Anthony Hope

“ But to Amadeo these things were as the beauty of sky and sea to a man that is blind. Love was a stranger to his heart; he spent the hours wherein the rest danced and courted in high and abstruse meditation, and the ladies of the Princess's train, although very handsome, amiable, and kind, yet could not lure him from his retreat, nor persuade him to exchange his gloomy musings for the brightness of their smiles. ”

“ For Amadeo was come to Castivano, and there busied himself in preparing and setting in hand the great and fair shrine, which he was minded to build to the glory of Saint Emilia. But he lived in his castle of Castivano as a hermit lives, and did not mingle with men, seeing none save those that came to him concerning the building of the shrine, architects, stonemasons, workers in marble, in iron, in bronze, in silver and in gold, painters also, and those who laid mosaic, all of whom he gathered round him and encouraged to put forth their best and highest skill. ”

“ So soon as day dawned, Jacinta was on her feet flying from a spot full of terrors; and although she longed greatly to know how Count Amadeo had sped, yet for fear of the dead crone's grandsons, and of the dead crone herself, and more than all of the black he-goat (for what that goat was God alone knew) she dared not return to the hovel, but set forward at her best speed straight away from the river; and having walked the greater part of the day, she came to a little grey town that nestled in the lap of great blue- grey hills. ”

“ And they all turned red and appeared very uneasy, for, notwithstanding the delusions of Count Amadeo, and for all old Giacomo's vain talk about his skill and his pallet, to them at least it was plain that this wonderful picture of Saint Emilia was nothing else than a portrait of Jacinta, Beatrice's maid, whom they had beaten and driven with contumely from the Palace at Mantivoglia.
"God send that she be not here," whispered Beatrice, with a glance of great apprehension at Count Amadeo. ”

“ And a dream came to her, wherein she seemed to be in the outer room and no longer in the closet, but bound hand and foot and with a handkerchief tied across her mouth, so that she could utter no sound; while before her stood the crone with a hatchet in her hand and the young men each with a knife, and on the pallet in the corner lay the stranger; and in her dream the stranger had the face of Count Amadeo. ”

“ Then a storm broke with thunder, lightning, and a flood of rain, and in the midst of the turmoil there came the sound of horse's hoofs that stopped before the door of the hovel.
Jacinta raised her head to listen, and presently she heard the voice of a gentleman asking for shelter, and the old crone's voice answering with such smoothness as its cracked tones could achieve; and there was a stir in the room without as though preparations were made for the stranger's entertainment. An hour went by, Jacinta heard heavy steps pass over the threshold ”

“ But Jacinta said, "Then I must work for you;" but they would not let her work, the painter crying, with a face that seemed transfigured by some strong and exalted emotion, "I have waited long for you, child! For now, behold, neither your face nor my name shall ever die!" But the old sister bade her not heed his words, but be kind to him and let him paint her when he would; thus easily should she requite them for her lodging and the food she ate.
Therefore every day, and most readily, Jacinta suffered the old man (who was called Giacomo) to paint her ”

“ Thus the reputation and fame of the shrine grew great, even before it was built, and all artists and artificers desired an opportunity to display their skill in its erection or ornamentation. Moreover, when the Prince of Mantivoglia heard what Amadeo was purposing, he sent him word by one of his gentlemen that so soon as the shrine should be built, he would come with the Princess and all his Court and behold its beauty. ”

“ We see this girl for ourselves, and where is her beauty?" But though they could not find beauty, they found presumption and insolence, and, laying hold of poor Jacinta, they hurried her to where Beatrice lay, and, having roused Beatrice, shewed her Jacinta, clad in her mistress's robe and now for fear weeping bitterly. ”

“ And his tongue used them so fiercely and with such lack of measure that they passed more quickly.
"We are lost," said Zarata mournfully, as the ladies sat at their embroidery on the next day. "For to-night is the last night of the vigil, and although his Highness's masons will again shift the window for us, what profit is it, since he is steadily persuaded that we are demons from Hell."
And all the ladies were very melancholy and greatly affronted at the conviction in regard to them that possessed the mind of Count Amadeo. ”

“ We lie by the horses, if you have need of us." And then all was still.
Now the crone had charged Jacinta on no account to betray her presence by any noise or to come forth from the closet, promising her a sound beating in case she should disobey; yet a very great desire came on her to see who the stranger might be, and to warn him that he would sleep in more safety did he not sleep too soundly, for, having heard what the young men said of his horse and his purse, she conceived that they meant no good by their hospitality. ”

“ Now this story was told by the Princess of Mantivoglia, son's wife to that Prince Vittorio in whose time the thing fell out, as she sat with her ladies in the gardens after dinner that they might know the history of the Shrine of Saint Emilia at Castivano, and of the famous picture of Giacomo's that hangs there to this day. And if there be anything else that may be learnt from the story, it would seem to be that, so a face be pretty enough, it hath much the same power, whencesoever it may come and whether it belong to a Saint in Heaven, or to a waiting-maid. ”

“ And at last he betook him to his spiritual director, and prayed the reverend father that he might be suffered to bid farewell to a world wherein was no delight, and sanctify himself to the service of Heaven by taking the vows in the monastery of St. Joseph of Mantivoglia. But Father Eusebius, knowing the instability of human determination, and how the heart of a young man may he turned by this and that, bade him wait. And, having waited three months, Amadeo returned to Eusebius, and Eusebius bade him wait again for three months. ”

“ Then Jacinta, being timid and full of such superstitions as are rife among country folk, was even more terrified than before: for if the man were a brigand or worse, surely the old woman was a witch or worse, and the black he-goat was that than which nothing could be worse, aye, the very Evil One himself ”

“ Therefore I will raise to her at Castivano a fair and magnificent shrine, so that all men may speak in her praise and exalt her glory. And her I will serve all my life long, with fasting, charity, and prayer."
And the news that Count Amadeo was gone to Castivano to build a great shrine to Saint Emilia was spread throughout all the principality of Mantivoglia. ”

“ And thus, lying unconscious between his dead enemies, he was found by a shepherd in the early morning, and was by him carried to the nearest village, and lay there many days on the edge between life and death. ”