Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-12-12

/ it became necessary that should undergo
treatment that confined me absolutely to
my bed for many days, and worried and
/ fretted 10 think that the little maid and |
! could see each other no longer. and worse
I still. that she would think that had gone
away without even having limited 10 her
/ that ! was going And | lay awake at
night wondering how ! could let her know
the truth, and fifty plans fitted through
my brain, all appearing 20 be feasible
I enough ~ night, brit absolutely wild and
! impracticable in the morning. One day
and 1t was Il bright day indeed for me-
/ the old woman VINO att, nded me told me
/ that a gondoher had inquired whether the
/ English Signor had gonS away or had died;
and SO learned that tde little maid had
been anxious about me, and that she had
sent her brother to inquire and the
! brother had no doubt taken to her the
reason of my protracted absence from the
window.
From that day, and ever after, during
my three weeks of bed keeping, flower
was found every morning On the ledge Of
/ my window. which was within cas-! reach
I of any one in boat and when at last
/ day came when / could be moved ! took
| my accustomed place on the sofa at the
/ ' indow, and the little maid saw me- and
/ stood on her head so to speak, and clapped
| her hands upside down with delight that
was as eloquent as any ri-ht end up de-
/ light could possibly be. So the first time
I the gondolier passed my window | beck
oned to him, and he pushed up alongside
and told me. with many bright smiles,
/ that be was glad indeed 30 see me well
again Then thanked him and his sister
| for their kind thoughts about me during
my retreat, and then learned from him
that her name was Angela, and that she
was the best and purest maiden OF all
! Venice, and that any one might think
! himself happy indeed who could call her
sister, but that he was happier even than
her brother, for lac was to be married to
her, and indeed they were 10 be married
the next day
Thereupon my heart seemed TO swell to
bursting, and the blood rushed through my
veins SO that could hear it and nothing
else for little while | mgnaged al last TO
stammtr forth some words of awkward
congratulation, and h. left me, singing
merrily, after asking permission 10 bring
his bride 10 see me on the morrow as they
returned from church.
For, said he my Angela has known
you for very iong-every since she was u
child, and she has often spoken to me Of
| the poor Englishman who lay all day long
| for years and years on a sofa at window,
and she had said over and over again how
I dearly she wished shat she could speak TO
him and comfort him, and one day, when
YOU threw a flower into the canal, she
asked me whether she might throw an
other, and told her yes, for he would un-
derstand that it meant sympathy with one
who was sorely afflicted
And so learned that il was pity, and
not love, except, indeed, such love AS Is
! akin 10 pity, that prompted her to interest
herself in my welfare, and there WAS an
end of it all
For the two flowers that thought were
on one stem we're two TO wers tied together
1 (but could not tell that, and they were
meant to indicate that she and the Condo
| lier were aHqnced lovers, and my ex-
pressed pleasure at tuis symbol delighted
her, for She took it to mean that reJoiced
in her happiness.
And the next day the gondoIier came
with train of other gondoliers, all decked
in their holiday garb, and in his gondoIa
sat Angela, happy and blushiug at her
happiness. Then he and she entered the
house in which dwalt and cane into my
room land il was strange indeed, after 30
many years of invertiou to see her With
her hend above he feet, and then she
wished me happiness and d spe dy restor-
alton to good health (which could never
ae) and /, in broken words and with tears
in my eyes, gave her the little crucifE that
had stood on my bed or my table for so
many years. And Angela took it reyerent.
", and crossed herself, and kissed it, and
so departed with her delighted husband
And as heard the song Of the Condo
Tiers rs they went their way-the song
dying away in the distances as the shadows
Of the sundown closed around mel felt
they were singing the requiem Of the only
love that had ever entered my heart w
S Gilbert