formed them that Antonio-Pericles had been in the track of the army
ever since their flight from Turin; daily hurrying off with whip of
horses at the sound of cannon-shot, and gradually stealing back to the
extreme rear. This day he had flown from Oliosi to Cavriani, and was,
perhaps, retracing his way already as before, on fearful toe-tips. Luigi
acted the caution of one who stepped blindfolded across hot iron plates.
Vittoria, without a spark of interest, asked why the Signor Antonio
should be following the army.

"Why, it's to find you, signorina."

Luigi's comical emphasis conjured up in a jumbled picture the devotion,
the fury, the zeal, the terror of Antonio-Pericles--a mixture of
demoniacal energy and ludicrous trepidation. She imagined his long
figure, fantastical as a shadow, off at huge strides, and back, with
eyes sliding swiftly to the temples, and his odd serpent's head raised
to peer across the plains and occasionally to exclaim to the reasonable
heavens in anger at men and loathing of her. She laughed ungovernably.
Luigi exclaimed that, albeit in disgrace with the signor Antonio, he
had been sent for to serve him afresh, and had now been sent forward to
entreat the gracious signorina to grant her sincerest friend and adorer
an interview. She laughed at Pericles, but in truth she almost loved the
man for his worship of her Art, and representation of her dear peaceful
practice of it.

The interview between them took place at Oliosi. There, also, she met
Georgiana Ford, the half-sister of Merthyr Powys, who told her that
Merthyr and Augustus Gambier were in the ranks of a volunteer contingent
in the king's army, and might have been present at Pastrengo. Georgiana
held aloof from battle-fields, her business being simply to serve as
Merthyr's nurse in case of wounds, or to see the last of him in case
of death. She appeared to have no enthusiasm. She seconded strongly the
vehement persuasions addressed by Pericles to Vittoria. Her disapproval
of the presence of her sex on fields of battle was precise. Pericles had
followed the army to give Vittoria one last chance, he said, and drag
her away from this sick country, as he called it, pointing at the dusty
land from the windows of the inn. On first seeing her he gasped like
one who has recovered a lost thing. To Laura he was a fool; but Vittoria
enjoyed his wildest outbursts, and her half-sincere humility encouraged
him to think that he had captured her at last.