Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-03-01

motion Of hisshand instinctiyely feeling
fos his dagger. aud the couyulsive CON.
| fractions of his brow, awoke him 40 IN.
Consciousness of the full import of his
thoughts; and at that moment Domen;co
entered the room with the already dry de-
sign of new picture. All the pupiIs
gathered round him, Cas,ano oniy ex.
| cepted, who remained in his place mo.
| tionless as statue, and with his ewes
fixed on the master while every one else
was gazing on the picture.
"By the chin ofSt. Agatha, exclaimed
Domenico. "T have surpassed myself
Ihls rough draft is admirable in its COL
orlng. Lock. you may pass your hand
over it, rub it, sponge it. See, pour
water on it, spit on it, and it is only
the more brilliant~a Well, L was Obliged
to wait long time for Van Eyck to die,
and you must have patience too. have
made my will, Castano, and there YOU
will find the secret" GoIG
Was it the force of the electric thrill
through his whole frame at these words
that impelled Castano forward, till he
stood face to face with Dernenico? He
stood gazing sternly, fixedly upon the
master, rs if he would penetrate his in
most soul, to drag thence the secret.
The next moment Castano was on his
knees with clasped hands and suppliant
tones, pouring out tears and prayers, inn
ploring him to have pity upon him and
upon the others, nay, upon the art itself.
He adjured him to have mercy upon him,
not to press him too far, not to deliver
him over to the fatality that be felt hur-
rying him along. Mercy" again and
again he cried, ''mercy on these men, on
yourself" -.-.-.-
This tempest Of passion was utterly
unlntelligible to them all. The other
pupils, who had been examining and
testing the mysterious. .coloring with fin
ger, and eye and tongue, now gathered
round him, while Domenico stared at him,
half thinking he must have been seized
with sudden fit of insanity. The next
moment he coldly repeated his unaltera-
BILE determination never to reveal his
secret during his lifetime.
That very night, under murky clouds
and starless sky, man, wrapped in a
dark mantle, made his way with the
stealthy steps of robber or a lover, in
the direction of Domenico's house, at the
top of long and narrow street. The
sloweSt paced clock in the city had struck
the hour of twelve, but the man in the
dark me ntle was still waiting and watch
ing. At length the figure of man was
seen approaching from the other end of
the street. He was singing as he came
along-it was too dark and too late not
to sing. At the sound, the first conner
hastened forward, then stopped as the
other drew nearer and nearer. When
they were quite close to each other, the
cloak was thrown back, and something
flashed from under its folds! Suddenly
q cry was heard: /" Murder help help %
Then came dull sound of body falling
heavily there was deep stiffness for q
few moments, and then was heard the
distant echo of footsteps in rapid fight.
The first cries of the victim having
reused the inhabitants of the street, q
number OF persons soon crowded about
him, and recognized in the mortally
wounded man their neighbor, the cele-
brated painter, Domenico. A surgeon
was soon on the spot, but the painter,
feeling that he had received his death
stroke, and thinking only of the secret
he had to bequeath, positively refused to
allow his wound to be dressed. He sent
home his servants, who, by this time
had heard of the assassination of their
master, and had hastened to him-order-
ing them to bring small casket con.
tanning his will, and the unfinished pic
ture, the object of so much admiration
that very morning, and then insisted on
being Immediately carried to the house
OF his favorite pupil and only friend
Castano.
The sad convoy slowly made its way
through the streets till it stopped in front
of q house, the windows of which were
all closed with the exception of the two
upper ones-those of Castano' room.
'' He is not in bed yeti" said one Of
Domenico's servants,
" He is never idle" returned the 9th.
er -. | believe he paints in his Sleep"
Haste let me but see him." the dy-
ing man family uttered.
hN VI eiS oeeSANahlo puSDcQ forward
before the rest to give some little notice
to Castano of the catastrophe. Had a
presentiment of the fearful sight that was
awaiting him anticipated the announce
ment, SO that as the door opened he was
found painting as if after long race, and
gasping for breath with laboring chest
and dilated eyeball, as if under the in
tiuence of some terrible nightmare The
herald had but tipe to tell in few werds
what had occurred, when the wounded
man was brought into the room. None
doubted but that it was the sudden shock
of thus breaking in upon the vigils of this
devoted lover cf his art, that made him
thus with check pale with horror, and
palsied limbs and teeth gnashing togeth-
sr, stand gazing on the body of his mur-
dered friend. Their bearers now laid
their sad burden on the bed, di splacing q
dark mantle as they did so. Had the
fresh blood drops been there previously
or had they fallen from the dying man as
they lifted him to the couch
And now Domenico took the cold and
trembling hand of Castano, and feebly
but tenderly pressing it, said to him in
broken accents-broken, not by his own
groahs, but by those that every moment
burst from his pupil-''There is no hope.
| know not whence came the blow. L
had no enmity to any one, though had