Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-05-31
ONE GENT


does very well for their ghosts, for they
are not very old, but when you come to
the marchese, who has been here three
hundred years, 1t isn't worth pocket
room. But I'll risk IL anyhow" We
sat close around the fire, Janet next q
Count Guido, and mamma on the sofa
beside me. and, as we looked to Luigi.
involuntarily the portrait met and held
our gaze. and the wind sighed like lost
soul out in the arcade Luigi began:
"The marchese lived at that old castle
just before you reach Amalfi. He was
handsome. rs you see in that portrait,
hut there were dark stories about him:
people said that his black horse galloped
down to the sea at night ana waited
there for him while he joined the Sara
Gems and ravaged land and water with
them; and belated travellers sometimes
heard the music of lutte from the old
castle, and woman's voice singing
strange songs, and when the monks who
lived in this monastery then were told
those tales they went to the castle and
tried to see the lady, but they could not.
AT last one young monk was return
ing after he had shrived fisherman,
and he heard the music and followed ID,
and came to high wall, and there was
narrow beam of light coming through
the Gothic window, and the monk climbed
up by the carvings and looked Ia the
window, and he saw the fairest woman
in the world singing there all alone, and
ne wa ched her spell-bound uatil he heard
the marchese coming home, and then he
glided away, and after that every night
the monk goes to the castle and listens
to the lady singing.
SOne night helistened as usual and tho
count did not come back. and the monk
climbed in through the window. and the
lady screamed, but the monk told her he
was holy man and had come to save
her soul from the evil one and then she
wept and thanked him, and he heard her
confession and found that she was a
Spanish lady whom the Saracens had
captured and had sold to the marchese,
and while she was speaking they heard
the marcheses horse galloping from the
sea, and she hid the monk i'm dark closet
in the wall, and he crept out when
the marchese was asleep, and went to
his CELL for he could climb In from the
cliff, and the other Capuchins never
dveamed that he went out at night After
that every evening the monk and the
lady met in the old castle, and when
they heard the hoofs of the marchese's
horse the monk left, and the beautiful
lady loved the monk better than the
marchese, and she would hide him in
the closet, and when the marchese slept
she would meet the monk under the cas-.
tie wall. and many a moonlight hour
they spent together, and the monk was
wildly happy, and yet at times he was
wretched, for he knew he was perjured
man and that he had given his soul for
woman's heart. Finally one night the
marchese suspected something, and In
stead of riding home he left his horse at
the bridge, and he entered softly and
found the monks arm around the lady,
and she was singing to the lutte. Then
he gave a great cry and plunged his
sword in her heart, and the monk fled
and the marchese pursued him and his
black horse followed him; but the monk
climbed the cliff and fastened his wine
dow, and the marcllese fell into the sea
from the cliff, and fearful storm Came
suddenly and drowned his cries and bore
him away, and his black horse after him.
But the monk did not escape, for the
next night he was found dead in his cell,
and unless the marchese returned and
killed him how could IL happen7 Any
how, they say the marchese haunts that
room, and whenever there is a storm the
fisher folk declare they hear his black
horse galloping from the castle to the
monastery, and you cannot make an
AmaIfi-born man enter the monks cell
after night, for the marchese haunts IL
still.
Il don't see what she wanted TO love
the monk for, the niarchese was a great
deal the incest, Janet said when Luigi
finished.
1We cannot account for woman'slove
mamma said with sigh as she looked
at me, and discreetly kept silent and
tried vainly 10 escape from the mar
chese's eyes, which held me in a weird
thraldom. Very soon we went to our
rooms. Mine was separated from mann
mas by small sitting room, and janet
came in for a coy chat Are you lone
some. dearie p she asked. Not partic-
ularly; only bloe. Thinking about
Harry. hope will never be that fool
ish about anything m trousersl she said
energeticalIy. / disdained to reply, and
presently she said suddenly, "Don't you
like the count2"
@Do you mean that Parisian fossil7
No; Guido, of course.
Certainly; ! think he does very well
for an Italian.
Il think he Is nicer than all the rest Of
Europe and America, too, and Milla, he
says am the only woman he ever loved,
Janet said softly.
@And you believed him 2"
@Yes," she whispered, putting her
arms around me; and we sat talking un-
til the storm outswept itself and passed
sobbing into other lands She took of
her basque and let her hair fall in lux
- r.