The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-11-25


cred bodice and tiny velvet cap making
charming costume. While the merri-
ment was in the highest a man, wrapped
in a long, dark mantle, and masked,
stole to the side of the monarch, who
stood in an alcove watching the dancers,
and in another moment the fash of
dagger was seen by the Spanish dancer,
who threw herself between the would-be
assassin and the Emperor. The blade
passed through the rounded arm, and
the Countess de Lisle sank fainting at
Napoleon's feet, while the man who at
tempted the murder was secured. He
proved to be one of the many enemies of
the great conqueror, whom he styled
"tyrant and murderer" From this time
Tara, the gypsy's lucky.star, was in the
ascendant, and even Josephine began to
notice the attentions and favors that were
lavished upon the beautiful Countess.
At length the eyes of the old Count were
opened. Under q pretense of failing
health, he asked leave to travel, and per-
mission was granted. The Countess ac-
companied him. When they arrived in
Wales, where even to this day can be
seen ruins of old castles and strongholds
built centuries ago, the Count, who had
property here, left by relatives who had
emigrated from La Belle France to this
ragged, hardy, and romantic place, he
confined his guilty spouse in one of the
gloomiest castles, that was situated in an
isolated spot, far away from any other
habitation.
Here day after day the beautiful wo-
| man languishcd, seeing only her stern,
unrelenting husband and her keeper.
At length, after two months had passed,
Tara, with a fierce light in her dusky
orbs and smothered wrath darkening
| her fair face, resolved that this tyranny,
as she termed it, should end
All the long gloomy day she had sat
| at the barred window of her foom, her
| face pale but determined, until at twilight
| her husband entered, telling her this
was his farewell visit, ''for," said he, 81
am about to return to France; soon the
| tyrant, the despot, the one who has
wronged me so deeply, will feel my
| vengeance. I have concocted a plan
for his death that will not fail of being
achieved, and I shall rid myself of q
dangerous enemy. Tonight 1 leave
| Wales. You are to remain here until
my return, and until the death of your
lover, the Emperor, is accomplished;
| then, madame, you will retire to con-
vent, there to pass the rest of your days
repenting of your sins"
| Tara answerednot word, put clenched
her little hands together and muttered
softly, ''My mind is made up; I will en-
dure no longer" and while the Count
arose to ring for supper to be brought, his
wife, taking box of ivory from her bosom,
concealed it beneath her handkerchief,
awaiting the advent of the evening meal.
When the Count, as was his nightly
custom, drank glass of mulled wine
prepared by his valet, he did not notice
the slightly bitter taste, but in a few
moments he complained Of dizziness and
faintness, and being carried to bed he
became delirious, and before day dawned
was no more.
..He brought it on himself" said his
wife, as she gazed upon him. IT could
not endure confinement-I, who have
always been free as the wild bird, to
pass my remaining days in convent
that thought made me desperate.
When carried to England for trial Qor
Tara was proved guilty of poisoning her
husband) she was sentenced to death;
but, bribing her jailer, she escaped to
France, where she once more gained her
former influence over Napoleon. But
when misfortunes came to the conqueror
.-defeat, exile and despair-then Tara,
the gypsy, forsook her protector and
friend
/ Years passed. In a far-off city, miles
away from the gay French capital, pool
old woman, wretched, sick and infirm
wandered about, asking charity of those
who passed her by. Every one noticed
that around her throat was a blood-red
cord, and day after day, as the beggar
woman sat in the sun holding out hel
hand for aims, the cord about her with
cred throat seemed a huge serpent en-
wrapping her in its folds.
One day she was missed from her ac
customed place on the steps of the moss
covered cathedral, and some charitable
person, wandering amid the haunts o
vice, found the mysterious woman with
the cord encircling her neck. She wa
dying, and her last confession was tina
she was once the Countess De Lisle; hat
murdered her husband, was condemned
to death. but escaped, and when, year
afterward, she again visited England, sh
was recognized, was arrested, but through
some unknown influence, was released
but was condemned to wear a cord abou
her neck for the remainder of her days
Thus ended the life of the Gypsy Coun
tess, and Napoleon, once her friend ant
} protector, died in exile. Truly, our sin
will find us out.