Litchfield enquirer., 1881-12-15
WHOLE NO. 2897

nor is be-" She spoke these last words in
 tone of almost insolent triumph and fixed her
 eyes defantly on her companions face, but had to lower them as the elder woman turned
 on her with fierce flash of scorn and fury.
 Woman. you shall never be his wife, and
 you know why. Five years ago was free
 I, who had loved him all his life, and he
 would have married me-he was certain to do
 so-when you came between us You won
 him from me with your arts and your effronte-
 ry; was cast aside and forgotten, but have
 bided my time, and now it has come"
 She bent toward her like sepent abou. to strike it's prey, and hissed word into her ear.
 It was but whisper, yet it reached me in the farthest recess of the grotto making my pulses stand still in sympathetic horror. ,t..siI
 'A0UeIenGtTice !'' . ..,
 o Its effect on Giocontla was Instantaneous. In moment she seemed to collapse together, staggering backward, and putting out her hand I against the wall to support Bloom of youth and beauty faded from her face, and left in their place an ashy mask of blank despair. | Filomena was pitiless in her triumph, aud I went on with sardonic smile: "You did not see me Tn Don Pepino's shop in Sorrento, I last April, when your husband was ill with i| fever, and you bought the poison to clear the Il house of rats.4 You never knew that guessed H your purpose, followed you home in the twi- \ light, and, slipping in after you, hid myself l in the little wood closet with the glass pane I in the door, Shall 1 tell you what saw there?
 Athe seasoning put in the sick mans soup, the affectionate wife persuadng him to take
 it. think there is no need, now to remind you that Don Bastiano died next day--of fe- | yer, of course." - .f .....st..l A. D
 The miserable woman, who had feeblY ex- | tended her hand, as If shield herself from tle l terrible words of her accuser, but without at- tempting to contradict them, new flung her ! Inole &l, ~lt hoeN k,an isNo treaty, and appealed to her ill hoarse, broken voice: Spare me, Fil0me, and, as you hope for mercy for yourself, have some pity on my despair Would you kill Stefano, would you break his heart, you who loved him once Oh, you do not know what this blow will be to him, who is coming hoine to me us his promised wifel" t A4a ff err..' .l...#
 The wretched creature did not see that | every word she spoke was but steeing her riva2s heart against her, and would have gone on with protestations of Stefano's attachment to her as plea for mercy, if her accuser had | not cut her short by turning from her with an air of scorn and disgust saying: ''Vile wo- man. do you think would allow Stefano U make you his wife, knowing you to be what you are? Do you think he will not thank me ! for saving him from such fate ?.
 | Gioconda put her hand to her head like one stunned, and staggered to her feet, murmur, ing, Tt was for his sake-for his sake. r. At that moment mans voice rang through the night air without, calling her name with an unmistakable thrill of passion in it's tone,
 '.Gioconda Gioconda nsiG /" and a hurried | step was heard approaching. Even at that terrible crisis the presence Of her lover had an | electric effect upon the guilty woman, and her commonplace comeliness was transfgured to positive loveliness by the soft suffuslon that overspread her face likea rosy dawn. For at11 aNtn nt.Nr then, alnost shrieking his name, rushed out to meet him.
 | We heard the woman within and l, the
 mingled inarticulate sounds of their rapturous greeting, then rapid interchange of gSsstipn l and answer. in which ir uAclalneu i W snas ne | nHlI Just arrived from Naples and had heard from the farm servant that she was gone down to the beach, and lastly Gioconda's voice say ing hurriedly, But let us return; you must
 want some supper" -...-
 .'Supper!" he exclaimed joyously, "why, the welcome of your eyes and lips warns my
 heart more than meat or wlne But, " he said
 with sudden accent of suspicion as he nOtic- ed the light for the first time, "whom have we here? Who is in the grotto ?"
 II am here, Stefano," said Fiomena.
 whose face duriug the last few minutes had seemed to grow aged and withered with men, tai suffering, and who now stepped forward
 to meet him on the threshold; Il am here to tell you what the woman is whom you pro- pose to marry" ...
 | The man who now stood between these two | women-the cause of their bitter mutual la
 tred-was well fitted by nature to be the ob-
 iect of such rivalry. had recognized in hin an old friend, for in the intervals Of his yoy- ages, while plying his avocaLiOn5 as a d'her- | man and boatman of Sorrento, he had fowed me on many an excursion, and servGi me many time as model. Iu the latter re- spect he was indeed invaluable to me, as he
 was the most perfect specimen of humanity had ever seen, from the extraordinary combi- | nation of strength and symmetry ih lis frame. While the muscles of his neck and shoulders
 were powerful as those of a bisDu, his head | and limbs were set with the lightness and grace of a young Apollo, and he would move | under weight which might have staggered Constantlnople porter with the rhythmicai step of dancing fauu. Brown as ah Arab,
 with small mobile features and kindhn9 dark eyes, he showed DO trace of years, although l knew him to be seven or eight and-thirty, for in these regions, while the women wither al-
 most before maturity, the men seem gifted
 with the immortal youth of the gods of Greece had the Sorrento boatmen, beside the woman,
 who, though of his own age, looked like his mother, seemed in the earliest prime of man. hood.
 | When Gioconda saw him confronted with | Der rtVHI, 4u6 S6lZGu HE bIiD anu htCu tO UluS him away, crying in tone of agonized ap- peal, No, no, Stefano! come away and do not listen to her. Do not believe what sic say she hates me, she is jealous!" But he l shook himself free with start of surp: isp. ! .tWhat is this ? what is there that l am not to listen to P" Then turning on her with a sudden fierce flesh of doubt. Woman nave you been false to me? ?" he cried. I'd. |, ''False to you, Stefano-never, never too | ts1~ aL,a odd ad hof if to herself He put his arm round her caress. l ingy, and turned angrily to the other woman: | ''Then of what 60 you accuse her !'
 | And Filomena, stern and relentless as re- band.
 Stefano started like 2 man shot in the heart. "It is false, he cried, ''it is impossible It
 vile, cruel calumny, Gioconda-"
 | .. But Gioconda had sunk on the ground, and clasping his knees. with her face hidden against them. was sobbng bitterly.
 | '.It is true Stefano," said Filmena. There was a moments silence, broken only hy the loud sobs of the culprit at her lovers feet, and by his muttered ejaculations, as he strOVe
 to realize to himself the full force ofthe gGast- ly revelation.
 ''She murdered him!" he exclaimed hoarse- ly; .s'saints in Paradise And would have
 married her with his blood on her hands And stooplng down, he tried almost roughly to free himself from her claso. She raised her face, tear stained and woe-begone, to his: .sAnd do you condemn me, Stefano--you for l whom 1 did it?" .. .,,..... .,... I He shuddered visibly, but answered her
 more gently, "I do not condemn you Giocon-
 da, for l feel as if the guilt of blood rested on I us both, but all the seas could not divide us | so effectually as this act of yours. would 1 had been dead would we had both been Il smitten by Heavens Tightening, ere you had I lived to do and to hear it. There was no Hove lost between me and poor BastianO, yet
 swear would cheerfully give my right hand l--nay, lifeitself-to see him stand before me
 now" He raised his hanl to heaven as he smoke while the wretched woman al his feet