Monsignore

“ His secretary, or assistant, has by dint of patient study made himself an accomplished lawyer, as indeed a man must be who can thread his way through the dark labyrinths of Roman legislation. But Monsignore, who makes use of his assistant's ability for his own particular profit, thinks he has a right to despise him, because he is ill paid, lives humbly, and has no future to look forward to. ”

“ Still, Signori, eyes are something; and as the right reverend father has none, or what are as bad as none, for any use they can be in looking at a vessel half a mile off, he may not always see what he thinks he sees. When Monsignore tells us that so and so is Gospel, we all believe it, for we know the time has been when he could read; but we never think of going to his door to ask which way a ship is steering, having the use of our own senses."
"Can this fellow tell us the truth, Griffin?" asked Cuffe, a good deal mystified by Raoul's artifice and his assumed simplicity. ”

“ Father Murray had answered, very simply; "but I am happier to see the crozier in more worthy hands. God has been good to me. I am satisfied."
"You will come to the cathedral as of old?" Though voiced as a request, the words were a command.
"Let me stay here, I beg of you," pleaded the priest. "I am no longer young—"
"Age is not counted by years."
"I love it here and—"
But the Bishop raised his hand, and the priest was silent.
"You may stay for the present. That much I grant you."
But Monsignore's heart was too full for long silence, his fears too great. ”

“ Loving her, Monsignore,
I love all her attributes;
But I believe
That even if I did not love her
I would love the blueness of her eyes,
And her blue garment, made in the manner of the Japanese. ”

“ But, of your courtesy, Monsignore,
Do me this favour:
When you this morning make your way
To the Ivory Throne that bursts into bloom with roses because of her who sits upon it,
When you come to pay your devoir to Our Lady,
I beg you, say to her:
“Madame, a poor poet, one of your singing servants yet on earth,
Has asked me to say that at this moment he is especially grateful to you
For wearing a blue gown.” ”

“ Monsignore looks out for some young heiress, sends for her father, describes his pious and loyal protégé, and proposes marriage. Her father objects—says that his daughter cannot afford to marry a poor man, or that she does not wish to marry at all—or that he or she has some other preference. ”

“ The Bishop's voice took on even a graver tone. "What I am going to say to you is given into your confidence for a stronger reason than to have you think more charitably of a bishop in his dealings with his priests. I am taking you into my confidence chiefly for Monsignore Murray's sake. He is a different sort of man from the ordinary type. ”

“ Both the priest and his visitor stood up. Mark reached for his hat and gloves.
"Pardon me," said the lady, "for disturbing you, Monsignore."
Father Murray laughed and put up his hand. "Now, then—please, please."
"Well, Father, then. I like it better, anyway. I heard that poor man is dead. Can I do anything?"
"I think you can," said Father Murray. "Will you step in?"
"No, Father; let me sit here." She looked at Mark, who stood waiting to make his adieux. There was no mistaking the look, and the priest understood at once. Plainly astonished, he introduced Mark. ”

“ The priest drew a long breath, half relief, half regret, and wholly wonder.
“Well, well, it is perhaps the best that could happen. But to lose two of my flock—and to leave one’s country like that! You are a strange people, you Americans. And what becomes of us without either you or the Signorina Americana here in the villa?”
“There are more Americans,” replied the Signore, smiling; “and who knows but that your Signorina will return to make you more trouble yet?” ”

“ His father died just as he had completed his classical education, and wishing to help his family, Monsigny went to Paris in 1 749, and obtained a clerkship ' in the Bureaux des Comptes du Clergé. Having good patrons, for his family was a noble one, and being well-educated, refined in manners, and a skilful violinist, he was soon attached to the household of the Duke of Orleans as maître d'hotel, with a salary which placed him above want, and enabled him to provide for his younger brothers. ”

“ It is a piece of acting that may do for the Théâtre Français, but is absurd to sensible men. Gentlemen, these two concocted this whole plan last night when together in their cell. I once knew old Montresor well, and this priest has not a feature in common with him."
The Count de Montresor turned from his son, and faced the court.
"Cazeneau," said he, with scornful emphasis, "now commandant of Louisbourg, once equerry to the Count de Laborde, you never knew me but at a distance, and as your superior. But Florian, here, remembers me, and can testify to my truth. ”

“ I replied, gravely.
"Do not laugh at me, signor," she retorted angrily. "One may be easily deceived when one loves; but the name of Grimani stands for personal courage."
"I do not doubt it, signora," I replied in the same tone.
"I beg you, therefore, signor," she continued, still speaking with involuntary vehemence, "not to come here again; for all this jesting might end badly."
"That is as you please, signora," I replied, as imperturbably as before.
"It is evident, however, signor, that you find it very amusing; for you do not seem disposed to put an end to it." ”

“ Signore, you and your friends meditate the assassination of the King of Italy! and you call on an Englishman—an Englishman who has no love of secret and blood-stained ways—"
"Stefan!" the mother cried, quickly, and she placed her hand on the general's arm; "do not be angry. Do not heed her—she is a child—she is quick to speak. Believe me, there are other reasons for our coming to you."
"Yes, yes, my friend Natalie; all in good time. But I am most anxious to put myself right with the signorina your daughter first of all. ”

“ The sun-worshippers, pouring in throngs from their abandoned city—men, women, and children following and preceding the army in the fervor of their welcome to the white-faced children of the moon, who had come to them so mysteriously from the bosom of a wonder-working stream—impeded, by their respectful but exacting curiosity, the progress of de Sancerre toward the royal group. Women, scantily clad [85] but gay with flowers and feathers, would put forth their brown hands to touch the tattered velvets of the Frenchman’s travel-stained but once gorgeous costume. ”

“ The Signor is a prince. Listen! Along yonder road, before many minutes have passed, will come the Signorina Cartuccio with her friend, attended only by an aged servant. Men are waiting for them in the grove of orange trees above the Villa Fiolesse. Their orders are to carry off the two ladies to the other side of the island, where a place has been prepared for them. For an hour I have searched for the Signor, that he might procure aid, and so encounter these brigands, but in vain. ”

“ She will deny me to people when they come to tell me the same tale—it is always the same tale—that the Emperor, Acton, the Russians, Sir Sidney Smith, the Bey, the Grand Signor, they are all of them doing nothing or worse than nothing, and Ball is helpless without even food from Sicily for the Maltese. Why should I have to listen to them every hour of the day? The Grand Signor is the best of them, and he is a mule ridden by those crafty Russians, who are playing the deep game. ”

“ The Signora's gallant Marchese was none other than the Signor's ungallant stranger, a gentleman better known in the romance of highway robbery as Virtuoso, the brigand! and who, in the glowing language of one of the many instructive novels, of which he afterwards became the hero, "was no vulgar Freebooter." No! his was a spirit too proud to beg, too chivalrous to work, and too generous to trade. If he took from the rich he freely gave to the poor ”

“ O dear Signora! if all men whom we wish to respect would speak so! But it really seems that to please them, and win an influence over them, to have even their respect, we must be mean. Such a man as Monsignor Mermillod requires our noblest qualities, and encourages us to be true. One doesn’t need to be blatant in order to be kindly noticed by him, nor to boast in order to be appreciated. He is so noble and clear-sighted, and his very atmosphere is charity. ”

“ After a night’s repose, which was most welcome to him, he would early next morning have taken his leave of the ladies and continued his journey, but the Signora pressed him to stay with such winning grace, and the Signorina Ughella begged him, with so enchanting a glance, not to refuse her mother’s invitation, that he could not but comply. ”

“ At eight o'clock the largest bell was struck, and the Signora and all her household, including the house servants, went out to the little chapel in the garden, which was suddenly lighted with candles, gleaming brilliantly through the orange groves. The Signora read the service, the household responding—a twenty minutes' service, which is as much a part of the administration of the establishment as visiting the granaries and presses, and the bringing home of the goats. ”

“ Poor husband! Here, a blooming beauty smiles upon him—there he is nauseated by a peevish sensibility. Signora, signora, for God's sake consider, if he have not lost his understanding, which will he choose?
LEONORA (offering her a cup of chocolate) . You, madam—if he have lost it.
JULIA. Good! This sting shall return into your own bosom. Tremble for your mockery! But before you tremble—blush!
LEONORA. Do you then know what it is to blush, signora? But why not? 'Tis a toilet trick.
JULIA. Oh, see! This poor creature must be provoked if one would draw from her a spark of wit. ”

“ The Signora suggested that both might be excellent in their way.
“Then,” pursued the other, “she looks upon old families as she does on attar of roses and sandal-wood—a condensation of all that is exquisite, the rest being the refuse. Tell her that a vulgar soul often gets itself into a privileged body, and she is shocked at you. It is all I can do to keep my hands off her when I see Pg 820 her watching with admiring awe the affected grandeur of these little great people. ”

“ The females bowed reverently in assent; the friar continued, “Come with me, then, to the monastery of the signora. But keep yourselves a few steps distant, because there are people who delight to speak evil of others, and God knows how many fine stories might be told, if the superior of the convent was seen walking with a beautiful young woman—with women, I mean.”
So saying, he went on before: Lucy blushed; the guide looked at Agnes, who could not conceal a momentary smile; and they all three obeyed the command of the friar, and followed him at a distance. “Who is the signora?” ”

“ May it please you to know, my very redoubted lord and father, that I address myself to your glorious power, as the most doleful, most ruined, and most treacherously-deceived woman living; for, my very dear lord, on Sunday the 13th of this present month of June, the deputies of your town of Mons returned, and brought with them a treaty that had been agreed on between our fair cousin of Burgundy and our fair cousin of Brabant, which treaty had been made in the absence, and without the knowledge of my mother, as she herself signifies to me, and confirmed by her chaplain master Gerard le Grand. ”

“ He spoke in very magnificent terms of his own power, and endeavoured as much as possible to extenuate that of Montrose. He extolled immoderately the glory and achievements of his ancestors, the Gordons; a race, worthy indeed of all due commendation, whose power had for many ages been formidable, and an overmatch for their neighbours; and was so even at this day. It was therefore, he said, extremely unjust to ascribe unto another, meaning Montrose, the glory and renown acquired by their courage, and at the expense of their blood. ”

“ The Signora will soon join the Signore? Let her be at ease; everything will go on as if she were at home. Behold the primole the Signora has asked for these many years! They are not a garden flower, therefore it was extraordinarily difficult to obtain these wild things. With infinite labor I got them from the guardiano of the Villa Caprarola, where they cover the hills like a weed.”
This was my last attempt to part with Ignazio; whatever else is fleeting, he is permanent. ”

“ Not that the Count was better than his age, more scrupulous than the pleasure-loving court in which his youth had been passed, but in the freer, nobler atmosphere of this brave New World, and in the companionship of men striving in the midst of peril to do great deeds, all that was most admirable in de Sancerre’s character had been born anew, and, to his own amazement, he had learned that his views of life had undergone a change, that there had grown up something in his soul which gave the lie to his scoffing tongue, still from habit the tongue of a mondain fashioned in an evil school. ”

“ How fair it now seems, relieved from those gloomy battlements which it must often have saddened you to gaze upon. Signora, (turning to one of the Orsini) , your lord has high favour with the Tribune, who destines him to great command. His fortunes are secured, and we rejoice at it; for no man more loyally serves the state. Have you seen, fair Lady of Frangipani, the last verses of Petrarch in honour of my lord?—they rest yonder. May we so far venture as to request you to point out their beauties to the Signora di Savelli? ”