San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-10

the conclusion that you, as the futur
husband Of the lady whose signatur,
and hand writing you will here recog
nizc, should be made aware OF the con
tents, not only for your own sake, bu
in justice to the deceased. If all tn,
the letters are of the same tone as the
one | unknOwingly opened, | have
no doubt Ferrari considered him.
self sufficiently injured man. But
Of that you will judge for your
self, though, if / might venture so far in
the way of friendship l should recon-
mend you to give careful consideration
to the enclosed CORES pOndence before
| tying the matrimonial knot to which
you alluded the other evening. 1t is
not wise to walk on the edge of a preci-
| piCe with ones eyes shut! Captain
| Ciabatti was the first to inform me of
what l now know for fact-namely,
that Ferrari left will in which every
| thing he possessed is made over I'M
| COnditiOnally to the Countess Romani.
| You will of course draw your own con-
| illusions, and pardon me if | am guilty
| OF trOp de zele in your service. | have
now only TO tell you that all the I'M
pleasantness of this affair is passing
over very smoothly and without scandal
i have taken care of that You need
not prolOng your absence further than
you feel inclined, and l, for one, shall
be charmed to welcome you back to
Naples. With every sentiment of the
highest consideration and regard, am,
my dear COnte, your very true friend
and servitOr,
'PHILIPPE DAVENCoURT.
! folded this letter carefully and put il
aside. The little package he had sent
me lay in my hand-a bundle of neatly
folded letters tied together with a mar
row ribbon, and strongly perfumed with
a faint siCkly perfume | knew and alb
hOrred. | turned them over and over:
the edges of the note paper were stained
with blOod-Guido's blood-as though in
its last sluggish flowing it had endeav-
ored to Obliterate all traces of the
daintly- penned lies that now awaited
my perusal, Slowly united the ribbon.
With methOdicaI deliberation | read one
letter after the other They were all
from Nina-all written to Guido while
he was in Rome, some of them bearing
dates of the very days when she had
Ieigned to love meme. her newly ac-
Cepted husband. One very amorOuS
epistle had been written on the self same
evening she had plighted her troth to
me!-Letters burning and tender, full of
the most passionate prOtestatlonS of
fidelity, Overlooking with the sweetest
terms of endearment, with such
a ring of truth and love throughout
them that surely it was no wonder that
GuidO's suspicious were all unwakened,
and that he had reason to believe him
self safe in his fools paradise. One
passage in this pOetical and romantic
correspondence fixed my attention. 1t
ran thus
why do you write so much OF mar
riage to me, Guido mic? 1t seems to
my mind that all the joy of loving will |
be taken from us when once the hard
world knows of our passion. 1t you be-
come my husband you will assuredly |
cease to be nv lover, and that would
break my heart All, my best beloved!
desire you to be my lover always as
you were when FabiO lived, why bring
commonplace matrimony into the heaven !
of such passion as oursY
! studied these words attentively. OF
course l understood their drift. She had
tried to feel her way with the dead man.
She had wanted to marry me, and yet
retain Guido for her lonely hours, as
her lover always" Such a pretty, in
geniOus plan it was! No thief,
no murderer ever laid more cunning
schemes than she; but the law
looks after thieves and murderers. For |
such woman as this Law says, "D- |
vorce her-that is your best remedy"
Divorce her! Let the criminal go scot |
free! Others may do it that Choose-I |
have different ideas of justice!
Tying up the packet of letters again, |
with their siCkenng perfume and their =
blood stained edges, | drew out the last |
graCiOuslY wOrded misSive | had re- |
Ceived from Nina. OF course l heard !
from her every day,-She was a most
faithful correspondent! The same af-
feCtiOnate expressions characterized her
letters to me as those that had deludGd
her dead lOver,-with this difference,
that whereas she lnVeighed very much
against the pTOsineSS of marriage TO
Guido, to me she drew the most touch
ing picture of her deSOatiOn. how
lonely she had felt since her dear huS-
bands" death, how reiOced she was to
think she was soon again to be a happy
wife-the wife of one so noble. so true,
so devoted as | was! She had left the
convent and was. now at home-when
should she have the happiness of well
coming me, her best beloved CeSare back
to Naples She certainly deserved some
credit for artistic lying: could not
understand how she managed it so well.
Almost | admired her skill, rs one some
times admires a'coOl-hcadod burglar,
who has more skill, cunning and pluck
than his comrades. | thought with
triumph that though the wording of
Ferrari'S will enabled her to secure all
other letters she might have written to
him, this one little packet Of document
tary evidence was more than sufficient
for my purposes. And | resolved to re-
tain IL in my own kneninU I'LL the time