e, for heartless
and vain as I then was, heartless and vain I should have remained
to the end! And why? Because the unhappy condition of public
affairs had sown poison in my whole nature.

"And my confessions were met by Giuseppe's. His defiant,
egotistical will had so mastered him that the most casual
interference with his desires might have cost him his life, the
merest accident have changed its whole course. But that same
defiant will--in what atmosphere had it been fostered?

"We gave one another the fullest confidence that evening in
Bologna, and then for the first time all doubts vanished and the
future seemed absolutely secure.

"Here, on this estate of mine that I love, he has set to work. Here
all was chaos, so that he has something on which his energies can
be brought to bear. He intends to resign his commission--he does
not care any longer to play the soldier in peace time. He needs to
be busy on definite objects, that lie near at hand, and if I divine
rightly, the objects dearest to him are those most carefully hidden
from the world. So, at any rate, it stands for the present; what
events may develop I know not. But this I do know: let Italy be in
danger, and he will place himself in the front rank, whatever the
circumstances may be.

"God's blessing on you! Come here soon; you must see him in this
active life of his, you must see him with me. Has any woman ever
had so devoted a husband, so gallant a lover? Ah, I know you do not
give me leave to talk in this extravagant vein. But I cannot help
it, and I must tell you again that these are the words I feel I
_must_ use.

"I love you, and again and again I long to embrace you, to kiss
you, you dear mother, to whom I owe my happiness.

"Dearest, so hardly tried and proven, from whose eyes there streams
a hymn of praise, from whose lips the words of help and comfort
pour their waters of refreshment, we want you to bow your grey head
over our happiness, that it may be blessed. Yes, you must let us
learn from you, so that the evil days do not come too soon upon us.

"Your son's wife, your own, your loving

"THERESA."

MOTHER'S HANDS

PART I

A stirring clang of swords, echoing from the glass roof of the station;
the ring of steel sounding