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.