Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-05-07
THE RING WITH TWO LIONS.

THE RING WITH TWO LIONS.
bought it in Venice, on the Rialto. 1t
was a very curious old piece of iewelry, with
two lions heads in bold relief. They were
in profile like those of royal personages, and
were evidently intended as a Roman satire
on some Emperor and Empress-a satire! q
great improvement upon some of them, no
doubt.
The old king lion, bold and imperial, had
diamond eyes, those of the lioness were ru-
bies So cunningly had the artisan buried
the diamonds that the old lion seemed to
wink and flash on the gazer; sometimes in
contempt, sometimes in sympathy. | gave
ii next day to Mary Jessamine, my friend of
platonic intentions. / do not say what my
intentions were-hers, she had said, would
ever remain platonic. That last evening on
the canal by moonlight had seemed to me to
modify her views. But did not know She
did not look displeased as | put the ring on
her finger if perhaps l held her white hand
triile longer than was legally necessary to
her till l had kissed it. If the old lion
winked at me as / did so ! winked back. l
was in a courageous mood, and not at that
moment afraid of lions; but l was afraid
of Mrs. Jessamine, Mary's grim and
terrible aunt, an old woman eaten up
with avarice, wise in her own conceit
and in nothing else. Mary was an enchant-
ing and most accomplished girl, winning
everyone by her beauty and wit, bringing
her aunt all the nice people and good soci-
ETY., speaking several languages, playing the
part of courier and purchase-maker, while
her aunt stood behind bullying and abusing
her. 1t was a sight to make ones blood run
cold, this angel in calling harness, slave to
a miscr
Mary had had repeated opportunities to
seemed to hug her chain. There was pa
thence under her unnecessary yoke which
was sublime.
81 feel the spirit of a murderer within
me-" said the Rev. Mr.. Ainslie, as we came
home from an expedition with the ladies'
shall push Mrs, Jessamine into one of
the dark corners under the Bridge of Sighs.
Did you see her refuse to pay for the little
lace handkerchief Mary had bought"
"Alas, yes!"
-" And Mary boors it patiently. / sup
pose she has no alternativeY
" She has me" | answered plaintively.
"Oh, yes, she has you, Charleton, and
could have me were | not as good as mar
ried to a dear girl in the British provinces" !"
" She has Baron Hammerstein too. He is
ready to put five centuries of German nobil-
ity at her feet.h
"By the way, here comes Mr.. Handyside
Marbury. Do you know him, Ainslie?h
"That seedy old fellow with such gor-
geous name? No, l do not. One of our
countrymcn ?'
ltS, QUO VI our lew liuDGGuulOuS OuCS.
Americans are so vulgarly rich generally. |
met Mr. Handyside Marbury at Alexandria
and had the pleasure of lending him few
pounds pending the arrival of his letters. l
imagine they never have arrived, as he has
not mentioned it,"
"And does he not show some awkward
ness and desire to avoid yOuy'
"Oh no. In the words of the popular
song, Thought He Would Shun Me- but
he does not. l suspect he belongs to the
noble army of borrowers who are described
by Charles Lamb. A more amusing old
fellow never meta scholar, a poet and a
UdUriGH. Come and be introduced"
1t was great pleasure to hear Mr.. Marbu-
ry and Ainslie talk. History, and poetry
and romance were all at their finger ends,
and as they Tambled on | could not but oh,
serve sort of resemblance between the
| shabby old ruin and the dapper young cler
| gyman, who was as correct as his own
| church clock, so far as ] knew. Yet did
| not know Ainslie well, nor did / quite be.
lieve in him. He and had met, travelling
and, as he was most brilliant and agreeable
we soon became friends Sometimes ii oc,
CURED to me that his opinions were some
| what tiuctuating and shallow, and his prin
ciples not those of John Knox, but these
were scarcely Impressions; they were fleet
| ing clouds. ] knew all about his family, So
cial position, and so on--thcsc are things
easily found out-and he had told me thai
| nc MuS GDAuStu 10 Dt lHuIIlth. hulHGT u
| singular engagement he said. But the man
| as yet remained mystery. II was one oi
| those characters not read in minute, per
| haps not in years.
A beautiful and sympathetic woman like
| Mary Jcssamine is not so easily found as 4
travelling companion, nor is she to be readily
| dropped, even If she has a dreadful aunt
so Ainslie and l for two months had doggeC
the footsteps of the two ladies. A certain
| intimacy had grown up between Mary anC
| Ainslie at Rome, where she had shown, al
most imaginative and not altogether happ.
| what Ainslie called Romanism. And hi
clerical as well as his natural turn of argu
ment had led him to take an immediate In
terest in her continuing in the faith of he
fathers. 1t sometimes seemed To me that
should be little jealous If were the en-
gagged young lady whom he told me lived i
the British provinces. But, after all, proyin
cials have very few rights.
Our travelling party had been augmented a
Florence by Mr.. and Miss Hammerstein, yer
nice German people, who spoke English bel
ter than we did, and allowed us to drop thei
title In addressing them. Bertha Hammer
stein was very beautiful Marguerit
sort of girl, and her brother the handsou
est TeutOn / ever saw. They knew every
thing, were amiable, well read, and ate wit
their knives.
We had made their acquaintance at til
| mouse OF our AtlDusshuOr ht FLORENCE, =
Mary said 1t was all right-bigh-bor Gel
mans do eat with their knives. 1tlooks a III
tie odd at first, but you soon get to feel thl
the fork is mere prejudice. Both brothC
and sister played and sang delightfully."-, an
were great cards on the canal by moonligf
for that very reason. We could all join
the chorus If Bertha's high, clear, exquisii
! voice would fly out on the strong winds an
show us the way
Hammerstein Immediately fell in love wit
, Mary in the most violent fashion, His Ge
man blood started off with the fury of
mountain torrent, and he made no attempti
I disguise his emotion, as an Anglo-Saxo
would have done.
, Perhaps Ainslie, and certainly /, loved h,
quite as much, but we scorned TO show II.
8 We went wandering along togeth
l through the Italian cities, with nothing
: chain us to earth but Mrs. Jessamine. 81
j was the plague to our Decameron, and
/ most terrible bore. She was fooiishly for
of attention, and had an unnatural and IL
n aginary rivalry with her neiee, which WI
: | most ludicrOus. We young men treated h
| with ciyility because she was woman, al
. with something more because she was u
+ aunt of the sweetest and most rein,
y woman on earth; but she would have be-
i glad 10 believe that her charms alo
O brought her our unwilling homage.
n II was at Fcrrara that we met Carter, d
angel OF our deliyeranee. Great and exc
= lent and polite Carter, how much didst th'
} absorb and carry OIL
J. Carter was an elderly beau--called the &
deceiver by his friends. He was introduc