There
resulted those periodical "nervous breakdowns" which necessitated
seclusion and sometimes medical treatment. The collapses had become
distressingly frequent with the last year or two. One of her many
drawbacks was that she courted publicity in her cups. She was perfectly
reckless as to what she then said, and had been known to bring a blush
to the seasoned cheek of Don Francesco himself who, unaware of her
condition at one particular moment, politely ventured to enquire why
she always wore black and was told that she was in mourning, as
everybody ought to mourn, for his lost innocence. Being an
Englishwoman, she was a thorn in the side of her moral compatriot the
Commissioner.
Her noctambulous habits often brought her into contact with the local
police and sometimes with His Worship Signor Malipizzo. Greatly to the
surprise of Mr. Parker, the magistrate was observed to take a lenient
view of the case. None the less, she had passed several nights in the
local gaol. Staggering about the lanes of Nepenthe in the silent hours
before dawn, she was liable to be driven, at the bidding of some dark
primeval impulse, to divest herself of her raiment--a singularity which
perturbed even the hardiest of social night-birds who had the
misfortune to encounter her.
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