The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-08-28
A Florence Chimney
LIT SMOKES.

LIT sMoKEs.
Mr.. Paul Chambers yawned slightly,
glanced at his watch, and sailed forth
from his hotel with his usual aspect Of
listless indifference.
The city was Florence, the month
March, blusterous and stormy, and the
hotel one OF those dingy edi6ces in a mar
row street of the commercial order to be
found in all towns, ind chiefly frequent
ed BY travellers with light purse. The
purse of Mr.. Paul Chambers was an
exceedingly light one, despite the gen
tilitv of his appearance, while that list
less bearing, heightened by the melan-
choly Of his large dark eyes, invariably
inspired interest. Women glanced pen
sively at his head. covering in search of
the weed which should designate his
being a widower, ard were possibly dis
appointed not to dis cover that mourning
badge on his hat. Mr.. Chambers was
not a widower. He wore the gaeb of
poverty easily, and yet was a bitterly
disappointed man of the type that, hay
ing lost the n prize coveted in this
world, suffers ell others to escape his
grasp.
His watch indicated the hour of two
as he emerged from the hotel.
"What is the use of making calls ?"
he soliloquized, discontentedly, and
balanced a card between his fingers.
He had been in Florence a fortnight,
sufficiently a student by nature to enjoy
the sojourn, rambling about church
and gallery at his own pleasure, and the
card had rested in his pocket book IN
disturbed. Now it troubled his con
science to the extent of occasioning a
doubt as to whether he should present
it at all. An old lady at Palermo had
insisted on bestowing the card upon him
one of the throng of motherly creatures
he was wont to meet in travel-with the
Injunction: "When You reach Florence,
do not fail to call, and I will write about
you. The young ladies are charming
girls" He had weakly assented and de-
parted. What did he care about charm
ing girls? He was not a society man
detested balls and parties. Perhaps
this family would bore him with an in
vitation to dinner.
"Mrs. Henderson Tompkins, "he read
on the card.
Should he seek the address indicated,
after all? How could he ever look the
good old lady in the face again if he did
not7 A gust of wind swept around the
corner, bringing a cloud of dust in his
eyes-one of those treacherous gusts
which Turk on the Arno, often beneath
the bluest of skies-and away sailed MI.
Chambers's hat. The hat was whirled
against the door of an expectant cab
drawn up in the square. The owner re-
covered it, entered the vehicle, and gave
the address of Mrs. Tompkins without
further proc~rastination.
Arrived at his destination, Mr.. Cham
bers dismissed the cab, and surveyed
the house he was about to enter with q
faint sense of curiosity. The honse was
handsome and spacious; TIE vestibule
was adorned with statues, and permitted
a glimpse of garden behind through
stained glass windows; opposite were
squares and q new boulevard. The por-
ter in livery popped out Of a dark nook,
received the card, read it, somewhat
vaguely, upside down, all foreign names
being alike to him, and delivered several
sentences of voluble italian, from which
the visitor extracted "second piano."
and began to climb the stairs. The
second story proved to be u~ntenanted,
silent, and closed. Clearly he had mis-
taken the p%orter's directions as to the
apartment occupied by the Tompkins
family. He retraced his steps to the
first floor. There was no nam on this
door, but it stood open.
The tap Of hammers and grating Of
saws we're to be heard on the right, and
added to the general uproar was the
tumultuous tone of a piano, touched by
a firm hand.
"The musical Miss Tompkins, found
ed on the Stuttgart method" shudder-
ed Paul Chambers. 81 know that she
practices xix hours a day, thereby driv-
ing her afflicted family mad"
The piano ceased abruptly. The voice
reached MI. Chambers unwilling ear,
and held him spellbound. 1t was clear
vibrating, not to say piercing, in quality,
and spoke the English language.
THE VOICE. "I hope you will get
enough in living in apartments abroad,
my dear, without a refrigerator or so
much as a gas-ixture to your name, and
all your washing carried out into the
country, as if they were ashamed to bS
seen doing anything industrious in the
town."
An Ecaso. "But, Aunt Sophia, you
. wished to come"
THE VOICE (after a pause). $50 I did
wish to come. What Of that? l did not
expect to stay forever, though. Oh,
these Latin races q! They will always en-
ioy idle poverty as long as there is q
fiesta to be kept, and we shall continue
to pity them as children OF the sunny
south to the end of the chapter"
A silence ensued, and Mr.. Chambers,
with a guilty sensation, not unmlngled
with embarrassment, rang the bell.
For reply, the hammers tapped, with
saw accompaniment, the parrot clamor'
ed, and the cook trolled his song, clash.
ing dishes about.
"Confound i'll I will try the bell
once more, and 60 away" he thought.
Just then he fell over q stove-pipe,
and was unexpectedly precipitated into
an apartment. It represented temper
ary chaos; chairs and tables were hud-
died in corners, O stand of flowers leaned
against the wall, a trowel and some
mortar occupied the center Of the floor.
Two masons stood, with their hands on
their hips, in attitudes of repose, watch.
ing the movements Of q third, who. with
his feet still resting on a chair: had
thrust the whole upper portion of his
body into a square hole cut in the wall
for the purpose of investigating the
chimney. The somewhat undignifed
advent of MI. Chambers over the recum'
bent stove-pipe did not surprise the
masons in the least. His visit was
clearly none of their affair; but he sue
ceeded in eliciting from them that the
signora was to be found further on. be.
fore the man up the chimney concluded
- l. zll>AJr kI4,