The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-07


must be broken to her gently, very gent
ly: her heart Is as weak az a thread
of gossamer.'
\ The leech, the only one in the little
town. was an old friend Of the family
q gray-haia ed, brown-faced, long, lean
man, wrapped UP, no matter what
weather 1t was, in large black coat
with a SLOUGH hat over his eyes. He
was a familiar figure on the bastions
and in the narrow streets, and kept a
pharmacy where Jars and vases and
big-bellied bottles of old majolica were
in company with bundles of dried SIM
pies and herbs and charms of the Mid
die Ages. He was greatly esteemed and
respected.
'.How shall know what letter comes
from him?, she asked. "All letters look
alike to me-"
.sThen bring me said Ser Lilo, as
he was called by MsSsick folks "1'Tis
a matter of life aud death to Madame
Tina. If she haveaSshock she will die
of it, 4
And he argued the aaestion SO earnest
". so frequently, arid with such per-
sistence that she feifsa If her mistress
life was ". her hands. 1t was the let
ters. the cruel letters, which had been
like a ,death-petion. to her lady.
81 have often mind to fling them on
the charcoal" she said. "They stab
her to the heart like knives
mo, no; that would be wrong said
the doctor ''They are not yours to de-
stroy. Bring them to me. l will Judge
If they be such as VIII do her no harm
or course. whatever news they bring she
must know it some time, but softly, gent
ly, by slow degrees. :.
Was it right to do this? Nerina was
perplexed. She always saw Ser Lilo re-
spected ard listened to by the Inhabitants
He was a learned man who read and
wrote. and held the keys to the grave
She was a poor, ignorant soul. Could she
dare put her judgment against his? She
was torn In two by the doubt.
'"Tut, tut said the doctor, impatient
after many conflict with her. We'll,
kill Madame Tina if you like, woman
Ills for a good service that she housed
vol, and fed you and taught you all these
wears! Go to, you wicked imbecile! Never
dare to summon me to your aid when
your lady shall lie a-dying!'
Nv such stings and threats Of cruel
speech he made her believe that she
would really cause the death Of her mis-
tress if she let her learn, unprepared, OF
the death or the Imprisonment of her
youngest boy.
ST fear me it's no little thing that Nina
has DONE" said the leech darkly. IL ne
lives still he hides for his life, as all
rebels do with a price put out Tor MIN.
Aye, aye, a good lad, know that, ouI
misled and mistaken, and a gaol bird, L
fear like so many of them nowadays, the
Young lunaticS."
He 90 wrought with such discourse
unon Nerina's terror of written messages,
that he made her feel that she no more
dared to give her mistress letter or
naper of any kind than she would dare 10
suite the cheek Of the Virgin in the
shrine above their doorway. When let
fer at last came she met the postman liiu-
way in the street, snatched 1t from hlu,
and hid it under her apron and ran Win
# to the DOCTOR He took it inside ms
sbon where she could not see what he did
with It and reappeared after fifteen min
utes The letter was closed and to ali
appearances was intact, ,
"It Ia good news, but news OF Glno'
he said. Gino was the eldest son. lake NJ,
it to madame; and, of course, you VIII
say not word of me-
The stout frame of Nerina trembled
She believed that he had read 1t, WIFI
out opening it, by some occult po"el'
Two other letters came; but those were
from distant relatives, there was noth-
through the doctors deft fingers, anu
Mime, Tina was never the wiser.
Only Nerina became afraid to meet her
ewes. The doctor had told her she dld
right in obeying him, but her conscience
told her she did wrong
The summer months passed away, ana
If became autumn, and still there was ho
tidings of Romaninosl
One evening when she was drawing up
water at the well on the rampant, IN the
silence and cleaning, while the peifs loil-
ed for vespers, a young man. sti1' 20
came out of the thicket OF laurel anu
oleander and whispered tiii.tuiS', "--et-
was close to her ear:
..cooa woman YOU are Nerina Taccar1,
-4ha servant of Nine. Caterina Lorenzettf,
are you not?" , ~,
Nerina set her full pail with a ciang on
the parapet Of the well and answered.
CURLY. looking askanee at the utlAlio"n
ouestioner, that she was SO.
GIVE her this when she IS alone saiu
the youth, and slid note INTO her naii ~
and made off again towards the shei'oi "a
the laurels and oleanderS.
esston." cried Nerina. But he did not
sion and was lost to sight in the siiau-
ows, and foliage The note remalnSo III
her hand. She would have looked az d
dus+-adder with less terror. IL must tsi
ne Of Ser Nine," she thought, IN the
shrewdness which love begets.
Tn front Of the well was steep nlgIe
of steps which led down into street pe-
low. In that street was the shop VI .ile
apothecary She hesitated moment, NO
heart beating wildly against her leathern
STAYS: then she put her pail on the rim
Of the well to await her return, and ran
down the two score of granite steps worn
by the feet of many. generations ana
rushed into the dark, pungent-smelilials
den where Ser Lilo was lighting the OIL
wick of his red lantern.
'See, sect she said, with a gasp. This
must be from our Romanino. Twas given
me just now by someone who ran away
A keen eagerness flashed over the thln'
hard face of the old man, brief as the