The Red Cloud chief., 1876-05-18

~ 49,
been all the better for it.
Ill.
Slowly plodded the large gray oxen
over the plains Of the Campagna; lazily
sauntered the drivers at their side.
| Here and there one heard the sounds OF
merriment; there again were silent
t~oilers; here WORKOUT laborers who had
crept into the shade and fallen asleep,
and above stretched the blue heavens,
still and cIoudless, over the gray and
purple sweeps of far-off landscape, with
here and there a patch of sun-gilt water.
All this Lionel saw, for he had OBJ
tanned a lodging in n of the large stone
farmhouses, since money will obtain
anything; and the fair, delicate-looking.
generous Englishman was popular
among the poor Italian peasants.
Teresa knew that he was there. but
she avoided him; and he, seeing this,
only watched her from a distance, and
gave no token that she was more to him
than any other labOrer on the vast plains.
He had seen Tomaso and his wife before
he had followed to the Campagna. and
they were amply provided for during
their daughters absence.
Lionel Merton had fallen in love, and
he sat down and took the matter
into deliberate consideration. His first
thought was that Teresa was a queen;
fit to be the wife of any man, was his
second; why not of himself? was the
third; and that she should be, if posi-
bic, was the fourth. Yet how to proceed
was the difficulty; he felt, with all the
keen sensitiveness of an Englishman to
absurd situations, that he was somewhat
abSurdly placed at the present moment;
for Teresa, calmly pursuing her work,
gave him no opportunity of addressing
her without bringing the eyes of the
multitude upon himself and the hand
some maiden.
".
Teresa was the one to break the 81
lence. She feared the pe~stilential breath
that comes with the chill blasts and
heavy dews after the heat of the day
might take effect On Lionel Merton.
She noted a lassitude and feverishnesS,
which he imputed to his state of mind,
and suddenly she appeared before him.
"Signore, you must flee from hence, or
you will die"
"And you will have killed me, Teresa"
NO; it is the poisonous mists of the
Campagna."
what brought me hither to breathe
them?" asked Lionel abruptly.
"The signore forgets that l begged
him not to think of SO rash a scheme
replied Teresa, evading the question.
"For me who am accustomed to the
changes it is safe; for the signore it is
death, and he must 60"
"Whither?"
Back to Frascati, if he so wills it: or,
better, perhaps, away from Italy"
Il a not live away from Italy; it is
my life, my hope; and here l can study
art and make myself a home. Here
can be happy, and yet you send me away.
Il have told the signore that l am moi
fitted for his wife. Besides, my duty il
to my parents; l must tend them till
they die"
yet you leave them now"
"Only for their benefit"
1T would benefit them more if YOU
were my wife"
But Teresa shook her head mOurnful
ly. "None possible" she said. decidedly
Yet you love me, Teresa"
"Yes," said she, with emotion "but
must do my duty. l have made a vow
not to marry SO long as my parents live
1T is a foolish VOW" said Lionel.
ut is nevertheless a VOW" she replied
firmly. "Signore, you must 60. Addio
addio"
But as she spoke a sudden shiverin.
seized her-the fever that she had dread
ed for Lionel had fallen upon herself.
v.
Teresa had but few friends amOngt tn,
labOrers in the Campagna; but one wO
man, whom Lionel recognized as belong
ing to Frascati, was willing enough t.
undertake the Office of nurse in cOnsid
GRAFTON of the lavish payment for it, ant
to accompany her home when she wa:
| out of danger.
Then Lionel turned his steps north
ward, seeking no interview, for he knew
: that Teresa was firm in her resolution
and that it would be an insult to he
piety and her sense of tilial duty to at
: tempt to shake it. So he FASTENED away
hoping by constant change and excite
ment to drive her image from his heart
He passed the frontiers, and then tn,
cold north winds began to blow. and III
| could not face them, and Lionel Merton
learned that his only hope of life wa:
indeed in Italy. 1t seemed almost a
! though Fate were bidding him return
and so he passively resigned himself
and retraced by slow stages the way t.
Frascati, delaying as hebrew nearer ant
nearer to it, and yet with every inten
ton of seeing Teresa once more.
He took up his residence at the I'M
: again. but saw nothingOf Teresa; Meth
er did he hear Of her until. upon making
l inquiries from the innkeeper, he fount
l that Immediately upon her return from
l the Campagna her parents had beer
taken i'll and were now in the last stage:
|, of disease, and that they were poorer
than ever. But Lionel shrank from in
e truding, although he and the old Czech