The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1845-08-19

tant home, had reached the valley in which
the years Of his boyhood were spent. But
home he did return.
The light fell softly on the house he had
come TO seek-its well-known gardens, the
trees, the walls--all things appeared un-
changed. The guerilla approached with a
rapid step, but turned suddenly short before
he had gained the door. 81 will not scare
her" muttered he, " with this haggard visage,
in the blessed light of day" and he retired
TO distance, from which he might see the
house without being perceived.
The last beams of day had at length faded
in the valley, aud he was astonished to per-
ceive lights in almost every window; he be-
came sick and faint, for the thought struck
him that Leonora was dead. At length an
increased bustle stole on the night air, and
he heard the sounds of music and mirth;
dreadful suspicion flashed on his mind, as he
recognized an air commonly used in that
province on occasions of nuptial fetes! and
he rushed forward with impetuous haste to
the house.
The music and the dance were at the
highest, when a confused sound from the
porch reached the hall---the music ceased,
the dancers stopped short in their career.
and the guerilla burst suddenly into the apart
ment, so pale, so haggard, so unlike the form
of living man that it might have seemed
10 that startled party, some reproving spirit.
coniured up by their ill-timed mirth, from a
deep and bloody grave. All shrunk back
aghast--except the bride, who fixed her eyes
on the unexpected guest, while death-ike
paleness overspread her countenance. cleo
moral" said the guerilla; she started; stepped
forward as if by an uncomfortable impulse,
then suddenly paused, as if trans6xed by
some hideous recollections. With tremb-
ling hand, the guerilla undd the gold chains,
and bending down, laid the portraits-both
portraits of herself-at her feet; then, rising
slowly, cast one long and melancholy look
on the original, and saying, in subdued
and broken voice. while he crossed his hands
on his bosom. /" 1t is just!" turned and left
the apartment.
In vain the music resumed its loudest and
widest strains: in vain the dancers mingled
again in the whirl; in vain the bridegroom
lent his soothing caresses. The impression
made on Leonora, by that dismal scene, was
never effaced.
The two brothers had loved her with the
most violent and impetuous passion; and
she, though secretly preferring him who had
just stood before her, in a romantic spirit of
patriotism, had vowed that he only should OBJ
tain her love, who went forth 10 the battles
Of her insulted country, and returned with
the brightest laurels: if either should fall,
the survivor was to bring as token, the por-
trait, which, with her own hand, she bound
round his neck. The news of the fight we
have alluded to, had been accompanied with
intelligence of the death of both brothers,
probably owing to neither having been again
seen in the band; and on this night, with
the tears scarcely dry on her cheek, she had
yielded an Indifferent hand to the solicitations
and menaces of her relations.
With regard to the Guerilla, nothing more
was known with certainty of his fate; but
the body of a man, answering his description,
was found long after on the ridge of dis
tant hill, which overlooks the scene he had
quilted. Some earth was thrown over the
remains, and rude cross raised, according
to the custom of the country, TO mark the
spot signalzed by the guilt of man, or the
vengeance of heaven.