So long, and no longer. Mark it well, enchanting Divas. Enchant if
you will; 'tis your function. But do not think to enchain? Enmesh a
young Marchese in the tangles of Neaera's hair. A paternal governor
puts his fingers before his eyes; and lets a smile be seen on his
lips beneath them. But do not seek to bind him by less easily broken
ties. A vigilant and moral governor frowns on the instant; and a
paternal government well knows how to protect its distinguished sons
by very summary and effectual process.
But when for a poor Diva there comes also the time when that
pleasant wild-oat sowing seems no longer a promising pursuit, what
does the paternal wisdom decree as to her future? Why, she must reap
as she has sown--or helped to sow. See ye to it, Divas. Such
providence is beyond our function.
And thus it had come to pass that the trouble had arisen which had
resulted in inducing the Diva Bianca to turn her back on ungrateful
Milan, and her face towards welcoming Ravenna. In that conference
between Bianca and her old friend and counsellor, which has been
mentioned, it had been fully brought home to the Diva's conviction
that for her the pleasant time of wild-oat sowing had come to an
end. "Would that the year were always May." But old Quinto Lalli
knew that it wasn't. And it had been concluded between him and his
adopted daughter that it was high time for Bianca to take life au
serieux;--to understand thoroughly that noctes coenaeque deum, with
champagne suppers and love among the roses, must be, if not
necessarily abandoned, yet steadily contemplated as a means and not
an end.
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