The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-03-22
TORRICELLI.

King.
-MdrUaretE E. S~angster, In Harper's Weekly.
TORRICELLL.
My old friends Jack and Helen Bur-
bank left me mistress of their elegant
mansion ON the Hudson while they took
one of their unexpected flights to Europe.
This time it was for BRIDES eyes. Birdie,
their idolized daughter, was then a
''sweet girl graduate" a fine type of
the fraii American beauty. She had
been abroad several times already, but
no climate gave roses permanently to
her cheeks. Jack was a big handsome
fellow, who for some years had been
doing business in Wall Street. What
business precisely 1 never found out.
When he entertained his male friends
they always talked of margins" and
''puts,n and s'calls," and 'sstraddles,"
and made me think of what st. Augustine
says: 1.-The trifing of adults is called
business" Once 1 ventured to quote this.
One of the heavy men present looked at
me for a long time, debating whether it
were worth the while to pay any atten-
ton to me, and then he said, ponder
ously: MADAM, we brokers are the
Aliases that bear the world upon our
shoulders. All business is supported by
and through u.s." / did not know how
to answer him, but all the same 1 felt
that he could and should have been
silenced instead of me. Subsequently l
learned a great deal about those Aliases.
A fewwords will give an idea of Tor
ricelli, the costly home of the Burbanks.
Jack, somewhere in his travels abroad,
had been greatly charmed by an old pile
with sugar-loaf towers-quaint, pictur-
esque, dreamy. Helen shared his adj
miration, and Torricelli was the result.
The towers, already ivy-clung, were won
derfully beautiful, especially in the moon
light, overlooking the lovely terraces,
decked with fountains, statues and shrub
berry, that separated the mansion from
the river.
One summer afternoon | sat with Helen
on n of the broad piazzas. Lovely
trailing vines curtained us from a too
glazing light, and cast their shadows
upon the floor of real mosaic. Birds
sang in the shrubbery or bathed them
selves in the fountain basins; bees
hummed above the cups of luxuriant
flowers OF every kind that all extravaganza
professional florist could make grow In
theopen air or in his greenhouses. Helen,
tanning herself languidly as she sat in a
luxuriaut armchair, said: GLOW are
you ever going to amuse yourself in this
barrack while we are awayp"
You call this a barrack, and yet the
drapery of a single window has cost a
thousand dollarsr' 1 spoke reproach-
fully, for ] felt that Helen was an un-
grateful woman. 1 did not understand
then what became very clear to me
afterward.
30, well, cousin. You know the
alpha and omega of jack business creed
is visible o%pulence.' He says nobody is
rich only so long as people believe him
to be so. We have two houses full OF
costly things that we can not use and
really do not want, and all the world
enYies us our grand fortune. Do you
know I never think of us as fortunate p''
And with this Helen rose, made a turn
across the veranda, and then dropped
back into her seat with a sigh.
''Helen Burbank" I cried. s'Do YOU
mean to tell me you Ire not a happy
womanp Is not Jack the best of hus.
bandsg"
80 yes. 1 suppose 1 am a happy
woman, and of course Jack is a good
husband, but Come, Cousin Jane,
let us ride around the grounds. The
carriage has been waiting an age" And
Helen dragged on her hat and gloves and
her costly dolman. AS we descended
the broad steps of the mansion a footmar
in blue and cream-colored livery ceremo.
niously opened the carriage door, shut
when we were seated, and then mounted
his seat behind the elegant barouche
where he sat like a statue with folded
arms.
The park of Torricelli was beautiful
the day magnificent; yet as the lu1nriou.
carriage rolled noiselessly over tht
graded roads, I could see that Helen wa.
i'll at ease. l thought it was that gor
geous footman, and told her so. Sht
smiled, and said: Jack thinks we mus
have everything, and that includes
coachman and footmanin livery. I hat
the whole thing and know he does; anc
now, Cousin Jane, never mention tn
subject again."
My cousin Helen had changed wonder
fully since she became a fine lady, indif
f~erentto all the pleasures in the world
She was a buxom, rosy mink at twelve
as l remembered her. Then fortune sep
arated us for years. 1 visited her once il
the city of Philadelphia, when Jack wa.
a struggling writer" She wore a ten
cent, calico dress then, and did all he
W work. After that they bought
little farm some thirty miles from tn,
city. and there they lived some ten years
1 used to think that those must hav,
been Helen's dark days-cooped up in
dismal country cottage, working like
slave from morning till night. I Otter
thought of it when 1 saw her rolling il
her blue satin-lined landeau, too listles
almost to hold up her dainty parasoL.
But this sudden trip to Italy. 1t wa
.'apropos of nothing" Helen said, TO
Birdie could not endure the sea, and n,
foreign country ever agreed with her
A day or two before they sailed l re
marked to Jack that it would foreve
remain a mystery to me why people VIII,
had delightful homes like Torricell
could ever leave them, unless absolutel,
obliged to do so, and especially tina
they could leave them to roam over tn,
world without any specific object, sleep
ing in the dingy crypts of steamers, ant
paying double for food that mus
make them sigh for their French cook a
home.
Jack looked at me. Ithinkh he was 60
ing to say something serious, but instead
he declared that was envious of thei