journeying to Pistoja. On the other hand, with curious levity of fancy,
I was convinced that before I had been many hours in that my first
Tuscan city, I should be bedewing the feet of Aurelia with my tears. And
so the sweet rainbow vision of my adored mistress also danced before my
eyes as I fared, and disputed with that queen of rustic misery for the
mastery of me.




CHAPTER XII

I SEEK--AND FIND


The hopes of a young man upon his travels may be lighter than feathers
whirled about by the wind, but they soar as high and are as little to be
reasoned with. Going to Pistoja that fine summer's morning, my
convictions of triumph were sealed to me. And why, indeed! Because I had
confronted and discomfited my redoubtable adversary of the mountain, and
rescued a poor family from hateful sacrifice, I was, forsooth! to find
Aurelia in Pistoja, to fall with tears at her feet, to be pardoned and
absolved, to rise to the life of honour and respect once more. She was
to rejoin her husband, I my classes and all my former bliss: all was to
be as it had been. Most unreasonable hope! Yet I declare that these were
my convictions upon approaching Pistoja, and that, far from diminishing,
as I drew nearer and nearer to the city, so did they increase and take
root in my mind. It was therefore as a man prepared and dedicated that I
entered the gates, as a man under orders that I took my way through the
crowded street, as a man guided by an inner light, requiring not the