Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 307: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

294. which she was reposing in heaven should prove to be the vain and baseless enthusiasm of her own exalted feelings—if, in a word, the very worst should happen and Constantine should be con- demned to perish ignominiously on the scaffold,— then, in this case, was it equally her duty to be present on the spot that she might solace, strengthen, and encourage him in his last moments. Signor Portici, devotedly attached to his niece— profoundly compassionating her—tenderly anxious to consult her feelings in every respect—and ad- miring the noble magnanimity which made her cling to that sublime belief in which he himself however could not share,—yielded to her solicita- tions and embarked with her for Ajaccio. They arrived in the port to hear, the instant they landed, of the wildly wondrous and affectingly romantic turn which the whole proceedings had taken—how the innocence of the two Greeks was so unmistak- ably made manifest—how the real assassin of the unfortunate Leone was discovered—and how Con- stautine, as if to be rewarded by heaven for all he had gone through, suddenly found himself the ac- knowledged heir to vast domains and the possessor of a proud patrician title. The history of the female sex affords many grand and affecting illustrations of the devotion with which woman’s heart clings, through all circum- stances, to the object of its love—how it hopes on in despair’s despite—and how firmly it believes in all that to the rest of the world seems stamped with the wildest impossibility. There are instances of this kind which have become immortalized in the pages of history, and have formed the subjects of oral traditions and of written tales: but there are countless others which never having obtained such wide publicity, are confined to the knowledge of that limited circle in the midst of which they occurred. But of all these examples, whether thus loudly and widely bruited by the trumpet of fame, or whether shadowed in comparative obscurity, none perhaps was ever more noble or more affecting than that which belongs to the episode I am engaged in nar- rating. And, Oh! can it not be well understood that if there were a moment when more than at any other Constantine had reason to rejoice in the possession of wide domains and of a lordly title,— it was now that, thanks to this sucden showering of riches upon his head and this placing of a coro- net upon his brow, he could bid Leonora become the sharer of his prosperity, and could whisper- ingly remind her that the antecedents of the pirate-chief would be all absorbed and forgotten amidst the lustre pertaining to the new name that he now bore. The remainder of that day constituted one of the happiest periods of my life. Never shall I forget how bright were the looks of all as we sate together round the dinner-table in the evening! The young page took his place with us—but as a page now no longer: it was as the bosom frienc of him whom he had loved as a brother, and to whom he had remained so faithfully attached. When I looked at Leonora, and beheld the colour again upon her cheeks, and joy dancing in her beauteous eyes, and smiles playing upon her lips, I thought to myself that love and happiness were after all the best physicians—and that they in a iew hours had accomplished those healing effects ior both body and mind, which the appliances ot JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. the medical art for as many months could not have achieved. The Judge and his niece were accompanied by a valet and a lady’s-maid; and a separate suite of apartments was taken for the accommodation of their party in the hotel. Leonora was already the bride of Constantine by virtue of the ceremony which had taken place some weeks back at the Judge’s villa: but, from a variety of motives of delicacy, it was determined that the nuptials should be again solemnized, and that the Count of Monte d’Oro should receive Leonora as his Coun- tess at the altar of a church in Ajaccio. In the evening I had some private conversation with the Judge. We discussed all the circumstances per- taining to Constantine’s antecedents as a pirate- chief. There were four States to the laws of which he had indubitably rendered himself amenable. These were his own native Greece—Rome—Tus- cany—and Austria. With regard to Greece, we flattered ourselves that if a full statement of all the circumstances which had originally driven Con- stantine to piracy, were addressed to King Otho, a full pardon might possibly be obtained; so that no one should ever thenceforth be enabled to hurl a taunt at the Count of Monte d’Oro for being an outcast from his native land. In respect to the Roman States, I hoped that the Judge’s influence joined to my interest with the Counts of Tivoli and Avellino, and with the Cardinal Antonio Gravina, would be effective in obtaining from the Vatican a pardon similar to that which we expected to procure from Athens. In the same sense would the interest of the Count of Livorno, if exerted at my instigation, avail with the Tuscan Court—and, through the Tuscan Court, with the Austrian Government likewise. All these hopes seemed the more easy of realization, inasmuch as the Count of Monte d’Oro was no longer an obscure or humble individuel, but had become a man of wealth and rank, possessing the rights and able to claim the protection of the powerful French Government. On the day following the memorable incidents which I have been describing, Signor Castelli called at the hotel with all the legal documents confirming Constantine in the possession of his heritage, and which were duly signed and sealed by the Special Commission. Now, therefore, my Greek friend was the undisputed owner of the domain of Monte d’Oro and the patrimony of St. Bartholomew. He at once instructed Signor Castelli to grant leases on most favourable terms to those who had hitherto held any portion of the lands as the possessors thereof, but who now by altered circumstances had become the young Count’s tenants. To the husband of the peasant-woman whose evidence had given that wondrous turn to the criminal proceedings, a liberal sum of money was presented: the cottage and the little garden were likewise assigned to the old couple as their freehold. I may here as well observe that until the instant Castelli had ac- quainted Constantine, at the Palace of Justice, with the fact that he was the lineal representative of the family of Monte d’Oro, the young Greek had never dreamt of the existence of such a con- nexion,—his progenitors having from yarious cir- cumstances lost sight of their origin. Immediately after Castelli’s visit to the hotel, f and the young page set off in a post-chaise for the ruins of St. Bartholomew, in order to take i TT fT Giook (EO)