Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-02-22

selection Of ornaments was put before
me, out Of which was told TO choose
birthday present. The faces on the set
you saw took my childish fancy. L will
choose those, l said
"'They are very costly, little damsel,
said the Duke but you shall have them
If you will render me n little obedience In
return
81 told him | would obey him without
gifts, because he was my fathers friend,
and remember to this day how he turn
ed away his eyes, and how his face
changed when / said it.
However, he concluded the purchase
Of the canoes, and then VIC got into his
carriage again, and were driven several
miles out of the city to a small chapel.
"a priest wns waiting there with Count
Silvestrolli
81 bad always felt an unconquerable
aversion to that man, and it made me
shrink from him then.
"But the Dukes voice renssured me.
Come, little damsel, he said, lead
ing me into the chapel. The obedience
want of you is very little thing. You
are to stand here at this altar between my
friend and me, and you are to say the
words this good priest tells you.
"The words were all in Latin, and /
repeated them, rather amused at their
odd sound
"The only part Of the performance tina,
cost me any effort was TO allow the Count
| TO put ring on my finger but ~ he
took it off again "a soon as we left the
chapel, that did not trouble me long.
"Out,ide the chapel the Count left MS,
and the Duke took me back to the con-
vent
You have been married, little dam
sci, to-day, he said as he gave me my
cameos Those are wedding-presa
as we'll as a birthday ono.
"And laughed, thinking II vas fine
joke.
"Nine years passed Ike dream, and I
saw little of the Duke and less of his
friend
"But on my seventeenth birthday the
and in the afternoon Count Slivestreili
came and claimed me for his wife.
II think tainted when, after recalling
to my memory the almost-forgotten scene
in the chapel, he took ms in his arms, and
called me wife!
SAT any rate, understood the hendish
joke at last, and from that d0y to this l
have never laughed.
"Oh, Cecil, in spite OF all my prayers,
my frenzied entreaties, he took me
away"
That agonizing memory overcame her
utterly, and she broke down, shaken with
sobs.
Words and caresses, that are altogether
sweet and precious when spoken and felt,
seem sentimental and meaningless when
they are written down so l will not say
how Cecil soothe his wife back to calm
ness.
The sun had sunk far below the frs
which skirted the horizon when Lucia
lifted her head from her husbands shout
der, and said, softly, You must never
ask Inc to wear any gems but thls'-she
touched the Black Pearl set in her en-
) gagem-nt ring-'Hnd these two pearls Of
my fathers which they found in the
Counts bureau.
Dearest said Cecil, in tone of fond
reproach, "whst are gems to me COM
pared with the love that looks out at me
from your eyes? While that lasts, will
never ask you to wear anything hut your
fathers pearls and Sakri NUNS -
Thank you, said Lucia, as simply a:
, she had said it eight months before, when
= he assured her of his sympathy only
face to meet the lips that were bent sc
} beseechingly to hers
The kisses Of love such rs theirs never
E become common things.
what find so remarkable in Mrs.
Chesterton is her blended simplicity and
, majesty said the chief lady in Columbo
0 a few months after Cecils wife lad made
her dcbW there. II never saw u creature
t so queenly and so innocent
3 II never saw such devoted couple,
c responded the Governor who was the
l other party to the dialogue. They are
s pattern to all the married people in the
e Residency. Aud what ardcntiOrientalist
: they both are She is learning Sanscrit,
e SO as to help him in his studies, and
t every week she goes with him to wreaths
the monument of the old Buddhist, Sakrs
t NUM-, with lotus blossoms.
Hush there they cone-arm-in-arm,
OF course She looks like lotus-blos-
som herself T.