The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-08-21

from the other room in a great rage ana
carrying his sword drawn IN his hand.
for he had sworn by Our Lady and st.
Peter to kill the rogue who had done
the princess such a wrong and so SLAM
dered her beauty. And his gentlemen
came in with him all very ready to see
Giraldo killed, but each eager that the
king should leave the task to him. Yet
when they entered and saw Giraldo
painting as though he were wrapt by
some ecstasy and had forgotten all that
had p~assed-nay, even their very pres
ence-they paused in unwilling and
constrained hesitation, and Osra raised
her hand to bid them stay still where
they were and not interfere with Giral-
dos painting, for now she desired above
all things on earth that he should be
left to finish his task, for he thought
that he had read more than pity and
more than tenderness in Osra's eyes.
He had seemed to see love there, and
thus he had cried out in joy, and thus
he was now painting as never had even
he, for all his skill, painted before. His
unerring hand, moving lightly to and
fro, impaired the sweetness of his de
lusive vision to the canvas, so that the
eyes of the portrait glowed with O
derful and beautiful love and gentleness.
Presently Giraldo began to sing very
softly to himself a sweet, happy old
song that peasants sang to peasant girls
in the fields outside his native Verona
ON summer evenings. His head was
thrown back in triumph and exulta-
tion as he sang and worked, tasting the
luxury of love and glorying in the trib-
ute that his genius paid to her whom he
loved. Thus came a moment of great
joy to the soul Of Giraldo the painter,
for a mans love and a mans work are,
when they seem to prosper, of all things
the sweetest, and their union in one
his life's consummation.
1t was done. He laid down the brush
and drew back a step, looking on what
he had done. The princess came softly
and slowly, as though attracted against
her will, and stood by him, for she saw
that this picture was now, beyond all
compare, the most perfect and beautiful
of all that he or any other man had
painted of her, and she loved him ft :.
thus clarifying her. But before many
moments had gone by a sudden start
and shiver ran through Giraldo's body.
The spell of his entranced ecstasy broke.
His eyes fell from the masterpiece that
he had made and wandered to those
who stood about him-to the gentlemen
who did not know whether to wonder
or to laugh, to the angry face of the
king and the naked sword in his hand,
at last to Osra, whose eyes were still
ON the picture. And his exultation van
ished, and with it went, as it seemed
to them, his madness. Reason dawned
for a moment in his eyes, but was
quenched in an instant by shame and
despair, for lie knew that all had seen
that other picture, and they knew
what he had done, and suddenly with a
stified cry he flung himself full length
on the floor at Osra's feet.
"Let us wait" said she gently. "He
will be himself again soon."
But the king wal too angry to listen.
HE has made us fools before half
Europe" he said angrily, land he
shall not live to talk of it. And you
have you seen the picture yonder?"
eyes, l have seen it," said she.
"But he does not now think that pic
ture like me, but this one" And she
turned to the gentlemen and desired
them to raise Giraldo and lay him on a
couch, and they obeyed. Then she knelt
by his head, and after awhile he opened
/, his eyes, seeming sound of sense in ev-
arutbsnp avoont fhot he ba1ioxo6 che
soved him, SO that he began to whisper
8 to her as lovers whisper to their loves,
, very tenderly and very low. And the
king, with his gentlemen, stood a little
1 way off. But the princess said nothing
l TO Giraldo, neither refusing his love nor
fered him to talk and to reach up his
hand and gently touch a lock of hail
that strayed on her forehead. And he,
signing in utter happiness and content.
: ment, closed his eyes again and lay
! back very quietly on the couch.
"Let us CO." said she, rising. 50
will send a physician. And she badt
one of the gentlemen lock the innel
room and give her the key, and SHIT
and the king, and they all, then de
parted and sent his servants to tend Gil
> RADIO, and Osra caused the kings ply
. stefan also to be summoned. But Gil
RADIO did no more than linger some few
+, days alive, and for the most of them HI
was in a high fever, his brain beinl
: wild, and he raved about the princess
sometimes railing at her, sometime
praising her, yet once or twice ne woke
calm and happy as he had been whei
she knelt by him and having for his ON
ly delusion the thought that she still
: knelt there and was breathing words o
s love into his ear. And in this last mer
ciful error, in respect of which the ply
sicians humored him, he one day,
' week later, passed away and was a
y peace.
9 Then the princess came. attended D
one gentleman in whom she placed con
fdence, and she destroyed the evil pic
Q ture that Giraldo had painted and. hay