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Updated: June 23, 2025
'Father Benecke! you here, said Eleanor, leaning against the wall for support so weak was she, and so startling was this sudden apparition of the man whom she had last seen on the threshold of the glass passage at Marinata, barely a fortnight before. 'I fear, Madame, that I intrude upon you, said the old priest, staring at her with embarrassment. 'I will retire.
The servants adored him, and all the long street of Marinata welcomed him with friendly eyes. His Italian was fluency itself; and his handsome looks perhaps, his keen commanding air gave him a natural kingship among a susceptible race.
Burgoyne picked up her parasol. 'Quite true. Your aunt tells me she was so disappointed, poor child, that there was no church of her own sort for her to go to this morning. 'What! cried Manisty 'Did she expect a conventicle in the Pope's own town! For Marinata owned a Papal villa and had once been a favourite summer residence of the Popes.
Manisty long? he asked of Lucy, while his gay look followed the Professor and his captive. 'I have been staying with them for six weeks at Marinata. 'What to finish the book? he said, laughing. 'Mr. Manisty hoped to finish it. The Count laughed again, more loudly and good-humouredly, and shook his head. 'Oh! he won't finish it. It's a folly!
One might have said almost that he had become a mere ungainly, ill-kept old man, red-eyed for lack of sleep, and disorganised by some bitter distress. 'You remember what I told you and Mr. Manisty, at Marinata? he said at last, with difficulty. 'Perfectly. You withdrew your letter? 'I withdrew it. Then I came down here. I have an old friend a Canon of Orvieto. He told me once of this place.
The rich wild light from the Campagna flooded the room; the day sank rapidly and a strange hush crept through the apartment. The women working among the olives below had gone home; there were no sounds from the Marinata road; and the crackling of the fire alone broke upon the stillness except for a sound which emerged steadily as the silence grew. It seemed to be a man's voice reading.
With him at least, Eleanor through all anguish had remained mistress of herself, and she had her reward. No irreparable word had passed between them. In silence the old life ceased to be, and a new bond arose. The stifled reproaches, the secret impatiences, the ennuis, the hidden anguish of those last weeks at Marinata were gone.
Mrs. Burgoyne shook her head. 'No I like my little idolatries, she said, with decision. It was Sunday morning. The bells in Marinata were ringing merrily. Women and girls with black lace scarves upon their heads, handsome young men in short coats and soft peaked hats, were passing along the road between the villa and the lake, on their way to mass. It was a warm April day.
And beyond all, the blue mountains, aetherially light, like dreams on the horizon; and above all, the radiant serenity of the sky. Ah! there spoke the nightingales, and that same melancholy note of the little brown owl which used to haunt the olive grounds of Marinata. Lucy held her breath. The tears rushed into her eyes tears of memory, tears of longing. But she drove them back.
While Manisty and the housemaid Andreina conveyed Alice Manisty, now in a state of helpless exhaustion, to her room, and secured her there, Alfredo ran for the Marinata doctor. Eleanor and Aunt Pattie forced brandy through the maid's teeth, and did what they could to bring back warmth and circulation.
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