The mountain Democrat., 1863-01-31

her sweet anxiety ;;oI MS rss 4.sG;- az k2$e.
of her shr6uded figure, wove around him
insensibly tender spell which he wished
not TO- break. ----v---- - -gv--
AS hope reawoke in her bosom she grew
more charming and more conscious Of her
power; the morning Of new life Of hap
piness frightened before her, and she look
ed forward with increased confidence to
the approaching revelation.
Thus the wedding day arrived under
the hRppiest auspices. A magnificent as.
sembly was gathered in the Gradenigo
palace, and the handsome and joyous
bridegroom awaited with impatience the
[ OoVement wtich saSG.Ii tx .sas& 80, - ,
the features Of his bride. But that move
ment changed all. The instant that Va
lenzia, throwing off her veil, revealed that
glory Of golden hair floating ghttcring
| ~N>.>.'t1 II - y t-~- atsEned on
him with redoublcd violence
=" SAs-has deceived me !n-he cried, in a
wild burst Of anger, and breaking his way
Through &he asteRished company, rushed
forth without word Of explanation to
Gradenigo, or casting even a look on the
| deserted bride.
That from this hour deadly feud, like
that Of the Montagues and Capuiets, d.
vided the houses Of Foscarini and Grade
nigo was a matter Of course. Valencia
alone could not share this feeling. She
blamed her own fraud, so innocen:ly
meant, IS the sale cause of the calamity,
and mourned her second lover with sor-
row Ar more deep and lastin- than she
had given to the first. Her father gave
himself no rest in his efforts to avenge the
diShOnor of his house. But for the pres
ent he was able only to obtain the expat-
ration of young Antonio, and this under
the honorable form of an embassy to
France. lie bibed his time.
After four years absence Antonio re-
| turned to Venice. His welcome home was
a summons, tho fruit of Gradenigos Ia
bors, to appear before the Council Of
Three to answer the charge Of disobe-
dicncc in certain points to the orders Of
| the Council.
His bold defense, and the conclusive
proofs he adduced Of the skillful manner
10 which he performed his mission, pre-
cured his honorable acquittal. But plots
thickened around his path, enemies lurked
for him on every hand, and time after time
he barely escaped through the warnings
Of an unknown friend.
That friend was no other than the true
hearted Valencia, who watched over him
like a protecting angel, nor even relin.
| quished her chosen office when he entered
into a marriage engagement with a noble
Spanish lady. BUTT was the opportunity
long watched for by her father who now
accused him before the Council of Sc.
cret alliance with foreign power, and
| procured his imprisonment. Valencia had
warned him in time, and had arranged lis
fight; but, too proud to succumb to injus-
ticc; he hesitated until it was too late
lie was brought in chains to the ducal
palace, where, according to the ancient
usages Of Venice, a speedy trial, to be fol.
lowed by still more speedy death, await
ed him.
Valencia did not despair even yet by
gold and tears she gained an entrance to
the DOges palace, and having won the
ovcrsccr to her interests, she descended
with him, at midnight, into those damp
and gloomy depths beneath, whose dread
secrets only the last day viii fully reveal.
At any other time the scene would have
frozen her blood with horror. The black
passages into which the cheerful light OF
upper day had never shincd, and Shiny
with the moisture of centuries; the heavy
doors, boltcd and barred, which the lamp
of the guido dimly disclosed on either
hand; the scpulchral silence, broken only
by the dun play Of the water againsG the
outside walls aud the loud knockings Of
her own heart, were full of dark sugges.
tions Of pitiless cruelty and unutterable
woe. But that which would have deter
red weaker soul but made her bold for
was she not bringing to the best beloved
| deliverance from these horrors? And was
there not exquisite Joy in the thought that
now at length he could not fail to under
stand and forgive her?
| The jailer unbars the door; she steps in,
trembling with fear and hope. The next
instant the door is shut behind her, is
locked and barred with malignant haste,
and the unpretcnded helper was true
servant of the republic.
lie had betrayed her to her father. All
was lost
With the first gray Of morning she was
brought, wearing the mans habit in which
she had disguised herself before the Coun-
| Gil of Three, of which her father was a
member.
The first glance told her that there was
no hope of pity from him. AS she enter
| cd he started passionatcly from his seat,
and poured upon his wretched daughter,
as she stood trembling before him, tor
rent Of the bitterest rcproach, ending with
fearful curse. Exhausted by the terrors
of the preceding night aud forCseeing her
own and Antonio's doom, she yielded to
this last stroke and sunk in deep swoon
into the arms of the jailcr. Even he, her
Infamous betrayer, hardened as he was
in crime, was shocked by the unnatural
scene.
"Signor," he cried, "you are here as
! the servant of the State, and not as the
avengcr of your personal wrongs. You
are the representative Of justice, but you
have no commission to curse your own
| child" ----
This is the moment chosen by the art
list for his picture.
Through what fortunes the hapless pair,
with lates SO strangely severed and yet
more strangely united, passed to the re-
pose Of death, we are not informed. Only
so much is known, that from this time
the noble and brave Antonio, the flower
of the patrician youth of Venice, and Va
lenzia, the fairest of her daughters, were
seen and heard of no more among the
living.
"CnANcE. ."-"This medicine, said DIR.
-, latter having been taken for a few