Dorothy, and Other Italian StoriesWoolson, Constance Fenimore
General
Dorothy, and Other Italian Stories
Woolson, Constance Fenimore
Americans -- Italy -- Fiction; Italy -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories, American
As it was Saturday, many visitors came to the villa, Giuseppe receiving
them at the open door, and waving them across the court or up the stone
stairway, according to their apparent inclination, murmuring as he did
so: "To the garden; the Signora North!" "To the salon; the Signora
Tracy!" with his most inviting smiles. Dorothy probably was with Mrs.
North in the garden. And everybody knew that the tea and the comfortable
chairs were up-stairs. The company therefore divided itself, the young
people as far as possible, the men who like to appear young, and the
mothers who have heavier cares than the effects of open-air light on a
middle-aged complexion, crossing the paved quadrangle to the north hall,
while the old ladies and the ladies (not so old) who detest gardens
ascended the stairs, accompanied by, first, the contented husbands;
second, the well-trained husbands; third, other men, bond or free, who
cherish no fondness for damp belvederes, for grassy mounds, or for
poising themselves on a parapet which has a yawning abyss below.
Giuseppe was the gardener; he became a footman once a week, that is, on
Saturday afternoons, when the American ladies of the Villa Dorio
received those of their friends who cared to come to their hill-top
above the Roman Gate of Florence--a hill-top bearing the appropriate
name of Bellosguardo. For fair indeed is the outlook from that supremely
blessed plateau, whether towards the north, south, east, or west, with
perhaps an especial loveliness towards the west, where the Arno winds
down to the sea. Enchanting as is this Occidental landscape, Mrs. Tracy
had ended by escaping from it.
"When each new person begins: 'Oh, what lovely shadows!' 'Oh, the
Carrara Mountains!' we cannot look at each other, Laura and I," she
explained; "it's like the two Roman what-do-you-call-ems--augurs. I'm
incapable of saying another word about the Carrara Mountains, Laura; and
so, after this, I shall leave them to you."
This was the cause of Giuseppe's indicating the drawing-room, and not
the garden, as Mrs. Tracy's domain.
It was not difficult for Giuseppe to turn himself into a footman;
Raffaello, the butler (or cameriere), could have turned himself into a
coachman, a cook, a laundress, a gardener, or even a parlor-maid, if
occasion had so required; for Italian servants can do anything. And if
Mrs. Sebright sighed, "Ah, but so badly!" (which was partly true from
the English point of view) the Americans at least could respond, "Yes,
but so easily!" In truth, it was not precisely in accordance with the
English standard to be welcomed by smiles of personal recognition from
the footman at the door, nor to have the tea offered by the butler with
an urgent hospitality which was almost tender. But Italy is not England;
radiant smiles from the servants accord perhaps with radiant sunshine
from the sky, both things being unknown at home. As for the American
standard, it does not exist, save as a vacillating pennon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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