Meanwhile, the lives of some of the other persons concerned in this
history were less idyllic, and very probably more satisfactory to
themselves. Having survived the season, and having borne the severe
Lenten mortification implied in not capering nightly to the tune of two
or three fiddles and a piano, the world arose after Easter like a giant
refreshed with wine, and enjoyed a final fling before breaking up for
the summer. Having danced with the windows shut, it now danced with the
windows open, and found the change delightful, as indeed it is. Instead
of sitting in corners together, the couples who had anything to say to
one another now stood or sat in the deep embrasures, glancing up at the
starlit sky to see whether the dawn were yet breaking. As for the rest,
there was little change at all. The little Vicomte de Bompierre had
transferred his attentions from the Marchesa di San Giacinto to Donna
Maria Boccapaduli, and the Marchesa, who was in love with her husband,
did not seem to care at all, but remained on the best of terms with
Donna Maria, to the latter's infinite satisfaction. The Contessa dell'
Armi attracted more attention because some one had started the report
that dell' Armi himself was in a state of jealousy bordering upon
delirium, that he had repeatedly struck her, and that he spent the few
hours he could spare from this unwholesome exercise and from his
parliamentary duties in tearing out his hair by the handful. The
picture of dell' Armi evoked by these stories was striking, dramatic,
and somewhat novel, so that every one was delighted. As a matter of
fact, the Count did not care a straw for his wife, rarely saw her at
all, and then only to discuss the weather. He had married her in order
that her fortune might help him in his political career, he had got what
he wanted, and he was supremely indifferent to the rest. The sad part of
the matter was--if any one had known the truth--that poor Maddalena
dell' Armi had been married out of a convent, and had then and there
fallen madly in love with him, her own husband. He had resented her
excessive affection, as it interfered with his occupations and
amusements, and after an interval of five years, during which the
unhappy young wife shed endless tears and suffered intensely, he had the
satisfaction of seeing that she no longer loved him in the least, and
rather avoided him than otherwise. In taking a fancy to Pietro Ghisleri
he thought she had shown considerable discrimination, since every one
knew that Ghisleri was a very discreet man. The amazing cynicism of his
view altogether escaped him. He was occupied in politics. If he had
observed it, he would have undoubtedly laughed as heartily as he did
when a lady on the outskirts of society told him that he was supposed to
be a jealous husband.
But the rest of the world watched Maddalena and Pietro with great
interest. They had quarrelled--or they had made it up--they had not
danced together during one whole evening--they had danced a waltz and
then a quadrille, the one after the other--Maddalena had been crying--by
a coincidence, Ghisleri looked unusually strong and well--Pietro, again,
was looking somewhat haggard and weary, and the Contessa met the world
that evening with a stony stare. There was endless matter for
speculation, and accordingly the world speculated without end, and, as
usual, to no purpose. Ghisleri was absolutely reticent, and Maddalena
was a very proud woman, who, in spite of her past sufferings, did her
best not to let any one suspect that she and her husband were on bad
terms. She was also unhappy in the present about a very different
matter, concerning which she was not inclined to speak with any one.
Donna Adele's last decided attempt to defame Lord Herbert Arden had, to
a certain extent, been successful, but it had also produced another
result of which Adele did not know, but which would have given her even
greater satisfaction. It had almost caused a quarrel between Ghisleri
and the Contessa.
It will be remembered that the latter heard the story from Donna Maria
Boccapaduli on the steps of a church in Holy Week. She was at the time
more unhappy than usual. Something had touched the finer chords of her
nature, and she felt a sort of horror of herself and of the life she was
leading--very genuine in its way, and intensely painful. Donna Maria's
story was revolting to her, for just then everything and everybody
seemed to be false--even Ghisleri. She did not even stop, as she would
have done at any other time, to weigh the value of the story, and to ask
herself whether it were likely that he could thus deliberately betray
his friend, and especially to Adele Savelli whom she believed he
disliked. Even with her he was reticent, and she had never quite assured
herself of his opinion concerning Adele, but she had watched him
narrowly and had drawn her own conclusions. And now, if he had betrayed
the man whom he called his friend, he must be capable of betraying the
woman he loved.
"Is it true that you have been talking to Donna Adele Savelli about your
friend Arden?" she asked, when they met later on the same afternoon.
"Quite true," answered Ghisleri, indifferently. "We were talking about
him yesterday afternoon."
"Do you mind telling me what you said?" asked the Contessa, her eyes
hardening and her whole face growing scornful.
"I have not the least objection," said Ghisleri, coldly. He at once
gave her all the details of the conversation as far as he could remember
them; his memory was accurate in such matters and he scarcely omitted a
word.
"Am I to believe you or her?" asked the Contessa when she had listened
to the end.
"As I am speaking the truth, it might be as well to believe me."
"And how am I to know that you are speaking the truth, now or at any
other time? You would not change colour, nor look at me less frankly, if
you were telling me the greatest falsehood imaginable. Why should I
believe you?"
"I am sure I do not know," answered Ghisleri. "I would only like to be
sure whether, as a general rule, you mean to believe me in future, or
not. If you do not, I need not say anything, I suppose. Conversation
would be singularly simplified."
"You would not be so angry with me now, if your story were true," said
the Contessa, with a forced laugh.
"A man may reasonably be annoyed at being called a liar even by a lady,"
retorted Ghisleri.
"And you do not take the least trouble to defend yourself--"
"Not the least. Why should you believe my defence any more than my plain
statement? You have rather a logical mind--you ought to see that."
"Are you trying to quarrel with me? You will succeed if you go on in
this way."
"No. I am doing my best to answer your questions. I should be very sorry
to quarrel with you. You know it. Or are you going to doubt that too?"
"From the tone in which you say it, and from the way you act, I am
inclined to."
"You are in a very unbelieving humour to-day."
"I have reason to be."
"Am I the cause?"
"Yes." The Contessa was not quite sure why she said it, but for the
moment she felt that it was true, as perhaps it was in an indirect way.
"Do you know that although you have asked me a great many questions
which I have answered as well as I could, you have not told me what it
is I am accused of saying?"
"You are accused of saying," answered the Contessa, looking straight
into his eyes, "that your friend Lord Herbert Arden is in the habit of
taking too much wine. Is that so nice a thing to have said?"
Ghisleri's face darkened, and the blood throbbed in his temples.
"As I have told you precisely what I really said," he replied, "I shall
say nothing more. Only this--if you have any sense of justice left,
which I begin to doubt, you will ask San Giacinto whether he thinks it
probable that I would say such a thing. That is all. I suppose you will
believe him."
"I do not think I believe any one. Besides, as you say, he can only
testify to your character, and say that the thing is improbable. Of
course he would do that. Men always defend each other against women."
"He can tell you something more if he chooses," answered Ghisleri.
"If he chooses!" The Contessa's scornful expression returned. "If he
tells me nothing you will remind me of that word, and say that he did
not choose. How you always arrange everything beforehand to leave
yourself a way of escape."
"I am sorry you should think so," said Ghisleri, gravely.
"I am sorry that I have to think so. It does not increase my
self-respect, nor my vanity in my judgment."
They parted on very bad terms that day, and two or three days more
passed before they saw each other again. The Contessa had almost made up
her mind that she would not speak to San Giacinto at all, and Ghisleri
began to think that she wished to break with him permanently. Far more
sensitive than any one supposed, he had been deeply wounded by her words
and tone, so deeply indeed that he scarcely wished to meet her for the
present. The world did not fail to see the coldness that had come
between them, and laughed heartily over it. The Contessa, said the
world, thought that the way to keep Ghisleri was to be cold to him and
encourage Pietrasanta, but she did not know dear Ghisleri, who did not
care in the very least, who had not a particle of sensitiveness in him,
and had never really loved any one but the beautiful Princess Corleone
who died of fever in Naples five years ago, and of whom he never spoke.
But as chance would have it, the Contessa found herself talking to San
Giacinto one evening, when she was feeling very lonely and unhappy, and
her half-formed resolution broke down as suddenly as it had presented
itself. The giant looked at her keenly for a moment, bent his heavy
black brows, and then told her the story of what had taken place at the
club. He, who saw most things, and talked little of them, noted the
gradual change in her face, and how the light came back to it while he
was speaking. She understood that the man whom she had accused of
betraying his friend had faced a roomful of men in his defence, and on
the very ground now under discussion, and she repented of what she had
done. Then she swore vengeance on Adele Savelli.
The world saw that a reconciliation had taken place, and concluded that
Maddalena dell' Armi had abandoned her foolish plan of trying to attract
Ghisleri by being cold to him. Ghisleri, indeed! As though he cared!
"But I have no particular wish to be revenged on Donna Adele," objected
Ghisleri, when the Contessa spoke to him on the subject. "That sort of
thing is a disease of the brain. There are people who cannot see things
as they are. She is one of them."
"How indifferent you are!" sighed Maddalena. "I wonder whether you were
always so."
"Not always," answered Pietro, thoughtfully.
In due time the short Easter season was over, the foreigners departed,
and many of the Romans followed their example, especially those whose
country places were within easy reach of the city, by carriage or by
rail. The Contessa went to pay her regular annual visit at her
father's, near Florence,--her mother had long been dead,--and Ghisleri
remained in Rome, unable to make up his mind what to do. Something
seemed to bind him to the town this year, and though he went away for a
day or two from time to time, he always came back very soon. Even his
damaged old castle did not attract him as it usually did, though he had
begun to restore it a little during the last few years, a little at a
time, as his modest fortune allowed. There was an odd sort of foresight
in his character. He laughed at the idea of being married, and yet he
had a presentiment that he would some day change his mind and take a
wife. In case that should ever happen, Torre de' Ghisleri would be at
once a beautiful and an economical retreat for the summer months. Though
he had a reputation for extravagance and for living always a little
beyond his income, he was in reality increasing his property. He was
constantly buying small bits of land in the neighbourhood of his castle,
with a vague idea that he might ultimately get the old estate together
again. He generally bought on mortgage, binding himself to pay at a
certain date, and as he was a very honourable man in all financial
transactions, he invariably paid, though sometimes at considerable
sacrifice. He said to himself that unless he were bound he would
inevitably throw away the little money he had to spare. It was a
curiously practical trait in such an unruly and almost lawless
character, but he did such things when he could, and then thought no
more about them until a fresh opportunity presented itself. He was a man
whose life and whole power of interest in life were almost constantly
absorbed by the two or three persons to whom he was sincerely attached,
a fact never realised by those who knew him--a passionate man at heart,
and one who despised himself for many reasons--a man who would have
wished to be a Launcelot in fidelity, a Galahad in cleanness of heart,
an Arthur for justice and frankness, but who was indeed terribly far
from resembling any of the three. A man liable to most human weaknesses,
but having just enough of something better to make him hate weakness in
himself and understand it in others without condemning it too harshly in
them. He had the wish to overcome it in his own character and life, but
when the victory looked too easy it did not tempt him, for his vanity
was of the kind which is only satisfied with winning hard fights, and
rarely roused except by the prospect of them, while quite indifferent to
small success of any kind--either for good or evil.
And this year, for some reason which he did not attempt to explain to
himself, he lingered on in Rome, living a lonely life, avoiding the club
where many of his acquaintances still congregated, taking his meals
irregularly at garden restaurants, and spending most of his evenings in
wandering about Rome by himself. The old places attracted him strongly.
Many associations clung to the shady streets, the huge old palaces, and
the dusky churches. Ten years of such a life as he had led had left many
traces behind them, many sensitive spots in his complicated nature which
inanimate things had power to touch keenly and thrill again with pain or
pleasure. There was much that was sad, indeed, in these recollections,
but there were also many memories dear and tender and almost free from
the sting of self-reproach. He was not one to crave excitement for its
own sake, nor to miss it when it was past. It often chanced, indeed,
that he could find the few things that pleased him, the few people he
liked, in the midst of the world's noisiest fair, but he would always
have preferred to be alone with them, to meet with them when he was
quite sure of being altogether himself and not the overwrought, nervous
being which he came to be during the rush of the season, in spite of his
undeniable physical strength. Those who need excitement most are either
those who have never lived in it, or those unhappily morbid beings who
cannot live without it, because by force of habit it has become the only
atmosphere which their lungs can breathe and in which they can act more
or less normally.
Ghisleri followed the Ardens in imagination as they pursued their
wedding trip. He rarely knew exactly where they were, but he was
familiar with all the places they were visiting, and he liked to fancy
them enjoying together all there was to be seen and done. Had he not
himself still been young, he would almost have fancied that he felt a
fatherly interest in their doings. Then he heard that they were in
England, and at last, when he had made up his mind to go away for a
month or two, he learned that Arden was in bad health. He was distressed
by the news, and wished he could see his old friend, if only for a day,
to judge for himself of his condition. But that was impossible at
present. He was not always free to dispose of his time as he pleased,
and as he had been during the past months. Moreover, the world was not
quite just when it said that Ghisleri did not "care," as it expressed
the state of mind it attributed to him. Between going to England, and
going to Vallombrosa, near Florence, he did not hesitate a moment.
So the autumn came round again, and when he returned to his lodging in
Rome, he found that the Ardens were already installed in the Tempietto.
The Savelli couple were still out of town at the family castle in the
Sabines, but the Prince and Princess of Gerano had come back.
Ghisleri found both Laura and Arden greatly changed. The latter's
appearance shocked him especially, and he felt almost from the first
that his friend was doomed. The man who was not supposed to care spent
at least one sleepless night, turning over in his mind the various
possibilities of life and death. On the following morning at twelve
o'clock, he climbed the steps to the Trinità de' Monti, and asked to see
Lady Herbert Arden alone, a request which was easily granted, as her
husband now rarely rose until one, and then only for a few hours.
Laura's eyes looked preternaturally large and deep--almost sunken,
Ghisleri thought--and she had grown thin, and even paler than she
usually was when in good health. He took the seat she pointed to, by the
open fire, and stared into the flames absently for some seconds. It was
a rather dreary morning early in November, and the air in the streets
was raw and damp. At last he looked up.
"You are anxious about your husband, Lady Herbert?" he said.
Laura sighed, and opened her white hands to the warmth, as she sat on
the other side of the fireplace. But she said nothing. She could not
deny what he had told her, for she was in mortal anxiety by day and
night.
"It is very natural," said Ghisleri, trying to speak more cheerfully.
"But I do not think there is any very serious reason for anticipating
danger. I have known Arden many years, and I have often known him to be
ill before now."
Laura glanced nervously at Pietro, and looked away again almost
instantly. There was a frightened look in her face as though she feared
something unexpected. Perhaps she was afraid of believing too readily in
Ghisleri's comforting view.
"All the same," he continued, "there is no denying that he is in very
bad health. Forgive me if I seem officious. I do not love him as you do,
of course, but we have been more or less good friends these many
years--since very long before you knew him."
"More or less good friends!" repeated Laura, in a disappointed tone.
"Herbert calls you his best friend."
"I dare say he has many better than I am," answered Ghisleri, quietly.
"But I have certainly never liked any man as much as I like him. That is
why I come to you to-day. Do you not think that he should be taken care
of, or, at least thoroughly examined by the best specialist to be
found?"
"I have thought of it," said Laura, after a short pause. "Of course the
doctor comes regularly, but I do not think he is a really great
authority. I am afraid that anything like a consultation might alarm
Herbert. I see how determined he is to be cheerful, but I cannot help
seeing also that he is despondent about himself."
"There need be nothing like a consultation. Will you trust me in this
matter?"
Laura looked at him. She felt, on a sudden, the old, almost
inexplicable, timid dislike of him with which she had long been
familiar, and she hesitated before she answered.
"Could I not manage it myself?" she asked abruptly. "It would seem more
natural."
Ghisleri's face grew slowly cold, and his eyes fixed themselves on the
fire.
"I thought I might be able to help you," he said. "Have you any
particular reason for distrusting me as you do, Lady Herbert?"
Laura's face contracted. She was not angry, but she was sorry that she
had shown him what she thought, and it was hard to answer the question
truthfully, for she was not really sure whether she had any excuse for
doubting his frankness or not. In the present instance she assuredly had
none.
"I should certainly never distrust you where Herbert is concerned," she
said, after a short pause. "It is only that it seems more natural, as I
said, that I should be the one to speak to him and to arrange about the
specialist's visit."
"Very well. Forgive me, as I begged you to at first, if I have seemed
officious. I will come and see your husband this afternoon."
The consequence of this conversation was that Laura, being even more
seriously alarmed than before, since she realised that Ghisleri himself
was anxious, spoke to Arden about the necessity for seeing a better
doctor, breaking it to him with all the loving gentleness she knew how
to use with him, and Arden consented without much apparent reluctance to
being examined by a man who had a great reputation. The latter took a
long time before he gave an opinion, and ultimately declared to Laura
that her husband was consumptive and would probably not live a year.
Laura suffered in that moment as she would not have believed it possible
to suffer, and it was long before she could compose herself enough to
go to Arden. It was of course impossible to tell him all the doctor had
said. She told him that his lungs were delicate, and that he must be
very careful.
"It seems to me I am always very careful," said Lord Herbert, patiently.
She looked at him and saw for the hundredth time how ill he seemed. She
tried to turn quickly and leave the room, but she could not. Suddenly
the passionate tears broke out, and she fell on her knees beside his
chair and clasped the poor little body in her arms.
"Oh, Herbert, my love,--my love!" she sobbed.
Then he felt that he was doomed. Had she loved him less, she could have
kept the secret better. But he was brave still.
"Hush, darling, hush!" he said, gently stroking her coal-black hair with
his transparent hand. "You must not believe these foolish doctors. I
have been just as ill before."
But the mischief was done, and she felt that she had done it, and her
remorse knew no bounds. In spite of his courage, Arden lost heart. The
next time Ghisleri saw him he was much worse. Laura went out and left
the two together.
"Has anything worried you?" asked Ghisleri. "You look tired."
Arden was silent for a long time, and his friend knew that he was
carefully weighing his answer.
"Yes," he said at last, "something has worried me very much. I can trust
you not to speak--never to speak, even to my wife, of what I am going to
say--especially if anything should happen," he added, as though with a
painful afterthought.
"I will never speak of it," replied Pietro, gravely.
"I know you will not. We had a consultation the other day. Of course
they were very careful not to tell me what they thought, but I could not
help guessing it. You know how truthful my wife is--she could not deny
it when I put the question directly. It is all up with me, my dear
fellow, and I know it. I am consumptive. It will last a year at the
most."
"I do not believe a word of it!" exclaimed Ghisleri, with unusual heat.
"You are not in the least like a consumptive man!"
"The doctor is a good specialist," said Arden, quietly. "But that is not
all. I have been so happy--I am so happy in many ways still--that I am
weak enough to cling to my life, such as it is. But there is something
else, Ghisleri. I knew I was ill, and I knew there was danger--but this
is different. I had hoped to see my child, even if I were to die. I do
not hope to see it now--you understand? Those things are always
inherited."
A deadly paleness came over Arden's face, and his clear brown eyes
seemed unsteady for a moment. His face twitched nervously, and his hands
were strained as they grasped the arms of his chair. Ghisleri looked
very grave.
"I repeat that I believe the doctor to be wholly mistaken. It would
hardly be the first time that doctors have made such mistakes.
Consumptive people do not behave as you do. They always feel that they
are getting well, until the very last, and they have a regular cough,
not to be mistaken, and they eat a great deal. You are quite different."
"But he examined, me so carefully," objected Arden, though he could not
help seeing a ray of hope.
"I cannot help that. He was mistaken."
That afternoon Ghisleri telegraphed to a great European celebrity whom
he knew in Paris, to come if possible at once, no matter at what
sacrifice of money. Forty-eight hours later the man of genius was
breakfasting with Pietro in his rooms.
"I will ask leave to bring you as a friend," said the latter. "I have
begged you to come on my own responsibility."
He wrote a note to Laura, explaining that an old acquaintance, a man of
world-wide fame, was spending a couple of days with him, and begged
permission to introduce him. He might amuse Arden, he said. He did not
mention the doctor's profession. It was just possible that neither Arden
nor Laura had ever heard of the man who was so great in a world not
theirs. Laura asked them both to tea by way of answer.
As it turned out, the Ardens had a very vague idea that the Frenchman
was a man of science. In the course of conversation he admitted that he
had studied medicine, and then went on to talk about the latest news
from Paris, social, artistic, and literary. Arden was charmed with him,
and Laura was really grateful to Ghisleri for helping to amuse her
husband.
Would they both come to luncheon the next day? They would, with
pleasure, and they went away together.
"Well?" asked Ghisleri, as they walked towards the Pincio in the early
dusk, just to breathe the air.
"I think he may live," answered the great man. "I believe it is a
trouble of the heart with an almost exhausted vitality."
Laura was left alone with her husband. Whether it was the doctor's
personal influence, or whether Arden was really momentarily better, she
could not tell, but he looked as he had not looked for two months.
"That man delights me," he said dreamily. "I do not know what there is
about him, and it is very foolish--but I fancy that if he were a doctor,
he might cure me--or keep me alive longer," he added, with a sort of
reluctant sadness.
Laura looked at him in surprise.
"He said he had studied medicine," she answered. "Shall I ask Signor
Ghisleri, if, as a friend, he would come and give his opinion?"
"It is too much to ask of a stranger."
"Nothing is too much to ask," she said quietly. In her own room she
wrote a note to Pietro.
With many apologies, she explained to him that her husband was so
delighted with Ghisleri's friend, that she believed it might make a
difference if, as a doctor--since he was one--the latter would be
willing to see him once and give his opinion.
Pietro smiled when he read the note. On the following day the great man
went again to the Tempietto, and with many protestations of incompetence
did as he was requested, assuring Lady Herbert that it was only in
deference to her wishes that he did so.
"You are not consumptive--in the least, and you may even become strong,"
he said, after a very long and thorough examination. "That, at least,"
he added, "is my humble opinion."
Arden's face brightened suddenly. But Laura and Ghisleri remained alone
together for a moment afterwards, while the doctor was already putting
on his coat.
"After all," said Laura, despondently, "it was to please Herbert. The
man says that his opinion is not worth very much."
"He is the greatest living authority on the subject," answered Ghisleri.
"You may safely take his opinion."
Laura's face expressed her surprise, and at the same time, an
unspeakable relief.
"Are you sure?" she asked, in trembling tones.
"Ask your doctor. He will tell you. Will you forgive me my little trick,
Lady Herbert? As he was here, I thought you might like to see him."
Ghisleri put out his hand to take his leave, and Laura pressed it
warmly.
"If I had ever had anything to forgive, I would forgive you--for your
great kindness to me," she said, and the tears were almost in her eyes.
"It is you who should forgive me for not trusting you when you first
spoke. How wrong I was!"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Ghisleri. "It was very natural."
And so it seemed to him, perhaps. But such little tricks, as he called
what he had done, cost money, and that year Ghisleri did not buy the bit
of land which stood next on the list in his scheme for reacquiring the
old estate.