I mean by that expression
that I by no means, in the interests of my new surroundings, forgot
Donna Aurelia; on the contrary, I assured Virginia every day that
expiation was extremely necessary for me, and Aurelia's restoration to
her husband a vital part of it. Virginia, without professing to
understand me, fell in with my convictions; but she replied to them that
my Aurelia must either have gone to Siena, or be about to go. If the
latter, we should be in the way to meet her by staying in Pistoja; if
she was already at home with her mother, the more time we left for the
soreness to subside the better it would be for all of us. I fell in with
this line of argument, which seemed to me unanswerable, because I was
not then aware that the shorter way to Siena from Padua was by Arezzo.
I was now to learn that it was very possible, in a country where all
classes save one were poor, to do away with the standard which obtains
all over the civilised world, and to measure men, not by what they have,
but by what they are. For a man to be without money where others have
much is to be without foothold--the goal for any fribble's shot of
contempt. It is as if he stood naked in a well-dressed assembly. But
where all are naked alike, no man need to be ashamed; and where all
pockets are empty, it is not singular to be without them; your wit
becomes your stock in the funds, and your right hand your ready money.
So, I say, I found it to be; but I believe that wit and ready hand were
alike Virginia's.
Pages:
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136