Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-02-21

,,f,nitely more difficult. was. How
would ithave appeared TO Palma! for
myself hopes and fears alike woui1
soop have been ended, but l think
clung to q fruitless hope, unacknow,
lodged even to myself, that the thousand
and one chances Of life might end him
and his experiments together. ! see
now how futile that was. ! told my
self, too. that il there were any God 10
all the universe surely He would pro-
tect her, pure and innocent as she
was" ,.
ave are told" remarked Vsnsittart
dryly, in a certain book not much
read in Italy that His ways are nos
our WAYS a statement in which en-
tirely concur, without prosuming to Oh
fer an opinion Of my own on the suo-
ject."
or serve her, III leave nothing to fate
and chance" said the Italian significant
IL. ~ was a coward--a brutal pot
,roon-to hesitate and hope when her
dear life was at stake; can undo no
thing but the little that remains Tor me
to do | will !"
"And that?"
sis to avenge her DEATH" was the
,eioinder, delivered with dead, dellb-
crate weight Of emphasis on each sepa'
rate word.
visconti, my dear old fellow! In
n calmer mood you will see, even if
your worst suspicious be correct, that
this Corsican dash in your blood won't
Justify you, as a man OF honor, as
gentleman, in seeking such revenge.
Surely you don't seriously contemplate
reyiying the fast-dying vendetta, or the
hiring of a couple OF bravos--after the
fashion of your most noble ancestors
TO lie in wait for Bardi and stab him at
some street.corner b" expostulated the
artist in a tone half jest, half earnest,
as he put his arm through ViscontTs,
and they passed out of the cafe into
the starlit night together.
What a mighty relief to leave that
sitting cafe, with its haring lights and
noise, and to get out into the freedom
and silence Of the night " said Vansit-
tart, expanding his broad chest with a
deep inspiration as he gazed upward
into the intense, my sterious blue of the
Italian summer sky.
S. sky that swarms with golden
bees as Heine says in one Of his lovely
spring-lieder."
visconti made no reply, but strolled
slowly onward, absorbed in his own
gloomy thoughts. Louis Nansittart
made one or two futile efforts to draw
his friend into conversation, but finding
these attempts were by no means APP
preciated at length desisted; and, catch
ing the infection of Nisconti's sombre
mood, walked beside him silent and
meditatiye until they reached the San
Sebastian gate, and were quickly lost
in the dusky shadows Of the still Cas-
cine. where all the trees, the velvet
turf, and the distant olive-gardens were
cleaning with myrads of sparkling fire.
flies.
cit seems to me, Visconti, that a
man could almost grow into poet if
he lived long enough in this Italy of
yours said the artist, throwing him
self full length on the grass beneath a
clump Of trees. Though poets, |
know, are born, not made" he added
laughingly.
See," said Visconti, bending down
to watch FREELY that had alighted near
him, I" see how he burns Unlike the
steady light of taper, this fame pull
safes and trembles, flashes out, and is
succeeded by an instant's darkness.
| Then it CLOVIS and throbs again like
passionate heart-beats made visible
the systole and diastole of the heart are
perfectly represented by the intervals
| Of light and darkness in the FREELY"
"Most true, oh learned leech (! " re-
turned Vansittart, leaning on his friends
shoulder to watch the insect, which
rose at that moment and floated away
into the darkness.
Gas a lost soul flares out into eter-
nal night, or like, more like, my own
eyanished hope" said ViscOnti muSing-
ly; and then, with a sudden reyersiOn
to the conversation they had tacitly
dropped on leaving the cafe, he said
You asked me awhile back if in
tended to revive the vendetta. You
spoke jestingly; answer seriously ::
Yes | do mean to ayenge Palma
Bardi's death. But that cunning devil
shall meet me fairly, and have the same
chance for his life that | have for mine,
fiend as he is ! have not fallen to his
level, however wild my words have
been"
- wish could dissuade you from
such a project, but, knowing you as |
do, know also that the truest kind
ness | can show you will be to refrain
from meddling in a matter cannot
cure"
You can neither dissuade nor help
me from henceforth think of tonight
as seldom as possible, though the day
may come when you shall have good
reason to remember it,"