New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-28

ton, as in most Italian houses the servants all
locked their rooms and carried the keys anout
with them. Lucia, of course, dld Ike the rest
But Lucia on her side, dstrustcd her mistress.
Knowing what she now knew Of Adele, she De-
| licvcd her capable of almost anything, includihs
| the picking of lock and the skilfnl apstrac'io"
Of the letter from its secret hidingpacr As sooi
az she was at liberty she went and got thH paper
| and concealed it in her bosom. intending 10 Keep
il there until she could select some safe spot III
remote part Of the castle, where she might pun ~
| away in greater safety. To carry II apo"' WIN
her until Adele took her back to Rome would be
rash. she thought Adele might suspect where II
was NJ onv moment. and force her to give it up.
| Or il might he lost. which would hc even worse
Adele herself felt sngularly relieved She ha'
vary ut,,c donbt but that Lucia would come to
| terms. She might. indeed. ask very large sum
| and il micht he very inconvcnicnt to b" opii9'"
IN find il at short notice. But the sole hPlE'Ss
70 an enormous estate would certainly no aoie "
cot money in some way or other. In the mean
time Lucia would not offer II to any one cise'
since of all people her mistress would oc "i''iHS
10 make the greatest sacrifice to obtain poss'~so"
of IT, On tho whole, therefore, Adci"S "nNr.N
diminished on that day. and She sceheu o''''
when she met her husband and Ghislcr in the s1ea'
COURTYARD where they were summing thcm'elVeS anu
continuing their talk about politics
at promised that would show you the castl''
she said TO Pictro Would it amuse You 10 20
with mo now Francesca does rot care to come
Of course and he always has his business "l'h ''c
steward to attend TO before breakfast
Pietro expressed his readiness to follow her
from the deepest durecon to the topmoS' '"rre'
| of the castle.
"Havc Won slept we'll ." he asked. az they moved
| better
this morning"
ayes. feel better" she answered. "Do you
| know think vonr coming has had something 70
do with IT, You have cheered us with Your TAX
| and vorr news We were fast falling INTO the
| vegetable STAGE Francesca and l.
Ghislcri smiled. partly ont of politenrs' AMI
partly at his own thoughts.
81 am glad TO have been OF any use. M SAID
al will do my best to he amusing as long as No"
will have me-"
"You need rot take ii ~ such an enormous
| compliment" Adele laughed. "Of course. yon are
very acrccablr-at least. you can he when yon
choosn-but the great thing is TO have somehow
ANYBODY whom one knows and likes little. In TINS
drcarv place Shall we begin at the top or the n''
tom Tho prisons or the towers Which SHAH
| it be?"
az there is choice let US begin in III" lower
|
little Donna Adcleo" 10 asked. as she l"l the way
along the cnrvrd and smoothly paved descent
which led downward TO the subtcrIancan part OF
the fortress.
She laughed lightly and glanced at him. She
had always wished to make conquest OF Pi"tro
| Ghsleri but she had found few opportunities 81
being alone with him. for he hal never been anon!
the assiduous at her shrine She knew also now
much he admired Laura Arden. and sh" Suspected
him of being incpicntly in love. 1t wolld be de-
lgTitful to detach him from that ALLEGIANCE
YES" She said IL like YOU little. Did yon
expect me to like Won very much? lon have
never done anything TO deserve it.
a. wish could" answered Ghi>l"ri. with com
pletc insinceritv. But am afraid should never
get far "a that
"Why not ?"
"Whcn a woman loves her husband He did
not finish the sentence, for Il seemed unnecessary
a. do not want YOU to make love to me-. Adele
answered. though believe yon know how t. do
il TO perfection II is often very long way from
liking very much TO loving very little. This Is
tle place where old Gianluca kept his brother
Paolo in prison for eighteen years. Then Clan
luca died suddenly one fine morning AMI faoio
was let ont by the soldiers and Immediately threw
Gianluca's wife out of the window Of the east
tower and cut Of tho heads of his two sons on
the same afternoon. will show yon where that
was done Nhcn we go upstairs. Paolo was an
extremely energetic person.
DECIDEDLY So should say" aSscntcd Gnislrri
"You are all descended from him. suppose
yes he took care that We should be. By Kill
inc all tho other branch Of the family. Those
hollows in the stone are supposed to have been
| made by his footsteps. Think what walk 1t
lasted eighteen years. Eut it is an airy place and
| vim
saw Do you see that deep channel III the wall
1t leads straight up through the castle to the looI
, ! OF the little passage between the old guardroon
and one Of the towers. There used TO be trap
door-it was still there when ] was a little girl
but my father has had slab Of stone put down
instead. They used to cntice their dearest and
, most familiar enemies up there, and lrSt as tho
man set foot on the board soldier in the tower
pulled a bolt in the wall and the trap-door fell
, 1t is two hundred feet they say. 1t was so clcv
crly managed They say that the last person
who came to grief there was a MOnsignor B0cc2
paduli in the year sixteen hundred and something
but no one ever knew what had become Of hin
until the next generation
s Familiar from her childhood with every corner
of the vast building, she led Ghislcri through one
portion after another, telling such of the tales
r horror as she remembered. Little by little they
worked their way to tie upper regions In thu
{ guardroom a vast hall which would have made
n eood-sized church, she showed him the great sal
of stone the Prince had substituted for the woodcr
, trap-d0or Of former days. and which had merely
: been placed over the yawning chasm without plas
n | ter or cement its own weight being enough t
@ keep 1t in place They passed over it and ascend
I ed the stairs in the tower, emerging at last int
y the bright sunshine upon one Of the highest bat
Elements They sat down side by side on a ston
: bench
: 1T is pleasanter here, said Adele. "Thcrc i
r sort of attraction about those dreadful old place
down below, because one never quite realizes al
l. the things that happened there, and it il rathc
like od-fashoned novel, all full of murder ant
d sudden death Bat the sunshine is much nicer
n is it not? Shall we stay up here till II is tim