Lady St. Jerome still hoped the best, and believed in it. She was prepared to accept the way Lothair was found senseless in the Coliseum as a continuance of miraculous4 interpositions. He might have remained there for a day or days, and never have been recognized when discovered. How marvelously providential that Father Coleman should have been in the vicinity, and tempted5 to visit the great ruin that very night!
Lord St. Jerome was devout6, and easy in his temper. Priests and women seemed to have no difficulty in managing him. But he was an English gentleman, and there was at the bottom of his character a fund of courage, firmness, and commonsense7, that sometimes startled and sometimes perplexed8 those who assumed that he could be easily controlled. He was not satisfied with the condition of Lothair, “a peer of England and my connection;” and he had not unlimited9 confidence in those who had been hitherto consulted as to his state. There was a celebrated10 English physician at that time visiting Rome, and Lord St. Jerome, notwithstanding the multiform resistance of Monsignors Catesby, insisted he should be called in to Lothair.
The English physician was one of those men who abhor11 priests, and do not particularly admire ladies. The latter, in revenge, denounced his manners as brutal12, though they always sent for him, and were always trying, though vainly, to pique13 him into sympathy. He rarely spoke, but he listened to every one with entire patience. He sometimes asked a question, but he never made a remark.
Lord St. Jerome had seen the physician, alone before he visited the Palazzo Agostini, and had talked to him freely about Lothair. The physician saw at once that Lord St. Jerome was truthful14, and that, though his intelligence might be limited, it was pure and direct. Appreciating Lord St. Jerome, that nobleman found the redoubtable15 doctor not ungenial, and assured his wife that she would meet on the morrow by no means so savage16 a being as she anticipated. She received him accordingly, and in the presence of Monsignore Catesby. Never had she exercised her distinguished17 powers of social rhetoric18 with more art and fervor19, and never apparently20 had they proved less productive of the intended consequences. The physician said not a word, and merely bowed when exhausted21 Nature consigned22 the luminous23 and impassioned Lady St. Jerome to inevitable24 silence. Monsignore Catesby felt he was bound in honor to make some diversion in her favor; repeat some of her unanswered inquiries25, and reiterate26 some of her unnoticed views; but the only return he received was silence, without a bow, and then the physician remarked, “I presume I can now see the patient.”
The English physician was alone with Lothair for some time, and then he met in consultation27 the usual attendants. The result of all these proceedings28 was that he returned to the saloon, in which he found Lord and Lady St. Jerome, Monsignore Catesby, and Father Coleman, and he then said: “My opinion is, that his lordship should quit Rome immediately, and I think he had better return at once to his own country.”
All the efforts of the English Propaganda were now directed to prevent the return of Lothair to his own country. The cardinal and Lady St. Jerome, and the monsignore, and Father Coleman, all the beautiful young countesses who had “gone over” to Rome, and all the spirited young earls who had come over to bring their wives back, but had unfortunately remained themselves, looked very serious, and spoke much in whispers. Lord St. Jerome was firm that Lothair should immediately leave the city, and find that change of scene and air which were declared by authority to be indispensable for his health, both of mind and body. But his return to England, at this moment, was an affair of serious difficulty. He could not return unattended, and attended, too, by some intimate and devoted29 friend. Besides, it was very doubtful whether Lothair had strength remaining to bear so great an exertion30, and at such a season of the year—and he seemed disinclined to it himself. He also wished to leave Rome, but he wished also in time to extend his travels. Amid these difficulties, a Neapolitan duke, a great friend of Monsignore Catesby, a gentleman who always had a friend in need, offered to the young English noble, the interesting young Englishman so favored by Heaven, the use of his villa31 on the coast of the remotest part of Sicily, near Syracuse. Here was a solution of many difficulties: departure from Rome, change of scene and air—sea air, too, particularly recommended—and almost the same as a return to England, without an effort, for was it not an island, only with a better climate, and a people with free institutions, or a taste for them, which is the same?
The mode in which Lady St. Jerome and Monsignors Catesby consulted Lord St. Jerome on the subject took the adroit32 but insidious33 form of congratulating him on the entire and unexpected fulfilment of his purpose. “Are we not fortunate?” exclaimed her ladyship, looking up brightly in his face, and gently pressing one of his arms.
“Exactly everything your lordship required,” echoed Monsignore Catesby, congratulating him by pressing the other.
The cardinal said to Lord St. Jerome, in the course of the morning, in an easy way, and as if he were not thinking too much of the matter, “So, you have got out of all your difficulties.”
Lord St. Jerome was not entirely34 satisfied, but he thought he had done a great deal, and, to say the truth, the effort for him had not been inconsiderable; and so the result was that Lothair, accompanied by Monsignore Catesby and Father Coleman, travelled by easy stages, and chiefly on horseback, through a delicious and romantic country, which alone did Lothair a great deal of good, to the coast; crossed the straits on a serene35 afternoon, visited Messina and Palermo, and finally settled at their point of destination—the Villa Catalano.
Nothing could be more satisfactory than the monsignore’s bulletin, announcing to his friends at Rome their ultimate arrangements. Three weeks’ travel, air, horse exercise, the inspiration of the landscape and the clime, had wonderfully restored Lothair, and they might entirely count on his passing Holy Week at Rome, when all they had hoped and prayed for would, by the blessing36 of the Holy Virgin37, be accomplished38.
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1
overdone
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| v.做得过分( overdo的过去分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度 | |
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2
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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3
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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6
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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7
commonsense
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| adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的 | |
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8
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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9
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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10
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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11
abhor
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| v.憎恶；痛恨 | |
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12
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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13
pique
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| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
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14
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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15
redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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16
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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17
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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18
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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19
fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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20
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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21
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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22
consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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23
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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24
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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reiterate
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| v.重申，反复地说 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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28
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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29
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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31
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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33
insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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34
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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35
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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36
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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37
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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38
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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