The Osceola times., 1881-04-23
BEATRICE.
BIZ N. NJ. ELDRIDGE.

tips OF his Well-Shaped fcet-Was tit
Hon. Harold Lenox in love with beauti-
iul Beatrice Pallavicini, a hundred ana
fifty years ago in Rome. This conduct
on the part of foreigner, even though
good. looking and rich, the father Of the
lady naturally regarded as unpardonable
presumption; for Beatrice was no maid
of low degree, but a princess In fact,
she was the daughter of family as
proud as it was poor, and the belle, par
erceHence, of the highest pinnacle OF
Roman society. Above all, she was the
afiianced bride of the wealthy and high
" respected Marchese de Catalda, who
certainly might be said to have some
claim upon the gratitude and esteem OF
the daughter, as he had been the ad mirer
of her mother before Beatrice was born.
If the worthy marquis was little IN
clined TO prosiness, and not everything
that was pleasant 10 the eye, owing TO an
unfortunate squint, rather too generous
supply Of flesh, and stiffness OF the
right knee which interfered somewhat
with the grace of his movements, surely
the estmable qualities of his mind, his
blue blood, and his long rent-roll, might
we'll counterbalance such triiiing defects.
But, in spite of everything, the most as.
founding part of this over true tale !"
is that the princess so far forgot herself
as to prefer one of the Hon. HaIold's
yellow curls to all the marquis ancestors,
and himself into the bargain, and to
place the love-light in his bonnie blue
eyes before all the glories, past and
present, of the magnificent Palazzo
Cataldo, of which she was destined, in a
q. ,rnata IN hAann,n tho anN-inI
tress.
The acquaintance, begun at the recep-
ton of a cardinal, had quickly ripened
into love, with no othe fuel to the flame
than ball now and then, chance meet
ings in picture galleries, stolen but most
frequent elances in church, a few words,
perhaps, or even Il secret pressure OF
hands in crowd, and one Leverto.be
forgotten evening, when the princess had
met our hero in garden pavilion be-
hind the PalaZzo Pallavicini, that un-
worthy young man having scaled the
| wall, surmounted with iron spikes, shut
ting in the palace grounds, to the no
small detriment of his neither garments,
and perhaps to the limbs they enclosed I;
for love in those days was a hotter,
more reckless sort of passion than in
these times Of prudent parents and far
seeing children, and to the Hon. Harold
what We're the prickings Of the sharpest
spikes to the pangs of separation from
/ the mistress of his affections? But then,
as now, the course OF true love was
made rather Il turbulent stream. Spies
were about; it had been whispered to
the horritied marquis that his promised
bride had sworn TO die rather than be-
come the wife of any other than this
obscure, yelow-haired Englishman; and,
above all, to make assurance dOubly
sure, an inconvcnient and most
disagreeably watchful duenna. who lived
as chaperon to the motherless prin-
cess, had, above all evenings, chosen
the one above mentioned for a stroll in
the garden.
Goodnight, carissima mia!' Harold
had said a dozen times at least, empha-
sizing each farewell with IS. Good
highland fig fer the gouty old mar
qus, who xever shall call my bonnie
bride his wife as long as ! live TO defend
her !" And Beatrice, with swift feet,
turned to fly 10 the palace, after seeing
her lover safely over the wall, and was
confronted by the angular figure of the
scandalized duenna.
From that time the princess was kept
a prisoner TO the house and grounds, and
watched, as only an Italian maiden OF
the olden time could be watched, by the
vigiant and faithful duenna, who did not
quit her charge by day or sy night. This
state of things was to continue until the
princess lett her fathers house AS the
Marchesa de Cataldi: so that, verify, our
lovers seemed to be in a sorry plight.
Harold, with only a few additional
scratches, dropped safely into the street,
ignorant of course. of the disagreeable
sontretempts taking place the other side
OF the wall, almost on 10 the shoulders
of the sentry pacing up and down before
the palace; but the man was most ac.
commodatingly oblivious; and saw no.
thing. He was, in fact, sort of acquaint-
ance of Harold's, being the son of an old
servant of the Lenox family, who had
married an Italian while accompanying
IIarlod's grandmother on tour through
Italy many years before.
II certainly WAS very far from the in
tentions of the naughty Prince de Pal
lavicini to add fuel to the flame already
burning with such vigor in the undauntcd
young Engishman's breast, 10y the we'll
nigh insurmountable obstacles he placed
in the way of true love; but when the
Hon. Harold had for two weeks roamed
disconsolately about from reception to
ball, and from concert to theatre, with
out meeting the princess, and had fin
| ally, through the reprehensible means Of
bribery and corruption heard from Zone
of the Pallavicini housemaids the un.
| lucky consequences of his last interview
with his lady-love, he beat his breast,
| and would have torn his hair, if he had
not been rather proud of that adorn-
ment, as he swore that the time for
action had comc-that decisive blow
must be struck.
All that day he shut himself into his
rooms, ignoring visitors, his tailor, Il
garden party, everything but his dinner,
while he formed wild and impracticable
schemes for rescuing his lady fair from
durance yile but not until evening did
an idea strike him, with such force "a TO
send him flying down the stairs, up the
| crowded street, upsctting two children
and the cart Of a wrathful applewoman
on his way to the quarters of his devoted
| admirer, Francesca Nalsachi, the soldier
already mentioned, whom, luckily, he
found at home. what thereupon took
place the remainder Of this history will
make clear.
Two days later, Harold, while drinking
cafc aoir in the French restaurant, had II
rather disreputable scrap Of paper thrust
into his hand, on which was scrawled.
my watch is at the PIP the rest of this
week, from to 6 7. VI the first half Of
next week, from 10 to . p. M.-F. ""
/ And surely no scented, tinted love mis-