CHAPTER VI
A mountain ascended by these children of the forcible Isle, is amountain to be captured, and colonized, and absolutely occupied fora term; so that Vittoria soon found herself and her small body ofadherents observed, and even exclaimed against, as a sort of intrudingaborigines, whose presence entirely dispelled the sense of romanticdominion which a mighty eminence should give, and which Britons expectwhen they have expended a portion of their energies. The exclamationswere not complimentary; nevertheless, Vittoria listened with pleasedears, as one listens by a brookside near an old home, hearing a musicof memory rather than common words. They talked of heat, of appetite, ofchill, of thirst, of the splendour of the prospect, of the anticipationsof good hotel accommodation below, of the sadness superinduced by thereflection that in these days people were found everywhere, and poetrywas thwarted; again of heat, again of thirst, of beauty, and of chill.There was the enunciation of matronly advice; there was the outcryof girlish insubordination; there were sighings for English ale, andnamings of the visible ranges of peaks, and indicatings of geographicalfingers to show where Switzerland and Piedmont met, and Austria held hergrasp on Lombardy; and "to this point we go to-night; yonder to-morrow;farther the next day," was uttered, soberly or with excitement, asbefitted the age of the speaker.
Among these tourists there was one very fair English lady, with longauburn curls of the traditionally English pattern, and the science ofParis displayed in her bonnet and dress; which, if not as gracefulas severe admirers of the antique in statuary or of the mediaeval indrapery demand, pleads prettily to be thought so, and commonly succeedsin its object, when assisted by an artistic feminine manner. Vittoriaheard her answer to the name of Mrs. Sedley. She had once known her asa Miss Adela Pole. Amidst the cluster of assiduous gentlemen surroundingthis lady it was difficult for Vittoria's stolen glances to discern herhusband; and the moment she did discern him she became as indifferentto him as was his young wife, by every manifestation of her sentiments.Mrs. Sedley informed her lord that it was not expected of him to care,or to pretend to care, for such scenes as the Motterone exhibited; andhaving dismissed him to the shade of an umbrella near the provisionbaskets, she took her station within a few steps of Vittoria, andallowed her attendant gentlemen to talk while she remained plunged in ameditative rapture at the prospect. The talk indicated a settled schemefor certain members of the party to reach Milan from the Como road.Mrs. Sedley was asked if she expected her brother to join her here or inMilan.
"Here, if a man's promises mean anything," she replied languidly.
She was told that some one waved a handkerchief to them from below.
"Is he alone?" she said; and directing an operaglass upon the slope ofthe mountain, pursued, as in a dreamy disregard of circumstances: "Thatis Captain Gambier. My brother Wilfrid has not kept his appointment.Perhaps he could not get leave from the General; perhaps he is married;he is engaged to an Austrian Countess, I have heard. Captain Gambier didme the favour to go round to a place called Stresa to meet him. He hasundertaken the journey for nothing. It is the way with all journeysthough this" (the lady had softly reverted to her rapture) "this is tooexquisite! Nature at least does not deceive."
Vittoria listened to a bubbling of meaningless chatter, until CaptainGambier had joined Mrs. Sedley; and at him, for she had known himlikewise, she could not forbear looking up. He was speaking to Mrs.Sedley, but caught the look, and bent his head for a clearer view ofthe features under the broad straw hat. Mrs. Sedley commanded himimperiously to say on.
"Have you no letter from Wilfrid? Has the mountain tired you? HasWilfrid failed to send his sister one word? Surely Mr. Pericles willhave made known our exact route to him? And his uncle, General Pierson,could--I am certain he did--exert his influence to procure him leave fora single week to meet the dearest member of his family."
Captain Gambier gathered his wits to give serviceable response to thekindled lady, and letting his eyes fall from time to time on the broadstraw hat, made answer--"Lieutenant Pierson, or, in other words, WilfridPole--"
The lady stamped her foot and flushed.
"You know, Augustus, I detest that name."
"Pardon me a thousandfold. I had forgotten."
"What has happened to you?"
Captain Gambier accused the heat.
"I found a letter from Wilfrid at the hotel. He is apparently kept onconstant service between Milan, and Verona, and Venice. His quarters areat Verona. He informs me that he is to be married in the Spring; thatis, if all continues quiet; married in the Spring. He seems to fancythat there may be disturbances; not of a serious kind, of course. Hewill meet you in Milan. He has never been permitted to remain at Milanlonger than a couple of days at a stretch. Pericles has told him thatshe is in Florence. Pericles has told me that Miss Belloni has removedto Florence."
"Say it a third time," the lady indulgently remarked.
"I do not believe that she has gone."
"I dare say not."
"She has changed her name, you know."
"Oh, dear, yes; she has done something fantastic, naturally! For mypart, I should have thought her own good enough."
"Emilia Alessandra Belloni is good enough, certainly," said CaptainGambier.
The shading straw rim had shaken once during the colloquy. It was now afixed defence.
"What is her new name?" Mrs. Sedley inquired.
"That I cannot tell. Wilfrid merely mentions that he has not seen her."
"I," said Mrs. Sedley, "when I reach Milan, shall not trust to Mr.Pericles, but shall write to the Conservatorio; for if she is goingto be a great cantatrice, really, it will be agreeable to renewacquaintance with her. Nor will it do any mischief to Wilfrid, now thathe is engaged. Are you very deeply attached to straw hats? They aresweet in a landscape."
Mrs. Sedley threw him a challenge from her blue eyes; but his reply toit was that of an unskilled youth, who reads a lady by the letters ofher speech:--"One minute. I will be with you instantly. I want to have alook down on the lake. I suppose this is one of the most splendid viewsin Italy. Half a minute!"
Captain Gambier smiled brilliantly; and the lady, perceiving thatpolished shield, checked the shot of indignation on her astonishedfeatures, and laid it by. But the astonishment lingered there, like thelines of a slackened bow. She beheld her ideal of an English gentlemanplace himself before these recumbent foreign people, and turn to talkacross them, with a pertinacious pursuit of the face under the bentstraw hat. Nor was it singular to her that one of them at last shouldrise and protest against the continuation of the impertinence.
Carlo Ammiani, in fact, had opened matters with a scrupulously-courteousbow.
"Monsieur is perhaps unaware that he obscures the outlook?"
"Totally, monsieur," said Captain Gambier, and stood fast.
"Will monsieur do me the favour to take three steps either to the rightor to the left?"
"Pardon, monsieur, but the request is put almost in the form of anorder."
"Simply if it should prove inefficacious in the form of a request."
"What, may I ask, monsieur, is your immediate object?"
"To entreat you to behave with civility."
"I am at a loss, monsieur, to perceive any offence."
"Permit me to say, it is lamentable you do not know when you insult alady."
"I have insulted a lady?" Captain Gambier looked profoundly incredulous."Oh! then you will not take exception to my assuming the privilege toapologize to her in person?"
Ammiani arrested him as he was about to pass.
"Stay, monsieur; you determine to be impudent, I perceive; you shall notbe obtrusive."
Vittoria had tremblingly taken old Agostino's hand, and had risen to herfeet. Still keeping her face hidden, she walked down the slope, followedat an interval by her servant, and curiously watched by the Englishofficer, who said to himself, "Well, I suppose I was mistaken," andconsequently discovered that he was in a hobble.
A short duologue in
their best stilted French ensued between him andAmmiani. It was pitched too high in a foreign tongue for Captain Gambierto descend from it, as he would fain have done, to ask the lady's name.They exchanged cards and formal salutes, and parted.
The dignified altercation had been witnessed by the main body of thetourists. Captain Gambier told them that he had merely interchangedamicable commonplaces with the Frenchman,--"or Italian," he addedcarelessly, reading the card in his hand. "I thought she might besomebody whom we knew," he said to Mrs. Sedley.
"Not the shadow of a likeness to her," the lady returned.
She had another opinion when later a scrap of paper bearing onepencilled line on it was handed round. A damsel of the party had pickedit up near the spot where, as she remarked, "the foreigners had beensitting." It said:--
"Let none who look for safety go to Milan."