Volume Ii Part 20 (2/2)

”Let us take possession of that sofa,” said Mrs. Gore, moving towards one. ”And now, Doddy, I want to present you to my dearest friend on earth, my own darling Georgina.”

Then they both kissed, and I muttered some stupid nonsense of my own.

”This, Georgy,--this is that dear creature of whom you have heard me speak so often; this is that generous, n.o.ble-hearted soul whose devotion is written upon my heart; and this,” said she, turning to the other side, ”this is my more than sister,--my adored Georgina!”

I took my place between them on the sofa, and was formally presented to whom?--guess you? No less a person than Lady George Tiverton! Ay, Tom, the fascinating creature with the dark orbs was another injured woman!

I was not to be treated like a common acquaintance, it seemed, for ”Georgy” began a recital of her husband's cruelties to me. Of all the wretches I ever heard or read he went far beyond them. There was not an indignity, not an outrage, he had not pa.s.sed on her. He studied cruelties to inflict upon her. She had been starved, beaten, bruised, and, I believe, chained to a log.

She drew down her dress to show me some mark of cruelty on her shoulder; and though I saw nothing to shock me, I took her word for the injury.

In fact, Tom, I was lost in wonderment how one that had gone through so much not only retained the loveliness of her looks, but all the fascinations of her beauty, unimpaired by any traits of suffering.

What a terrible story it was, to be sure! Now he had sold her diamonds to a Jew; now he had disposed of her beautiful dark hair to a wig-maker.

In his reckless extravagance her very teeth were not safe in her head; but more dreadful than all were the temptations he had exposed her to,--sweet, young, artless, and lovely as she was! All the handsome fellows about town,--all that was gay, das.h.i.+ng, and attractive,--the young Peerage and the Blues,--all at her feet; but her saintlike purity triumphed; and it was really quite charming to hear how these two pretty women congratulated each other on all the perils they had pa.s.sed through unharmed, and the dangers through which virtue had borne them triumphant. There I sat, Tom, almost enveloped in gauze and Valenciennes,--for their wide flounces encompa.s.sed me, their beauteous faces at either side, their soft breath fanning me,--listening to tales of man's infamy that made my blood boil. To the excitement of the champagne had succeeded the delirious intoxication compounded of pa.s.sionate indignation and glowing admiration; and at any minute I felt ready to throw myself at the heads of the husbands or the feet of their wives!

Vast crowds moved by us as we sat there, and I could perceive that we were by no means unnoticed by the company. At last I perceived an elderly lady, leaning on a young man's arm, whom I thought I recognized; but she quickly averted her head and said something to her companion.

He turned and bowed coldly to me; and I perceived it was Morris,--or Penrhyn, I suppose he calls himself now; and, indeed, his new dignity would seem to have completely overcome him. Mrs. G. H. asked his name; and when I told it, said she would permit me to present him to her,--a liberty I had no intention to profit by.

The company was now thinning fast; and so, giving an arm to each of my fair friends, we descended to the cloak-ing-room. ”Call our carriage, Doddy,--the Villino Amaldini! for Georgy and I go together,” said Mrs.

G. I saw them to the door, helped them in, kissed their hands, promised to call on them early on the morrow,--”Villa Amaldini,--Via Amaldini,”--got the name by heart; another squeeze of the two fair hands, and away they rolled, and I turned homeward in a frame of mind of which I have not courage to attempt the description.

When I arrived at our lodgings, it was nigh three o'clock; Mary Anne and Cary were both sitting up waiting for me. The police had made a descent on the house in my absence, and carried away three hundred and seventy copies of the blessed little tract, all our house bills, some of your letters, and the girls' Italian exercises; a very formidable array of correspondence, to which some equations in algebra, by James, contributed the air of a cipher.

”Well, papa, what tidings?” cried both the girls, as I entered the room. ”When is she to be liberated? What says the Minister?--is he outrageous?--was he civil?--did he show much energy?”

”Wait a bit, my dears,” said I, ”and let me collect myself. After all I have gone through, my head is none of the clearest.”

This was quite true, Tom, as you may readily believe. They both waited, accordingly, with a most exemplary patience; and there we sat in silence, confronting each other; and I own to you honestly, a criminal in a dock never had a worse conscience than myself at that moment.

”Girls,” said I, at last, ”if I am to have brains to carry me through this difficult negotiation, it will only be by giving me the most perfect peace and tranquillity. No questioning--no interrogation--no annoyance of any kind--you understand me--this,” said I, touching my forehead,--”this must be undisturbed.” They both looked at each other without speaking, and I went on; but what I said, and how I said it, I have no means of knowing: I dashed intrepidly into the wide sea of European politics, mixing up Mrs. D. with Mazzini, making out something like a very strong case against her. From that I turned to Turkey and the Danubian Provinces, and brought in Omer Pasha and the Earl of Guzeberry; plainly showing that their mother was a wronged and injured woman, and that Sir Somebody Dundas might be expected any moment at the mouth of the Arno, to exact redress for her wrongs. ”And now,” said I, winding up, ”you know as much of the matter as I do, my dears; you view things from the same level as myself; and so, off to bed, and we 'll resume the consideration of the subject in the morning.” I did n't wait for more, but took my candle and departed.

”Poor papa!” said Mary Anne, as I closed the door; ”he talks quite wildly. This sad affair has completely affected his mind.”

”He certainly _does_ talk most incoherently,” said Cary; ”I hope we shall find him better in the morning.” Ah! Tom, I pa.s.sed a wretched night of self-accusation and sorrow. There was nothing Mrs. D. herself could have said to me that I did n't say. I called myself a variety of the hardest names, and inveighed stoutly against my depravity and treachery. The consequence was that I couldn't sleep a wink, and rose early, to try and shake off my feverish state by a walk.

I sallied out into the streets, and half unconsciously took the way to the prison. It was one of those old feudal fortresses--half jail, half palace--that the Medici were so fond of,--grim-looking, narrow-windowed, high-battlemented buildings, that stand amidst modern edifices as a mailed knight might stand in a group of our every-day dandies. I looked up at its dark and sullen front with a heavy and self-reproaching heart.

”Your wife is there, Kenny Dodd,” said I, ”a prisoner!--treated like a malefactor and a felon!--carried away by force, without trial or investigation, and already sentenced--for a prisoner is under sentence when even pa.s.singly deprived of liberty--and there you stand, powerless and inactive! For this you quitted a land where there is at least a law, and the appeal to it open to every one! For this you have left a country where personal liberty can be a.s.sailed neither by tyranny nor corruption! For this you have come hundreds of miles away from home, to subject yourself and those belonging to you to the miserable despotism of petty tyrants and the persecution of bigots! Why don't they print it in large letters in every pa.s.sport what one has to expect in these journeyings? What nonsense it is to say that Kenny Dodd is to travel at his pleasure, and that the authorities themselves are neither to give nor 'permettre qu'il lui soit donn empchement quelconque, mais au contraire toute aide et a.s.sistance!' Why not be frank, and say, 'Kenny Dodd comes abroad at his own proper risk and peril, to be cheated in Belgium, bamboozled in Holland, and blackguarded on the Rhine; with full liberty to be robbed in Spain, imprisoned in Italy, and knouted in Russia'? With a few such facts as these before you, you would think twice on the Tower Stairs, and perhaps deliberate a little at Dover.

It's no use making a row because foreigners do not adopt our notions.

They have no Habeas Corpus, just as they have no London Stout,--maybe for the same reason, too,--it would n't suit the climate. But what brings us amongst them! There's the question. Why do we come so far away from home to eat food that disagrees with us, and live under laws we cry out against? Is it consistent with common-sense to run amuck through the statutes of foreign nations just out of wilfulness? I wish my wife was out of that den, and I wish we were all back in Dodsborough.” And with that wise reflection, uttered in all the fulness of my heart, I turned slowly away and reached the Arno. A gentleman raised his hat politely to me as I pa.s.sed. I turned hastily, and saw it was Morris. His salute was a cold one, and showed no inclination for nearer acquaintance; but I was too much humiliated in my own esteem to feel pride, so I followed and overtook him. His reception of me was so chilling, Tom, that even before I spoke I regretted the step I had adopted. I rallied, however, and after reminding him how on a former occasion I had been benefited by his able intervention in my behalf, briefly told him of Mrs. D.'s arrest, and the great embarra.s.sment I felt as to the course to be taken.

He thawed in a moment. All his distance was at once abandoned, and, kindly offering me his arm, begged me to relate what had occurred.

He listened calmly, patiently,--I might almost say, coldly. He never dropped a sentence,--not a syllable like sympathy or condolence. He had n't as much as a word of honest indignation against the outrageous behavior of the authorities. In fact, Tom, he took the whole thing just as much as a matter of course as if there was nothing remarkable nor strange in imprisoning an Englishwoman, and the mother of a family. He made a few pencil notes in his pocket-book as to dates and such-like, and then, looking at his watch, said,--

”We'll go and breakfast with Dunthorpe. You know him intimately, don't you?”

I had to confess I did not know him at all.

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