Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-02-17
he TN TIED VENUS.
a FRRolI Al ROMANCE.
By n. ANsTEY.
CItAPTER VIII.


ton regarding Venus.
'Aphrod1te, on Venus as you choos,
TO call her, toof a prominent part il
the Trojan wal the origin of which tel
years struggle lhay be traced TO Ger
tain golden apple"
What an odl rag-bag it isw thought
Leander. I'm only wasting money
ON MN. lie is "A ke bran-pie at a fan
cy 1ar-What you get out of him is al
ways the thing fou didn't want
NO, no, Mr.: Ffeemoult," he said Will
some impadencet leave out about The
war and the apple. lit isn't either
OF them as / wal ted to hear about"
Then | have done,'' said the Old man
eurtly. You've had considerable more
than half a crowns worth, as it is"
Look here, VT. Freemoult," said the
reckless hairdrcsPer, If you can't give
me no better YdIue, l don't mind lay
Ing out another sixpence in questions y
Put your questions, then, by ali
means, and III give you your fair SIX
penn'orth Of answers. Now then, I'm
ready for you What's your difficulty i!
Out with it,"
Why" said Leander, in no small
confusion, ''isnt there Il story some
where Of a ST aue of Venus as some
young man Ia long time back it was,
or cOurse) was said to have put his ring
on and do you know the rights Of it?
Il can't remember how it ended my
self"
Wait bit, sir; | think | do rcmem-
Der something Of the legend you refer
70. You found it in the Earthly Para
disc, / E;tle no doubt?'
FOUND ii in RoSherWich Gardens. !"
Leander very nearly blllrted out, but
ne stopped himself, and said instead,
l don't think I've ever been there, sir;
not to remember it,
We'll, well, you are no lover of poet
ry, that's very evident; but the story is
there. Yes, yes; and Burton has YER
sion Of it too in his Anatomy How
does it go? Give my head a minute
to clear and III tell you. Ha! l have
1t! 1t was something like this: There
was a certain young gentleman Of Rome
who, on his wedding day, went out to
play tennis; and i'll the tennis court was
a brass statue Of the goddess Venus
Mine ought TO be brass, from her go
ing on" thought Leander.
And while he played he took off his
lingering and put upon the statues
hand; mighty foolish act, as you will
agree"
Abr said Leander, shaking his head,
you may say that! What next, sir"
He became greatly excited to find that
he really swas on the right track at
last
why, when the game was over and
he came to get his ring he found he
couldn't get it off again. Ha. ha"' and
the old man chut kled softly, and then
relapsed once more into silence
Yes, yes, Mr.. Freemoult, sir! I'm Il
listening; it is very funny; only do go
on"
60 on? Where was |? Hadn't |
finished? Oh, to be sure. Well, so Pa
MS gave her the apple, you see"
Il didn't understand you to allude to
no apple" said his puzzled hearer; and
1t was at Rome. | thought, not Paris.
Bring your mind more to it sir; we'd
got to the ring not coming off the sta
tue"
Il know, sir; | know My mind is
clear enough, let me tell yon That
very night (as | was about to say, f
you'd had patience to hear mel Venus
stepped i'll and parted the unfortunate
pair"
1T was a apple just now, you agra
waiting old muddled cdr said Leander.
he had betrothed himself to her bv that
Venus informed the young man that
ring" ('Same game exactly" thDlglt
the pupil ''and-and, In short, she led
him such Il life for some nights that he
could bear it no longer. SO at length
he repaired to 4 certain magician, who
was called-let me see, what was his
name again? 1t wasn't Agrippa-was
1t Albertus? Odd it has escaped me
for the moment"
Never mind, sir; call him Jones'"
II will not call him Jones, sir! l had
it on my tongue-there, Palumbus! Pa
lumbus it was. Well, Palumbus told
him the GODDESS would never cease to
trouble him unless he could get back
the ring-unleSs he could get back the
ring"
Lenders heart began to beat high;
the solution of his difficulty was at
hand 1t was something to know for
certain that upon recovery of the ring
the goddess power would be 1T end.
II only remained To find ont how the
other young man mana ged it. Yes Mr.
Freemoult?" he said interrogatively;
for the old gentleman had run down
again.
Il was only thinking it out. To re-
sumo then. No sooner had the magi-
clan whose name | said was Apollon-
ills) come to the wedding than he at
once conjectured the bride to be SER
pent, whereupon she vanished incon-
tnently, after the manner of serpents,
with the house and furniture"
Haven't you missed out a lot, sir?''
INQUIRED Leander, deferentially, be
cause it don't seem to me to hook on
quite. What became OF Venus and the
ring?''
How the dickens am l to tell you If
you will interrupt? Ring! Wha ring?
Why yes; the magician gave the young
man a certain letter, and told him to
go TO Il particular cross-road outside the
city at dead Of hight and wait for Sa-
turn, after having read, called Venus
to him, who was riding in front. and
turn to pass by in procession with bis