The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1884-01-01
CLARA DI VENEZUELA.
Texas SiftingA]

CHAPTER I.
1t Is night in the castle of King Rodriguez
di Venezuela-night In the castle, and above
the castle, and around about the castle every
where-night when the darkness lends his
robes to monster fear, and heavens black
mantle, banishing the light, drapes every
thing in forms Of ugly, Japanese-art-work
woe. From within the heavily mullioned
windows, lights fash out and even gid the
gloom.
The low, unhealthy moan Of the trace
| chained bull dog without mingles with the
tempestuous. gang-saw voice Of tho mosquito
within, and the soughing winds whistle
through the turrets of the royal hen house
like an asthmatic fat man climbing over a
fence.
1t is n festal night in the castle. Philip st.
Vincent Vermicilli, the sole heir OF the lordly
house of Vermicilli, has arrived and pulled of
his boots. Is not the mission OF his errand to
demand tho hand of the Princess Clara, the
only. lovely daughter of King Rodriguez di
Venezuelai
Its.
An the noble knights of the realm are as
sembled in the stately, grand ancestral halls
of the castle. King Rodriguez ascends the
throne ON a step ladder. All is as still as
death, and each Of the noble guests could
have distinctly heard a dray-pin drop on a
nigger's head in the wide, wide waste OF fres-
| coed court yard far below.
But it didn't drop.
The king raises his voice and e~locutes:
"Gtand forth, most noble Vermicilli; and
you, too, me well beloved daughter, Clara;
form in a hollow square in dress parade be-
fore me"
with slow and carefully measured steps the
pair approach. and kneel at the big foot of
the throne-vermicili with a proud, naughty,
observation-disclosures air, and the Princess
Clara deeply veiled and trembling with a
large and varied assortment OF agitation.
Her royal father remarks in a voice in
| which patarnal affection and fine cut struggle
for tho mastery:
"Do you, most lordly, courtly Vermicilli,
accept the hand of my beautiful daughter,
the worshipful Princess ClaraF"
81 do" CIRCULATED the happy, expectant
lover.
"And you, me daughter, do you accept the
hand of the noble Vermicillif'
As the Princess Clara heard these words,
she glanced up with a quick. intelligent look
on her handsome, heavily powdered features,
and with a sudden jerk tore tho wedding veil
from her back hair. Tall and stately es she
draws herself up with the innate modesty Of
a telephone pole, she captures the heart Of
every beholder. Large, luminous eyes,
flashing Jet black hair. and feet-but we can
not describe them. We have not space
enough in this paper to do them justice.
Before the words OF her father cease to
reverberate throughout the grand and gloomy
corridors, she dlsgorges a wild, impassioned
shrek, and kneeling before the throne in
agonlzed tones, and with tears coursing down
her nose, she clamorously appeals to her
father:
"spare me, oh, noble sirei Fancy my feel
Ing linked for life to a man rs years old,
bow-legged, with commercial teeth, and a
nose like the Orient at sunrise. Do not ask
your daughter to throw herself away, and
blight her life for all time and eternity.
Better resolve yourself into a committee OF
the whole, and reconsider the vote, old
man."
As he heard these cruel words, a large
az. 80 frown arose at Vermicilli's collar-but-
ton, envcloped his whole face and throat-latch,
and, passing over his Parian marble brow,
slipped down into the pack of his neck. The
old king could hardly believe his own ears,
but as they had never gone back on him be
fore, he concluded to trust them. Drawing
himself proudly up, he gradually assumed an
utterly impossible attitude, and with clenched
flsts and livid countenance. he howled:
'Hal Base Kitei Ne own daughter
turned tra-a-a-itressi 1t Is too much. Tell
me that me ears deceived me. Say, oh, I'M
say those cruel. baleful words. Say that
you will wed with vermicilli, and all shall
be forgivenr'
mo, father" said the girl, gesticulating
like a pair of governor balls on an engine,
'ft can never be. 1 will only marry the
best and noblest man in the world. 1 want
no hand me-down relic, who looks as though
he had been snatched out of a secondhand
store. Call a ournamen of the most illus
trious youth known to chivalry. and put an
advertisement in the papers that / will
marry the one with the most noble carriage,
the chcest in the land, he who shows off to
the best advantage. That's me, that's your
own daughter, Miss Clara"
"Well,n said the king, as he fell back in his
chair thoroughly bluffed, of that is the case,
] suppose you must have your own way. Sir
Vermicilli, 1 heartily beg your pardon for
the slight Inconvenience to which you nave
been subjected, but it seems to be the best l
can do for you to-day. This court will now
stand adjourned"
"a Vermicilli never forgives nor forgets
an insult, sir. Just make a note of that. 1
have been deeply ounde in my most sensi-
ktive feelings, and ridicule has been heaped
oh, my personal appearance. Nought but
b-bblud, and a good deal of it, can wipe the
insult OUT
Win ueSe Worus, Nermicill melted ma1es-
tically from the room, and was never seen
Afterwards. A sigh of relief escaped the lips
of all present, and the company made a wild
break for the dining-room, where a superb
wedding supper WA prepared, including all
the delicacies OF the reason, embracing sar-
dimes and pie.
Five days and nine hours are supposed 20
elapse between the first and second chapters.
CHAPTER H.
When the proclamation was given out in
the country that a grand tournament was to
be held, OF which the Princess Clara was to
be the first prize, the novelty of the proposal
set the whole nation on fire. The news
spread like magic, and all the young men
had high hopes of winning the prize. The