Has she
reconciled herself to the inevitable and taken this Empire frolic
as a graceful method of showing it? I should like to believe so,
but the course is scarcely consistent with that motor of illogic
which she is pleased to call her temperament. I am puzzled.
Her smile as we parted sent a chill through me, being the smile
of a mask instead of a woman's face; and it was not the face of
Judith. I don't anticipate much merriment tomorrow evening.
At Carlotta's suggestion, I have sent a line to Pasquale to ask
him to join us. His gay wit will lend to the entertainment a
specious air of revelry which Carlotta will take as genuine.
I have often thought lately of the hopeless passion of Alfonso
the Magnanimous of Naples, as set forth by Pope Pius II in his
Commentaries; for I am beginning to take a morbid interest in the
unhappy love affairs of other men and to institute comparisons.
If they have lived through the torment, why should not I? But
Alfonso sighed for Lucrezia d'Alagna, a beautiful chaste statue
of ice who loved him; whereas I crave the warm-blooded thing that
is mine for the taking, but no more loves me than she loves the
policeman who salutes her on his beat.
Pages:
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266