The Heir of Mondolfo Read Online Free Page B

they subsided into one channel whose
course he warily traced until he thought that he saw the result,
Hours passed during this contemplation. When he arose from his
chair, as one who had slept and dreamed uneasily, his brows became
by degrees smooth; he stretched out his arm, and, spreading his
hand, cried:
    "So it is! and I have vanquished him!"
    Evening came, and Ludovico was announced. Fernando feared his
son. He had ever dreaded his determined and fearless mode of
action. He dreaded to encounter the boy's passions with his
own, and felt in the clash that his was not the master-passion. So,
subduing all of hate, revenge, and wrath, he received him with a
smile. Ludovico smiled also; yet there was no similarity in their
look: one was a smile of frankness, joy, and affection--the other
the veiled grimace of smothered malice. Fernando said:
    "My son, you have entered lightly into a marriage as if it
were a child's game, but, where principalities and noble blood
are at stake, the loss or gain is too momentous to be trifled with.
Silence, Ludovico! Listen to me, I entreat. You have made a strange
marriage with a peasant, which, though I may acknowledge, I cannot
approve, which must be displeasing to your sovereign, and
derogatory to all who claim alliance with the house of
Mondolfo."
    Cold dew stood on the forehead of Fernando as he spoke; he
paused, recovered his self-command, and continued:
    "It will be difficult to reconcile these discordant
interests, and a moment of rashness might cause us to lose our
station, fortune, everything! Your interests are in my hands. I
will be careful of them. I trust, before the expiration of a very
few months, the future Princess Mondolfo will be received at the
court of Naples with due honor and respect. But you must leave it
to me. You must not move in the affair. You must promise that you
will not, until I permit, mention your marriage to any one, or
acknowledge it if you are taxed with it."
    Ludovico, after a moment's hesitation, replied:
    "I promise that, for the space of six months, I will not
mention my marriage to any one. I will not be guilty of falsehood,
but for that time I will not affirm it or bring it forward in any
manner so as to annoy you."
    Fernando again paused; but prudence conquered, and he said no
more. He entered on other topics with his son; they supped
together, and the mind of Ludovico, now attuned to affection,
received all the marks of his father's awakening love with
gratitude and joy. His father thought that he held him in his
toils, and was ready to sweeten the bitterness of his intended
draft by previous kindness.
    A week passed thus in calm. Ludovico and Viola were perfectly
happy. Ludovico only wished to withdraw his wife from obscurity
from that sensation of honest pride which makes us desire to
declare to the whole world the excellence of a beloved object.
Viola shrank from such an exhibition; she loved her humble
cottage--humble still though adorned with all that taste and love
could bestow on it. The trees bent over Its low roof and shaded its
windows, which were filled with flowering shrubs; its floor shone
with marble, and vases of antique shape and exquisite beauty stood
in the niches of the room.
    Every part was consecrated by the memory of their first meeting
and their loves--the walks in snow and violets; the forest of ilex
with its underwood of myrtle and its population of fire-flies; the
birds; the wild and shy animals that sometimes came in sight, and,
seen, retreated; the changes of the seasons, of the hues of nature
influenced by them; the alterations of the sky; the walk of the
moon; and the moving of the stars--all were dear, known, and
commented on by this pair, who saw the love their own hearts felt
reflected in the whole scene around, and in their child, their
noisy but speechless companion, whose smiles won hopes, and whose
bright form seemed as if sent from Heaven to reward their constant
affection.
    A week passed, and Fernando and