San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-23
Continue from yesterday.

reasoning terror, rushed up the steps
with a maniac speed, opened the iron
gate through which she would pass no
more, and stood at liberty in the free air,
face TO face with wind as tempestuOus as
my own passions. With what furious
haste shut the entrance to the vault!
with what fierce precaution l locked and
double-locked it! Nay, so little did rea-
lie that she was actually dead, that
caught myself saying aloud
"Safe-safe at last! She cannot
escape - / have closed the
secret passage L. no one wills hear
her cries she will struggle
little, but it will soon be over
she will never laugh any more,--never
kiss never love never
tell lies for the fooling Of men!
she is buried as | was--buried aliveF'
Muttering thus to myself with sort
of sobbing indifference, l turned to NEE.
the snarl of the savage blast OF the
night, with my brain Keeling, my limbs
weak and trembling, with the heavens
and earth rocking before me like wild
sea,---with the flying moon star
ing aghast through the driving Clouds
with all the Universe, as it were, in a
broken and shapeless chaos about me;
even so went forth to meet my fate
=. and left her!
Unrecognized, untracked, departed
from Naples Wrapped inmy cloak, and
stretched in a sort of heavy stupor on
the deck of the Rondinella, my appear
ance apparently excited no suspicion ia
the mind of the skipper, old Antonio
,uif uuhnpn frinnn A p1rpa
had made terms for my voyage, little
aware of the real identity of the passcn-
ger he recommended.
Tee morning was radiantly beautiful,
the sparkling waves rose high on tip
toe to kiss the still boisterous wind
the sunlight broke in a wide smile of
spring-tide glory over the world! With
the burden OF my agony upon me,-with
the utter exhaustion of my over
wrought nerves, l beheld all things
in feverish dream,-the laughing
light, the azure ripple of waters,-the re-
ceding line of my native shores, -every-
thing was blurred, indiStinct and unreal
to me. though my soul, Argus-eyed. in
cessantly peered down, down into those
darkSome depths where she lay, silent
forever. For now | knew she was dead.
Fate had killed her-not |. All unre-
pentant as she was, triumphing in her
treachery to the last, even in her mad
ness, | would have saved her, though
she strove to murder me.
Yet il was well the stone had fallen
who knows!. If she had
lived. i strOve not to think of her,
and drawing the. key of the vault from
pocket, | let it drop with sullen splash
into the waves. All was over-no one
pursued memo one inquired whittier
went arrived at Civita Vecch-
la unqueStoned; from thence
l Travelled TO Leghorn, where
L embarked on board mcr-
chant trading vessel bound for South
America. Thus l lost myself TO the
world; thus | became, Is it were, buried
alive for the second time. ! am safely
sepulchred in these wild woods, aud |
seek no escape.
Wearing the guise OF a rough settler,
one who works in common with sthers,
hewing down tough parasites and POISON
Gus undergrOwthS in order to affect a
clearing through these painless SOiitudeS,
Lone can trace IN the strong stern man,
with the CarewOrn face and white hair,
my resemblance to the once popular and
wealthy Count Olivia, whose disappear
ance, so strange and sudden. was
for a time the talk of all Italy. For, on
one occasion when visiting the nearest
town, L saw an article in newspaper,
headed "MysteriOuS Occurrence in Ma
piles" and | read every word of it with a
sensation of dull amusement
From it learned that the Count Olivia
was advertised for His abrupt DEPART
ure, together with that of his newly mar
ried wife, formerly COntessa Romani on
the very night of their wedding, had
created the utmost excitement in the
city. The landlord of the hotel
where he stayed was prosecuting
lnquirieS-So was the counts for
mer valet, one Vincenzo Flamma. Any
information would be gratefully re.
ceived by the police authorities. If with.
in twelve months no news were obtained
the immense properties OF the Romani
family, in default OF existing kindred
would be handed over to the Crown.
There was much more to the same es
feet, and | read it with the utmost in
difference. Why do they not search tn,
Romani vault? E. l thought gloom
ily,-they would find some authen
tic information there! But | know tn,
Neapolitans well; they are timorous AM
superstitiOus; they would as soon hug
pestilence as explore a charnel house
One thing gladdened me; it was the pro
jected disposal of my fortune. Tn
Crown, the Kingdom of Italy, was sure
as noble an heir as a man could have!
returned to my woodland but with
strange peace on my soul
As told YOU at first, l am a dea
man,-the world, with its busy life an