"
"Dearest uncle, if you think that, you will not judge me too
severely for my pictures," said Angela quickly, throwing herself on
her knees beside him. "Do you not see? It is just because the
ministers of Christ are so lax that I have taken to studying them in
my way,--which is, I know, not your way;--still, I think we both
mean one and the same thing!"
"You are a woman, Angela," said the Cardinal gently, "and as a woman
you must be careful of offences--"
"Oh, a woman!" exclaimed Angela, her beautiful eyes flashing with
mingled tenderness and scorn, and her whole face lighting up with
animation, "Only a woman! SHE must not give a grand lesson to the
world! SHE must not, by means of brush or pen, point out to a
corrupt generation the way it is going! Why? Because God has created
her to be the helpmate of man! Excellent reason! Man is taking a
direct straight road to destruction, and she must not stop him by so
much as lifting a warning finger! Again, why? Only because she is a
woman! But I--were I twenty times a woman, twenty times weaker than
I am, and hampered by every sort of convention and usage,--I would
express my thoughts somehow, or die in the attempt!"
"BRAVISSIMA!" exclaimed Vergniaud, "Well said, chere Sovrani!--Well
said! But I am the mocking demon always, as you know--and I should
almost be tempted to say that you WILL die in the attempt! I do not
mean that you will die physically,--no, you will probably live to a
good old age; people who suffer always do!--but you will die in the
allegorical sense.
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