Gerolamo da Camin

Gerolamo da Camin, known in these scenes as Momi, is Lelia Camin’s biological father and a financially precarious, self-interested figure whose belated approach to her is shaped as much by her inheritance as by kinship. He professes a wish to respect her choices and provide for her, yet plans to secure as much of her property as possible while he can still influence its handling. Their encounters make paternal authority a contested matter: Gerolamo invokes his duty as a father, while Lelia is only months from adulthood and wants to live independently.

Identity and the Inheritance

Gerolamo’s relationship to Lelia is disclosed at the opening of the deceased owner’s holographic will. At Schio, a magistrate opens the will in the presence of a notary; the agent’s account says that Lelia is the universal heir and that Teresina receives a daily legacy of five lire, exempt from tax. The agent also reports a telegram from Gerolamo, who identifies himself as Lelia’s father, calls her a minor, and announces that he will arrive that evening. Lelia confirms that he is her father but says she is twenty years and a few months old. The report adds that the deceased had believed her older still. The discrepancy establishes the fraught circumstances in which Gerolamo re-enters her life: her inheritance is settled, but her age and approaching majority make the extent of his practical authority uncertain.

His plans are not those of a father seeking simply to reunite his household. He expects to have only a few months in which to act and intends to take as much as possible of the estate’s movable property. He hopes that humility and contrition will persuade Lelia, once she reaches adulthood, to grant him a generous allowance; he also wants to reassure Francesco Molesin about what will be available for an arrangement with creditors. At the same time, he understands that Molesin wants Lelia brought into Gerolamo’s home so that she can be controlled, prevented from marrying, and used to strengthen their position over the Trento estate. Gerolamo does not seek that complete conquest: he doubts he could keep Lelia at home, and he cannot imagine dismissing Gorlago to make room for her. His restraint is therefore practical, not disinterested.

Attempts at Reconciliation

When Gerolamo visits Donna Fedele at the Villino delle Rose, his manner is deferential and disjointed. He approaches with the intention of expressing, gently, that he would like Lelia with him without insisting on it. In the drawing room he struggles through broken acknowledgments and assurances that he will leave her free. Donna Fedele warns him that Lelia may refuse to speak with him, then agrees to tell her he has asked. She had previously urged Lelia to receive her father if he requested a meeting, and Lelia submits to that instruction.

Lelia receives him standing, rigid and unsmiling. Gerolamo greets her repeatedly, kisses both her cheeks, and praises her planned journey to Turin; she shivers but does not resist the kisses. He does not sit, and she does not invite him to. He then takes a packet of ten-lira notes from his wallet and gives it to her, explaining that he has brought the money because Donna Fedele wrote to him about the journey. He calls it her money and says that he will render an account in a few months, then turns the assurance into a question. The gesture combines provision with an acknowledgment that the funds require accounting, but it does not undo the bodily and emotional distance between them.

Gerolamo’s financial attentiveness recurs in a later exchange. He puts his head through Lelia’s partly opened door to ask whether she needs money and whether she still has the five hundred lire. She is about to admit that she has spent or lost some of it and ask for more, but a wave of revulsion stops her. The narration describes her response through the image of inheritance in the blood: she has one drop of her father’s blood in her veins, not two. She says she needs nothing. Gerolamo withdraws, then puts his head back to ask whether she intends to take all the money away or leave some in his keeping. Her refusal and his concern over the cash make their distance inseparable from the question of who controls the resources attached to her inheritance.

Paternal Claims and Religious Plans

Gerolamo also presents himself as concerned about the direction of Lelia’s life. When Siora Bettina Fantuzzo asks to take Lelia with her, Gerolamo initially misunderstands the visit and suspects a scheme connected to Molesin’s plans. Once he learns that the proposed excursion involves Monte Berico and a visit to the Suore della Sacra Famiglia di Castelletto, he responds with an equivocal show of approval. He remembers having gone on pilgrimage to Monte Berico years earlier but knows nothing of Castelletto. His easy assent is colored by suspicion that the trip may serve an ulterior purpose.

After the visitor leaves, Gerolamo explains his position to Teresina. He says he has not opposed the proposal because he does not want to impose himself on Lelia, but fears that others may be directing her towards a life he does not want for her. He would prefer to find her a good husband, hand over her property, and return to his old habits in Padova. If she is truly called to become a saint, he says he would have to bow to God’s will; if she is to remain in the world, he considers it his paternal duty to keep watch over pilgrimages and visits to nuns. Teresina answers that Lelia can visit any number of convents without danger and that devotion at Monte Berico would be a good thing. Their exchange exposes the limits of Gerolamo’s stated tolerance: he professes willingness to submit to a religious vocation but treats the visits themselves as something he must supervise.

Estrangement and the Prospect of Independence

Gerolamo’s domestic life supplies another contrast to his claims of paternal concern. When Siora Bettina arrives unexpectedly, he has been writing to Gorlago after a stormy separation prompted by her jealousy of Teresina. In the letter he uses a string of affectionate pet names and says that, without her, he feels he is dying in the dullness of the place. He hurriedly conceals the page when the visitor enters, then fastens his coat and raises its collar to cover his disarray. The scene shows that his attachment to Gorlago persists despite their quarrels; he admits that they are not faithful to one another, yet remain attached in their own fashion. He also believes that keeping both Gorlago and Lelia in the same house would be impossible. His divided household is not merely background: it helps explain why his wish to bring his daughter home yields to other priorities.

The clearest statement of Lelia’s desired independence arrives in a letter addressed to her father. She tells him that what she has done and intends to do may seem strange, but says she trusts his full approval. She asks in advance for the freedom she will have a few months later, without yet explaining how she will use it. She says she will ask only for what she strictly needs to live there alone and modestly, and that he will not have to account to her for the rest of her income. For now, she needs nothing and will write again in due course. The letter reverses the direction of his financial scrutiny: rather than ask him for control or a large allowance, she defines a limited claim on her own rents and asks to be left to live apart.

In Valsolda, Donna Fedele at first expects Gerolamo’s reply to be negative and says that Lelia cannot stay there whether or not an answer comes. Massimo reports the substance of Lelia’s letter and suggests that her father’s response may not be negative; Donna Fedele accepts that possibility. She nevertheless concludes that Lelia must leave Valsolda. After discussion, she decides to take the girl towards Turin, with a proposed stay at Santhià in the home of her cousin, provided arrangements can be made. Donna Fedele ultimately sets aside the question of paternal permission: Gerolamo has always been deferential to her, the cousins’ home seems safe, and Lelia dreads returning to Velo. The passage records no reply from Gerolamo, so his final response remains unknown. What it does establish is the shrinking reach of his authority: Lelia is not yet of age, but her letter, her refusal to depend on him, and the decisions made by those sheltering her already point towards a life outside his household.