Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-12-20
TOWANDA BRADFORD COUNTY, Pa, DECEMBER 90 1866.

| ing uc 10 DIS lIuStluS anu unSelllSH as
woman. Speak, Gianetta am l to bid yo,
good by for ever and ever, or am l to writ
home to my mother in England, bidding he
pray to God to bless the woman who hal
promised to be my wife ?"
You plead your friends cause well,
} she replied haughtily "Matteo ought t.
be grateful This is more than he ever die
for you"
"Give me my answer, for PHYS sake"
exclaimed, "and let me go I"
" You are free to go or stay, Signor In
glese," she replied. l am not your Jail
Or"
"Do you bid me leave you?'
"Beata padre not l."
Will ou marry me if | stay ?"
She laughed aloud such merry, mock
ing, musical laugh, like chime of silver
bells!
g You ask too much" she said
." Only what you have led me to hope
these five or six months past !"
THAT is just Matteo says How tire
some you both are !"
30 Gianetta," said, passionately, "be
serious for one moment | am a rough
fellow, it is true,--not half good enough or
clever enough for you ; but love you with
my whole heart, and an Emperor could do
! no more"
&" | am glad of it," she replied; al do
not want you to love me less"
"Then you cannot wish to make me
wretched ! Will you promise me ?"
al promise nothing" said she, with an
other burst of laughter. Except that will
not marry Matteo |"
Except that she would not marry Matteo!
Only that. Not a word of hope for my
self. Nothing but my friends condemna-
tion. | might get comfort, and selfish tri-
umph, and some sort of base assurance out
Of that, if could And SO, to my shame,
| did. | grasped at the vain encourage
ment, and, fool that was ! let her put me
off again unanswered. From that day, I
gave up all effort at selfcontro and let
myself drift blindly Onto destruction
At length things became so bad between
Mat and myself that it seemed as if an
open rupture must be at hand. We avoid
ed each other, scarcely exchanged dozen
sentences in day, and fell away from our
old familiar habits At this time--I shad-
der to remember it there were moments
when felt that l hated him.
Thus with the trouble deepening and
widening between US day by day, another
month or five weeks went by and Febru-
ary came and, with February, the Carni-
val. They said in Genoa that it was a par
ticularly dull carnival and so it must have
been for, save flag or two hung out in
some of the principal streets, and sort of
fiesta look about the women, there were no
special indications of the season. 1t was,
| think, the second day, when, having been
on the line all the morning, | returned to
Genoa at dusk, and, to my surprise, found
Mat Price on the platform He came up to
me, and laid his hand on my arm.
"You are III late" he said al have been
waiting for you three quarters of an hour
Shall we dine together to-day? ?"
Impulsive as | am, this evidence of re-
turning goodwill at once called up my bet
ter feelings.
with all my heart, Mat" I replied :;
" shall we go to Gozzolis ?n
No, no." he said, hurriedly Some
quieter place,-some place where we can
talk. have something to say to you"
noticed now that he looked pale and
agitated, and an uneasy sense of appre-
hension stole upon me- We decided on the
Pescatore," a little out-of-the way trat-
toria, down near the Molo Vecchio. There,
in dingy salon, frequented chiefly by sea-
men, and redoient of tobacco, we ordered
our simple dinner Mat scarcely swallow
ed morsel, but, calling presently for
bottle of Sicilan wine, drank eagerly.
"Well Mat" | said, as the last dish was
placed on the table, " what news have your
bad"
81 guessed that from your face"
Bad for you,--bad for me. Ganetta."
"What of Gianetta ?"
He passed his hand nervously across his
lips
"Gianetta is false,--worse than false"
he said, in a hoarse voice. :" She values an
honest mans heart just as she values
flower for her hair,--wears it for day,
then throws it aside forever. She has
cruelty wronged us both"
q" In what way? Good Heavens, speak
out y
in the worst way that woman can
wrong those who love her. She has sold
herself to the Marchese Loredano"
The blood rushed to my head and face in
burning torrent l could scarcely see,
and dared not trust myself to speak.
" | saw her going towards the cathe-
urdl, ue WeHI on, uuIIleuly IL was
about three hours ago. l thought she
might be going to confession, so l hung
back and followed her at distance. When
she got inside, however, she went straight
to the back of the pulpit, where this man
was waiting for her. You remember him,
an old man who used to haunt the shop
a month or two back. Well, seeing how
deep in conversation they were, and how
they stood close under the pulpit with their
backs towards the church, l fell into pas
sion of anger and went straight up the
aisle, intending to say or do something, l
scarcely knew what, but, at all events, to
draw her arm through mine, and take her
home When | came within a few feet,
however, and found only big pillar be-
tween myself and them, | paused. They
could not see me, nor | them but could
hear their voices distinctly, and-and l
| listened"
"Well, and you heard"
"The terms of a shameful bargain
beauty on the one side, gold on the other (;
so many thousand francs year villa
near Naples-Pah it makes me sick to