This etext was produced by Pat Castevans <patcat@ctnet.net>
and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
VITTORIA
By George Meredith
CONTENTS:
BOOK 1.I. UP MONTE MOTTERONEII. ON THE HEIGHTSIII. SIGNORINA VITTORIAIV. AMMIANI'S INTERCESSIONV. THE SPYVI. THE WARNINGVII. BARTO RIZZOVIII. THE LETTER
BOOK 2.IX. IN VERONAX. THE POPE'S MOUTHXI. LAURA PIAVENIXII. THE BRONZE BUTTERFLYXIII. THE PLOT OF THE SIGNOR ANTONIO
BOOK 3.XIV. AT THE MAESTRO'S DOORXV. AMMIANI THROUGH THE MIDNIGHTXVI. COUNTESS AMMIANIXVII. IN THE PIAZZA D'ARMIXVIII. THE NIGHT OF THE FIFTEENTHXIX. THE PRIMA DONNA
BOOK 4.XX. THE OPERA OF CAMILLAXXI. THE THIRD ACTXXII. WILFRID COMES FORWARDXXIII. FIRST HOURS OF THE FLIGHTXXIV. ADVENTURES OF VITTORIA AND ANGELOXXV. ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS
BOOK 5.XXVI. THE DUEL IN THE PASSXXVII. A NEW ORDEALXXVIII. THE ESCAPE OF ANGELO
BOOK 6.XXIX. EPISODES OF THE REVOLT AND THE WAR—THE TOBACCO RIOTS —RINALDO GUIDASCARPIXXX. EPISODES OF THE REVOLT AND THE WAR—THE FIVE DAYS OFMILANXXXI. EPISODES OF THE REVOLT AND THE WAR—VITTORIA DISOBEYS HER LOVERXXXII. EPISODES OF THE REVOLT AND THE WAR—THE TREACHERY OF PERICLES-THE WRITE UMBRELLA—THE DEATH OF RINALDO GUIDASCARPI
BOOK 7.XXXIII. EPISODES OF THE REVOLT AND THE WAR—COUNT KARL LENKENSTEIN— THE STORY OF THE GUIDASCARPI—THE VICTORY OF THE VOLUNTEERSXXXIV. EPISODES OF THE REVOLT AND THE WAR—THE DEEDS OF BARTO RIZZO— THE MEETING AT ROVEREDOXXXV. CLOSE OF THE LOMBARD CAMPAIGN—VITTORIA'S PERPLEXITYXXXVI. A FRESH ENTANGLEMENTXXXVII. ON LAGO MAGGIOREXXXVIII. VIOLETTA D'ISORELLAXXXIX. ANNA OF LENKENSTEIN
BOOK 8.XL. THROUGH THE WINTERXLI. THE INTERVIEWXLII. THE SHADOW OF CONSPIRACYXLIII. THE LAST MEETING IN MILANXLIV. THE WIFE AND THE HUSBANDXLV. SHOWS MANY PATHS CONVERGING TO THE ENDXLVI. THE LAST EPILOGUE
VITTORIA
BOOK 1.I. UP MONTE MOTTERONEII. ON THE HEIGHTSIII. SIGNORINA VITTORIAIV. AMMIANI'S INTERCESSIONV. THE SPYVI. THE WARNINGVII. BARTO RIZZOVIII. THE LETTER
CHAPTER I
From Monte Motterone you survey the Lombard plain. It is a towering domeof green among a hundred pinnacles of grey and rust-red crags. At dawnthe summit of the mountain has an eagle eye for the far Venetian boundaryand the barrier of the Apennines; but with sunrise come the mists. Thevast brown level is seen narrowing in; the Ticino and the Sesia waters,nearest, quiver on the air like sleepy lakes; the plain is engulphed upto the high ridges of the distant Southern mountain range, which liestretched to a faint cloud-like line, in shape like a solitary monster ofold seas crossing the Deluge. Long arms of vapour stretch across theurn-like valleys, and gradually thickening and swelling upward, enwrapthe scored bodies of the ashen-faced peaks and the pastures of the greenmountain, till the heights become islands over a forgotten earth. Bellsof herds down the hidden run of the sweet grasses, and a continuousleaping of its rivulets, give the Motterone a voice of youth andhomeliness amid that stern company of Titan-heads, for