The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-03-27

the thought of his staunch and loyal de-
votion. When, at the end of an hours
discreet and undemonstrative CONVERSE
ton, he arose to take his leave, he usu-
ally stopped to kiss her hand, and re-
marked, "Miss %Schwinger, this day has
brought us one day nearer to our mar
rage"
At these words Apollonia's foolish old
heart positively ran riot, and her faded
old checks exhibited a coy little virginia.
blush.
1.-THE dear good manI' she would say
to herself, with a sigh, as she seated her
self on the sofa after his departure. And
then, for some reason or other, the tears
ran silently, one by one, down her
checks, while the knitting needles click
ed nimbly, and the toe of the stocking
grew several inches too long, and shower,
no signs of contracting
1t was in the winter of 1879, 1 think
that Mr.. Breitkopf, a wealthy manufac-
turer from Berne, made his appearance
in the Roman colony. Mr.. Breitkopf,
it was rumored, had come to Italy for
the purpose of buying pictures for his
gallery, and the artists scrambled and
fought for his acquaintance like o pack
of wolves for a fat sheep. His courier
made quite a fortune from artists fees,
and even his dog was made an object of
marked attention. Breitkopf, however,
took his time before making his invest.
ment. He passed by the works of the
most distinguished masters with a mere
passing glance, and expressed the most
unorthodox opinions about everybody
and everything. His taste, if he pos
sessed any such organ, WAS certainly &C.
centric; and a certain obstinate and self
willed independence, characteristic of
the self-made man, inclined him to sub
scribe to no opinion which he suspected
of being en- reggie. After having passed
a month in eXasperating the notabilities
of the artistic fraternity, Breitkopf one
day happened to see the name Anton
Block on the door of Il rather shabby
studio. He inquired of his courier who
Anton Block was, and his courier
shrugged his shoulders, as much as to
say that he was nothing remarkable.
That piqued the manufacturers curiosity.
He knocked at the door and entered the
studio. Within fifteen minutes he had
bought three pictures at five hun
uTcU uOlllTS each. llCGC WIS dClu-
ally an artist whom no one had thought
worth mentioning TO HIM, and that an
artist from Bcrne. his " native city.
1t was the blacklist envy, of couIse,
which had leagued the rascals together
in a conspiracy to keep this great man
from his notice. But he would teach the
courier -bribcrs a lesson; he would show
them that he was not to be duped. The
more he thought of it, the angrier he
grew, and the angrier he grew, the more
he bought. Three more pictures were
transferred to his possession, and two
checks, for fifteen hundred and one thou
sand dollars, to Block pocket-book.
BreitkOpf was in ecstasy; he had dis
covered IA mai of genius from Berne-a
man who, so to speak, knocked the
spots out of all his competitors. He
talked of nothing but Anton Block. All
the foreign correspondents, who had
hitherto studiously ignored the little
man from Berne, suddenly discovered
what a romantic character he was, and
filled columns upon columns with the
story of his poverty and his sudden good
fortune. Block himself, however, &C
copied the latter as nothing but his due.
He behaved with the most admirable
dignity. The only piece of indiscretion
which he committed, under the stimulus
of a pardonable citation, was to kiss
Apollonia on the forehead instead of, as
before, on the hand. But Apollonia
thought that was so marvellous that she
was scarcely surprised at all when he
followed it up with the announcement
that now he was at last in a
position to marry. The only
thing that troubled him Though this he
did not confess to Apollonia) was the
rumors about his former poverty, and the
atIront to his dignity implied in the
efforts of his meddlesome friends to help
him. The newspapers, particularly the
French, made him furious, and he was
consumed with a wild desire to murder
some of those romancing correspondents.
Ills regard for Apollonia, however, re-
strained his wrath, and after some medi-
tation he hit upon a.other plan, which
had the merit OF being both ingenious
and effective. He sent cut superbly en-
gravcd cards-all strictly CONNIE il faut
inviting everybody he knew to "a grand
banquet at the hotel Constant to cele-
brate his engagement with Apollonia
Schwinger. lie gave the proprietor of
the hotel carte blanche, ard only told
him to get up some thing in the best
style he knew, regardless of expense.
1t was a very grand assembly which
greeted MIR, Block that night in the par
lors of the Costanzi. All his NEEDLE
some friends and all mis- pet enemies
were there Italian noblemen, French
and German attaches of legations, artists
of all grades OF eminence and obscurity,
half a dozen monsignori, ladies of lofty
birth and gorgeous toilets, and ladies OF
lowly birth and dowdy toilets-in fact,
everybody who had ever done a kind
or an unkind deed to Mr.. Anton Block,
during the thirty years Of his residence
in Rome, he had honored with an invi-
tation. lie felt as happy as a king when
he took his seat with Apollonia at the
head of the brilliantly decorated ban
quoting board, and he conducted him.
self with a dignity which would have
been becoming an emperor. Apollonia
felt as if ner heart would burst; it posi-,
lively danced to the tune of Mendel-