The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-06-19

misery or the old dead days but made this
| moment the sweeter. / lifted up her
| beautiful blushing face bent my head, and
then, for the first time in my life, my lips
| touched the lips of woman. Earth never
| knew a purer kiss.
When the hour came for me to go she
| twined her white arms about my neck and
! her eyes filled with tears.
''Partings-continual partings" she said.
''That is all life seems to hold Why must
1.-The day may soon come when we need
| not part,n answered 1T is for YOU to
| say when that day shall be.'
Il am yours whenever you want me-"
she murmured, creeping more closely to
me.
''Then," cried, ''you shall be my wife
| tomorrow"
For moment she was silent, but there
was another sound in the room; sound,
too, which at first made her shudder. 1t was
such tremulous cadence as might be
brought from lutte if one lightly touched
all of its chords at once, only that it ended
with sigh. Three times the sound was re-
| peated, and each time it was fainter than
before. My wonderment was banished in
stantly by an unexpected caress on the part
| of my betrothed Standing upon her tip
toes she had raised her lips to mine and
kissed me.
''It shall be you say" she said, smiling
at my surprise.
The next day we were married For
year we lived together in uninterrupted
happiness, sometimes in Rome, sometimes
in Florence, sometimes in Venice. As she
| seemed most contented in the latter place
we were there the greater part of our time.
On the anniversary of the day of our first
meeting she was strangely quiet and down
| cast. At nightfall we stood together in the
same balcony where, a year before, she
sang that sweet French ballad as my gon-
dola was passing My arm was about her
or nd / 1nf,, FnoI
of her heart.
why are you so agitated and yet so
quiet2" l asked.
II can not answer you now" she said
Shut beg that you will sit here and hold
me in your arms until midnight
Presently she seemed calm again, and
once more the French ballad rang out
along the lagoon from her perfect throat
Apparently there was no change in the
scene, outwardly, since the year before.
Barges and gondolas were fitting about in
all directions, and from everywhere came
music, laughter and merry voices. My wife
sang song after song, until she was tired,
and then, pulling my face down to hers
with both her hands she kissed me.
1T was just year ago tonight" she
said, that you first came to me. had
already seen you many times, and loved
you with my hearts first love. l sang that
night because l hoped that my song might
reach your ears and bring you to me. You
did come under my balcony, and ! kissed
the lilies that your hands threw to me.
Danger came, and you saved me. You
loved me at once, and so we were married
Since then | doubt if God, whose eternal
curse once thought was upon me, has ever
given so much happiness to any woman"
Her large dark eyes were luminous and
full of tears, and her face had never seemed
so beautiful to me before. | was about
answering her, when suddenly the air
about us was filed with a strange kissing
sound, which made my wife's flesh culver
like shaken jelly. She clutched me closely
and looked wildly up into my face. The
smile she saw there seemed to content her.
for she gave little sigh of relief and
nestled quietly down into my arms.
All at once the kissing stopped and q
shadow fell across us. Before could raise
my eyes my wife again uttered the same
dreadful cry which had summoned me to
her assistance year before.
us the same demon or goblin whom l
banished on that memorable night when
| first met my wife. He was grin
ming and chuckling fiendishly, and
bending over her, he breathed his hot
breath into her face. At first she trembled
with terror, and then, recovering her self
possession, she raised her head and gazed
unhinchingly into his eyes. 1t was more
than he could stand, and he vanished
almost instantly
Then my wife's eyes were bent upon my
face, so searchingly and so yearningly
that pressed her passionately to my
| breast and covered her face with kisses.
''You still love me-you still trust me."
she said.
Eyes; more than ever before
"How hard your tenderness makes my
| duty !" she gasped. ''If was not such
| coward-was not SO much afraid of losing
| some portion of your love--I would now
| tell you that which was due you year
| ago"
''Do not speak of it or think of it." an
| swered. $50 long as you love me, and are
happy with me, am satisfied
Zone thing must say" she said, ''else
! our love will soon be desolated You must
be with me on the next anniversary of this
night and must keep your arms about me
| from sunset until midnight. After that l
| will forever be safe.'
was puzzled, amazed and bewildered by
the whole affair; but the subject distressed
| and panied her, and | loved her too well to
| let her talk about it. And, lest she should
fathom my thoughts, kept the uncanny
mystery as much as possible out of my
| mind.
Two months later we went to live in
| France and finally in Germany. Except
ing month, another year had passed since
our wedding.
One day at the beginning of this last
month, was walking alone in the forest,
when suddenly caught one foot under
some hard substance which nearly flung
me upon my face. CHANGING back at the
| cause of possible disaster, ! saw, partially
imbedded in the ground, thin oval plate,
which seemed to have several words en-
| graved upon one side. Picking it up, |
| found that it was made of silver, and that
it was very old. The inscription, which
| was in Italian, was as follows:
MICHAEL SPEzZI,
| Claimed by the Devil,
| June 10, 1860.
On my way home met German savant
with whom | was intimate. ! showed him
the plate, and was surprised to see an eX-
preston of the most intense horror come
upon his face
There is terrible story connected with
this thing" he said, after a moment,
'Michael Spezzi was a half German, half
Italian, who came here into the Hartz
| Mountains about 1880. He was of royal
| blood, and married a niece of the King.
Five years later a daughter was born to
| them, and soon afterward they fell into
disfavor with the King and went to live in
| France. But when SpeZZi's beautiful
daughter was about twenty-five disaster
again came upon him. He had no alterna-
tive, so history says, except appealing to
the devil. The fiend came in answer to
Spezzi's incarnation, and promised him
every thing he wanted The price de-
manded was the soul of Spezzi's beloved
daughter. After a time the unfortunate
man signed the compact, but within
begged that his own soul might be sacrificed
| 4 .zfh &.