The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1894-06-27
TIE MADONNA.

d.
u1 e island of Sicily. His father
lss 10 work in the sulphur mines,
an soon as Paolo had the required
ST 9Th he assisted the old gentle
in, earrying large bags filed with
sui pr- They paid him starvation
wa and the kind of work seemed
To i'm to lack in dignity. He was
int gent, and in spite of his low
de- at possessed of good manners
Mo- ~ could blame him. therefore,
fol erishing ambitious hopes for the
asequently one fine morning aft
er received his wages he ran away
anl vent over to the continent
| VIM he came back after a few years.
he - developed into full grown
vaf tond. His father had died in the
me- time, and being possessed of an
inoI mate hatred of all the powers
thai oe Paolo decided to embark into
! fiaes Of a brigand to revenge the
wrong which unmerciful landlords
inflicted on the poor miners and
farmers
they heard that number of outlaws
under the leadership of Paolo Saw
sllo made travelling quite unsafe in
Sicily, were not otNdisturbed to great
extent, but considered that a protec-
ton of the mail coaches by soldiers
was all they could afford to do.
Everybody who travelled privately
had to provide for his own safety.
The officials probably thought that
by some good chance Paolo might be
killed in an incautious attack.
This was not the case, however. but
it seemed as though the holy Madon-
ma protected him from all injury. A
young American lady finally was the
cause of his giving himself up into
the hands of the police.
An English lord-Sir Edward Clin-
ton-owner of one of the most extern
sive sulphur mines in the neighbor-
hood of Girgenti, lived in that town
with his niece, Miss Evelyn Clinton.
Sir Clinton's brother had emigrat-
ed to America when quite young and
married there. His wife died soon
after the birth of a daughter. Strick-
en- by grief, he himself soon followed
her to the grave. Sir Clinton took
the child back to England and had
her educated She grew up to be the
good angel of the household, and on
account of her sweet manners and
beauty was adored by all that knew
her. francesca, her Italian servant
girl. confessed that frequently she
felt tempted to kneel down and kiss
her feet.
One day there came to live with
this family tall, lank young man,
with gray spectacles. He walked
around in the town a great deal, with
his hands IN his pockets, and stared
into all the alleys and corners with
out ever saying much. After having
selutinized the place to finish, he
hired horse and took daily rides to
the surrounding country. One day
he persuaded the signorina to accom-
pany him on an excursion to the Mac
caluba. This is small hill in a ro-
mantle neighborhood, few hours
from Girgenti, very lonely and known
only to a few people in the town
Signor Ernesto hired q half grown
boy, Andrea, who pretended to know
the Maccaluba as thoroughly as his
fathers barn. In reality the boy
knew the hill only from hearsay and
inquired for the direction they had
to take only few minutes before the
start. How the travellers Jared with
guide like that you may imagine.
Riding through an uncultivated,
rocky plain, they met difficult ground
an hour after the start, where deep
cuts in the road made progress
wearisome task.
must mention here that in the
lords house nobody cared what hap
pened in the neighborhood. These
people had very little contact with
the outside world. 1t is possible they
had heard of Saviello and his band,
but even then they believed they had
nothing to do with the affair. AT
any rate, the idea never occurred to
the signorina of 16 summers that she
might be captured by the bandits
The travellers finally decided to re-
turn after having taken a short rest.
They dismounted and sat down on the
trunk of an old tree which lay there
imbedded in the ground. At some
distance from them the boy stretched
himself on the ground, holding the
reins of the horses and glancing sig
nifcantly at the eatables which the
signorina had taken from the saddle
pockets. His attention was SO much
occupied that he did not notice the
approaching sfrocco, which brought
heavy clouds from the south. An
drea continued begging with his eyes
until the signorina filed him with
some of the good things contained in
her lunchbag. Only then he gave
warning of the coming danger by
pointing with expressive gestures at
the black wall of clouds on the hori-
ron, behind which the sun had dis
appeared.
Hurriedly our friends mounted,
but soon the darkness increased and
threatened to make the return i'm
possible. The boy, however, feeling
quite comfortable after an unusually
good repast, showed great confidence.
Every few minutes he would stretch
out his hands like signboard, cry
ing, .Girgenti." The two travellers
had lost all faith in him. They only
Al