登陆注册
15445600000014

第14章 CHAPTER II (6)

But this is to look forward: these were the days not of Victor Emanuel but of Charles Albert; and it was on Charles Albert that mother and son had now fixed their eyes as on the sword-bearer of Italy. On Fleeming's sixteenth birthday, they were, the mother writes, 'in great anxiety for news from the army. You can have no idea what it is to live in a country where such a struggle is going on. The interest is one that absorbs all others. We eat, drink, and sleep to the noise of drums and musketry. You would enjoy and almost admire Fleeming's enthusiasm and earnestness - and, courage, I may say - for we are among the small minority of English who side with the Italians. The other day, at dinner at the Consul's, boy as he is, and in spite of my admonitions, Fleeming defended the Italian cause, and so well that he "tripped up the heels of his adversary" simply from being well-informed on the subject and honest. He is as true as steel, and for no one will he bend right or left. . . . . Do not fancy him a Bobadil,' she adds, 'he is only a very true, candid boy. I am so glad he remains in all respects but information a great child.'

If this letter is correctly dated, the cause was already lost and the King had already abdicated when these lines were written. No sooner did the news reach Genoa, than there began 'tumultuous movements'; and the Jenkins' received hints it would be wise to leave the city. But they had friends and interests; even the captain had English officers to keep him company, for Lord Hardwicke's ship, the VENGEANCE, lay in port; and supposing the danger to be real, I cannot but suspect the whole family of a divided purpose, prudence being possibly weaker than curiosity.

Stay, at least, they did, and thus rounded their experience of the revolutionary year. On Sunday, April 1, Fleeming and the captain went for a ramble beyond the walls, leaving Aunt Anna and Mrs.

Jenkin to walk on the bastions with some friends. On the way back, this party turned aside to rest in the Church of the Madonna delle Grazie. 'We had remarked,' writes Mrs. Jenkin, 'the entire absence of sentinels on the ramparts, and how the cannons were left in solitary state; and I had just remarked "How quiet everything is!" when suddenly we heard the drums begin to beat and distant shouts.

ACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE to revolutions, we never thought of being frightened.' For all that, they resumed their return home. On the way they saw men running and vociferating, but nothing to indicate a general disturbance, until, near the Duke's palace, they came upon and passed a shouting mob dragging along with it three cannon.

It had scarcely passed before they heard 'a rushing sound'; one of the gentlemen thrust back the party of ladies under a shed, and the mob passed again. A fine-looking young man was in their hands; and Mrs. Jenkin saw him with his mouth open as if he sought to speak, saw him tossed from one to another like a ball, and then saw him no more. 'He was dead a few instants after, but the crowd hid that terror from us. My knees shook under me and my sight left me.'

With this street tragedy, the curtain rose upon their second revolution.

The attack on Spirito Santo, and the capitulation and departure of the troops speedily followed. Genoa was in the hands of the Republicans, and now came a time when the English residents were in a position to pay some return for hospitality received. Nor were they backward. Our Consul (the same who had the benefit of correction from Fleeming) carried the Intendente on board the VENGEANCE, escorting him through the streets, getting along with him on board a shore boat, and when the insurgents levelled their muskets, standing up and naming himself, 'CONSOLE INGLESE.' A friend of the Jenkins', Captain Glynne, had a more painful, if a less dramatic part. One Colonel Nosozzo had been killed (I read) while trying to prevent his own artillery from firing on the mob; but in that hell's cauldron of a distracted city, there were no distinctions made, and the Colonel's widow was hunted for her life.

In her grief and peril, the Glynnes received and hid her; Captain Glynne sought and found her husband's body among the slain, saved it for two days, brought the widow a lock of the dead man's hair; but at last, the mob still strictly searching, seems to have abandoned the body, and conveyed his guest on board the VENGEANCE.

The Jenkins also had their refugees, the family of an EMPLOYE threatened by a decree. 'You should have seen me making a Union Jack to nail over our door,' writes Mrs. Jenkin. 'I never worked so fast in my life. Monday and Tuesday,' she continues, 'were tolerably quiet, our hearts beating fast in the hope of La Marmora's approach, the streets barricaded, and none but foreigners and women allowed to leave the city.' On Wednesday, La Marmora came indeed, but in the ugly form of a bombardment; and that evening the Jenkins sat without lights about their drawing-room window, 'watching the huge red flashes of the cannon' from the Brigato and La Specula forts, and hearkening, not without some awful pleasure, to the thunder of the cannonade.

Lord Hardwicke intervened between the rebels and La Marmora; and there followed a troubled armistice, filled with the voice of panic. Now the VENGEANCE was known to be cleared for action; now it was rumoured that the galley slaves were to be let loose upon the town, and now that the troops would enter it by storm. Crowds, trusting in the Union Jack over the Jenkins' door, came to beg them to receive their linen and other valuables; nor could their instances be refused; and in the midst of all this bustle and alarm, piles of goods must be examined and long inventories made.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 冰的传承者

    冰的传承者

    冰·集美丽和攻击于一身,而我们的主人公在某次出海旅游的时候因为突遇暴风雨从而获得了这个能力,且看我们主人公如何把属于冰的强大给展现出来吧。
  • 最后一个阴德师

    最后一个阴德师

    【2016年度灵异巨著】正能量版简介:人走路,鬼入道。人鬼殊途!无节操版简介:牡丹花下死,做鬼也风流,嗨,鬼美女,请留步!逆袭版简介:天下十修,聚阴德、向天借命、排名第四、九修公敌。这,是【阴德师传人】逆袭的传说!注1【校花、系花、师花、警花】有木有?注2【主角牛大力,花心吗?这个……】
  • 海贼王之冰与火之歌

    海贼王之冰与火之歌

    剑与霸气的对抗,冰与火的交织,恶魔与人类相融,来到海贼世界的路西亚,谱写着属于自己的传奇!(PS:更新不定时,谨慎入坑。)
  • 幻世纪:一级炼金师

    幻世纪:一级炼金师

    炼金术,上古世纪神魔大战时,不幸遗落传承。后世,无人知晓炼金术的强大,一朝致死,一朝蜕变,上古炼金术重现江湖。但是,她的身上到底有多少秘密?谜底揭开,世人大为所诧。她的灵魂,随着是非,又陷入了沉睡。一个谜团,再次阻挡了世人的眼。
  • 青春叛逆之心

    青春叛逆之心

    起初一群朋友的寒,到最后仅剩了一个,起初活泼开朗大胆的她,到最后却遍体鳞伤
  • 媚狐倾世:魔王大人轻点宠

    媚狐倾世:魔王大人轻点宠

    她本是二十一世纪金牌杀手,生性冷酷,从不为身外之事扰过心神。却被最信任的战友陷害,落入敌人陷阱,最终自尽而亡。本以为自己这辉煌一生就此结束,却不料竟穿越到了另外一个世界,变成了一只样貌倾国倾城的媚狐妖,还不小心惹上了一只蠢萌蠢萌的魔王大人。传说中的魔王大人威风凛凛、面若冰山,可谁来告诉她,面前这个对她使劲卖蠢的小忠犬是谁?麻麻,异世太可怕了,我要回家呜呜呜……
  • 恶魔哥哥在身边

    恶魔哥哥在身边

    当父母将他们带到了一起,命运就注定了把他们绑在了一起。“我们是兄妹,我们不能在一起!”“那为什么你能跟他在一起!难道他不是你哥吗?”错了,全错了!四个人的纠缠爱情故事,又会怎么样的落幕。夏日里,魔鬼游戏正式开幕,在这场游戏中,谁又会是赢家,敬请期待吧!—————————————————欢迎加群进行讨论:52861407每日起稳定更新,本书绝不TJ,觉不放弃!灼灼向前冲!打死都不倒!^_^
  • 天魂大道

    天魂大道

    何为道,心之所往也。何为大道,眼所见也。何为魂,人之天定命数也。何为天魂大道,你所往,你所见,你所遇,这即便是。
  • 斌雅禅师语录

    斌雅禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 我的老大是基佬

    我的老大是基佬

    只是为了追随而追随,只是为了相爱而相爱。若是轻易可以放手的事,当初就不会紧抓着不放。我曾经有一个愿望,背后有双洁白翅膀。倘若一个人不在乎自己的身体,不是没灵魂就是已经卖给魔鬼。