Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-09-13

hundred miles square could read,
still less write Once in half year Cat
erina received news from a son who was
a trader in Brazil, and another son VINO
was a soldier in Fritea, anu she OroughI
these letters to Cyrille TO know what
they were about.
ONLY a man on a mule, with morn
slnng at his shoulder, and some sacks
ON his saddle. was riding out OF one OF
the gates he entered. He saw 1t was
lettar-carrier from Ronciglione. Fausto
had occasional correspondence concern
inc boasts or brood mares 10 be Dou0nt
or sold or bulls an6 rams 10 be hau lot
,ae hiring. but these were but rarely
business was done On HORSEBACK, ana
nv word of mouth in these dlstrlcts'
and IN CvriUe himself no single mes
sags had ever come since he nad hrsl
entered the shadows OF lie Selye. AD-
solu+e silence had fallen between hlm
and his own land and his own people;
he hoped that they believed MIN aeau.
Therefore his heart stood sun VII!
surprise and emotion as he returned
this day from MS usual rounds ana was
net bv Caterina. who cried 10 MN:
The pos,-boy has been here, sir-ine
most from Ronciglione: dead beat ne was
and glad enough Of bite and SUP; 4e
brought a letter for YOU; lis on your ID
BILE in your chamber.
He ascended the staircase win Dea.-
ing pulse and noticed no, that me curl
Gus goodwill Of Caterina brought ner
up after him and kept her at the door
way.
There was large square envelope
living on the table, stamped with the
Dos.marks of his native land. ana se9ied
with cypher that he knew
He tore 1t open.
All it confined was photograph ot
wOmans head and shoulders; or the
face. which was always in his dreams
By night and by day. Under The portrait
was written:
"Je serai Rome en- hiver.
Marie. "
II was as though Heaven had opened.
HIS limbs shook as with palsy his
brsath came in deep-drawn sc3s; ne
pressed the portrait &c his lips and to has
heart.
He was no more alone. He was no
more without future. lie d.d moi ask
or care how she had found his refuge
or learned his fate. how she had raced
him what she knew. what they could
be or could not be 10 each other; Il was
enough that she remembered; that she
was IA hful: that in few months she
would be near him, there where the
golden-gleaming cross a12rkled in The
soft azure of summer eyes above Rome.
II was an ecstacy so great so unlocked
for. so overwhelming. thai il utterly
unnamed him; he fell n his knees and
wep;.
Caterina looking on from the en-
trance. closed the door softly and went
down the stairs.
The sulry day was ended; the sun
had set Far to the west on tne Cam
pagna. the fever mis,s were drifting in
pale haze like the wraiJhs OF the mul-
tiudes Of dead whose dust made up
the soil. The Anio. sarUnken TO run
le. in lis bed. was slow and almos-
.agnant. The distant Tiber was dis
cernible by The thread OF fog which
hung over lis course. In the woods
themselves the heat was nOiseless and
dusky and oppressive; the great lex
avenues looked black as the sacrificial
groves of old. Yet never TO him, not in
April radiance or autumn glory had
the scene looked so fair. Evening closed
in, an evening hot and heavy. without
any moon or any breath CT air, but he
sat in a rapture OF memory and OF hope
beside one Of the large windows, Of
which the embrasure' fronted the north
AT any other time it nigh have
struck him that the house was unusU-
ally silent: that there was not The noise
Of women's cla,ter. or CT mems laugh
Ter. and alteration, such as usually
rose up from court and stable and OUT
house when the day was done. Il was
so still that Il might have been mon
astery, with every cell closed, and ey-
cry friar sleeping.
But at this moment of supreme happi-
mess, happiness which seemed almost
reunion, with thai portrait in his hands
and under his eyes. and that vague. n
efT2bie promise written for the future
beneath it. he would have scarcely been
sensible if the volcanic fires which
Elept under the tuta around had thun-
dered through the woods
How long he had sat there since he
had entered the chamber he did not
know: he had no consciousness Of the
old woman having entered the room
with the lamp and having told him that
his dinner awaited him in the smaller
room beyond.
Il was with difficulty that he reused
himself 10 q perception of her voice.
when she stood again at his elbow. and
called him thrice in a low, shrH, start
led voice.
Let me alone, my friend" ne said
to her; l am occupied do not need
to dine"
at is not that Hearken" said Cat
erina, and something in her tone awak-
hned him % attention. Sales.--future
is no one in the house"
He turned and looked n her
NO one in the house? There must
be some Of the men-s0me Of the wo-
men. Have they not suppeG?'
That IS it. sir" she answered. Sup
per hour is long past, and never yet did
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