United States or Bulgaria ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
On the way through the park and fields, under the harvest moon, Gaston Cheverny raved as only lovers rave; but I, of all men, excused him, knowing the object of his love. The time sped away during that fortnight, albeit I was separated from Count Saxe. We saw the ladies at the château of Capello daily. The extraordinary kindness of Mademoiselle Capello toward me rather increased.
Andrea Doria remained undecided: he was on a lee shore, and that shore was the coast of the enemy; although his foes were advancing to the attack it seemed as if he had no mind to fight: whether he had or had not he displayed a most remarkable sluggishness, hesitating for three hours before getting up his anchors; these he only weighed at last under pressure from the bellicose Patriarch of Aquilea, Vincenzo Capello, and the Papal captain, Antonio Grimani.
And Monsieur Voltaire how I hoped the king's ministers would see the usefulness of keeping him out of France! And Mademoiselle Lecouvreur how sweet and generous she would be and then came the ever-haunting thought of Francezka Capello. Where was she at this moment?
As soon as it was close enough it was stopped, and the bishop called to his brother, invited him to step within, and recognizing me as the Tatar prince with whom he was acquainted, extended the same civility to me. We both accepted and mounted into the coach, which proceeded toward the château of Capello, where his Grace said he was going on a particular errand.
"There, there, just as I have seen it in my dreams!" she cried. "I never dreamed of Capello in my life that I did not dream of the lake and the Italian garden and I have not seen them since I was six years old! That statue is Petrarch's and on the base is an inscription from the sonnet, La vita fugge, e non s'aretta un ora, I forget the rest." "I remember," said Gaston, riding by her side.
He was carried into the palace, and we know, from Burchard, that the Cardinal of Capua gave him absolution in articulo mortis, which abundantly shows his condition. It is unthinkable that he should have been able to "run to the Pope," doubtful that he should have been able to speak; and, if he did, who was it reported his words to the Venetian ambassador? Capello wisely refrains from saying.
Monsieur Voltaire spoke not a word; he loved her too well to grudge her these few crumbs of comfort. Seeing she was interested, I began to tell her some of the incidents of our flight from Uzmaiz. I told her of our sojourn at the château of Capello. She remembered Francezka well; and the mention of these things turned the sad current of her thoughts.
It was that I might stop, if only for a night, at the château of Capello. To this, as the most indulgent of masters, he readily agreed. It was on a May day, in 1734, that I saw the château of Capello, after four years of absence. It was late in the afternoon, and the shadows were long in the boscages of the park and upon the fresh green terraces of the château.
Upon this a strong Venetian squadron, under Marino Capello, sallied forth, and compelled the Corsairs to seek shelter under the guns of the Turkish fortress of Valona in Albania. In spite of the peace then subsisting between Venice and the Porte, Capello attacked, and the fortress naturally defended, the refugees.
A deathlike silence fell when Francezka, in her sweet, penetrating voice, was bidding the cobbler's boy a last, despairing farewell. The Grand Prieur, leaning forward, put his hand to his ear he was slightly deaf and I felt my eyes grow hot with tears, when suddenly Mademoiselle Capello caught Gaston Cheverny's eyes fixed on her. It was as if he had laid a compelling hand upon her.
Word Of The Day