Lovers' Saint Ruth's, and Three Other TalesGuiney, Louise Imogen
General
Lovers' Saint Ruth's, and Three Other Tales
Guiney, Louise Imogen
American fiction -- 19th century; Short stories, American
"There is nothing of hope for me. I am in a greata fix. I leave, I go;
I cannot stay. I have a sin also. Only my beloved, she know how it was
I transgress, so thatta perhaps my guilt is not for eternity."
Openshaw laid the tip of his stick upon the rowlock, with authority.
"Do not start yet; let the boat drift. You must be hungry with this
long exercise. Pray pass me those things near you, and the wine; and
while you lunch, I hope you will be as frank with me, Rodolfo, as I
have been with you.... I look upon it as a miracle of mercy that at
the eleventh hour we have found each other." He knew that the young
man's blazing black eyes were full upon him. "I can help you. Only keep
nothing back." He filled one of the glasses from the fizzing bottle,
and passed it. But it was struck aside, and the cry that followed was
so sincere it gave the rudeness dignity.
"Ah! No, no, no. Sir, I touch the spiritual drink no more till I die.
I vow to Anita mia, after the terrible night. For see! The evil ones,
companions, take me on a burst in a city notta this, Hartaford,
and thieve." His voice dropped under the excitement, like a file of
infantry under fire. "They thieve a banka; and I watch, in gin so drunk
as Bacco; and when the invisible man arise pugnacious, I throttle him,
and curse, and rolla him down to the cellar. He moan and expire, so
that we go down to thieva more; but the city she hears, there is a
sound, then a sound on top of him, and we fly, fly, fly, this streeta,
that streeta, till I come back awake to this Portsmouth, and fall on my
knee to Anne, and cry tears. Ah, my sainta! she comfort me in charity,
and talk to me, and keepa me from the bad; and for penance I go vera
dry always, not to be damn. I tell it not to Niccola at home when I go;
and I pray to go soon, that the Statesa Prison notta hanga me."
Such is the equilibrium between the infinite and folly, that at this
juncture, as he recalled afterwards, Mr. Openshaw was eating his
cheese. He answered, marvelling at his own composure.
"I read about it in the newspapers. You are in great danger, my poor
boy. Now listen. There is a ship sailing for Genoa from New York next
Saturday; and on her I wish you to engage your passage. That will give
you a week to adjust your little affairs here; and you must, moreover,
see your excellent sweetheart, and persuade her to marry you and go
with you. Will you do that?"
Rodolfo opened his fine eyes very wide, and then closed them. "Oh,
voluptuous as it would be, I cannot. The Capitan he make Anne deny
me until I shall have many riches. She is a handmaid of domestic
service on Pleasanta Street; but the old one, he is proud for her, and
with the mosta reason in all the world. I shall coop with thesea my
brothers cooping always in Ferrara, and do my parta with my soul. For
bye-and-bye we make a marriage; and then she will be content to live in
the sympathetic Italy, where safeness is for me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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