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25 December 1899 — Villa Pisani, Vescovana | |
Monday. [25th December 1899]. Christmas Day. The Countess who is a mother to me & calls me her daughter & treats me as such is still a beautiful woman with all her 62 years. Her hair is still black. Her figure upright & like a young woman’s. She manages her own 10 farms without an agent & makes them pay. She is much assisted by the parish priest who does the part of secretary to her. He is a big man with a bald head—& a curious countenance—a stumbling gait—devoted to the Countess heart & soul. He comes to the house every morning to help her & then disappears till towards eveng when he returns to dine. In the evening he sits at a table at the back of the room writing—smoking & grumbling when we talk or read aloud. At 9 he sets to work to “massér” the Countess’ rheumatic hands & then we retire to bed & I believe he recites the eveng prayers for her. This week besides reading & talking my maid & I have been cutting out garments for the Css to have made for the Sick & wounded in the Transvaal. She has bought a quantity of material & is having it made up in the village. I received a note from the Empress Frederick from La Maregola saying she has sent me a contribution for the same thing—6 comforters worked by herself & some Tam o Shanters made by Princess Victoria & Margaret her daughters. | |
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