The herald., 1894-09-09
ANTGNIO.

Antonio W as young, handsomef and a
gondolier. h'e lacked but twoskfings-
a gendola of MS own and an English
man. He was too poor to buysa goa
dola, and though he occasionally hired
"a old and ext sernaly dilapidsteed one
and trusted to hist handsome fate to en-
able him to captl IRE a party of foreign
ladies his profits hudTo be divided with
tho owner of the q uadDla, and thus were
painfully small Thestraghettp brought
him in few francs psr month, and he
picked up other sma IL sums by serving
as second oar whene yer tourists could
be CONVINCED that a econd7oar was nee
essary Still, Antoni b was desperately
poor and be and his young wife were
often mcornfortably hungry.
NoaE, if the Madonn a would only send
him an .Englishman, even if it were
only forN single yea !, Antonio could
easily saNsNenough mo ney to buy him
self a beautiful gondol q, besides living
in the lap CT luxury. Els brother Spiro
had owned an Engfishm an for only 7 q
months, and already he was a capital
list, with his own, gondoltas and-fgure
it to yourself-with 400 francs in the
savings bankl And SIP bro had done
nothing todese1westhis blessing, for he
was notoriously an unbeli byer and new
er went inside ascl1urch except when he
was escorting English ladies, when, of
course, he prayed with f,srwor at the
most conspicuous shrine, which was
worth at least 10 extra solsh of buona
mano, whereas Antonio vEsls deeply
religious and at least once aHyear gave
a wax candle to the blessed Virgin of
Santa MariasZobenigo. 'But patiencep
said Antonio daily to himself. ''Scme
day the Madonna viii grow weary and
will say, Give that Antonio an Eng
1ishman, SO that 1 can have little
peace and qniet.' And then the Eng
lishman Will apear,. andAAnsnnio 'ssfor-
tune viii DO 1nads..'''
Of course AntauEpal1nswto9 everyfor-
eigner who came toifTenicsfwith the in
tention Of making p long stay. There
is no detective polise In tire world that
can be compared wi Ia the Venetian gon-
dolier in learning tliewa,Hs andPurposes
Of tourists. To know all about the for
eigner is at once his business and his
capital. The Englis hmanswho comes to
Venice and detern lines to spend six
months or a year IN tilaS enchanted city
may reach this decil sinnson Saturday
might and mention ittso no living soul
Yet by the followinGs Monday morning
all the gondoliers in Venice know that
there is an Engiishn ,an to be striven
for, and they have eve "a settled in their
own minds precisely W has apartment he
will probably hire How they arrive at
this knowledge it is net for me to say.
There are mysteries in the Venice Of to-
day, as there were IN tive Venice of the
ten and of theatllree-
Now, il fell out that enc day Antonio
learned that an Englis hman and his
wife, a young, couple, vtho had every
appearance of sweet temper and scant
knowledge of the world, had arrived at
the Albergo Luna and haalatoid the por-
ter that they intended to take a house
and live forever in Eenioea. The porter
was an intimate friend oft'fAntonio and
had been pronrised-a handsome commits
sion to any foreigner wasvzn he might
place in Antonless shazfis. Within an
hour afterreceivingv the prerivus infor-
uldUlOu S-1ilDlliD 41is1Al pun I'll 111S DGSb
shirt, had said 10 axas F1t lightning
speed, .hadspreniEed the blessed Virgin
two-half pound WAX canKilEs in Case he
should land fsns saesiraadlef 8sngsiEhnan
and was back aeain AT the 11zna and
waiting to waysEay 1hisEmgy.
The porter presented -Atltgaio and as
serted that, az a4cSnlhilatiun Of p-nfRs-
sionalshll and moral hgkauty, Aata1io
was simply unique. Mr. Miax1zy, the
Tnghshman in @qnestaOs WIS pleased
with Antornols -.clean xlairr, and Mrs
ldiidlnay was .captixated by his chest
NUT curls andsthe frank, innorent ex-
preston of the.young fellows face He
was hired ON the spot, with tho new
gondolaswhiehi me ,prnfnSssd TO own, for
4 90 francs per nIoufhs including his
board. He wasstp string-iMs gu1Gola and
his Recommendations to a,he. asDtel to be
inspectSdf shat .afbeT1nonn and was to be-
gin hissduties mlsthefDd1nW1ng day, the
Milamays having zlxeady secured an
apartment lin advance of their arrival
in Venice
rived at last HE is man of excellent
neHEt, Enc pdftA, E@ilu ANTONIO TO The
porter. @'Hewillbe as wax in my hands.
Already love him and the sweet pa
roma Youshal have your share of him,
my Zuane No one can say that am
not just man.
Antonio hurried at once from the
hotel with note from the porter to
dealer in gDndolas, certifying that the
bearer had secured most eligible Eng
lishman. He had to pay heavy price
for the hire by the month Of nearly
new gondola. but the payments were to
form part of the purchase money, and
Antonio did not grudge the price. Then
he stopped at his house to show the lew
gondola to his wife and tell her the
blessed news, and then, armed with his
baptismal certificate and an old letter
from a notary informing him that the
funeral expenses of his father must be
paid or serious consequences would fol-
low, he returned to the hotel.
The Mildmays were satisfied with the
] eondola aud win Antonio's recomnien-