Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-06-25

already in the keeping Of another"
"In the keeping Of the old scratch ~
exclaimed Uncle Hawkes., angrily.
p Fitzroy drew up his elegant form with
dignity.
lyon forget, sir. You are my uncle,
but / cannot hear that term applied to
the lady love-
"Fiddlesticks! And pray, sir, who
may this wonderful female be I"
"She is a wonderful woman, sir; the
paragon of her sex for grace, beauty
aud sweetness"
"Oh, no doubt, no Doubt And where
had you the good fortune to meet this
paragonw
Mr. Hawkes. was very red in the face,
though trying hard to appear coolly
sarcastic.
Charles Albert looked dreamily into
the sky, and answered softly:
II first met her at Venice, on moon
light night, in gondola."
"Gondolas be--smashed p sneered
Uncle Hawkes..
"sir" said Fitzroy, haughtily.
"Oh, go on, go on! Let's hear all
aboutit 1t will do no good. He, he
What did she say in the gondola'
''She repeated some lines of Byron
about Venice and the Adriatic. HAP.
pened to be seated next to her and heard
it. And she leaned over the gondola
and let the sparkling waters ripple
through her white, jeweled fingers, look
ing like pearls in the moonlit spray'"
"He, he. What next 7"
Charles Albert Indignantly arose.
"Sir, can not have the deepest and
most sacred emotions of my heart mock
ed atw
"Oh, sit down, sit down! You haven
yet told Us the name of the lady"
"Her NAME" he said softly and pen
sively, "her name was, Zeleuca."
"What7"
"Zeleuca. So she signed herself in ;
note to me-"
Mr.. Oliver Hawkes. rugged counte
nance assumed an expression of unspeak
able disgust.
"You don't mean to say that she wa.
some heather Greek or Italian? 7"
"No, sir; she was an American, o.
English"
unfortunately, l could never ascer
tain her family. She was travelin,
with small psrty-a family party, ap
parently-and their name was Cresswel
But she had not the air of being relate,
to them"
"And you never met her again. |
was on the summit of Vesuvius-"
"Ah, a little nearer heaven-or, it ma,
be, the opposite place."
"On the very verge Of the awful era
ter, where she stood, calm and fearles
gazing down, without a shudder, int
the fiery abyss below"
"Nice warm place for declaration 0
love. Hope you made it,"
ono, sir; there / unfortunately los
her. One moment | saw her standin
thus, and knew by her shy glance ant
blush that she recognized me, and wa
not Indifferent to the meeting. Blu
when, a moment after, / again turne'
toward her, she was gone. l caught on
hasty glimpse of her rapidly-descendin
form
"Gracious heavens? you don't mean t
say that she fell into the crater?" erie,
Uncle Hawkes., in unaffected horror.
"Of course not" replied his nephev
Indignantly. 81 mean that she and he
party were descending the mountain b.
the new inclined railroad"
ooh! And you followed, l suppose
81 did track them for several days
but as often as | came up with ther
they would disappear. Those two fat
red-faced guardians of hers-Mr. an
Mrs. Cresswell-evidently suspected me
Once in Florence, succeeded in sendin
her a line, asking if she would be Oh til
balcony in the evening, and she replies
that she would, signing herself Zeleuca
But she did not appear, and after wait
ing until twelve at night, l discovere
that her guardians had dragged her o
before sunset. They had started fo
Paris, whittier | followed, and after
wards to London, but could never gai
another trace of them. For two month
never tired in the search"
"Ah. so 1t was that which kept you s
long abroad. A pretty wild-goose chase
indeed
MAnd NOW flat | an at home aoail