e one should
discover it and unravel the mystery; besides, I felt a sort of traitor
to the brave friends who had so generously offered me their hospitality;
so I invented urgent private affairs which demanded my immediate return
to Naples, and on the morning of my departure found myself embraced by
all the officers of the regiment from the colonel downward, who in the
fervour of their kisses thrust sixteen waxed moustache-points against my
cheeks.

About eighteen months after this I heard of the capture and execution
of Croppo, and I knew that Valeria was free; but I had unexpectedly
inherited a property and was engaged to be married. I am now a country
gentleman with a large family. My sanctum is stocked with various
mementos of my youthful adventures, but none awakens in me such
thrilling memories as are excited by the breviary of the brigand priest
and the portrait of the brigand's bride.

MRS. GENERAL TALBOYS, by Anthony Trollope

Why Mrs. General Talboys first made up her mind to pass the winter of
1859 at Rome I never clearly understood. To myself she explained her
purposes soon after her arrival at the Eternal City, by declaring, in
her own enthusiastic manner, that she was inspired by a burning desire
to drink fresh at the still living fountains of classical poetry and
sentiment. But I always thought that there was something more than this
in it. Classical poetry and sentiment were doubtless very dear to her,
but so also, I imagine, were the substantial comforts of Hardover Lodge,
the general's house in Berkshire; and I do not think that she would
have emigrated for the winter had there not been some slight domestic
misunderstanding. Let this, however, be fully made clear--that such
misunderstanding, if it existed, must have been simply an affair of
temper. No impropriety of conduct has, I am very sure, ever been imputed
to the lady. The general, as all the world knows, is hot; and Mrs.
Talboys, when the sweet rivers of her enthusiasm are unfed by congenial
waters, can, I believe, make herself disagreeable.

But be this as it may, in November, 1859, Mrs. Talboys came among
us English at Rome, and soon succeeded in obtaining for herself a
comfortable footing in our society. We all thought her more remarkable
for her mental attributes than for physical perfection, but nevertheless
she was in her own way a sightly woman. She had no special brilliance,
either of eye or complexion, such as would produce s