Iron County register., 1882-06-08

ieAASses- .kase5&A Rae.s Ih9 next instant she
%.S 9ulte calm. with look in her face
l haa noser seen before. / believe she
awed her father and mother, for there
was no word spoken as 1 left the room.
=. walked rapidly home, crossing the
o!u s'ile 1or the last time. 1 snatched a
piece OF honeysuckle as passed, but l
was no longer thinking of the happy by
gohe oays. The portals of another ex-
lstence had been thrown open to me for
an instant, and l was dreaming of its
radiance still. My father was in his
glg,"altlng for me, and all the old farm
iaoorers and their wives and children
We're gathered to bid me God-speed.
MY rather spoke but little as we drove
70 0 lne station, whittier my luggage had
aireaoy been taken in a cart. When
we were a short distance from it he
siacSened the pace, and putting one
mana on mine, said: 'Frank, my boy,
I've oeen thinking that it's chance as
now you may not like this new-fangled
NE you re going to. If you don't, why
| tnen write and say so to me without any
I9rther ado, and the old man will be
rlgnt-down glad to see you home again,
ana glad to pay back whatever Mr..
ClarK mas spent on you, for that he
mayn't De throwing it in your teeth I
pressed his hand, and he went on: sI'm
giad to see you so mettlesome about
gong away, but just you take a word of
advice from your old father. l don't
Know anything of making pictures or
that like, but take it that an artist has
TO learn his trade like any other man.
You must know how to plow well if you
want to get good crops, so don't you be
IN hurry, but take to the thing steadi-
~, and don't you goin for high-fying' ,
swell, did go in for the thing
steadily, and L made rapid progress. I
used to write to my father and to Mrs.
Clark, and hear from them regularly.
never wrote to Lucy, nor she to me,
but l heard of her. She went to Lon
don the year after I left, and was pre-
sented at Court, and there was a great
deal OF company at the Hall during the
autumn and winter. | used to scan
those letters which spoke of her as if
they were enigmas, trying to extract
some hidden meaning from them. Some
times L fancied that there was some
covert allusion to her being mindful of
me through all these scenes of pleasure;
sometimes felt racked with jealousy of
some imaginary admirer of hers.
At length | got a letter from my
father, telling me of her serious illness,
and then another from him saying that
he heard that the doctors had ordered
her to winter in Italy. Between these
letters L had one from Mrs. Clark,
mentioning that Lucy had been ordered
to leave England for time, and that
ters until she and Lucy returned home,
for that during their absence her time
would be fully occupied. She wrote
very kindly, but l felt sure that the
reason of her not writing to me again
was that Mr.. Clark objected to my
knowing that Lucy was to be in Italy.
"How dreary that winter was, in
spite of all the golden dreams of youth,
fostered by all the poetical and roman
tic teachiugS of Nature, Art, and Histo-
ry, with which the very air of Italy is
electric!
"I became so restless that in the
spring left Rome for Florence. I had
never copied in the galleries there, and
L thought it would be a new source of
interest to me to do so.
"One day l was seated in front of
that beautiful portrait of Caterina Cor
naro. do not know if you have seen
it. A sweet, sad face and a graceful fig
ure, the bodice of the dress embroidered !
with gold and jewels, and the neck |
loaded with chains of pearls; magnifi- |
cent fetters laid on their fair owner bv |
the Venetian Republic when the Senate |
sold her beauty to the King of Cyprus, |
leaving her noble lover, young Loren
dano, to die raving. was copying this
picture, and was greatly interested in |
my work. Many persons passed through |
the room, and some paused to look at |
my painting, so l took little notice of |
the fact that some one was standing be- |
hind me, till l heard my name pro-
nounced in a never-forgotten voice.
&c 1t was Lucy, and alone! She was
taller and more womanly than when |
left her, but the same Lucy still.
I" She told me that she and her moth
er were in Florence, waiting for her faith
er to join them; that she had spent the |
winter in Sicily, and that her health was
better, but that her mothers health was
failing rapidly.
She said that Mrs Clark was in an
room, resting, and that must
60 to see her. There was calm power
about her manner that surprised me,
but she had lost none of her sweetness.
Before we turned from the picture [
was copying she asked me whose por-
trait it was. told her, and she said:
$3.50 that is the face of the woman
who let herself be bought and sold by
king and a Senate, and not only herself
but the man who loved her, and for
whom she cared, too, in some pitiful
sort of way. She could not have loved
him, or she would have taught those
naughty Senators that there was some
hing prouder and stronger than even
heir PRIDE
"Mrs. Clark received me with tears
If joy. could see that she was very
much broken, and that she was com
oletely under her daughters dominion,
Lucy used her power gently.
She did not ask me to go to see them,
,ut she said she would often come to see
ne at my work, and she made some
weak little excuse for not inviting me to
heir hotel.