What a desert seems Rome, in going to it from Naples! Entering by the
gate of St. John Lateran, you traverse but long, solitary streets;
they please afresh after a little time: but, on just leaving a lively,
dissipated population, it is melancholy to be thrown upon one's self,
even were that self at ease. Besides this, Rome, towards the end of
July, is a dangerous residence. The _malaria_ renders many quarters
uninhabitable; and the contagion often spreads through the whole city.
This year, particularly, every face bore the impress of apprehension.
Corinne was met at her own door by a monk, who asked leave to bless
her house against infection: she consented; and the priest walked
through the rooms, sprinkling holy water, and repeating Latin prayers.
Lord Nevil smiled at this ceremony--Corinne's heart melted over it.
"I find indefinable charms," she said, "in all that is religious, or
even superstitious, while nothing hostile nor intolerant blends with
it. Divine aid is so needful, when our thoughts stray from the common
path, that the highest minds most require superhuman care."--"Doubtless
such want exists, but can it thus be satisfied?"--"I never refuse a
prayer associated with my own, from whomsoever it is offered me."--"You
are right," said Nevil, giving his purse to the old friar, who
departed with benedictions on them both. When the friends of Corinne
heard of her return, they flocked to see her: if any wondered that
she was not Oswald's wife, none, at least, asked the reason: the
pleasure of regaining her diverted them from every other thought.
Corinne endeavored to appear unchanged; but she could not succeed.
She revisited the works of art that once afforded her such vivid
pleasure; but sorrow was the base of her every feeling now. At the
Villa Borghese, or the tomb of Cecilia Metella, she no longer enjoyed
that reverie on the instability of human blessings, which lends them a
still more touching character. A fixed, despondent pensiveness absorbed
her. Nature, who ever speaks to the heart vaguely, can do nothing for
it when oppressed by real calamities. Oswald and Corinne were worse
than unhappy; for actual misery oft causes such emotions as relieve the
laden breast; and from the storm may burst a flash pointing the onward
way: but mutual restraint, and fruitless efforts to escape pursuing
recollections, made them even discontented with one another. Indeed,
how can we suffer thus, without accusing the being we love as the
cause? True, a word, a look, suffices to efface our displeasure; but
that look, that word, may not come when most expected, or most needful.
Nothing in love can be premeditated; it is as a power divine, that
thinks and feels within us, unswayed by our control.
A fever, more malignant than had been known in Rome for some years, now
broke out suddenly. A young woman was attacked; her friends and family
refused to fly, and perished with her. The next house experienced
the same devastation. Every hour a holy fraternity, veiled in white,
accompanied the dead to interment; themselves appearing like the ghosts
of those they followed. The bodies, with their faces uncovered, are
borne on a kind of litter. Over their feet is thrown a pall of gold or
rose-colored satin; and children often unconsciously play with the cold
hands of the corpse. This spectacle, at once terrific and familiar, is
graced but by the monotonous murmur of a psalm, in which the accent of
the human soul can scarce be recognized. One evening, when Oswald and
Corinne were alone together, and he more depressed than usual by her
altered manner, he heard, beneath the windows, these dreary sounds,
announcing a funeral; he listened awhile in silence, and then said:
"Perhaps to-morrow I may be seized by this same malady, against which
there is no defence; you will then wish that you had said a few kind
words to me on the day that may be my last. Corinne, death threatens
us both closely. Are there not miseries enough in life, that we
should thus mutually augment each other's?" Struck by the idea of his
danger, she now entreated him to leave Rome instantly; he stubbornly
refused: she then proposed their going to Venice; to this he cheerfully
assented: it was for her alone that he had trembled. Their departure
was fixed for the second day from this; but on that morning, Oswald,
who had not seen Corinne the night before, received a note, informing
him that indispensable business obliged her to visit Florence; but that
she should rejoin him at Venice in a fortnight; she begged him to take
Ancona in his way, and gave him a seemingly important commission to
execute for her there. Her style was more calm and considerate than he
had found it since they left Naples. He believed her implicitly, and
prepared for his journey; but, wishing once more to behold the dwelling
of Corinne ere he left Rome, he went thither, found it shut up, and
rapped at the door. An old woman appeared, told him that all the other
servants had gone with her mistress, and would not answer another word
to his numerous questions. He hastened to Prince Castel Forte, who was
as surprised as himself at Corinne's abrupt retirement. Nevil, all
anxiety, imagined that her agent at Tivoli must have received some
instructions as to her affairs. He mounted his horse with a promptitude
unusual to him, and, in extreme agitation, rode to her country house;
its doors were open; he entered, passed some of the rooms without
meeting any one, till he reached that of Corinne: though darkness
reigned there, he saw her on her bed, with Thérésina alone beside her;
he uttered a cry of recognition: it recalled her to consciousness: she
raised herself, saying eagerly: "Do not come near me! I forbid you! I
die if you do!"
Oswald felt as if his beloved were accusing him of some crime which
she had all at once suspected: believing himself hated--scorned--he
fell on his knees, with despairing submission which suggested to
Corinne the idea of profiting by this mistake, and she commanded him
to leave her forever, as if he had in truth been guilty. Speechless
with wonder, he would have obeyed, when Thérésina sobbed forth: "Oh, my
Lord! will you, then, desert my dear lady? She has sent every one away,
and would fain banish me too: for she has caught the infectious fever!"
These words instantly explained the affecting stratagem of Corinne; and
Oswald clasped her to his heart, with a transport of tenderness, such
as he had never before experienced. In vain she repelled him; in vain
she reproached Thérésina. Oswald bade the good creature withdraw, and
lavished his tearful kisses on the face of his adored. "Now, now," he
cried, "thou shalt not die without me: if the fatal poison be in thy
veins, at least, thank Heaven, I breathe it in thine arms."--"Dear,
cruel Oswald!" she sighed, "to what tortures you condemn me! O God!
since he will not live without me, let not my better angel perish! no,
save him, save him!" Here her strength was lost, and, for eight days,
she remained in the greatest danger. In the midst of her delirium, she
would cry: "Keep Oswald from me! let him not come here! never tell him
where I am!" When her reason returned, she gazed on him, murmuring:
"Oswald! in death as in life you are with me; we shall be reunited."
When she perceived how pale he was, a deadly terror seized her, and
she called to his aid the physicians, who had given her a strong proof
of devotion in never having abandoned her. Oswald constantly held her
burning hands in his, and finished the cup of which she had drunk;
in fact, with such avidity did he share her perils, that she herself
ceased at last to combat this passionate self-sacrifice. Leaning her
head upon his arm, she resigned herself to his will. The beings who so
love that they feel the impossibility of living without each other,
may well attain the noble and tender intimacy which puts all things
in common, even death itself.[1] Happily, Lord Nevil did not take the
disease through which he so carefully nursed Corinne. She recovered;
but another malady penetrated yet deeper into her breast. The
generosity of her lover, alas! redoubled the attachment she had borne
him.
[1] M. Dubreuil, a very skilful French physician, fell ill of a fatal
distemper. His popularity filled the sick room with visitants. Calling
to his intimate friend, M. Péméja, as eminent a man as himself, he
said, "Send away all these people; you know my fever is contagious; no
one but yourself ought to be with me now." Happy the friend who ever
heard such words! Péméja died fifteen days after his heart's brother.