The Gentle Euphemia by Anthony Trollope (Illustrated)

Anthony Trollope, Delphi Classics

• Editore: Delphi Classics (Parts Edition)
• Anno: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781786567680
• Argomento: Literature
• Categoria: Classics

This eBook features the unabridged text of 'The Gentle Euphemia' from the bestselling edition of 'The Complete Works of Anthony Trollope'.

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THE GENTLE EUPHEMIA

CHAPTER I.

“ — Knowledge, so my daughter held,

Was all in all.” — TENNYSON.

 

THE gentle Euphemia lived in a castle, and her father was the Count Grandnostrel. The wise Alasco, who had dwelt for fifty years in the mullioned chamber of the North Tower, was her tutor, and he taught her poetry arithmetic and philosophy, to love virtue, and the use of the globes.

And there came the lord of Mountfidget to her father’s halls to drink the blood-red wine, and make exchange of the beeves and swine of Mountfidget against the olives and dried fruits which grow upon the slopes of Grandnostrel. For the pastures of Mountfidget are very rich, and its beeves and swine are fat.

“And peradventure I shall see the fair Euphemia,” said the young lord to Lieutenant Hossbach, of the Marines, who sojourned oft at Grange of Mountfidget, and delighted more in the racket-court, the billiard-table, and the game of cards, than in guiding the manoeuvres of his trusty men-at-arms. “Per adventure,” said the young lord, “I shall see the fair Euphemia, — for the poets of Grandnostrel sing of her peerless beauty, and declare her to be the pearl of pearls.”

“Nay, my lord,” said the lieutenant, “but an you behold the girl once in that spirit, thou art but a lost man, a kestrel with a broken wing, a spavined steed, a noseless hound, a fish out of water; for credit me, the fair Euphemia wants but a husband; — and therefore do the poets sing so loudly.” For Lieutenant Hossbach knew that were there a lady at the Grange the spigot would not turn so freely.

“By my halidome,” said the young lord, “I will know whether the poets sing sooth or not.”

So the lord of Mountfidget departed for the Castle of Grandnostrel, and his beeves and his swine were driven before him.

Alasco the Wise sat in the mullioned chamber, with the globes before him and Aristotle’s volume under his arm, and the gentle Euphemia sat lowly on a stool at his feet. And she asked him as to the lore of the ancient schools. “Teach me,” she said, “as Plato taught, and the learned Esculapius and Aristides the Just; for I would fain walk in the paths of knowledge, and be guided by the rules of virtue.” But he answered her not at all, nor did he open the books of wisdom. “Nay, my father,” she said; “but the winged hours pass by, and my soul is athirst!”

Then he answered her and said; “My daughter, there cometh hither this day the young lord of Mountfidget, whose beeves and swine are as the stars of heaven in number, and whose ready money in many banks brings in rich harvest of interest. He cometh hither to drink the blood-red wine with your father, and to exchange his beeves and swine for the olives and the dried fruits which grow upon the slopes of Grandnostrel; and peradventure he will ask to see thy father’s daughter. Then wilt thou no longer desire to hear what Plato teaches, or how the just man did according to justice.”

But Euphemia replied; “Nay, my father. Am I no better than other girls that I should care for the glance of the young man’s eye? Have I not sat at your feet since I was but as high as your knee? Teach me still as Plato taught.”

But Alasco said; “Love will still be lord of all.”

“He shall never be lord of me,” said Euphemia.

CHAPTER II.

“And from the platform spare ye not

To fire a noble salvo shot —

Lord Marmion waits below.” — SCOTT.

AND in those days there was the rinderpest in the land among the cattle, and the swine were plagued with a sore disease, and there had gone forth an edict and a command from the Queen’s Councillors that no beeves or swine should be driven on the Queen’s highways. So there came upon the lord of Mountfidget men armed with authority from the Queen, and they slew his beeves and his swine, and buried their carcases twenty fathom deep beneath the ground.

And the young lord was angered much, for he loved his beeves and his swine, and he said to himself, “What will my lord, the Count Grandnostrel, say unto me, if I visit him with empty hands? Will the blood-red wine be poured, or shall I see the gentle Euphemia?” For the Count Grandnostrel was a hard man, and loved a bargain well. “But I have much money in many banks,” said the lord of Mountfidget, in council with himself. “And though my beeves and my swine are slain and buried, yet will he receive me; for the rich are ever welcome, though their hands be empty.” So he went up the slopes which led to the Castle of Grandnostrel.

And at the portal, within the safeguard of the drawbridge, there were huge heaps of dr...