Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-12-23

wrungs; but love 10 recall the. for the thought of them makes me strong. Have you ever wondered at my past his- sory. Camillia?"
 ..Neyer."
 II was born beneath . princely roof, eradied in the luxn,y of a palace: the nan called my father was duke-the wonan. whose gorgeous beauty smiled upon my infancy, was Q duchess !'
 ''They were your parents?" exclaimed Camilla.
 ..I was taught to think %. They wore of the Italian race, and sprang from one of the most powerful families of the south-a amily whose pride had become a proverb throughout Italy.
 ."rhey had been married for some years, and had grown weary of hoping for an heir to tho ancient name which, if they had died without posterity, would have become extinct. Disappointed in his hope of rerpetuating his noble race. the duke had grown indifferent to his beautiful wife; nay, something worse than indifference had arisen-eomething borderin. on dislike. which, in spite of his efforts, he was unable to con- ceal. The duchess came of house at- most as noble as that of her husband. She was naughty and imperious woman and she was not slow to perceive this change in the manner of the duke. She discovered. that in the very primo of her youth and beauty she was despised by her husband. The bitterness of this dis covery changed her very nature. Every day she grew more naughty. more ex- acting. more capricous. Shs shut her self from the gay world in which she had teen admired, and abandoned herself to mute but terrible despair"
 Poor woman. she sufieredT mur- mured Camilla.
 ! A,,A A not make her more pitiful to others when their time of suffering came. It hard ened her nature, and made her merci less. as all injustice must ever do. The duke observed this gloomy suencc-this dumb despair. He could not restore to ter an affection which he no longer felt; but he sought to revive her spirits by change of scene, and by those hollow pleasures which are tho Sole resource of the idle"
 .'vain solace! Poor. lady, she was in- deed to be pitied."
 .Ay, but her naughty soul would have rejected pity as the direst wrong. The duke left Italy. and took her to Paris, where, in the midst of the gay and frivolous, she might forget her domestic griefs; but in France, as in Italy. she refused to share in the pleasures of the world of rank and fashion, and oosti- uately shut herself in her own chamber"
 ..Yet she did not die! Strange that such sorrow could not kill Y
 ''Sorrow does not kill. Even her beauty suffered no elimination. 1t was still in the full splendor of it's iuxuriance. dark, proud. commanding, queen-like. Have you ever heard, Camilla Mora quilos, of tho secrets of Paris? Have you ever heard of the mysteries of that wonderful city. in which almost every | 8, rect has it's secret, known only to the initiated in the winding ways of civilized life? Three months after the arrival of \ the duke and duchess in Paris, an event occurred which changed the whole cur rent of their lives.
 l And thai event was"
 Apparently a very simple ono, tn" lady s-mai! Of the duchess a ,r!v',- lous g,rl, who had herself be atucia",i | in France, but who nal .vsr brfor.' | tasted the delighGs of ha rriiiiant cai'i- tal She was intoxicated With ranl', ", | and -he veutured even to eX!,;c-s ;t"i ;lI- miration for Pa, Is in tEe ri,'s' l.,, Of itle young duchess. Among tnr other | wonders of this ma vicious elty, Jean net.e as the girl was ca!leG. r. ke of a fortu ne teller who i.ad req ">; Q her some of the events of her r.s.,L life, and whom she looked upon as powerful! magician
 But surely the duchess did not listen to this peasant girls foolish bahble.'
 s'She did Despair is, perhaps, terri bly near akin to madness. She listened at first from p'lre abstraction scarce needing what she heard but afterward eagerly. She asked the girl thousand questions about this fortune-teiler. and finally it was agreed upon between the mis: ress and maid that the woman should visit the duchess late on the fol
 lowing night. when the duke wa> absent
 at political asse mbly, and all the serv
 ante of the establishment had retired tt
 rest
 Strange caprice !' exclaimed Camilla
 "Grief is sometimes capricious. The
 duchess doubtless, was ashamed Of h"
 own folly, but she wished to hear wha
 this woman would say of = he future
 which seemed so dark. What if she wer'
 to prophecy the coming O. an heir t'
 that naughty house-an heir who's
 coming would restore all tho power o
 the now neglected wife? Tho duches
 passed the following day in state o
 restless exc temant, eager for the com
 ing hour which was to bring the fortune
 tai!er.
 "It was nearly midnight when Jean
 nette admitted the woman by privat
 door ct the bottom of the grand stair
 case
 .sThere was something terrible in h look of the woman who crept wit stealthy and silent troad over the luxu rious carpets of that palace-like abode
 She was old and haggard: her yello, skin dsfisured by innumcrable wrinkles
 her gray hair falling ill elf locks abo'' l her low and narrow forehead. He
 small eyes were surrounded by red an ! in1amea circles. aud almost hidden b ! the bushy eyebrows which protectc over them. Her chin was frinRed wit r terrible gray bristles; her mouth disfis
 ured by two enormous teeth, which re sembled the fangs of a wild beast Sh was a creature calculated to inspire dis
 gust and terror and she seemed stt } more horrible by contrast with the elt
 gance around her, as she entered tn I juperb apartments of the duchess. "There is little doubt that the mait 3 Jeannette. had told this woman all th : secrets of her mistress. Her tasb
 therefore, was an easy one. She d. scribed the troubles of the past. an ] foretold that. before the year ha
 elapsed, a child would be horn to tn : duke and duchess. On hearing tn prophecy from the lips of a miserabl . impostor, the naughty Italian fell at he f feet, and burst into an hysterical foo z l of foarc