"She would accept the more brilliant parti.I can answer for it.""And what would be her motive?"
"She would be forced.There would be circumstances....I can't tell you more.""But this implies that the rejected suitor would also come back.
He might grow tired of waiting."
"Oh, this one is good! Look at him now." Rowland looked, and saw that the prince had left his place by Mrs.Light and was marching restlessly to and fro between the villa and the parapet of the terrace.Every now and then he looked at his watch.
"In this country, you know," said the Cavaliere, "a young lady never goes walking alone with a handsome young man.
It seems to him very strange."
"It must seem to him monstrous, and if he overlooks it he must be very much in love.""Oh, he will overlook it.He is far gone.""Who is this exemplary lover, then; what is he?""A Neapolitan; one of the oldest houses in Italy.He is a prince in your English sense of the word, for he has a princely fortune.
He is very young; he is only just of age; he saw the signorina last winter in Naples.He fell in love with her from the first, but his family interfered, and an old uncle, an ecclesiastic, Monsignor B----, hurried up to Naples, seized him, and locked him up.
Meantime he has passed his majority, and he can dispose of himself.
His relations are moving heaven and earth to prevent his marrying Miss Light, and they have sent us word that he forfeits his property if he takes his wife out of a certain line.
I have investigated the question minutely, and I find this is but a fiction to frighten us.He is perfectly free; but the estates are such that it is no wonder they wish to keep them in their own hands.
For Italy, it is an extraordinary case of unincumbered property.
The prince has been an orphan from his third year; he has therefore had a long minority and made no inroads upon his fortune.
Besides, he is very prudent and orderly; I am only afraid that some day he will pull the purse-strings too tight.All these years his affairs have been in the hands of Monsignor B----, who has managed them to perfection--paid off mortagages, planted forests, opened up mines.
It is now a magnificent fortune; such a fortune as, with his name, would justify the young man in pretending to any alliance whatsoever.
And he lays it all at the feet of that young girl who is wandering in yonder boschetto with a penniless artist.""He is certainly a phoenix of princes! The signora must be in a state of bliss."The Cavaliere looked imperturbably grave."The signora has a high esteem for his character.""His character, by the way," rejoined Rowland, with a smile;"what sort of a character is it?"
"Eh, Prince Casamassima is a veritable prince!
He is a very good young man.He is not brilliant, nor witty, but he 'll not let himself be made a fool of.
He 's very grave and very devout--though he does propose to marry a Protestant.He will handle that point after marriage.
He 's as you see him there: a young man without many ideas, but with a very firm grasp of a single one--the conviction that Prince Casamassima is a very great person, that he greatly honors any young lady by asking for her hand, and that things are going very strangely when the young lady turns her back upon him.
The poor young man, I am sure, is profoundly perplexed.
But I whisper to him every day, 'Pazienza, Signor Principe!' ""So you firmly believe," said Rowland, in conclusion, "that Miss Light will accept him just in time not to lose him!""I count upon it.She would make too perfect a princess to miss her destiny.""And you hold that nevertheless, in the mean while, in listening to, say, my friend Hudson, she will have been acting in good faith?"The Cavaliere lifted his shoulders a trifle, and gave an inscrutable smile.
"Eh, dear signore, the Christina is very romantic!""So much so, you intimate, that she will eventually retract, in consequence not of a change of sentiment, but of a mysterious outward pressure?""If everything else fails, there is that resource.
But it is mysterious, as you say, and you need n't try to guess it.
You will never know."
"The poor signorina, then, will suffer!"
"Not too much, I hope."
"And the poor young man! You maintain that there is nothing but disappointment in store for the infatuated youth who loses his heart to her!"The Cavaliere hesitated."He had better," he said in a moment, "go and pursue his studies in Florence.There are very fine antiques in the Uffizi!"Rowland presently joined Mrs.Light, to whom her restless protege had not yet returned."That 's right," she said;"sit down here; I have something serious to say to you.
I am going to talk to you as a friend.I want your assistance.
In fact, I demand it; it 's your duty to render it.
Look at that unhappy young man."
"Yes," said Rowland, "he seems unhappy."
"He is just come of age, he bears one of the greatest names in Italy and owns one of the greatest properties, and he is pining away with love for my daughter.""So the Cavaliere tells me."
"The Cavaliere should n't gossip," said Mrs.Light dryly.
"Such information should come from me.The prince is pining, as I say; he 's consumed, he 's devoured.
It 's a real Italian passion; I know what that means!"And the lady gave a speaking glance, which seemed to coquet for a moment with retrospect."Meanwhile, if you please, my daughter is hiding in the woods with your dear friend Mr.Hudson.
I could cry with rage."
"If things are so bad as that," said Rowland, "it seems to me that you ought to find nothing easier than to dispatch the Cavaliere to bring the guilty couple back.""Never in the world! My hands are tied.Do you know what Christina would do? She would tell the Cavaliere to go about his business--Heaven forgive her!--and send me word that, if she had a mind to, she would walk in the woods till midnight.Fancy the Cavaliere coming back and delivering such a message as that before the prince!
Think of a girl wantonly making light of such a chance as hers!
He would marry her to-morrow, at six o'clock in the morning!""It is certainly very sad," said Rowland.
