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1 December 1883 — Ca’ Capello, Venice | |
Saturday. 1st December [1883]. Olga came & sat to me till 11.30. Miss Holas came for Italian lesson but I had to beg her to excuse me. Malgarotto came with a design for terra cotta vases for belvidere but I had to tell him to improve on them & return tomorrow. Signor Orsi kindly cut the nails of the small birds for me & then took leave of us & left to return home to Castagnolo. We were very sorry to lose him. Only a short time was left before luncheon wh I employed in putting away china &c. Mr Armstrong an official of the Kensington Museum went with Henry to Murano. I remained at home to have some last explanations with Giovanni who left us today after having been 14 years with us. When I had taken all the keys & made notes of all we began to talk. He warned me against Pasquale & Regina & said they were not quite to be trusted but I told him it was difficult to find any one one cd thoroughly trust—& so we went on to talk & I said I was sorry it was come to this & I never had thought he wd have left us– He said neither had he—but he was bound in honour to do so there showing that he was going to have to marry Hill against his real wish & better judgment. He seized my hand & kissed it begging me not to forget him & we both sobbed till at last I made an effort—dressed & went out in gondola to pay some visits. As Giovanni came for the last time to hand me to the gondola he broke down he seized my hand & kissed it & then rushed away sobbing. I went to the “Monaco” to call on Emily R. & found her in & Lady Evelyn Campbell going up at the same time to see her so we went up together. Emily had a nice room with 2 windows & if there had not been a thick white fog there wd have been a lovely view. Went on to Mrs Bronson & found her at home & the Brownings. Had tea there. Browning was very entertaining about a lady whom he had known who caught a phrase & used it à sort et a travers until she found another wh she clung to in the same way, such as “the key of the situation” wh she applied in every possible way. I went on to see Lady Sinclair & her daughter at the Hotel Victoria & found them at home. The conversation soon came round to Rustem Pasha & the schemes of vengeance Miss St Clair had against him for the insulting way in wh he had jilted her. I did all I could to strengthen the advice already given her by Henry to abandon the whole thing and to turn her thoughts & energies to something nobler & better. I even got excited & quoted Scripture to prove to her that it was absolutely wrong to take revenge in her own hands & I became rather vehement as I felt that it was better to speak out to her– I dont think she was angry as she afterwards accompanied me kindly down stairs to the gondola. I got home to tea at 5. I found Giovanni had gone (to the Pension Suisse for a few days) & our new servant Luigi had arrived. After tea I went & collected all the keys of the house & made them over to him & showed him where they fitted. Mr Armstrong dined with us and I showed him Burano lace & we talked of old things. He left early & then I played the harmonium to Henry till bed time. | |
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