The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-01-16
AN AMALFI GHOST.

l.
We had left Salerno far behind, but
idle villages Jagged all along the road
and black-eyed children made perilous
ventures between the carriage wheels
in search Of soldi or even centesimi.
They were the sleekest rosy checked ras-
Gals imaginable, and cried, II am dying
with hunger" with conscious irony that
was irresistible, and they trotted beside
our landau as guard of honor until
fresh hordes displaced them at the next
hamlet. After the first relay had been
succeeded by four successive detach-
ments we grew weary of our triumphal
progress, and Count Guido being ap-
pealed to fouris she,l his whip with fine
/ effect among bare legs, and sent our lit,
tie beggars howling homeward.
at takes an Italiln to outwit au Ital-
ian, said with hearlless laugh.
Isl, they are always open to the argu-
menium ad corpu, if diligently ap-
Piled, the connt answered, and giving
the three horses; harnessed abreast a
light touch of the whip we went rapidly
along the picturesque route between
gray cliffs and deep sea, which leads to
Amalf
Janet held the reins with the superb
courage only attaiiable by people who
have the vaguest acquaintance with
horse-aesh. Count Guido sat beside her,
ana was far too much preoccupied to
notice any discrepancies in her manage
ment of the ribbons, so between the two
preferred to trust to Providence and
look out for soft place in the road in
case of an emergency.
Mamma sat placidly gazing at the
lovely landscape, and at the graceful
curve of Janet's figure My young sister
was the hope Of the family. She was a
sweet girl, with brown eyes and red lips
and cheeks like tile leaves of la France
rose, and hair-well, it had once been
brown, but now it was the rich autumn
hue of an American forest afame after
the first frost, with here aud there
CLEANS Of gold like the light of NAPLES
athwart the dusky gloom Of oaks, and
stray sunbeams emed to be tangled in
the coil that had been loosely gathered
up in the morning, and which now
nestled with the careless loveliness of
curling locks against her neck.
was not aggressive and submitted
very meekly to Janets DEGREES except
i on one point, and that was my en-
gagement to Harry Thornton in our
native town, which I preferred to the
brilliant dream of foreign alliance, and
Janet with great contempt for my ple-
beian taste gave up the fight
We three were wealthy; mamma had
| one-third of an ample estate, which had
increased rapidly in value during her
| widowhood, and Janet and l were sole
niistresses of the remaining two-thirds.
SO that when we came abroad there was
| quite 1utter among the impecunious
noblesse residing in the Faubourg and
other less expensive quarters of Paris.
/ The market had not been unduly ex-
cited then by American purchasers, and
we were considered occasions, in the
language of the Bon Marche, SO, as l
was the elder. and faint ideas of primo
geniture enhanced my charms, was
| the first of our two to be interviewed
matrimonially, and had the option of
becoming a princess Qtalian), mar
quise, q comtesse and a German baroness;
and decided preference for Harry led
me to decline them ALL gently but firmly,
and in less than month Janet had the
honor of doing the same
After that we went to Como for rest,
and there we met Count Guido Mala-
tesla, a handsome young fellow, who
looked as if he might have stepped out
of one Tintoretto's pictures. I foresaw
a conquest for Janet, and wondered
grimly if her kismet had come. Count
Guido was thirty years younger than the
prince, was as superior to the marquise
as an eagle is to dilapidated game
| chicken.
His title was 500 years older than the
counts, and his estates were mortgaged.
| Mamma considered that an important
| point in his favor: it showed he was a
landed proprietor. By dint of discreet
inquiry ascertained that he was very
gendemanly fellow Qor nobleman) and
mentally realized that if Janet had set
her heart upon coronet Count Guido
was the least objectionable appanage to
any she would find. He had Joined us
at Naples. and there we had hired a
landau, and with the count as protector
and Janet as coachman we had fol-
lowed one of the most picturesque routes
in Italy. He and Janet had a trick of
monopolizing all the good points de vue
and also of appropriating all the infor-
nation vouchsafed by local guides at
churches and castles. leaving mamma
and me to CLEAN afar off some meager
hints from the aftermath of the guide
book, and in consequence we were sys-
tematically put TO open shame at table
d'hote by Janet's superior wisdom; but
we bore it silently; it seemed meet and
right that a possible countess should take
precedence of simple Americans.
At night the order of the day was
changed; Janet was timid and had O
morbid fear of the mysterious alcoves
where huge beds were placed as if to
challenge an attack from bandits and
banshees, SO she huddled close to
! mamma, and / was left to take my
chances in the next room.
~Isn'tthi ideal?" Janet exclaimed, as
she halted on hill top and we saw
Amalfi crbwning the cliffs beyond us,
made infinitely somber by the effulgent
glory Of the western sky, which was q
4 bank of gold along which sapphire ISL
ands drifted and trembling clouds lay
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