Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1889-11-08
THE VEIL OF DEATH,

reidleu 10 the most ancient families
OF the Roman patriciate, the count
had made n marriage of love. He
had espoused, five years previously,
the daughter of Prince Ciuella-su-
perb and placid as a Raphael blonde
and stately as a Titan. A cultiva-
ted man-elegant, young, handsome,
loving, and beloved-the count could
not be other than perfectly happy,
and he was. During eight months
OF the year, from November to June,
he dwelt in Florence. the city OF
palaces and pleasures. At the periods
of intense heat he came to Casamic-
cola andinstalled himselfin coquet-
tish, vine-clad, little villa, hung on
the TANKS of the mountain, by the
side of the sea, between the blue of
the water and the blue of the sky-a
corner made for reading love-stories
and for loving. He lived here during
the summer, enjoying with his wife
the solitude duck, drinking in long
draughts of love, enchanted with
the sunlight-a spoiled child of for
tune.
One suffocatingev evening toward the
last of July, the count, according to
his custom, shortly after dinner
kissed his wife and went out. 1t was
about eight O'Clock. The air was
sultry and oppressive; not a breath
of wind stirred among the leaves of
the fig and orrange-t trees, white with
dust. The sea, of an azure OPAQUE
and profound, stretched away to-
ward the horizon, smooth as n sea
of oil, and the sky, saturated with
heat, was of blue so intense and
implacahle as to appear stone gray.
Along the winding streets, peas
ants, seated on the doorsteps, were
drinking Sicilian wine from the wide
mouthed, leathern bottles. and
groups OF beautiful young GIRLS.
brown as the Florentine bronzes.
flung back and forth, amid pearls OF
laughter, flowers less red than the
coral of their lips. Bareiooted ur-
chins, with eyes of jet, were driving
the white goats slowly homeward;
long after they had passed, the
tinkling of the little bells. hung
round their necks, could be heard.
This charming spectacle, always
the same, yet always new, never
wearied the count. He reached the
foot of the hill and passed rapidly
out on to the quay. The night had
come, superb, and the stars appeared,
one by one, like eyes Of gold looking
down on the slumbering island.
Suddenly, in "a second, in less time
than it takes the lightning to flash.
the earth trembled, as if shaken bv
the march of invisible armies-armies
OF giants. The sea, chopping and
agitated, hurled it's waves together
in wild confusion; the heavens yelled
themselves in black; II sulphurous
wind, like blast from furnace.
breathed devastation; and in the
awful darkness, the count, terrified.
recommending his soul to God in that
supreme instant of lucidity which al
ways precedes n dreadful death. was
thrown violently forward on his face.
Tire first thing which Count Jeppi
saw IN regaining consciousness, was
a star looking down at him, then
two, then three, and all the beautiful |
cortege of the silent sky. He remain |
eel motionless for a few moments. I'M |
certain what had happened to him,
then he arose and walked few steps;
had taken place? What formidable
power had thrown him, unresistine
to the ground? The armorous sea
was washing the beach with its sill
very waves, the heavens were clear
as the eyes of a bride, gentle breeze
was stirring-all was calml Yet,
strange circumstances he no longer
recognized the country about him,
The horizon seemed to him more
even and more level than before.
Suddenly, hecomprehended all, the
truth-the earthquakes Like
I sword piercing him to the soul, q
vision of his wife buried beneath the
'uins filled linn with mortal anguish.
He started on the run in the direc-
ton of his villa. Was she DEADLY
ng-or living still? She was crushed,
perhaps, her lovely body a shapeless
mass, caught between two walls.
dorrorl All! how one suffers in such
moments. Would he arrive in time?
The count shook his fist at the sky,
sreat tears rolling hown his cheeks.
lie did not even take the trouble to
wipe them away. He hurried on STUN
Ding at every step among the stones
md heaps OF timber, treading On dark
objects which moved and groaned.
The air was rent with terrible cries
ries of animals in torture.
thrill cries of children, agonized
sroans of women, loud at first,
hen weakening little by little and
easing in the death-rattle. There
we're despairing calls through the
darkness, "Fatherp' "Motherl"
SOIL" and invocations to the divine
ne.cy, "Jesul Maria Santissimal"
Id every stone, every ruin gave
birth q groan. The count passed
hadows staggering like drunken
ZEN, walking on tiptoo with arms