It was somewhat remarkable that all her romantic fantasies arrived at
this self-same dreary termination,--it appeared impossible for her even
to imagine any other than a disastrous result from her connection with
her ill-omened attendant.
This singularity might have meant nothing, however, had it not suggested
a despondent state of mind, which was likewise indicated by many other
tokens. Miriam's friends had no difficulty in perceiving that, in
one way or another, her happiness was very seriously compromised. Her
spirits were often depressed into deep melancholy. If ever she was gay,
it was seldom with a healthy cheerfulness. She grew moody, moreover, and
subject to fits of passionate ill temper; which usually wreaked itself
on the heads of those who loved her best. Not that Miriam's indifferent
acquaintances were safe from similar outbreaks of her displeasure,
especially if they ventured upon any allusion to the model. In such
cases, they were left with little disposition to renew the subject, but
inclined, on the other hand, to interpret the whole matter as much to
her discredit as the least favorable coloring of the facts would allow.
It may occur to the reader, that there was really no demand for so much
rumor and speculation in regard to an incident, Which might well enough
have been explained without going many steps beyond the limits of
probability. The spectre might have been merely a Roman beggar, whose
fraternity often harbor in stranger shelters than the catacombs; or one
of those pilgrims, who still journey from remote countries to kneel
and worship at the holy sites, among which these haunts of the early
Christians are esteemed especially sacred. Or, as was perhaps a more
plausible theory, he might be a thief of the city, a robber of the
Campagna, a political offender, or an assassin, with blood upon his
hand; whom the negligence or connivance of the police allowed to take
refuge in those subterranean fastnesses, where such outlaws have been
accustomed to hide themselves from a far antiquity downward. Or he might
have been a lunatic, fleeing instinctively from man, and making it his
dark pleasure to dwell among the tombs, like him whose awful cry echoes
afar to us from Scripture times.
And, as for the stranger's attaching himself so devotedly to Miriam, her
personal magnetism might be allowed a certain weight in the explanation.
For what remains, his pertinacity need not seem so very singular to
those who consider how slight a link serves to connect these vagabonds
of idle Italy with any person that may have the ill-hap to bestow
charity, or be otherwise serviceable to them, or betray the slightest
interest in their fortunes.
Thus little would remain to be accounted for, except the deportment of
Miriam herself; her reserve, her brooding melancholy, her petulance,
and moody passion. If generously interpreted, even these morbid symptoms
might have sufficient cause in the stimulating and exhaustive influences
of imaginative art, exercised by a delicate young woman, in the nervous
and unwholesome atmosphere of Rome. Such, at least, was the view of the
case which Hilda and Kenyon endeavored to impress on their own minds,
and impart to those whom their opinions might influence.