England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
it, but tried constantly to interest and please her. It was at this time
that my lady told Miss Galindo so much about her own early life, and
about Hanbury, that Miss Galindo resolved, if ever she could, she would
go and see the old place which her friend loved so well. The end of it
all was, that she came to live there, as we know.
But a great change was to come first. Before Sir Hubert and Lady Galindo
had left London on this, their second visit, they had a letter from the
lawyer, whom they employed, saying that Sir Lawrence had left an heir,
his legitimate child by an Italian woman of low rank; at least, legal
claims to the title and property had been sent into him on the boy’s
behalf. Sir Lawrence had always been a man of adventurous and artistic,
rather than of luxurious tastes; and it was supposed, when all came to
be proved at the trial, that he was captivated by the free, beautiful
life they lead in Italy, and had married this Neapolitan fisherman’s
daughter, who had people about her shrewd enough to see that the
ceremony was legally performed. She and her husband had wandered about
the shores of the Mediterranean for years, leading a happy, careless,
irresponsible life, unencumbered by any duties except those connected
with a rather numerous family. It was enough for her that they never
wanted money, and that her husband’s love was always continued to her.
She hated the name of England--wicked, cold, heretic England--and
avoided the mention of any subjects connected with her husband’s early
life. So that, when he died at Albano, she was almost roused out of her
vehement grief to anger with the Italian doctor, who declared that he
must write to a certain address to announce the death of Lawrence
Galindo. For some time, she feared lest English barbarians might come
down upon her, making a claim to the children. She hid herself and them
in the Abruzzi, living upon the sale of what furniture and jewels Sir
Lawrence had died possessed of. When these failed, she returned to
Naples, which she had not visited since her marriage. Her father was
dead; but her brother inherited some of his keenness. He interested the
priests, who made inquiries and found that the Galindo succession was
worth securing to an heir of the true faith. They stirred about it,
obtained advice at the English Embassy; and hence that letter to the
lawyers, calling upon Sir Hubert to relinquish title and property, and
to refund what money he had expended. He was vehement in his opposition
to this claim. He could not bear to think of his brother having married
a foreigner--a papist, a fisherman’s daughter; nay, of his having become
a papist himself. He was in despair at the thought of his ancestral
property going to the issue of such a marriage. He fought tooth and
nail, making enemies of his relations, and losing almost all his own
private property; for he would go on against the lawyer’s advice, long
after every one was convinced except himself and his wife. At last he
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