MANICHAEAN
11-16-2010, 04:23 AM
Lieutenant Giovanni de Carlo was in a dilemma & like most Italians, when it came to love, it was never straight forward. He was in love all right. He was also, to all extents & purposes, to his friends & to his colleagues in the regiment, a confirmed bachelor. Having disclaimed for so long and so loud regards the dangers of marriage and the burden of raising children, here he was now like a prevaricating old fool, torn between the commitment he shunned and the converse regret he knew he would endure in walking away.
The young lady in question, Mariella de Sette found it all somewhat amusing. To love such a man was natural as she had perceived early in the relationship, the genuine aspect of his nature. To share his bed and to raise his children was to her, an inherent female norm.
The Lieutenant was neither stupid nor a coward, but he was confused.
“How was it to work?” he thought.
“I’ve been free and unattached for so long. I’m unfit for marriage!”
“We would likely argue, even more likely, divorce and all the time folk would snigger.”
She looked at him with amusement in her eyes.
"What a strange man you are," she said, “That you do not know yourself”.
“Do you suppose that I take this lightly?” he replied.
“Do you think I have not tried to think this out?”
“I love you, but how is it to work?”
Mariella said roguishly. "Who tells you that I shall not some day meet a man whom I like, and who is not afraid to marry me?"
"Cara mia please, don’t pressure me!” he growled.
"And why should we not talk about it?" she retorted.
He endeavoured to implore reason in an environment where this quality was alien.
"Let us try to meet one another halfway” he said.
“Give me ten years and then I will be fifty & then I will marry you.”
“My career will then be established, I will be more reconciled to the idea. I will be out of the army & we will live away from everyone out in the country.”
“But until this happens, I will support you and we will still see each other discreetly.”
Mariella could not but smile at what in reality dawned in her heart as the nearest she would get to a proposal of marriage.
“Men are so weak in these affairs” she thought.
Her smile was inward, not mocking, but contented and happy, as if some cherished hope had dawned in her heart.
She assumed an air of one with not the slightest hope, and said with a distant coolness;
"You make yourself ridiculous with your peculiar conditions.”
"I know still another way out” he responded. “For a compromise, but that is really the last one. It is the last way out.”
She turned her head and looked straight into his eyes.
"Mariella, I have the honor to ask for your hand on one condition.”
"On what condition?" she asked.
"On the condition," he stammered, "that, in case we have children, we send them to the orphanage. Well, do you consent? Please God, let this be over."
"Why should I not consent to it, Lieutenant De Carlo?" answered Mariella. "You shall take them there yourself, or, better still, we both of us will take them there.”
Giovanni began to cry & he held Mariella to him.
"So I am lost?" he said.
"Yes Lieutenant De Carlo, lost for ever.” answered the woman.
It was six years later, and Signor Roberto Tosti stopped outside an imposing house in Rome where the sun was warm on his cheeks and the streets were clean & smelt fresh. He rang the bell & asked for his old friend.
The maid let him through the marbled entrance and said he was expected.
“The senator does not stand on ceremony these days,” she said. “He is in the living room straight ahead. Just go in.”
He opened the door and beheld the scene before him.
A man was on his hands & knees on the carpet. Astride his back a small boy digging in his heels. In front, another small boy was pulling on the man’s silk tie. “Come on horsy, come on!” the boy cried, his face full of laughter and mischief.
The young lady in question, Mariella de Sette found it all somewhat amusing. To love such a man was natural as she had perceived early in the relationship, the genuine aspect of his nature. To share his bed and to raise his children was to her, an inherent female norm.
The Lieutenant was neither stupid nor a coward, but he was confused.
“How was it to work?” he thought.
“I’ve been free and unattached for so long. I’m unfit for marriage!”
“We would likely argue, even more likely, divorce and all the time folk would snigger.”
She looked at him with amusement in her eyes.
"What a strange man you are," she said, “That you do not know yourself”.
“Do you suppose that I take this lightly?” he replied.
“Do you think I have not tried to think this out?”
“I love you, but how is it to work?”
Mariella said roguishly. "Who tells you that I shall not some day meet a man whom I like, and who is not afraid to marry me?"
"Cara mia please, don’t pressure me!” he growled.
"And why should we not talk about it?" she retorted.
He endeavoured to implore reason in an environment where this quality was alien.
"Let us try to meet one another halfway” he said.
“Give me ten years and then I will be fifty & then I will marry you.”
“My career will then be established, I will be more reconciled to the idea. I will be out of the army & we will live away from everyone out in the country.”
“But until this happens, I will support you and we will still see each other discreetly.”
Mariella could not but smile at what in reality dawned in her heart as the nearest she would get to a proposal of marriage.
“Men are so weak in these affairs” she thought.
Her smile was inward, not mocking, but contented and happy, as if some cherished hope had dawned in her heart.
She assumed an air of one with not the slightest hope, and said with a distant coolness;
"You make yourself ridiculous with your peculiar conditions.”
"I know still another way out” he responded. “For a compromise, but that is really the last one. It is the last way out.”
She turned her head and looked straight into his eyes.
"Mariella, I have the honor to ask for your hand on one condition.”
"On what condition?" she asked.
"On the condition," he stammered, "that, in case we have children, we send them to the orphanage. Well, do you consent? Please God, let this be over."
"Why should I not consent to it, Lieutenant De Carlo?" answered Mariella. "You shall take them there yourself, or, better still, we both of us will take them there.”
Giovanni began to cry & he held Mariella to him.
"So I am lost?" he said.
"Yes Lieutenant De Carlo, lost for ever.” answered the woman.
It was six years later, and Signor Roberto Tosti stopped outside an imposing house in Rome where the sun was warm on his cheeks and the streets were clean & smelt fresh. He rang the bell & asked for his old friend.
The maid let him through the marbled entrance and said he was expected.
“The senator does not stand on ceremony these days,” she said. “He is in the living room straight ahead. Just go in.”
He opened the door and beheld the scene before him.
A man was on his hands & knees on the carpet. Astride his back a small boy digging in his heels. In front, another small boy was pulling on the man’s silk tie. “Come on horsy, come on!” the boy cried, his face full of laughter and mischief.