The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1892-01-23

in arm, Now they pass through tAc
church amid the munnurs of coupl.
ncnts which arise amid the shadows Of
the aiSlcs, among the duh scrVping of
feet and the rustlcof gowns; thcro ON the
pcristyle, among the white columns, is a
living wave Of sun and mir which comes
to meet them, like a recall to real hGe
outside Of the mystic dream of the
church, the creaking OF the line Of car,
ragoS that advanced. the slow descent
of the steps. with the white train of the
bride spreading and dragging upon the
stairs in folds like snow, soft and light:
then the carriages depart; they are alone
for the first time in the narrow space Of
the carriage, which the bridal dress fills
with It's whitaness. and the bouquet of
orange blossoms with its acute perfume
of intoxicating virginity: and il is then
that, conquered by the charm of that
face, So delicate aad proud amid its
large pallil curls, by the splondor of
those blue eyes, the elderly bridegroom
bends over her TO kiss her.
Dear me. dear me-"
And to see the tranquility with which
those finely cut, rose colored lips return
the kisses through the veil, the question
arises whether it ia the bridegroom that
she kisses or the Mechlin lace. ut Eve hun.
dred the meter.
Ali there were adorers around that
beautiful SiSnora Marchis, 80 lovely and
so young, married to an old mani 1t
was expected that this fortress would be
an easy one to conquer Precisely on
her wedding day Vico Molise, the most
elegant and s,ieptic of tho journalists
of Upper Italy, had propounled to his
friends this theorem:
"Givcn beautiful girl. very poor:
given that she marrieS rich old man;
divide the number of his years By that
of the hundreds of thousands of lire cf
which she becomes mistress. md YOU
will have the number Of months neces
sary for her to take lover"
And us soon as he could he began.
with many Others, to attempt the demon
stTation Of that theorem.
Well, this time the im2cccable pyscho-
logical diagnosis Of Vico Molisehad been
found to fail. Not Only, after some
months, the beautiful Sig1ora Marchis
had no lover, but it appeared also that
she never was to have one.
Always dressed with an adorable Gle
gance. with luxury full of good taste.
the beautiful Gemma loved to amuse
herself, moving freely in that society
new for her, finding herself in her right
place as marvellous plant in vase OF
valuable porcelain, developing itself in
all its splendor. She went to dances, to
the theatre, enjoying the plebiscite of
admiration provided by her beauty, CO.
quoting little with her adorers, tlut- /
tering about the fire in order to make
them sparkle. her wings of golden but !
terfy, but never letting herself be
burned.
In the very moment of declaration, !
in the midst of one of those waltzes /
whose notes seem made on purpose to /
stifle expiring virtue in their serpentine !
spirals, she cut short her adorer by turn /
ing her angelic head and saying screnely:
81 don't see my husband Look a
little where my husband is, if you will I
be so kind"
And it was known that her greatest
delight was to relate precisely to her
the declarations which she had
When she came home with
MIN from ball. all wrapped in the
white silken folds of her sOrtie du bal,
With herpure throat, her snowy shoulders
hat blossomel still more fair from her
boa; when in the evening
,he met hm in the dining room, still in
visiting costume. with her slim waist
lightly compressed by an exquisitely ele-
CANT gown, with her face animated by
he slight excitement which elegant con-
'ersation always produces in young
woman. she amused herself immensely
n addressing to her husband some of
hese provoking and rogish phrases:
You know, | was at Countess Foschis'.
Hoise was there, you know. Always
aithful and always in despair. And
Ilso Comelli, he that has such lugubri-
'us gallantry. He has promised to kill
himself for my sake within month;
We shall see. All! Ahr'
And sitting opposite to him, in a rustic
# satin and jet, making shine like two
tars the brilliants, large as hazelnuts.
which adorned her small ears, she con-
inued to laugh, with her elastic laugh
er, full of mischief and full of tender
less.
All, indeed, old Marchis could call
imself fortunate mani
Fortunate? Yes, he ought to have
onsidered himself so When he set
imself to reason about it, to describe s
lentally his conjugal situation, he had
D conclude that he would have done
7rong to complain of his destiny. And
ct
What of the terribly unexpected had
e now discovered in the depths of the !.
ure sapphire Of Commas eyes? Was ,,
lere arisen in his soul the doubt that }
nat faithfulness against every trial,
1at coldness toward her admirers, was q
othing but the wish to preserve intact
position acquired with difficulty. and