The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1897-10-13


of jealousy that maddened him as he lay
there watching the welded lovers revel-
ling in their stolen bliss.
1T is done," he said presently, lifting a
flushed face from his odd work. ''There
remains, Signor Darby, but the drop or
two of poison taken up. by the blood be-
THE drop or two taken up by her
blood? Heaven of mercy, is there no an
Bardinelli smiled
sible."
Speak, mani There must be no i'm
There shall be no impossible, signor, if
Bardinellis strength faint not, the Ital-
ian quietly said; .''for tarantism, in my
land, there are the tarantella dances
81 know-I remember cried Darby
ut is music, music she must have; and
yo9-y YOU Ba tSd eIi;s;o os w,o, -,
poison works in her nerves and brain
she will move; and IL will play the
by let me carry her; can best place her
so that the faintest notes may stir her
numbed Senses
Half frantic with agony, Darby made
no protest, but yielded her to the italian.
Was not the priceless life at his mercy?
Had he asked for the heart in his bosom
nay ma "o Fragile lie Of ' build though he was
Bardinelli caught up the lovely burden
surrendered to him, and bore her, with
the strength and speed of an athlete,
back to the glare and languOrOuS per-
fumes of the ballroom.
'Her life is mne,' he muttered, in his
tons Of her heart answering to e the Wild
throbbings of the poison-charged arteries
of his breast.
Awe-stricken the wedding jewellers
cleared the floor of the dance hall. There
were rapid questionings and agitated re-
plies; there were groans here and there,
was a silence as Of the sepulchre in the
garish house. Through this silence stole
the first weird notes of Bardinellis
No one looked at the musician; every
eye was fastened on the bride of Philan-
der Darby. She lay upon the wine-velvet
of the divan, white and rigid; about her
flowers of her bridal attire
Bardinelli's violin was giving forth
ehords n s5 pantve and mporn ege move
full of mad energy, anon dropping into
fathomless depths of pathos,. it seemed
the airs telling to the still still figure e' upon
the couch the tale of a life noble in it's
dreams and aspira tions, tragic in it's fail
ures Yet through the wondrous har-
a shower of pearls, the notes of the
rhythmic tarantella waltz.
locked senses of the dreamer She
moved; she arose to her feet; she glided
over the floor. Her movements Were as
neili's violin they were those of the
Graces. Her face was the frozen one of
the doomed Iphigenia. Upon the silence
of the room the Italians medley wrought
like magic; The wedding guests swayed
hither and thither in grotesque mimicy
OF the cream dancer upon the polished
floor. The breeze of the night waited the
mystical strains out through the open
easements, and bore them past wonder
ing wayfarers upward to the empyrean
to sweep the confines of other realms of
mystery.
Bardinelli was lending all the cunning
of his hand to rouse the suspended facul-
ties of his beloved pupil The heavy lids
surrounding objects were once more pho
tographed upon the retina of the eye;
the tinge of life was returning to the lip
| and cheek; her movements had less of
and nd more of en- qy It was as
again riveted upon the free movements
Of the spirit. The statue had walked to
life, though another than Pygmalion
should reap the kisses of those divinely
parted lips.
Louder and louder swelled the waltz
melodies of the forgotten musician. One
who casually glanced at him saw that
ne was contorted, and that the veins in
drawn. So might have looked the Lao
coon wrestling in the folds of the sea
monster.
Not the less surely, however, was the
master hand informed of the genius of a
deathless will and the observer, unknow-
ing, turned again to mark the effects
of power upon her. who like Eurydice |
was being lured back from the world of
mystery and shadow by his Orphic en-
G CHI Suddenly she stood still.
their united gaze would not have stirred
the down of thin puff. Her white bos-
ON rose and fell. The orange blossoms
emf fnrQS wit h occio, Of 10,