Now first I told him of my passion; of the
doubts and fears that had distracted me, and of the tidings that had
suddenly dispelled them. He overwhelmed me with congratulations and
with the warmest expressions of sympathy. I embraced him in the
fullness of my heart. I felt compunctious for having suspected him of
coldness, and asked him forgiveness for having ever doubted his
friendship.
Nothing is so warm, and enthusiastic as a sudden expansion of the heart
between young men. Filippo entered into our concerns with the most
eager interest. He was our confidant and counsellor. It was determined
that I should hasten at once to Naples to re-establish myself in my
father's affections and my paternal home, and the moment the
reconciliation was effected and my father's consent insured, I should
return and demand Bianca of the Count. Filippo engaged to secure his
father's acquiescence; indeed, he undertook to watch over our
interests, and was the channel through which we were to correspond.
My parting with Bianca was tender - delicious - agonizing.
It was in a little pavilion of the garden which had been one of our
favorite resorts. How often and often did I return to have one more
adieu - to have her look once more on me in speechless emotion - to enjoy
once more the rapturous sight of those tears streaming down her lovely
cheeks - to seize once more on that delicate hand, the frankly accorded
pledge of love, and cover it with tears and kisses! Heavens! There is a
delight even in the parting agony of two lovers worth a thousand tame
pleasures of the world. I have her at this moment before my eyes - at
the window of the pavilion, putting aside the vines that clustered
about the casement - her light form beaming forth in virgin white - her
countenance all tears and smiles - sending a thousand and a thousand
adieus after me, as, hesitating, in a delirium of fondness and
agitation, I faltered my way down the avenue.
As the bark bore me out of the harbor of Genoa, how eagerly my eyes
Stretched along the coast of Sestri, till it discerned the villa
gleaming from among trees at the foot of the mountain. As long as day
lasted, I gazed and gazed upon it, till it lessened and lessened to a
mere white speck in the distance; and still my intense and fixed gaze
discerned it, when all other objects of the coast had blended into
indistinct confusion, or were lost in the evening gloom.
On arriving at Naples, I hastened to my paternal home. My heart yearned
for the long-withheld blessing of a father's love. As I entered the
proud portal of the ancestral palace, my emotions were so great that I
could not speak.
