The aegis & intelligencer., 1901-04-19
ANGELA;
An Inverted Love Story.
BY w. S. GILBERT.

CCVVCCVVCCVVCCV
am a poor. paralyzed fellow who fol-
many years past has been confined to q
bed or a sofa. For the last six years ]
have occupied q small room giving on tc
one of the side canals Of Venice and hav.
ing no one about me but a deaf old wom-
an, who makes my bed and attends to my
food, and there l exc out a poor income
Of about ESQ a year by making water
color drawings of flowers and fruit (they
are the cheapest models In Venice), and
these I send to a friend In London. who
sells them to q dealer for small sums.
But, on the whole, am happy and CON.
tent.
1t is necessary that I should describe
the position Of my room rather minutely.
Its only window Is about five feet above
the water of the canal and above 1t the
house projects some six feet and over
hangs the water, the projecting portion
being supported by stout piles driven into
the bed of the canal This arrangement
has the disadvantage-among others-of
SO limiting my upward view that / am
unable to see more than about ten feet Of
the height Of the house Immediately oppo-
site to me, although by reaching as far
out of the window as my infrmity will
permit can see for q considerable dis
tance' up and down the canal, which does
not exceed Is feet In width. But although
can see but little Of the material house
opposite, can see It's reflection upside
down In the canal, and take a good deal
Of inverted interest In such of It's inhab-
itants as show themselves from time to
time-always upside down-on Its bal
comics and at its windows.
When I first occupied my room, about
six years ago. my attention was directed
to the reflection of little girl of IS or 50
AS nearly as l could judge-who passed
every day on balcony just above the up
ward range of my limited range Of view.
She had glass Of flowers and a crucifx
on a little table by her side. and as she
sat there In fine weather, from early
morning until dark, working assiduously
all the time. I concluded that she earned
her living by needlework. She was GER
tainly an industrious little girl, and, as
far as I could judge by her upside down
reflection. neat in her dress and pretty.
She had an old mother. an invalid, who.
on warm days, would sit on the balcony
with her, and It interested me to see the
little maid wrap the old lady In shawls,
and bring pillows for her chair, and a
stool for her feet, and every now and
again lay down her work and kiss and
fondle the old lady Tor half a minute and
then take up her work again
Time went by, and as the little maid
grew up her reflection went down. and
at last she was quite a little woman of.
suppose. 16 or II. can only work for Q
couple Of hours or so In the brightest part
of the day. SO l had plenty Of time on my
hands In which to watch her movements
and sufficient imagination to weave q lit
tie romance about her and to endow her
with beauty which. to a great extent,
had to take for granted. I saw-or fan
cied that l could see-that she began to
take an interest In my reflection, which
Of course she could see as I could see
hers, and one day, when 1t appeared to
me that she was lo| ding right at it-that
Is to say, when her reflection appeared
to be looking right at mel tried the des-
pcrate experiment Of nodding to her, and
TO my intense delight her reflection nod
ded In reply, and 30 our two reflections
became known to one another.
1t did not take me very long to fan In
love with her. but long time passed be-
fore I could make up my mind to do more
than nod to her every morning when the
old woman moved me from my bed to the
sofa at the window and again in the
evening when the little maid left the bal
cony for that day. One day, however,
when I saw her reflection looking at
mine. l nodded to her and threw a flower
into the canal She nodded several times
In return. and saw her direct her moth
er's attention to the incident. Then every
morning I threw a flower into the water
for good morning" and another In the
evening for good night" and soon dis
covered that had not altogether thrown
them in vain, for one day she threw a
flower to join mine, and she laughed and
clapped her hands when she saw the two
flowers Join forces and float away to-
gether. And then every morning and ev-
cry evening she threw her flower when !
threw mine. and when the two flowers
met she clapped her hands. and SO did l,
but when they were separated. as they
sometimes were, owing to one of them
having met an obstruction which did not
catch the other. she threw up her hands
In pretty affectation Of despair. which !
tried to initiate. but In an English and
unsuccessful fashion. And when they
were rudely run down BY a passing gon-
dola. which happened not infrsQuently.
she pretended to cry, and ! did the same.
Then. In pretty pantomime. she would
point downward to the sky to tell me
that It was destiny that had caused the
shipwreck Of the flowers, and l, In pan
tomime, not nearly so pretty, would try
to convey to her that destiny would be
kinder next time and that perhaps tomor.
row our flowers would be more fortunate
and SO the innocent courtship went on.
One day she showed me her crucifix and
kissed 1t. and thereupon took little sill
yer cruciix that always stood by me and
kissed that. and SO she knew thut we were
one in religion.
One day the little maid did not appear
on her balcony, and for several days
saw nothing Of her, and, although threw