Volume Ii Part 25 (2/2)
But why do I loiter within doors when it is of Florence itself, of its sunny Arno, of its cypress-crowned San Miniato, and of the villa-clad Fiezole I would tell you! But even these are so interwoven with the frame of mind in which I now enjoy them, that to speak of them would be again to revert to my selfishness.
Yesterday we made an excursion to Vallambrosa, which lies in a cleft between two lofty mountains, about thirteen miles from this. It was a strange transition from the warm air and sunny streets of Florence, with all their objects of artistic wonder on every side, to find one's self suddenly traversing a wild mountain gorge in a rude bullock-cart, guided by a peasant of semi-savage aspect, his sheepskin mantle and long ox-goad giving a picturesque air to his tall and sinewy figure. The snow lay heavily in all the crevices around, and it was a perfectly Alpine scene in its desolation; nor, I must say, did it recall a single one of the ideas with which our great poet has a.s.sociated it. The thickly strewn leaves have no existence here, since the trees are not deciduous, and consist entirely of pines.
A straight avenue in the forest leads to the convent, which is of immense size, forming a great quadrangle. At a little distance off, sheltered by a thick grove of tall pines, stands a small building appropriated to the accommodation of strangers, who are the guests of the monks for any period short of three days, and by a special permission for even a longer time.
We pa.s.sed the day and the night there, and I would willingly have lingered still longer. From the mountain peak above the convent the two seas at either side of the peninsula are visible, and the Gulf of Genoa and the Adriatic are stretched out at your feet, with the vast plain of Central Italy, dotted over with cities, every name of which is a spell to memory! Thence back to Florence, and all that gay world that seemed so small to the eye the day before! And now, dearest Miss c.o.x, let me conclude, ere my own littleness become more apparent; for here I am, tossing over laces and embroidery, gazing with rapture at brooches and bracelets, and actually fancying how captivating I shall be when apparelled in all this finery. It would be mere deceitfulness in me were I to tell you that I am not charmed with the splendor that surrounds me.
Let me only hope that it may not corrupt that heart which at no time was more entirely your own than while I write myself yours affectionately,
Caroline Dodd.
LETTER x.x.xII. KENNY JAMES DODD TO THOMAS PURCELL, ESQ., OF THE GRANGE, BRUFF.
Florence.
Well, my dear Tom, my task is at last completed,--my _magnum opus_ accomplished. I have carried all my measures, if not with triumphant majorities, at least with a ”good working party,” as the slang has it, and I stand proudly pre-eminent the head of the Dodd Administration. I have no patience for details. I like better to tell you the results in some striking paragraph, to be headed ”Latest Intelligence,” and to run thus: ”Our last advices inform us that, notwithstanding the intrigues in the Cabinet, K. I. maintains his ascendency. We have no official intelligence of the fact, but all the authorities concur in believing that the Dodds are about to leave the Continent and return to Ireland.”
Ay, Tom, that is the grand and comprehensive measure of family reform I have so long labored over, and at length have the proud gratification to see Law!
I find, on looking back, that I left off on my being sent for by Belton.
I 'll try and take up one of the threads of my tangled narrative at that point. I found him at his hotel in conversation with a very smartly dressed, well-whiskered, kid-gloved little man, whom he presented as ”Mr. Curl Davis, of Lincoln's Inn.” Mr. D. was giving a rather pleasant account of the casualties of his first trip to Italy when I entered, but immediately stopped, and seemed to think that the hour of business should usurp the time of mere amus.e.m.e.nt.
Belton soon informed me why, by telling me that Mr. C. D. was a London collector who transacted the foreign affairs for various discounting houses at home, and who held a roving commission to worry, hara.s.s, and torment all such and sundry as might have drawn, signed, or endorsed bills, either for their own accommodation or that of their friends.
Now, I had not the most remote notion how I should come to figure in this category. I knew well that you had ”taken care of”--that's the word--all my little missives in that fas.h.i.+on. So persuaded was I of my sincerity that I offered him at once a small wager that he had mistaken his man, and that it was, in fact, some other Dodd, bent on bringing our honorable name to shame and disgrace.
”It must, under these circ.u.mstances, then,” said he, ”be a very gross case of forgery, for the name is yours; nor can I discover any other with the same Christian names.” So saying, he produced a pocket-book, like a family Bible, and drew from out a small part.i.tion of it a bill for five hundred pounds, at nine months, drawn and endorsed by me in favor of the Hon. Augustus Gore Hampton!
This precious doc.u.ment had now about fifty-two hours some odd minutes to run. In other words, it was a crocodile's egg with the sh.e.l.l already bursting, and the reptile's head prepared to spring out.
”The writing, if not yours, is an admirable imitation,” said Davis, surveying it through his double eye-gla.s.s.
”Is it yours?” asked Belton.
”Yes,” said I, with a great effort to behave like an ancient Roman.
”Ah, then, it is all correct,” said Davis, smirking. ”I am charmed to find that the case presents no difficulty whatsoever.”
”I 'm not quite so certain of that, sir,” said I; ”I take a very different view of the transaction.”
”Don't be alarmed, Mr. Dodd,” said he, coaxingly, ”we are not Shylocks.
We will meet your convenience in any way; in fact, it is with that sole object I have come out from England. 'Don't negotiate it,' said Mr. Gore Hampton to me,' if you can possibly help it; see Mr. D. himself, ask what arrangement will best suit him, take half the amount in cash, and renew the bill at three months, rather than push him to an inconvenience.' I a.s.sure you these were his own words, for there is n't a more generous fellow breathing than Gore.” Mr. Davis uttered this with a kind of hearty expansiveness, as though to say, ”The man 's my friend, and let me see who 'll gainsay me.”
”Am I at liberty to inquire into the circ.u.mstances of this transaction?”
said Belton, who had been for some minutes attentively examining the bill, and the several names upon it, and comparing the writing with some other that he held in his hand.
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