Part 11 (2/2)
One or two of the workmen who were busy polis.h.i.+ng the rose-marble pilasters of the loggia, here saluted her--she returned their salutations with an enchanting smile.
”How delightful it all is!” she said--”I feel the real use of dollars at last! This beautiful 'palazzo,' in one of the loveliest places in the world--all the delicious flowers running down in garlands to the very sh.o.r.e of the sea-and liberty to enjoy life as one wishes to enjoy it, without hindrance or argument--without even the hindrance and argument of--love!” She laughed, and gave a mirthful upward glance at the Marchese's somewhat sullen countenance. ”Come and have luncheon with me! You are the major-domo for the present--you have engaged the servants and you know the run of the house--you must show me everything and tell me everything! I have quite a nice chaperone--such a dear old English lady 'of t.i.tle' as they say in the 'Morning Post'--so it's all quite right and proper--only she doesn't know a word of Italian and very little French. But that's quite British you know!”
She pa.s.sed, smiling, into the house, and he followed.
CHAPTER VII
Perhaps there is no lovelier effect in all nature than a Sicilian sunset, when the sky is one rich blaze of colour and the sea below reflects every vivid hue as in a mirror,--when the very air breathes voluptuous indolence, and all the restless work of man seems an impertinence rather than a necessity. Morgana, for once in her quick restless life, felt the sudden charm of sweet peace and holy tranquility, as she sat, or rather reclined at ease in a long lounge chair after dinner in her rose-marble loggia facing the sea and watching the intense radiance of the heavens burning into the still waters beneath. She had pa.s.sed the afternoon going over her whole house and gardens, and to the Marchese Giulio Rivardi had expressed herself completely satisfied,--while he, to whom unlimited means had been entrusted to carry out her wishes, wondered silently as to the real extent of her fortune, and why she should have spent so much in restoring a ”palazzo” for herself alone. An occasional thought of ”the only man” she had said she was ”disposed” to like, teased his brain; but he was not petty-minded or jealous. He was keenly and sincerely interested in her intellectual capacity, and he knew, or thought he knew, the nature of woman. He watched her now as she reclined, a small slim figure in white, with the red glow of the sun playing on the gold uptwisted coil of her hair,--a few people of the neighbourhood had joined her at dinner, and these were seated about, sipping coffee and chatting in the usual frivolous way of after-dinner guests--one or two of them were English who had made their home in Sicily,--the others were travelling Americans.
”I guess you're pretty satisfied with your location, Miss Royal”--said one of these, a pleasant-faced grey-haired man, who for four or five years past had wintered in Sicily with his wife, a frail little creature always on the verge of the next world--”It would be difficult to match this place anywhere! You only want one thing to complete it!”
Morgana turned her lovely eyes indolently towards him over the top of the soft feather fan she was waving lightly to and fro.
”One thing? What is that?” she queried.
”A husband!”
She smiled.
”The usual appendage!” she said--”To my mind, quite unnecessary, and likely to spoil the most perfect environment! Though the Marchese Rivardi DID ask me to-day what was the use of my pretty 'palazzo' and gardens without love! A sort of ethical conundrum!”
She glanced at Rivardi as she spoke--he was rolling a cigarette in his slim brown fingers and his face was impa.s.sively intent on his occupation.
”Well, that's so!”--and her American friend looked at her kindly--”Even a fairy palace and a fairy garden might prove lonesome for one!”
”And boresome for two!” laughed Morgana--”My dear Colonel Boyd! It is not every one who is fitted for matrimony--and there exist so many that ARE,--eminently fitted--we can surely allow a few exceptions! I am one of those exceptions. A husband would be excessively tiresome to me, and very much in my way!”
Colonel Boyd laughed heartily.
”You won't always think so!” he said--”Such a charming little woman must have a heart somewhere!”
”Oh, yes, dear!” chimed in his fragile invalid wife, ”I am sure you have a heart!”
Morgana raised herself on her cus.h.i.+ons to a sitting posture and looked round her with a curious little air or defiance.
”A heart I MUST have!” she said--”otherwise I could not live. It is a necessary muscle. But what YOU call 'heart'--and what the dear elusive poets write about, is simply brain,--that is to say, an impulsive movement of the brain, suggesting the desirability of a particular person's companions.h.i.+p--and we elect to call that 'love'! On that mere impulse people marry.”
”It's a good impulse”--said Colonel Boyd, still smiling broadly--”It founds families and continues the race!”
”Ah, yes! But I often wonder why the race should be continued at all!”
said Morgana--”The time is ripe for a new creation!”
A slow footfall sounded on the garden path, and the tall figure of a man clad in the everyday ecclesiastical garb of the Roman Church ascended the steps of the loggia.
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