Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-12-22

poured forth upon the faithful paper
the fullness Of their grief
In the town nothing was talked OF but
\ theirunshakable love and their tormentg;
they were the objects Of general inter
est; If Neapolitan arrived, the towns
folk took him to see the ruins of the
a1nphitheater, and related the case Of
Carlo and Maria Therefore the young
\ people, hattered in their amour propre,
assumed the behavior fitting to the cir
cumstances-Maria was always pale,
with a melancholy air, never smiling,
always talking to her girl friends about
her joyless days. refusing to amuse her
self, content to resemble in all respects
one of Mastriani's herones.
Carlo took lonely walks, was always
deeply depressed; at balls, he never
moved out of a corner, content that they
murmured around him, Poor young
man; that unfortunate love affair sad
dens his life" In society, at small fes-
tivities, in visits, with the unwarying
monotony of the province, the discourse
always returned upon the subject Of the
two lovers. Carlo and Maria bore with
dignity the burden Of their popularity.
Finally, after don't know how many
years-four Or five, it seems to me-of
this continual struggle, Of daily weep
ing. Of long, long love maintained alive
by dissensions, the aspect Of things
changed. There was a worthy person
there still are such-who with many ef-
forts Of eloquence persuaded the parents
that by the lawsuits they were losing
property and much Of it, as witness the
two advocates who had grown rich at
the expense Of their clients; that those
two young people were pining and would
go into a decline because Of that thwart-
ed love; the houses were side by side
and the estates contiguous; Christ for
gave, and they must forgive if they
wished to find forgiveness. He said so
much and so many other persons, moved
by the example. interposed that the
questions came to compromise which
had as its first chapter the marriage of
Carlo and Maria
Here, surely, every one will suppose
that the young people were greatly con-
soled, and will suppose truly-but my
obligation as a sincere story teller con-
strains me to say that in their first free
colloquy reigned great embarrassment.
They were accustomed to see each other
at distance by stealth; to speak from
first floor window down to the street
in the darkness, Disgusting on smother
ing their voices; they found themselves
quite different, perhaps little ridicu-
lous; they had no subjects of converse
tion, they were often silent, fastening
in their thoughts the hour when they
should quit each other.
There were no more imprecations and
tears to be mingled with the ink; they
no longer wrote to each other. Every
thing was free, smooth. easy for their af-
lection; they were not obliged to think
Of subtleties by which to evade the vigi-
lance Of their elders; they took no more
pleasure in murmuring few words in
secret; they made no more daring prof
ects for the future They would be
married prosaically. without obstacles,
like SO many other silly couples The
townsfolk 10 longer took thought Of
them; the wonder and the comments on
the marriage once over, Carlo and Maria
no longer. awalo attention, wase na
longer talked about; their behavior w;ls
noted no more; they ceased to De point
ed out ~ an example Of fidelity. Now
all eyes were fixed Oh the eyes Of the
pretor, who was accused of too great
partiality for the vice attorney-a sri
GUS piece of business
The two lovers felt themselves for
saken-a great coolness arose between
them. Carlo found that the virtues of
his fiancee, those virtues which shone in
her letters, were dimmed by the atnos-
phere of home. Maria frequently thought
that Carlo was rather commonplace in
his tastes, and TO that end, with a stupid
marriage, so tempestuous u love was un-
worthy a reader Of Mastriani. A few
lively remarks passed between them in
regard to illusions contradicted by tile
reality" about '.lnirages, optical de-
lusions" and similar pin pricks; a quar-
rel ensued, then two, then they became
a daily occurrence. One evening Maria
said with an irritated tone:
"Carlo, let US leave it off.
"Let us" he replied without hesita-
ton
And the next day he set off On jour
ney for the improvement Of his mind;
Maria went to Naples, to the house Of u
cousin, to fish for heroic husband.
The families had new falling out; Ma
ria's father had IN opening made for 4
window which overlooked his neighbors
courtyard; the latter, in order to annoy
him, built a dove cote Of which the
doves ran about everywhere; immedi-
ately there was a summons, a second, a
third, the lawsuits began again, and
this time, the advocates said, smiling,
without hope of any compromise
Translated from the Italian Of Matildc
Serao by e. Cavazza for Short Stories