The Dickinson press., 1894-11-24

Q(at2
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CHAPTER 4.
The Fatal Number.
CHAPTER 4.
The Fatal Number.

ed nv that every Ole lOv3O ner-tn:L .ue-
3ide her Genna looked so plain. and
coarse and common.
She was so beautiful. so bright. so
saucy of tongue and keen Of wit. She
had the straight brows and lustrous
eyes, and dusky, llower-like beauty Of
the race from which she sprHns-the
Tuscan race, who lived the free. hon
est, laburious life of sens and dargh-
tiers of the sell, and war" devoted to
their birthplace, and loved their simple
homes on the wind-blowD hills. and
their fields of figs and olives, and vines
aEl grain. as though they were lifc's
fairest and nohlest posscssions-as i'll
deed they were to them.
They were sisters, Mia and Gcnna,
but they were thoroughly unlike-the
one SO beautiful, and the OTHER so plain.
Nita was the younger. there being
twelve years between them, and ut
first Tie elder sister had felt half jcal-
GUS of the little brown-eyed babe, with
its blossom Of a mouth. and its tiosSy
silken curls. and the love and tender
re SIS it won from the mother. who
seemed the same after it had come.
That feeling, however, passed OIL:
Each year Gonna grew fonder of the
little d%aughtcr(dc los qpOytul m nm
little. laughing, toddling child, with her
face like the bud of the r%ose-laIrel, and
her graceful, supple form, and her
feet that seemed always restless and
tireless. fitting about from place to
place like the bright-wir3ad butter
flies on the nower-stens without. True,
she had all the care and carcsses. the
devotion and labor of the house. True,
that each year widened the difference
between them, for as she grew to maid
enhood and l%ovclincsS, the other grew
older and c,llrScr and comnlGncl, as
SO many of the Tu:c:n woncn do
grow when the first flush Of youth is
past. And then her mother died and
left Nita to her sisters care, and with
her last breath bcsought her trntlrrrst
guardianship for her pretty, spoilt. viii
full darling.
An uncle came to tend the farm. and
take charge of them. Mia being then
sixteen. He was Il rough, fierce. moody
man, though of generous temper, and
honest to the core. But Mia diSlikcd
him always, and he was forever grum-
bling at her for her idlcness. her
sauce-rebellious tongue, her aversion to
housekeeping, and her love of dancing
and pleasure. He would have had her
like the generality of the maidcns
around, content with household carGE,
with the woxk of the fields, the hoeins,
planting, and spinning, water-dl awning,
and other homely occupations, which
sent them to bed with tired limbs and
contented minds. looking for no better
reward than n Fcast-day holiday, or a
new linen kirtle for some grand church
festival.
The women around were all strong,
useful, Woodworking, simple. eand
claste, hut Nita, gay. insolent. saut.y
Mia, who laughed Mt her numerous
levers, and delighted in nothing so
much as the furious Jealousy she raised
she was unlike all these, and Offend
ed him in every way, and with little
compulctiun ar pcnitence for the Of
Tense. So it came about that her sister
tad often had work to keep peace be-
tween them. and va. hard oeset solnc%
times to screen Nita's offenses from
old Maso's eyes. and do her sisters
share of household labor as we'll rs her
own.
Their cottage was n large. low build
my. set high on the hills, with groups
of Expresses and walnut trees around
1t and II great slope Of fields and vino
yard on either Si'le; other cottages ana
fields owned hy different contadini lay
here and there, the nearest being a
mile from their dwelling; and far he
low lay the town, where fairs some
tines took place, and where WANDER
ing players set up their booths, and the
young men ind mnidens met for the
dancing and merry-making that were
the delight of Nita's heart.
Few strangers ever came to them
Now and then a wandering artist, trav'
cling on foot, would stray from the
Savoy cn.lntry on old Tuscany, and
wander up the steep, bold hillsides
where the thyme, and wild roses, and
myrtle grew in the sandstone soil, and
the swect-voiced nightingale sang
through the long hot summer nights
Sometimes, too, they would paint a pict
ure Of the fields. either in the cleal
shone overhead, and the e Of maizl
was aglow with the whirling firef!es
Once q painter made a picture of Nita
as he saw her standing in the sunligh
with her arch brown eyes shining uEdel
her great straw nat. and the beautiful
sur pie, girlish form set against tn,
eieaminr amber sky.
Genna begged him so earnestly TO
Ia cOny of It that he gave her one. AM
at the next fair she secured a franz
for it. and hung it up in the little bare
white-walled kitchen. as the fairest an,
most exquisite Of I'LL their possessions
Nita liked to see it there. 1t wa
a living memcnto of the tiower-lik
beauty of which she was so vain; and
indeed, who could blame her that sh
was, for all the countryside We're eve
praising and extollins her loneliness
and the country me- .luarreled abou
her from day to day? TO win woman
envy and arouse mems Jealousy is tn
surcst acknowledgment of a woman
beauty that she can cvcr hope to wiz
Nita had won it, and the triumph graf
fled her far too we'll for Genna's likin
far too we'll for her own peace.
One summers day the whole villag
was keeping the feast OF Corpus-C Christ
all the country people from far an