
DURING the first few months of their marriage Reanda and Gloria believed themselves happy, and really were, since there is no true criterion of mans happiness but his own belief in it. They took a small furnished apartment at the corner of the Mace1 de Oorvi, with an iron balcony over- looking the Forum of Trajan. They would have had no difficulty in obtaining other rooms adjoining the two Reanda bad so long occupied in the Palaz- zetto Borgia, but Gloria was opposed to the arrangement, and Reanda did not insist upon it. The Forum of Trajan was within a convenient distance of the palace, and he went daily to his work, Besides, said Gloria, you will not always be painting frescoes for Donna Francesca. I want you to paint a great picture, and send it to Paris and get a medal. She was ambitious for him, and dreamed of his winning world-wide fame. She loved him, and she felt that Fmncesca had caged him, as Francesca herself had once felt. She wished to remove him altogether from the latters influence, both be- cause she was frankly jealous of his friendship for the older woman, and wished to have him quite to herself, and also in the belief that he could do greater things if he were dtogether freed from the thsk of decorating the palace, which had kept him far too long in one limited sequence of produc- tion. There was, moreover, a selfish consideration of vanity in her view, closely linked with her unbounded admiration for her husband. She knew that she was beautiful, and she wished his greatest work to be a painting of herself. Gloria, however, wished also to take a position in Roman society, and the only person who could help her and her husband to cross the line was Francesca Campodonico. It was therefore impossible for Gloria to break up the intimacy altogether, however much she might wish to do so. meanwhile, too, Reanda had pot finished his frescoes. Soon after the marriage, which took place in the summer, Dalrymple left Rome, intending to be absent but a few mon
Page Count:
340
Publication Date:
2008-10-27
Publisher:
Lightning Source Incorporated
ISBN-10:
144377460X
ISBN-13:
9781443774604
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