Violante was indeed a bewitching child--a child to whom I defy Mrs
Caudle herself (immortal Mrs Caudle!) to have been a harsh stepmother.
Look at her now, as, released from those kindly arms, she stands, still
clinging with one hand to her new mamma, and holding out the other to
Riccabocca--with those large dark eyes swimming in happy tears. What a
lovely smile!--what an ingenuous candid brow! She looks delicate--she
evidently requires care--she wants the mother. And rare is the woman
who would not love her the better for that! Still, what an innocent
infantine bloom in those clear smooth cheeks!--and in that slight
frame, what exquisite natural grace!
"And this, I suppose, is your nurse, darling?" said Mrs Riccabocca,
observing a dark foreign-looking woman, dressed very strangely--without
cap or bonnet, but a great silver arrow stuck in her hair, and a
filagree chain or necklace resting upon her kerchief.
"Ah, good Annetta," said Violante in Italian. "Papa, she says she is to
go back; but she is not to go back--is she?"
Riccabocca, who had scarcely before noticed the woman, started at
that question--exchanged a rapid glance with Jackeymo--and then,
muttering some inaudible excuse, approached the Nurse, and, beckoning
her to follow him, went away into the grounds. He did not return for
more than an hour, nor did the woman then accompany him home. He said
briefly to his wife that the Nurse was obliged to return at once to
Italy, and that she would stay in the village to catch the mail; that
indeed she would be of no use in their establishment, as she could not
speak a word of English; but that he was sadly afraid Violante would
pine for her. And Violante did pine at first. But still, to a child
it is so great a thing to find a parent--to be at home--that, tender
and grateful as Violante was, she could not be inconsolable while her
father was there to comfort.
For the first few days, Riccabocca scarcely permitted any one to be
with his daughter but himself. He would not even leave her alone with
his Jemima. They walked out together--sat together for hours in the
Belvidere. Then by degrees he began to resign her more and more to
Jemima's care and tuition, especially in English, of which language at
present she spoke only a few sentences, (previously, perhaps, learned
by heart,) so as to be clearly intelligible.