The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-05-18
"The signore forgets we must have


if to clutch the ringing coin, but Teresa
sprang between, turning flashing face
upon Lionel.
" We are not beggarsw she exclaimed;
''I work for my bread -
" viii you not let me help your
asked Lionel, in low tone.
"You can not" she replied, in an
equally low voice and the flash died
out of her face, for LionePs tone was
very humble, and his eyes had spoken
something to her that her heart an
swered. She gathered the money to-
gether and put it into his hands.
cit must not be-" said she, as he sOr-
rowfully departed.
"Thou art a fool, child I' said Toma-
50 Cecchi, when Lionel was out of hear
ing. These English know not what to
do with their gold, and we should have
been all the better for it.
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 merri-
ment; there again were silent toileTs;
here worn-out laborers who had crept
into the shade and fallen asleep, and
above stretched the blue heavens, still
and cloudless, 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 lodging in one OF the large stone
farm houses, since money will obtain any
thing; 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 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, amt 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 thirds and that
she should be if possible, 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 puT
SlllllR uCI NOlh, RClfC 2 Hill AAO OBbOl bNAAAby
of addressing her without bringing the
eyes of the multitude upon himself and
the handsome maiden.
".
Teresa was the one to break the 81
lence. She feared the pestilential breath
that comes with the chill blasts and
heavy dews after the burning heat of the
day might take effect on Lionel Merton.
She noted lassitudo 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. J"
"No; it is the poisonous mists of the
Campagna."
What brought me hither to breathe
it?" asked Lionel abruptly.
"The signOre forgets that l begged
him not to think of SO rash a scheme" F"
replied Teresa, evading the question.
g For me who am accustomed to the
changes it is safe; but for the signOre it
is death, and he must &C"
Whither?"
.HBack to Frascati, if he so wills it, or
better, perhaps, away from Italy"
''I can not live away from Italy; it is
my life, my hope; and here I can study
art and make myself a home. Here l
can be happy, and yet you send me
away!"
II have told the signore that I am
not fitted for his wife. Besides, my duty
is to my parents; must tend them until
they die"
"Yet you leave them now!"
"Only for their benefit"
cit would benefit them more if you
were my wife"
But Teresa shook her head mOurnful-
ly. "NOn possible" she said, decid-
edIy.
Yet you love me, Teresa?"
q Yes,' said she with emotion " but
I must do my duty. I have made a vow
not to marry so long as my parents live"
GO 1t is foolish vOw," said LiOpel.
1t is nevertheless a vOw," she re-
piled firmly. Signore, you must go.
AddiO, addiO ]"
But as she spoke a sudden shivering
seized her-the fever that she had
dreaded for Lionel had fallen upon her
self
Teresa had butsfew friends among the
laborers in the Campagna but one
woman, whom Lionel recognized as be
longing to Frascati, was willing enough
to undertake the Office of nurse in con-
| sideration of the lavish payment for it,
and to accompany her home when she
was 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 her
piety and her sense of flial duty to at
| tempt to shake it. So he hastened away,
| hoping by constant change and excite
] - 4 - IL -
He passed the frontiers, and then the
| cold north winds began to blow, and he
/ cound not face them, and Lionel Merton
learned that his only hope of life was in
! deed in Italy. It seemed almost as
| though fate was bidding him return,
and so he Passiyely resigned himself, and
retracted by slow stages the way to
| Frascati, delaying as he drew nearer and
| nearer to it, and yet with every inten-
tion of seeing Teresa once.
He took up his residence at the inn
! again, but saw nothing of Teresa neither
| did he hear of her until, upon making
! inquiries from the innkceper, he found
| that Immediately upon her return from
the Campagna her parents had been
! taken Ill and we're now in the last stages
of disease, and that they were poorer
! than ever. But Lionel shrank from in
truding, although he and the old Cecchi
had been very friendly.
| Still Teresa had a consciousness of his
| presence in the constant supplies of all
| needed for the sufferers at the hands Of
the innkeeper, and she did not reIuse
them, for she was almost worn out with
her vigil and perhaps regarded this un-
/ expected assistance as an answer to her
prayers, and therefore not to be flung
/ ungratefully aside.
/ And then came the end. The Death
! Angle closed the old man s eyes, and the
/ mourner carried him TO his grave-sOon
to be followed by the wife who had jour
/ neyed with him through the world. And