The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-10-31
PARALLEL STORIES.

| PARALLEL STORIES.
In the year 400, Ginevra de Amiera, a
| Florentine beauty, married, under parent
al pressure, a man who had failed to win
her heart, that she had given to AntOnia
Rondinelli. Soon afterward the plague
broke out in Florence GiIevra fell i'll, ap-
parently succumbed to the malady, and,
being pronounced dead, was the same day
consigned to the family tomb. Some one,
however, had blundered in the matter, for
in the middle of the night the entombed
bride woke out of her trance, and badly as
her living relatives had behaved, found her
dead ones still less to her liking, and lost
no time in quitting the silent company
upon whose quietude she had unwittingly
intruded. Speeding through the sleep
wrapped streets as swiftly as her clirging
cerements allowed. Ginevra sought the
| home from which she had SO lately been
borne. Reused from his slumbers by a
knocking at the door, the disconsolate wild
| over of day cautiously opened an upper
window, and, seeing a shrouded figure
waiting below, in whose upturned face he
recognized the lineaments of the dear de-
parted, he cried, $50 in peace, blessed
spirit, " aud shut the window precipitately.
| With sinking heart and slackened step, the
repulsed wife made her way to her fathers S
door, to receive the like benisun from her
dismayed parent. Then she crawled on
to an upcle's, where the door was indeed
! opened, but only to be slammed in her face
| by the frightened man, who, in his hurry,
forgot even to bless his ghostly caller. The
cool night air penetrating the undress of
the hapless wanderer, made her tremble
and shiver, and she thought she had walked
to life only to die again in the cruel streets.
''Ah - she sighed, 'tAntonia would not
have proved so unkind.'' This thought
naturally suggested that it was her duty
to test his love and courage; it would be
| time enough to die if he proved like the
rest. The way was long, but hope re-
nerved her limbs, and soon Ginevra was
knocking timidly at Rodinelli's door. He
opened it himself, and, although startled
by the ghastly vision, calmly inquired what
the spirit wanted with him. Throwing
her shroud away from her face, Ginevra
exclaimed: 81 am no spirit, Antonio; 1
am that Gineyra you once loved, who was
buried yesterday-buried alive - and fell
senseless into the welcoming arms of her
astonished, delighted lover, whose cries for
help soon brought down his sympathizing
| family to hear the woDdrous story, and
bear its heroine to bed, to be tenderly tend
ed until she had recovered from the shock
and was as beautiful as ever again. Then
came the difficulty. Was Ginsvra to re-
turn to thes sman who had buried her, and
shut his door against her, or give herself
| to the man who had saved her from sec
ond death? With such powerful special
pleaders as love and gratitude on his side,
of course RodineIli won the day, and pri-
vate marriage made the lovers amends for
previous disappointment. They, however,
had no intention of keeping in hiding, but
the very first Sunday after they became
man and wife, appeared in public together
at the cathedral, to the confusion and won
der of Ginevra's friends. An explanation
ensued, which satisfied everybody except
the lady's first husband, who insisted that
| DuO uSl AA'
could dissolve the original matrimonial
bond. The case was referred to the bishop,
who, having no precedent to curb his deci-
sion, rose superior to technicalities, and
declared that the first husband had forfeit
ed all right to Ginevra, and must pay over
to Rondinelli the dowry he had received
with her-a decree which we may be sure
all true lovers in fair Florence heartily re-
joiced at.
! This Italian romance of real life has its
counterpart in French cause eete6re, but
the Gallo version unfortunately lacks
names and dates; it differs, too, in matters
of detail Instead of the lady being sup
posed victim of a plague, which in the older
story secured her hasty interment, She
was supposed to have died of grief at
being welded against her inclinations in
stead of coming to life of her own accord,
and seeking her lover as a last resource,
the French heroine was taken out of her
grave by her lover, who suspected she was
not really DEAD, and resuscitated by his ex-
ertions. fed with him to England. After
living happily together there for ten years,
the strangely y-united couple ventured to
visit Paris, where the first husband, acci-