Corinne, Volume 1 (of 2)

  Chapter vi.

  Easter-Day was passed, and Corinne took no notice of the fulfilment ofher promise to confide her history to Lord Nelville. Wounded by thissilence, he said one day before her that he had heard much of thebeauty of Naples, and that he had a mind to visit it. Corinne,discovering in a moment what was passing in his soul, proposed toperform the journey with him. She flattered herself that she, should beable to postpone the confession which he required of her, by giving himthis satisfying proof of her love. And besides she thought that if heshould take her with him, it would be without doubt because he desiredto consecrate his life to her. She waited then with anxiety for what heshould say to her, and her almost suppliant looks seemed to entreat afavourable answer. Oswald could not resist; he had at first beensurprised at this offer and the simplicity with which Corinne made it,and hesitated for some time before he accepted it; but beholding theagitation of her he loved, her palpitating bosom, her eyes suffused withtears, he consented to set out with her, without reflecting upon theimportance of such a resolution. Corinne was elevated to the summit ofjoy; for at this moment her heart entirely relied on the passion ofOswald.

  The day was fixed upon, and the sweet perspective of their journeytogether made every other idea disappear. They amused themselves withsettling the details of their journey, and every one of these detailswas a source of pleasure. Happy disposition of the soul, in which allthe arrangements of life have a particular charm, from their connectionwith some hope of the heart! That moment arrives only too soon, wheneach hour of our existence is as fatiguing as its entirety, when everymorning requires an effort to support the awakening and to guide the dayto its close.

  The moment Lord Nelville left Corinne's house in order to prepare everything for their departure, the Count d'Erfeuil arrived, and learnt fromher the project which they had just determined on.--"Surely you don'tthink of such a thing!" said he, "what! travel with Lord Nelvillewithout his being your husband! without his having promised to marryyou! And what will you do if he abandon you?" "Why," replied Corinne,"in any situation of life if he were to cease to love me, I should bethe most wretched creature in the world!" "Yes, but if you have donenothing to compromise your character, you will remain entirelyyourself."--"Remain entirely myself, when the deepest sentiment of mylife shall be withered? when my heart shall be broken?"--"The publicwill not know it, and by a little dissimulation you would lose nothingin the general opinion." "And why should I take pains to preserve thatopinion," replied Corinne, "if not to gain an additional charm in theeyes of him I love?"--"We may cease to love," answered the Count, "butwe cannot cease to live in the midst of society, and to need itsservices."--"Ah! if I could think," retorted Corinne, "that that daywould arrive when Oswald's affection would not be all in all to me inthis world; if I could believe it, I should already have ceased to love.What is love when it anticipates and reckons upon the moment when itshall no longer exist? If there be any thing religious in thissentiment, it is because it makes every other interest disappear, and,like devotion, takes a pleasure in the entire sacrifice of self."

  "What is that you tell me?" replied the Count d'Erfeuil, "can such anintellectual lady as you fill her head with such nonsense? It is theadvantage of us men that women think as you do--we have thus moreascendancy over you; but your superiority must not be lost, it must beserviceable to you." "Serviceable to me?" said Corinne, "Ah! I owe itmuch, if it has enabled me to feel more acutely all that is interestingand generous in the character of Lord Nelville."--"Lord Nelville islike other men," said the Count; "he will return to his native country,he will pursue his profession; in short he will recover his reason, andyou would imprudently expose your reputation by going to Naples withhim."--"I am ignorant of the intentions of Lord Nelville," observedCorinne, "and perhaps I should have done better to have reflected moredeeply before I had let him obtain such power over my heart; but now,what signifies one more sacrifice! Does not my life depend on his love?I feel pleasure, on the contrary, in leaving myself no resource;--thereis none when the heart is wounded; nevertheless, the world may sometimesthink the contrary, and I love to reflect that even in this respect mycalamity would be complete, if Lord Nelville were to leave me!"--"Anddoes he know how you expose yourself on his account?" proceededd'Erfeuil.--"I have taken great care to conceal it from him," answeredCorinne, "and as he is not well acquainted with the customs of thiscountry, I have a little exaggerated to him the latitude of conductwhich they allow. I must exact from you a promise, that you will neverundeceive him in this respect--I wish him to be perfectly free, he cannever make me happy by any kind of sacrifice. The sentiment whichrenders me happy is the flower of my life; were it once to decay,neither kindness nor delicacy could revive it. I conjure you then, mydear Count, not to interfere with my destiny; no opinion of yours uponthe affections of the heart can possibly apply to me. Your observationsare very prudent, very sensible, and extremely applicable to thesituations of ordinary life; but you would innocently do me a greatinjury, in attempting to judge of my character in the same manner aslarge bodies of people are judged, for whom there are maxims ready made.My sufferings, my enjoyments, and my feelings, are peculiar to myself,and whoever would influence my happiness must contemplate me alone,unconnected with the rest of the world."

  The self-love of Count d'Erfeuil was a little wounded by the inutilityof his counsels, and the decided proof of her affection for LordNelville which Corinne gave him. He knew very well that he himself wasnot beloved by her, he knew equally that Oswald was; but it wasunpleasant to him to hear this so openly avowed. There is alwayssomething in the favour which a man finds in a lady's sight, thatoffends even his best friends.--"I see that I can do nothing for you,"said the Count; "but should you become very unhappy you will think ofme; in the meantime, I am going to leave Rome, for since you and LordNelville are about to quit it, I should be too much bored in yourabsence. I shall certainly see you both again, either in Scotland orItaly; for since I can do nothing better with myself, I have acquired ataste for travelling. Forgive my having taken the liberty to counselyou, charming Corinne, and believe me ever devoted to you!"--Corinnethanked him, and separated with a sentiment of regret. Her acquaintancewith him commenced at the same time as with Oswald, and this remembranceformed a tie between them which she did not like to see broken. Sheconducted herself agreeably to what she had declared to the Count. Someuneasiness disturbed for a moment the joy with which Lord Nelville hadaccepted the project of the journey. He feared that their departure forNaples might injure Corinne, and wished to obtain her secret before theywent, in order to know with certainty whether some invincible obstacleto their union might not exist; but she declared to him that she wouldnot relate her history till they arrived at Naples, and sweetlydeceived him, as to what the public opinion would be on her conduct.Oswald yielded to the illusion. In a weak and undecided character, lovehalf deceives, reason half enlightens, and it is the present emotionthat decides which of the two halves shall be the whole. The mind ofLord Nelville was singularly expansive and penetrating; but he onlyformed a correct judgment of himself in reviewing his past conduct. Henever had but a confused idea of his present situation. Susceptible atonce of transport and remorse, of passion and timidity, those contrastsdid not permit him to know himself till the event had decided the combatthat was taking place within him.

  When the friends of Corinne, particularly Prince Castel-Forte, wereinformed of her project, they felt considerably chagrined. PrinceCastel-Forte was so much pained at it, that he resolved in a short timeto go and join her. There was certainly no vanity in thus filling up thetrain of a favoured lover; but he could not support the dreadful voidwhich he would find in the absence of Corinne. He had no acquaintancesbut the circle he met at her house; and he never entered any other. Thecompany which assembled around her would disperse when she should be nolonger there; and it would be impossible to collect together thefragments. Prince Castel-Forte was little accustomed to domestic life:though possessing a good share of intellect, he
did not like the fatigueof study; the whole day therefore would have been an insufferable weightto him, if he had not come, morning and evening, to visit Corinne. Shewas about to depart--he knew not what to do; however he promised himselfin secret to approach her as a friend, who indulged in no pretensions,but who was ever at hand to offer his consolation in the moment ofmisfortune; such a friend may be sure that his hour will come.

  Corinne felt oppressed with melancholy in thus breaking all her formerconnections; she had led for some years in Rome a manner of life thatpleased her. She was the centre of attraction to every artist and toevery enlightened man. A perfect independence of ideas and habits gavemany charms to her existence: what was to become of her now? If destinedto the happiness of espousing Oswald, he would take her to England, andwhat would she be thought of there; how would she be able to confineherself to a mode of existence so different from what she had known forsix years past! But these sentiments only passed through her mind, andher passion for Oswald always obliterated every trace of them. She saw,she heard him, and only counted the hours by his absence or hispresence. Who can dispute with happiness? Who does not welcome it whenit comes? Corinne was not possessed of much foresight--neither fear norhope existed for her; her faith in the future was vague, and in thisrespect her imagination did her little good, and much harm.

  On the morning of her departure, Prince Castel-Forte visited her, andsaid with tears in his eyes: "Will you not return to Rome?" "Oh, _MonDieu_, yes!" replied she, "we shall be back in a month."--"But if youmarry Lord Nelville you must leave Italy!" "Leave Italy!" said Corinne,with a sigh.--"This country," continued Prince Castel-Forte, "where yourlanguage is spoken, where you are so well known, where you are so warmlyadmired, and your friends, Corinne--your friends! Where will you bebeloved as you are here? Where will you find that perfection of theimagination and the fine arts, so congenial to your soul? Is then ourwhole life composed of one sentiment? Is it not language, customs, andmanners, that compose the love of our country; that love which createsa home sickness so terrible to the exile?" "Ah, what is it you tell me,"cried Corinne, "have I not felt it? Is it not that which has decided myfate?"--She regarded mournfully her room and the statues that adornedit, then the Tiber which rolled its waves beneath her windows, and thesky whose beauty seemed to invite her to stay. But at that moment Oswaldcrossed the bridge of St Angelo on horseback, swift as lightning. "Therehe is!" cried Corinne. Hardly had she uttered these words, when he wasalready arrived,--she ran to meet him, and both impatient to set outhastened to ascend the carriage. Corinne, however, took a kind farewellof Prince Castel-Forte; but her obliging expressions were lost in themidst of the cries of postillions, the neighing of horses, and all thatbustle of departure, sometimes sad, and sometimes intoxicating,according to the fear or the hope which the new chances of destinyinspire.

  Book xi.

  NAPLES AND THE HERMITAGE OF ST SALVADOR.