The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-08
THE MADONNA OF THE SEPULCHRE.
Nv ALETHEA PHILLIPS.
Abor Of abe strange
Etc


a space or red wan -LaL-ll- NAl+- ---+
the huge silt frame IL was impossihi-
10 imagine how any thief could have
managed the business so aaroitly. for
extra precautions had been taken yet
in spite Of them all this valuable canvas
had been cut clean ont and taken away.
OF course the matter would obtain mo-
toriety. for the painting was 0f world
wide fame. though until the previous
week il had rested in a private Ducal
collection. and 80 would Dee hopeless for
any person TO bring 81 into market.
where fl was likely 20 realize half its
value. without being detected as the per-
petrator of the crime. There WAS doubt
less satisfaction in this view Of
the case, though 1t only rendered
the deed more inexplicable, and the
small knot Of men who had been
called in to consult as 10 the
best means OF tracing the lost prop
erty, already began to feel "a tride de-
pressed. There was not the shadow OF
scrap of evidence against man, woman,
or child
The picture had been bought on be-
half Of a wealthy client by Isaac Cohen
or Old Co, as he was Familiarity nick
named, and he would have to make good
its loss.
He stood there now. working his lean
restless hands together. and stared mp
under his thick brows at the empty frame
a bent figure in an il-fitting suit Of rusty
black. with a harshly outlined profile
that betokened his Semitic origin. Peo-
pies sympathies did not 80 out 10 him
as a rule, but even the rough carpenter,
who was kept to do odd jobs about the
place, and who had just stood searching
or ~ q m q
movement of pity.
Maybe it amt so far OFF. but what we
shall md it. master he Yentured 10 re-
mark drawing the back Of one hand
across his lips.
old Co turned abruptlysto fix an eagle
glance upon the mana swift search-
ing terrible glance, such as any but an
honest person must have quailed under,
but the carpenter remained stohd.
How do l know you are not IN the plot
TO ruin me-a useful tool perhapsi'
snarled the jew with sardonic Wrnk-
ling Of his parchment skin
Come Mr.. Cohen said an Official
stepping forward: Jarvis has given very
good account of himself. lie Will Zoe a
useful witness on your side, ! fancy
The old man made no reply. but tell TO
contemplating the empty frame once
"Fifteen thousand-ff-teen thousand
he repeated again and again, IN a nasal
kind of murmur. while his skinny fingers
clutched and grabbed at the unsubstantlal
air. 1t seemed somehow as If he were
it. There was a horrible suggestion of
coming madness in the action, and those
present shrank back, edging their way one
after the other from the room; for after
all their business was to take immediate
steps toward the pictures recovery, and
not to watch the effect of its loss upon
the miserable old jew, who was response
bic. Even the sympathetic carpenter
skunk into the back premises, leaving his
wretched master alone to face the loss
which threatened to Overwhelm him.
1t was a dingy little chamber. fun Of dust
and cobwebs yet an almost priceless treas
ure had been taken out of IT. Old Cohen
was accustomed to work here himself,
and the signs of his occupation lay scat
tered about He was not only a skilful
restorer but an accurate judge of old
canvasses, and many rich people pre-
ferred TO trust to him rather than TO pic
ture dealers in a large way of business
for, bit by bit they had found out that
no one could conclude a bargain so well
as Old Co. and no one else knew so well
when bargain was worth concluding
He was of undoubted integrity in all such
transactions, though being Jew, The
reputation of grasping nature had natu-
rally fallen upon him, and some would
have il that during ali the years he had
passed a diligent but almost sordid exis-
Tence he had been amassing wealth in
secret.
People were always a little afraid OF
him, and as he pOttered about in the dirty
little shop downstairs among his curious
his hawk-like eyes suddenly raised TO some
inquisitive loiterer at the window would
cause the latter 10 fee. Even street ur-
cnlns lost some of their audacity when
that glance was turned upon them and the
chanted alusion TO Nebuchadnezzar popu-
lar IN the neighborhood, died upon their
lips, even when they had put their impu-
dent heads inside the door, so as to recite
under his nose the narrative about
that potentate selling his wife for a pair
Of shoes
1t was whispered round about that this
ailusion was peculiarly painful to Old Co,
as according TO tradition, he had himself
once had a young and beautiful wife,
though what had become of her no one
knew. Very little, indeed. was known of
his domestic history. He had been living
IN this dark, narrow street, where the
windows were never cleaned, so long that
he had become as much a part of II as
the patches of decayed plaster falling
from the walls and people ceased to spec
ulate whether he had himself ever been
young. He seemed somehow to have been
specially created out of the shadow of
the past to preside over relics of bygone
days, to move among the duSky memories
of what had been, and to renew the splen-
doris that came from the vanished hand
of some old master.
He held no intercourse with the dull,
common mass of inhabitants in his neigh
borhood, though his manner of living was
as poverty-stricken as their own, but til
tied and wealthy COnnOiSSeurS sought him
out and were struck by the brilliant orig
inality OF mind choosing TO remain in
the obscurity of this wretched street
and resisting all their efforts of patronage
or kindness, to endeaVOr to remove its
possessor to a more cOngenial sphere.
1t might have appeared at first sight as
If it was hardly safe for this solitary old
man to live in such a place, considering
the valuable nature of the property he
dealt in, but he was no fool, and had taken
ample precautions, and the trust he plac-
ed in the honesty of the population had
never yet been shaken. They were too
stupid to be thieves he would say, with a
shrug of his lean shoulders expressive of
contempt, and, indeed most of them look
ed upon the contents of this musty old
shop as so much rubbish only fit to be
thrown on the dust heap, and which none
but d cracked-brain jew would dream of
boarding.
He stood in front of the empty frame a
long time after those he had summoned on
the discovery Of his loss had gone their
various ways. and his sall0W face was
puckered with thought.
Then all at once he began to bestir him
self among his paints and varnishes as if
TO commence his occupation for the day
The light from a single high window fell
with intensity upon his bent back cover
ed now with an ancient cashmere dress
ing gown, frayed and torn at the edges
and upon tho spare grizzled locks strag-
Cling from beneath what had once been a
highly ornate SmOking-cap. All around him
were sombre brown shadows into the
depths of which he diyed every now and
fr1r Il 4ses,