The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-12-18


she tried satire and informal abuse.
And she was not a little astonished
when she found that for once her BROTH
er was able to stand against all her
weapons and all her cajoleries. There
was that in the eyes Of James Pink
which made her darts glance from him
and leave him untouched.
II tell you what, James; think we
had better 60 to Capri at once. find
Naples quite oppressively hot. We will
take the boat tomorrow morning"
She said this as though her suggestion
| were decision which could not be con-
| tested.
Her brother, however, was equal to
the situation. 'Itwould be inconvenient
for me, dear Maria, just at present. Next
week would be much better. Then L
should be able to place myself entirely
at your disposal"
For reply, Miss Pink rose from the
table, and walked out OF the breakfast
room. This sounds very trivial. But
YOU should have seen the look which
she cast upon her brother ere she left
him, and you should have seen the lady's
demeanor as she turned to 60. There
was something terribly imperious about
one and the other alike. And the other
people in the hotel, who were witnesses
| of the departure, at once assumed that
James and his sister were an ill-mated
man and wife, and that James deserved
the utmost compassion that man or
woman may tender to man.
| Left alone, however, James Pink
showed none of the depression OF the
man who is in chains to his wife, and
who has just had new bond of pain set
upon him. He watched his sister depart
as if she was somebody else's sister, and
not his Maria. Then, with the same
look of citation which had perplexed and
disturbed Miss Pink, he challenged the
room to convict him of aught akin to
misery. Moreover, he called for the
waiter, and gave certain orders about
the evenings dinner in tone OF resolu-
ton that raised him tenfold in the
walters esteem, and altered the opinion
which the other guests in the hotel had
casually formed about him.
Nor was this the limit of his metamor-
phosis He asked for acknowledgements
cious invention which hitherto he had
been content to execrate. And, having al
lowed the waiter to light one for him,
while he held it in his mouth, he left
the room with-of course speaking in
n, Of nr-hapnaru Hvinr
Miss Pink was stupefied to see her
brother pass into the hall of the hotel
smoking cigarette. She had left the
door of the ladies' room open on pur-
pose that she might estimate exactly
the acuteness of the suffering she had
caused James by the manifestation of
her displeasure; that she might see him
in his dependency as soon as possible,
and perhaps, there and then, make pro-
posals for reconciliation. And this was
what met her eyes. But ere she could
recover her equanimity, her brother had
disappeared. A Whit of smoke was all
that remained of him. 1t was very del
icate, aromatic smoke; but did that
make the sin any the less fragrant?
In the meantime, James Pink was
walking towards the city. He was
hailed by countless carmen, who crack
ed their whips at him and cried ''Di!
q sayD in the cool way that's character
istic of the Neapolitan jarvey. There
was no doubling his nationality. His
gait proclaimed it, no less than his
broad red innocent face, and his white
hat above. And who but an English
man of James Pink's type, or German
of the burgher class, would
have gone about the fashion
able part of Naples with q
large umbrella of green silk with a
white lining? But of this and the kin
dred distractions of the streets oul
friend took no heed. He walked with
an air of absorption, looking straight
before him, and holding his head rather
high. Nor was it possible to miscon
strue the light in his eyes. He was the
personifcation of a contented man, go
ing whittier he felt assurance of raising
, his contentment to ecstasy.
1t was marvellous to see with wha
, skill this man, ordinarily the perfection
of clumsiness, found safe path be
tween the noses of the horses of the diff
| ferent cars which, at the crossing by thu
palace and the Theater San Carlo, hotly
competed for his patronage. And it was
equally wonderful that he could go a
, the pace he did, with so hot a sun in thu
heavens. But in truth James Pink ha(
that within him which made him indif
ferent to externals. There was fai
portrait in his mind which attracted al
5 his energies, mental and physical, as
} loadstone gathers to itself environinl
| shreds of steel. And the god Cupid
/ who generally knows what he is about
: though some hold him to be blind, pro
, tected him through all the danger
| which encompassed him.
: Where the road widened into spa
cious public square, the lawyer abrupt
T turned west and left it. The sea wa
again before him, blue and radiant. Be
yond was the white fringe of the myrai
of houses which bind the Bay of Maple
like a snowy marge Of sand. And owe
the houses swelled the Vesuvius, clea
; and enhancing on this bright day
5 methodically putting its smoke toward
the purple shadow of the island of Capri
} a light sketch on the horizon. Closer a
, hand was to be seen the conventions
$ furniture of busy port; maze of masts
: with here and there red or black fun
! mel in their midst, and multitude c
men and boys Longing against wall
| and ratings, and the stout columns c
. granite sunk in the piers as convenien
| tether for the harbor craft. There wa
r uproar enough, in all conscience. Al