Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-21

other Is mine. Are they not your features?
Tns King Of should sh not nave nave
them, and II a devil looks out through such
a fair mask, Is 1t not SO with all fair wo-
men, that lead even to destruction? There
is your true picture, Princess Osra" And
he flung himself on a couch with a mad
cry Of rage, and then a groan of despair.
The Princess Osra looked at him. and at
the beautiful pictures, and then at the pic
ture that was like her and yet like devil.
First, she pitied the painter, and then
marveled at his wonderful skill, that 80
transformed her without drawing a line
that could be called untrue. Thus think
ing. she stood for a while, grave and puZ-
zled. But then the humor struck her, as 1t
struck her house, always in great things
and in small, and 1t seemed to her most
ludicrous that the pictures should all be
resting here in Giraldo's house, while the
princes who had commanded portraits of
her had received nothing but distorted
parodies Of her face to the end that they
might be disguised, and, abandoning the
alliance they had projected, leave her still
number and most fruitlessly by this mad
painter. And, these thoughts gaining the
mastery over the others, in spite of the sad
plight OF unhappy Signor Giraldo. her lips
dancing merriment. and a moment later
she broke into a glad, gleeful laugh, that
rose and rippled and fell to soft delighted
murmurings. And she looked again at the
devil. and her mirth grew and grew at the
ingenuity of the work and the hooking
devfltry SO cunningly made out of her face.
Small wonder was 1t to her now that the
emil assies had not come.
The Princess Osra thus stood laughing
and presently Signor Giraldo looked up,
and when he had listened and looked for
few moments, his wild mood caught the in
lection from her, so that. springing to his
feet, he also began to laugh loudly, like
man who cannot restrain his amusement,
but Is carried away by 1t beyond all bounds
and restraint. Thus Giraldo laughed loud
ly, long and fercely. for there was mad
ness In his laugh. And the princess heard
the madness, and, even while she still
laughed, her eyes opened in wonder, alarm
came on her face, her merry laugh quiv-
cred, trembled. choked in her throat, and
at last died away into dumbness, yet her
lips hung apart, frozen In the shape of
laughter, while no laughter came And as
her laugh thus ended IN mute horror, his
grew louder yet and wilder, and its peal
rang through the room, as he gasped be-
tween his spasms of horrid mirth: YOU
you, your and pointed at the picture which
he had touched into devilishness. But she
shrank away and stood crouchcd against
the wall, for she knew now that he was
mad, but did not know to what his fury
might next lead him. Then he caught up
knife that lay on the sill of the window
and now, smiling as though in grim quite
amusement. strobe across 10 the row of
pictures, and, reaching up to them, knife
in hand. But osra suddenly sprang for
ward, crying, do not hurt them!'
''There?" he asked, turning to her with
sheer. These? I'll destroy them all, for
they are no longer beautiful to me, but
that one only is beautiful, because it is
true and he wrenched his arm away from
the OBTAINING hand that she hal laid upon
it. Falling back in terror, she watched
him cutting and slashing each Of the pic
lures. until the face was utterly destroyed
And she feared that when he had finished
with the pictures he would turn upon her;
therefore she flung herself on the couch
hiding her face for fear of some horrible
fate; and she murmured low to herself
Mot my face. God, not my facet! And
she pressed her face down into the cush-
ions of the couch. while he. muttering and
grumblfng to himself cut the pictures ir to
strips and ribbons and strewed the frag-
ments at his feet on the floor And. this
done, he turned to the face that he now
loved and poured out to it, as though it
had been an idol he worshiped, flood of
wild, passionate, reproachful words. that
Osra shivered to hear and the purport of
which she dared tell none though, for all
her prayers, she could not herself forget
one of them.
At last he came to her again, and pluck ell
her roughly and rudely from the couch