1851] SOUTHGATE 269
" Qu'est que cela veut dire?" said Victoire to herself. — "Je suis devenue catholique," continued Italima; " je Tai 6t6 toujours an fond du coeur, a present je le suis en rgalite." She then called Felix and took him by the hand — " Victoire YOUS expliquera tout/' she said. Lady Lothian had been the " marraine/' and, added to the influence of the Pere La Vigne, had been that of Manning, himself a recent convert to the Catholic Church. That evening Italima said to Victoire, " Nous allons avoir la guerre dans la maison," and so it was. My sister discovered (at a ball, I believe) the next day what had happened, and she was quite furious — "en vraie tigresse." "II n'y avait pas de reproches qu'elle ne faisait a sa mere " (records Victoire); " elle disait a sa mere qu'elle ne voulait plus d'elle. Elle se renferma avec sa tante, Cela dura plus que deux ans." To Victoire herself she never spoke at all for several months.
For two whole years my sister deserted the drawing-room of Palazzo Parisani, and lived shut up with her aunt in her boudoir. Their chief occupation was drawing in charcoal, in which singular art they both attained a great proficiency. Esmeralda never spoke to her mother unless it was necessary. Italima must have led rather a dreary life at this time, as other events had already weakened her connection with the members of her own family and most of her old friends, and her change of religion widened the breach forever.
Lord and Lady Feildingl had been most active in
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