“The old Duke of Galliera gave many million lire to make that,” he said, indicating, with a jerk of his head, the new harbour, hidden from sight by the building on the Molo Vecchio.
“The Duke of Galliera,” he went on, “was a fine gentleman. The Duchess was left a widow, and inherited the enormous, the colossal5 fortune of her husband. And what did she do? Does the signora know what she did?{214}”
“The Duchess,” he said, “left the title and every lira she had, and her palace in Bologna, and all the estates of her Duchy, to foreigners. A curse on them! And the Duchess belonged to Genoa; she had relatives in Genoa. Everything went to the Duca di Montpensier, a Frenchman who had become a Spaniard, and now it belongs to his son.”
“Really,” I said; and I did not mention that the Duc de Montpensier was my father-in-law, and that I was actually Duchess of Galliera.
“If I could get hold of that man and his wife, although she is an Infanta of Spain, I would kill them,” he shouted at me fiercely. “I would show them no mercy.”
On the whole I was not sorry when I found myself on land again, and I am convinced that the man would have upset his boat and let me drown, if he had discovered who I was. And I have often wondered who he was; perhaps a relative of the old Duchess. There was truth in the story he told, a{215} mystery which neither I nor anybody else is ever likely to solve. The Duke of Galliera had a son, Philippo Ferrari, who refused absolutely to use the privileges which his birth bestowed8 upon him. What were his reasons, nobody knows. And why in default of the son, one of the richest duchies in Italy was left to my father-in-law is a question which remains9, and is likely to remain, unanswerable. And partly through the strange connection of the family into which I married with Italy, partly through my love of the most beautiful and romantic land in Europe, I have lived there a great deal. I used to stay often at the magnificent palace of the Galliera family in Bologna, a sumptuous10 place with vast rooms paved with mosaic11 and glittering with rare marbles. The people of that city of colonnades12 and cool courtyards took a kindlier view of the new owners of the palace than the Genoese boatman did, and the ancient families of the place had that charm of manner which gives such a fascination13 to the cultured society of Italian towns. It was a great delight to receive them, and I used to enjoy the balls and parties in that wonderful palace.
In most countries society gathers in the capital,{216} and when there is a Court it acts as a magnet to draw people from the provinces. The unification of Italy, and the erection of the Italian kingdom, had not materially altered the structure of Italian society. It remains what it was when Italy was divided into a number of small states. Rome and the Quirinal do not attract the nobles of Venice, or Florence, or Bologna, or of other historic Italian towns: they continue to spend the winter in the cities with which their families have been associated for centuries, giving to them a certain brilliance14 which is not to be found in the provincial15 towns of France or England.
It seems to be the special prerogative16 of a Queen Mother to be Queen of Hearts, and Queen Margherita holds the same place in the affection of the Italian people as beautiful Queen Alexandra—has ever a Queen been more beloved than she?—holds in England, and the Empress Marie in Russia. I paid a visit to her and King Humbert at the Castle of Monza, their summer home in the outskirts17 of the town in which the kings of Lombardy were crowned, and, although the etiquette18 of the Court was severe, she had a charm which made one tolerate the restric{217}tions of palace life. Those about her used to complain that she hardly ever sat down. I have remarked that several queens whom I know have this rather trying capacity for standing19, and, as nobody can sit down while they stand, their guests and their ladies-and gentlemen-in-waiting are sometimes a good deal fatigued20. Numbers of women are not aware that they owe to Queen Margherita the pretty fashion of wearing a string of pearls in the daytime. But she did not limit herself to the single string of pearls worn by women of fashion, she was simply hung with ropes of pearls morning, noon and night; in fact, I have never seen her without them.
Although the King of Italy made Rome his capital, the other members of the Royal Family have never gone to live there, and continue to make their home in Turin. Among these are the Duke and Duchess of Genoa and the Duke and Duchess of Aosta, and the exasperating21 etiquette peculiar22 to Royal personages is rigorously maintained in their palaces. Gentlemen-in-waiting and ladies-in-waiting are always in attendance on them, and it used to surprise me that people could be found to devote themselves to such an insufferably dull occupation{218} as that of serving in miniature Courts, until I remembered that some of them might be glad to do the work, if work it can be called, for the sake of being maintained and of receiving the salaries attached to their offices. English princesses have the daily distraction23 of opening bazaars24, but little happens to enliven the Courts of Turin. When I have stayed there, the chief excitement of the day has invariably been a drive to a park outside the city, where the Royal personages walked for a little, attended by the inevitable25 ladies-and gentlemen-in-waiting, and after half an hour of that mild form of exercise, drove back to their homes. These proceedings26 did not appear to awaken27 any great interest in the citizens of Turin, for in Italy, as in most other countries, the public has ceased to concern itself about the little doings of princes and princesses.
The Dowager Duchess of Aosta sometimes shows her independence by freeing herself from Royal bonds when she is abroad, and I remember her once arriving in Paris entirely28 unattended. She was Princess L?titia Bonaparte before her marriage, and enjoys the style of Imperial Highness, while, rather oddly, the young Duchess of Aosta is a Princess of
[Image unavailble.]
Infanta Eulalia at Window of Her Apartments
{219}
the House of Bourbon and sister of the Duc d’Orleans. She is a somewhat masculine type of woman, and spends a great deal of her time in Abyssinia. She leaves her husband and two boys and, with no companion except an elderly Englishwoman, sets out on a hunting expedition. She is lost in the heart of Africa for months, and then suddenly reappears and settles down to the humdrum29 life of her palace. But soon she hears again the call of the wild, and is away once more. What she does in Abyssinia nobody knows, if one excepts the elderly Englishwoman. The country seems to have cast a spell on her, and she cannot resist its fascinations30. The Duke of Genoa, Queen Margherita’s brother, and his wife, who is a Bavarian Princess, live in the same palace as the Dowager Duchess of Aosta, but their households are independent and, in point of fact, the two duchesses rarely see each other. The duke is almost a recluse31; he spends several hours in his private chapel32 every day, lost in prayer and meditation33.
I was a little surprised the first time I went to Turin to find that the Piedmontese dialect of Italian was spoken in Royal circles. To understand{220} what was said sometimes required close attention, even when one knew Italian well, and I have found a similar difficulty in other Italian cities. In Bologna, for instance, where I have lived so much, the cultured classes, as well as the peasants, talked dialect, and travelling about Italy one seemed constantly under the necessity of learning new words and phrases.
There are so many beautiful Italian cities in which agreeable society may be enjoyed that had one to choose one in which to live permanently34 it would be difficult to come to a decision. Venice is one of the most adorable, and the time I spent with the Duke and Duchess of Genoa at the King’s palace there was a dream of delight. But there is one objection, and that a serious one to a prolonged stay in Venice, and that is the difficulty of getting proper exercise. As everybody seemed prepared to spoil me when I was there, I made it clear that it was essential for me to do something more vigorous than gliding down silent canals in a gondola35 or strolling in the Piazza36. It was therefore arranged that I should play tennis at the Arsenal37, and that indulgence gave me the one thing that seemed lacking{221} in the charming life of the city. Italians can play tennis very well when they choose, and Monsignor Montagnini, the Papal Legate who was turned out of France when diplomatic relations between the Republic and the Vatican were ruptured38, was a case in point. He played an excellent game, and we often had a set together in Paris. Little did I guess what his means were, and never will I forget his false behaviour when his papers were captured. In Venice too, I found some good players, and so managed to get the vigorous exercise I needed. Apart from this, I lived the life of the Venetians—walked in the Piazza from half-past eleven to half-past twelve, took the air in a gondola about half-past five, went occasionally to the opera at the Fenice, that most exquisite39 of theatres, and ended the day by dancing in the enchanted palaces that rise from the sea. It was often sunrise when I stepped into a Royal barge40 with gondoliers in scarlet41 and, to the rhythmic42 music of oars that cut the water and the splash of the spray that fell from their blades, floated through the rosy43 dawn to the Royal palace.
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1
turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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3
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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7
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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colonnades
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| n.石柱廊( colonnade的名词复数 ) | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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24
bazaars
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| （东方国家的）市场( bazaar的名词复数 )； 义卖； 义卖市场； （出售花哨商品等的）小商品市场 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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gondola
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| n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船 | |
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piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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38
ruptured
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| v.（使）破裂( rupture的过去式和过去分词 )；（使体内组织等）断裂；使（友好关系）破裂；使绝交 | |
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39
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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40
barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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41
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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42
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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43
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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