CHAPTER XVIII. THE EXILE
The sun of that avenging morning was beginning to shed its rays uponthe few stragglers in the Forum who, with pale squalid faces betokeninghunger and misery, shook their rags free of dust as they roseunrefreshed from their slumbers, when a carriage containing four womenrolled through the suburbs. It passed rapidly along towards those vastuninhabited plains, where little is to be seen except a wooden crosshere and there, reminding the traveller unpleasantly that on that spot amurder has been committed.
Arriving at the little house already twice mentioned, its occupantsalighted; and who shall describe the joy of that meeting. Julia andAurelia contemplated in silence the reunion of the now happy Manlio withhis wife and daughter, for all the prisoners of the wicked palace werefree.
Camilla also watched their tears of gladness, but without any clearcomprehension. Could she have known the fate of her seducer, it mightperchance have restored her reason. After a thousand questions had beenasked and answered, Manlio addressed Julia, saying-
"Exile, alas! is all that remains for us. This atrocious Government cannot endure; but until it is annihilated we must absent ourselves fromour home and friends."
"Yes, yes! you must fly!" Julia said. "But it will not be long, I trust,ere you will be able to return to Rome, and find her cleansed from theslavery under which she now groans. My yacht is lying at Port d'Anzo; wewill make all haste to gain it, and I hope to see you embark safely inthe course of a few hours."
A yacht! I hear some of my Italian readers cry. What part of a woman'sbelongings can this be? A yacht, then, is a small vessel in which thesea-loving and wealthy British take their pleasure on the ocean, forthey fear not the storm, the heat of the torrid zone, or the cold ofthe frozen ocean. Albion's sons, ay, and her daughters, too, leave theircomfortable firesides, and find life, health, strength, and happiness ininhaling the briny air on board their own beautiful craft in pursuit ofenjoyment and knowledge. France, Spain, and Italy have not this littleword in their dictionaries. Their rich men dare not seek their pleasureupon the waves--they give themselves to the foolish luxuries of greatcities, and hence is it that names like Rodney and Nelson are not intheir histories. Albion alone has always loved and ruled the waves forcenturies. Her wooden walls have been her inviolable defense. May hernew iron ramparts protect her hospitable shores from foreign foes!
But a yacht is a strange thing for a woman to possess. True, butEnglish Julia in childhood was of delicate constitution; thephysicians prescribed a sea-voyage, and her opulent parents equipped apleasure-vessel for her use. Thus Julia became so devoted to the bluewaves that, even when the balmy air of Italy had restored her to robusthealth, she continued, when inclination disposed her, to make littlevoyages of romance, discovery, and freedom in the waters of theMediterranean. Thus it was that she could offer so timely a refuge tothe family of the sculptor.