The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-04-17

WdIcneu neF Ike CdIS uuCll All6SlO was
well and back in Turin. AS his letters
grew regular she regained her appe-
tite and was soon her joyous self once
more. -
1t was my plan to join Miss Leslie in
Venice that spring, but before 1 left
Florence l bought a wedding present
for Annina, which / confided to Pastor
Comba's care. She besought me to come
to her wedding. which was to take place
in September, and sobbed when l told
her that in September I hoped to return
to America.
sYou will be in Europe again P" she
said. lifting her fearful face from my
shoulder.
Eyes, 1 shall come to Europe again."
1 replied.
''Then you must surely pay Allesio
and me a long visit" She put her
mouth close to my ear. 81 shall be
his wife," she whispered. 81 shall be
Annina Ghiandaja."
Comba, and I tore myself free from
Animals clinging arms.
She wrote me several letters that
summer. She seemed very happy, for
she was travelling with her parents. and
1ltColO a. Will buClh lol dWullC. LII
September, as / was speeding toward
way carriage saw that 1 was reading
Italian, and addressed me in that
tongue. He was very polite to me, in
a banker in Turin !; so l asked him if
he knew Giovanni Comba, the silk mer-
chant.
Eyes, indeed" he replied; 81 know
him and his family very well. Are you
acquainted with them P"
"With the signora and with An
Nina" I said.
"Ah, Annina," he repeated. 81
trotted her on my knee the other day,
and now she is engaged to be mar
| ried."
ITO Allesio Ghiandaja," I added.
"He is not worthy of her." said the
old banker. "He drinks and he gam
bles. He went to Paris last spring, and
returned half dead from the effects of
dissipation. 1 hope Comba will break
off the match. Little Annina deserves
a better husband"
Just before the steamer sailed from
Liverpool I received a letter from An
nina. She wrote in the gayest of spir.
its, although she told me that her mar.
rage had been postponed.
"Dear Allesio must go to Lyons on
business" she wrote, ''but he will soon
return. I have made him a little trav-
cling cap of blue silk, and you cannot
think how well he looks nit. He says
that he will not dare wear it, for all the
girls will fall iu love with him, and he
will surely be carried off by somebody.
tAnd then,' he adds, what would you
do, Annina, mtaa' All, what should I
do"
So she a on for ten pages-Allesio,
Allesio, always Allesio. 1 answered as
soon IS I reached New York, and in
the next letter I expected to hear of
Annina's marriage. As the weeks
slipped by 1 pictured the child on her
wedding journey, too happy to write to
me or anybody else. The new year
dawned, a clear, frosty day, the sky a
dazzling blue, and the air full of pow
derry snow that blew off the house-tops.
On such a day the sentimental traveller
thinks of orange groves, of gray olive
orchards, of the blue, tideless sea
breaking on the Southern coast. 1t
was on that day that 1 received my last
letter from Annina; for, although had
written to her several times, she had
ignored me completely. After I read
it L brought out the letter that had
reached me in Liverpool, and re-read
that, hardly able to believe my own
eyes. Some day 1 mean to go to Europe
again, and I shall certainly look up An
nina. / do not know what to think of
her. The letter L received in
Liverpool was wrfsten in August;
the letter I received in New
York was written four months later.
The last letter 1 will translate as
literally as possible, keeping the original
punctuation. Such a neat letter! 1
wonder if she dashed it off at fever
heat, or composed it carefully, biting
the pen-holder with her white little
teeth, and wrinkling her pretty brows!
If lcould answer this, I should think
that l understood the mystery.
PIAZZA D'AzEGLIo.
TURIN, 4 December.
DEAR MISS PENNIMAN:-Since last |
wrote to you, so much has happened
that my poor brain is in quite a whirl.
1 am the happiest of women, the wife
of the best of men and mistress of the
prettiest house in all Turin. Jus think,
a whole house! Mamma, who still
lives in an apartment, envies me, ]
know. 1t is a great thing to be mar
ried. Everybody treats me with re
! spect, even mamma, but 1 must except
my cook, Assunta, who used to be my
!. nurse and who still considers me {
| child and scolds me. l was mar
! ried in white silk (hand embroid
eredD and my husband gave me
pearls to wear. He is so good
so kind! I love him better every
l day, if that were possible. Dear uncle
, married us; and then went to Africa tt
| rescue the heather from their darkness
We all pray that he may succeed in hi
labors and that his health may hole
| good. Aunt Maria went with him
) She wore her old gray silk at the wed
ding, and cried all the time. 1 neve,
saw her cry before, but 1 suppose she
was thinking of Africa.
After the wedding, the journey! NJ
7 husband let me plan the route. 1coulC
not decide, so he helped me, and w,
bought g~uidebooks and maps, and final
: ly we made up our minds to trave
through our wi country. l had neve
: been farther south han Florence. w
l visited Genoa and Pisa, and finally wen
to Rome, and spent two delicious week
there, visiting those monuments thai
. history has rendered so familiar. w,
both caught cold, and my husband wa
: ill for two days and l nursed him, glat
| TO show my devotion and yet grievet
that he should suffer! He recovered en-
tirely and we were able to proceed tt
Naples, where we fingered in raptur,
before that beautiful bay SO often de
4 scribed in prose and poetry. Then OIL
:. ~toPompeii!I thought of that terrible da,
when Vesuvius overwhelmed the smi
ling country and dealt death to men a
. their labor, ONE with their children
in their arms. My husband bought IN
+. some Pompeiian ornaments for mydraw
ing room, but they were so ugly that
was not sorry when, on arriving home
I found that l had left them in the hote
e at Naples.
l At last the journey was over and W
rot,rnoI 70 rTur;p W. ~ ,or -