, 1896-11-11
A SEPARATION.

up than was needful. | told myself so
four times u day when l assembled the
ll2 steps that separated me from the
level of the throng on the street, but
because when one had reached the top
there was TO be enjoyed Il magnificent
panorama of roofs and chimney tops |
staid there. Besides, i'll tire course of
four months l had made the arquaiut-
ance of all my neighbors, and usually
among the n%eighbors of II bachelor there
Is some Il that he wolld be sorry 20
miss.
1t was there that 1 knew tie cd !.ss
welded pair that can lie imagined NJ
say that Signor Sulpic.o ana SiTnoi !.
Coneetta were Gn" is rot - mCia.,;nr,
for between cncm they harfi.-- lad IS
m.ch flesh a"i bGrI as n Ordir...l
well set up individual. But he!r lai'....
ages wee II decade MOI" ,Ianl IL - ntury
and a half. And II SiCnC". Crnc-t'a
had taken the freak - stand uprn h.r
husbands head, she would have bumped
the ceiling. Now the rooms i'll that
house are 81 meters in ht!ght-11 feet
8 inches by the American measure.
Whoever has solved these arithmctical
problems will have before him. I should
think, the precise likeness of these Old
persons and sees them, as | do i'll my
minds eye, long, mCager, gaunt, with
white heads, faces scanned by wrinkles,
with sunken, cleaning eyes.
They had shared their joys and sor-
rows, bed and board for 60 years and
had Ununl i,tn n,,I, ntI,,'. ,-.- .,.,l
the two faces had grow alike, and but
for their noses they might have been
supposed to be brother and sister. But
each nose had persisted in remaining
the antithcsis of the other. That of the
husband was hooked like an eagles beak
and seemed to keep watch upon all that
went into his mouth. Signora Coneet-
ta's nose turned up, as if prudently
withdrawing in order not to cmbarrass
the good mOuthfuls. The comparison is
not mine. They invented it themselves
at the wane of the honeymoon in Il mo-
ment of anger over u dish that tasted of
smoke. 1t was the first cloud in Their
azure, an ugly cloud that rose from tho
dish to their noses and then passed into
their habits Of feeling. They ended by
believing themselves totally incompati-
BILE. Coneetta spoke of returning tn her
parents, and Sulpicio was willing that
she should do SO. but as thev We're on
the wedding journey the matter was de.
ferred. But the fatal word had been
spoken-a separation. The day after
Sulpicio recalled the morning discourse
which his fa:hor-in-law had addressed
to him-rcmcmbcred how he had sworn
to mako his bride happy. A crowd of
tender memories of sage reflections i'm
PEELED him to induce Concctta t remain
under the coniugal roof.
On her part COncetta, q judicious
young roma AS ever WAS, had called to
mind her mammals cOunscls, tho yes
spoken at the altar, the envy of her
friends who remained spinstcrs. She
thought of the grief of her family, the
girls, anu concluded that on the whole
Sulpicio was not so bad and that it was
all tho fault of that unlucky dish. Then
the pair smiled, claspod hands and ox-
changed the kiss of peace. But there
was a tacit understanding that they
took each other on trial. That trial,
having wcathered IA Thousand %tempests,
had lasted for 60 years.
Now and thCn tho ncighborS were
startled by n shrill scream. THAT is
Concctta!' they said. Aud Coneetta it
was. Sho had way-whcn sho had
launched at her domestic tyrant all the
charming opithets accumulated in her
verbal researches of the past 60 years
without conquering the forces of his vo-
cHbulary-shc had II way, then, Of Civ
ing IL final shr;nk. People ran TO tho
scene and found that old SulpiciO had
sought safety in flight down the stairs
while Concctta flung at him from the
landing ono last descriptive adjective.
The first cares to tic injured wero
lavishel on ConCetta, and we had
learned that these must consist in let
ting her talk until her wrath had ovap-
GRATED. We to any who should pity her
or tell her that her husband was not the
right sort. for when her anger seemed
spent it would blaze up like II lucilcr
match, to protest that she had wished to
marry him and would keep to him, that
what her Sulpicio was nobody could
know but herself, nobody need teach
her to read i'll his heart, she knew all
about him, these many years, and no
was worth all tho rest of mankind put
together. When the storm was over and
the landing deserted, she would peer out
from her room, look about her, her
head shaking under its big black silk
cap, slip down to tho next floor and
knock ut tho door Of Signora Nina, a
young widow who lived with al iniirm
uncle who was a friend Of Sulpicio.
Coneeta knew that her man was very
fond OF his friends young niece and she
not only was not jealous, but begged the
aid Of Nina as Il peacemaker. About the
same time the fugitive husband would
return s~tealthily into the house, climb
the stairs and invade, painting. my
apartment. He knew that Coneetta
me would influence her, and he trusted
to me TO yestore domestic tranquility.
MY pirS ~ mediator was not difficult.
and I do not think that Signora Nina
had q harder task. AS soon as Coneetta
saw me, before l spoke II word Of my
embassy, she would press my hands be.
tween her knotty ones and mutely shak-
ing her head and raising her eyes to the
ceiling express to me her sorrow for
what had happened, her readiness to re-
turn to her wifely duty, her gratitude
for my good offices. In fact, the pair
could not live apart. They loved as they
always had loved, in warlike guise, but
- -~,nklx, NJ. ,nDrto1c voov