tell you his fate rests in your +hands. Now choose!" + +"You must be a fiend!" sobbed Nita. "Only a fiend could make such a +plan!" + +"A fiend or a lover," said Comerio. "All is fair in love and war, +Nita, and I love you--I love you,--and I will have you. You shall +not deny me!" + +Again the old subtle influence crept over poor Nita's tempest-tossed +heart; it needed only half an hour of Comerio's impassioned pleading +to break down all her resolutions. After all, her life was hard and +weary, and her husband rough and overbearing, and goodness was dull, +and this scheme was exciting; besides, it would save Carlo--Carlo, +whom she really loved. Yes, she would save him at all costs; she, +too, would be self-sacrificing--she would give up everything to save +him from death. + +It was all over very quickly--the dispute, the struggle, the +promise,--then once more she was alone with but a few hours in which +to make all arrangements for her flight, for Comerio had promised +that a carriage should be in waiting for her at twelve o'clock, and +had hastened off to see that all his plans were in working order. He +had absolute confidence in his own power over her, which was indeed +great; but there was another Power which he had forgotten to take +into account--a Power which could no more be laid hold of and shut up +with Carlo in the brigands' retreat, than the wind. + +"He shall not die for my sake!" sobbed Nita to herself; "I will save +him by yielding. And yet--yet it is what he would say was wrong; he +would call it doing evil that good might come. Oh! What am I to do? +Why did I ever see Comerio?" + +She was like a poor terrified bird in a cage, flying now to this +side, now to that, but meeting always with hard, inpassable bars. +The temptation to escape from her distasteful life, into a life that +was new and untried, was terrible. And yet, as in sick recoil she +looked at her past, there shone out in it always one bright light. A +hundred little details of Carlo's care for her flashed back into her +mind; scenes rose up before her in the green-room, at rehearsals, in +desolate lodgings, on tedious journeys; and always he was there as +her helper, the one perfectly reliable man in her world. He had +given up all to save her from sin. Should she now yield to the +temptation? Dared she delude herself into thinking that she sinned +to save him from death? Had not his whole life proved to her that he +would rather die than that she should so fall? Sobbing and trembling +she threw herself on her knees, crushed beneath that awful +realization of a decisive choice which must be made, maddened by the +consciousness that time was passing, tossed to and fro in the storm +of deadly temptation. It was not the breaking of a conventional law +which she was contemplating; it was not a mere offence against +society with which she had been dallying all these years; it was a +sin. And the full meaning of that word broke on her as she knelt +there. Sin was not a vague "something" to be comfortably confessed +and disposed of; it was a contradiction of good, which must work its +deadly course, inevitably bringing grief, and pain, and hardship on +the innocent and loving. To save her from this sin Carlo had +sacrificed his whole life; could she let that sacrifice be in vain? + +And, after all, was it love which Comerio offered her? Could she +name it in the same breath with the love which had shielded and +guarded her through those three years? No: it was a hateful, vile +counterfeit of love, a ghastly parody of the truth, a veiled +selfishness, which could only drag her down to hell on earth. Carlo +would die a thousand deaths rather than let her sink to this! And +was it even now too late to save him? + +In wild excitement she sprang to her feet, Comerio, in the heat of +the moment, had let something fall about the Pozzuoli road! Why +should she not rush to Casa Bella and prevent her brother's return, +and save him from the attack that had been planned? What gave her +strength for this desperate resolution she hardly knew, but the +thought itself seemed to lend her wings. She rushed to her bedroom, +snatched up a cloak and bonnet, drew a veil over her face, and, +without even pausing to close the door of the house behind her, crept +down the long stone staircase. The concierge was reading _La +Campana_ as she glided past his little office; he was so much +absorbed that he never even saw her. + +And now she was actually in the street, and, for the first time since +her resolution had been made, a feeling of fear and perplexity +overwhelmed her, her brain seemed to reel. "Holy Virgin, protect +me!" she sobbed, and walked on blindly too much terrified to form any +clear plan of action. All at once she caught sight of a disengaged +carriage, and signed to the driver to stop. He looked at her +suspiciously, but she was far too miserable to resent that. + +"Drive to Pozzuoli," she said; "to Casa Bella." + +The man, however, grumbled. It was late, a long drive, his horse was +tired. Nita thrust two gold coins into his hand. + +"Go! go!" she cried. "Another if you will drive fast!" + +Then she leant back in the carriage and covered her face with her +hands, trembling in every limb, expecting each minute that Comerio +would find out all and pursue her. The drive seemed endless, but at +last Casa Bella was reached; she sprang out and asked eagerly for +Signor Donati. + +"He is not here, signora," said old Dino, looking at her curiously. +"He has not been here at all." + +Nita gave a cry that brought all the household flocking into the +hall. They took her into the Rose-room, and there gradually drew +from her the whole piteous story. Francesca, as she listened, turned +pale as death, but to endure a moment's discussion or delay was to +her impossible. Before the Captain or Mr. Britton could even recover +enough from the shock to frame a clear idea, she had left the room, +had run bareheaded out into the summer night, and was flying to the +telegraph-office. Panting, breathless, with a weight of torturing +fear at her heart, she yet ran like the wind. Carlo was in terrible +danger, but she might yet save him. The office was still open; she +wrote without a moment's delay the following words to the Chief of +the Police: "Signor Carlo Donati was waylaid on the road to Pozzuoli +this afternoon and has not been heard of since. The plot was +arranged by the singer Giovanni Comerio. Arrest him immediately." + +In the meantime, Comerio, little thinking of the turn affairs had +taken, was making his arrangements with the utmost calmness and +deliberation. First of all he went to Brancaleone's agent, who lived +in one of the worst quarters of Naples. Here he deposited the white +handkerchief, which had been the token decided on, and the little +packet of notes for the payment of the brigand chief. Then he gave +his final orders about the carriage which was to take them out of +Naples; and afterwards, finding that he had yet time to spare on his +hands, he went into a _caffè_, where, to fortify himself for the +excitement of the evening, he called for a bottle of champagne. As +he sat there at his little marble table, he thought, with a smile, of +the great success of his plans, and a funny recollection came back to +him of the old days when he had lived at his father's country farm. +He remembered how he had once looked out on a moonlight night, and +had become so absorbed in watching the tactics of a fox that he had +not given the alarm to the household. The animal had set his heart +on a fine hen which had gone to roost in an olive-tree, and which, +roused from her slumbers, was watching the fox in deadly terror. He +could not reach her, but with deep cunning walked slowly round and +round the tree, the hen following him with her eyes in a sort of +deadly fascination, till at last, from sheer giddiness, she dropped, +and was carried off in triumph. The idea of punishing Donati and +altogether outwitting him was delightful, even more delightful than +the idea of winning Anita. But, after all, he reflected, it was +always so in this world. Right could make a sort of feeble +resistance but in the end Might always triumphed. And really luck +had been with him of late. His London engagement had been extremely +successful, while, to crown all, he had won enormously at Monaco, and +could well afford to gratify both his love and his hate. + +Sauntering out of the _caffè_, and still musing over his good +fortune, he was a little startled when a passer-by thrust a note into +his hand, and walked rapidly on. He paused to read it under a street +lamp. It ran as follows:-- + +"Signor Comerio, be warned by a friend, and fly from Naples at once. +You are in danger of being arrested." + +Though capable, in order to gratify himself, of a certain amount of +rash daring, Comerio was at heart a coward. He had a friend +connected with the police force, and did not doubt for a moment that +the warning came from him. He knew that he had not a moment to lose. +Still the mere hatred of being baffled in his plans induced him to +risk a call at Palazzo Forti. There was yet a chance that they might +be able to fly together, and now that all was known he risked little +more by making this final attempt. Breathlessly he made his way +through the dusky courtyard and up the long stone staircase. To his +surprise, the door at the top was open. He stole in and opened the +door of the ante-room, calling Anita in a low voice. He went into +the _sala_, but that, too, was empty and deserted. He knocked at the +door of the bedroom; that, also, was tenantless. Then, with a faint +suspicion dawning in his mind that Nita had played him false, he +ground his teeth together, and flung open the two remaining doors in +the suite. Possibly she was with the child. Snatching up a lamp +from a table in the passage, he went into the room to make quite sure +that she was not there,--looked with a sort of dumb rage at Donati's +various possessions which were strewn about,--then walked up to the +bed where Gigi lay sleeping with both arms flung up on the pillow +above his head, and his ruddy-brown little face the picture of sturdy +peacefulness. Comerio shook him by the shoulder. + +"Where is your mother, child?" he said, in a voice that terrified +Gigi. "Can't you speak?" he reiterated. "Where is your mother?" + +"I don't know!" sobbed the child. + +"_Accidente!_ she has played me false!" cried Comerio. + +Then, suddenly holding his breath, he paused to listen. Undoubtedly +men's voices and footsteps were approaching. Darting to the door, he +drew the bolt, then rushed across to the window, flung it open, leapt +out on to the balcony, and disappeared in the darkness. + +Gigi's first impulse was to draw the bedclothes over his head and sob +for very terror, but some recollection of Carlo checked him, and +summoning up all his courage, he scrambled out of bed, unbolted the +door, and ran out into the passage, calling now for Carlo, now for +his mother. + +Strange men whom he had never seen before were marching in and out of +the rooms; whether to run to them or from them he hardly knew. + +"Here is a child!" exclaimed one of the detectives, picking him up in +his arms. "Tell us, little one, who is in the house?" + +"Signor Comerio," sobbed Gigi. + +"_Santo diavolo!_ where?" exclaimed the man. + +Gigi pointed in the direction of his room. + +"Through the window," he said, with a rush of tears. + +For all answer, the man tossed him on to the bed as though he had +been an india-rubber ball, and leapt out on to the balcony, while the +rest rushed downstairs to cut off the retreat below. + +But their efforts were useless; Comerio had got the start of them, +and with darkness to favor him, found little difficulty in making his +escape from Naples. + +While the Neapolitan police were still searching high and low for +him, he was steaming down the Mediterranean, knowing that never again +could he dare to set foot in Italy, and baffled both in his love and +in his revenge. + +"If only I had had time to go again to Brancaleone's agent, and +change the white token for the red, I could bear all else!" he +reflected. + +But the white handkerchief remained just as he had left it with the +sealed packet of notes, and the true love had triumphed over the +false. + +At Casa Bella all was confusion, and, afterwards, those fearful hours +seemed to Francesca like a long, hideous nightmare. She had vague +recollections of returning from the telegraph-office, and seeing +Clare and Kate bending over Nita's prostrate figure; of a discussion +with her father and Uncle George as to whether she should drive in to +Naples with them or not; of reaching Palazzo Forti in the dead of +night, and finding poor little Gigi sobbing and shivering; of driving +home with him on her knee, and feeling a sort of comfort in folding +her arms round him, and letting him talk on in his happy +ignorance;--then, of two fearful nights and days, while all Naples +was searched, and not the slightest clue as to Carlo's whereabouts +could be discovered. In the meantime, Nita lay in the guest-chamber, +and many times each day both priest and doctor passed in and out. + +"Why do those men come so dreffly often?" asked Gigi, one day, +turning to his friend and playfellow, Sibyl, and forgetting for a +minute the sham-fight which was going on between his two boxes of tin +soldiers. + +"Why, Dino says your mother is dying," said Sibyl, her eyes dilating. +"But, oh! Gigi, perhaps I oughtn't to have said anything! Don't tell +the others I told you!" + +"But she _can't_," said Gigi, emphatically,--"not until Uncle Carlo +comes back!" + +And so, while the elders of the household lived through their +terrible agony of suspense, the two children, who were much thrown +together and left to their own devices in those days, kept their own +counsel as children do, and waited gravely for Carlo's return. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +AT CASA BELLA. + + "Too divine to be mistook."--MILTON. + + +Early on the Thursday morning Captain Britton was roused from a short +and uneasy sleep on the sofa in his study by the sound of voices on +the staircase. He rose quickly, remembering that Francesca had taken +Miss Claremont's place in the sick-room, and that he had promised to +be at hand in case anything was needed. + +"How is Madame Merlino?" he asked, going out into the hall, where +Franzoni the doctor was just taking up his hat and cloak. + +"Better for the time," replied the doctor, "but I doubt if she will +last much longer; the shock has been too much for her and this +suspense is the very worst thing. She has inherited her mother's +constitution, you see, and when the heart is in question such a +strain is killing work." + +Francesca moved away from the speakers that she might hide her tears. +A lamp which had burnt for many hours stood on the table, gleaming +faintly in the early morning light. She turned it out, glad to have +some little trivial household matter to attend to, and finding it, as +most women do, a relief in trouble. + +Captain Britton went out with the doctor, not sorry to escape for a +few minutes from the burdened atmosphere of his own house, and +Francesca, knowing that Father Cristoforo was with Nita, lingered +beside the open door, glad for a few minutes to be alone with her +grief. The sun had not yet risen, but rosy clouds floated in the +soft, sheeny sky, and a delicious fragrance came from the garden, +which was all wet with dew. Everything was still and peaceful, with +the restful calmness of dawn; perhaps it unconsciously influenced +Francesca, or perhaps it was mere exhaustion which quieted her +throbbing pulses. Certainly the sound of footsteps on the road from +Naples, which yesterday would have made her heart leap into her +mouth, scarcely roused her now. She just looked up wearily, too +heavy-hearted to hope any longer. But suddenly the blood surged +through her veins, and with a low cry she rushed forward. + +"Carlo! Carlo!" she sobbed, "you have come at last!" + +Clinging to him in that first minute of rapture she forgot all else, +but a second glance at his face reminded her of Nita, for he bore the +look of a man who has passed through terrible suffering, and how much +he knew of Comerio's plot she could not tell. + +"Carlino," she said, tenderly, "try and prepare yourself for what I +have to tell you." + +"I am prepared," he said, in the voice of one whose work is over--one +who knows that he has failed. + +"Who can have met you so early? Oh, Carlo, we have tried to take +care of her, but she is dying. She has been ill ever since that +Monday night." + +"Do you mean that Nita is here, with you? that she is safe?" he +cried, eager hope dawning in his eyes. Then, as she told him all, a +light, such as she had never before seen, shone in his face. + +"God has been very good to us," he said, simply. + +In a very few words he told her what had happened to him, and then, +while she went to prepare Nita for his coming, he stayed below, +receiving the warm-hearted greetings of the Captain, giving him a +brief account of his imprisonment and release, and thanking him with +tears in his eyes for having sheltered his sister. Somehow the old +patronizing tone disappeared altogether from the Captain's voice as +he struggled to reply. + +"Do you thank us for what we have done?" he exclaimed with a choking +sensation in his throat, and forgetting altogether to fear what +people would say, forgetting even to regret the connection with the +stage. "I wish it could have been more. I wish I had stood by you +in the past, Carlo." + +As he thought of the insults he had heaped on the Italian years ago +the color mounted to his temples, and he would have given all in his +power to have had over again the opportunity which he had wasted. + +But before anything more had passed between them Francesca came to +summon Carlo to the sick room, and not sorry to be free from the +Captain's questions and congratulations, he followed her upstairs +into a bedroom which he knew must be her own. It touched him to +think that Nita should be in this place of all others, with its +indescribable air of purity, and peace, and safety, with its English +comforts with its girlish ornaments and pictures. The bed stood +facing the window, with its white, mosquito-curtains drawn back, but +he could not see Anita, for Father Cristoforo was bending over her. + +"My daughter," the old man was saying, in his gentle, soothing voice, +"be comforted. Our prayers are heard. Try to take this joy calmly, +and as a pledge of your forgiveness." + +Then he quietly drew back and, looking with loving reverence at his +old pupil, signed to him to take his place. + +One glance at Anita's worn, weary face showed Carlo that she was +dying. He took both her outstretched hands in his, and bending down +kissed her again and again. She was dying, but yet it was the sense +that she was safe which outweighed all else. + +For a long time perfect silence reigned in the room, then Nita spoke +faintly. + +"Why I liked the yacht," she said, half dreamily, "was because you +were all so good--there was no temptation. I wanted to be good--only +it was always too hard." + +Worn out, exhausted, and fearful, she had none of that natural +clinging to life which Carlo had so lately felt. + +"I never understood that till now," she said, glancing at the +crucifix which Father Cristoforo held on the other side of the bed. +"But now I see it all,--it is you that have made me see, Carlino." + +His eyes filled with glad tears, and again he kissed her reverently. + +"You will keep to the stage still," she said, after a time. "Let me +at least feel that I have done that much for the profession. I've +been no credit to it myself, but you, Carlino--you went into it for +my sake, and they will respect you. You will not leave the stage?" + +"No," he said, turning his thoughts to the future with an effort; "I +shall not leave it." + +"I should have liked to sing with you once more," she murmured +dreamily. "When you hold me like that it makes me feel like Gilda. +I tried to put you out the last time we sang that scene,--it was at +New York, don't you remember the night of Sardoni's benefit, and I +was cross because my white satin had got some paint on it." + +"My daughter," said father Christoforo gently, "you will wear +yourself out with talking." + +"No matter!" she said, with a little impatient motion of the hand. +"I am dying--I shall die as I please. Where is Gigi? Let me say +good-bye to Gigi." + +Francesca slipped out of the room and went to find the child, +bringing him in just as he was, in his little night-shirt, and with +his hair all rough and disordered. She had told him that his mother +was very ill, and that he must be quiet, but in the glad surprise of +seeing Carlo he forgot all else, and with a rapturous shout of "_Zio +caro!_" sprang towards the bed. Carlo took him in his arms, trying +to quiet him with kisses, and Nita watched them sadly. + +"Well, it is natural enough he should care for you and not for me," +she said wistfully. "I never liked to be troubled with him." + +"No, no," said Carlo quickly; "he loves you, it is only that he does +not understand illness." + +And putting the child on the bed, he laid the little fat brown hands +in between the cold white ones. Gigi looked at his mother with +wondering eyes. + +"Do you think he will have a voice?" she asked. "He surely will +sing--I hope he will. But don't let Merlino be unkind to him, +promise to care for him always." + +"Always," said Carlo. "For your sake." + +And Francesca bent down and kissed her, while the child, aware now +that something was wrong, listened wistfully. + +"I have been a bad wife," moaned Nita, "and a bad sister, and a bad +mother. Oh, Gigi--my Gigi--you must not grow like me! Be good, +_carino_,--be good!" + +"Yes, mamma," said Gigi, simply. + +With a sob she raised herself and caught him in her arms, but once +more deadly faintness crept over her, and she fell back unconscious. + +Francesca took Gigi away to Sibyl, and by the time she was able to +return Anita had revived. Father Christoforo had thrown the window +wide open; Francesca stole quietly across the room and stood beside +it, listening now to the old priest's hushed voice, now to the birds +in the garden below; the sun had risen, and sea, and trees, and +houses glowed in the roseate light, contrasting strangely with the +scene within. When the last offices were ended there was a long +pause, broken at length by Anita's faint voice. + +"Why are the footlights out?" she asked impatiently. + +"Because the sun has risen," replied Carlo, smoothing back the fringe +of dark hair from her cold forehead. + +"I can't see," she said, with a little shudder. + +Then after a minute, losing consciousness of the present, she sang +just above her breath a little snatch from Faust:-- + + "_Oh del ciel angeli immortal! + Deh mi guidate con voi lassù._" + +There was something inexpressibly touching in the faint yet still +beautiful voice; Carlo's breast heaved and his eyes grew dim. +Evidently she was wandering--fancying herself back once more in the +old life. + +"Well! it is over," she murmured, "and I'm tired--it's a long opera! +How cold it is lying on this draughty stage! But Carlo will be +waiting with my cloak, he always thinks of me, though I am so cross +to him." Then, her voice rising to a cry, "Carlino! Carlino! Come +back! Oh, God! I have killed him--my sin has killed him!" + +"I am here, Nita, close to you," he replied, bending over her, while +Father Cristoforo held the crucifix to her lips. + +She came back to the present, and grew calmer. + +"You see I never understood till you showed me," she whispered. "Oh, +Carlo! how much you have borne for me!" + +He held her more closely. "Don't you understand that I love you?" he +said. + +"Yet I wish that--I too--had loved!" she gasped, in a voice so sad +that Francesca's heart ached for her. + +After that she never spoke clearly again, only, as Carlo listened +intently to the last long-drawn sighs, he caught one more faint +whisper--"_Gesù!_" + +Then he laid her down tenderly on the pillow, and closed her eyes, +and folded her hands over the crucifix on her breast. The sun had +fully risen, and golden rays played about him as he moved. Francesca +noticed it, and would not draw down the blind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +AFTERWARDS. + +"Man seeks pleasure and self--great unforeseen results follow. Man +seeks God and others--and there follows pleasure."--ARNOLD TOYNBEE. + + +For the next two or three weeks the story of Carlo and Anita was in +every one's mouth; the account of Comerio's vengeance, and the +alarming news of brigandage in the very environs of Naples, created +something like a panic, while, as to Donati's share in the matter, +opinions were divided. Some called him a hero, some a fool, others +remarked cynically that in any case the affair would be a good +advertisement for him, and that now, at any rate, he might be +expected to draw large houses. + +Merlino, when he learnt all, made scarcely any comment on what had +happened. He merely wound up the affairs of his Company, and +announced his retirement from the position of Impresario. Only in +regard to Gigi did he show any sign of feeling. + +"You'll be kind to the child, Val?" he said, as he bade his +brother-in-law good-bye. "I shall stay in America for a few years +till this scandal has had time to fade in people's minds. But you'll +go to the school and see that Gigi is all right, now and then; won't +you?" + +"He shall be like my own child!" said Carlo, warmly. "His holidays +shall always be spent with us." + +People were surprised that the new baritone fulfilled his engagement +at the San Carlo that summer. Some called him cold-blooded, others +called him brave and honorable, and both those who praised and those +who blamed flocked to hear him. He went his way, as ever, with +straightforward simplicity, thinking of the past with thankfulness +and of the future with eager hope. + +"_Carina_," he said, one afternoon, as he sat beside Francesca in the +familiar old belvedere which had sweet memories for them +both,--"_Carina_, here is work enough for me for months to +come,--offers of engagements all over Europe. Piale wishes to know +which of them we are pleased to accept." + +"We?" she said, smiling and blushing. + +"You do not think I could go without you?" he exclaimed. "You will +not send me away alone?" + +"No," she said, with deepening color; "I don't think you would take +enough care of yourself." + +"Darling!" he said, drawing her towards him, "why should we wait any +longer? Let us be married quietly while Mr. Britton and Clare are +still here." + +"But they are only here for another week," said Francesca. + +"_Ebbene?_" said Carlo, with a world of expression in his tone. + +"How could I be ready?" she faltered. "A wedding takes a great deal +of preparation--certainly Flora's did. I must at least have a dress +that is fit for your eyes to look on." + +"If you want to dress to please me, I will tell you what to wear," he +said, smiling. "Wear that white dress like a baby's--the one you +wore on the night of our betrothal." + +"That old nainsook!" she cried. "Why, Carlo, it is more fit for the +rag-bag than for a wedding!" + +He made one of his expressive Neapolitan gestures. + +"I should like nothing else so well, and you will see it will wash +and get up in two days' time, and look as good as new. Oh, I am very +learned in such matters now, I assure you." + +She smiled, and nestled close to him. + +"I will wear anything to please you, _mio caro_! And, after all, we +don't want to be thinking of new dresses just now. All I want is to +go away from everything else for a little while--away with you. Let +us go somewhere among the mountains where there are no people and no +newspapers--nothing but just we two by ourselves!" + +He kissed her white forehead. + +"_Carina_," he said thoughtfully, "if one did not believe success to +be a sort of sacrament, it would frighten one." + +She mused over the old definition in the Prayer-book, and caught his +meaning. + +"They said at Merlebank it was useless knight-errantry," she replied; +"but I think they changed their minds when they saw the smile on +Nita's face after all was over. Do you remember what she said about +those days on the yacht? It made me cry, for I never saw till then +how fearful temptation must be." + +"She conquered, and is at rest!" said Carlo, steadying his voice with +an effort. "Father Cristoforo told me he never knew one so young who +had so little clinging to life. It is as she would have wished." + +For some time he was grave and silent; his mind was full of Nita's +sad story. + +"Does it not seem to you more than three years," he said at length, +"since we last sat here together like this? To me it seems like a +lifetime." + +"And, oh, Carlo," said Francesca, clinging to him, "I don't know how +it is--but, though so many sad things have come between, I can't help +feeling happier even than long ago! I thought I couldn't be happier +than I was when you first told me you loved me, here in this +summer-house,--but now, Carlo! ... now! ..." + +* * * * * * + +So, one day in the following week, Francesca put on the old white +dress and her confirmation veil, and Kate twined orange-blossom and +myrtle into a wreath, and Sibyl and Gigi gathered the prettiest white +flowers they could find in the garden, and with infinite pains made +them up into a very original bridal bouquet. Then every one at Casa +Bella drove in to Naples, where Carlo awaited them with Enrico Ritter +at his side; and presently, with Piale, Marioni, old Florestano, and +Sardoni and his wife, for spectators, the two lovers were quietly +married. + +"After all," said Captain Britton, when the bride and bridegroom had +driven away, "though, I suppose, a voice like that must be used, yet +I shall always think that Carlo deserved to be something better than +a singer." + +"My dear sir," exclaimed Piale, vehemently, "the life of a good +singer is one perpetual course of self-denial! And, I assure you, +we, too, have had our heroes. Must a whole profession be despised +because some of those engaged in it are not all they should be? When +a man like Donati is sent to us, for Heaven's sake let us keep him, +and say, as in duty bound, 'DEO GRATIAS!'" + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78660 *** |