Wichita eagle., 1889-11-07
THE VEIL OF DEATH.

after dinner, while smoking his cigar. Pos
SCISSOR OF great name and a colossal fortune,
related to the most ancient families OF the
Roman patriciate, the count had made mar
rage OF love- He had espoused, five years
previously, the daughter of Prince Cinella-
superb and placid as Raphael blonde and
stately as a Titan A cultivated man-eie-
CANT, 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
Casamicciola and installed himself In a Co
quettish 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 sl1y-a corner made for reading
love stories and for loving. He lived here
during the summer, enjoying with his wife
the solitude deux, drinking in long draughts
of love, enchanted with the sI.nlight-a
spoiled child Of fortune
One suffocating evening toward the last Of
July, the count according to his custom,
shortly after dinner kissed his wife and went
out. 1t was about 8 o'clock The air was
sultry and oppressive; not breath of wind
stirred among the leaves of the fig and orange
trees, white with dust. The sea, Of an azure
opaque and profound, stretched away toward
the horizon, smooth as a sea of oil, and the
sky, saturated with heat, was of blue so
intense and implacable as to appear stone
gray. Along the winding streets, peasants,
seated on the doorsteps were drinking Sicil-
ian wine from the wide mouthed leathern
bottles, and groups of beautiful young girls.
brown as the Florentine 'bronzes flung back
and forth, amid peals of laughter, flowers
less red than the coral of their lips. Bare
footed urchins, 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
siumbering island.
Suddenly, in a second in less time than it
takes the lightning to fash, the earth trem-
bled as if shaken by the march OF invisible
armies-armies of giants. The sea, chopping
and agitated, hurled its waves together in
wild confusion; the heavens yelled them
selves in black: sulphurous wind, like a
blast from a furnace, breathed devastation,
and in the awful darkness, the count terri
fed, recommending his soul to God In that
supreme instant of lucidity which always
precedes a dreadful death, was thrown vio-
lently forward on his face
The first thing which Count Jeppi saw on
regaining consciousness was a star looking
down at him, then two, then three, and all
the beautiful cortege of the silent sky. He
remained motionless few moments, uncer
tain what had happened to him, then he arose
and walked a few steps; he was not wounded.
What, then, had taken place. What formid-
able power had thrown him, unresisting, to
the ground? The amorous sea was washing
the beach with its silvery waves, the heavens
were clear as the eyes Of bride, a gentle
breeze was stirring-all was calm Yet,
strange circumstance, he no longer recog-
nized the country about him, the horizon
seemed to him more even and more level than
before
Suddenly, he comprehended all, the fright
full truth-the earthquake Like a sword
piercing him to the soul, vision of his wife
buried beneath the ruins filled him with NOR
tai anguish.
He started on the run in the direction of
his villa. Was she dead-dying-or living
stills She was crushed, perhaps, her lovely
body a shapeless mass, caught between two
walls Horror All! how one suffers in such
momentsl Would he arrive in tine9 The
count shook his fist at the sky. great tears
rolling down his cheeks He did not even
take the trouble TO wipe them away He
hurried on, stumbling at every step among
the stones and heaps of timber, treading ON
L. l.
air was rent with terrible cries-cries of ami
mails in torture, shrill cries of children, agon-
lied groans of women, loud at first, then
weakening little by little and ceasing in the
death rattle There were despairing calls
through the darkness, Father "Motherl"
'SoD!" and invocations to the divine mercy,
''Jesui Maria Santissimal" and every stone.
every ruin gave forth a groan. The count
passed shadows staggering ike drunken men,
walking on tiptoe with arms stretched out
before them, or seated motionless like stat
ues of desolation. others, holding on their
knees heavy dropping bodies which no longer
responded to their endearments Women, |
disheveled, danced, with uplifted skirts mad. |
One would verify have believed ones self |
with Dante.
The moisture cold on his brow, frozen
with horror, the wretched Jeppi leaped over
corpses scaled walls, and the one thought
necessarily beating in his brain, like the /.
ticking of clock, was, Shall | arrive in |
time" At the corner of a street he saw by /
the light of the moon woman's arm thrust /
put from under heap of fallen beams, q |
baked arm caught as in wise. The white |
hand, loaded with rings, writhed like a crab |
The cries of the sufferer, deadened, stifled /
hnder he debris, could not be heard, but
these twitching fingers called for help and /
this hand, thrust out into space, shrieked |
"To the rescue!' The count could have res |
eued her He turned away his head and |
passed on. He had not the time.
After retracing his steps more than twenty |
times, after wandering about for over an !
hour, he arrived at last before what had been |
his dwelling What sight! The charming |
villa, the villa of kisses and flowers, was now |
but a smoking mass Of ruins. One side Of the |
wall alone remained upright, and overhead, |
In its cage of gilded osier, cooed turtle dove,
which the countess had cherished Ii was a
touching sight, this poor, frail little bird, !
suspended between heaven aud earth in its /
dainty house-this dove of miracle. as if 10 |
prove that the God who, in his terrible and |
mysterious power, RACED cities 10 their foun- |
dations in an instant, could equally, if it |
were his will. save the life OF dove
At the sight of these great stones, piled |
one above the other, the count felt himself |
turn weak as child She was there, under |
meath this mass, his adored wife. Where. in /
which directioni Even If she were dead, he |
must fnd her at aav cost. Softly. with |