"That, Signor Professor, were an untoward experiment."

"Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment?"

"Giovanni! Giovanni! It is past the hour! Why tarriest thou! Come down!

That old fable of the Indian woman has become a truth, by the deep and deadly science of Rappaccini, and in the person of the lovely Beatrice!"

"that you once promised to reward me with one of these living gems for the bouquet, which I had the happy boldness to fling to your feet.

Forget whatever you may have fancied in regard to me.

connoisseur

"Listen, Signor! There is a private entrance into the garden!"

he seated himself near the window

You have heard of this daughter, whom all the young men in Padua are wild about, though not half a dozen have ever had the good hap to see her face. I know little of the Signora Beatrice, save that Rappaccini is said to have instructed her deeply in his science, and that, young and beautiful as fame reports her, she is already qualified to fill a professor's chair.

But as for Rappaccini, it is said of him--and I, who know the man well, can answer for its truth--that he cares infinitely more for science than for mankind.

she busied herself with such attentions as the plant seemed to require; and Giovanni, at his lofty window, rubbed his eyes, and almost doubted whether it were a girl tending her favorite flower, or one sister performing the duties of affection to another.

Yet, shattered as I am, my life might pay the penalty of approaching it so closely as circumstances demand. Henceforth, I fear, this plant must be consigned to your sole charge.

Was this garden, then, the Eden of the present world?--and this man, with such a perception of harm in what his own hands caused to grow, was he the Adam?

He was beyond the middle term of life, with gray hair, a thin gray beard, and a face singularly marked with intellect and cultivation, but which could never, even in his more youthful days, have expressed much warmth of heart.

resplendent

All about the pool into which the water subsided, grew various plants, that seemed to require a plentiful supply of moisture for the nourishment of gigantic leaves, and, in some instances, flowers gorgeously magnificent.

A little gurgling sound ascended to the young man's window, and made him feel as if a fountain were an immortal spirit, that sung its song unceasingly

commending the young man to the protection of the saints

Oftentimes you may see the Signor Doctor at work, and perchance the Signora his daughter, too, gathering the strange flowers that grow in the garden."

"Heaven forbid, signor!--unless it were fruitful of better pot-herbs than any that grow there now," answered old Lisabetta. "No; that garden is cultivated by the own hands of Signor Giacomo Rappaccini, the famous Doctor, who, I warrant him, has been heard of as far as Naples.

signor

“My peerless bride, it is successful! You are perfect!”

lofty creature!

“Danger? There is but one danger — that this horrible stigma shall be left upon my cheek!” cried Georgiana. “Remove it, remove it, whatever be the cost, or we shall both go mad!”

Only one thing remains to be tried. If that fail us we are ruined.”

Perhaps its removal may cause cureless deformity; or it may be the stain goes as deep as life itself. Again: do we know that there is a possibility, on any terms, of unclasping the firm gripe of this little hand which was laid upon me before I came into the world?”

When the dream had shaped itself perfectly in his memory, Aylmer sat in his wife’s presence with a guilty feeling.

“A terrible dream! I wonder that you can forget it. Is it possible to forget this one expression? — ‘It is in her heart now; we must have it out!’ Reflect, my husband; for by all means I would have you recall that dream.”

she herself, for the first time, voluntarily took up the subject

crimson hand

With the morning twilight Aylmer opened his eyes upon his wife’s face and recognized the symbol of imperfection; and when they sat together at the evening hearth his eyes wandered stealthily to her cheek,

At all the seasons which should have been their happiest, he invariably and without intending it, nay, in spite of a purpose to the contrary, reverted to this one disastrous topic.

you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection.

“has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?”

Aylmer

when the King Be witnessed – in the Room – I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away What portion of me be Assignable – and then it was There interposed a Fly

And then the Windows failed

when the King Be witnessed – in the Room –

The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air