South Wind

spouse-he, too, had died long ago-was Italian. In view of his passionate devotion to the Catholic Church and of a further payment of fifty thousand francs, he had been ra

ar in Rome-before that further ducal premium was even expected to be paid. But

e the few remaining authentic specimens of that class fail to fulfil either the one or the other of these conditions, it was thought meet and proper that somebody should be good enough to carry on, if only in semblance, and if only in Nepenthe, the traditions of a race rapid

rnt cheeks, and impulsive manner would never have done for an old-world beauty, and who cared little what frocks she wore, so long as somebody loved her. The Duchess had all the aplomb of La Pompadour, but not much of her French accent. Her Italian, too, was somewhat embryonic. That mattered little. The external impression, the grand manner, was everything. She was not lame,

es, not overmuch furniture, one or two portraits of the Pope, and abundance of flowers and crucifixes. The Duchess specialized in flowers and crucifixes. Everybody, aware of her fondness for them, gave her eith

h those open collars, leathern belts, and scarlet blouses! The judge, also, was never asked to come-he was too outspoken a freethinker, and too fond of spitting on the floor. Nor did Mr. Eames put in an appearance. He avoided social obligations; his limited means preven

cool these rooms are

how you manage to k

, Bishop. English peopl

r windows. In

likes, but the humble cottage will always remain his dream. You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements. This country is pastoral. That is why our advertisements are so apt to portray commercial conditions-enormous factories and engines and chimneys; we are dissatisfied with our agricultural state. The Frenchman's aspiration is woman; Paris hoardings will tell you that. England is a land of industrial troglodytes,

eautifully at the hotel last night. I wonder whether I could induce him

y absorbed in an artistic examination of a number of silver ornaments, crucifixes, relics and suchlike objects of virtu, which the Duchess had gathered together. He handled them like a

ay to greet him. Mr.

nce

ague of yours, yonder-h

riest. A soun

a savoury kind of pudding. Torquemada was capable of any sacrifice, of any enormity, in defence of the faith. A narrow medieval type, he was the only person on Nepenthe who would have been hewn in pieces for his God-nobody allowing themselves to be even temporarily incommoded in so visionary a cause. He enjoyed a reputation of perfect chastity which differentiated him from all the remaining priests and contributed, more than anything else, to his unpopularity. It enraged the frankly carnal natives to such an extent that they ma

t direction. Mr. Keith was there. He sat beside Madame Steynlin who, being a fair per

hend the charm of music. I would give almost anything to the person who c

ou are not

yourself. I don't want to be musical. I want to get a grip of this th

nds beg

ess, "that wonderfu

e whispered to Don Francesco upon a

his duty to show himself now and then to his parishioners-constituents, I mean? This festival of Saint Dodekanus would have been such a good op

priest. "The animal has pro

n't say that! And s

will be guided by me in your appreciation of the worldly qualities of natives. Otherwise, with

t w

ve it at tha

replied the Duchess, who loved to

aking arrangements with other guests for a series of picnics and boating excursions-getting on swimmingly, in fact, when the thoughtless Madame Steynlin captured him and began to talk music. He repeated that remark, too good to be lost, ab

le to Angelina, the hand-maiden of the Duchess, a bewitchingly pretty brunette, who was doing the same. Perhaps the existence of Angelin

e figure of a fairy, a glowing complexion, and a rich southern voice, was perfectly aware of his idealistic sentiments. She responded to the extent of gazing at him, now and then, in a most disconcerting fashion. It was as though she cared littl

ntist, too, cherished loving thoughts about Angelina, thoughts of a more earthly and volcanic tinge; certain definite

this place? I am not asking out of vulgar curiosity; I am anxious to know the impressions of a person of your age and antecedents. You might collect them

rom Florence,"

s and other products of our species are toxins for a boy like you. They falsify your cosmic values. Try to be more of an animal. Try to extract pleasure from more obvious sources. Lie fallow for a while. Forget all these things. Go out into the midday glare. Sit among rocks and by the sea. Have a look at the sun and stars for a change; they are just as impressive as Donatello. Find yo

dvice, thought Denis. And the w

ous voic

k at some busts and other curiosities of mine. There is a little Greek bronze I would like to show you, though perhaps we had better not talk too openly about

g fashion as he spoke. Like everyone else, Denis had fallen under the spell of this attractive and courteous old aristocrat who was saturated to the very marrow in the lore of antiquity. There was sunshine in his glance-a lustrous gem-like grace; one real

dressing Denis, "are your I

nch puts me out a little. And I

. "But don't let it trouble you," he added in paternal tones. "It will com

g poured into a jug-neither easy nor pleasant. I am not as quick as some people. Mrs.

ple are, at language

n rem

alian. I talk Latin to them

n!" laughed Denis. "No

on Thursday morn

hem, generally speaking," and he cast a fiery glance in the direction of Angelina, who

e from your cousin. She cannot come. The baby is teething and troublesome in this heat. You will have to drive up, I'm afraid.... Mr. Keith, I have not yet thanked you for those flowers and the book you sent. The flowers are quite

y should you want to read about them? There is so much g

the PARROCO is about to take his depar

ndered

n Francesco. "It is one of those curious international

enis. "I must help the Duchess to say good-bye to those people. She likes to have so

pretty echo. And you ought to be a voice. Foll

loveglia

d, it has demarcated our frontiers with a bitterness hitherto unknown. The world of thought has not expanded; it has contracted and grown provincial. Men have lost sight of distant horizons. Nobody writes for humanity, for civilization; they write for their country, their sect; to amuse their friends or annoy their enemies. Pliny or Linneus or Humboldt-they sat on mountain-tops; they surveyed the landscape at their feet, and if some little valley lay shrouded in mist, the main outlines of the land yet lay clearly distended before them. You will say that it is impossible, nowadays, to gather up the threads of learning as did these men; they are too multifarious, too di

who was a good Latinist. "I would love to converse in the old sty

to some wholly unintelligib

talking Latin! You see, we would be obliged to standardize our pronunciati

e Count. "That narrow modern patrioti

eith

screditable phenomenon-this recent re

about long words?" p

ho had jus

my mother's fault. She was so very p

a pity, M

oo fat. He fell in love with an elegant young lady who was employed in the establishment of Madame Elise in Bond Street. He used to wait for her to come out at six o'clock and follow her like a dog, not daring to speak. He carried a costly bracelet for her in his pocket, and every day fresh flowers, which he was always too shy and too deeply enamoured to present. She was his angel, his ideal. He dreamt of her by day and night, wondering whether he would ever have the courage to address so tall and queenly a creature. It was his first English love affair, you understand; he learnt the proper technique later on.

ha,

n on the part of the Commiss

to some friends

Everybody knew what a Committee meant. Committee! It was a preposterous word. Committees were the same all the world over. Committee! He was in charge of that particular one; they were dong all they could, but what did it amount to? Nothing. To begin with, there was not enough money coming i

y male who would fetch her a stiff glass of something from the buffet, and that soon. She was groggy, but not sufficiently primed to go there herself; she knew that everybody's eye would be fix

instincts and a winsomeness of manner that captivated you. Nor were appearances against her. That frail, arrowy figure was invariably clothed in black. She wore the colour by instinct. They sai

is fate. But she was always talking about the sea. She tried to drown herself, once or twice. Then, gradually, she put on a new character altogether and relapsed into queer ancestral traits, stripping off, like so many worthless rags, the layers of labori

abandoned, in spite of

opped her, ri

ars we

ngs and without fervour

vation of equilibrium in the lower limbs. There resulted those periodical "nervous breakdowns" which necessitated seclusion and sometimes medical treatment. The collapses had become distressingly frequent with the last year or two. One of her many drawbacks was that she courted publicity in her cups. She was perfectly reckless as to what she then said, and had bee

Staggering about the lanes of Nepenthe in the silent hours before dawn, she was liable to be driven, at the bidding of some dark primeval impulse, to divest herself of her raiment-a singularity which perturbed even the hardiest of social night-birds who had the misfortune to encounter her.

often called her, was

he drunkard's divine unerring instinct upon Denis. What a n

r! I shall go off in a faint. Ah, do be a kind young man and fetch me some brandy and soda. A lar

und; the dose, he artlessly imagined, was enough to kill a horse. Far from being damaged, Miss Wilberforce took a chair beside him, and began to converse. Charmingly she talked; all about Englan

that jarred on his frank, untarnished English nature. This one was otherwise. She was old England, through and through. The conversation cheered him to an unusual degree-among all those foreign people he felt strangely drawn towards this wistful lady who could talk so naturally and conjure up, by the mere power of words, a breath of his own homestead in the

who, as she passed near him, profited by the occasion to give her a paternal semi-propriet

irst. It gave him a little twinge, and some food

he mused. "LASCIVA PUE

and and chin-what did it imply? Was the action quasi-paternal, or pse

all so confou

keep his hands off that girl,"

little t