opriate marriage for her with the eldest
son of certain friends who were almost as clerical and intransigent as
himself. The young man was a limp degenerate, with a pale face, a weak
mouth, and an inherited form of debility which made him fall asleep
wherever he was, if nothing especial happened to keep his eyes open;
he not only always slept from ten at night till nine the next morning
with the regularity of an idiot, but he went to sleep wherever he sat
down, in church, at dinner, and even when he was driving. Neither his
own parents nor Prince Chiaromonte looked upon this as a serious
drawback in the matter of marriage. A man who slept all day and all
night was a man out of mischief, not likely to grumble nor to make
love to his neighbour's wife; he would therefore be a model husband.
When he fell asleep in the drawing-room in summer, his consort would
sit beside him and brush away the flies; in winter she would be
careful to cover him up lest he should catch cold; at mass she could
prick him with a hat-pin to keep him awake; as for the rest, she would
bear one of the oldest names in Europe, her husband would be a
strictly religious and moral person, and she would be very rich. What
more could any woman ask? Evidently nothing, and Prince Chiaromonte
therefore continued to negotiate the marriage in the old-fashioned
manner, without the least intention of speaking about it to Angela
till everything was altogether settled between the family lawyers, and
the wedding could take place in six weeks. It was not the business of
young people to fathom the intentions of their all-wise parents, and
meanwhile Angela was free to go to parties with her aunt, and her
intended husband was at liberty to sleep as much as he liked. The
negotiations would probably occupy another two or three months, for
the family lawyers had disagreed as to the number of times that Angela
should be allowed to take the carriage out every day, and this had to
be stipulated in the marriage contract, besides the number of dishes
there were to be at luncheon and dinner and the question whether, if
Angela took coffee after her meals, it should be charged to her
husband, who took none, or against the income arising from her dowry.
The family lawyers were both very old men and understood these
difficult matters thoroughly, but neither would have felt that he was
doing his duty to his client if he had not quarrelled with the other
over each point. From week to we