The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-29

virtue one Oh the hepuDncS most Vaiiant sons
and most faithful servants. Arrayed in all the
awful pomp of full canonicals, they made their
appearance at the gateway of IL Pdtdzzo Cieco,
and were not denied admittance by the terrified
domestics. Show US to this woman of Babylon
demanded the Bishop, in imperious accents !;
and the trembling seneschal, bowling led the
way up the grand stairway, along a softly car
peted corridor, and opened wide door, upon
the threshold of which they paused, dumb
foundered at the eloquent splendor of the scene.
The room was not large, but it was fairly ablaze
with wealth. Mirrors, jewels, vases, paintings,
tapestry, Persian carpets, Indian shawls, all
were there in protusion, and arranged with a
careless luxury of taste, that gave them a
double effectiveness. The sunlight was shut out
by the wealth of purple and lace hangings, but
in the'corners, swung by long chains, graceful,
golden censers, which, while giving pale, soft
light, diffused around the most delicate and vo-
luptuous perfume. But, Perfecter than all those
jewels, more splendid than all that splendor,
richer than all that browning wealth, was the
figure of her who now met their entranced eyes,
and seeing whom, they forgot all else The
figure of female, reclined, after the Eastern
fashion, upon divan, propped by soft cushions,
and toying idly with bunch of luscious grapes,
which black slave boy held for her in gold
en- salver. The figure of female, perhaps of
e"SHsJ years. the ripe DlOom VI d superb
beauty, her full bosom, all unlaced, painting
against the gauzy veil of her tunic, and the
matchless contour of her waist and limbs made
palpabe by the graceful freedom of her Turk
ish costume. Her soft flesh was white as milk,
her long, black hair, stayed by diamond-stud-
ded snoods, hung in great satin plaits and folds
down to her neck, and her fierce black eyes,
yelled beneath lashes longer than they had ever
seen, glowed with a rare yet not too voluptuous
wealth of passion. AS the intruders came to
the door, she started, but, instantly regaining
her composure, lay still, toying with the purple
grapes, and flashing ever and anon danger
Gus glance at them from beneath her long
lashes. This Unconcern this silence, this dis
dain, constituted course of treatment for
which the reverend clergy were entirely UMPIRE
pared, and they were proportonably dsconcert-
ed in consequence. They stared at the fair
creature, who piercing them with her
| chances. But it would never do to keep up
this dumb show, in which the woman was sure
to conquer, as also they were sure to soften
so, the Bishop advanced a step or two, and
| stammered out: "We have come to see if you
have been baptized" Baptized! what is
that?" asked she, languidly, and with pretty
foreign accent, yet smiling disdainfully, it
seemed. "Oh, the ignorance Of the daughters
of Mahound!" groaned the parish priest, up
raising his hands in horror Instantly the wo-
man sprang to her feet, fury in her aspect.
"Who is it dares insult princess of Cairo, and
the wife of Caramel? Dog of a Christian my
slaves shall spurn you from his doorsl" "His
wife!" calculated the Bishop" his wife, do
you say?" aye, shaven pate, his wife dost
thou think would be his concubine ?" said the
tigress, glaring at them. Brethren !" cried
the Bishop, trembling with Indignation" We
hear the vile sorceress confess her arts and
spells seize her! The dungeons of the church
are the meetest place for her who hath seduced
chieftain from the true faith !" The prior
and priest advanced to carry out the Bishops
mandate, but, with a sbrtli shrek, the woman
sprang backwards, and, drawing a glittering
poignard, waited their approach, with passion
shaken frame, and eyes that cleaned like the
reused panther's. Ere the clergy could recover
their surprise, or renew the assault old CARAMEL
rushed in with a growl of rage, and, guessing
the state of affairs, paid but little respect to
canonicals or ecclesiastical dignity. Using al
ternately the pummel and the fiat of his mighty
sword, he drove the priests along the corridor,
kicked them down the great stairway, and bar
red the gate behind their flying forms. He!
he! laughed old Orazio, as if he had the scene
before him. and rejoiced in any discontinue Of
the reverned clergy.
There was a great uproar in Genoa that
night, and the Senate passed an immediate de-
cree to seize the bodies of the outrager of Holy
Church, and of the sorceress, whose foul arts
had made him mad. But when, in the morn
ing, the troops of the Republic surrounded the
Patazzo CierO, and forced an entrance, the
birds had flown. The tapestry chamber was
still there with all its soft luxaries, but Cara.
nell and his dark proved bride, and the ne
gro slave boy also, were nowhere to be found
Three closely -mufaed figures had been seen
moving along the dark side of the streets, that
| night; and an old man, a yelled woman, and a
negro boy, were said to have embarked the next
day, in fishing boat from Lerici, on the Gul
of Spezzia. But it was the unquestioned belle
| of the populace that the witch of Atlas had
spirited their old Admiral away, and many had
been startled that night by great light in the
sky which, it was confidently reported, was the
internal contrivance used by the sorceress TIC
conquer space, and rescue herself from the
clutches of the Church.
Years afterwards, a captive to the Moslem
who had passed part of his slavery in Grand
Cairo. reported in Genoa that the famous Ad
miral CARAMEL had died, full of years and
honors, in the capital of Egypt, where he and
his high-born wife had passed good long pc
Rod of unalloyed happiness, enjoying the com
bined gifts of love and wealth to their fullest
extent
Such was the legend which Orazio told Helen
of the tapestry room-the room which, though
shorn of most of its pristine splendor, she had
thought fttest to be the family withdrawing
room And in this apartment she was nov
seated, some fortnight after her arrival in Gre
noa, with book before her, but following rath
er the train of her reflections than the authors
text.
Miss Beale's reflections we're Of a varied char
acter but their prevalent hue was sad In the
extreme. She had been but q fortnight II
Genoa, but even in that short time she had fully
awakened to the consciousness Of how great q
responsibility rested upon her shoulders: Tt
restore happiness to her family; to promote
their more perfect union to rouse her mother
from her detection, and pluck her father from
out the influence of the mysterious shadow
which weighed him down to the earth-these
were to be her tasks, the tasks which she haC
to meet singly and unaided, except by George
Already that worthy fellow had taken her into
his confidence, so far as he could at least with
out betraying his masters secrets, and had
confirmed her in her previous suspicious tina
she could expect little or no aid from Mrs
Beale in her plans for the extrication and re
generation of her father. The poor lady, crushed
and broken down by the weight of her snde
served and peculiar misfortunes, and stunned
as the lightning stuns one, by the nature of hel
husbands crime, and its effect upon him-tha
husband whom she had been used to exalt 81
far above herself, and whose slightest word OF
wish had been her law through life-seemet
now utterly resourceless, and only looked to
wards brief period of tempered enjoyment o
the society of her children, q feeble sort of In
dian summer, when the moon might shine, anc
the days be mild and pleasant, but wherein
there was no slightest prospect of renewed but