The Romance of Giovanni Calvotti | Page 3

the time, and I did not expect to

see anybody jump from it. The gentleman missed his footing and
stumbled against me. I fell down and the picture fell face downwards
on the pavement, and a man who was passing by trod upon it.'
Now, I invite you to observe that these sentences are in no way
remarkable. Yet I felt compelled to say--
'Most admirably and succinctly put!'
For the little girl was very pleasing, and she looked very pretty and
innocent and distressed. And if you had employed a professional orator
to make the statement, he would have been a thousand miles behind her
in grace and straightforwardness, and in everything that makes human
speech beautiful and admirable. When I had removed the mud from my
canvas child I found that its countenance was badly scratched. So I
busied myself in putting up my easel and in setting my palette.
'Oh, signor,' said the poor child, 'I am so sorry.'
Then she cried again.
'Mademoiselle,' I replied, with charming gaiety, 'it is not your fault at
all. It is the doing of another lady, an old enemy of mine. The other
lady has been trying to spite me, mademoiselle, for several years. She
is powerful; she has hosts of servants. She plunges me into all manner
of terrible scrapes, and for all this I laugh at her and snap my
fingers--So.'
By the time I had said 'So' and snapped my fingers she had done crying,
and being very intelligent she understood my parable, and when I
laughed she smiled. I will tell you exactly what her smile was like. I
was painting: in the Welsh hills three years ago, with plenty of money
in my pocket, and a very great enthusiasm for art in my soul. I strayed
out from the hotel I was staying in one beautiful moonlight night. I had
rambled far, when it began to rain and grew very dark with clouds. I sat
under a rock upon a big stone by the side of a little lake, and lit my pipe
and waited for the rain to cease. And while it was still raining a little,
the clouds divided for one second, and the moonlight swam down the

lake from one end to the other. That was her smile; and when I saw it I
seemed to see the lake again, and to hear the rain and the rustling of the
trees, and smell the scent of the dead leaves. The moonlight stayed on
her face only a second. She grew grave and sad again, and came timidly
to me where I was at work. 'Will it be much trouble to you to mend it?'
she asked. 'Will it take long?'
'Not long, mademoiselle,' I answered; 'I shall finish it to-day.'
I am gifted by nature with a delicate organisation. It is not possible for
a man to be a gentleman without something of the quality I desire to
indicate. I observe intuitively. I saw that my distressed companion
desired to say something, and I saw also that what she desired to say
would be embarrassing to me. It was also plain to my refined
observation that she would be happier if she could only go gracefully. I
relieved her of this trouble--
'We will challenge Madame Fortune again in the morning,
mademoiselle. You and I will beat her this time. We will co-operate
again.'
'Oh yes,' she said, 'do let me take it in the morning. I will be careful.'
'And now,' I said, 'you will think me an ogre, and will fancy that I am
going to imprison you unless I let you go.'
I opened the door, but she lingered, struggling with that embarrassment
which feared to embarrass me. For she is a lady just as certainly as I am
a gentleman, and fine natures understand each other. I could see her
make up her mind, and I resolved therefore not to be embarrassed.
'But, signor,' she said, with more firmness than I had expected, 'the
tobacco and the coffee and the loaf?'
'Mademoiselle,' I said, 'the coffee and the tobacco and the loaf loom
dimly from the future. They will come in good time.'
But, oh, the little girl was brave and tender-hearted and honourable.

She was a little Englishwoman, with beliefs in duty. And yet she would
sooner have faced ten lions than me, with my Italian courtesy and my
uncomplaining good temper.
'Mrs. Hopkins,' she said, 'will lend me a--a shilling, and I----'
From that moment I respected her.
'Mademoiselle,' I answered, 'you are a lady, I am a gentleman. We have
both the misfortune to be poor. We have both the admirable good
fortune to be proud and honourable. You are brave and good, and your
instincts are delicate.