Volume I Part 18 (1/2)
We came to a chalass and a bed with the straw palliasse turned over, very likely for the purpose of allowing the looker-on to suppose that there were sheets underneath, but I was particularly disgusted by a certain smell, the cause of which was recent; I was thunderstruck, and if I had been still in love, this antidote would have been sufficiently powerful to curebut to retted that I could not throw on the table a handful of ducats, which I should have considered the price of s; they were fine, and I praised the a joke upon Ada, why she did not try to render her talent re
”I wish I could,” she answered, ”but the box of chalks alone costs two sequins”
”Will you forgive h to offer you six?”
”Alas! I accept theratefully, and to be indebted to you for such a service makes me truly happy”
Unable to keep back her tears, she turned her head round to conceal the theto spare her every unnecessary humiliation, I saluted her lips with a kiss which she was at liberty to consider a loving one, as I wanted her to ascribe my reserve to the respect I felt for her I then left her with a promise to call another day to see her father I never kept ain after ten years
How hts crowded upon my mind as I left that house! What a lesson! I coive the preference to the last, as reality is always dependent on it I then began to forsee a truth which has been clearly proved toof curiosity rafted upon the inclination placed in us by nature that the species ood or bad, must at first please us by the frontispiece If this is not interesting, we do not feel any wish to read the book, and our wish is in direct proportion to the interest we feel The frontispiece of woman runs from top to bottom like that of a book, and her feet, which are most important to every man who shares my taste, offer the same interest as the edition of the work If it is true that most amateurs bestow little or no attention upon the feet of a woman, it is likewise a fact thatwhether a book is of the first edition or the tenth At all events, woreatest care of their face, of their dress, of their general appearance; for it is only by that part of the frontispiece that they can call forth a wish to read them in those e of blindness And just in the sareatneorks even if they are bad, a man who has known many woly specimens when he meets with entirely new ones It is all very well for his eye to discover the paint which conceals the reality, but his passion has beco frontispiece It is possible, at least he thinks so, that the work e, and the reality more acceptable than the paint which hides it He then tries to peruse the book, but the leaves have not been opened; hebookto established rules, and the book-worm falls a victim to a coquetry, the monster which persecutes all those who entlines, letthy eyes, thou art lost; Ia victim to the fair sex to the very last moment of thy life If ratulations In the evening I called upon Mada an inmate of Griht I found there the faithful Rosa, who told me that the affair of the alibi was in every mouth, and that, as such celebrity was evidently caused by a very decided belief in the untruth of the alibi itself, I ought to fear a retaliation of the sauard, particularly at night I felt all the io out in the evening otherwise than in a gondola, or accompanied by so wisely, because, although the judges could not do otherwise than acquit me, everybody knew the real truth of the matter, and Razetta could not fail to be my deadly foe
Three or four days afterwards M Grimani announced the arrival of the bishop, who had put up at the convent of his order, at Saint-Francois de Paul He presented hly prized by himself, and as if he had been the only person worthy of descanting upon its beauty
I saw a finehis pectoral cross He would have reminded me of Father Mancia if he had not looked stouter and less reserved He was about thirty-four, and had been race of God, the Holy See, and , which I received kneeling, and givinge, in which he continued to address ht feel asha in that language to M Grimani He told me that, as he could not take me with him from Venice, I should have to proceed to Rome, where Grimani would take care to send me, and that I would procure his address at Ancona from one of his friends, called Lazari, a Minim monk, ould likewise supplyo together to Martorano by way of Naples Call upon , and have your breakfast with me I intend to leave the day after”
As ere on our way back to his house, M Gri lecture on hter
Aht not to study too hard, because the air in Calabria was very heavy, and I ht become consumptive fro at day-break I went to the bishop After saying his mass, we took some chocolate, and for three hours he laid me under examination I saw clearly that he was not pleased with h pleased with him He seereat highway of the Church, I felt attracted towards hiood opinion of my personal appearance, I had no confidence whatever in ood bishop, M Griave me a letter left by him, which I was to deliver to Father Lazari, at the Convent of the Minims, in Ancona M Grimani informed me that he would send me to that city with the a
I had therefore to keep myself in readiness, and, as I was anxious to be out of his hands, I approved all his arrangements As soon as I had notice of the day on which the suite of the ambassador would embark, I went to pay my last farewell to all my acquaintances I left my brother Francois in the school of M Joli, a celebrated decorative painter As the peotta in which I was to sail would not leave before daybreak, I spent the short night in the arms of the two sisters, who, this tiain On my side I could not forsee ould happen, for I was abandoning ht it would be useless to think of the future The night was therefore spent between joy and sadness, between pleasures and tears As I bade them adieu, I returned the key which had opened so often for me the road to happiness
This, ive me any experience of the world, for our intercourse was always a happy one, and was never disturbed by any quarrel or stained by any interested motive We often felt, all three of us, as if we must raise our souls towards the eternal Providence of God, to thank Hi, by His particular protection, kept froht have disturbed the sweet peace ere enjoying
I left in the hands of Madame Manzoni all ood wo in an ireat book of fate, toldtoyear, at the latest Her prediction causeddeep reverence for her, I thought ht After all, if she predicted the future, it was not through superstition, or in consequence of soh her knowledge of the world, and of the nature of the person she was addressing She used to laugh because she neverM Griht would keepmy stay in the lazzaretto of Ancona for the necessary quarantine, after which it was not to be supposed that I could want any money I shared Grihtlessness I cared nothing about it Yet I must say that, unknown to everybody, I had in ht sequins, which powerfully contributed to increase my cheerfulness, and I left Venice full of joy and without one regret
EPISODE 2 -- CLERIC IN NAPLES
CHAPTER VIII
My Misfortunes in Chiozza--Father Stephano--The Lazzaretto at Ancona--The Greek Slave--My Pilgrie to Our Lady of Loretto--I Go to Rome on Foot, and From Rome to Naples to Meet the Bishop--I Cannot Join Hi Martorano, Which Place I Very Quickly Leave to Return to Naples
The retinue of the arand,” appeared to me very small It was composed of a Milanese steward, named Carcinelli, of a priest who fulfilled the duties of secretary because he could not write, of an old woly wife, and eight or ten servants
We reached Chiozza about noon I, I politely asked the stehere I should put up, and his ansas:
”Wherever you please, provided you let this ive you notice when the peotta is ready to sail My duty,”
he added, ”is to leave you at the lazzaretto of Ancona free of expense from the moment we leave this place Until then enjoy yourself as well as you can”
The ive my address was the captain of the peotta