The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1885-04-10


cndp Minutes are hours MS watchthe
face grow whittier and yet whittier. rs the
man sits bleeding 10 death. Now, while
long TO faint and lose the dreadful
sight, he rises. and, with tottering steps.
walks across the room and takes up The
violin. With the life-blo0d streaming
from his left arm, once more. and the
last time. he makes the instrument
speak; and agan, | say. the music
comes from him. and not from Luigi.
As he plays, even while wait for what
must follow. | know that such rare
music was never heard on earth rs the
strain to which | listen-fancy ing the
while ! can see the eager wingsuf Death
lowering around the player. To what
can compare itp A poet would term
IL the dcath-song of the swan. IL is the
dcath-song Of genius-one whom the
world never knew-whose own rash act
has extinguishcd the sacred flame.
Strong and wild and wonderful rises
the music for while. Now IL sinks
lower. and lower. and lower. Now II is
so soft can scarcely hear IL; 1t Is ebb-
ing to silence. even ms the heart's-blOOd
is ebbng To death. The face grows
ghastly: the head sinks upon the brcast
the eyes flicker like the dying flame Of
candle; the violin drops from the red
dened hand. and the man falls sideways
Luigi's violin completes the bar his fall
had broken of in The middle; and as 1t
sums up the tragedy IN one long-sus-
tanned passage of hopeless grief. | see
the bloOdless white face of the man,
now dead, or soon to I've dead, lying on
the ruddy floor; while the left arm, mo-
tionless now, rests as it had fallen across
the violin, which those nerveless fingers
had at last been fain to drop.
The music stopped-the spell was
ended. So powerfully was | wrought
upon by the last vision | had seen, that
the moment my limbs resumed their
freedom, | rushed forward and fell
fainting on the very spot on which IL
seemed TO me the man had died. When
i recovered consciousness, | found
Luigi bending over me, and sponging
my face with cold water. He was pale
and agitated, and seemed from physical
exhaustion scarcely G,.a t0 "'. I
rose, and with shudder .ur ..gU
that part of the room where o. : y .4-
tasmagoria had appeared. Nothing was
there now to move me. The familiar
wallpaper, the pictures | had so often
scanned, alone met my eye. As gaZed
round, Luigi, in a whisper, asked:
"YOu saw IL all, then, as | didy'
81 saw it all; could it have been a
| dream"
He shook his head. "If so, three times
T.; 10 a,,ar, dotan Tue Grst tima 7 saiJ
IL ~ eHvuS ue'ai doal. th us' sonnnd tin,a
~ nus oo fa,,n,, mt y,Lot con coz
49,, n'" ;,i,o,, aroiI,or 80 I, "isoyS '''
NV NJ n,o',iI ,,i,'n III, no ans,,'nr could
NO. vV un aSs, ,ie I aslad.
ayyhv did vn,, not cease niaving and
spare me that last sightp"
IL could not. 1t was your impulse to
Il i,of iad mo 10 tiinit its etronge now.
M o"' ~ ~ " on iIS os;aa S,,iooie
and o indnco S Vi m "''1 40 "o through 4 ar
onca nnora pmt IL vii toii ;ts story In
no ono oiSo n A"' ~ VIVA wa W. w.
"V t,rnaJ i,,,,iri,oly aud seeing on
tho carnot a n,ass SSr,o IL eni;ntars nj
Wood vi" Tp ix a. Viii VIII t,n%ied strings and
neg" ,nan, ,vI'ot ho nn5nt This then
was The end "f he mn asterniece Of Stradi,
varus. VIM u WV '''
mower to cease when once Won beganY-,
we're comnelled To NAV through The
whole traGedyyn
II had no mower to stop. Some force
irresistibly comneiled me. / was but
nm instrument: and absurd as il seems,
/ believe that Won. with no Knowledge
of the art woiild have PLAYED lust ms
did,
sBut the musicYp | asked. "The won.
derful musicY"
"That to me- replied Luigi. "is the
strangest thing of ali. Neither YOU MOI
| can recall n single bar of it. Ever
those two or three melodies which, a.
we heard them. we thought would haunt
us, have yanished.n
And il was so. Try how I would,
could fashion no tune nj all like them
at bears ont what | told YOU" sale
Luigi. i'm conclusion. 81 was simply al
Instrument. Indeed. IL seemed thI
whole time not |. but another was play
ing. But here is an end of It,"
Then, late as the hour was we kindlet
a small fire, and consumed every atom