Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-07-13
RESEDA.

daughter Giletta, ''thou mayeSt take the one or the other, but decide thou must, and have done with it. I cannot wait until some spirit wooer comes and sues for thy hand, since nothing human seems to satisfy thee. And, If am the richest banker in Rome, and have toiled all my life to amass this wealth, 1t is surely not that my daughter should one day Thou art no longer young"-
 "But, father"-
 "No longer young, I say. Thou vert born in 17e6; today, therefore, thou art 20 years old. For the daughter of a millionaire that may hardly be called young. Thou dost need husband, and l need tranquility. The house is forever full of wooers who futter around thee like the moths around the light, and disturb my peace It is no longer to be- endured. In heavens name, am I a stupid, wandering king, whose daughter propounds riddle to her adorers and leaves them, if they cannot crack the nut, to he beheaded by papaa Once more leave thee to choose, but choose thou must, the one or the other"
 'But whom dost thou mean, dear fathera"
 'Dost think me blinds Dost believe have not seen that among the many suitors only two are pleasing to theea But they also act like idiots When they get sight of thee they find no words for their lips, and devour thee with their staring eyes. Yet they love thee, and that perhaps shows their want of sense"
 ''But, father!"
 "Come now, do but jest. Only again let me tell thee, for the third and last time, thou takest either the Count Moronti or Der. tino Brandani, both charming young fellows, one of them very rich, the other a count, an impoverished nobleman, 'tis true, but we will quickly see to the regilding of the escutcheon Choose, choose, else"-
 "Elses"
 'Elses We'll, wait one more year, but in no case longer. It looks, indeed, as if no one wanted me for father-in-law. Dost wish me thus to sit patiently under a sense of neglectT E. Old Lamberto printed a kiss upon the fore head of his beloved Giletta, and went off to his business, leaving the little daughter to her thoughts And these thoughts strongly echoed her fathers words. Yes, he was right Giletta could no longer oppose so reasonable a wish; she must wed. She must raise this siege of suitors and restore quiet to the house. There was an incessant stream of wooers coming and going. They filled and overrani the place The state of things had grown insupportable and must end. And then, too, this perpetual difficulty of the good papa when any one proposed to her. It was be- coming monotonous. '+I feel myself greatly
 
 should be very happy. Seek to win the favorable regard of my daughter" And always the greater the crowd of lovers the greater the string of decapitations. No, it cannot, it should not continue thus. Giletta must come to decision. Alas were there only some one to tell her who really possessed her heart Was 1t, perchance, young Der tino9 He was noble minded, high spirited, handsome and of fine presence But then the count also possessed all these fine physical and mental advantages. Yes; but then he was count. If she married him, would it not perhaps be said that she chose him only for his titled
 So argued and dal.ied the thoughts of the maiden, and not one of them suggestive enough to bid her listen to the voice of her heart. But then in fact she had no heart, no blood, no passion. She was beautiful, and he who marked the flash of her black eyes, whose splendor contrasted strongly with the soft ivory purity of hcr complexion might take her for a woman of high feeling, a slum- bering volcano But nature hung out false lights here and led the judgment astray. Giletta, by nature cold blooded, knew love only from romance and poems, held it for poetic fiction, and regarded marriage as a more or less troublesome duty to which maiden must submit at the will of her parent. Her father wished it, and Giletta made no struggle, for she was to all good natured creature, and deeply, entirely devoted to her father. If only he had at least chosen for her! "Nowr' asked the banker, as he stood again before his beautiful daughter.
 II have chosen" she said quietly, and with out any sign of feeling.
 'Is it Countess Moronti or Signora Bran dani9'
 ItTha lott yana for thOl1 "Very good, very good, 1t is all the same | to me"
 ''But he has not yet in any way declared himself, and cannot ask for his hand" But thou canst stir him up. The carnival has begun. In few days there will be the Sower Corso-when thou, for example, II know, know," cried the maiden, and closed the old mans mouth. "Give thyself no concern; thou shalt not be kept waiting"
 
 Near the Porto salara, Messer Lamberto owns beautiful villa, which he rarely in- habits It is left in charge of his gardener, the old Gabbadio, who is permitted for cer- tain rental to carry on for his own account a commerce in the fragrant produce Of the gar dens and hot houses. From him the Romans seek their choicest flowers, their most beauti- | full bridal bouquets, their costliest ornamental plants. The old man is master of his art | well versed in all the resources and possi- Utilities of his flowers, in all the mysteries and marvels of the floral kingdom. He treats them as if they were sentient beings, knows their habits their peculiarities, endows them with moral qualities, extols their matchless charms, and even at times chides their fail ings and imperfections. To the tulip he says, ''Why dost thou hang thy loveGness on great bellf' To the hyacinth, "Why hauntest thou so proudly thy colors and thy fragrancer' To the lily, "What dost thou think to achieve 80 great with thy severe purity and chaste in nocenceF' Even of the modest violet he can say at times, 'It is proud of its modesty. its fragrance beguiling the senses, while its root provokes nausea" And as every man by in tercourse with nature acquires knowledge of men, so also with old Gaobadio. "Flow- CTS and men attract each other, fill out, ex- plain each other," he would say. "Tell me I thy favorite flower and will tell thee what thou art. With women the riddle is espe- cially easy to guess. There are showy, mag nificent flowers with glistening leaves, with out fragrance, which only glitter in their