Litchfield enquirer., 1874-06-11

1 Ange.o- He was pale, as we'll, and, be- twecn these two paffors, S3croPr had flushed crimson. 1 was afraid of an ex- i plosloH and stepped toward Angelo to
 avert Ii. But to my surprise, he was ev- l ldentfy following another hne. He turn
 eti tine cloudy brightness of his eyes upon
 each of us and poised his hand i'll the air
 as Ii to say, Ill answer to my unspoken
 charge-''Leav me alone, know what
 l am about 1 exchanged glance with
 Scrope, urging him to pass on with the | lndies and let me deal with the intruder.
 Miss Washington stopped; she was gag
 ing at Angelo with soft intentness. Her
 lover, to lead her away, grasped her arm almost rndely, and as she wen. with him I saw her faintly flushing. Mrs. Wad- dington, unsuspicious of evil, saw noth- ing but very handsome young man.
 What a beautiful creature for sketch P l 1 heard her exclaim, as she followed her step-daughter.
 I'm not going to make a noise," said Angelo, with somber smile; ''don't be | frightenedi I know what good manners are. These three weeks now that I've been hanging about Rome, I've learned | to play the gentleman. Who is that young lady?"
 | NSoA AAfA41S AS Q AOAO OA JouA ! business. I hope you had not the hardi- hood to speak to her"
 | He was silent moment, looking after her as she retreated on her companions arm. "Yes, I spoke to her-and she un- derstood me. Keep quiet; I said nothing she mightn't hear. But such as it was, she understood 1t. She's your frlend's Gnicd; know that. I've been watching you for half an hour from behind those trees. She is wonderfully beautiful Farewell; l wish you no harm, but tell your friend I've not forgotten him. I'm 1 only awaiting my chance; 1 think it will come. 1 don't want to kill him; I want to give him some hurt that he'll survive and teel-forever!' He was turning away but he paused and watched my compan- ions till they disappeared. At last-"He has more than his share of good luck" he said. with sort of forced coldness. "A topaz-and q pearll both at once! Eh, farewell!" And he walked rapidly away, waving his hand. let him go. I was uusatistied, but his unexpected so- briety left me nothing to say.
 When startling event comes to pass, we are apt to waste good deal of time in trying to recollect the correct signs and portents which preceded it, and when they seem fewer than they should be, we don't scruple to imagine them.-we invent them after the fact. Therefore it is that l don't pretend to be sure that I was par ticularly struck, from this time forward, with something strange in our quiet Adina. She had always seemed to me vaguely, innocently strange; it was part of her charm that i'll the daily noisless move ment of her life mystic undertone seem ed to mu:mur-"You don't half know me!' Perhaps we three prosalc mortals were not quite worthy to know her: yet believe that if practiced man of the world had whispered to me, one day, over his wine, after Miss Washington had rus tied away from the table, that there was a young lady who, sooner or later, would treat her friends to first class surprise, i should hays laid my nngcr orr 1H1" Ss~~'so and told him with a smile that he phras- ed my own thought. Was she more si-. lent than usual, was she preoccupled, was she melancholy, was she restless? Pic turesquely, she ought to have been all these things; but in fact, she was still to the uGillumined eye simply very pretty blonde maiden, who smiled more than she spoke, and accepted her lovers devo- tion with charming demureness which savored much more of humility than of condescension. It seemed to me useless to repeat to Scrope the young Italians declaration that he had spoken to her, and poor Sam never intimated to me ei- ther that he had questioned her ill sus- picion of the fact, or that she had offered him any account of 1t. I was sure, how ever. that something must have passed between the young girl and her lover in the way of question and answer, and I privately wondered what the deuce Ange- 10 had meant by saying she had under derstood? Surely not the story of Scrope's acquisition of the gem; for granting what was unlikely-that Angelo had had time to impart 1t, 1t was unnatural that an explanation. At last I broke the ice and asked Scrope if he supposed Miss Washington had reason to connect the great intaglio with the picturesque young man she had met in the Villa Borghese.
 My question caused him visible discom- fort. "Picturesque?" he growled. "Did she tell you she thought him pictures que."
 ''By no means, But he is! You must at least allow him that"
 ''He hadn't brushed his hair for week if that's what you mean. But it's q charm which I doubt that Adina appre- ciates. But she has certainly taken," he added III moment, ''an unaccountable dislike to the topaz. She says the Empe-. TOT Tiberius spells 1t for her. It's carry ing historical antiquities rather far I supposed nothing could spoil fine gem for pretty woman. "lt appears" he finally said, ''that that rascal spoke to her.
 .,'What did he say?"
 ''He asked her if she was engaged to mo-"
 And what did she answer?"
 ::'Nothing."
 'I supposed she was frightened.
 ''She might have been; but she says she was not He begged her not to be; he told her he was a poor harmless fellow looking for justice. She left him, without speaking. told her he was era zy-it's not lie.
 ''Possiblyi" reioined. Then, as last attempt-"You know 1t wouldn't be quite a lie, added, ''to say that you are not absolutely sane. You're very cratic, about the topaz; obstinacy, pushed un- der certain circumstances beyond a eer- tain point; bears a dangerous likeness to craziness. '
 I suppose that if one could reason with mule 1t would make him rather more mullsh to know one called him stubborn. Scrope gave me a chilling grin. ''I deny your circumstances, If I'm mad, I claim the madman's privilege of believing my self peculiarly sane. If you wish to preach to me, you must catch me in lucid interval
 The breath of early spring in Rome, though magical, as, you know, in it's visi- ble influence on the dark old city, isoften rather trying to the foreign constitution. After fortnight of uninterrupted sirocco, Mrs. Waddington's fine spirits confessed to depression She was afraid. of course. that she was going to have ssthe fever,'' and made haste to consult physician. He reassured her, told her she simply needed change of air, and recommended Q month at Albano. To Albano, according ly, the two ladies repaired, under Scrope's escort. Mrs. Washington kindly urged my going with them; but was detained in Rome by the arrival of some relations of my own, for whom I was obliged to