The
former determined not to think of marriage until he was several years
older, and had acquired the necessary means to support a wife; and
Lucilla accepted the advice of her mother and the priest, and obtained a
situation in a lace-making establishment in Venice, where she resolved
to work industriously until the middle-aged innkeeper had made up his
mind whether or not he would marry one of the handsome girls to whom he
had become guardian.
To this very prosaic conclusion of the love-story I added some remarks
intended as an apology for introducing such a story into my sketches of
travel, and showing how the little narrative brought into view some of
the characteristics of the people of Sicily. After that I discoursed of
the present commerce of Italy as compared with that of the Middle Ages.
My secretary took no notice whatever of my change of subject, but went
on writing as I dictated. This apathy at last became so annoying to me
that, excusing myself, I left my study before the hour of noon.
It is impossible for me to say how the events, or rather the want of
events, of that morning disturbed my mind. By turns I was angry, I was
grieved, I was regretful, I was resentful. It is so easy sometimes for
one person, with the utmost placidity, to throw another person into a
state of mental agitation; and this I think is especially noticeable
when the placid party is a woman.
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