The Secret Power by Marie Corelli (dark academia books to read .TXT) đ
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She broke off and was silent for a moment, then laying her hand lightly on his arm, she addedâ
âI thank you for your confidence in me! As I have said, you were brave!âyou must have felt that you risked your life on a chance!â nevertheless, for once, you allowed yourself to believe in a woman!â
âNot only for once but for always would I so believe!âin SUCH a womanâif she would permit me!â he answered in a low tone of intense passion. She smiled.
âAh! The old story! My dear Marchese, do not fret your intellectual perception uselessly! Think what we have in store for us!âsuch wonders as none have yet explored,âthe mysteries of the high and the lowâthe light and the darkâand in those far-off spaces strewn with stars, we may even hear things that no mortal has yet heardââ
âAnd what is the use of it all?â he suddenly demanded.
She opened her deep blue eyes in amaze.
âThe use of it?. . . You ask the use of it?ââ
âYesâthe use of itâwithout love!â he answered, his voice shaken with a sudden emotionââMadonna, forgive me!âListen with patience for one moment!âand think of the whole world mastered and possessedâbut without anyone to love in itâwithout anyone to love YOU! Suppose you could command the elementsâsuppose every force that science could bestow were yours, and yet!âno love for youâno love in yourself for anyoneâwhat would be the use of it all? Think, Madonna!â
She raised her delicate eyebrows in a little surprise,âa faint smile was on her lips.
âDear Marchese, I DO think! I HAVE thought!â she answeredââAnd I have observed! Loveâsuch as I imagined it when I was quite a young girlâdoes not exist. The passion called by that name is too petty and personal for me. Men have made love to me oftenânot as prettily perhaps as you do!âbut in America at least love means dollars! Yes, truly! Any man would love my dollars, and take me with them, just thrown in! You, perhapsââ
âI should love you if you were quite poor!â he interposed vehemently.
She laughed.
âWould you? Donât be angry if I doubt it! If I were âquite poorâ I could not have given you your big commission hereâthis house would not have been restored to its former beauty, and the White Eagle would be still a bird of the brain and not of the air! No, you very charming Marchese!âI should not have the same fascination for you without my dollars!âand I may tell you that the only man I ever felt disposed to like,âjust a little,âis a kind of rude brute who despises my dollars and me!â
His brows knitted involuntarily.
âThen there IS some man you like?â he asked, stiffly.
âIâm not sure!â she answered, lightlyââI said I felt âdisposedâ to like him! But thatâs only in the spirit of contradiction, because he detests ME! And itâs a sort of duel between us of sheer intellectuality, because he is trying to discoverâin the usual slow, laborious, calculating methods of manâthe very thing I HAVE discovered! Heâs on the vergeâBut not across it!â
âAnd soâhe may outstrip you?â And the Marcheseâs eyes glittered with sudden angerââHe may claim YOUR discovery as his own?â
Morgana smiled. She was ascending the steps of the loggia, and she paused a moment in the full glare of the Sicilian sunshine, her wonderful gold hair shining in it with the hue of a daffodil.
âI think not!â she saidââThough of course it depends on the use he makes of it. Heâlike all menâwishes to destroy; I, like all women, wish to create!â
One or two of the workmen who were busy polishing the rose-marble pilasters of the loggia, here saluted herâshe returned their salutations with an enchanting smile.
âHow delightful it all is!â she saidââI feel the real use of dollars at last! This beautiful âpalazzo,â in one of the loveliest places in the worldâall the delicious flowers running down in garlands to the very shore of the sea-and liberty to enjoy life as one wishes to enjoy it, without hindrance or argumentâwithout even the hindrance and argument ofâlove!â She laughed, and gave a mirthful upward glance at the Marcheseâs somewhat sullen countenance. âCome and have luncheon with me! You are the major-domo for the presentâyou have engaged the servants and you know the run of the houseâyou must show me everything and tell me everything! I have quite a nice chaperoneâsuch a dear old English lady âof titleâ as they say in the âMorning Postââso itâs all quite right and properâonly she doesnât know a word of Italian and very little French. But thatâs quite British you know!â
She passed, smiling, into the house, and he followed.
CHAPTER VII
Perhaps there is no lovelier effect in all nature than a Sicilian sunset, when the sky is one rich blaze of colour and the sea below reflects every vivid hue as in a mirror,âwhen the very air breathes voluptuous indolence, and all the restless work of man seems an impertinence rather than a necessity. Morgana, for once in her quick restless life, felt the sudden charm of sweet peace and holy tranquility, as she sat, or rather reclined at ease in a long lounge chair after dinner in her rose-marble loggia facing the sea and watching the intense radiance of the heavens burning into the still waters beneath. She had passed the afternoon going over her whole house and gardens, and to the Marchese Giulio Rivardi had expressed herself completely satisfied,âwhile he, to whom unlimited means had been entrusted to carry out her wishes, wondered silently as to the real extent of her fortune, and why she should have spent so much in restoring a âpalazzoâ for herself alone. An occasional thought of âthe only manâ she had said she was âdisposedâ to like, teased his brain; but he was not petty-minded or jealous. He was keenly and sincerely interested in her intellectual capacity, and he knew, or thought he knew, the nature of woman. He watched her now as she reclined, a small slim figure in white, with the red glow of the sun playing on the gold uptwisted coil of her hair,âa few people of the neighbourhood had joined her at dinner, and these were seated about, sipping coffee and chatting in the usual frivolous way of after- dinner guestsâone or two of them were English who had made their home in Sicily,âthe others were travelling Americans.
âI guess youâre pretty satisfied with your location, Miss Royalââ said one of these, a pleasant-faced grey-haired man, who for four or five years past had wintered in Sicily with his wife, a frail little creature always on the verge of the next worldââIt would be difficult to match this place anywhere! You only want one thing to complete it!â
Morgana turned her lovely eyes indolently towards him over the top of the soft feather fan she was waving lightly to and fro.
âOne thing? What is that?â she queried.
âA husband!â
She smiled.
âThe usual appendage!â she saidââTo my mind, quite unnecessary, and likely to spoil the most perfect environment! Though the Marchese Rivardi DID ask me to-day what was the use of my pretty âpalazzoâ and gardens without love! A sort of ethical conundrum!â
She glanced at Rivardi as she spokeâhe was rolling a cigarette in his slim brown fingers and his face was impassively intent on his occupation.
âWell, thatâs so!ââand her American friend looked at her kindlyâ âEven a fairy palace and a fairy garden might prove lonesome for one!â
âAnd boresome for two!â laughed MorganaââMy dear Colonel Boyd! It is not every one who is fitted for matrimonyâand there exist so many that ARE,âeminently fittedâwe can surely allow a few exceptions! I am one of those exceptions. A husband would be excessively tiresome to me, and very much in my way!â
Colonel Boyd laughed heartily.
âYou wonât always think so!â he saidââSuch a charming little woman must have a heart somewhere!â
âOh, yes, dear!â chimed in his fragile invalid wife, âI am sure you have a heart!â
Morgana raised herself on her cushions to a sitting posture and looked round her with a curious little air or defiance.
âA heart I MUST have!â she saidââotherwise I could not live. It is a necessary muscle. But what YOU call âheartââand what the dear elusive poets write about, is simply brain,âthat is to say, an impulsive movement of the brain, suggesting the desirability of a particular personâs companionshipâand we elect to call that âloveâ! On that mere impulse people marry.â
âItâs a good impulseââsaid Colonel Boyd, still smiling broadlyââIt founds families and continues the race!â
âAh, yes! But I often wonder why the race should be continued at all!â said MorganaââThe time is ripe for a new creation!â
A slow footfall sounded on the garden path, and the tall figure of a man clad in the everyday ecclesiastical garb of the Roman Church ascended the steps of the loggia.
âDon Aloysius!â quickly exclaimed the Marchese, and every one rose to greet the newcomer, Morgana receiving him with a profound reverence. He laid his hand on her head with a kindly touch of benediction.
âSo the dreamer has come to her dream!â he said, in soft accentsâ âAnd it has not broken like an air-bubble!âit still floats and shines!â As he spoke he courteously saluted all present by a bend of his head,âand stood for a moment gazing at the view of the sea and the dying sunset. He was a very striking figure of a manâtall, and commanding in air and attitude, with a fine face which might be called almost beautiful. The features were such as one sees in classic marblesâthe full clear eyes were set somewhat widely apart under shelving brows that denoted a brain with intelligence to use it, and the smile that lightened his expression as he looked from, the sea to his fair hostess was of a benignant sweetness.
âYesââhe continuedââyou have realised your vision of loveliness, have you not? Our friend Giulio Rivardi has carried out all your plans?â
âEverything is perfect!â said MorganaââOr will be when it is finished. The workmen still have things to do.â
âAll workmen always have things to do!â said Don Aloysius, tranquillyââAnd nothing is ever finished! And you, dear child!âyou are happy?â
She flushed and paled under his deep, steady gaze.
âIâI think so!â she murmuredââI ought to be!â
The priest smiled and after a pause took the chair which the Marchese Rivardi offered him. The other guests in the loggia looked at him with interest, fascinated by his grave charm of manner. Morgana resumed her seat.
âI ought to be happyââshe saidââAnd of course I amâor I shall be!â
ââMan never is but always to be blestâ!â quoted Colonel BoydââAnd woman the same! I have been telling this lady, reverend father, that maybe she will find her âpalazzoâ a bit lonesome without some one to share its pleasures.â
Don Aloysius looked round with a questioning glance.
âWhat does she herself think about it?â he asked, mildly.
âI have not thought at allââsaid Morgana, quickly, âI can always fill it with friends. No end of people are glad to winter in Sicily.â
âBut will such âfriendsâ care for YOU or YOUR happiness?â suggested the Marchese, pointedly.
Morgana laughed.
âOh, no, I do not expect that! Nowadays no one really cares for anybody elseâs happiness but their own. Besides, I shall be much too busy to want company. Iâm bent on all sorts of discoveries, you know!âI want to dive âdeeper than ever plummet soundedâ!â
âYou will only find deeper depths!â said Don Aloysius, slowlyââAnd in the very
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