Part 40 (1/2)
”Ingeborg, if I were you, I'd get to the bottom of this, there's something mysterious about it.”
”No,” said Ingeborg, ”I won't pry; if Ragna had wished me to know, she would have told me. As long as she doesn't, I wouldn't spy on her for all the world. She must have some good reason, it's not like her to fly off at a tangent!”
”If you knew more, you might be able to help her, to explain things to your Aunt.”
”Yes,” said Ingeborg, ”that is true; I might--”
”I have an idea,” said Astrid suddenly, ”I shall write to the Signora Ferrati, she may be able to tell us something; you know Ragna went back to Florence with her so she must know all about it.”
”Wouldn't that seem like going behind Ragna's back?” objected Ingeborg.
”Oh, I shall be careful about that. I shall just write in a friendly way and say how surprised we all were at the announcement of the marriage.
And it will be only natural for her to tell how it came about, in her reply. We may find out a good deal that way, and I don't know how else.
Besides she is very fond of Ragna, and wouldn't do or say anything to hurt her feelings.”
”Very well,” agreed Ingeborg grudgingly, ”write to the Signora Ferrati, and show me her answer, when it comes. But, Astrid, you won't say anything to anybody, except just that Ragna is married, will you?”
”Of course not, dear.”
Then they kissed each other on the cheek, and Ingeborg accompanied Astrid to the door and went to her own room, the one that had been Ragna's formerly, and sat down to compose a letter to her sister.
Fru Boyesen was writing also, a letter which she was to bitterly regret, the more so that her pride would not let her recall it or abandon the position she had taken. She felt a savage joy in wounding as she had been wounded, and re-read the finished note with the pride of an artist in his masterpiece, yet with a pang at heart.
”My dear niece,” it ran, ”I am much obliged to you for your letter, showing, as it does, so nice a consideration for my feelings and so just an appreciation of your duty towards me. I rejoice in your independence of spirit, and since you have shown yourself quite able to dispense with my counsel or a.s.sistance I shall not trouble you in future with either.
”(Signed) YOUR AUNT GITTA.
”P. S.--You need not bother about answering this letter, as I think you must understand that any correspondence between us has become unnecessary.”
She stamped the letter, frowning as she wrote the address, and affixed a large seal of black wax. Allowing herself no time for reflection, she rang for a maid and gave orders that the letter should be immediately posted. Then, determined that the shock which had broken the whole current of her life should leave no trace on her everyday existence, she brought out her account-books, it being her accustomed Sat.u.r.day morning's task, and proceeded to carefully check the tradesmen's bills for the week.
CHAPTER IV
To Ragna her Aunt's letter was a shock and a grief, but not unexpected.
She had warned Egidio that something of the kind was to be looked for and as Ingeborg's letter arrived at the same time bidding Ragna be patient and hope for the best, promising that she, Ingeborg, would bend all her efforts to winning their Aunt over, Valentini was not really disappointed. Ingeborg, however, had made the mistake of advising Ragna strongly against writing to Fru Boyesen in the existing state of affairs. The poor woman in spite of her plainly expressed wish to the contrary, was secretly hoping for a letter from Ragna, a dutifully humble letter which might permit of her abating somewhat of her wrath.
But Ragna followed her sister's advice, and no letter came. So the misunderstanding deepened.
It has been said that one can accustom one's self to anything, and it is certain that after the first few days of her marriage Ragna lost, to a great extent, the feeling of moral and physical degradation which at first had made her wish to cover her face forever from the eyes of mankind. Or rather, as some feelings are too poignant to be born long, there ensued a deadening of the fibres, and the daily torment became a burden to which she learned to bend her back. She even took a bitter satisfaction in saying to herself that she was paying her debt to the full, earning her salt of outward respectability as it were, by the prost.i.tution of her soul. As for her body, it seemed to her a thing to leave out of account henceforward, a temple profaned beyond all hope of purification.
Respite came to her though, after some time, by Dr. Ferrati's dissatisfaction with her state of health, and his consequent prescription of complete rest.
He even took Valentini aside and berated him soundly.
”Have you no sense at all, Egidio, you who know your wife's condition, that you take so little care of her? If you keep on in this way, I tell you, I won't be answerable for the consequences!”
Virginia watched the course of events but refrained from comment, much to her husband's relief, for there was something in the expression of Ragna's eyes, a miserable, hunted look that made him most uncomfortable.
She never complained and when he tried to sound her, she fenced as before her marriage; once even, when he went so far as to put a direct question, she resolutely denied any cause for unhappiness.