Read Online The Silent Duchess by Dacia Maraini - Free Book Online
Authors: Dacia Maraini
Tags: Fiction, Historical
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army became known, the young Maria Louisa set an example by selling all her jewels and going from the richest to the poorest to collect money to put the army back on its feet. At that time she had had her first son, the Prince of Asturia, and she announced that if she were needed she would go to the front on horseback with her small son in her arms. And everyone knew she was capable of doing just that.
When the news came of the victories of Brihuega and Villaviciosa her joy was so great that she went out into the street, mingling with the crowds, dancing and skipping with the people.
She had a second son, who, however, died after only a week. Then she was struck by an infection of the glands in her neck. She never
complained about it and tried to cover the swellings with a lace collar. She gave birth to another son, Ferdinando Pietro Gabriele, who had the good fortune to survive. However, her illness worsened. The doctors said it was a case of phthisis. Meanwhile the Dauphin, father of Philip Very, died, and immediately afterwards her sister Maria Adelaide died of smallpox, together with her husband and their eldest son.
Two years later she realised that the time had come for her to die too. She confessed, took the Holy Sacrament, bade goodbye to her sons and to her husband with a serenity that filled everyone with admiration, and drew her last breath at the age of twenty-four, without having uttered a single word of complaint.
Then one day one of Peppino Geraci's sons became ill with smallpox and the whole tribe of relations took to their heels. Once more--smallpox in Bagheria! It was the second time since Marianna had begun to transform the lodge into a villa. In the first epidemic there were many deaths, among them Ciccio Cal@o's mother and the small son of the Cuffa family, who was their only child; since then his wife Severina has suffered from headaches that are so devastating she always has to have her temples bound with bandages soaked in herbal vinegar dei sette ladre, and everywhere she goes she is preceded by a pungent smell of acid.
During this second epidemic two of
Peppino Geraci's four remaining sons died.
A girl betrothed to Peppe Cannarota's son also died; she was a beautiful girl from Bagheria, who was a servant in the Palagonia household. Two cooks from the Butera household also died, as did the old Princess Spedalotto, who only a short time ago had moved into a new villa not far from them.
Even Aunt Manina, who had arrived all wrapped in woollen shawls and supported by two footmen and had held the little Mariano in her skeletal arms, has died. But no one knows if this was because of smallpox. The fact is, she died there in the Villa Ucr@ia all on her own and nobody knew a thing about it. They only found her two days later, lying on her bed like a small bird with ruffled feathers, her head so light that Marianna's father the Duke had written that "she
weighed as much as a worm-eaten nut".
When she was young Aunt Manina had been "much sought-after". She was small-featured and had the body of a siren. Her eyes were so vivacious and her hair so glossy that Great-grandfather Signoretto was forced to change his mind about making her a nun so as not to disappoint her suitors. The Prince of Cut@o wanted to marry her and also the Duke of Altavilla, Baron of San
Giacomo, and even the Count of Patan`e,
Baron of San Martino.
"But she preferred to stay single at home with her father. To remain unmarried she had to feign illness for years." So said Marianna's father the Duke. "So much so that she became really ill, but no one knew the cause. She used to bend double, coughing; all her hair fell out and she grew thinner and thinner and more and more fragile."
In spite of her illness Aunt Manina lived to be nearly eighty, and everybody wanted her at their festivities because she was such an acute observer and an accomplished mimic of both old and young, men and women, much to the delight of her friends
When the news came of the victories of Brihuega and Villaviciosa her joy was so great that she went out into the street, mingling with the crowds, dancing and skipping with the people.
She had a second son, who, however, died after only a week. Then she was struck by an infection of the glands in her neck. She never
complained about it and tried to cover the swellings with a lace collar. She gave birth to another son, Ferdinando Pietro Gabriele, who had the good fortune to survive. However, her illness worsened. The doctors said it was a case of phthisis. Meanwhile the Dauphin, father of Philip Very, died, and immediately afterwards her sister Maria Adelaide died of smallpox, together with her husband and their eldest son.
Two years later she realised that the time had come for her to die too. She confessed, took the Holy Sacrament, bade goodbye to her sons and to her husband with a serenity that filled everyone with admiration, and drew her last breath at the age of twenty-four, without having uttered a single word of complaint.
Then one day one of Peppino Geraci's sons became ill with smallpox and the whole tribe of relations took to their heels. Once more--smallpox in Bagheria! It was the second time since Marianna had begun to transform the lodge into a villa. In the first epidemic there were many deaths, among them Ciccio Cal@o's mother and the small son of the Cuffa family, who was their only child; since then his wife Severina has suffered from headaches that are so devastating she always has to have her temples bound with bandages soaked in herbal vinegar dei sette ladre, and everywhere she goes she is preceded by a pungent smell of acid.
During this second epidemic two of
Peppino Geraci's four remaining sons died.
A girl betrothed to Peppe Cannarota's son also died; she was a beautiful girl from Bagheria, who was a servant in the Palagonia household. Two cooks from the Butera household also died, as did the old Princess Spedalotto, who only a short time ago had moved into a new villa not far from them.
Even Aunt Manina, who had arrived all wrapped in woollen shawls and supported by two footmen and had held the little Mariano in her skeletal arms, has died. But no one knows if this was because of smallpox. The fact is, she died there in the Villa Ucr@ia all on her own and nobody knew a thing about it. They only found her two days later, lying on her bed like a small bird with ruffled feathers, her head so light that Marianna's father the Duke had written that "she
weighed as much as a worm-eaten nut".
When she was young Aunt Manina had been "much sought-after". She was small-featured and had the body of a siren. Her eyes were so vivacious and her hair so glossy that Great-grandfather Signoretto was forced to change his mind about making her a nun so as not to disappoint her suitors. The Prince of Cut@o wanted to marry her and also the Duke of Altavilla, Baron of San
Giacomo, and even the Count of Patan`e,
Baron of San Martino.
"But she preferred to stay single at home with her father. To remain unmarried she had to feign illness for years." So said Marianna's father the Duke. "So much so that she became really ill, but no one knew the cause. She used to bend double, coughing; all her hair fell out and she grew thinner and thinner and more and more fragile."
In spite of her illness Aunt Manina lived to be nearly eighty, and everybody wanted her at their festivities because she was such an acute observer and an accomplished mimic of both old and young, men and women, much to the delight of her friends
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