The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-11-11

she might be taken on to the lagoon OPP,
posite the Piazza, near San Giorgio, and
see the double effect of the lights on the
TO the instant, AS his boat touched the
steps the white lady appeared: Would she
have gone had she known what madness
was boiling in the young gondolier! AS
the first hint of the moon tipped the hori-
zon her voice came quietly, but not to be
gainsaid: "Sing, Zefirino."
The poor boy was a very nightingale
that night, with his breast against the
thorn of love. AS he continued IL seemed
as absurd and hopeless as possible tina ne
but as to the lottery and the castle, faith
In those things never dimmed. Therefore
fully mingled with triumph. and that when
he could sing no more the lady was inter-
ested enough in the singer to ask MIN
something about himself. He was going TO
tell her all-grandmother. father, mother,
sisters and all-when the dream came TO
his mind. and il flashed upon MIN tnat
now-now was the occasion to make utter
ly sure what numbers he should play In
The lady did not understand all he said,
but the dream, the way she was mixed up
with ii, and the deductions he drew by
consulting his cabalistic book struck her
fancy, immensely, and perhaps alarmed ner
crisis with Zefrino. that was certain. Should
she try to dissuade him, argue him out OF
a faith quite as deeply fixed as that IN
which he was born, and refuse to say any
thing about the numbers he should buy!
Thinking thus she wrote down the five
numbers he showed her on the oar and
gazed at tnem i'm the brilliant moonlight.
Strangel She was just eighteen, and two
of the other numbers were just the ages
of the two persons who stood nearest TO
her in lifet It was a shock. Perhaps there
was something in it.
'Zefirino, buy 2, and IS, and 49,"
As they rowed back Zefirino was so volu-
BILE. so incoherent. so excited that the white
lady began to suspect that something else
besides moonlight and the lottery had en-
- ~ - - INae -
e cere ! Ine th nean made St i her tell eIhno Him that She
would not go out next day, or a vague
feeling that he was not all that he looked?
closing of the lotto, and then, rushing
frantically into the shop, put all he pos
sessed into tickets for 2. IS and 49,; At
cockcrow the day after he was on the little
square upon which hangs the bulletin where
the numbers OF the lottery are marked as
graphed to the other cities.
He had neither slept nor eaten, and now
alternated between feverish attempts TO talk
with cooler gamblers and fits of apathy.
eight hours as If the days had been dreams
and the phantasms of the night the only
offered him a basin full of gold pieces-no,
they were oranges. The moon looked down
in anger-or was it joy? Finally. late in the
saw that IS had drawn a big prize. so
large, indeed, that the portion represented
by his ticket was to a gondolier a fortune.
hC III Adoy q kOdSCo lnC uC-
licious reverie in which moonlight in Venice
sleeps one. Boats came down the canal in
a knot, from which rose the twangiing
cries. One was "Zefirino," the other ia
Donna Blanca That was what Zefrino had
called her, and she had been amused there
at. But the boats stopped at the hotel, and
before the porters could hold them in par
ley the jewellers had picked Zefirino up and
carried him bodily on to the terrace to rem
counseled him so well. For poor Zefrino.
when the strain gave way, must needs
blab Of her to whom he firmly believed his
rushed up. a tall figure rose in a l%eisurely
way. from 9 chair. and. taking the white
:ady's arm In his. faced the group with no
Who are these insolent beggars. my
dear?"
Hush said the white lady. putting her
hand over his mouth. This is my gon-
dolier, .Zefrino, whom 1 advised to buy
a certain lottery number in the lottery, and
S that is the way they spend their
"oh, dear. you old goose. win you never
stop being such a Briton? They are like
children, don't you see?"
Zefirino was white and trembling, but he
plucked up courage to thank his saint, his
liberator. his patroneSS, his goddess, for
having brought him luck and made him a
idly: ups anu A'' I'M
land to your zio, illustrious white lady,
The white lady burst out laughing and
said, in a low tone:
George, do you hear? He takes you for
my uncler'
"Humph! See nothing childlike In thatr'
"Zefirino, this gentleman is my husband.
and his age is one of the numbers / chose
from the five you selected"
"Maritov' cried Zefirino, with a quaver
that let all the persons present into a Sc
cret he would have done better to bury deep
In his breast. One or two began TO feel
the awkwardness of the whole proceeding.
and by a happy diversion caused the whole
and compliments. On the hotel steps Zefi-
rino was like a dazed man.
after ALL he muttered. "he is not SO
young-he may die" And then in a louder
voice, as he put mis- hand to his head, re-
Numbering something: II know what il
comes rom-tha gobbo."
San Francisco Argonaut.