the table, and said: "Now, friend,
you will see that I have nothing to shrink from, for I am going to do
execution upon myself, and before him whom I would, above all other
men, have think well of me. My wife supposes that I am pledged to this
Brescian business because I am insanely patriotic. If I might join
Luciano tomorrow I would shout like a boy. I would be content to serve
as the lowest in the ranks, if I might be with you all under the Chief.
Rome crowns him, and Brescia is my bloody ditch, and it is deserved!
When I was a little younger--I am a boy still, no doubt--I had the
honour to be distinguished by a handsome woman; and when I grew a little
older, I discovered by chance that she had wit. The lady is the Countess
Violetta d'Isorella. It is a grief to me to know that she is sordid:
it hurts my vanity the more. Perhaps: you begin to perceive that vanity
governs me. The signora Laura has not expressed her opinion on this
subject with any reserve, but to Violetta belongs the merit of having
seen it without waiting for the signs. First--it is a small matter, but
you are English--let me assure you that my wife has had no rival. I have
taunted her with jealousy when I knew that it was neither in her nature
to feel it, nor in mine to give reason for it. No man who has a spark of
his Maker in him could be unfaithful to such a woman. When Lombardy was
crushed, we were in the dust. I fancy we none of us knew how miserably
we had fallen--we, as men. The purest--I dare say, the bravest--marched
to Rome. God bless my Luciano there! But I, sir, I, my friend, I,
Merthyr, I said proudly that I would not abandon a beaten country: and I
was admired for my devotion. The dear old poet, Agostino, praised me.
It stopped his epigrams--during a certain time, at least. Colonel Corte
admired me. Marco Sana, Giulio Bandinelli admired me. Vast numbers
admired me. I need not add that I admired myself. I plunged into
intrigues with princes, and priests, and republicans. A clever woman was
at my elbow. In the midst of all this, my marriage: I had seven weeks of
peace; and then I saw what I was. You feel that you are tired, when you
want to go another way and you feel that you have been mad when you want
to undo your work. But I could not break the chains I had wrought, for
I was a chief of followers. The men had come from exile, or they
had refused to join the Roman enterprise:--they, in fact, had bound
themselves to me; and that means, I