Silvia

“ I always call her "Lady Greensleeves,"' replied Silvia.
'She is very pretty, I think, in spite of that funny dress. But she looks very proud and dignified.'
'I suppose she was some grand lady. How she stares at one!' added Silvia, hastily turning her eyes away, but only to meet the gaze of other generations of Dalrymples, who frowned or smiled on her in all directions. 'It is very odd that they should look at one so hard, isn't it?' she said in a half-whisper to Robin. ”

“ Silvia was surprised by her manner of speech. She saw that the Indian woman entertained a feeling of intense dislike toward the chief.
“Then you do not respect the great chief,” said Silvia, “judging from your remarks.”
“No, I hate him!” she fairly hissed, “the inhuman, merciless outcast of his own race!”
“And do not his warriors like him?” asked Silvia.
“Yes; those whose hearts are vile as his,” Silver Voice answered, “and, dear girl,” she continued, coming closer and speaking lower, “if it’s in my power, and the power of Allacotah, you shall never, never suffer captivity at his hands!” ”

“ And why not death rather than living torment?
To die is to be banish'd from myself,
And Silvia is myself; banish'd from her
Is self from self, a deadly banishment.
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
Unless it be to think that she is by,
And feed upon the shadow of perfection.
Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day for me to look upon.
She is my essence, and I leave to be
If I be not by her fair influence
Foster'd, illumin'd, cherish'd, kept alive.
I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom: ”

“ Nay, Silvia, it is you who have conquered, not I. To this unsoiled treasure, "fresh from God," you are mother, not I. Through all my years of misery, I have never once felt the loss of my lover as I feel it now, while my arms close around his son. . . . .
"You like children?" says Silvia, as the boy slips away from me, and clambers over the bed; "I never did."
"Pitty_mamma!" says the child, pulling at her loose hair, "pitty mamma!” but he does not kiss her or lay his face against hers, nor does she hold out her arms to him. Silvia spoke truth, she has no mother-instinct whatever. ”

“ THURIO. Why, this it is to be a peevish girl
That flies her fortune when it follows her.
I'll after, more to be reveng'd on Eglamour
Than for the love of reckless Silvia. Exit
PROTEUS. And I will follow, more for Silvia's love
Than hate of Eglamour, that goes with her. Exit
JULIA. And I will follow, more to cross that love
Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love. Exit
SCENE 3. ”

“ Silvia loved them all, and they all loved her; she always was the first to praise, openly and with good faith, the talent of her rivals; but she lost nothing by it, because, being their superior in talent and enjoying a spotless reputation, her rivals could not rise above her.
Nature deprived that charming woman of ten years of life; she became consumptive at the age of sixty, ten years after I had made her acquaintance. The climate of Paris often proves fatal to our Italian actresses. ”

“ Silvia looked in the direction indicated by his burning gaze, and to her horror she beheld a Cheyenne Indian gazing in upon her from the door of the apartment.
Silvia uttered a low sob and fell unconscious to the floor with affright, the paper falling on the table by the lamp.
The savage, not seeing the panther, advanced into the room, but the next instant the beast leaped forward and dragged him to the floor.
A fierce struggle ensued. But it was as brief as decisive. The panther tore the savage almost into shreds. ”

“ Who is Silvia? what is she,
⁠That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
⁠The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.
Is she kind as she is fair,—
⁠For beauty lives with kindness? ”

“ Talk of the proud contempt of spirits risen! it is the living who have the best of it, and despise the dead. If I had died to-day, the women who hate me would have said, 'Poor creature!' he would have said, 'Poor Silvia.' I should have been poor Silvia, a weak loving fool to all eternity to him. I will live!—live to punish the scorn and coldness that has dared repay such love as mine—live to make him rue the day he made Silvia Fleming stoop to pray in vain. ”

“ She sat and stared at Rome while her busy fingers knit—at the wonderful city where she was one day to go and be a nun, where the pope lived and kings came to worship him. In the morning light the Holy City lay in the midst of the Campagna like her mother's wedding-pearls when dropped in a heap on their green cushion; and Silvia knelt with her face that way and prayed for a soul as white, for she was to be the spouse of Christ, and her purity was all that she could bring Him as a dowry. ”

“ Claudio would come to Rome in a week, and perhaps they would be married before he should go back. There was no letter from Matteo. So much the better.
One golden day succeeded another, and Silvia changed from a lily to a rose with marvellous rapidity. She was not a ruddy, full-leaved rose, though, but like one of those delicate ones with clouds of red on them and petals that only touch the calyx, as if they were wings and must be free to move. She was slim and frail, and her color wavered, and her head had a little droop, and her voice was low. She had always been the stillest creature alive ”

“ Then to Silvia let us sing
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling.
'To her let us garlands bring.
HOST. How now, are you sadder than you were before?
How do you, man? The music likes you not.
JULIA. You mistake; the musician likes me not.
HOST. Why, my pretty youth?
JULIA. He plays false, father.
HOST. How, out of tune on the strings?
JULIA. Not so; but yet so false that he grieves my very
heart-strings.
HOST. You have a quick ear.
JULIA. Ay, I would I were deaf; it makes me have a slow heart. ”

“ Oh Silvia, Silvia, would you had never done this! Would I had never tempted you in a fatal hour! Does not this butchery and eating of raw meat and rabbit's fur disgust you? Are you a monster in your soul as well as in your body? Have you forgotten what it is to be a woman? ”

“ Silvia exclaimed.
“I am not, Silvia; I have long thought I would tell you this.”
“But we never knew that Florence was married before she died, or drowned herself.”
“No, Silvia, we were married secretly. You were in Omaha at the time, so I never saw you until the night I rescued you from Black Bear,” said the ranger; “and let me tell you something else that will surprise you: Florence is not dead!”
“Rodger!” Silvia gasped; “is that true?”
“It is, Silvia; the woman in Indian disguise known as Silver Voice, is Florence.”
“Rodger, it is impossible! Silver Voice is the wife of an Indian chief.” ”

“ I have always been afraid that he would come under Silvia's influence again, but he has not.
Paul Vasher is neither a weak nor a forgiving man. I like these strong, deep natures: the impulsive, pleasant-mannered, facile folk may be twice as lovable, but they are like sand, and that which they receive quickly is as quickly effaced; while the favour of the proud, reserved man or woman is precious and rare, since it is vouchsafed to but few. I should like to know what Silvia would say if she knew? ”

“ DAPHNE and SYLVIA.
DAPHNE.
WILT thou, then, Silvia, waste the bloom of youth,
Rejecting, sullenly, the joys of love?
Say, shall a mother's tender, moving name,
Never be music to thy callous ear?
Can thy obdurate soul conceive no bliss,
To see thy sportive children round thee play?
Nay, humanize thy breast; put on the woman;
Nor be a rebel to the voice of nature.
SYLVIA.
Let other nymphs court the delights of love;
If love indeed has more delights than pains ”

“ Silvia felt a chill creep over her frame as she thought: “What if he is a robber, or an escaped criminal—a base villain, leading me into his lair; but no; it can not be possible that an evil heart lies concealed behind that noble, handsome face. He has saved me from the tortures of Indian captivity, or perhaps a worse fate, and I will not entertain, for a moment, one disrespectful thought of him. ”

“ Proteus and Valentine were expressing their happiness in their reconciliation, and in the love of their faithful ladies when they were surprised with the sight of the duke of Milan and Thurio, who came there in pursuit of Silvia.
Thurio first approached, and attempted to seize Silvia, saying: "Silvia is mine." Upon this Valentine said to him in a very spirited manner: "Thurio, keep back: if once again you say that Silvia is yours, you shall embrace your death. Here she stands, take but possession of her with a torch! I dare you but to breathe upon my love." ”

“ He would be angry at my name being coupled with George's, but of course he could not believe it. I wonder who wrote it? We have no friends we Adairs, to trouble themselves about our affairs, or play us tricks, and no enemies, that I know of, who hate us heartily enough to try and do us a mischief.
A thought suddenly strikes me: Silvia! And yet, why should she? How can this absurd ruse benefit her in any way? My being married to George, even if it were true, could bring her no nearer to Paul. And yet how can it be Silvia, who has never been here in her life? ”

“ Silvia was moved to pity this lovely lady, who was so sadly forsaken by the man she loved; and when Julia offered the ring which Proteus had sent, refused it, saying: 'The more shame for him that he sends me that ring; I will not take it; for I have often heard him say his Julia gave it to him. I love thee, gentle youth, for pitying her, poor lady! Here is a purse; I give it you for Julia's sake.' These comfortable words coming from her kind rival's tongue cheered the drooping heart of the disguised lady. ”

“ Proteus soon found that his scheme for winning Silvia met with small success. He had already been false to Valentine, and now he intended to be false to Sir Thurio; but his treachery was likely to be of little avail. Silvia was far too good and true to be corrupted by his worthless gifts. When he protested his loyalty to her, she twitted him with his falsehood to his absent friend; when he praised her beauty, she bade him remember how he had been forsworn in breaking faith with Julia, whom he loved. ”

“ She had to pass through the forest where Valentine and the banditti dwelt; and one of these robbers seized on Silvia, and would also have taken Eglamour, but he escaped.
The robber who had taken Silvia, seeing the terror she was in, bid her not be alarmed, for that he was only going to carry her to a cave where his captain lived, and that she need not be afraid, for their captain had an honourable mind, and always showed humanity to women. ”

“ Life, and the joy of life, beauty so profuse that it can afford to have a few blemishes like a slatternly Venus, and the dolce far niente of poverty that neither works nor starves,—they lie all along the road.
Silvia was young, and had all her life looked forward to this journey. She could not be quite indifferent. She looked and listened, though all the time her heart was heavy for Claudio. They reached the gate of St. John Lateran just as all the bells began to ring for the noon Angelus, and in fifteen minutes were at the Signora Fantini's door and Silvia in the kind lady's arms. ”

“ Silvia had won my true friendship. I looked upon her as a most worthy woman, whose kindness of heart and purity of life deserved the esteem of all. I stayed in the family for three days after her death, sincerely sympathizing with them in their affliction.
A few days afterwards, my friend Tiretta lost his mistress through a grievous illness. Four days before her death, perceiving that she was near her end, she willed to consecrate to God that which man could have no longer, and dismissed her lover with the gift of a valuable jewel and a purse of two hundred louis. ”

“ Deliver it to Madam Silvia:
She loved me well deliver'd it to me.
JULIA It seems you loved not her, to leave her token.
She is dead, belike?
PROTEUS Not so; I think she lives.
JULIA Alas!
PROTEUS Why dost thou cry 'alas'?
JULIA I cannot choose
But pity her.
PROTEUS Wherefore shouldst thou pity her?
JULIA Because methinks that she loved you as well
As you do love your lady Silvia:
She dreams of him that has forgot her love;
You dote on her that cares not for your love.
'Tis pity love should be so contrary ”

“ It did not occur to me strange that Silvia should be in Rome alone and unattended; I never asked myself or her how she knew of your marriage, or how she could care to marry me knowing what effect the news had had upon me. I felt something like a man under the influence of an opiate that has not made him perfectly unconscious—everything passes around him as in a dream, but he knows that by-and-by he will awake and see things as they really are. ”

“ THURIO. Sir, if you spend word for word with me, I shall make
your
wit bankrupt.
VALENTINE. I know it well, sir; you have an exchequer of words,
and, I think, no other treasure to give your followers; for
it
appears by their bare liveries that they live by your bare
words.
Enter DUKE
SILVIA. No more, gentlemen, no more. Here comes my father.
DUKE. Now, daughter Silvia, you are hard beset.
Sir Valentine, your father is in good health. ”

“ Silvia should not be a nun. She should break [Pg 182] the bond imposed by her mother, as he had broken that imposed by his parents. She should be his wife, and they would live in Rome. He knew that his voice would find bread for them. ”

“ She arose to her feet and turned quickly around. An Indian woman, whom she at once recognized as Silver Voice, stood before her. Silvia was the first to speak.
“Oh, Silver Voice! it is you, who were so kind to me!”
“Yes, dear girl,” the woman replied, with much sadness in her voice, “but you are looking happier than when I last saw you.”
“Really, Silver Voice, I should be miserable indeed if I had not found a friend,” returned Silvia.
“Ah! dear girl, I know why. You have learned to love your handsome rescuer and friend, the ranger, and he loves you. ”