New-York tribune., 1885-03-15
Ill.

Az soon as Lucia was well o.t OF the little town.
sho seemed suddenly to discover that she had plenty
of time to spare, for she let tho mule walk on as
slowly a. he pleased while she herself gaLcd at tho
golden hedge OF broom which borlered tho road ~
Il she were intent on counting its million blossoms
Travelling at this, pace. 1t was noon before she
with rcproaches for her long absence. as would
usually have been the case, her mother spoke 50
pleasantly that ip spite oi % h9r h sS1,neo of mind
She knew how obstinatey bent her mother was
on getting her married. and she began to feel sns-
picions and alarmed 9tro was here long i,ms
Il something In the wind no doubt" And when
evening came. without saving word tn any one.
Lucia dragged her bed from it' place beside her
mothers in the ldrye kitchen. and put IL in little
store room with heavy iron door ana @ grated
window.
were sayingr thought the old woman. as she
watched her daughters proceedings In silent dread
But no. that was ont Of the question: I.uca had
church, for she herself had met her there later 1t
is only another of her whims" she went on, trying
to comfort hcrsclf and it will be easy to spoil the
lock of the door some night before she goes tO bed
Pietro Antonio shall not be thwarted, II can help
it, And having thus made up her mind. she too
went 20 bed; but she was still much pcrturbed
about Lucias odd behavior and she began 10 fear
that tho girl would suddenly take herself of to
Rome and so escape out of her clutches. The more
she thought of It, the more eager she grew to bring
about tito marriage with Pietro without any
further loss of time. aTomorrow she will be hard
at work all day." mused the old woman she will
Is tired ont and sleep, soundy. don't know that
there In likely to bs a better opportunity"
Ali through the night Lucias mother lay wide
awake, tossing to and fro and revolving her cruel
plans in her mind. Early IN tho morning she scot
the previously agreed message to Pictr0 Antonio
and when evening came she put stone in the lock
OF the door, and thought sho had made al safe. -,
Lucia went to her room that night tired cut with
she not too tired to notice that there some
thing amiss with the door She tired II over and
over again, bpt it was all in vain, The lock would
not act, and she gave It up in despair.
She guessed at once what it meant, aud for
moment she stood still, trembling and almost
gasping for breath but in another moment she
had recovered herself. aud made up her mind what
to do. ,
She put out the lamp and lay down on tho bed
just as she was. without undressing; and after
lying there quite still for about an hour she rose
again. slipped quietly out to the stable. fetched
great woodcutters axe, and hurried noisclcssly
Once more slc lay down, keeping her eyes wido
open. listening with oil her might. and hardly
daring to breathe.
thon there was n light stop in the yard, and in tho
house.
One bright ray Of moonlight shonc through the
grated window and made pattern of black and
white bars on one patch of the stone floor. but
otherwise the room was quite dark. and Lucia now
got up and stationed herself IN the darkest corner
Of tho room. But all renamed quite quiet ior
nearly another hour. every moment OK whicn
seemed a century to the poor .grl. At the end Of
this time faint light appeared through tho ciack
of the door, which was gently pushed open, ana
then appeared her mother holding n lamp and
followed by PietrO Antonio, who had q large pair
Of vine shears in his hand.
As they entered. Lucia suddenly advanced from
her corner with the axe uplifed. "Come here. you
coward IL you dare" she cried to the young man.
who stood there speechlsss mOtionlcss. and rs
white as death from surprise and fright.
He looked at the pae faced girl, looked mt the
upfted axe ana her strong aims. and slowly moved
away without uttering word. followed by the OLD
worIinn who was shaking all over t. such degree
that she could hardly stand, while her teeth
chattered loud enough to be heard.
They were gone and all was still again hut
Lucia spent the rest of the night sitting on the bed
side, with her beautiful head resting against the
hard cold stone wall, without yeIturing TO close
her eyes. In the morning she neither spoke to her
mother nor prepared tho breakfast as was her
custom, and kept her mouth more tightly closed
than ever. . ,
When she had washed and dressed. ard plated
her hair carefully than usual, she brought out
the mule. saddel and bridlcd him; but TO her
mothers immense astonishmcnt, instead of pro
ceoding to load him with vegetables. she Just
mou uDtcd and rode away ia the direction OF falenc
The mule trotted along nerrlly and quickly. but
as II was still very early. Lucin stopped him after
while and allowed him TO Craze. while she got down
and lay the grass. resting her weary head on her