Lothair Part 22

"And for the same reasons?" inquired Lothair.

"Not exactly," said Theodora, "but in this instance science and revelation have arrived at the same result, and that is what all desire."

"All that I said was," said Gozelius, "that the action of the sun had become so irregular that I thought the chances were in favor of the destruction of our planet. At least, if I were a public office, I would not insure it."

"Yet the risk would not be very great under those circ.u.mstances," said Theodora.

"The destruction of this worlds foretold," said Lothair; "the stars are to fall from the sky; but while I credit, I cannot bring my mind to comprehend, such a catastrophe."

"I have seen a world created and a world destroyed," said Gozelius. "The last was flickering ten years, and it went out as I was watching it."

"And the first?" inquired Lothair, anxiously.

"Disturbed s.p.a.ce for half a century--a great pregnancy. William Herschel told me it would come when I was a boy, and I cruised for it through two-thirds of my life. It came at last, and it repaid me."

There was a stir. Euphrosyne was going to sing with her sister. They swept by Lothair in their progress to the instrument, like the pa.s.sage of sultanas to some kiosk on the Bosporus. It seemed to him that he had never beheld any thing so resplendent. The air was perfumed by their movement and the rustling of their wondrous robes. "They must be of the Aryan race," thought Lothair, "though not of the Phidian type." They sang a Greek air, and their sweet and touching voices blended with exquisite harmony. Every one was silent in the room, because every one was entranced. Then they gave their friends some patriotic lay which required chorus, the sisters, in turn, singing a stanza. Mr. Phoebus arranged the chorus in a moment, and there cl.u.s.tered round the piano al number of gentlemen almost as good-looking and as picturesque as himself. Then, while Madame Phoebus was singing, Euphrosyne suddenly, and with quickness, moved away and approached Theodora, and whispered something to her, but Theodora slightly shook her head, and seemed to decline.

Euphrosyne regained the piano, whispered something to Colonel Campian, who was one of the chorus, and then commenced her own part. Colonel Campian crossed the room and spoke to Theodora, who instantly, without the slightest demur, joined her friends. Lothair felt agitated, as he could not doubt Theodora was going to sing. And so it was; when Euphrosyne had finished, and the chorus she had inspired had died away, there rose a deep contralto sound, which, though without effort, seemed to Lothair the most thrilling tone he had ever listened to. Deeper and richer, and richer and deeper, it seemed to become, as it wound with exquisite facility through a symphony of delicious sound, until it ended in a pa.s.sionate burst, which made Lothair's heart beat so tumultuously that for a moment he thought he should be overpowered.

"I never heard any thing so fine in my life," said Lothair to the French philosopher.

"Ah! if you had heard that woman sing the Ma.r.s.eillaise, as I did once, to three thousand people, then you would know what was fine. Not one of us who would not have died on the spot for her!"

The concert was over. The Princess of Tivoli had risen to say farewell.

She stood apart with Theodora, holding both her hands, and speaking with earnestness. Then she pressed her lips to Theodora's forehead, and said, "Adieu, my best beloved; the spring will return."

The princess had disappeared, and Madame Phoebus came up to say good-night to her hostess.

"It is such a delicious night," said Theodora, "that I have ordered our strawberries-and-cream on the terrace. You must not go."

And so she invited them all to the terrace. There was not a breath of air, the garden was flooded with moonlight, in which the fountain glittered, and the atmosphere was as sweet as it was warm.

"I think the moon will melt the ice to-night," said Theodora, as she led Madame Phoebus to a table covered with that innocent refreshment in many forms, and pyramids of strawberries, and gentle drinks which the fancy of America could alone devise.

"I wonder we did not pa.s.s the whole evening on the terrace," said Lothair.

"One must sing in a room," said Euphrosyne, "or the nightingales would eclipse us."

Lothair looked quickly at the speaker, and caught the glance of a peculiar countenance--mockery blended with Ionian splendor.

"I think strawberries-and-cream the most popular of all food," said Madame Phoebus, as some touched her beautiful lips.

"Yes; and one is not ashamed of eating it," said Theodora.

Soon there was that stir which precedes the breaking up of an a.s.sembly.

Mrs. Giles and some others had to return to town. Madame Phoebus and Euphrosyne were near neighbors at Roehampton, but their carriage had been for some time waiting. Mr. Phoebus did not accompany them. He chose to walk home on such a night, and descended into the garden with his remaining friends.

"They are going to smoke," said Theodora. "Is it your habit?"

"Not yet."

"I do not dislike it in the air and at a distance; but I banish them the terrace. I think smoking must be a great consolation to a soldier;" and, as she spoke, she moved, and, without formally inviting him, he found himself walking by her side.

Rather abruptly he said, "You wore last night at the opera the same ornament as on the first time I had the pleasure meeting you."

She looked at him with a smile, and a little surprised. "My solitary trinket; I fear you will never see any other."

"But you do not despise trinkets?" said Lothair.

"Oh no; they are very well. Once I was decked with jewels and ropes of pearls, like t.i.tian's Queen of Cyprus. I sometimes regret my pearls.

There is a reserve about pearls which I like--something soft and dim.

But they are all gone, and I ought not to regret them, for they went in a good cause. I kept the star, because it was given to me by a hero; and once we flattered ourselves it was a symbol."

"I wish I were a hero!" said Lothair.

"You may yet prove one."

"And if I do, may I give you a star?"

"If it be symbolical."

"But of what?"

"Of an heroic purpose."

"But what is an heroic purpose?" exclaimed Lothair. "Instead of being here to-night, I ought, perhaps, to have been present at a religious function of the highest and deepest import, which might have influenced my destiny, and led to something heroic. But my mind is uncertain and unsettled. I speak to you without reserve, for my heart always entirely opens to you, and I have a sort of unlimited confidence in your judgment. Besides, I have never forgotten what you said at Oxford about religion--that you could not conceive society without religion. It is what I feel myself, and most strongly; and yet there never was a period when religion was so a.s.sailed. There is no doubt the atheists are bolder, are more completely organized, both as to intellectual and even physical force, than ever was known. I have heard that from the highest authority. For my own part, I think I am prepared to die for Divine truth. I have examined myself severely, but I do not think I should falter. Indeed, can there be for man a n.o.bler duty than to be the champion of G.o.d? But then the question of the churches interferes. If there were only one church, I could see my way. Without a church, there can be no true religion, because otherwise you have no security for the truth. I am a member of the Church of England, and when I was at Oxford I thought the Anglican view might be sustained. But, of late, I have given ray mind deeply to these matters, for, after all, they are the only matters a man should think of; and, I confess to you, the claim of Rome to orthodoxy seems to me irresistible."

"You make no distinction, then, between religion and orthodoxy?" said Theodora.

"Certainly I make no difference."

"And yet, what is orthodox at Dover is not orthodox at Calais or Ostend.

I should be sorry to think that, because there was no orthodoxy in Belgium or France, there was no religion."

"Yes," said Lothair, "I think I see what you mean."

"Then again, if we go further," continued Theodora, "there is the whole of the East; that certainly is not orthodox, according to your views.

You may not agree with all or any of their opinions, but you could scarcely maintain that, as communities, they are irreligious."

"Well, you could not, certainly," said Lothair.

"So you see," said Theodora, "what is called orthodoxy has very little to do with religion; and a person may be very religious without holding the same dogmas as yourself, or, as some think, without holding any."

"According to you, then," said Lothair, "the Anglican view might be maintained."

"I do not know what the Anglican view is," said Theodora. "I do not belong to the Roman or to the Anglican Church."

"And yet, you are very religious," said Lothair.