The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-07
THE PORPHYRY CASKET.
BY CHARLES LoTIN HLDRETH.

NCoDNftgtts lcc~t w VIC GhtGl EfecAt
In the boudoir OF the Signora di Carnese,
a small. beautifully decorated shrine affixed
to the wall. is singular object which has
. excited the curiosity Of all who have seen it.
1t is a small Porphyry casket, oblong in
shape and fastened with chased gold bands.
1t was made, it is said. at the signora's
order. by one OF the most famous artists in
Rome. and is no less quaint in design than
exquisite IA finish. On one side, cut into
the stone, is the single word amor, and
date.
For what purpose it was made, what it
contains and why it is placed in the shrine
as If it were a sacred relic. few OF none Of
the .signora's acquaintance know. She
hes been aske these questions many times,
ana her only reply ls-'Sonsthing more
valuable to me than all my Their posses
sions put together. and the signora is q
very rich woman.
She has never been known to open the
casket. and, indeed, it is so banded and
bolted together that it would require ex-
traordinary effort to break it apart. No
one IL allowed TO touch 1t. The signora
dusts and cares for it with her own hands,
and it has been OBSERVED that at such
times her crdina lily hauty air gives place
TO one of mourufui humility, mingled with
almost religious reverence.
This is the story of the Porphyry Casket.
The gossips of society said that Olivia
Anfedi had resolved either to marry into a
royal family or die siuRle. Soas OF noble
Roman families, merchant princes. foreign
am haS iadors, diplomats and soldiers hal
sued for her favor and failed. She had re-
fused Offers the very thought Of which had
emhittered the soul Of many a Rom IN
beauty with tile gall Of envy For all the
emotion she had exhibited at the passionate
pleading Of her suitors she might have been
a statue Of ice.
She was the only daughter of an ancient
ducal family of RiminI, and the pride and
beauty Of her race had descended to her un-
diminished. Her hair, slightly waving,
was Of a glistening black. save when the
sunlight touched it, when faint coppery
tints and red CLEANS fiickered in its glossy
depths. Her eyes, in her calm moments.
were dark viol cts, but changed with her
moods from cold steel gray 10 glowing
dusk, like TIE sky III a moOnless August
night. She was pale, with the palor of a
perfect opal beneath whose surface the
soft hues como aud go cease. eJsly. Many
| sculptor, catching a glimpse Of her figure,
with its stately grace and voluptuous curves,
| had dreamed over it in his studio vaiuly
striving TO fix some hint of it in the plastic
clay. Many a man had gone from her
| pIeSSuEo WIN u sUTIOWLul IOUElUR at MS
| heart, knowing full well that she was not
| for him. Yet to look at her face was to
| comprehend that if she ever should love, it
would be with Il passionate devotion which
| few women are capable Of, AID few meu
can appreciate.
In the very hight of her reign, when, to
use a scarcely too extravagant metaphor,
all Rome was at her feet, tlera came to the
| city poor student from the old university
of Padua. Marco Ccrnose had the dark
handsome features, the brilliant black eyes,
| the lit lie figure ana the jery passion Of q
Stella s. His fine talents had won him
soma fame nad fellowship Ia his college
| there, aud the t..readhare suit he wore, CON
sti ued almost his sole possessions. His
poverty had increased his natural reserve,
and be lived in Rome, friendess and soil
fary, buried in the soclusion of his ILL
furnished carres.
1t seemed the merest irony that Marco
should meet Olivia Au1adi and fall madly
in love with her. Bat 81 it was. She, too,
had noticed the handsome student, with his
mournful expression a4d reserved air; and
had he been OF her own grade OF hair it is
possible that she might nave looked upon
his love with favoraoie eyes. As i5 was she
! passed him with cod i1di ference les5 bear
nb.9 TO his pride than downright contempt
he was not blind to the wide gulf between
their respective stations, nor 60 TIE utter
hGpelessnes' of his passi m. But he did not
pause to reflect; he could thinA OF moth NJ
but that he NO SHIPPED her with worship
tuas was like consuming Il lule He could
not keep away from her. 1t seemed as il
he drew his life from her presence; and
yet the sight Of her beautiful face, so near
and YET 30 utterly removed from him, was
torture.
Denied her house. he followed her at
distance in the street; always with the
| same mute, lmploriag lo1k. lie managed
% introduce himself into the dwellings
whe:e she vi.ited and often at night, glanc.
| cling about the drawing room, she met bis
darK, Enournful eyes resting upon her in
passionate alteration.
He had ventured to address her. In low,
trembling tones. she had replied with a
freezing reserve that you'd have changed
the love of most men into hatred, With
Marco Carnese it merely added fuel to the
flames.
Ono night he followed her into the
orangery of a mansion where they were
both guests, hardly knowing what he
wished or meant 70 do. Seeing her there
alone, he approached her, and suddenly
throwing himself upon his knees at her feet.
poured out his passion IN rorre 1t OF words
which would have swept away the resis, ance
OF many women. She only looked down at
him with curling lip.
gu are mad, signOr," she said.
Eyes" he exclaimed, ~ am mad-you.
so noble, rich and honored; 80 poor, hum
BILE and unknownl Ii is madness. But an,
how gladly | would die for one smile, one
look Of love from you. beautiful onem
You are offensive. signor," she said with
exasperating calmuess. Either leave me,
or permit me to pass"
he arose with flaming cheek, and stood
with bent head as she swept haughtily by
him as if he had been an impertinent mental.
lie had made himself ridiculous in her eyes!
She despised him.
ANY other man would have been utterly
overwhelmed by such rebuff But as he
had said. he was mad. For few days he
buried himself in the seclusion of bis gar
ret, suffering only as such natures can
suffer. Then he emerged and again was
seen, with his melancholy eyes and APP
peailng expression, haunting Olivia Au-
fed, like an importunate and irrepressible
phantom.
Everybody in Rome knew Of the hopeless
passion Of the threaibare Sicilian for the
noble lady. But it was little TO him il they
made a mock OF his love. In all the world
he saw only her, thought only of her A
glimpse of her beautiful face, albeit cold as
marble to him, was food and drink, life it
self. 60 the poor scholar. All elss was less
than nothing in his thoughts.
De discovered that she went on foot
every afternoon TO attend vespers at the
Church of st. Lucia, ~ the Via Traiano
AT first he contented himself with watching
her from the shadow of a Diilar and foilow-