Tragedy; a Middle Age Interlude" ("Dramatic Romances." Published in "Men
and Women." 1855.)

The real-life drama which Mr. Browning has reproduced under the title of
"Red Cotton Night-cap Country," was enacted partly in Paris, partly in a
retired corner of Normandy, where he spent the late summer of 1872; and
ended in a trial which had been only a fortnight closed, when he
supposes himself to be relating it. His whole story is true, except that
in it which reality itself must have left to the imagination. Only the
names of persons and places are fictitious.[78]

The principal actor in this drama, Léonce Miranda, was son and heir to a
wealthy Spanish jeweller in the Place Vendôme. He was southern by
temperament as by descent; but a dash of the more mercantile Parisian
spirit had come to him from his French mother; and while keenly
susceptible to the incitements of both religious and earthly passion, he
began life with the deliberate purpose of striking a compromise between
them. At an early age he determined to live for this world now, and for
the other when he was older; and in the meantime to be moderate in his
enjoyments. In conformity with this plan he ran riot on Sunday; but
worked diligently during the rest of the week. He bestowed his fancy on
five women at once; but represented himself, when in their company, as a
poor artist or musician, and wasted no money upon them.

One day, however, he fell in love. The object of his affections, Clara
Mulhausen, or, as she first calls herself, "de Millefleurs," was an
adventuress; but she did not at first allow him to find this out; and
when he did so, her hold upon him had become too strong to be affected
by the discovery. A succession of circumstances, which Mr. Browning
describes, first cemented the bond, then destroyed its secrecy; and