The Corsican Brothers | Page 4

some warm water. Excuse
me," continued she, addressing me again, while in the mean time the
girl prepared to execute her orders, "I know that the first want of the
traveler is fire and water. Please to follow the girl, and ask her for the
things you may be in need of. We take supper in an hour, and my son,
who will be in before that time, will have the pleasure, with your
permission, of introducing himself to your presence."
"You will excuse my traveling dress, I hope, madame."
"Yes, sir," said she, with a smile, "but on condition that on your side
you will excuse the rusticity of this reception."

The servant girl went up stairs--I bowed a last time, and followed her.
The room was situated in the first story, and had its windows on the
back part of the house, commanding a view of a handsome garden,
planted with myrtle trees and laurel roses; a charming rivulet passed
through it, carrying its pure water to the Taravo. In the background the
view was intercepted by a sort of hedge of fir trees, planted so near to
each other as to have the appearance of a wall. Like all the rooms in
Italian houses, the partition walls were whitewashed, and ornamented
with landscapes painted in fresco.
I understood immediately that this room, which was the one formerly
occupied by the now absent son, had been given to me as the most
comfortable in the house.
I then took a fancy, while Maria was busily engaged in making the fire,
and preparing warm water, to take an inventory of the furniture of my
room, thinking it might give me some idea of the character of him who
formerly occupied it.
From the project, I proceeded immediately to the execution of my plan,
by turning on my left heel, and thus making a circular movement round
my own centre, which permitted me to take a view of all the articles by
which I was surrounded.
The furniture was quite modern, a circumstance which in this part of
the island, where civilization had not yet reached, I considered an
evidence of a refined and elegant taste. It consisted of an iron bedstead,
provided with three mattresses and a pillow, of a divan, four arm-chairs,
six chairs, two book-cases and a writing-desk, all in mahogany, and
evidently proceeding from the shop of the first cabinet-maker of
Ajaccio.
The divan, the armchairs and chairs, were covered with flower-printed
calico, curtains of the same material surrounded the bed and shaded the
windows.
I had proceeded thus far with my inventory, when Maria left the room,

and thus permitted me to go further in my investigation.
I opened the library, and found there a collection of all our great poets:
Corneille, Racine, Molire, Lafontaine, Ronsard, Victor Hugo and
Lamartine; our historians, MŽzeray, Chateaubriand, A. Thierry; our
scientific men, Cuvier, Beudant, Elias de Beaumont; lastly, some
volumes of novels, amongst which I discovered, with a certain pride,
my Impressions de Voyage.
The keys were left on the drawers of the writing desk; I opened one of
them.
It contained some manuscripts, fragments of a history of Corsica, a
sketch on the means of abolishing the custom of the vendetta, some
French verses, and a few Italian sonnets.
This was all I wanted, and I had the presumption to think that I needed
nothing more to form a correct opinion of Mons. Louis de Franchi's
character.
I fancied he must of course be a peaceable, studious young man, and an
admirer of French improvements and reform.
I then understood his reasons for going to Paris to study the law. There
was no doubt a project of civilization in this pursuit.
These reflections I made while I was dressing. My toilette, as I had said
to Madame de Franchi, though not lacking the picturesque, required
some apology. It consisted of a black velvet jacket, open at the seams
of the sleeves, in order to admit the air during the hottest part of the day,
and through which crevˆs Ž l'Espagnole appeared a striped silk shirt; a
similar pair of breeches; Spanish spatterdashes covering the leg from
the knee down to the foot, open at the side, and embroidered in silk of
various colors, and a felt hat completed my toilette, the latter taking
almost any form that I might give it, but most particularly that of a
sombrero.
I was just putting a finish to this dress, which I recommend to travelers

as the most comfortable that I know of, when my door opened, and the
same man who had received me appeared. He came to inform me that
his young master, Signor Lucien de Franchi, had just arrived, and
requested the honor of welcoming me, provided I was visible.