How her possession of an instrument, and her skill in
playing, were subsequently gained, the reader already knows from
Vetranio's narrative at Ravenna. Could the frivolous senator have
discovered the real intensity of the emotions his art was raising in his
pupil's bosom while he taught her; could he have imagined how
incessantly, during their lessons, her sense of duty struggled with her
love for music--how completely she was absorbed, one moment by an agony
of doubt and fear, another by an ecstasy of enjoyment and hope--he would
have felt little of that astonishment at her coldness towards himself
which he so warmly expressed at his interview with Julia in the gardens
of the Court. In truth, nothing could be more complete than Antonina's
childish unconsciousness of the feelings with which Vetranio regarded
her. In entering his presence, whatever remnant of her affections
remained unwithered by her fears was solely attracted and engrossed by
the beloved and beautiful lute. In receiving the instrument, she almost
forgot the giver in the triumph of possession; or, if she thought of him
at all, it was to be grateful for having escaped uninjured from a member
of that class, for whom her father's reiterated admonitions had inspired
her with a vague feeling of dread and distrust, and to determine that,
now she had acknowledged his kindness and departed from his domains,
nothing should ever induce her to risk discovery by her father and peril
to herself by ever entering them again.
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