I 



1829.1 ^ Mediterranean Sketch 21 



« As your Orloffs can teU. But, to prove to you that I am liberal after 

 my own manner, I will set myself to seek out some great-grand-nephew 

 of my Corsican kinswoman, even though his nobihty be sunk mto a 

 vender of goats' milk cheeses— provided that you promise me not to 

 write it to Federowna." j n i 



" Why truly, my haughty little sister would scarcely be proud ot her 

 alliance with such unpastoral-looking shepherds as my friends here, and 

 who cannot hold themselves more proudly than now even when they 

 learn that they have the honour to appertain to Lord Charles Douglass. 



" I confess I like their manner of elevating the head, of looking one in 

 the face, of replying without embarrassment. What a pleasure to com- 

 mand such men as these !" , , , , ^ • j -i 



" So don't think every one : they are reckoned turbulent, indocile, 



and obstinate." ^ i • j 



" Like the Polanders— is it not?— who would choose to be mdepen- 



^« Tur'ma parole, my good friend, you have all the air of a revolution- 

 naire since we have arrived among these mountains !" 



« If you knew but the effect, on a native mountaineer, ot the moun- 

 tain-breezes, the roar of the waterfalls, the sight of the ocean " 



" Yes yes • I know well enough that you are romantic to excess. Uut 

 what astonishes me is, that, with this character, you should have selected 

 such a ffay, giddy little Euphrosyne as my fair Sister. 



" You too Talzikoff ! you are not remarkable for steadiness, or anti- 

 pathy to 'pleasure ;— yet at Eylau !— and even then the saving of your 

 friend's life was almost less heroic than the attentions afterwards lavished 

 on its preservation. Could I better shew my gratitude, then, tor the 

 renewed existence for which I am indebted to the brother, than by 

 devoting it thenceforth to the sister ? Federowna loves me ; and what 

 matters to me the sportiveness of a mind, where I am certain of a 



" I certainly think that Federowna, once married, will fidfil all her 

 duties. But you are so rigid— you will be so exigeant ; while my sister, 

 satisfied with possessing her husband's esteem, wiU not, m consequence, 

 wish to renounce all other admiration." 



" Federowna, then, will be a coquette !" 



" Why, it will be a little cruel to insist that a woman who can charm 

 all, must shine only for one." 



" Your people are scarcely yet emerged from the stupidity ot bar- 

 barism, and their higher ranks are already civilized up to the corruption 

 of the most natural feelings. Well, let us talk no more of this; we 

 are formed to esteem, and not to understand each other.— Yet, it 1 were 

 not to be understood by Federowna; if, on her becoming my bride! 

 —Do you imagine your sister will bfe a coquette ?" 



" It appears to me so natural, that I should tliink myself deceiving 

 you were I to assure you of the contrary." 



" Then, my friend, then " 



" You will have nothing to say to her?"^^ 



" You torment me for your amusement !" 



" By no means. Federowna pleases you ; our relations consent ; the 

 marriage must be ; and I am only trying the degree of patience with 

 which you will support les aimables caprices of the prettiest woman ot all 

 the Russias." 



