Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-09-04
CHAPTER xxx.

Il MADONNA DI TEMPT
Beatrice's letter, after having been De.
rused and commented upon by the Talberts.
was sent on to Frank Carruthers. A note
from Herbert was inclosed with it. "You
viii see"-he wrote-'that this letter is as
unsatisfactory as its predecessors. It gives
us absolutely no information as to where she
is or why she left us. Now that we are
assured Of her being well, and, we suppose.
safe, our feeling about her prolonged and
unexplained absence is more than regret-it
is, in fact, serious annoyance. We find it
quite a strain to answer inquiries about her
without contradicting one another"
Naturally the envelope which bore Her
bert's handwriting was the first opened by
Ca~rruthers, and Of course he read Beatrice's
letter before he read Herbert's. He searched
the former in vain for his own name, little
thinking how the writer had sat for a long
time before she could bring herself to seal
her letter without sending him a crumb of
comfort. He then read Herbert's common
tary and smiled family as he drew a ludicrous
picture of Horace and Herbert making
counter statements to their friends. He
unused a while, holding Beatrice's letter in
his hand. Her fingers had touched that
sheet Of paper; SO he actually pressed it to
his lips, and in doing so caught a faint lin
gering odor of what be remembered was her
y favorite perfume. 1t was clear that Mr..
. tCarruthers' disease was as rampant as ever.
By and by be turned to see what else Fate
had brought him. Nowadays Fate shoots
many of her arrows from the general post
Office. Carruthers found among other let.
tiers one addressed in q woman's handwrit-
ing. It had been sent to Oxford and at
Oxford redirected to London. He openedit
carelessly and found it contained. q half
sheet Of note paper, o. which was written:
Remember your promise. Wait, oh, be
patient and waltz"
CarrutheTs threw it aside with a bitter
smile. He well knew who was the writer.
Waitl What was there to wait fora How
ever, the sight of those words brought back
the memory Of that strange nocturnal visit;
of the womans earnest, even impassioned
appeal to him, to ''wait five, ten, twenty
years for the one he loved.n Why should
she write now and repeat the appeal2 She
who knew everything; she who had accom-
panied Beatrice and who was probably with
her now.
He could not get the memory of that
strange creature with her dreary belief, vet
unswerving faith as to his own future, from
his mind. At the time the woman's earnest
ness had impressed him more than he cared
to confess. Superstition is a quality to the
possession of which no man of our time is
willing to own, not even to himself. Yet
waine men out of ten are superstitious.
X Carruthers told himself that such hope as
he had gathered from Mrs. Miller's words
was simply gathered because he believed her
to be in Beatrice's confidence. Here he was
wrong. 1t was the woman's broad but alb
solute assertion, uttered with the passionate
inspiration Of a prophecies Of old, that happi-
ness in this world awaited him and Beatrice,
which had been Of aid to him in his trouble.
If faith can move stubborn mountains, why
not a heart which is willing enough to move
in a particular directionl
And now this woman repeated her mes
sage, and, as Carruthers read the letter, told
him his case was no more hopeless than il
was months ago.
He took the note which he had crumpled
up and tossed away; he spread it out and
read 1t again. He found, moreover, that il
was written on paper similar to that used by
Beatrice, and upon turning it over he saw
on the back a few words in pencil. They
were written SO family that he had to carry
the note to a strong light in order to de
cipher them.
The words were madonna di Tempt
and to the best Of his belief, as experts say
when giving evidence, the handwriting wa
Beatrice's.
What did the words mean, and how fal
would they aid him in finding Beatrice
~ IT. .Ao.. aaff1a1 fn hfa mind that ggnToIo-ns
di Tempt" must be the name Of a picture
But what picturel Where was it to b
found2
OF course, it did not follow that ~supposin,
he could ascertain all about this picture
which might or might not be a world
famed one, that he would find Beatrice neai
it. Nevertheless, the clew was worth fol
lowing. He would have followed a fine
clew than this to the end Of the world OF
the chance Of its leading him to Beatrice
So he at once set about the task Of gettinl
information, if information could be got
respecting a picture called the madonna d
Tempt He hoped, but his hopes were no
very strong. Indeed, be could not he'll
comparing his case to that Of the fair Sara
Gems, who found her lover by the aid Of tw
words. Yet she was better off than be wa:
She at least had the name of a place for on
Of her talismanic words. He had the nam
Of what he supposed to be a picture; moth
ing more.
Mr.. Carruthers was not one Of the inne
circle Of art worshippers. His sAllet, h
~ sturm und dfang, his emotional days, wei
we'll over before the era Of blue and wifi