"
She questioned me earnestly about the state of affairs in France, begged
me to lend her what pamphlets I could procure, and while making no
secret of her republican sympathies, expressed herself with a moderation
not always found in her sex. Of the clergy alone she appeared
intolerant: a fact hardly to be wondered at, considering the persecution
to which she and her father have been subjected. She detained me near
two hours in such discourse, and on my taking leave asked with some show
of feeling what I, as a practical economist, would advise the Duke to do
for the benefit of his people; to which I replied, "Plant turnips,
madam!" and she laughed heartily, and said no doubt I was right. But I
fear all the heads here are too full of fine theories to condescend to
such simple improvements...
4.6.
Fulvia, in the twilight, sat awaiting the Duke.
The room in which she sat looked out on a stone-flagged cloister
enclosing a plot of ground planted with yews; and at the farther end of
this cloister a door communicated by a covered way with the ducal
gardens. The house had formed a part of the convent of the Perpetual
Adoration, which had been sold by the nuns when they moved to the new
buildings the late Duke had given them. A portion had been torn down to
make way for the Marquess of Cerveno's palace, and in the remaining
fragment, a low building wedged between high walls, Fulvia had found a
lodging. Her whole dwelling consisted of the Abbess's parlour, in which
she now sat, and the two or three adjoining cells.
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