Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-27

things. Georgina went very far indeed;
she did everything in her power to dis
simulate the origin Of her child. The
record Of its birth was made under false
name, and he was baptized atsthe near
est church by Catholic priest A mag
nifeent Contadina was brought TO light
by the doctor IN a village in the hills, and
this biz. brown. baTbarOus creature, who,
TO do her Justice, was full Of handsome,
familiar smiles and coarse tenderness,
was constituted nurse to Raymond Ben
yOn's son. She nursed him for fort
night under the mothers eye, and she
was then sent back 10 her village with
the baby in her arms and sunGzy gold
coin knotted into a corner OF her pocket
handkerchief. Mr.. Gressie had given
his daughter a liberal letter Of credit on
London banker, and she was able, tor the
present. 20 make abundant provision for
the little one. she called Mrs. Portieo's at
tention to the fact that she spent none of
her money on utilities; she kept il 81 for
her small pensIOner in the Genoese hills.
Mrs. PorticO beheld these strange dCings
with a stupefaction that occasionally
broke into passionate protest; then she re-
lapsed into a brOOding sense Of having
now been an accomplice so far that she
must be an accomplish to the end. The
two ladies went down to ROme-GeOrgira
was in wonderful trim-tO finish the sea-
son, and here Mrs. POrticO became cor
WINGED that she intended to abandon her
offspring She had not driven into the
country % see the nursing before leaving
GenOa-she had said that she couldn't
bear TO see it in such a place and among
such people. Mrs. Portic0. il must be
added, had felt the force of this plea-felt
it as regards plan of her OF n, given pn
after being holly entertained for a few
hours, Of deyOting day, by herself,
go - l. - IL
IL seemed to her that if she
should see the child in the sord.d hands
to which GeOrgina had consigned it she
would become still more Of participant
than she was already This young wOm-
ans blooming hardness, after they got to
Rome, acted upon her like kind C Me-
dusa mask. She had seen a horcible
thing, she had been mixed up with it, and
her mOtheTly heart had received a mortal
chill. 1t became more clear TO her every
day that, though GeOrgina would continue
to send the infant money in considerable |
quantities. she had dispOssessed herself 1
of it forever. Together with this induc- 4
tiOn fixed idea settled in her mind-the I
project of taking the baby herself, of max 1
ing him her own, Of arranging that mat /
ter with the father. The cOuntenance she |
had given Georgina up to this point was
an effective pledge that she would not |
expose her; but she could adopt |
the child without exposing her; she 1
could say that he was a lovely baby-he /
was lovely, DECENTRALIZATION she had |
picked up in a poor village in Italy-a /
village that had been devastated by |
brigands. She would pretend-she could |
pretend; oh, yes, OF course, she could pre-
tend! Everything was impOsture now,
and she could go on to lie as she had be-
gun. The falsity Of the whole business
sickened her; it made her so yellow that
she scarcely knew herself in her glass.
None the less, TO rescue the child, even if |
she had to become falser still, would be
in some measure an atOnement for the
treachery to which she had already lent
herself. She began to hate GeOTgina, who
had drawn her into such a criminal way
of life, and if it had not been for two con-
sideratiOns she would have insisted on
their separating. One was the Difference
she owed to Mr.. and Mrs. Gressie, who had
repOsed such a trust in her; the other was
that she must keep hold of the mother till
she had got possession of the infant.
Meanwhile, in this forced communion,
her aversion to her companion increased;
Georgina came to appear to her a erea-
ture OF iron; she was exceedingly afraid
of her, and il seemed to her now a wonder
OF wonders that she should ever have
trusted her enough to come so far.
GeOrgina showed no consciousness of the
chance in Mrs. POrtico. though there was.
indeed, at present, not even a pretence of
confidence between the two. Miss Gressie
that was another lie, to which Mrs.
POrticO had to lend herself-was bent on
ENJOYING Europe, and was especially
delighted with Rome. She certainly had
the courage of her undertaking, and she
confessed to Mrs. Portico that she had
left Raymond Benyon, and meant to
continue to leave him, in ignorance
Of vNyhaf had fqEnn nIlRn aT Genoa /
There was a certain confidence, it must
be said, in that. He was now in
Chinese waters, and she probably should
not see him for years. Mrs. POrtico took
counsel with herself, and the result OF her
cOgitatioI was that she wrote to Mr.. Ben
yon that a charming little boy had been
born to him, and that GeOrgina had put
him to nurse with Italian peasants, but
that, if he would kindly consent to it, she,
Mrs. Portico, would bring him up much
better than that. She knew not how to
address her letter, and GeOrgina, even if
she should know, which was doubtful,
would never tell her; so she sent the mis-
siye to the care of the Secretary of the
Navy, at Washington, with an earnest -
quest that it might Immediately be for
"afueu' ,,vu was Mrs. P0rticO's last
effort in this strange business of Geor-
gina's. l relate rather a complicated
fact in a very few words when
saw that the poor lady's anXieties,
repentances, preyed upon
her until they fairly broke her down.
Various persons whom she knew in Rome
notified her that the air of the Seven Hills
was plainly unfayOrable to her, and she
had made up her mind to return to her
native land, when she found that, III her
condition, malarial fever had
laid its hand upon her. She was unable
to move, and the matter was settled fer
her in the course of an illness which, hap
PLY. was not prolonged. have said that
Ne was not obstinate, and the resistance
- she made on the present occasion
.hat = worthy even of her spasmodic
Mas NJ Brain fever made its appear
energy, s.Ne died at the end of three
lhce, any Turing which Georgina's atten-
G '.e'so 80 ~, patieut and protectress had
been unremittlng. tho, after this sad
Americans in Rome ,, ~aaved Young
event. extended to the bei> 'itv. She
Iadv every comfort and hOspitaIl, ing
had no lack of opportunities for return.
under a proper escort to New York. she 4
selected, you may be sure, the best, and {
her fathers house, where she
took to plain dressing; for she sent all :
her pocket money, with the utmost 8
secrecy, to the little boy in the Genoese
hills.