Part 25 (1/2)
”What is it?”
”I am afraid to pronounce it”
”Try, at any rate”
”Idiosyncrasy,” said Mrs Thornton ”For five or six years I have been on the look-out for an opportunity to use that word, and thus far I have been unsuccessful I fear that if the opportunity did occur I would call it 'idiocracy' In fact, I knoould”
”And ould be the difference? Your ht, and it is to motives that we e, Mrs Thornton drew a letter froravely, ”is Paolo's letter Read it, and tell me what you think of it”
Despard took the letter and began to read, while Mrs Thornton, sitting opposite to him, watched his face
The letter was in Italian, and was accoe and closely-written es
”HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, January 2, 1847
”MY SWEETEST LITTLE SISTER,--I send you my diary, as I promised you, my Teresella, and you will see all my adventures Take care of yourself, be happy, and let us hope that we h the ood God, and hope to continue so There is no such thing as an where I can play My Creh hard times--it sends a note of love to ht Thornton, whom you love May God bless my little sister's husband, and fill his heart with love for the sweetest of children!
”Read this manuscript carefully, Teresuola mia dolcissima, and pray for the souls of those unhappy ones who perished by the pestilence”
CHAPTER XV
JOURNAL OF PAOLO LANGHETTI
Liverpool, June 2, 1840--I pros, and now I begin, not knohether it will be worth reading or not, but knowing this: that my corellina will read it all with equal interest, whether it be trivial or ie in the shi+p _Tecumseh_ from Liverpool to Quebec
I have embarked in her for no better reason than this, that she is the first that will sail, and I am impatient The first New York shi+p does not leave for a fortnight A fortnight in Liverpool! Horror!
I have been on board to secure rants It is a pity, but it can not be helped All shi+ps have e evacuated There will soon be no peasants to till the soil What enormous misery must be in that most wretched of countries! Is Italy worse? Yes, far worse; for Italy has a past to contrast with the present, whereas Ireland has no past
At Sea, June 4--We are many rants on board--men, women, and children I am told that most of these are frooing to seek their fortune in America As I look on them I think, My God! what misery there is in this world! And yet what can I do to alleviate it? I aht hereafter
June 10--Six hundred passengers! They are all crowded together in a htful to me Comfort is out of the question; the direst distress is every where present; the poor wretches only try to escape suffering During storms they are shut in; there is little ventilation; and the horror that reigns in that hold will not let me either eat or sleep I have remonstrated with the captain, but without effect He toldThe owners of the shi+p put them on board, and he was employed to take them to their proper destination My God! ill become of them?
June 15--There have been a few days of fine weather The wretched e theed to a different class There was a lady with a young irl, ere evidently her children The lady has once been beautiful, and still bears the traces of that beauty, though her face indicates the extrenificent appearance, though as yet not full-grown The daughter iswhom I have ever seen She is different from my Bicetta Bice is Grecian, with a face like that of a marble statue, and a soul of purely classic mould Bice is serene She reminds me of Artemis Bice is an artist to her inmost heart Bice I love as I love you, my Teresina, and I never expect to meet with one who can so interpret irl is more spiritual Bice is classic, this one is medieval Bice is a Goddess, this one a saint Bice is Artenes or Saint Cecilia There is in that sweet and holy face the same depth of devotion which our painters portray on the face of the Madonna This little faers, separated by the wide gulf of superior rank, for they arethe upper classes, but stillto see the love of the mother for her children, and the love of the children for their s which I feel to express to theained roup I went up to the in obedience to a resistless impulse, and with the most tender syies, offered the young ratefully and frankly He met me half-way in ratitude, as though kindness and sympathy were unknown to her ”God will reward you, Sir,” she said, in a tremulous voice, ”for your sympathy with the miserable”
”Dear Madame,” said I, ”I wish no other reward than the consciousness that I may have alleviated your distress”
My heart bled for these poor creatures Cast down from a life which must have once been one of luxury, they were now in the foulest of places, the hold of an erant shi+p I went back to the captain to see if I could not do soive up my room to them He said I could do so if I wished, but that there was no room left in the cabin Had there been I would have hired one and insisted on their going there
I went to see the lady, and made this proposal as delicately as I could
There were two berths in hter to take theratitude But I would not be so put off To the hter in that den of horror; to the daughter I pointed out the condition of the mother; to the son I showed the position of his s of their hearts Forthe sailors in the forecastle, and that I preferred doing so By such means as these I moved them to consent They did so with an expression of thankfulness that brought tears to my eyes
”Dear Madame,” said I, ”you will breakI have been a wanderer for years, and can live any where”
It was not till then that I found out their names I told them hetti?” said the mother