Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-16
ETRUSCAN PALACE.


BY NINE. GEORGE SAND.
It was . great pile of marble made
Dlt and gray by time. Outside it was
quantity of motley columns, arches,
elconies, wide windows and high doors,
~ cAstella ted roofs, subcovered with
>kpiature domes. Inside it was sue
neion of noble corridors and staircases
vided and separating spacious cham.
-, each one large and grand enough
- kings dancing hall. Once the
sntsr of Florentine gayety and mirth,
uas now the home of Guido LAMBERT,
- last man Of his race; a race which,
~ for its ancient splendor and proves,
ould have been forgotten in Tuscany,
aldo lived in such utter seclusion and
rivacy.
The completing of the palace was the
(oek Of several generations, it being
80 centuries since the first LAMBERT
1 his sturdy retainers began its foun-
H1ion. As it left his hands it was less
1an third of its present size. Each
- there was new head of the family
~ notifications and additions were
Snde. until Guido was master, and with
IN al changes ceased. He regarded
~ old palace more as living, breath
- reality than as an insensate mass of
1one, and he would have scarcely
1oked with more horror upon the dig.
1ne up and scattering of his ancestors
Shes than he would upon altering any
6rt Of the palace which had witnessed
= rise and decline of his race.
Guido LAMBERT was already past his
twentieth year, and his long flowing
Vkite hair and still longer beard made
N seem twenty years older than he
~. He and his beautiful grand.daugh.
- lived alone in the ancestral palace
1oh their servants.
His father, Giuseppe LAMBERT, mar.
- singer, q pretty little doll.hke
ing, out of one of the theaters in
ene. Though he was the head of his
6mily, his brothers and sisters sharpely
1ticised him for choosing such bride;
E&pt that there was any harm in the
EWoman-they only despised the manner
E1e her former life. They went so far
9TH their resentment that Giuseppe,
nGered and dsgasted, drove them
1ny and refused to listen to the apollo
plIe pleadings which they were then
E6neer to make.
But they had their revenge.
Failing in their efforts and attempts
We reconciliation, they filled Florence
Nth such malicious stories about
+ Hiussppe and his pretty wife, that the
house Of Lapberti was for many years
Harvard regarded with scorn and con.
'>empt.
When Guido was born. two years af.
Gor Giuseppe's marriage, and the family
Gstrangement, death closed the eyes,
|nnd forever ended the sorrows of the
vile of the head of the house of Lam
bsrti. Once again Guseppe's relatives
Iossayed peace-makiDg, believing that
sorrow had sufficiently softened his
heart to make him approacable. They
1niscal however, for he was
unore bitter than ever toward his broth
"a and sisters, and drove them away.
swearing that they were the guilty and
abominable cause of his wife's death.
Guido's youth was surrounded by al
most incessant repetitions of the story
Of his fathers marriage and its results.
u consequence of the painful and un.
pleasant incidents before his birth,
His mothers mind was so affected that
Guido's nature, from the very first, was
mX>ursr. II ha
harsh things which were likely to be
lid if he ever entered social life, Guido
adopted the secluson which his father
had constantly maintained since the
death of his wife.
Music wa, Guido's solace and consola-
tion, until his twenty-second year, when
he accompanied his father on a journey
Through Northern Italy. Then, the
beauty and grace of Venetian lady
made Guido LAMBERT forsake his violin
for the softer and rarer music of
Woman's voice. She found it easy to
love the sensitive young musician, and
bon became his wife.
The old palace in Florence was closed
and for ten years Guido LAMBERT lived
Ia Venice with his wife and father. 1t
was then that he returned to Florence,
bringing with him only little girl of s
or year,. In answer to the questions
Of his small circle of friends, he simply
said:
my wife and my father both died in
the North. have only my little daugh-
ter left"
There was something in his manner,
whenever he said this, which seemed to
I..t 10 h,t in, ka hnl Laa..
fsarfully wronged; but he never entered
into anything further than this vague,
general explanation, and never COM
plAined of his fate whatever it was.
He now devoted himself entirely to |
his music, and to the education of his
daughter, and the seeming atmosphere
0f perfect content which encompassed |
him soon disarmed the suspicious of his
friends and they ceased wondering.
And so life went on with unvarying
evenness in the LAMBERT palace for
fifteen years. Guido's daughter, at this
time woman of nearly "a, was even
nore beautiful than her mother had
been. Her twenty.fourth birth day
WAS to be celebrated by once more
Throwing the old palace open to the
ray. brilliant social life of Florence.
Elaborate preparations were made for
tlse event, and it was anticipated with
tho most feverish eagerness by the in
vjled guests. But to their surprise and
horror. the old palace was dark and
namber, on their arrival there, on the
night appointed for the birthday festi.
"a. The servants refused to answer
nv summons at the door, until the ex-
Dited people, fearing foul play, appealed
10 the police. One OF the servants then
slip of paper, containing the
showing words, in the handwriting of
anido LAMBERT, and authenticated be-
rond doubt. by the imprint of the an
Vent family seal:
~. Guido LAMBERT, have closed my
r>6 ood The home Of my ancestors for J