Madame de Menon's apartment opened into both galleries. It was in one

of these rooms that she usually spent the mornings, occupied in the

improvement of her young charge. The windows looked towards the sea,

and the room was light and pleasant. It was their custom to dine in

one of the lower apartments, and at table they were always joined by a

dependant of the marquis's, who had resided many years in the castle,

and who instructed the young ladies in the Latin tongue, and in

geography. During the fine evenings of summer, this little party

frequently supped in a pavilion, which was built on an eminence in the

woods belonging to the castle. From this spot the eye had an almost

boundless range of sea and land. It commanded the straits of Messina,

with the opposite shores of Calabria, and a great extent of the wild

and picturesque scenery of Sicily. Mount Etna, crowned with eternal

snows, and shooting from among the clouds, formed a grand and sublime

picture in the background of the scene. The city of Palermo was also

distinguishable; and Julia, as she gazed on its glittering spires;

would endeavour in imagination to depicture its beauties, while she

secretly sighed for a view of that world, from which she had hitherto

been secluded by the mean jealousy of the marchioness, upon whose mind

the dread of rival beauty operated strongly to the prejudice of Emilia

and Julia. She employed all her influence over the marquis to detain

them in retirement; and, though Emilia was now twenty, and her sister

eighteen, they had never passed the boundaries of their father's

domains.

Vanity often produces unreasonable alarm; but the marchioness had in

this instance just grounds for apprehension; the beauty of her lord's

daughters has seldom been exceeded. The person of Emilia was finely

proportioned. Her complexion was fair, her hair flaxen, and her dark

blue eyes were full of sweet expression. Her manners were dignified

and elegant, and in her air was a feminine softness, a tender timidity

which irresistibly attracted the heart of the beholder. The figure of

Julia was light and graceful--her step was airy--her mien animated,

and her smile enchanting. Her eyes were dark, and full of fire, but

tempered with modest sweetness. Her features were finely turned--every

laughing grace played round her mouth, and her countenance quickly

discovered all the various emotions of her soul. The dark auburn hair,

which curled in beautiful profusion in her neck, gave a finishing

charm to her appearance.

Thus lovely, and thus veiled in obscurity, were the daughters of the

noble Mazzini. But they were happy, for they knew not enough of the

world seriously to regret the want of its enjoyments, though Julia

would sometimes sigh for the airy image which her fancies painted, and

a painful curiosity would arise concerning the busy scenes from which

she was excluded. A return to her customary amusements, however, would

chase the ideal image from her mind, and restore her usual happy

complacency. Books, music, and painting, divided the hours of her

leisure, and many beautiful summer-evenings were spent in the

pavilion, where the refined conversation of madame, the poetry of

Tasso, the lute of Julia, and the friendship of Emilia, combined to

form a species of happiness, such as elevated and highly susceptible

minds are alone capable of receiving or communicating. Madame

understood and practised all the graces of conversation, and her young

pupils perceived its value, and caught the spirit of its character.




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