The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-18

s nizad entrAtiea that he would save her husband. Unhappily, the officer in command dared not dispute the or ders he had received, and the revela- ton that one of his most dangerous enemies had fallen into his hands only confirmed Bellamonte's doom.
 "The colonel was apprehensive of the effect of the scene if prolonged upon his men and bade them prepare to carry out the sentence at once. Margherita's shrieks at first were ter rible to hear; they mingled with those of the child and the man. But when she saw that there was no hope of mortal aid and small space for parting, she collected herself with an extraordinary effort of will, that she might not ernbitter and lose these last moments. Bellamonte's courage had never seemed to waver, but the sound of her wall, he said, was worse than death to him. He appealed to Mar gherita's brother for the protection of his wife and child, until such time as they should be able to leave for Eng land, whither he begged her to go WltnOut uclay, Vo Als auut.
 "The brother, & weak creature, was too helpless and unnerved to answer. Inchkeith came forward and told Bell lamonte that he was resolved to relin- quish his commission at once, and that he would never leave the contessa and her child till he had brought me to their help, or had handed them over himself to their relations in England. He thanked him and gave him mes- sages for me.
 "After this Bellamonte called the boy to him and kissed him, took his wife in his arms for one long minute, and then firmly disengaged himself from her clinging hands. She was barely conscious when he handed her over to Inchkeith, and said: 'Take her away at once.' Then he walked away with firm step between his guards, through trailing vines festooned from tree to tree, towards the fatal field. She revived after he had disappeared, and could not be kept back from fol- lowing him, despite Inchkeith's des- perate endeavors to restrain her. When she reached the open space her husband was standing about one hun dred yards away and soldiers drawn up in line before him, waiting for the word to fire. She fell on her knees beside an olive tree from sheer inabil- ity to stand and wound one arm round its old gnarled trunk to support her. self
 "Inchkeith said that most strange and terrible scene will haunt him to his dying day; it all took place with such extraordinary rapidity. The afternoons sunshine flooded the coun- try; the silence was only broken by the distant sounds of peaceful labor and the shouts of children at their play, unconscious of the tragedy that was being enacted 8 few hundred yards away. The little line of sol- diers, with their accoutrements fash ing in the sunshine; the solitary fig ure of the man who was bearing himself so bravely, standing where ought to have been, his bright and happy life suddenly to be cut off for no fault or crime; beneath the olive tree the pale and wasted beauty, bowed with her great agony, in the gay contadina's dress, still uncon- sciously wearing the Ophelia garland with which her husband had crowned her quarter of an hour before.
 "When the flash came from eleven rifles, Inchkeith clapped his hand over her eyes, but they were darkened al- ready, and at the sound of the report she fell to all appearance as lifeless as her husband on the grass. No one had any attention to bestow on Luigi, or had noticed when he started running towards his father, crying bitterly. He reached the spot just as Bellamonte fell dead, pierced with eleven bullets. The child threw himself on the body, shrieking aloud, and the soldiers, all unnamed themselves, tried in vain to draw him gently away. At last he tainted and was carried to the covered cart that was waiting close by.
 'Inchkeith, gathering up the con- tessa as easily as if she were child, placed her beside her boy. The body of the dead man was carried on a stretcher in front, the soldiers closed in behind, and the cart with its un- conscious burden brought up the pro- cession. Margherita Bellamonte only awoke some hours afterwards to fall into raving delirium. The sufferings of the last four years had been gradu- ally wearing her away the last cruel shock was the finishing blow. After 8 few days raving and tossing, she, too, was at rest.
 "The child had been lying ct deaths door with brain fever, but the doctor had that morning declared that he would recover, though he hinted darkly at possible lifelong conse- quences of that fatal day.
 aWhen Inchkeith had finished his