 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information and to find out how you can volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Diana Keisners. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnhem. Chapter 5 It was cloudy in Italy, which surprised them. They had expected brilliant sunshine. But never mind. It was Italy, and the very clouds looked fat. Neither of them had ever been there before. Both gazed out of the windows with wrapped faces. The hours flew as long as it was daylight, and after that there was the excitement of getting nearer. Getting quite nearer. Getting there. At Genoa it had begun to rain. Genoa. Imagine actually being at Genoa. Seeing its name, written up in the station, just like any other name. At Nervy it was pouring, and when it last towards midnight, for again the train was late, they got to Metzago, the rain was coming down in what seemed solid sheets. But it was Italy. Nothing it did could be bad. The very rain was different. Straight rain, falling properly onto one's umbrella. Not that violently blowing English stuff that got in everywhere. And it did leave off, and when it did, behold, the earth would be strewn with roses. Mr. Briggs, San Salvatore's owner had said, You get out at Metzago, and then you drive. But he had forgotten what he amply knew, that trains in Italy are sometimes late, and he had imagined his tenants arriving at Metzago at eight o'clock and finding a string of flies to choose from. The train was four hours late, and when Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins scrambled down the ladder-like high steps of their carriage into the black downpour, their skirts sweeping off great pools of sooty wet because their hands were full of suitcases, if it had not been for the vigilance of Domenico, the gardener at San Salvatore, they would have found nothing for them to drive in. All ordinary flies had long since gone home. Domenico, for seeing this, had sent his aunt's fly, driven by her son, his cousin, and his aunt and her fly lived in Castagneto, the village crouching at the feet of San Salvatore, and therefore, however late the train was, the fly would not dare come home without containing that which it had been sent to fetch. Domenico's cousin's name was Beppo, and he presently emerged out of the dark where Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins stood, uncertain what to do next after the train had gone on, for they could see no porter, and they thought, from the feel of it, that they were standing not so much on a platform as in the middle of the permanent way. Beppo, who had been searching for them, emerged from the dark with a kind of pounce and talked Italian to them vociferously. Beppo was a most respectable young man, but he did not look as if he were, especially not in the dark, and he had a dripping hat slouched over one eye. They did not like the way he seized their suitcases. He could not be, they thought, a porter. However they presently, from out of his streaming talk, discerned the words San Salvatore, and after that they kept on saying them to him, for it was the only Italian they knew, as they hurried after him, unwilling to lose sight of their suitcases, stumbling across rails and through puddles, out to where in the road a small high fly stood. Its hood was up, and its horse was in an attitude of thought. They climbed in, and the minute they were in, Mrs. Wilkins indeed could hardly be called in. The horse awoke with a start from its reverie and immediately began going home rapidly, without Beppo, without the suitcases. Beppo darted after him, making the night ring with his shouts, and caught the hanging reins just in time. He explained proudly, and as it seemed to him, with perfect clearness, that the horse always did that, being a fine animal, full of corn and blood, and cared for by him, Beppo, as if he were his own son. And the ladies must be alarmed, he had noticed they were clutching each other. But clear and loud, and profusive words though he was, they only looked at him blankly. He went on talking, however, while he piled the suitcases up round them, sure that sooner or later they must understand him, especially as he was careful to talk very loud, and illustrate everything he said with the simplest elucidatory gestures, but they both continued only to look at him. They both, he noticed sympathetically, had white faces, fatigued faces, and they both had big eyes, fatigued eyes. They were beautiful ladies, he thought, and their eyes looking at him over the tops of the suitcases, watching as every movement, there were no trunks, only numbers of suitcases, were like the eyes of the mother of God. The only thing the ladies said, and they repeated it at regular intervals, even after they had started, gently prodding him as he sat on his box to call his attention to it was, San Salvatore? And each time he answered vociferously, encouragingly, Sisi, San Salvatore. We don't know, of course, if he's taking us there, said Mrs. Arbuthnod at last in a low voice. After they'd been driving, it seemed to them a long while, and had got off the paving stones of the sleep-shrouded town, and were out on a winding road with what they could just see was a low wall on their left, beyond which was a great black emptiness in the sound of the sea. On their right was something close and steep, and high and black. Rocks they whispered to each other, huge rocks. They felt very uncomfortable. It was so late. It was so dark. The road was so lonely. Suppose the wheel came off. Suppose they met Vashisti, or the opposite of Vashisti. How sorry they were now that they'd not slept at Genoa and come on the next morning in daylight. But that would have been the first of April, said Mrs. Wilkins, in a low voice. It is that now, said Mrs. Arbuthnod beneath her breath. So it is, murmured Mrs. Wilkins. They were silent. Beppo turned round on his box, a disquieting habit already noticed, for surely his horse ought to be carefully watched, and again addressed them with what he was convinced was lucidity. No patois and the clearest explanatory movements. How much they wished their mothers had made them learn Italian when they were little. If only now they could have said, please sit round the right way and look after the horse. They did not even know what horse was in Italian. It was contemptible to be so ignorant. In their anxiety, for the road twisted round great jutting rocks, and on their left was only the low wall to keep them out of the sea should anything happen. They too began to gesticulate, waving their hands at Beppo, pointing ahead. They wanted him to turn round again and face his horse, that was all. He thought they wanted him to drive faster. And there followed a terrifying ten minutes during which, as he supposed, he was gratifying them. He was proud of his horse and it could go very fast. He rose in his seat, the whip cracked, the horse rushed forward, the rocks leaped towards them, the little flies swayed, the suitcases heaved, Mrs. Arbuthnott and Mrs. Wilkins clung. In this way they continued, swaying, heaving, clattering, clinging. Till at a point near Castagneto there was a rise in the road and on reaching the foot of the rise the horse, who knew every inch of the way, stopped suddenly, throwing everything in the fly into a heap and then proceeded up at the slowest of walks. Beppo twisted himself round to receive their admiration, laughing with pride in his horse. There was no answering laugh from the beautiful ladies. Their eyes, fixed on him, seemed bigger than ever and their faces against the black of the night showed milky. But here at least, once they were up the slope, were houses. The rocks left off and there were houses. The low wall left off and there were houses. The sea shrunk away and the sound of it ceased and the loneliness of the road was finished. No lights anywhere, of course, nobody to see them pass and yet Beppo, when the houses began, after looking over his shoulder and shouting Castagnetto at the ladies, once more stood up and cracked his whip and once more made his horse dash forward. We shall be there in a minute, Mrs. Arbuthnot said to herself, holding on. We shall soon stop now, Mrs. Wilkins said to herself, holding on. They said nothing allowed because nothing could have been heard above the whip cracking and wheel clattering as if this inciting noises Beppo was making at his horse. Anxiously they strained their eyes for any sight of the beginning of San Salvatore. They had supposed and hoped that after a reasonable amount of village a medieval archway would loom upon them and through it they would drive into a garden and draw up at an open welcoming door with light streaming from it a servant standing in it who, according to the advertisement, remained. Instead the fly suddenly stopped peering out they could see they were still in the village street with small dark houses each side and Beppo throwing the reins over the horse's back as if completely confident this time that he would not go any farther caught down off his box at the same moment springing as it seemed out of nothing a man and several half-grown boys appeared on each side of the fly and began dragging out the suitcases No, no San Salvatore, San Salvatore exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins trying to hold on to what suitcases she could C.C. San Salvatore they all shouted pulling This can't be San Salvatore said Mrs. Wilkins turning to Mrs. Arbuthnaught who sat quite still watching her suitcases being taken from her with the same patience she applied to lesser evils she knew she could do nothing if these men were wicked men determined to have her suitcases I don't think it can be she admitted and could not refrain from a moment's wonder at the ways of God had she really been brought here she and poor Mrs. Wilkins after so much trouble in arranging it so much difficulty and worry along such devious paths of prevarication and deceit only to be she checked her thoughts and gently said to Mrs. Wilkins while the ragged youths disappeared with the suitcases into the night and the man with the lantern helped Beppo pull the rug off her but they were both in God's hands and for the first time on hearing this Mrs. Wilkins was afraid there was nothing for it but to get out useless to try to go on sitting in the fly repeating San Salvatore every time they said it and their voices each time were fainter Beppo and the other man merely echoed it in a series of loud shouts if only they had learned Italian when they were little if only they could have said we wish to be driven to the door but they did not even know what door was in Italian such ignorance was not only contemptible it was they now saw definitely dangerous useless however to lament it now useless to put off whatever it was that was going to happen to them by trying to go on sitting in the fly they therefore got out the two men opened their umbrellas for them and handed them to them from this they received a faint encouragement because they could not believe that if these men were wicked they would pause to open umbrellas the man with the lantern then made signs to them to follow him talking loud and quickly and Beppo they noticed remained behind ought they to pay him not they thought if they were going to be robbed and perhaps murdered surely on such an occasion one did not pay besides he had not after all brought them to San Salvatore where they had got to was evidently somewhere else also he did not show the least wish to be paid he let them go away into the night with no clamour at all this they could not help thinking was a bad sign he asked for nothing because presently he was to get so much they came to some steps the road ended abruptly in a church and some descending steps the man held the lantern low for them to see the steps San Salvatore said Mrs. Wilkins once again very faintly before committing herself to the steps it was useless to mention it now of course but she could not go down steps in complete silence no medieval castle she was sure was ever built at the bottom of steps again however came the echoing shout they descended gingerly holding up their skirts just as if they would be wanting them another time and had not in all probability finished with skirts forever the steps ended in a steeply sloping path with flat stone slabs down the middle they slipped a good deal on these wet slabs and the man with the lantern talking loud and quickly held them up his wave holding them up was polite perhaps said Mrs. Wilkins in a low voice to Mrs. Arbuthnot it is all right after all we're in God's hands said Mrs. Arbuthnot again and again Mrs. Wilkins was afraid they reached the bottom of the sloping path and the light of the lantern flickered over an open space with houses round three sides the sea was the fourth side lazily washing backwards and forwards on pebbles San Salvatore said the man pointing with his lantern to a black mass curved round the water like an arm flung about it they strained their eyes they saw the black mass and on the top of it a light San Salvatore they both repeated incredulously for where were the suitcases and why had they been forced to get out of the fly CC San Salvatore they went along what seemed to be a key right on the edge of the water there was not even a low wall here nothing to prevent the man with the lantern tipping them in if he wanted to he did not however tip them in perhaps it was all right after all Mrs. Wilkins again suggested to Mrs. Arbuthnot on noticing this who this time was herself might be and said no more about God's hands the flicker of the lantern danced along reflected in the wet pavement of the key out to the left in the darkness and evidently at the end of a jetty was a red light they came to an archway with a heavy iron gate the man with the lantern pushed the gate open this time they went down and at the top of them was a little path that wound upwards among flowers they could not see the flowers but the whole place was evidently full of them it here dawned on Mrs. Wilkins that perhaps the reason why the fly had not driven them up to the door was that there was no road only a footpath that also would explain the disappearance of the suitcases she began to feel confident that they would find their suitcases waiting for them when they got to the top since Salvatore was it seemed on the top of a hill as a medieval castle should be at a turn of the path they saw above them much nearer now and shining more brightly the light they had seen from the key she told Mrs. Arbuthnot of her dawning belief and Mrs. Arbuthnot agreed to be likely a true one once more but this time in a tone of real hopefulness Mrs. Wilkins said pointing upwards at the black outline against the only slightly less black sky San Salvatore and once more but this time comfortingly and courageingly came back the assurance see see San Salvatore they crossed a little bridge on the ravine and then came a flat bit with long grass at the sides and more flowers they felt the grass flicking wet against their stockings and the invisible flowers were everywhere then up again through trees along a zigzag path with the smell all the way of the flowers they could not see the warm rain was bringing out sweetness higher and higher they went in this sweet darkness and the red light on the jetty dropped farther and farther below them the path wound round to the other side of what appeared to be a little peninsula the jetty and the red light disappeared across the emptiness on their left were distant lights Mitzago said the man waving his lantern at the lights see see they answered who they had by now learned see see upon which the man congratulated them in a great flow of polite words not one of which they understood on their magnificent Italian for this was Domenico the vigilant and accomplished gardener of San Salvatore the prop and stay of the establishment the resourceful the gifted the eloquent the courteous Domenico only they did not know that yet and he did in the dark and even sometimes in the light look with his knife sharp swarthy features and swift panther movements very like somebody wicked they passed along another flat bit of path with a black shape like a high wall towering above them on their right and then the path went up again under trellises and trailing sprays of scented things caught at them and shook raindrops on them and the light of the lantern flickered over lilies and then came a flight of ancient steps worn with centuries and then another iron gate and then they were inside though still climbing a twisting flight of stone steps with old walls on either side like the walls of dungeons and with a vaulted roof at the top was a wrought iron door and through it shone a flood of electric light echo said Domenico lightly running up the last few steps ahead and pushing the door open and there they were arrived and it was San Salvatore and their suitcases were waiting for them and they had not been murdered they looked at each other's white faces and blinking eyes very solemnly it was a great a wonderful moment here they were in their medieval castle at last their feet touched its stones Mrs. Wilkins put her arm around Mrs. Arbuthnot's neck and kissed her the first thing to happen in this house she said softly, solemnly she'll be a kiss Dear Lottie said Mrs. Arbuthnot Dear Rose said Mrs. Wilkins her eyes brimming with gladness Domenico was delighted he liked to see beautiful ladies kiss he made them a most appreciative speech of welcome and they stood arm in arm holding each other up for they were very tired blinking smilingly at him and not understanding a word End of Chapter 5 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Diana Keisner's The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnhem Chapter 6 When Mrs. Wilkins woke next morning she lay in bed a few minutes opening up and opening the shutters what would she see out of her window a shining world or a world of rain but it would be beautiful whatever it was would be beautiful she was in a little bedroom with bare white walls and a stone floor and sparse old furniture the beds there were two were made of iron painted with bunches of gay flowers she lay putting off the great moment of going to the window as one puts off opening a precious letter gloating over it she had no idea what time it was she'd forgotten to wind up her watch ever since centuries ago she last went to bed in Hampstead no sounds were to be heard in the house so she supposed it was very early yet she felt as if she had slept a long while so completely rested so perfectly content she lay with her arms clasped around her head thinking how happy she was her lips curved upwards in a delighted smile in bed by herself adorable condition she had not been in a bed in a barge once now for five whole years and the cool roominess of it the freedom of one's movements the sense of recklessness of audacity and giving the blankets a pull if one wanted to or twitching the pillows more comfortably he was like the discovery of an entirely new joy Mrs. Wilkins longed to get up and open the shutters but where she was really so very delicious she gave a sigh of contentment and went on lying there looking round her taking in everything in her room in her own little room her very own to arrange just as she pleased for this one blessed month her room bought with her own savings the fruit of her careful denials whose door she could bolt if she wanted to come in it was such a strange little room so different from any she had known and so sweet it was like a cell except for the two beds it suggested a happy austerity and the name of the chamber she thought quoting and smiling round at it was peace well this was delicious to lie there thinking how happy she was this shutters it was more delicious still she jumped up pulled on her slippers for there was nothing on the stone floor but one small rug ran to the window and threw open the shutters oh cried Mrs. Wilkins all the radiance of April in Italy lay gathered together at her feet the sun poured in on her the sea lay asleep in it hardly stirring across the bay the lovely mountains exquisitely different in color were asleep too in the light and underneath her window at the bottom of the flower-starred grass slope from which the wall of the castle rose up was a great cypress cutting through the delicate blues and violets and rose colors of the mountains and the sea like a great black sword she stared such beauty and she there to see it such beauty and she alive to feel it her face was bathed in light lovely scents came up to the window and caressed her a tiny breeze gently lifted her hair far out in the bay a cluster of almost motionless fishing boats covered like a flock of white birds on the tranquil sea how beautiful how beautiful not to have died before this to have been allowed to see breathe feel this she stared her lips parted happy poor ordinary everyday word but what could one say how could one describe it it was as though she could hardly stay inside herself it was as though she were too small to hold so much of joy it was as though she were washed through with light and how astonishing to feel this sheer bliss for here she was not doing and not going to do a single unselfish thing not going to do a thing she didn't want to according to everybody she had ever come across she ought to at least have twinges she had not one twinge something was wrong somewhere wonderful that at home she should have been so good so terribly good and merely felt tormented twinges of every sort had there been her portion hurts discouragements and she the whole time being steadily unselfish now she had taken off all her goodness and left it behind her like a heap in rain sodden clothes and she only felt joy she was naked of goodness and was rejoicing in being naked she was stripped and exulting and there the slugginess of hamstead was malerche being angry she tried to visualize malerche she tried to see him having breakfast and thinking bitter things about her and lo malerche himself began to shimmer became rose color became delicate violet became an enchanting blue became formless became iridescent actually malerche after quivering a minute was lost in light well thought mrs. wilkins staring as it were after him how extraordinary not to be able to visualize malerche and she who used to know every feature every expression of his by heart she simply could not see him as he was she could only see him resolved into beauty melted into harmony with everything else the familiar words of the general thanksgiving came quite naturally into her mind and she found herself blessing god for her creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for his inestimable love out loud in a burst of acknowledgement well malerche at that moment being gruelly pulling on his boots before going out into the dripping streets was indeed thinking bitter things about her she began to dress choosing clean white clothes in honor of the summer's day unpacking her suitcases tidying her adorable little room she moved about with quick purposeful steps her long thin body held up straight her small face so much puckered at home her hair smoothed out all she had been and done before this morning all she had felt and worried about was gone each of her worries behaved as the image of malerche had behaved and dissolved into color and light and she noticed things she had not noticed for years when she was doing her hair in front of the glass she noticed it and thought why herself for years she'd forgotten she had such a thing as hair plating it in the evening and unplating it in the morning with the same hurry and indifference with which she laced and unlaced her shoes now she suddenly saw it and she twisted it round her fingers before the glass and was glad it was so pretty malerche couldn't have seen it either for he'd never said a word about it well when she got home she would draw his attention to it malerche she would say look at my hair aren't you pleased you've got a wife with hair like curly honey she laughed she'd never said anything like that to malerche yet and the idea of it amused her but why had she not oh yes she used to be afraid of him she'd be afraid of anybody and especially of one's husband whom one saw in his more simplified moments such as sleep and not breathing properly through his nose when she was ready she opened her door to go across to see if Rose who had been put the night before by a sleepy maid servant into a cell opposite were awake she would say good morning to her and then she would run down a cypress tree till breakfast was ready and after breakfast she wouldn't so much as look out of a window till she had helped Rose get everything ready for Lady Caroline and Mrs. Fisher there was much to be done that day settling in arranging the rooms she mustn't leave Rose to do it alone they would make it all so lovely for the two to come have such an entrancing vision ready for them with flowers she remembered she'd wanted Lady Caroline not to come fancy wanting to shut someone out of heaven because she thought she would be shy of her and as though it mattered if she were and as though she would be anything so self-conscious as shy besides what a reason she could not accuse herself of goodness over that and she remembered she wanted not Mrs. Fisher either because she had seemed lofty how funny of her so funny to worry about such little things making them important the bedrooms and two of the sitting rooms at San Salvatore were on the top floor and opened into a roomy hall with a wide glass window at the north end San Salvatore was rich in small gardens in different parts and on different levels the garden this window looked down on was made on the highest part of the walls and could only be reached through the corresponding spacious hall on the floor below when Mrs. Wilkins came out of her room this window stood wide open and beyond it in the sun was a Judas tree in full flower there was no sign of anybody no sound of voices or feet tubs of Aram lilies stood about on the stone floor and on the table flamed a huge bunch of fierceness sturchems spacious flowery silent with the wide window at the end opening into the garden and the Judas tree absurdly beautiful in the sunshine it seemed to Mrs. Wilkins arrested on her way across to Mrs. Arbuthnaught too good to be true was she really going to live in this for a whole month up to now she had had to take what beauty she could as she went along snatching at little bits of it when she came across it a patch of daisies on a fine day in a hamstead field a flash of sunset between two chimney pots she'd never been in definitely completely beautiful places she'd never been even in a venerable house and such a thing as a profusion of flowers in her rooms was unattainable to her sometimes in the spring she'd bought six tulips at shulbreds unable to resist them conscious that Malershe if he knew what they had cost would think it inexcusable but they had soon died and then there were no more as for the Judas tree she hadn't an idea what it was and gazed at it out there against the sky with the rapt expression of one who sees a heavenly vision Mrs. Airbuthnaught coming out of her room found her there like that standing in the middle of the hall staring now what does she think she sees now thought Mrs. Airbuthnaught we are in God's hands said Mrs. Wilkins turning to her speaking with extreme conviction oh said Mrs. Airbuthnaught quickly her face which had covered with smiles when she came out of her room falling why what has happened for Mrs. Airbuthnaught had woken up with such a delightful feeling of security of relief and she did not want to find she had not after all escaped from the need of a refuge she had not even dreamed of Frederick for the first time in years she had been spared the nightly dream that he was with her and it's miserable awakening she had slept like a baby and had woken up confident she found there was nothing she wished to say in her morning prayer except thank you it was disconcerting to be told she was after all in God's hands I hope nothing has happened she asked anxiously Mrs. Wilkins looked at her a moment and laughed how funny she said kissing her what is funny asked Mrs. Airbuthnaught her face clearing because Mrs. Wilkins laughed we are this is everything it's all so wonderful it's so funny and so adorable that we should be in it I dare say when we finally reach heaven the one they talk about so much we shan't find it a bit more beautiful Mrs. Airbuthnaught relaxed to smiling security again isn't it divine she said were you ever ever in your life so happy asked Mrs. Wilkins catching her by the arm no said Mrs. Airbuthnaught nor had she been not ever not even in her first love days with Frederick because always pain close at hand in that other happiness ready to torture with doubts to torture even with the very excess of her love while this was the simple happiness of complete harmony with her surroundings the happiness that asks for nothing that just accepts just breathes just is let's go and look at that tree close said Mrs. Wilkins I don't believe it can only be a tree and arm in arm they went along the hall and their husbands would not have known them their faces were so young with eagerness and together they stood at the open window and when their eyes having feasted on the marvellous pink thing wandered farther along the beauties of the garden they saw sitting on the low wall at the east edge of it gazing out over the bay her feet in lilies Lady Caroline they were astonished they said nothing in their astonishment but stood quite still arm in arm staring down at her she too had on a white frock and her head was bare they had had no idea that day in London when her hat was down to her nose and her furs were up to her ears that she was so pretty they had merely thought her different from the other women in the club and so had the other women themselves and so had all the waitresses eyeing her sideways and eyeing her again as they passed the corner where she sat talking but they had had no idea she was so pretty she was exceedingly pretty everything about her was very much that which it was her fair hair was very fair her lovely grey eyes her lovely grey her dark eyelashes were very dark her white skin was very white her red mouth was very red she was extravagantly slender the merest thread of a girl though not without little curves beneath her thin frock where little curves should be she was looking out across the bay and was sharply defined against the background of empty blue she was full in the sun her feet dangled among the leaves and flowers of the lilies just as if it did not matter that they should be bent or bruised she ought to have a headache whispered Mrs. Arbuthnod at last sitting there in the sun like that she ought to have a hat whispered Mrs. Wilkins she's treading on lilies but they're hers as much as ours only one fourth of them lady Caroline turned her head she looked up at them a moment surprised to see them so much younger than they seemed that day at the club and so much less unattractive indeed they were really almost quite attractive if one could ever be really quite attractive in the wrong clothes her eyes swiftly glancing over them took in every inch of them in the half second before she smiled and waved her hand and called out good morning there was nothing she sought once to be hoped for in the way of interest from their clothes she did not consciously think this for she was having a violent reaction against beautiful clothes and the slavery they imposed on one her experience being that the instant one had got them they took one in hand and gave one no peace till they'd been everywhere and been seen by everybody you didn't take your clothes to parties they took you it was quite a mistake to think that a woman a really well dressed woman wore out her clothes it was the clothes that wore out the woman dragging her about at all hours of the day and night no wonder men stayed younger longer just knew trousers couldn't excite them she couldn't suppose that even the newest trousers ever behaved like that taking the bit between their teeth her images were disorderly but she thought as she chose she used what images she liked as she got off the wall and came towards the window it seemed a restful thing to know she was going to spend an entire month with people in dresses made as she dimly remembered dresses used to be made five summers ago I got here yesterday morning she said looking up at them and smiling she really was bewitching she had everything even a dimple it's a great pity said Mrs. Arbuthnot smiling back because we were going to choose the nicest room for you oh but I've done that said Lady Caroline at least I think it's the nicest it looks two ways I adore a room that looks two ways don't you over the sea to the west and over this Judas tree to the north and we'd meant to make it pretty for you with flowers said Mrs. Wilkins oh Domenico did that I told him to directly I got here he's the gardener he's wonderful it's a good thing of course said Mrs. Arbuthnot a little hesitatingly to be independent and to know exactly what one wants yes it saves trouble agreed Lady Caroline but one shouldn't be so independent said Mrs. Wilkins as to leave no opportunity for other people to exercise their benevolences on one Lady Caroline who'd been looking at Mrs. Arbuthnot now looked at Mrs. Wilkins that day at the queer club nearly a blurred impression of Mrs. Wilkins for it was the other one who did all the talking and her impression had been of somebody so shy so awkward that it was best to take no notice of her she'd not even been able to say goodbye properly doing it in an agony turning red turning damp therefore she now looked at her in some surprise and she was still more surprised as Mrs. Wilkins added gazing at her with the most obvious sincere admiration speaking indeed with a conviction that refused to remain unuttered I didn't realize you were so pretty she stared at Mrs. Wilkins she was not usually told this quite so immediately and roundly abundantly as she was used to it impossible not to be after 28 solid it surprised her to be told it with such bluntness and by a woman it's very kind of you to think so she said why you're very lovely said Mrs. Wilkins quite, quite lovely I hope said Mrs. Arbuthnot pleasantly you make the most of it Lady Caroline then stared at Mrs. Arbuthnot oh yes she said I make the most of it I've been doing that ever since I can remember because said Mrs. Arbuthnot smiling and raising a warning forefinger it won't last then Lady Caroline began to be afraid these two were originals if so she would be bored nothing bored her so much as people who insisted on being original and the one who admired her it would be tiresome if she dogged her about in order to look at her what she wanted of this holiday was complete escape from all she had had before she wanted the rest of complete contrast being admired being dogged wasn't contrast it was repetition and as for originals to find yourself shut up with two on the top of a precipitous hill in a medieval castle built for the express purpose of preventing easy goings in and out would not she was afraid be especially restful perhaps she'd better be a little less encouraging they'd seen such timid creatures even the dark one she couldn't remember their names that day at the club that she'd felt it quite safe here they'd come out of their shells already indeed at once there was no sign of timidity about either of them here if they had got out of their shells so immediately at the very first contact unless she checked them they would soon begin to press upon her and then goodbye to her dream of 30 restful silent days lying unmolested in the sun getting her feathers smooth again not being spoken to not waited on not grabbed at and monopolized but just recovering from the fatigue the deep and melancholy fatigue of the too much besides there was Mrs. Fisher she too must be checked Lady Caroline had started two days earlier than had been arranged for two reasons first because she wished to arrive before the others in order to pick out the room or rooms she preferred and second because she judged it likely that otherwise she would have to travel with Mrs. Fisher she did not want to travel with Mrs. Fisher she did not want to arrive with Mrs. Fisher she saw no reason whatever why for a single moment she should have to have anything at all to do with Mrs. Fisher but unfortunately Mrs. Fisher also was filled with a desire to get to San Salvatore first and pick out the room or rooms she preferred and she and Lady Caroline had after all traveled together as early as Calais they began to suspect it in Paris they feared it at Modana they knew it at Mitzago they concealed it driving out to Castignetto in two separate flies the nose of the one almost touching away but when the road suddenly left off at the church and the steps further evasion was impossible and faced by this abrupt and difficult finish to their journey there was nothing for it but to amalgamate because of Mrs. Fisher's stick Lady Caroline had to see about everything Mrs. Fisher's intentions she explained from her fly when the situation had become plain to her were active but her stick prevented their being carried out the two drivers told Lady Caroline boys would have to carry the luggage up to the castle and she went in search of some while Mrs. Fisher waited in the fly because of her stick Mrs. Fisher could speak Italian but only she explained the Italian of Dante which Matthew Arnold used to read with her when she was a girl and she thought this might be above the heads of boys therefore Lady Caroline who spoke ordinary Italian very well was obviously the one to go and do things I am in your hands said Mrs. Fisher sitting firmly in her fly you must please regard me as merely an old woman with a stick and presently down the steps and cobbles to the piazza and along the key and up the zigzag path Lady Caroline found herself as much obliged to walk slowly with Mrs. Fisher as if she were her own grandmother it's my stick Mrs. Fisher complacently remarked at intervals and when they rested at those bends of the zigzag path where seats were and Lady Caroline to get to the top quickly was forced in common humanity to remain with Mrs. Fisher because of her stick Mrs. Fisher told her how she had been on a zigzag path once with Tennyson isn't his cricket wonderful said Lady Caroline absently the Tennyson said Mrs. Fisher turning her head and observing her a moment over her spectacles isn't he Lady Caroline and it was a path too Mrs. Fisher went on severely curiously like this no eucalyptus tree of course but otherwise curiously like this and at one of the bends he turned and said to me I see him now turning and saying to me yes Mrs. Fisher would have to be checked and so would these two up at the window she'd better begin at once she was sorry she had got off the wall all she need have done was to have waved her hand and waited till they came down and out into the garden to her so she ignored Mrs. Arbuthnott's remark and raised forefinger and said with marked coldness at least she tried to make it sound marked that she supposed they would be going to breakfast and that she'd had hers but it was her fate that however coldly she sent forth her words they came out sounding quite warm and agreeable that was because she had a sympathetic and delightful voice due entirely to some special formation of her throat and the roof of her mouth and having nothing whatever to do with what she was feeling nobody in consequence ever believed they were being snubbed it was most tiresome and if she stared icely it did not look icy at all because her eyes lovely to begin with had the added loveliness of very long soft dark eyelashes no icy stare could come out of eyes like that it got caught and lost in the soft eyelashes and the person stared at merely thought they were being regarded with a flattering and exquisite attentiveness and if ever she was out of humour or definitely cross and who would not be sometimes in such a world she only looked so pathetic that people all rushed to comfort her if possible by means of kissing it was more than tiresome it was maddening nature was determined that she should look and sound angelic she could never be disagreeable or rude without being completely misunderstood I had breakfast in my room she said trying her utmost to sound curt perhaps I'll see you later and she nodded and went back to her she'd been sitting on the wall with the lilies being nice and cool around her feet end of chapter 6 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Diana Keisner's The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnhem Chapter 7 their eyes followed her admiringly they had no idea they had been snubbed it was a disappointment of course to find she had firstalled them and that they were not to have the happiness of preparing for her of watching her face when she arrived and first saw everything but there was still Mrs Fisher they would concentrate on Mrs Fisher and would watch her face instead only like everybody else they would have preferred to watch Lady Caroline's perhaps then as Lady Caroline had talked of breakfast they had better begin by going and having it for there was too much to be done that day to spend any more time gazing at the scenery servants to be interviewed the house to be gone through and examined and finally Mrs Fisher's room to be got ready and adorned they waved their hands gaily at Lady Caroline who seemed absorbed in what she saw and took no notice and turning away found the maid servant of the night before had come up silently behind them in cloth slippers with string soles she was Francesca the elderly parlor maid who had been with the owner he had said for years and whose presence made inventories unnecessary and after wishing them good morning and hoping they had slept well she told them breakfast was ready in the dining room on the floor below and if they would follow her she would lead they did not understand a single word of the very many in which Francesca succeeded in clothing this simple information but they followed her for it was at least clear that they were to follow and going down the stairs and along the broad hall like the one above except for glass doors at the end instead of a window opening into the garden they were shown into the dining room where sitting at the head of the table having her breakfast was Mrs. Fisher this time they exclaimed even Mrs. Arbuthnott exclaimed though her exclamation was only oh Mrs. Wilkins exclaimed at greater length oh I bet it's like having the bread taken out of one's mouth exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins how do you do said Mrs. Fisher I can't get up because of my stick and she stretched out her hand across the table they advanced and shook it we had no idea you were here said Mrs. Arbuthnott yes said Mrs. Fisher resuming her breakfast yes I am here and with composure at the top of her egg it's a great disappointment said Mrs. Wilkins we had meant to give you such a welcome this was the one Mrs. Fisher remembered briefly glancing at her who when she came to Prince of Wales Terrace said she had seen Keats she must be careful with this one curb her from the beginning she therefore ignored Mrs. Wilkins bravely with a downward face of impenetrable calm bent on her egg yes I arrived yesterday with Lady Caroline it's really dreadful said Mrs. Wilkins exactly as if she had not been ignored there's nobody left to get anything ready for now I feel thwarted I feel as if the bread had been taken out of my mouth happy swallowing it where will you sit asked Mrs. Fisher of Mrs. Arbuthnaught markedly of Mrs. Arbuthnaught the comparison with the bread seemed to her most unpleasant oh thank you said Mrs. Arbuthnaught sitting down rather suddenly next to her there were only two places she could sit down in the places laid on either side of Mrs. Fisher sat down in one and Mrs. Wilkins sat down opposite her in the other Mrs. Fisher was at the head of the table round her was grouped the coffee and the tea of course they were all sharing San Salvatore equally but it was she herself and Lottie Mrs. Arbuthnaught mildly reflected who had found it who had had the work of getting it who had chosen to admit Mrs. Fisher into it without them she could not help thinking Mrs. Fisher would not have been there morally Mrs. Fisher was a guest there was no hostess in this party but supposing there had been a hostess it would not have been Mrs. Fisher nor Lady Caroline it would have been either herself or Lottie Mrs. Arbuthnaught could not help as she sat down and Mrs. Fisher the hand which Ruskin had wrung suspended over the pots before her inquired, tea or coffee she could not help feeling it even more definitely when Mrs. Fisher touched a small gong on the table beside her as though she had been used to that gong in that table ever since she was little and on Francesca's appearing bade her in the language of Dante there was a curious air about Mrs. Fisher thought Mrs. Arbuthnaught of being in possession and if she herself had not been so happy she would have perhaps minded Mrs. Wilkins noticed it too but it only made her discursive brain think of cuckoos she would no doubt immediately have begun to talk of cuckoos incoherently, unrestrainably deplorably if she had been in the condition of nerves and shyness she was in last time she saw Mrs. Fisher but happiness had done away with shyness she was very serene she could control her conversation she did not have horrified to listen to herself saying things she had no idea of saying when she began she was quite at her ease very natural the disappointment of not going to be able to prepare a welcome for Mrs. Fisher had evaporated at once for it was impossible to go on being disappointed in heaven nor did she mind her behaving as hostess what did it matter you did not mind things in heaven she and Mrs. Arbuthnaught therefore sat down more willingly than they otherwise would have done one on either side of Mrs. Fisher and the sun pouring through the two windows facing east across the bay flooded the room and there was an open door leading into the garden and the garden was full of many lovely things especially friezes the delicate and delicious fragrance of the friezes came in through the door and floated round Mrs. Wilkins and raptured nostrils friezes in London were quite beyond her occasionally she went into a shop and asked what they cost so as just to have an excuse for lifting up a bunch and smelling them well knowing that it was something awful like a shilling for about three flowers here they were everywhere bursting out of every corner and carpeting the rose beds imagine it having friezes to pick in arms if you wanted to and with glorious sunshine flooding the room and in your summer frock and it's being only the first of April I suppose you realize don't you that we've got to heaven she said beaming at Mrs. Fisher with all the familiarity of a fellow angel they are considerably younger than I had supposed thought Mrs. Fisher and not nearly so plain and she mused a moment while she took no notice of Mrs. Wilkins exuberance on their instant and agitated refusal that day at Prince of Wales Terrace to have anything to do with the giving or the taking of references nothing could affect her of course nothing that anybody did she was far too solidly seated in respectability at her back stood massively in a tremendous row those three great names she had offered and they were not the only ones she could turn to for support and countenance even if these young women she had no grounds for believing the one out in the garden to be really Lady Caroline Dester she'd merely been told she was even if these young women should all turn out to be what Browning used to call how well she remembered his amazing and delightful way of doing things fly by nights what could it possibly or in any way matter to her let them fly by night if they wished one was not 65 for nothing in any case there would only be four weeks of it at the end of which she would see no more of them and in the meantime there were plenty of places where she could sit quietly away from them and remember also there was her own sitting room a charming room all honey-colored furniture and pictures with windows to the sea towards Genoa and a door opening to the battlements the house possessed two sitting rooms and she explained to that pretty creature Lady Caroline certainly a pretty creature whatever else she was Tennyson would have enjoyed taking her clothes on the downs who had seemed inclined to appropriate the honey-colored one that she needed some little refuge entirely to herself because of her stick nobody wants to see an old woman hobbling about everywhere she had said I shall be quite content to spend much of my time by myself in here or sitting out on these convenient battlements and she had a very nice bedroom too it looked two ways across the bay in the morning sun she liked the morning sun and onto the garden there were only two of these bedrooms with cross-views in the house she and Lady Caroline had discovered and they were by far the airiest they each had two beds in them and she and Lady Caroline had had the extra beds taken out at once and put into two of the other rooms in this way there was much more space and comfort Lady Caroline indeed had turned her into a bed-sitting room with the sofa out of the bigger drawing-room and the writing-table and the most comfortable chair but she herself had not had to do that because she had her own sitting-room equipped with what was necessary Lady Caroline had thought at first of taking the bigger sitting-room entirely for her own because the dining-room on the floor below could quite well be used between meals to sit in by the two others it was a very pleasant room with nice chairs but she had not liked the bigger sitting-rooms shape it was a round room in the tower with deep slit windows pierced through the massive walls and a domed and ribbed ceiling arranged to look like an open umbrella and it seemed a little dark undoubtedly Lady Caroline had cast covetous glances at the honey-coloured room and if she, Mrs. Fisher, had been less firm would have installed herself in it which would have been absurd I hope, said Mrs. Arbuthnott, smilingly making an attempt to convey to Mrs. Fisher that though she, Mrs. Fisher, might not be exactly a guest she certainly was not in the very least a hostess Your room is comfortable Quite, said Mrs. Fisher Will you have some more coffee? No, thank you Will you? No, thank you There were two beds in my bedroom filling it up unnecessarily and I had one taken out It has made it much more convenient Oh! That's why I've got two beds in my room and I've got two beds in my room I've got two beds in my room That's why I've got two beds in my room exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins, illuminated The second bed in her little cell had seemed an unnatural and inappropriate object from the moment she saw it I gave no directions said Mrs. Fisher addressing Mrs. Arbuthnott I merely asked Francesca to remove it I have two in my room as well said Mrs. Arbuthnott Your second one Must be Lady Caroline's She had hers removed too, said Mrs. Fisher It seems foolish to have more beds in a room than there are occupiers But we haven't got husbands here either said Mrs. Wilkins and I don't see any use in extra beds in one's room if one hasn't got husbands to put in them Can't we have them taken away too? Beds, said Mrs. Fisher coldly cannot be removed from one room after another They must remain somewhere Mrs. Wilkins' remarks seemed to Mrs. Fisher persistently unfortunate Each time she opened her mouth she said something best left unsaid Loose talk about husbands had never in Mrs. Fisher's circle been encouraged In the eighties when she chiefly flourished husbands were taken seriously as the only real obstacles to sin Beds too if they had to be mentioned were approached with caution and a decent reserve prevented them and husbands ever being spoken of in the same breath She turned more markedly than ever to Mrs. Arbuthnott Do let me give you a little more coffee, she said No, thank you But won't you have some more? No, indeed I never have more than two cups at breakfast Would you like an orange? No, thank you Would you? No, I don't eat fruit at breakfast It is an American fashion which I am too old now to adopt Have you had all you want? Quite, have you Mrs. Fisher paused before replying Was this a habit? This trick of answering a simple question with the same question If so it must be curbed for no one could live for four weeks in any real comfort with somebody who had a habit She glanced at Mrs. Arbuthnott and her parted hair and gentle brow reassured her No It was accident, not habit that it produced those echoes She could as soon imagine a dove having tires and habits as Mrs. Arbuthnott Considering her, she thought what a splendid wife she would have been for poor Carlisle So much better than that horrid clever Jane She would have soothed him Then shall we go, she suggested Let me help you up said Mrs. Arbuthnott all consideration Oh, thank you I can manage perfectly It's only sometimes that my stick prevents me Mrs. Fisher got up quite easily Mrs. Arbuthnott had hovered over her for nothing I'm going to have one of these gorgeous oranges, said Mrs. Wilkins staying where she was and reaching across to a black bowl piled with them Rose, how can you resist them? Look, have this one Do have this beauty and she held out a big one No, I'm going to see to my duties with Mrs. Arbuthnott moving towards the door You'll forgive me for leaving you, won't you? She added politely to Mrs. Fisher Mrs. Fisher moved towards the door too quite easily almost quickly Her stick did not hinder her at all She had no intention of being left with Mrs. Wilkins What time would you like to have lunch? Mrs. Arbuthnott asked her trying to keep her head a non-guest if not precisely a hostess above water Lunch, said Mrs. Fisher is at half past twelve You shall have it at half past twelve then said Mrs. Arbuthnott I'll tell the cook It will be a great struggle she continued smiling but I've brought a little dictionary The cook, said Mrs. Fisher knows Oh, said Mrs. Arbuthnott Lady Caroline has already told her said Mrs. Fisher Oh, said Mrs. Arbuthnott Yes Lady Caroline speaks the kind of Italian cooks understand I am prevented going into the kitchen because of my stick and even if I were able to go I fear I shouldn't be understood But began Mrs. Arbuthnott But it's too wonderful I'm afraid But it's too wonderful Mrs. Wilkins finished for her from the table delighted with these unexpected simplifications in her and Rose's lives Why we've got positively nothing to do here either of us except just be happy You wouldn't believe, she said turning her head and speaking straight to Mrs. Fisher portions of orange in either hand How terribly good Rose and I have been without stopping And how much now we need a perfect rest And Mrs. Fisher going without answering her out the room said to herself She must She shall be curbed End of Chapter 7 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information and to find out how you can volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Diana Keisner's The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnhem Chapter 8 Presently when Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnott unhampered by any duties wandered out and down the worn stone steps and under the pergola into the lower garden Mrs. Wilkins said to Mrs. Arbuthnott who seemed pensive Don't you see that if somebody else does the ordering it frees us Mrs. Arbuthnott said she did see but nevertheless she thought it rather silly to have everything taken out of their hands I love things to be taken out of my hands said Mrs. Wilkins But we found San Salvatore said Mrs. Arbuthnott and it is rather silly that Mrs. Fisher should behave as if it belonged only to her What is rather silly said Mrs. Wilkins with much serenity is to mind I can't see the least point in being in authority at the price of one's liberty Mrs. Arbuthnott said nothing to that for two reasons first because she was struck by the remarkable and growing calm of the hitherto incoherent and excited Lottie and secondly because what she was looking at was so very beautiful all down the stone steps on either side were periwinkles in full flower and she could now see what it was that had caught at her the night before and brushed it across her face it was wisteria wisteria and sunshine she remembered the advertisement here indeed were both in profusion the wisteria was tumbling over itself in its excess of life its prodigality of flowering and where the pergola ended the sun blazed on scarlet geraniums, bushes of them and nasturtiums in great heaps and marigolds so brilliant that they seemed to be burning and red and pink snapdragons all outdoing each other in bright fierce color the ground behind these flaming things dropped away in terraces to the sea each terrace a little orchard where among the olives grew vines on trellises and fig trees and peach trees and cherry trees the cherry trees and peach trees were in blossom lovely showers of white and deep rose color among the trembling delicacy of the olives the fig leaves were just big enough to smell of figs the vine buds were only beginning to show and beneath these trees were groups of blue and purple irises and bushes of lavender and gray sharp cactuses and the grass was thick with dandelions and daisies and right down at the bottom was the sea color seemed flung down anyhow, anywhere every sort of color piled up in heaps pouring along in rivers the periwinkles looked exactly as if they'd been poured down each side of the steps and flowers that grow only in borders in England proud flowers keeping themselves to themselves over there such as the great blue irises and the lavender were being jostled by small shining common things like dandelions and daisies and the white bells of the wild onion and only seemed the better and the more exuberant for it they stood looking at this crowd of loveliness this happy jumble in silence now it didn't matter what Mrs. Fischer did not here, not in such beauty Mrs. Arbuthnot's discomposure melted out of her in the warmth and light of what she was looking at of what to her was a manifestation and entirely new side of God how could one be discomposed if only Frederick were with her seeing it too seeing as he would have seen it when first they were lovers in the days when he saw what she saw and loved she loved she sighed you mustn't sigh in heaven said Mrs. Wilkins one doesn't I was thinking how one longs to share this with those one loves said Mrs. Arbuthnot you mustn't long in heaven said Mrs. Wilkins you're supposed to be quite complete there and it is heaven isn't it Rose see how everything has been led in together the lines and the irises the vulgar and the superior me and Mrs. Fischer all welcome all mixed up anyhow and also visibly happy and enjoying ourselves Mrs. Fischer doesn't seem happy not visibly anyhow said Mrs. Arbuthnot smiling she'll begin soon you'll see Mrs. Arbuthnot said she didn't believe that after a certain age Mrs. Wilkins said she was sure no one however old and tough could resist the effects of perfect beauty before many days perhaps on the hours they would see Mrs. Fischer bursting out into every kind of exuberance I'm quite sure said Mrs. Wilkins that we've got to heaven and once Mrs. Fischer realises that that's where she is she's bound to be different you'll see she'll leave off being ossified and go all soft and able to stretch and we shall be quite why I shouldn't be surprised if we get quite fond of her the idea of Mrs. Fischer bursting out into anything she who seemed so particularly firmly fixed inside her buttons made Mrs. Arbuthnot laugh she condoned Lottie's loose way of talking of heaven because in such a place on such a morning condonation was in the very air besides what an excuse there was and Lady Caroline sitting where they had left her before breakfast on the wall Pete told her when she heard laughter and saw them standing on the path below and thought what a mercy it was they were laughing down there they'd come up and done it round her she disliked jokes at all times but in the morning she hated them especially close up especially crowding in her ears she hoped the originals were on their way out for a walk and not their way back from one they were laughing more and more what could they possibly find to laugh at she looked down at the tops with a very serious face for the thought of spending a month with laughers was a grave one and they as though they felt her eyes turned suddenly and looked up the dreadful geniality of those women she shrank away from their smiles and wavings but she could not shrink out of sight without falling into the lilies she neither smiled nor waved back and turning her eyes to the more distant mountains surveyed them carefully till the two tired of waving moved away along the path and turned the corner and disappeared this time they both did notice that they had been met with at least unresponsiveness if we weren't in heaven said Mrs. Wilkins serenely I should say we had been snubbed but as nobody snubs anybody there of course we can't have been perhaps she's unhappy said Mrs. Arbuthnot whatever it is she'll get over it here said Mrs. Wilkins with conviction we must try and help her said Mrs. Arbuthnot oh but nobody helps anybody in heaven that's finished with you don't try to be or do you simply are well Mrs. Arbuthnot wouldn't go into that not here not today the vicar she knew would have called Lottie's talk levity if not profanity how old he seemed from here an old old vicar they left the path and clambered down the olive terraces down and down to where at the bottom the warm sleepy sea heaved gently among the rocks there a pine tree grew close to the water sat under it and a few yards away was a fishing boat lying motionless and green bellied on the water the ripples of the sea made little gurgling noises at their feet they screwed up their eyes to be able to look into the blaze of light beyond the shade of their tree the hot smell from the pine needles and from the cushions of wild time that padded the spaces between the rocks and sometimes a smell of pure honey from a clump of warm irises up behind them in the sun puffed across their faces very soon Mrs. Wilkins took her shoes and stockings off and let her feet hang in the water after watching her a minute Mrs. Arbuthnot did the same their happiness was then complete their husbands would not have known them they left off talking they ceased to mention heaven they were just cups of acceptance meanwhile Lady Caroline on her wall was considering her position the garden on the top of the wall was a delicious garden but its situation made it insecure and exposed to interruptions at any moment the others might come and want to use it because both the hall and the dining room had doors opening straight into it perhaps that Lady Caroline she could arrange that it should be solely hers Mrs. Fisher had the battlements delightful with flowers and a watchtower all to herself besides having snatched the one really nice room in the house there were plenty of places the originals could go to she had herself seen at least two other little gardens while the hill the castle stood on was itself a garden with walks and seats why should not this one spot be kept exclusively for her she liked it she liked it best of all it had the Judas tree and an umbrella pine it had the frieces and the lilies it had a tamarisk beginning to flush pink it had the convenient low wall to sit on it had from each of its three sides the most amazing views to the east the bay and mountains to the north the village across the tranquil clear green water of the little harbour and the hills dotted with white houses and orange groves and to the west was the thin thread of land by which Saint Salvatore was tied to the mainland and then the open sea and the coastline beyond Genoa reaching away into the blue dimness of France yes she would say she wanted to have this entirely to herself how obviously sensible if each of them had their own special place to sit in apart it was essential to her comfort that she should be able to be apart left alone not talk to the others ought to like it best too why heard one had enough of that in England with one's relations and friends oh the numbers of them pressing on one continually having successfully escaped them for four weeks why continue and with persons having no earthly claim on one to her she lit a cigarette she began to feel secure those two had gone for a walk there was no sign of Mrs. Fisher how very pleasant this was somebody came out through the glass doors just as she was drawing a deep breath of security surely it couldn't be Mrs. Fisher wanting to sit with her Mrs. Fisher had her battlements she ought to stay on them having snatched them it would be too tiresome if she wouldn't and wanted not only to have them in her sitting room but to establish herself in this garden as well no it wasn't Mrs. Fisher it was the cook she frowned was she going to have to go on food surely one or other of those two waving women would do that now the cook who had been waiting in increasing agitation in the kitchen watching the clock getting nearer to lunch time while she still was without knowledge of what lunch was to consist of had gone at last to Mrs. Fisher who had immediately waved her away she then wondered about the house seeking a mistress any mistress who would tell her what to cook and finding none and at last directed by Francesca who always knew where everybody was came out to Lady Caroline Domenica had provided this cook she was Costanza the sister of that one of his cousins who kept a restaurant down at the piazza she helped her brother in his cooking when she had no other job and knew every sort of fact mysterious Italian dish such as the workmen of Castagneto who crowded the restaurant at midday and the inhabitants of Mezzago when they came over on Sundays loved to eat she was a fleshless spinster of 50 gray-haired, nimble, rich of speech and thought Lady Caroline more beautiful than anyone she had ever seen and so did Domenico and so did the boy Giuseppe who helped Domenico and was Francesca and so did the girl Angela who helped Francesca and was besides Domenico's niece and so did Francesca herself Domenico and Francesca the only two who had seen them thought the two ladies who arrived last night very beautiful but compared to the fairy young lady who arrived first they were as candles to the electric light that had lately been installed the tin tubs in the bedrooms to the wonderful new bathroom their master had arranged on his last visit Lady Caroline scowled at the cook the scowl, as usual was transformed on the way into what appeared to be an intent and beautiful gravity and Castanza threw up her hands and took the saints aloud to witness that here was the very picture of the mother of God Lady Caroline asked her crossly what she wanted and Castanza's head went on one side with delight at the sheer music of her voice she said after waiting a moment in case the music was going to continue for she didn't wish to miss any of it that she wanted orders she had been to the sinurena's mother but in vain she is not my mother repudiated Lady Caroline angrily and her anger sounded like the regretful wail of a melodious orphan Castanza poured forth pity she too she explained had no mother Lady Caroline interrupted with the curt information that her mother was alive and in London Castanza praised God and the saints that the young lady did not yet know what it was like to be without a mother quickly enough she should misfortune's overtake one no doubt the young lady already had a husband no said Lady Caroline icily worse than jokes in the morning did she hate the idea of husbands and everybody was always trying to press them on her all her relations all her friends all the evening papers after all she could only marry one anyhow but she would think from the way everybody talked and especially those persons who wanted to be husbands that she could marry at least a dozen her soft pathetic no made Castanza who was standing close to her well with sympathy poor little one said Castanza moved actually to pat her encouragingly on the shoulder take hope there is still time for lunch today marveling as she spoke that she should be patted she who had taken so much trouble to come to a place remote and hidden where she could be sure that among other things of a like oppressive nature patting's also were not we will have Castanza became business like she interrupted with suggestions and her suggestions were all admirable and all expensive lady Caroline did not know they were expensive and fell in with them at once they sounded very nice every sort of young vegetables and fruits came into them and much butter and a great deal of cream and incredible numbers of eggs Castanza said enthusiastically at the end as a tribute to this acquiescence that of the many ladies and gentlemen she had worked for temporary jobs such as this she preferred the English ladies and gentlemen she more than preferred them they roused devotion in her for they knew what to order they did not skimp they refrained from grinding down the faces of the poor from this lady Caroline concluded that she had been extravagant and promptly countermanded the cream Castanza's face fell for she had a cousin she had a cow and the cream was to have come from them both and perhaps we'd better not have chickens said lady Caroline Castanza's face fell more for her brother at the restaurant kept chickens in his backyard and many of them were ready for killing also do not order strawberries till I have consulted with the other ladies said lady Caroline remembering that it was only the first of April who lived in Hampstead might be poor indeed must be poor or else why live in Hampstead it is not I who am mistress here is it the old one asked Castanza her face very long no said lady Caroline which of the other two ladies is it neither said lady Caroline then Castanza's smiles returned for the young lady was having fun with her and making jokes she told her so in her friendly Italian way and was genuinely delighted I never make jokes said lady Caroline briefly you'd better go or lunch will certainly not be ready by half past twelve and these curt words came out sounding so sweet that Castanza felt as if kind compliments were being paid her and forgot her disappointment about the cream and the chickens and went away all gratitude and smiles this thought lady Caroline will never do I haven't come here to house keep and I won't she called Castanza back Castanza came running the sound of her name and that voice enchanted her I've ordered the lunch for today said lady Caroline with the serious angel face that was hers when she was annoyed and I've also ordered the dinner but from now on you will go to one of the other ladies for orders I give no more the idea that she would go on giving orders was too absurd she never gave orders at home nobody there dreamed of asking her to do anything that such a very tiresome activity should be thrust upon her here simply because she happened to be able to talk Italian was ridiculous but the originals give orders if Mrs. Fisher refused to Mrs. Fisher of course was the one nature intended for such a purpose she had the very air of a competent housekeeper her clothes were the clothes of a housekeeper and so was the way she did her hair having delivered herself of her ultimatum with an acerbity that turned sweet on the way and accompanied it by a peremptory gesture of dismissal that had the grace and loving kindness of a benediction it was annoying that Costanza should only stand still with her head on one side gazing at her in obvious delight oh go away exclaimed Lady Caroline in English suddenly exasperated there had been a fly in her bedroom that morning which had stuck just as Costanza was sticking only one but it might have been a myriad it was so tiresome from daylight on it was determined to settle on her face and she was determined it should not its persistence was uncanny it woke her and would not let her go to sleep again she hid at it and it eluded her without fuss or effort and with an almost visible blandness and she had only hit herself it came back again instantly and with a loud buzz alighted on her cheek she hid at it again and hurt herself while it skimmed gracefully away she lost her temper and sat up in bed and waited watching to hit at it and kill it she kept on hitting at it at last with fury and with all her strength as if it were a real enemy deliberately trying to madden her and it elegantly skimmed in and out of her blows not even angry to be back again the next instant it succeeded every time in getting on to her face and it was quite indifferent how often it was driven away that was why she had dressed and come out so early Francesca had already been told to put a net over her bed before she was not going to allow herself to be annoyed twice like that people were exactly like flies she wished there were nets for keeping them off too she hid at them with words and frowns and like the fly they slipped between her blows untouched worse than the fly they seemed unaware that she'd even tried to hit them the fly at least did for a moment go away with human beings the only way to get rid of them was to go away herself that was what so tired she had done this April and having got here having got close up to the details of life at San Salvatore it appeared that here too she was not to be let alone viewed from London there it seemed to be no details San Salvatore from there seemed to be an empty a delicious blank yet after only 24 hours of it she was discovering that it was not a blank at all and that she was having to ward off as actively as ever already she had been much stuck to Mrs. Fisher had stuck nearly the whole of the day before and this morning there had been no peace not 10 minutes uninterruptedly alone Costanza of course had finally to go because she had to cook but hardly had she gone before Domenico came he came to water and tie up that was natural since he was the gardener but he watered and tied up all the things that were nearest to her he hovered closer and closer he watered to excess he tied plants that were as straight and steady as arrows well at least he was a man and therefore not quite so annoying and his smiling good morning was received with an answering smile upon which Domenico forgot his family his wife, his mother his grown up children and all his duties and only wanted to kiss the young lady's feet he could not do that unfortunately but he could talk while he worked and talk he did voluminously pouring out every kind of information illustrating what he said with gestures so lively that he had to put down the watering pot and thus delay the end of the watering Lady Caroline bore it for a time but presently was unable to bear it and as he would not go and she could not tell him to seeing that he was engaged in his proper work once again it was she who had to she got off the wall and moved to the other side of the garden where in a wooden shed were some comfortable low cane chairs all she wanted was to turn one of these round with its back to Domenico and its front to the sea towards Genoa such a little thing to want one would have thought she might have been allowed to do that unmolested but he who watched her every moment when he saw her approaching the chairs darted after her and seized one and asked to be told where to put it would she never get away from being waited on being made comfortable being asked where she wanted things put having to say thank you she was short with Domenico who instantly concluded the sun had given her a headache and ran in and fetched her a sunshade and a cushion and a footstool and was skillful and was wonderful and was one of nature's gentlemen she shut her eyes in a heavy resignation she could not be unkind to Domenico she could not get up and walk indoors as she would have done if he'd been one of the others Domenico was intelligent and very competent she had at once discovered that it was he who really ran the house who really did everything and his manners were definitely delightful and he undoubtedly was a charming person it was only that she did so much long to be let alone if only only she could be left quite quiet for this one month she felt that she might perhaps make something of herself after all she kept her eyes shut because then he would think she wanted to sleep and go away Domenico's romantic Italian soul melted within him at the sight for having her eyes shut was extraordinarily becoming to her he stood entranced quite still and she thought he had stolen away so she opened them again no there he was staring at her even he there was no getting away from being stared at I have a headache she said shutting them again it is the sun said Domenico and sitting on the wall without a heart I wish to sleep see Signorina he said sympathetically and went softly away she opened her eyes with a sigh of relief the gentle closing of the glass doors showed her that he had not only gone quite away but had shut her out in the garden so that she should be undisturbed now perhaps she would be alone till lunchtime it was very curious and no one in the world could have been more surprised than she herself but she wanted to think she'd never wanted to do that before everything else that it is possible to do without too much inconvenience she'd either wanted to do or had done at one period or another of her life but not before had she wanted to think she'd come to San Salvatore with the single intention of lying comatose for four weeks in the sun somewhere where her parents and friends were not lapped in forgetfulness stirring herself only to be fed and she had not been there more than a few hours a strange new desire took hold of her there had been wonderful stars the evening before and she'd gone out into the top garden after dinner leaving Mrs. Fisher alone over her nuts and wine and sitting on the wall at the place where the lilies crowded their ghost heads she'd looked out into the gulf of the night and it had suddenly seemed as if her life had been a noise all about nothing she'd been intensely surprised she knew stars and darkness did produce unusual emotions because in others she'd seen them being produced but they had not foredone it in herself a noise all about nothing could she be quite well she'd wondered for a long while past she'd been aware it was a noise but it had seemed to be very much about something a noise indeed about so much that she felt she must get out of your shot for a little or she would be completely and perhaps permanently deafened but suppose it was only a noise about nothing she'd not had a question like that in her mind before it had made her feel lonely she wanted to be alone but not lonely that was very different that was something that ached and hurt dreadfully right inside one it was what one dreaded most it was what made one go to so many parties and lately even the parties had seen once or twice not to be a perfectly certain protection was it possible that loneliness had nothing to do with circumstances but only with the way one met them perhaps she had thought she'd better go to bed she couldn't be very well she went to bed and in the morning after she'd escaped the fly and had her breakfast and got out again into the garden there was this same feeling again and in broad daylight once more she'd had that really rather disgusting suspicion that her life till now had only been loud but empty well if that were so and if her first 28 years the best ones had gone just in meaningless noise she'd better stop a moment and look round her pause as they said in tiresome novels and consider she hadn't got many sets of 28 years one more would see her growing like Mrs. Fisher two more she averted her eyes her mother would have been concerned if she had known her mother doted her father would have been concerned too for he also doted everybody doted and then melodiously obstinate she had insisted on going off to entomb herself in Italy for a whole month with queer people she thought out of an advertisement refusing even to take her maid the only explanation her friends could imagine was that poor scrap such was her name among them had overdone it and was feeling a little nervy her mother had been distressed at her departure it was such an odd thing to do such a sign of disappointment she encouraged the general idea of the verge of a nervous breakdown if she could have seen her adored scrap more delightful to look at than any other mother's daughter had ever yet been the object of her utmost pride the source of all her fondest hopes sitting staring at the empty noonday Mediterranean considering her three possible sets of 28 years she would have been miserable to go away alone was bad to think was worse no good would come of the thinking of a beautiful young woman complications could come out of it in profusion but no good the thinking of the beautiful was bound to result in hesitations in reluctances in unhappiness all round and here if she could have seen her sat her scrap thinking quite hard and such things old things things nobody ever began to think till they were at least 40 end of chapter 8