First loves -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Russian fiction -- Translations into English
At last a letter came, with an American postmark, from New York,
addressed to him. The handwriting of the address on the envelope was
English…. He did not recognise it, and there was a pang at his heart.
He could not at once bring himself to break open the envelope. He
glanced at the signature—Gemma! The tears positively gushed from his
eyes: the mere fact that she signed her name, without a surname, was a
pledge to him of reconciliation, of forgiveness! He unfolded the thin
sheet of blue notepaper: a photograph slipped out. He made haste to
pick it up—and was struck dumb with amazement: Gemma, Gemma living,
young as he had known her thirty years ago! The same eyes, the same
lips, the same form of the whole face! On the back of the photograph
was written, “My daughter Mariana.” The whole letter was very kind and
simple. Gemma thanked Sanin for not having hesitated to write to her,
for having confidence in her; she did not conceal from him that she had
passed some painful moments after his disappearance, but she added at
once that for all that she considered—and had always considered—her
meeting him as a happy thing, seeing that it was that meeting which had
prevented her from becoming the wife of Mr. Klüber, and in that way,
though indirectly, had led to her marriage with her husband, with whom
she had now lived twenty-eight years, in perfect happiness, comfort,
and prosperity; their house was known to every one in New York. Gemma
informed Sanin that she was the mother of five children, four sons and
one daughter, a girl of eighteen, engaged to be married, and her
photograph she enclosed as she was generally considered very like her
mother. The sorrowful news Gemma kept for the end of the letter. Frau
Lenore had died in New York, where she had followed her daughter and
son-in-law, but she had lived long enough to rejoice in her children’s
happiness and to nurse her grandchildren. Pantaleone, too, had meant to
come out to America, but he had died on the very eve of leaving
Frankfort. “Emilio, our beloved, incomparable Emilio, died a glorious
death for the freedom of his country in Sicily, where he was one of the
‘Thousand’ under the leadership of the great Garibaldi; we all bitterly
lamented the loss of our priceless brother, but, even in the midst of
our tears, we were proud of him—and shall always be proud of him—and
hold his memory sacred! His lofty, disinterested soul was worthy of a
martyr’s crown!” Then Gemma expressed her regret that Sanin’s life had
apparently been so unsuccessful, wished him before everything peace and
a tranquil spirit, and said that she would be very glad to see him
again, though she realised how unlikely such a meeting was….
We will not attempt to describe the feelings Sanin experienced as he
read this letter. For such feelings there is no satisfactory
expression; they are too deep and too strong and too vague for any
word. Only music could reproduce them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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