LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 864, 2 April 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

KATARINA OR3INI.

By the Author op “East Lynne.”

( Continued )

‘Very true,’ murmured K"atarina. * As a man, I think the Capella inferior to most men,’ calmly went on Maria; ‘as a prince he looks down upon them. One cannot have every thin", Katarina. Non v e rosa senza spina.’ ‘ True,’ again murmured Katarina. ‘ Has he talked to you of this ? Did he tell you last night ? ’ ‘ Tell me ! ’ echoed Maria, in ridicule of the words, but not of her sister. ‘We patricians do not manage these matters as do your plebians, Katarina. He has never opened his princely lips to me on the subject.’ ‘Yet you seem to guess at the errand here of the princess ! ’ ‘ Because I have seen that his admiration of me is serious. Princes do not act on impulse and “ tell their love ” as your simple English John told his; they proceed in harmony with the rules of polite etiquette. In entering on negotiations for the marriage of the Prince di Capella, it is his mother who would open them ; therefore I suspect that may be the object of her visit to papa. I suspect also,’ added Maria, slightly laughing, “that the two have had a battle this morning, and that she has come forth with an ill grace.’ ‘ Battle about what ?’ ‘ His conferring the honor of his hand upon me. lam sure she has been afraid of it, Katarina. I have read it in her manner.’

‘ Then I wonder she yielded.’ ‘ Depend upon it she could not help herself. The prince is not legally under her control; and he is one, if I judge him arightly, who brooks not opposition to his will, even from his mother.’ * Maria, I don’t believe that you care for him !’ . ‘ Not at all. But I shall be the Princess di Capella.’ Maria was quite right in her conjectures. The Princess di Capella had come with a formal demand for Maria Orsini’s hand for her son; and there had been previously an unpleasant scene of dispute between them, in which she had tried to turn him in his purpose, and tried in vain. But the princess could not raise so great a scandal in Rome as to suffer him to marry without her consent —and that he deliberately said he would do if she withheld it. So here she had come, unwillingly, haughtily resolved to make the best of a bad bargain. It had been well that she had never come! It had been well that the Prince di Capella had not set his mind on Maria Orsini ! For now was about to be enacted one of those deeds of cruelty, one of those most trying wrongs, that are all but unknown in our own free land. A deed that never could be justi liable in the sight of honest man or of heaven. The Princess di Capella, casually alluding to her son’s revenues, so slender in proportion to his rank, had demanded of the Count Orsini that- the whole of the money intended as the portion of the two sisters should be bestowed upon Maria; in short, she made it the condition of her own consent to the match. . . Will it be believed that the Count Orsini acquiesced ? Acquiesced without a single word of remonstrance ? _ Elated at the proud prospect opening to his elder and favorite daughter—a higher one than even he, with all his ambition, had dared seriously to contemplate—what mattered it that, to assure its realisation, his youngest daughter must be sacrificed? ‘ Only her fortune ! that does not sacrifice her I’ cries the reader, who may be unfamiliar with the policy obtaining amid some of the high-class Italian families. ‘Her straightforward English lover will get over the injustice, and take her without her dower.’ And John St Arno would have done it, have taken her gladly, rather than lose her. But he was not allowed to do it, and the injustice involved the sacrifice of herself. Katatina was condemned to a convent for life. When there were two, or more, daughters in a family, and the sum allotted as their marriage portions (perhaps not large at best) is bestowed upon one, generally the eldest, to enable her to form a high alliance, the others may not marry. It is assumed that, fortuneless, they could only wed and sink into obscurity, and the family pride cannot permit that. Therefore the veil of a nun is the imperative alternative ; and such was the fate allotted to poor Katarina. But she had an hour or two yet of hope and love spared to her. Even while the Princess di Capella was still with the count, for thair interview was a prolongued one, Mr St Arno called. Katarina chanced to be alone in the shady seat by the fountain, Maria having strolled into the grotto at the end of the cypress grove ; he saw her from the saloon and went out to her. They had at least three minutes together before the countess appeared ; and Katarina, yielding to his questions, and blushing rosy loveblushes, whisperingly confessed that her father would make no objection. Later, when the princess had departed aud she went without condescending to see the countess or even Maria, Mr St Arno sousht and obtained an audience of the count. It was a very short one indeed; for, when Katarina thought that it could hardly have been begun, she heard the Count Orsini’s own man conducting Mr St Arno to the door,

‘ He might have come to tell all to me and mamma,’ thought Katarina. The time went on to evening. The countess and her daughters were engaged to some festivity; but when the young ladies were about to prepare for it, Katarina was told she was not to go. ‘ Why and wherefore!’ merrily questioned the yung girl. ‘ Your father wishes you to remain with him this evening,’ was the mother’s answer, as she turned her steps away. She knew the poor child’s destined fate now: but, Italian mother though she was, she shrank from being the one to impart it. Katarina acquiesced with a conscious smile. She supposed the count was going to talk to her of her future life as John St Arno’s wife, and perhaps lecture her on the score of behaving herself in it.

‘ Very well, mother mine, then I must remain at home,’ she cheerfully said. ‘Maria, dear, let me dross you this evening instead of lonie ! I will turn you out as befits the promised bride of the heir of all the Capellas.’

But how terribly was poor Katarina’s happy mood changed ere one short hour had passed 1 understood now why she had not been permitted to go forth to the even ing’s gaity. A young girl destined to immediate seclusion is not allowed to mix in the world’s folly. Like a stone statue stood she in the saloon alone, leaning against one of its alaba‘ter pillars, the dread interview with her father over; yes, more like a statue than a living being. Her mother and sister found her there on their return at midnight. * Katarina, why did you remain up’’ cried her mother, sharply. ‘ Oh my poor Katarina !’ breathed Maria, tenderly clasping her sister in her arms. _ 1 1 am so grieved ! —so wounded ! Not a bit of enjoyment have I had to-night for thinking of you. Mamma told me all in the carriage as we went along.’ ‘ I dared not say a word ot remonstrance to my father,’ panted poor Katarina, hardly able to spoak from emotion. ‘ Mother, I can to you. Won't you save me from this dreadful fate ?’

‘ Dear child, dear Katarina, there is no help for it !’ bewailed the countess, her own heart feeling half broken, for she did love her children. ‘ The princess was haughty and exacting : your father never saw a woman of more determined will. They were the only terms on which she would sue for Maria’s hand ; and she would scarcely do it even with them.’

‘ Were I asked to marry at the sacrifice of my sister, I would trample on the proposals of the one who could bring them to me,’ cried Katarina, with agitation, as she looked at Maria. * I would not rise upon another’s death. ’

* Death !’ echoed the countess. “You are raving, my poor Katarina.’ ‘ Not so, mother. It will be as death,’ she passionately added. * Nay, death would be more welcome to me now than life at the convent. ’

‘ Why, child ! You were so happy there !’ ‘ Yes, as a child : as a girl who had no experience beyond its ways and its wall. Had you and my father wished me to rest contented there, you should not have removed me from it, mother. You should not have allowed to me the pleasures of the world, or —or —the society of Giovanni St Arno.’ ‘ The world is full of cares, Katarina. ’

‘N ot more so for me than for others. Maria may have her share of them, high though her position will be. And, whatever cares might have come to me, my husband would have shared them. ’ ‘ Cease, cease, Katarina your language is unbecoming a young maiden,’ said the countess, fractiously : the trouble, which she was so powerless to remedy, was setting all her nerves ajar c Husband, forsooth ! It were better that Giovanni St Arno had been at the bottom of the Tiber, rather than sojourning in Rome,’ she added, in her vexa tion. ‘ But for him you would not have ob jected to return to the convent. And why should you object? You know that you were happy in it for many years.’ ‘ But mother, dear mother, do you not see how different it is ? Then I was a lighthearted, careless girl, a boarder with Maria and other girls. Now I am to be a nun, immured within it, solitary and alone, to the end.’

The countess fidgetted as she stood, but made no reply. There -was a difference. So stupendous a one that her mind could, per haps, scarcely realise it. Maria had sat down and was crying bitterly. Katarina, turning to her on sud den impulse, knelt and elapsed her knees. ‘ Maria, if you will, you can save. Give up the prince. You know you do not care for him. Other suitors will present themselves to one so beautiful and popular as you; some of them, no doubt, as desirable as he, and who may bo so wealthy that my poor little portion will be overlooked by them. Oh, mother mine, urge it upon her ! Let her save me !’ * I did think of it at first—l did indeed,’ sobbed Maria. ‘ But—my mother says it may not be.’ ‘ I said it was impossible that it could be,’ corrected the countess, with emphasis. .* It is impossible. Maria’s intended marriage has been publicly announced—and the contract is being drawn up. ’ * Katarina started. * Publicy announced ! Already ?’ ‘ Yes. The Prince and Maria were congratulated together this evening. My poor Katarina, you must make the best of it ! There is, alas, no alternative. You will go back to the convent on Monday next to enter upon your noviciate : the sooner you are away from the world now the better. Katarina gave a startling cry. Maria, her eyes raining tears, be', t over her, clasped, and kissed her. She was brimful of sympathy, brimful of pity ; but of justice she had none Though, perhaps, she could not help herself more than could her sister; the system was to blame, not Maria Orsini. Her marriage with the Prince di Capella was decreed, and she knew that it could not be set aside. Katarina also knew it. Anguish had taken possession of her. She lay in Maria’s arms as one bereft of life : she passed the night in all the agonies of hopeless despair. Never again to see John St Arno ! Never again to have any hope, or aim, or part in earthly life! And the world had been looking so bright, and so fair. The following day all the talk in Rome was of the approaching nuptials of the Prince di Capella with Maria Orsini, and of the coming seclusion of Katarina. * * * * *

‘ It is the most unholy thing I ever heard of,’ cried Mr St Arno, standing with his arms folded before Katarina, and sp r aking with suppressed anger. ‘ You are to be secluded for the rest of your days because your sister must make a grand marriage.’ It was again evening. And the Countess and Maria had again gone forth into the gay world. The Count was shut up in his remote apartments, as he loved to be, and here was John St Arno standing with Katarina. Liberal to a degree, as many Englishmen are, he had long ago won the heart of lonie by his gifts ; and the waiting maid had listened to his pleading prayer this evening and ushered him into the presence of her young lady. * But only for five minutes, you understand, signor,’whispered lonie. ‘ You would not cause me to lose my place ? And, if this were known, I should lose it. ’ Katarina was on the balcony when he entered ; her sad eyes, fixed on the stars shining in the deep blue sky of night, seemed to be asking whether heaven could be indeed that place of mercy which she had been taught to believe. Startled by the unexpected appearance of her lover, she cried out, shivered, and burst into a flood of tears. For the first time in his life he dared to put

his arm round her, essaying to soothe her

grief. Just a few moments of explanation—he telling of the strangely cool manner in which the Count had received him the previous day, refused to listen to a word of his proposals for Katarina, curtly observing that it was not intended she should marry either him or any other man ; she confirming the words, and assuring him that the report of her being about to be consigned to the convent for life was all too true a one.

She lifted her hands as if the queotion agonised her. ‘ Why speak of it, Giovanni? it cannot be. ’

*Do you think the count, although he is your father, has any right to consign you to this living tomb ? Answer me, my love. ’ ‘But he has the power,’ said poor Katarina.

John coughed. ‘ I must save you from it.’

She passed her hand over her eyes and looked at him. He save her ! What cruel nonsense it was to say it. “I will take you away with me to free England, and make you my wife the day we got there,’ he whispered. ‘ Your future life, instead of being a lost waste, shall be one of usefulness, of sweet happiness.’ ‘ But surely you do not consent, Katarina ?’ ‘ I have no other choice. ’

That vexed him. He drew away a step and folded his arms, speaking with sternness. Poor Katarina leaned her head against the side of the balcony, and cried i;i silence. ‘ Oh, my dear, thus must not be !’ he resumed, his love resuming its sway again, compassionating pity redolent in his tender tones. ‘Do you realise what it will be for you ?—a death in life.’ * Yes. But there’s no help for me in all the world.’

Ms there not? Would you not rather be my wife, Katarina ?’ * Oh, don’t, don’t, Giovanni! That is only a fable, you know.’ ‘ Well, yes, only a fable, of course. Let us see how we could work it out. Just for pastime.’ ‘ It will but make the reality more cruel.’ ‘We get away from here, you and I,’ he continued, paying no attention to her words. ‘ To-morrow evening, let us say; this is Wednesday, or the next evening at farthest. A dear old English friend of mine, who is in Rome and who was as a sister to my mother during her lifetime, will go with us and take care of you. I know I have but to ask her. You have seen her, Katarina, Mrs Mann.’

‘ But why tell the fable ? ’ sobbed Katarina.

‘ We will make for Civita Vecchia. Vessels of some kind or other are always to be had there for money. And until then, until we are on the good safe waters and have left Italia’s shores behind us, you shall appear to be Mrs Mann’s maid, and wear a peasant’s dress. I’ll go to the masquerade stores and choose the dress myself, cap and earrings and all. We touch at the first safe shore we come to, and hasten on by land to London. On the same day that we arrive there our marriage shall take place, according to the rites of my faith and of yours. Or, should the latter demand preparations or delay, you go to Mrs Mann’s home after you have been to our church with me, until all shall be in readiness. A fable easy of enactment, Katarina. ’ ‘ But still only a fable, Giovanni.’

‘ Wait a bit. We settle down after our marriage in some charming retreat, and petition your parents for their forgiveness until it is accorded. 1 am not rich, Katarina; but I have enough for comfort, and your life shall be bright as oue long summer’s day. Oh my darling ! ’ he added, drawing her nearer to him, and his voice to her sounded sweeter than any earthly music, ‘ which will be best ? This blissful, rational life with me, or to be buried alive in the convent ?’

Was she realising the terrible contrast in her mind ? Did the picture he drew of what her future might be with him cause her heart to flutter and her mind to waver ? She sobbed softly. “It could not be, Giovanni. I could never get away, lam sure. And oh, what a dreadful scandal it would make in Rome !’ ‘ And all Rome would say Katarina Orsini has done wisely. You can serve your Master better as a free woman than as a secluded one, Katarina. Ay, and live more actively for heaven.’ ‘ I should be excommunicated;’ said she, trembling from head to foot. ‘ There’s no such thing known as excommunication over yonder, so you could not be. Excommunication does not hold good in England. My darling, be at rest. Let me save you ! ’ A tap at the door. Enter lone. She had come to say that she had only accorded five minutes to the signor, and at least twenty had elapsed. She had stood all the while upon frightful thorns in the passage, and the signor must certainly go. ‘ Upon condition that you let me in for five minutes this time to-morrow,’said he. ‘ Rive minutes really, you know, lone. It will be long enough for me to arrange matters for the next evening,’ he whispered to Katarina. ‘ Keep up your heart till then, my darling 1 ’ # #

All Rome was scandalised. The young Signorina Orsini had mysteriously disappeared. So had John St Arno. But some three or four days went on before anybody thought to connect the disappearance of the one with that of the other : and then it was discovered th vt good old Mrs Mann, with her train of trusty servants, made part of the travelling party. And the programme, sketched ont by John so deftly, was luckily carried out, the marriage ending it.

And before eight months had gone by, the Count and Countess Orsini, implacable until then, graciously accorded their forgiveness to the offenders, and the young Princess di Capella added an invitation to them to come and visit her at the Capella Palace. For John St Arno had succeeded to the family title and estates, through the death of his random brother ; and Katarina, no longer to bo despised and condemned, was Lady St Arno.

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