LADY SELINA VISITS HER ECCENTRIC AUNT IN SALVATOR ROSA’S COUNTRY.
There is a tract of country not far from Naples which is but little
visited by the usual set of tourists, although some artists and admirers
of Salvator Rosa venture among those scenes which he loved to paint. It
is said to be infested by banditti, yet an eccentric English lady had
bought an old house between La Cava and Caserta, and had lived for
several years very happily amid the splendid scenery.
She generally came into Naples during the coldest part of the Winter,
for there was no fireplace in any part of her large house except the
kitchen. She was an old maid, of the strong-minded and independent kind,
who advocated liberty, and had no faith in any religion. She was aunt to
Lady Selina Bugginfield, and a great admirer of her beautiful niece,
whose faults she scarcely saw; or, if she did, she attributed them to
energy and contempt for the conventionalities of (as she said) a rotten
society.
Mrs. Pocklingden was one of that numerous class of persons who admire
and encourage the so-called liberalism which disposes of other people’s
property, and declares that “La Propriété c’est le Vol.” But I much
doubt whether any of these people would like to be deprived of their
own--to give up their houses or money, or even their pet arm-chair. The
want of common sense in those who advocate these communist principles,
and who have anything to lose, passes comprehension! Yet what
pseudo-clever speeches are made, and written, tending towards this very
socialism, in most of the leading papers. Praise was given by some of
them to the author of the following impious lines!--
“Salute, o Satana! O rebellione!
O forza vindice della ragione!
Sacri a te salgano gli inni e i voti;
Hai vinto il Jeovah dei sacerdoti.”
“Oh! Satan, hail! all hail, great rebel!
Thou who of reason art the avenging force!
Sacred to thee let votive hymns arise,
For thou the priest’s Jehovah hast o’ercome.”
To this out-of-the-way spot Lady Selina was now bending her steps by a
cross mountain road from Caserta. She quitted the carriage at the latter
place, and engaged mules to carry herself and servants, with a guide
recommended by Cattarina. It was a fine bright day, and she found the
journey very pleasant.
Her aunt, Miss Pockingden, was delightfully surprised to see her. It was
most fortunate, she said, that she had not started for Naples, as she
had thought of doing the day before; and now the weather was warmer, and
with a good _scaldino_ in the drawing-room, they would be very
comfortable.
Lady Selina had often been there before, for a day or two, but on the
present occasion she found it so pleasant, and enjoyed the excursions
they made in the romantically beautiful country so much, that she made
up her mind to pass a week or more with her “dear amusing eccentric
aunt.” The Spendfasts had arrived at Naples, and entered into all the
gaieties of that place; and they wondered at Lady Selina’s preference
for a _villeggiatura_ life that cold season of the year.
During this time the Chandos party still remained at Mola di Gaeta, as
their presence was of real use to the Duke, and Norah’s and her father’s
cheering society did, as the doctor declared, more good to the sufferer
than any of his remedies. Norah had not heard of Lady Selina’s
separation from the Spendfasts, and she was therefore much surprised
when, a week afterwards, she received a letter from Lady Spendfast,
complaining that she missed her cousin very much, and that it was so
stupid of her to remain with that mad aunt of hers at her château up in
the mountains, where she must be perished with the cold. “So provoking,”
she wrote, “because she knows the great people here so much better than
we do, therefore it is so shameful of her to desert us just at the
beginning of our stay; and there is to be a Court held on Tuesday next,
too. I really think she is as mad as her aunt, that odious Miss
Pockingden, who I verily believe is in league with the banditti, and the
carbonari, or some of the dreadful secret societies.”
These, and many other complaints, were made in Lady Spendfast’s long
letter, which ended with a fervent hope that Norah would bring her
handsome Duke to Naples as soon as possible, as their romantic
adventures and miraculous escapes were the talk of all Naples, and their
arrival would make quite a sensation. The King and the beautiful
Princesses were longing to see her and the Duke, and said it was the
most romantic story they had ever heard.
This letter annoyed Norah more than she liked to acknowledge, and filled
her with a vague kind of dread, of what she knew not, but each time she
read it over she felt more puzzled. It seemed so unlike the idea she had
formed of Lady Selina’s character to go and bury herself amid romantic
scenery with an old aunt, just as the gaieties of Naples were at their
height. Could she have heard that Sir Alfred was in these wild regions?
There seemed no other solution to the mystery. But how could she have
heard that Sir Alfred was likely to be there? All this time she had
often observed Cattarina’s eyes looking at her with a sinister
expression, and she began to think that the wily Italian knew something
about it.
She showed the letter to her father, but he was more impressed by the
provoking idea of the sensation which Lady Spendfast said would be
created when they arrived at Naples, and he therefore suggested that
they should go straight to Sorrento, and not remain in Naples till
later; and this plan he thought would be best also for the Duke, as the
climate and quiet of Sorrento would conduce to his recovery.
Norah was very much interested in the invalid, but she was not such an
enthusiastic admirer of him as her father had become--so had Mrs.
Chandos, and so had little Hetty, and the children. They were fascinated
by his agreeability, and the gratitude he evinced for their kindness.
And they were all enchanted at the idea of going to that lovely Sorrento
which he had described to them in such glowing colours, for he had
passed several months there some years ago. He had been a great
traveller, and the stories he told them of his adventures in the East,
and on the Nile, and in America, interested and amused them all; and the
children enjoyed, above all things, the evenings they were allowed to
spend in his room.