Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-05-23

T l ten to you, who do not like her and have always distrusted her?"
 Believe and trust in neither of us, but to your own eyes and ears, and that too at once. Within an hour you | can see and hear what sort of a woman it is whom you love and wish to marry. And this very night-only trust to my | guidance"
 ''That will do gladly" answered Stephan.
 | "Then follow me-" returned the gypsy, and going down to the river he unmoored a boat lying there, and, the two stepping into it, Gezas took the | oars and rowed across to the island on which stood the pavilion.
 l On reaching the opposite bank, the l gypsy concealed the boat among a | clump of weeds and rushes and the two crept softly and stealthily through the thick shrubbery surrounding the l garden until they reached the grotto, 1 where they concealed themselves be- hind a thick veil of ivy hanging before the mouth of the grotto They were quite secure from all eyes, however sharp. They had not lain very long in silence when voices broke the stiffness of the night. Peering through the ivy, Stephan could see by the light of the moon tall, stately man wrapped in dark mantle, upon whose arm the prin- cess leaned familiarly. They came straight up to the grotto and seated | themselves on a bench near it The moonlight, shining full on the face of the cavalier, enabled Stephan to recog- nize him as Rakoczy, prince of Sieben- burgen. Every word of the converse | Al. I L. panion was now audible to him. From ! it's tenor he was not long left ! in doubt in regard to the rela- ! tion between the two. They were betrothed; their wedding would follow as soon as Rakoczy's ambitious plans both as regarded the emperor and the sultan should have been successful. They parted as lovers part, and it was with great reluctance that Rakoczy bade adieu to his fiancse. She, on her part, seemed but little inclined to lin ger. Their ambitious schemes dis cussed, their plans of aggrandizement and conquest laid out, she was quite willing to have her lover go on his way. ! It was plain, even to Stephans jealous eyes, that ambition was leading her to make this marriage-her heart was not in it.
 But he was furious at her perfdy, furious at seeing his hopes shattered at knowing that this fair, false woman had played with his honor and his af- factions. He determined to fly from \ her presence. He would make her no | reproaches, he would go this very | night-and without word. That night Irma heard beneath her chamber windows the music of StePhan's violin. She smiled as she listened, little know ! ing that it was a farewell her lover was bidding her-an eternal farewell
 When she became aware, however that Stephan was gone, and forever, she sought to win him back again. She sent messenger after messenger after him to bid him return to her. As mes sages proved unavailing, she had re- course to writing. Letter after letter followed Stephan after his return home. But all her endeavors were 1 fruitless. Stephan refused to listen to her messages; he left her letters un- ans wered. Then her love, rejected, disdained, turned to hatred, bitter, 1 burning, furious hatred. All her s thoughts were now of revenge-re- venge on the lover who had deserted her, who scorned her SO bitterly He ! her
 In the meantime Stephan remained | quietly at home with his parents. He gave up, for some time afterward, his troubadour-like wanderings about the country with his foster-brother Gezas.
 Only when he received authentic in- formation of the princess marriage to her former suitor Siebenburgen and de parture for the bridegroom's castle in Hungary did he resume his wanderings. One day, however, when in the neigh borhood of a forest on the edge of the pasha of Ofen's domain, the two musi- clans became suddenly aware that they were being followed by a man on horse back. This horseman appeared, how ever, rather to be spy upon their movements than to have any intention of attacking and robbing them. They hastened their footsteps, as the neigh borhood was unknown to them, and i their close proximity to Turkish terri tory not reassuring.
 They soon, however, succeeded in leav- ing the forest behind them. About a mile farther on, they came upon a czarda Gnn) and entered it. The horse man had some time before ridden away
 During the night, however, when Ste
 phan and Gezas had retired to rest,
 there came loud knocking at the door
 of the czarda- On the innlxeeper's open
 ing it, a band of armed and masked
 men pushed violently past him into the
 house and entered the chamber where
 the foster brothers were lying, and, bid ding them arise and dress as quickly as possible, bound them and carried them
 off On they went through the dark
 ness until they came to slight emi-
 hence where a group of mounted men
 were drawn up By the flickering red light of the torches the prisoners could
 see that these last were Turks. To
 them they were handed over by their captors. The leader of the troop after
 looking closely at the prisoners for l some moments in silence axclained: