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Miss Meredith

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[Pg 89] <h2>CHAPTER X. "AS GOOD AS GOLD."</h2> Leaning out from the window of my room the next morning, I saw Andrea and his father walking slowly along the Lung' Arno in the sunlight. In the filial relation, Andrea, I had before observed, particularly shone. His charming manner was never so charming as when he was addressing his father; and the presence of his younger son appeared to have a vitalizing, rejuvenating effect on the old Marchese. And now, as I watched them pacing amicably in the delightful spring morning, the tears rose for a moment to my eyes; I remembered that it was Sunday, that a long way off in unromantic Islington my mother was making ready for the walk to church, while I, an exile, looked from my palace window with nothing better in prospect than a solitary journey to the Chiesa Inglese. Annunziata had not gone to[Pg 90] mass, and when I came downstairs ready dressed she explained that she had a headache, and was in need of a little company to cheer her up. Of course I could not do less than offer to forego my walk and attendance at church, which I did with a wistful recollection of the beauty and sweetness of the day. "Have you heard?" she said. "Costanza goes back to Florence to-night. She prefers not to miss the last two days of Carnival, Monday and Tuesday. So she says," cried the Marchesina, with a frankness that astonished me, even from her; "so she says; but between ourselves, Andrea was very attentive last night to Emilia di Rossa. Costanza ought to understand what he is by now. She has known him all her life; she ought certainly to be aware that his one little weakness—Andrea is as good as gold—is the ladies." I bent my head low over my work, with an indignant, shame-stricken consciousness that I was blushing. "He is evidently engaged to Costanza," I thought, and I wished the earth would open and swallow me. "And a young girl, like Emilia," went on Annunziata; "who knows what construction she might put[Pg 91] upon his behaviour? It is not that he says so much, but he has a way with him which is open to misinterpretation. Poor little thing, she has no money to speak of, and, even if she had, who are the Di Rossas? Andrea, for all he is so free and easy, is as proud as the devil, and the very last man to make a mésalliance. A convent, say I, will be the end of the Di Rossa." And she sighed contentedly. Was it possible that she was insulting me? Was this a warning, a warning to me, Elsie Meredith? Did she think me an adventuress, setting traps for a rich and noble husband, or merely an eager fool liable to put a misconstruction on the simplest acts of kindliness and courtesy? My blazing cheeks, no doubt, confirmed whichever suspicion she had been indulging in, but I was determined to show her that I was not afraid. Lifting my face—with its hateful crimson—boldly to hers, I said: "We in England regard marriage and—and love in another way. I know it is not so in Italy; but with us the reason for getting married is that you are fond of some one, and that some one is fond of you. Other sorts of marriages are not thought nice," with which bold and sweeping statement on behalf of my native land I returned with trembling fingers to my needlework. [Pg 92] To do me justice, I fully believed in my own words. That marriage which had not affection for its basis was shameful had been the simple creed of the little world at home. "Indeed?" said Annunziata, with genuine interest; "but, as you say, it is not so with us." My lips twitched in an irresistible smile. Her round eyes met mine so frankly, her round face was so unruffled in its amiability, that I could not but feel I had made a fool of myself. The guileless lady was prattling on, no doubt as usual, as a relief to her own feelings, and not with any underlying intention. I felt more ashamed than before of my own self-consciousness. "What is the matter with you, Elsie Meredith?" cried a voice within me. "I think your own mother wouldn't know you; your own sisters would pass you by in the street." "Andrea ought to know," went on Annunziata, "that such freedom of manners is not permissible in Italy between a young man and young women. He seems to have forgotten this in America, where, I am told, the licence is something shocking." I wished the good lady would be less confidential—what was all this to me?—and I was almost glad when[Pg 93] the ladies came sailing in from mass, all of them evidently in the worst possible tempers. There was an air of constraint about the whole party at lunch that day. Wedged in between the Marchesa and Romeo I sat silent and glum, having returned Andrea's cordial bow very coldly across the table. Every one deplored Costanza's approaching departure, rather mechanically, I thought, and that young lady herself repeatedly expressed her regret at leaving. "Dear Marchesa," she cried, "I am at my wits' end with disappointment; but my mother's letter this morning admits of but one reply. She says she cannot spare me from the gaieties of the next two days." "You might come back after Ash Wednesday," said Bianca, who sat with her arm round her friend between the courses, and whose friendship seemed to have been kindled into a blaze by the coming separation. "Dearest Bianca, if I could only persuade you to return with me!" "Bianca never makes visits," answered her mother, drily. "Were you at church this morning, Miss [Pg 94]Meredith?" asked the old Marchese, kindly, as the figs and chestnuts were put on the table. It was the first time that any one had addressed me directly throughout the meal, and I blushed hotly as I gave my answer. The departure of Costanza, her boxes and her maid, was of course the great event of the afternoon. The three gentlemen and Annunziata drove with her to the station, and I was left behind with my pupil and her mother. A stiff bow from Costanza, a glare through her double eyeglass, and a contemptuous "Good-bye, Miss," in English, had not tended to raise my spirits. To be an object of universal dislike was an experience as new as it was unpleasant, and I was losing confidence in myself with every hour. Even Bianca had deserted me, and, ensconced close to her mother, shot glances at me of her early curiosity and criticism. As for the Marchesa, that inscrutable person scarcely stopped talking all the afternoon, rattling on in her dry, colourless way about nothing at all. Speech was to her the shield and buckler which silence is to persons less gifted. Behind her own volubility she could withdraw as behind a bulwark,[Pg 95] whence she made observations safe from being herself observed. I was quite worn out by eight o'clock, when the usual Sunday visitors began to arrive. With my work in my hand, I sat on the outskirts of the throng, not working indeed, but pondering deeply. "Miss Meredith, you are very industrious." There before me stood Andrea, a very obstinate look on his face, unmindful of Annunziata's proximity and Romeo's scowls. "As it happens, I haven't put in a stitch for the last ten minutes," I answered quietly, though my heart beat. He drew a chair close to mine. "You are unfair, Andrea, you are unfair," I thought, "to make things worse for Miss Meredith by singling her out in this way, when you know it makes them all so cross. Things are bad enough for her as it is, and you might forego your little bit of amusement." I began really to stitch with unnatural industry, bending an unresponsive face over the work in my hand. "That is very pretty," said Andrea. [Pg 96] "No, no, Marchesino," I thought again, "you are as good as gold, any one could see that from your eyes; but you have a little weakness, only one—'the ladies'—and you must not be encouraged." I turned to Annunziata, who, baffled by the English speech, sat perplexed and helpless. "Marchesina," I said aloud in Italian, "the Marchesino admires my work." "I taught her how to do it," cried Annunziata, breaking into a smile. "See, it is not so easy to draw the fine gold thread through the leather, but she is an apt pupil." "Miss Meredith, I am sorry to see you looking so pale." Andrea dropped his voice very low, adhering obstinately to English and fixing his eyes on mine. "I haven't been out to-day." "What, wasting this glorious weather indoors. Is it possible that you are falling into the worst of our Italian ways?" "I generally go for a walk." I rose as I spoke, and turned to the Marchesina. "I am so tired; do you think I may be excused?" "Certainly, dear child." Bowing to the assembled company I made my way deliberately to the door. Andrea was there before[Pg 97] me, holding it open, a look of unusual sternness on his face. "Good-night, Miss Meredith," and then before them all he held out his hand. Only for a moment did our fingers join in a firm eager clasp, only for a moment did his eyes meet mine in a strange, mysterious glance. Only for a moment, but as I fled softly, rapidly along the corridor I felt that in that one instant of time all my life's meaning had been changed. "As good as gold; as good as gold." These words went round and round in my head as I lay sobbing on the pillow. Somehow that was the only part of Annunziata's warning which remained with me. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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