Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 301: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

| aaa A —= wish to depart from Naples in a comfortable and convenient manner, and you will have a seat in my travelling-carriage: { on the other hand shall obtain a pleasant and agreeable companion, in whom I have already experienced no small degree of interest, and to whom I am ready to proffer my friendship.” “ And that proffer is accepted with fervour, and as warmly reciprocated,” rejoined Ciprina. The Marchioness rang the bell: and the sum- mons was answered by a page drest in plain clothes, and who presented one of the most perfect speci- mens of masculine beauty. His age was about twenty: he had no beard nor whiskers—but a finely pencilled black moustache contrasted with the vermilion hue of his lips and the pearly white- ness of his teeth. His hair was of raven dark- ness, soft and glossy as that of a woman. His slender figure seemed fitting to become a model for a statue of the Apollo Belvidere : his movements and attitudes were full of an unstudied grace: his manners were as polished as if he were a scion of the highest aristocracy instead of being a me- nial. “ Giulio,” said the Marchioness, speaking in a kind tone, and yet with all the dignity of a mis- tress addressing a domestic, “ you will be so good as to order the travelling-carriage to be in readi- ness at half-past six precisely. We shall proceed with rapidity, and the barouche may therefore follow at leisure. And remember, Giulio, the picture must be taken the greatest care of.” The handsome page bowed and withdrew. Ci- prina, while affecting to be engaged with some fruit which she took from a crystal dish, had fur- tively watched Giulio’s countenance ; and she failed not to notice the impassioned look which for a moment he flung upon the Marchioness ; but it was at the instant when the eyes of that lady were being withdrawn from his face, so that she herself probably observed it not. “And now,” said the Marchioness to Ciprina, “ we will retire to rest, if you please—as it is late, and we have to rise early.” The Marchioness was occupying a spacious suite of apartments at the hotel; there was consequently @ chamber in readiness to receive Ciprina; and one of her ladyship’s maids was appointed specially to attend upon her. Ciprina sought her couch; and exhausted by the incidents of the evening, she speedily fell into a profound slumber. She was duly awakened at an early hour: all things requi- site for her toilet were at hand ; and she presently joined the Marchioness in the breakfast-room. This lady welcomed her with kindness; and it seemed as/if the intimacy of friendship had already sprung up between them. The repast being over, they took their seats in the travelling-carriage, which was drawn by four post-horses. The hand- some page and a lady’s-maid sat on the box: the remainder of Lucrezia Mirano’s domestic suite were to follow in the other equipage. “ And thus,” said the Marchioness, as the tra- velling-carriage was rolling along the road outside AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. the precincts of the Neapolitan capital,—“ and | thus, after being casually thrown together for a little while on board a steam-vessel, we are now reunited and journeying in each otber’s com- papionsbip as if we were friends of old standing !” ‘And & feel,” responded Ciprina, “as if our 293 acquaintance had been one of years instead of weeks! But will you tell me, my dear Marchio- ness " “ Now let us understand each other,” inter- rupted the noble lady. “ You have already told me that you are henceforth to be known by the name of Ciprina; and that the name by which I first knew you must be regarded as having ceased to exist. Be it so! I call you Ciprina. You must call me Lucrezia: for if you address me by my patrician titles, the warmth of my friendship stands a chance of being chilled by the coldness of ceremony and formality.” “Well then, my dear Lucrezia,” said Ciprina, *‘ will you now tell me why you have lavished all these kindnesses upon me. Almost at the very out- set, last night, I informed you that I had separated from my husband; and I fancied at the moment that there was a certain significancy in your smile, as if you did not believe that he was my husband at all.” “ Certainly I did not believe it,” answered the Marchioness, with a gay laugh which displayed her magnificent teeth. ‘ Without having been an intentional listener, I heard something which passed between you on board the steam-vessel, which convinced me that the nuptial knot had not been tied.” ‘* And thus, when I presented myself to you last evening,” continued Ciprina, “ alone—at that late hour—and under circumstances which, to say the least of them, were peculiar if not suspicious— you at once received me as it were with open arms!” “ But let me first of all ask you a question, my dear Ciprina,” interrupted the Marchioness, with another sweet smile. “ How was it that you did not hesitate at once to reveal the fact that you had separated from your husband—or I would rather say from him who had passed as your husband? How was it, in a word, that you feared not to present yourself to me in an equivocal position? Did you think that I was not very fastidious, and that I did not stand upon punctilios? Come, Ciprina, let the fullest confidence subsist between us, that we may know each other at once and thoroughly.” “Be it so,” said Ciprina. ‘ You have in your suite, Lucrezia, a young page of a remarkable beauty: and if you overheard something in re- ference to myself on board the steam-vessel, I on my part perceived something which made me sus- pect that the Marchioness Di Mirano, although a widowed lady, was not insensible to the sweet sentiment of love.” A slight flush for an instant passed over the exceedingly handsome countenance of Lucrezia; and then, with a gay laugh, she said, “ You are right, Ciprina! And now we begin to understand each other!” “‘T fancied,” continued Ciprina, “that I had fathomed your real disposition; and hence the frankness with which I spoke to you last evening. I did not see the necessity of playing the part of a prude in order to ingratiate myself into your favour s * And you were right!” rejoined Lucrezia. “In a word, my dear friend, we tacitly understood each other, although we had not then arrived at expla- nations as we have now done, You are young —w- rr (¢ as COMmiclooolkxs Om