The early part of 1883 was sad to Isabel by reason of her husband's
failing health and her own illness. In May she went alone to Bologna,
at her husband's request, for she then told him of the nature of her
illness, to consult Count Mattei, of whom they had heard much from
their friend Lady Paget, Ambassadress at Vienna. When she arrived
at Bologna, she found he had gone on to Riola, and she followed him
thither. Mattei's castle was perched on a rock, and to it Isabel
repaired.
"First," she says, "I had to consult a very doubtful-looking mastiff;
then appeared a tall, robust well-made, soldierlike-looking form in
English costume of blue serge, brigand felt hat, with a long pipe, who
looked fifty, and not at all like a doctor. He received me very kindly,
and took me up flights of stairs, through courts, into a wainscoted oak
room, with fruits and sweets on the table, with barred-iron gates and
drawbridges and chains in different parts of the room, that looked as
if he could pull one up and put one down into a hole. He talked French
and Italian; but I soon perceived that he liked Italian better, and
stuck to it; and I also noticed that, by his mouth and eyes, instead
of fifty, he must be about seventy-five. A sumptuous dinner-table
was was laid out in an adjoining room, with fruit and flowers. I told
him I could not be content, having come so far to see him, to have only
a passing quarter of an hour.
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