The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-02-20

to afford myself n caprice-it will not be
the first time" And so Annunziata's des-
tiny was settled.
Luigi Rata, passing down toward the
shore with his oars over his shoulder,
caught glimpse of the group through the
open door. He saw the little fat man, in
his black alpaca coat and white jean
trousers, talking and gesticulating; he
saw Annunciata standing leaning against
the table, with her beautiful bare arms
hanging down and her hands lightly
clhspcd, gazing out into the sunshine with
pleased, daZcd look in her eyes he saw
old Marta gIinnlng from ear to ear with
satisfaction; and "A cold, underlined feeling
o. dread, which he nftcrward recalled,
oropt over him. Nobody noticed him, and
he wont on his way without his usual
morning snlutation.
The winter that followed was one OF al
most unalloyed happiness TO Annunziata.
Every day she spent three hours ut the
Albergo della Sirena, working hard at the
drudgCry of learning to get ont her voice,
under the auspices of Signor Sassi and his
wife, the latter of whom, having been
completely vanquished by the beauty
rs by tho undoubted excellence of
her clear soprano, had now taken
up her cause with as much enthusiasm as
her more easily moved husband had done.
Toiling Mt tho wash-tub till ones back was
| like to break was now q thing of the past
| Aunt Marta was always gracious: dinners
Mt the Sirena, accompanied bv unheard-of
luxuries in the way of strange wines, were
OF frequent occurrences s:?dnatured
Madame Sassi had gone into Naples, One
day, aud returned with present Of two
beautiful dresses; everybody was compli-
mentary, polite. and kind. Already some
foreshadowing of the glory OF success was
beginning to make the world brilliant for
the young aspirant.
Luigi, on the other hand, was cast down
almost into the depths OF despair by the
changed order of things. He seldom 81 w
Annunziata now; She was forever run
nlng over, on one pretext or another, to
see her new friends; and although
she was always kind and pleasant to
Luigi, and seemed glad 20 see him, he
could not but feel that gulf had
already begun TO open between them. And
II this were so thus early in the business
how would II be when she should have
visited distant lands, aud sung before vast
audiences, ana become a great lady-as
they said she would dor There were times
when Luigi felt that II he could induce the
fnt little singing master to accompany him
on sail to Capri, and II he could contrive
To upset the boat Mt n reasonable distance
from the shore, 10 would be a satisfactory
and an excusable thing. But Signor sassi
had been TO Capri, and had been griev
ously sick on the way; insomuch that he
had sworn by all he held most sacred to
tempt the sea no more.
AS for speaking of marriage TO n young
woman VINO was all eXultant Mt the
thought OF quitting her native place and
seeing the. wonders of the great world,
that was clearly out OF the question. AT
the bottom of his heart Luigi nourished
faint hope that the cold ana misery of
these unknown foreign lands might
prove insupportable to one who had
been brought up in the warmth and
color and sunlight of Sorrento. and that,
after few mouths of struggling AGAINST
the burden of cloudy skies and barbarian
habits, Aununziata might gladly and re-
pentantly return to her native italy. In
such an evont, how willingly would he
throw open the door of his cottage to re-
coivo her.
II was not much OF n hope to build upon;
but such as II was, II served to sustain him
when, on bright April morning, he stood
sorrowfully watching the departure of the
travelling carriage that bore away Signor
and Signora Sassi and Annuuziata on the
road To Castellamare. The carriage disap-
peared in cloud OF dust taking with il
Annunziata anu her fortunes to Castella-
mare-to Naples-to the unknown. Would
she ever come back again, Luigi wondered
sadly. as he turned TO go down TO his boat
on the shore.