Since the interference of St. Peter and St. Paul against Alaric, the
papacy had never experienced a more miraculous interposition in its
favor. Shortly after this the wind changed, and the sky became serene;
a sunbeam played on the flashing cross of St. Peter’s; the Pope left the
Castle of Angelo, and returned to the Quirinal; the Noble Guard sheathed
their puissant blades; the six-score of monsignori reappeared in all
their busy haunts and stately offices; and the court of Rome, no longer
despairing of the republic, and with a spirit worthy of the Senate after
Cannae, ordered the whole of its forces into the field to combat its
invaders, with the prudent addition, in order to insure a triumph, of a
brigade of French infantry armed with chassepots.
Garibaldi, who was really at hand, hearing of these events, fell back on
Monte Rotondo, about fifteen miles from the city, and took up a strong
position. He was soon attacked by his opponents, and defeated with
considerable slaughter, and forced to fly. The papal troops returned
to Rome in triumph, but with many wounded. The Roman ladies and their
friends resumed their noble duties with enthusiasm. The ambulances were
apportioned to the different hospitals, and the services of all were
required. Our own countrymen had suffered severely, but the skill
and energy and gentle care of Clare Arundel and her companions only
increased with the greater calls upon their beautiful and sublime
virtue.
A woman came to Miss Arundel and told her that, in one of the
ambulances, was a young man whom they could not make out. He was
severely wounded, and had now swooned; but they had reason to believe he
was an Englishman. Would she see him and speak to him? And she went.
The person who had summoned her was a woman of much beauty, not an
uncommon quality in Rome, and of some majesty of mien, as little rare,
in that city. She was said, at the time when some inquiry was made, to
be Maria Serafina de Angelis, the wife of a tailor in the Ripetta.
The ambulance was in the court-yard of the hospital of the Santissima
Trinita di Pellegrini. The woman pointed to it, and then went away.
There was only one person in the ambulance; the rest had been taken to
the hospital, but he had been left because he was in a swoon, and they
were trying to restore him. Those around the ambulance made room for
Miss Arundel as she approached, and she beheld a young man, covered
with the stains of battle, and severely wounded; but his countenance was
uninjured though insensible. His eyes were closed, and his auburn hair
fell in clusters on his white forehead. The sister of mercy touched the
pulse to ascertain whether there yet was life, but, in the very act,
her own frame became agitated, and the color left her cheek as she
recognized—Lothair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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