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第34章

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bosom; her downcast eyes swimming with tears。



〃Do not let me be the only one you leave unhappy!〃



〃And what cure can the herbs and anodynes effect for thee?  If

thou canst so readily believe ill of those who have aided and yet

would serve thee; thy disease is of the heart; andnay; weep

not! nurse of the sick; and comforter of the sad; I should rather

approve than chide thee。  Forgive thee!  Life; that ever needs

forgiveness; has; for its first duty; to forgive。〃



〃No; do not forgive me yet。  I do not deserve a pardon; for even

now; while I feel how ungrateful I was to believe; suspect; aught

injurious and false to my preserver; my tears flow from

happiness; not remorse。  Oh!〃 she continued; with a simple

fervour; unconscious; in her innocence and her generous emotions;

of all the secrets she betrayed;〃thou knowest not how bitter it

was to believe thee not more good; more pure; more sacred than

all the world。  And when I saw thee;the wealthy; the noble;

coming from thy palace to minister to the sufferings of the

hovel;when I heard those blessings of the poor breathed upon

thy parting footsteps; I felt my very self exalted;good in thy

goodness; noble at least in those thoughts that did NOT wrong

thee。〃



〃And thinkest thou; Viola; that in a mere act of science there is

so much virtue?  The commonest leech will tend the sick for his

fee。  Are prayers and blessings a less reward than gold?〃



〃And mine; then; are not worthless?  Thou wilt accept of mine?〃



〃Ah; Viola!〃 exclaimed Zanoni; with a sudden passion; that

covered her face with blushes; 〃thou only; methinks; on all the

earth; hast the power to wound or delight me!〃  He checked

himself; and his face became grave and sad。  〃And this;〃 he

added; in an altered tone; 〃because; if thou wouldst heed my

counsels; methinks I could guide a guileless heart to a happy

fate。〃



〃Thy counsels!  I will obey them all。  Mould me to what thou

wilt。  In thine absence; I am as a child that fears every shadow

in the dark; in thy presence; my soul expands; and the whole

world seems calm with a celestial noonday。  Do not deny to me

that presence。  I am fatherless and ignorant and alone!〃



Zanoni averted his face; and; after a moment's silence; replied

calmly;



〃Be it so。  Sister; I will visit thee again!〃





CHAPTER 3。II。



Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy。

Shakespeare。



Who so happy as Viola now!  A dark load was lifted from her

heart:  her step seemed to tread on air; she would have sung for

very delight as she went gayly home。  It is such happiness to the

pure to love;but oh; such more than happiness to believe in the

worth of the one beloved。  Between them there might be human

obstacles;wealth; rank; man's little world。  But there was no

longer that dark gulf which the imagination recoils to dwell on;

and which separates forever soul from soul。  He did not love her

in return。  Love her!  But did she ask for love?  Did she herself

love?  No; or she would never have been at once so humble and so

bold。  How merrily the ocean murmured in her ear; how radiant an

aspect the commonest passer…by seemed to wear!  She gained her

home;she looked upon the tree; glancing; with fantastic

branches; in the sun。  〃Yes; brother mine!〃 she said; laughing in

her joy; 〃like thee; I HAVE struggled to the light!〃



She had never hitherto; like the more instructed Daughters of the

North; accustomed herself to that delicious Confessional; the

transfusion of thought to writing。  Now; suddenly; her heart felt

an impulse; a new…born instinct; that bade it commune with

itself; bade it disentangle its web of golden fancies;made her

wish to look upon her inmost self as in a glass。  Upsprung from

the embrace of Love and Soulthe Eros and the Psychetheir

beautiful offspring; Genius!  She blushed; she sighed; she

trembled as she wrote。  And from the fresh world that she had

built for herself; she was awakened to prepare for the glittering

stage。  How dull became the music; how dim the scene; so

exquisite and so bright of old。  Stage; thou art the Fairy Land

to the vision of the worldly。  Fancy; whose music is not heard by

men; whose scenes shift not by mortal hand; as the stage to the

present world; art thou to the future and the past!





CHAPTER 3。III。



In faith; I do not love thee with mine eyes。

Shakespeare。



The next day; at noon; Zanoni visited Viola; and the next day and

the next and again the next;days that to her seemed like a

special time set apart from the rest of life。  And yet he never

spoke to her in the language of flattery; and almost of

adoration; to which she had been accustomed。  Perhaps his very

coldness; so gentle as it was; assisted to this mysterious charm。

He talked to her much of her past life; and she was scarcely

surprised (she now never thought of TERROR) to perceive how much

of that past seemed known to him。



He made her speak to him of her father; he made her recall some

of the airs of Pisani's wild music。  And those airs seemed to

charm and lull him into reverie。



〃As music was to the musician;〃 said he; 〃may science be to the

wise。  Your father looked abroad in the world; all was discord to

the fine sympathies that he felt with the harmonies that daily

and nightly float to the throne of Heaven。  Life; with its noisy

ambition and its mean passions; is so poor and base!  Out of his

soul he created the life and the world for which his soul was

fitted。  Viola; thou art the daughter of that life; and wilt be

the denizen of that world。〃



In his earlier visits he did not speak of Glyndon。  The day soon

came on which he renewed the subject。  And so trustful; obedient;

and entire was the allegiance that Viola now owned to his

dominion; that; unwelcome as that subject was; she restrained her

heart; and listened to him in silence。



At last he said; 〃Thou hast promised thou wilt obey my counsels;

and if; Viola; I should ask thee; nay adjure; to accept this

stranger's hand; and share his fate; should he offer to thee such

a lot;wouldst thou refuse?〃



And then she pressed back the tears that gushed to her eyes; and

with a strange pleasure in the midst of pain;the pleasure of

one who sacrifices heart itself to the one who commands that

heart;she answered falteringly; 〃If thou CANST ordain it;

why〃



〃Speak on。〃



〃Dispose of me as thou wilt!〃



Zanoni stood in silence for some moments:  he saw the struggle

which the girl thought she concealed so well; he made an

involuntary movement towards her; and pressed her hand to his

lips; it was the first time he had ever departed even so far from

a certain austerity which perhaps made her fear him and her own

thoughts the less。



〃Viola;〃 said he; and his voice trembled; 〃the danger that I can

avert no more; if thou linger still in Naples; comes hourly near

and near to thee!  On the third day from this thy fate must be

decided。  I accept thy promise。  Before the last hour of that

day; come what may; I shall see thee again; HERE; at thine own

house。  Till then; farewell!〃





CHAPTER 3。IV。



Between two worlds life hovers like a star

'Twixt night and morn。

Byron。



When Glyndon left Viola; as recorded in the concluding chapter of

the second division of this work; he was absorbed again in those

mystical desires and conjectures which the haunting recollection

of Zanoni always served to create。  And as he wandered through

the streets; he was scarcely conscious of his own movements till;

in the mechanism of custom; he found himself in the midst of one

of the noble collections of pictures which form the boast of

those Italian cities whose glory is in the past。  Thither he had

been wont; almost daily; to repair; for the gallery contained

some of the finest specimens of a master especially the object of

his enthusiasm and study。  There; before the works of Salvator;

he had often paused 

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