whether it was that the arrival of his sister had reminded orso forcibly of his paternal home, or that colomba’s unconventional dress and manners made him feel shy before his civilized friends, he announced, the very next day, his determination to leave ajaccio, and to return to pietranera. but he made the colonel promise that when he went to bastia he would come and stay in his modest manor-house, and undertook, in return, to provide him with plenty of buck, pheasant, boar, and other game.
on the day before that of his departure orso proposed that, instead of going out shooting, they should all take a walk along the shores of the gulf. with miss lydia on his arm he was able to talk in perfect freedom—for colomba had stayed in the town to do her shopping, and the colonel was perpetually leaving the young people to fire shots at sea-gulls and gannets, greatly to the astonishment of the passers-by, who could not conceive why any man should waste his powder on such paltry game.
they were walking along the path leading to the greek chapel, which commands the finest view to be had of the bay, but they paid no attention to it.
“miss lydia,” said orso, after a silence which had lasted long enough to become embarrassing, “tell me frankly, what do you think of my sister?”
“i like her very much,” answered miss nevil. “better than you,” she added, with a smile; “for she is a true corsican, and you are rather too civilized a savage!”
“too civilized! well, in spite of myself, i feel that i am growing a savage again, since i have set my foot on the island! a thousand horrid thoughts disturb and torment me, and i wanted to talk with you a little before i plunge into my desert!”
“you must be brave, monsieur! look at your sister’s resignation; she sets you an example!”
“ah! do not be deceived! do not believe in her resignation. she has not said a word to me as yet, but every look of hers tells me what she expects of me.”
“what does she expect of you, then?”
“oh, nothing! except that i should try whether your father’s gun will kill a man as surely as it kills a partridge.”
“what an idea! you can actually believe that, when you have just acknowledged that she has said nothing to you yet? it really is too dreadful of you!”
“if her thoughts were not fixed on vengeance, she would have spoken to me at once about our father; she has never done it. she would have mentioned the names of those she considers—wrongly, i know—to be his murderers. but no; not a word! that is because we corsicans, you see, are a cunning race. my sister realizes that she does not hold me completely in her power, and she does not choose to startle me while i may still escape her. once she has led me to the edge of the precipice, and once i turn giddy there, she will thrust me into the abyss.”
then orso gave miss nevil some details of his father’s death, and recounted the principal proofs which had culminated in his belief that agostini was the assassin.
“nothing,” he added, “has been able to convince colomba. i saw that by her last letter. she has sworn the barricini shall die, and—you see, miss nevil, what confidence i have in you!—they would not be alive now, perhaps, if one of the prejudices for which her uncivilized education must be the excuse had not convinced her that the execution of this vengeance belongs to me, as head of her family, and that my honour depends upon it!”
“really and truly, monsieur della rebbia!” said miss nevil, “you slander your sister!”
“no. as you have said it yourself, she is a corsican; she thinks as they all think. do you know why i was so sad yesterday?”
“no. but for some time past you have been subject to these fits of sadness. you were much pleasanter in the earlier days of our acquaintance.”
“yesterday, on the contrary, i was more cheery and happy than i generally am. i had seen how kind, how indulgent, you were to my sister. the colonel and i were coming home in a boat. do you know what one of the boatmen said to me in his infernal patois? ‘you’ve killed a deal of game, ors’ anton’, but you’ll find orlanduccio barricini a better shot than you!’”
“well, what was there so very dreadful in that remark? are you so very much set upon being considered a skilful sportsman?”
“but don’t you see the ruffian was telling me i shouldn’t have courage to kill orlanduccio!”
“do you know, m. della rebbia, you frighten me! the air of this island of yours seems not only to give people fevers, but to drive them mad. luckily we shall be leaving it soon!”
“not without coming to pietranera—you have promised my sister that.”
“and if we were to fail in that promise, we should bring down some terrible vengeance on our heads, no doubt!”
“do you remember that story your father was telling us, the other day, about the indians who threatened the company’s agents that, if they would not grant their prayer, they would starve themselves to death?”
“that means that you would starve yourself to death! i doubt it very much! you would go hungry for one day and then mademoiselle colomba would bring you such a tempting bruccio[*] that you would quite relinquish your plan.”
[*] a sort of baked cream cheese, a national dish in corsica.
“your jests are cruel, miss nevil. you might spare me. listen, i am alone here; i have no one but you to prevent me from going mad, as you call it. you have been my guardian angel, and now——!”
“now,” said miss lydia gravely, “to steady this reason of yours, which is so easily shaken, you have the honour of a soldier and a man, and,” she added, turning away to pluck a flower, “if that will be any help to you, you have the memory of your guardian angel, too!”
“ah, miss nevil, if i could only think you really take some interest!”
“listen, m. della rebbia,” said miss nevil, with some emotion. “as you are a child, i will treat you as i would treat a child. when i was a little girl my mother gave me a beautiful necklace, which i had longed for greatly; but she said to me, ‘every time you put on this necklace, remember you do not know french yet.’ the necklace lost some of its value in my eyes, it was a source of constant self-reproach. but i wore it, and in the end i knew french. do you see this ring? it is an egyptian scarabaeus, found, if you please, in a pyramid. that strange figure, which you may perhaps take for a bottle, stands for ‘human life.’ there are certain people in my country to whom this hieroglyphic should appear exceedingly appropriate. this, which comes after it, is a shield upon an arm, holding a lance; that means ‘struggle, battle.’ thus the two characters, together, form this motto, which strikes me as a fine one, ‘life is a battle.’ pray do not fancy i can translate hieroglyphics at sight! it was a man learned in such matters who explained these to me. here, i will give you my scarabaeus. whenever you feel some wicked corsican thought stir in you, look at my talisman, and tell yourself you must win the battle our evil passions wage against us. why, really, i don’t preach at all badly!”
“i shall think of you, miss nevil, and i shall say to myself——”
“say to yourself you have a friend who would be in despair at the idea of your being hanged—and besides it would be too distressing for your ancestors the corporals!”
with these words she dropped orso’s arm, laughing and running to her father.
“papa,” she said, “do leave those poor birds alone, and come and make up poetry with us, in napoleon’s grotto!”
