Anna Miller Costantini

“ Dinner was drawing to an end and the long Pension dining-room was filled with a hubbub of conversation in many languages. Estelle Hagerup and Astrid were having a lively discussion on the advantages of matrimony as compared with single blessedness.
"I say," declared Estelle, "that no man living is worth a woman's giving up her whole life to him. Why should she? Why should the woman always give up to the man? Then there is the monotony of it. I should be tired to death of seeing the same face across the breakfast table every day in the year, and year in, year out!" ”

“ It held them body and soul, in a state of exquisite torture, penetrating every fibre of their united being, throbbing in every particle, drawing them into communion with the pulsating ether about them, absorbing them into the vibrant Universe, their joint soul into the All-Soul. They felt their entire unity, one with the other and with the whole of the Creation. For an instant Life in its entirety was epitomized in their life, Eternity itself concentrated in the immeasurable pause, the innermost secret of existence lay bare before their reverent eyes. ”

“ He made a gesture of utter despair, "Ragna, dearest, you must be mine or my life is finished."
"Signor Valentini, you must not talk like this—it is quite impossible."
"But why?"
Ragna closed her eyes wearily and drew a long breath. The moment she dreaded had come, and so suddenly that she found herself unprepared. She still tried to gain time.
"Because—because I cannot marry anyone. But it should be enough that I do not love you."
"But I will marry you without that and trust to the future."
"I tell you it is impossible for me to marry anyone." ”

“ Marriage with a man who knew all and in spite of it loved her still, would be a haven of refuge, it would save her reputation and give her child the advantage of a father's name. But could she accept the offer, could she accept the charity of it? True, Egidio had put it as a benefit to be conferred still more on him than on her—but even so, could she accept? With her woman's knowledge of the facts of life and marriage, could she be his wife? ”

“ Estelle snorted.
"If only my dear Peter were alive!" sighed Fru Bjork, "he was such an amiable man. I never knew him to grumble."
"Ah, well, there's no telling," said Estelle, "he might have in time."
"My blessed Peter would never have grumbled," said Fru Bjork with finality. Astrid giggled.
"I should hate a man with no spirit, there would be no satisfaction in managing him."
The old Swedish lady raised her head.
"My dear, it is most unseemly for a young woman to talk of 'managing' her husband. Young people nowadays have lost the virtue of obedience." ”

“ Dinner was over at last and Ferrati and his wife on their way home, accompanied by much cracking of the fiaccheraio's whip, and Ragna seated in a carriage by Egidio's side let herself lapse into a sort of reverie. So it was done, she was married! She was the wife of Egidio Valentini, far from her home, her kindred! The sultry night air, through which a faint breeze was stirring, wafting the odour of the thick-lying dust to her nostrils, oppressed her. She longed for a breath from her native fjords, crisp and aromatic from mountain and fir woods, sharp with the tang of the sea. ”

“ Do you not see the Empress, beautiful, stately, robed in purple, gems and gold-dust in her dark hair, wonderful jewels on her neck and arms? There are the ladies,—the proud dark one just behind her, the fair girl leaning over the balustrade at her side, with the gold of the sun on her hair, on her white dress, and the other three, laughing together, over there to the left? The slave-girls are holding peacock-feather fans to shield their royal mistress, and the slave-boys, beautiful, fair-haired captives, have brought baskets of fruit and sweets. ”

“ She was not one to whom any impression would be lasting; to her, lovers might come and go as butterflies to a flower,—to all she would give of her smiles, but no one of them would leave a mark on her soul. Fidelity, to her, would mean the imposed constraint of public opinion, not the keeping of herself to one, and one only. She wished to marry, and to marry well,—all things considered, one man is very like another, when it comes to matrimony, she thought.
Innumerable times she had fancied herself in love, and each time she had gone to Ragna with the tale of her infatuation. ”