Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-02-20

and : great painterl Corpo dbl mean,
santa Mariai / do not wish, signora,"
hesaid. respectfully, "to rudely breakyo
incornita; but will you tell me, - l am
. ~connoisseur in art, how you have ar
rived at the peculiar delicacy OF these
flesh tintsf How have you prepared
your canvaMr"
She took up the picture and frayed a
corner on the back of the stretcher. :.
at is painted on silk, your Eminence."
"Silk, but what what sort Of silk?'
"A very fine stocking. Here is the
foot, not cut of, but nailed upon the
stretcher. See."
IA silk stocking!" The Cardinal, at
the first word the woman uttered, start
ed. looked surprised, then daznd; but he
forgot neither his dignity nor his habit
Of command, and ~imperatiyely ordered
Luigi out of the room. That worthy
made his exit rapidly under 80 stern an
eve. When the Cardinal turned once
more to the woman, she had dropped her
veil, and he saw q pale but noble face,
with eyes that looked straight into his.
In an instant he caught it to his breast.
beatrice! my darling, my lost, my
loving little Beatrice" :,
1t was, indeed, Beatrice, in poor and
shabby dress, but with the light of genius
and the calm of experience enhancing
her former beauty. She had been strug-
Cling in all these years to earn bread for
herself; and ever for this picture she
found it SO hard to buy a proper canvas
that she had used the delicate stocking
the cause of all her troubles-that in the
distraction of her grief she had used to
wipe away her tears, and 50 had brought
it from home with her years before.
For once the Cardinal dropped on his
knees with all his heart in the alteration.
They rchearsed the story. He told her
that though his temper was reused, he
never dreamed of casting her of. She
did not tell him what sorrow had really
driven her away. Being q woman, so
much confidence could not be expected
of her. They both asked forgiveness-he
for having been harsh, she for having
made him suffer by her flight. He was
70 like a mother when her lost baby is
home hat all the Cardinal
to disappear for awhile; but
the old dictatorial way came again,
and Beatrice wa not sorry, for it brought
badk the pleasant old times.
II was right, though, my child;
nsthetically / was right. 1t was the
vulgarity of extravaganza; but | believe
the prince was q rascal"
"As to the prince, Pve forgotten him
long ago. But is the stocking now fit for
princess"
IA princess! It's too good for an
1t is fit for my great gallery"
The Cardinal is dead but the glory of
his extravaganza lives after him in his
srt treasures. Whether those sentiments
about the matter of the stockings were
genuine, or whether he saw a good way
70 get rid of the prince, whose motives
he may have suspected, the shrewd old
nan never divulged, and ever Beatrice
never knew.
Beatrice and her husband-a young
with whom she had studied her
lrt-received from the Cardinal a dowry
hat the Prince, still minated and still
leep in debt, looked on GENEROUSLY.
The curious and delicate painting on
ilk may be seer con%spiciously placed at
nc SOutu Gnu vi Tue gfedt SdiieIy. IL IL
we're not that Beatrice still lives-one of
he most accomplished, beautiful, amia-
,le ONE in Europe, whose works often
the Paris saloa-it would be fair
name names, so that any traveller
night easily find the lovely little picture
whose true history is 80 little known.
Still less, probably, is known about
hose forty-seven pairs of stockings re-
urned, for which the French manufac-
urers could not extort payment from the
old Cardinal. The truth is
hey are being gradually scattered all
yer the world. Every now and then,
or instance, when some rich American
ride is purchasing her wedding gar
aents, the cunning manufacturers have
way of introducing one or two pairs to
Ter notice, which find their way into her
at a slightly reduced price.
fact, there is q firm conviction, based
pregnant facts, that the remaining pair
vill be gotten rid of on this side of the
vater.-Hdrper's Weekly.