The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-07-27


done SO his vengeance should be swift and
certain.
The two lovers, entirely engrossed by
their passion, had gradually relaxed their
habit Of watchfulness, and having been SO
Tar fortunate In lulling the old mans sus-
picions had become somewhat imprudent
and careless To surprise them in ono of
their stolen interviews was therefore an
easy task for the willy old smuggler. He
informed his daughter that he should be
absent on business for three days and then
craftily returned in the middle Of the first
evening Of his pretended absence Rosa and
Valsassina were supping happily together,
although from long habit the latter still
kept his loaded weapon by his side. When
they least expected 1t, knock was heard
OF the door.
"Ah," cried Rosa, seized by an over
towering sense of impending misfortune,
ut is my fatherl'
open, Rosai" cried the old man.
open Immediately. am hotly pursued
by the officers"
Rosa at tho same time was supplicating
her lover to hide himself This he at first
refused to do, but at length, yielding to
her entreaties, he retired to her bedroom
and closed the door.
"At last, cried the enraged father as
he entered the house and looked around
him. Then he added in a tono Of fury,
"Wherc have you hidden him3"
Hidden whom' In the fend's name,
what do you meanS" replied Rosa, striy-
Ing, as usual, to laugh the matter OF,
though she grew as pale as death.
; "Ah, you think to deceive me, do your
You will see, for If you love him now is
the time to utter prayer for his soul "
Quickly approaching the door of the cham
, Der, he burst 1t open with one blow But
, the hunter was prepared for him. Two
, shots We're exchanged almost simultane-
, ously, and with a fearful oath Manila fell
} dead ut the feet of his young antagonist.
And thus 1t was that the courageous
and devoted lover of the beautiful ROSA
became the murderer of her father, while
the terrible shock had such a fearful effect
upon the sensitive soul of the daughter
, that reason tottered on its throne and the
/ maniac we had watched scaling the dizzy
heights was no other than the sweet Noun
tain Hose, whose tragic fate had been
caused by the selfishncss of her father and
the cruel malignity and jealousy of the
|, people among whom her lot was cast
Nevertheless, MS I looked ON the soft
3
r BILE heroine of the mountain, could not
help asking myself the questions; lis
2 Rosa Manila indeed bcrcft of reason, or is
her supposed madness only assumed for a
purposct Is it certain beyond the posi-.
D Ibility of doubt that her outlawed lover in.
, deed lies crushed beneath the rocks at tho
, foot of the prccipicuf Is it the madness OF
love which leads that poor creature up
those giddy heights and strengthens that
, slight form to endure those almost super
human toilsf Or Is 1t n true, heroic love
, which thus enables her to bravo every dan.
ger and to endure ohloquy and disgrace
for the sake Of that one beloved objretf'
/, But If the hypothesis of the death OF
Nalsassina be u false one and her madness
/ only assumed, how could he possibly exist
l ION those mountains or in those forests
during the frost and snow and amid the
fearful tempcsts of winter without being
Iobligcd to descend into the valleys and
thus expose himself to the danger of dis.
: Icovcry by the officers of justicc2 But was
! it indeed necessary that lac should return
to the Italian territory Could he not de.
Iscend on the other side and under an as.
lsumed name dwell unknown in some re-
mote village Of La Belle Suissc?''
Al This was certainly not impossible. The
Ipehsantry OF those parts are unscrupu-
Ilous, and Nalsassina would naturally find
many accompliccs and protectors among
them and would certainly prefer country
OF smuRglcrs who delighted like himself
( in evading the law. An abode, therefore,
/ in this well known region would offer a
2 more secure refuge for such a character
than the great and we'll guarded routes "a
i England and America
These and similar aura,
spontaneously In my mind, but the driver
land other tellcrs Of the story only shook
their heads and laughed, For them Rosa
. Manila continued to he the mad woman
of the mountains and her lover crushed
. form long buried beneath the rocks.
II
n That same winter such enormous guam.
Titles of snow fell from tho mountains
THAT the whole region greatly suffered,
land many fatal disasters occurred Among
the latter the cottage of Rosa Manila was
buried beneath II falling avalanche. 1t
D was generally supposed that she was alb
r Isent from home at the time of the catas
Itrophe but when the snow was at length
1 removed and the mystery solved two bod.
les were discovered beneath the ruins
4 that Of the poor girl and that of a man still
, young, whom she held in last passionate
p embrace. The great majority of the peas
Q ants recognized him as "A lame musician
who wandered about the country with his
organ, but some of them swore that the
face of the dead man WAS no other than
that Of the bold smuggler Constantine
| Nalsassina, the handsome lover of the
Mountain Rose
But the majority We're so loud In thciI
! assertions that the few were silenccd, Sc
: the latter wisely held their peace and
smiled, and soon Rosa Manila, even as
she lay in the marble beauty of DEATH was
+ again insultcd and dcspised for the second
/ love they attributed to her Happily she
r had passed to that land where the wicked
@ cease from troubling" and the strife Of
4 tongues could wound her brave spirit nc
moro. Translated From the Italian vi