Mario

“ They raised Mario up-they placed him in the carriage, and bore his insensible and much bruised form slowly to the palace of Borelloni. All Florence rung with the tidings of the deed—the name of Mario was spoken everywhere, and the city honored the performer of so bold an action.
"Now what will Borelloni do to reward the gallant preserver of his own life and his beloved daughter!"
"He will give him a thousand piastres," said one.
"He will enrich him for life," said another.
"He will do no such thing," said a third. "Mario is no mercenary man. He despises rewards of that kind. ”

“ The count then related all-told him of Mario's love for Stella, of his own pride, of Mario's actions. When it was ended, the duke, who had displayed the greatest emotion, arose and went to Mario.
"Never," he cried, "most noble youth-never have I heard of more generosity and greatness of soul. Happy is he who can call you his friend. But you shall not be neglected by me, for while I live, you will always have a friend. I honor your actions. ”

“ Never was youth more richly gifted for the operatic stage than was Mario. Beauty of voice, face, and figure, with the most winning grace of Italian manner, were all his. For the stage he was born, and to the stage he remained faithful during his artistic life. To the brilliance of his success in opera he brought one great helping quality, the eye for color and all the important details of costume. ”

“ Mario was entertained by this sort of instruction, which gave him an opportunity to array himself in his finest clothes, look at himself in the mirrors and stalk proudly across the room. He was so clever and so graceful, that it cost him little trouble to learn that species of majestic ballet, in the most minute details of which he was carefully drilled, and his old father, who was much more of a child than he, knew how to make the lesson amusing. It was a complete course in pantomime, wherein the marquis, despite his years, was still an excellent performer. ”

“ Mario was wondering with what purpose so shrewish a creature had introduced herself into such company, when a stout woman with a pimply face, absurdly bedizened with wretched gewgaws, also entered the room, laden with boxes like a mule, and called for silence. She had some difficulty in obtaining it, but at last delivered in French a sort of announcement, overflowing with hyperbolical laudation of her companion, the incomparable Pilar, Moorish dancer and infallible soothsayer, possessed of all the learning of the Arabs. ”

“ When Luigi added a little mantle and a hat such as other well-dressed lads of his age wore, Tino exclaimed, "This also! Dio mio, never have I known so kind a man as Signor Mario. I shall serve him well and love him even better than you do."
Luigi shrugged his shoulders and answered with a disagreeable laugh, "Long may you think so, poverino; I serve for money, not love, and look to it that I get my wages, else it would go ill with both of us. Keep all you can get, boy; our master is apt to forget his servants." ”

“ Were you grieved when he died?"
"Yes, Mario. He was my cousin, and I wept for him."
"And so if I should die, who am neither your cousin nor your husband, you wouldn't weep for me?"
"You must not talk about dying, Mario," said Lauriane; "they say that it brings bad luck when one is young. I don't want you to die, and I say again that I love you dearly."
"But you won't promise me when I shall be your husband?"
"Why, Mario, what good would it do you to have me for your wife? You do not even know whether you will want to marry when you are old enough." ”

“ Mario, the sombre and jealous-tempered brother—they all come before us with the reality of living characters whom we love, fear, or suspect as they gradually reveal themselves. The episode of the flower flung from the window in a moment of frolic and girlish vanity, and which leaves so deep a mark on Ginevra’s life, is cleverly introduced and prepares us for the retribution which awaits the poor child’s innocent misdemeanor. ”

“ The gleam of a divine thought flashed across his face.
“The smaller!” shouted the sailors again impatiently. “We are going!”
And then Mario, with a voice which no longer seemed his own, cried: “She is the lighter! It is for you, Giulietta! You have a father and mother! I am alone! I give you my place! Go down!”
“Throw her into the sea!” shouted the sailors.
Mario seized Giulietta by the body, and threw her into the sea.
The girl uttered a cry and made a splash; a sailor Seized her by the arm, and dragged her into the boat. ”

“ Mario proclaimed, in a voice sounding above the growl of the mob. “When you wish to pull down this work of Leonardo it is your right to do so, and no one may say no. You are the people, and the people must rule!” ”

“ I should have counted my brief visit incomplete, Mr. Mario, if I had not met you. Therefore I pray you hold me excused. In Italy, where your fame is at least as great as it is in England, we are proud to know you one of ourselves. Many generations have come and gone since Paolo Mario settled in the English county of Kent, but the olive of Italy proclaims itself in his descendant. ”

“ The inflections of his voice in passages of tenderness were ravishing, and his utterance of anger and despair was terrible. Nor was any tenor that has been heard here, not even Mario in his prime, his superior in that great test of fine vocalization, a sustained cantabile passage. He was one of those blond Italians who are found on the northern border of the peninsula. ”

“ He waved his hand as if to say, "I have nothing for you," and was about to bid the man drive on, but Tino cried out boldly,--
"Behold me, signor! I am Tino, the singing boy of Valrose. I have run away to join you if you will have me. Ah, please do! I wish so much to go with you."
"Bravo!" cried Mario, well pleased. "That is a lad of spirit; and I am glad to have you. I don't steal nightingales, as I told you down yonder; but if they get out of their cages and perch on my finger, I keep them. In with you, boy! there is no time to lose." ”

“ MAR. Bianca, do you love me? BIA. Ay, Mario! MAR. Ah, but not as I love you! BIA. You do not mean that, Mario; you know How much I love you. But I could not be happy Thinking of her awake in the darkness, weeping, And all alone. MAR. Oh, my sweet love. BIA. It may be She will sleep. MAR. I shall be waiting for you. [They embrace.] [Exit Mario. Bianca goes to Beatrice and sits at the foot of the throne, putting her head against Beatrice's feet.] BIA. Sister. [After a moment Beatrice slowly reaches down her hand, and Bianca takes it.] CURTAIN ”

“ But do not leave us again; for, with or without your love, we are and desire always to be your family, your friends, your defenders, your slaves, whatever you wish us to be, provided that you permit us to love you and serve you."
Lauriane pressed Mario's loyal hands in hers.
"You are an angel," she said, "and it requires courage on my part to refuse you. But I love you too well to chain your brilliant destiny to mine, melancholy, as it is, and alas! complete; I love your father too well to be willing to cause him this sorrow." ”

“ Mario told her that what she had made known to him at Palazzo Barbiondi had lit up his world again. When the news of the wedding reached him, he said, his thoughts were black indeed. It was as if the sun had fallen just as it had begun to fill the east with glory. The love of her had given him a new heart, a [Pg 172] new mind, new senses. Suddenly all life had been transfigured with an infinite beauty. It was in the railway carriage returning to Milan that he learned of the wedding. ”

“ Poor Mario ran forward, weeping bitterly.
"Father," he cried, throwing himself into his arms, "she is a wicked girl. I was trying to bring her to you to show you what she has on her hands. She touched my ruff, saying that it was stained, and it is she who puts the stains on it; she wants to make you feel grieved and prevent you from loving me. She takes advantage of the foolish things I do to put other wicked things on my back. Father, she isn't a good woman; she makes you think I am a liar, and, if you believe her——"
"No, no, my son, I do not believe her!" cried the marquis.—"Adamas!" ”

“ There was trouble enough before Don Mario would let himself be dragged away into the chemist’s shop, which was filled with a laughing crowd. Vito, the chemist’s young man, came forward, very seriously, and said to him—
“What does it matter if they do say Quacquarà to you? You don’t happen to be a quail, do you?”
Don Mario turned furious eyes on him.
“Well; it’s not as if they called you a thief!”
“I am a gentleman, and the son of a gentleman.”
“Well? What does Quacquarà mean? Nothing at all. Quacquarà let it be!” ”

“ Tell me!"
"No, Mario, it's of no use; you would not love me any more for it; and you hate me now, I know."
"I hate no one," replied Mario; "I hate evil, and evil instincts horrify me. You have retained yours, unfortunate girl! I knew it yesterday, when you took a frantic delight in trying to disturb my mind. You will never succeed, you may as well understand that and leave me in peace; it is better for you that I forget you."
"Listen, Mario," exclaimed Pilar half aloud, in a choking voice. "This is not the way to treat me. Really, it is not, if you love anyone on earth! ”

“ So Mario's cheeks were pale, and he became pensive. He worked desperately to perfect his education, and it was a great pleasure to him to keep Lauriane informed concerning his studies, imparting to her his most recently acquired scraps of knowledge. It was an excellent way of killing time in their daily interviews; for there is no more painful restraint than that caused by the impossibility of talking freely before witnesses with the persons one loves. ”

“ With all her strength she called his name, and the grove of maples into whose darkness he had passed gave back her voice.
“Mario, Mario! It is I, Hera!”
He heard, and his horse, checked violently, reared and curvetted in turning, then came toward her at a gallop, out into the moonlight. Quickly she told him of the emancipating event in Milan and the dying words that had sent her to [Pg 316] warn him; but there was no bitterness for any one now in either heart. All the world was love for the man and woman standing there beneath the stars, prisoners of honour and despair suddenly made free. ”

“ Can the rowers be insane?" thought Mario. "The sky is clouded, and they do not notice it. O heaven, what can they do! They cannot see the sky for the awning hides it."
His attention was now attracted by a sudden voice from Borelloni's villa. The old count appeared upon the terrace, pale and terrified, and waved his arms in the air, and screamed to those in the boat. ”

“ I have a heart, and I adore music. I took him to myself, and shall do my best for him. Ah, yes! in this selfish world one must not forget the helpless and the poor."
Tino stared, wondering what other boy the good signor had befriended, and was still more bewildered when Mario turned to him with a paternal air, to add in that pious tone so new to the boy,--
"This is my little friend, and he will gladly come and sing to your young ladies after dinner. Many thanks for the honor; I shall bring him out at my parlor concerts, and so fit him for his place by and by. Bow and smile, quick!" ”

“ We went slowly and cautiously: 'Tino first, with a lantern; then the Irish pair and child; then Mario, leading his two younger boys, and Celeste, with her daughter asleep in her arms; and for rear-guard papa with one of us on each arm, and Joseph with his precious burden. The wind and the irregularities of the ground made us stumble at every step. The rain lashed us in the face and extorted from time to time sad lamentations from the children. But, for all that, we were in a few minutes at the door of the hovel.
"M. Carpentier," said Mario, "I give my family into your care." ”

“ Mario made occasional appearances in oratorio singing at the Birmingham Festival of 1849 and at the Hereford Festival of 1855, and undertook various concert tours in the United Kingdom, but his name is principally associated with triumphs in the theatre. ”

“ Mario slept poorly and had no appetite the next day. His father took him home, fearing that he would fall ill, and beginning to conclude that it is not well to play with the future of children in their presence. But this tardy repentance did not cure him. His abnormal, romantic brain, which had never ceased to be the brain of a child, could not understand the sound conception of time. Just as he believed that he was still young, so he imagined that Mario was ripe for the kind of love, cold and loquacious, chaste and affected, with which Astrée had permeated his mind. ”

“ Mario. You do not see the continuous things, you only see the unexpected. Besides, Anna is mistress of herself.
Paolo. And she has done her duty.
Mario. It is a long time that she has done her duty.
Paolo. I shall know how to comfort her, there, I shall know how to cheer her. You shall see, Mario. I feel that we have returned to the first days of our marriage, that I possess her only from to-day.
Mario. Leave it to time. You have read—you have known. It is enough. It is useless that Anna knows you know.
Paolo. She was here when the Syndic gave me the wallet. But she went out immediately. ”

“ His figure on the stage looked as if it had stepped out of the canvas of Titian, Veronese, or Tintoretto. Never was an actor more harmoniously and beautifully dressed for the characters he impersonated—no mean advantage, and no slight indication of the complete artistic temperament.
Mario, Marchese di Candia, was born in 1812 at Genoa, of an old and noble family. His father had been a general in the Piedmontese army; and he himself was an officer in the Piedmontese Guard, when he first came to Paris in 1836, and immediately became a great favorite in society. ”