Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-10-31

crowded squares and Illuminated quar-
terS where the principal merriment Of
the evening was going on and no doubt
thought ! showed but a poor taste to
require TO be driven away, ~ for n
short distance, III of Naples on such
a night OF feasting and jolity. He
stopped at last; the castellated turrets
OF the villa | had named were family
visible among the trees; he jumped
from his box and came to us.
"Shall l drive up to the housef' he
asked, looking as though he would
rather be spared this trouble.
NO" / answered indifferently, you
need not. The distance Is short. We
will walk"
And / stepped out into the road and
paid him his money.
you seem anxious to get back to
the city, my friecd," / said loosely.
Isl davveror' he replied with decis-
ion, II hope to get many good fares
from the Count Oliva's marriage ball
tonight"
"Ah, he is a rich fellow, that Count"
1 said as l assisted my wife to alight,
keeping her cloak well muffled around
her SO that this common fellow should
HOl peFCeiNe the glitter VI ueE COSlls
costume; II wish ! were he"'
The man grinned and nodded en-
phatically. He had no suspicion of
my identity. He took me, in all prob
ability, for one of those gay gallants"
so common in Naples, who, on finding
at some public entertainment a DANA"
to their taste, hurry her off, carefully
cloaked and hooded, to a mysterious
nook known only to themselves, where
they can complete the romance Of the
evening entirely to their own satisfac-
ton. Bidding me a lively buona notte,
he sprang on his box again, jerked his
horses head violently round with a
volley of oaths, and drove away at a
rafting pace. Nina, standing on the
road beside me, looked after him with
q bewildered air.
could he not have waited to take
us back" she asked.
NO." I answered brusquely, 1--WE
shall return by a different route.
Come"
And passing my arm around her, I
led her onward. She shivered slightly
and there was a sound of %querulous
complaint liz her voice as she said:
"Have we to go much further, &C.
sare?'
Three minutes walk will bring us
to our destination" l replied briefly,
adding in a softer tone, Are you
cold?"
"A little" and she gathered her sa-
bles more closely about her and press
ed nearer to my side. The capricious
moon here suddenly leaped forth like
the pale ghost of a frenZied dancer,
standing tip-toe on the edge of
a precipitous chasm of black clouds.
Her rays, pallidly green and cold,
fell full on the drear stretch of land
before us, touching up with limin-
our distinctness those white myster-
ious mile-stones of the Compo Santo
which mark where the Journeys Of
men, women and children began and
where they left off, but never explain
In what new direction they are now
travelling. My wife saw and stopped.
trembling violently.
What place is this?" she asked ner-
vously.
In all her life she had never visited
a ce~metery-she had too great a hor-
ror of death.
1T is where I keep all my treas
ures," / answered, and my voice
sounded strange and harsh in my own
ears, while l frightened my grasp of
her full warm waist. "Come with me,
my beloved!' and in spite of my eff
forts, my one was n of bitter
mockery. with me you need have
no fear! Gomez
And l led her on, too powerless to
resist my force, too startled TO speak
on, on, on, over the rank dewy grass
and unmarked ancient g~rayes-on, till
the low frowning gate of the house
Of my dead ancestors faced neon,
on, on, with the strength Of ten devils
in my arm as held heron, on, on, TO
her just doom!