Part 26 (2/2)
”And, according to your laws, this Lord Glencore may marry again?” cried the Russian.
”I should think so, if he has no wife living,” said Selby; ”but I trust, for _my_ sake, he'll not.”
”And what if he should, and should be discovered the wedded husband of another?”
”That would be bigamy,” said Selby. ”Would they hang him, Baynton?”
”I think not,--scarcely,” rejoined the Colonel.
The Prince tried in various ways to obtain some insight into Lord Glencore's habits, his tastes and mode of life, but all in vain. They knew, indeed, very little, but even that little they were too indolent to repeat. Lord Selby's memory was often at fault, too, and Baynton's had ill supplied the deficiency. Again and again did the Russian mutter curses to himself over the apathy of these stony islanders. At moments he fancied that they suspected his eagerness, and had a.s.sumed their most guarded caution against him; but he soon perceived that this manner was natural to them, not prompted in the slightest degree by any distrust whatever.
”After all,” thought the Russian, ”how can I hope to stimulate a man who is not excited by his own increase of fortune? Talk of Turkish fatalism, these fellows would shame the Moslem.”
”Do you mean to prolong your stay at Florence, my Lord?” asked the Prince, as they arose from the table.
”I scarcely know. What do you say, Baynton?”
”A week or so, I fancy,” muttered the other.
”And then on to Rome, perhaps?”
The two Englishmen looked at each other with an air of as much confusion as if subjected to a searching examination in science.
”Well, I shouldn't wonder,” said Selby, at last, with a sigh.
”Yes, it may come to that,” said Baynton, like a man who had just overcome a difficulty.
”You 'll be in time for the Holy Week and all the ceremonies,” said the Prince.
”Mind that, Baynton,” said his Lords.h.i.+p, who wasn't going to carry what he felt to be another man's load; and Baynton nodded acquiescence.
”And after that comes the season for Naples,--you have a month or six weeks, perhaps, of such weather as nothing in all Europe can vie with.”
”You hear, Baynton!” said Selby.
”I've booked it,” muttered the other; and so they took leave of their entertainer, and set out towards Florence. Neither you nor I, dear reader, will gain anything by keeping them company, for they say scarcely a word by the way. They stop at intervals, and cast their eyes over the glorious landscape at their feet. Their glances are thrown over the fairest scene of the fairest of all lands; and whether they turn towards the snow-capt Apennines, by Vall'ombrosa, or trace the sunny vineyards along the Val' d' Arno, they behold a picture such as no canvas ever imitated; still, they are mute and uncommunicative. Whatever of pleasure their thoughts suggest, each keeps for himself. Objects of wonder, strange sights and new, may present themselves, but they are not to be startled out of national dignity by so ign.o.ble a sentiment as surprise. And so they jog onward,--doubtless richer in reflection than eloquent in communion; and so we leave them.
Let us not be deemed unjust or ungenerous if we a.s.sert that we have met many such as these. They are not individuals,--they are a cla.s.s; and, strange enough too, a cla.s.s which almost invariably pertains to a high and distinguished rank in society. It would be presumptuous to ascribe such demeanor to insensibility. There is enough in their general conduct to disprove the a.s.sumption. As little is it affectation; it is simply an acquired habit of stoical indifference, supposed to be--why, Heaven knows!--the essential ingredient of the best breeding. If the practice extinguish all emotion, and obliterate all trace of feeling from the heart, we deplore the system. If it only gloss over the working of human sympathy, we pity the men. At all events, they are very uninteresting company, with whom longer dalliance would only be wearisome.
CHAPTER XXI. SOME TRAITS OF LIFE
It was the night Lady Glencore received; and, as usual, the street was crowded with equipages, which somehow seemed to have got into inextricable confusion,--some endeavoring to turn back, while others pressed forward,--the court of the palace being closely packed with carriages which the thronged street held in fast blockade. As the apartments which faced the street were not ever used for these receptions, the dark unlighted windows suggested no remark; but they who had entered the courtyard were struck by the gloomy aspect of the vast building: not only that the entrance and the stairs were in darkness, but the whole suite of rooms, usually brilliant as the day, were now in deep gloom. From every carriage window heads were protruded, wondering at this strange spectacle; and eager inquiries pa.s.sed on every side for an explanation. The explanation of ”sudden illness” was rapidly disseminated, but as rapidly contradicted, and the reply given by the porter to all demands quickly repeated from mouth to mouth, ”Her Ladys.h.i.+p will not receive.”
”Can no one explain this mystery?” cried the old Princess Borinsky, as, heavy with fat and diamonds, she hung out of her carriage window.
”Oh, there 's Major Scaresby; he is certain to know, if it be anything malicious.”
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