Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-04-01

spreading and dragging Upon the stalrs
In folds like snow. soft and light
Then the carriages depart. They are
alone for the frst time In the narrow
space of the carriage, which the bridal
dress flls with Its whiteness, and the
bouquet of orange blossoms, with its
acute perfume Of intoxicating virgini-
ty And II is then that. conquered by
the charm Of that face. so delicate and
proud amid Its large, pallid curls, by
the splendor of those blue eyes, the
elderly bridegroom bends over her to
kiss her.
"Dear me, dear mep'
And to see the tranquility with which
those finely cut, rose colored lips return
the kisses through the veil, the ques-
ton arises whether 1t is the bridegroom
that she kisses or the Mechlin lace, at
500 the meter.
Ah, there are adorers around that
beautiful Signora Marchis, so lovely
aud so young, married to an old man!
1t was expected that this fortress
would b. an easy one to conquer. Pre-
| cisely on ner wedding day VicO Molise.
| tie most elegant and skeptical of the
journalists Of upper Italy, had pro-
pounded to his friends this theorism:
"Given beautiful girl, very poor;
given that she marres rich old man;
divide the number Of his years by that
of tie hundreds of thousands of lire Of
| which she becomes mistress, and you
| will Lave the number Of months neces-
| sary for her to take lover"
And as soon us he could he began,
with many others. to attempt the DEM
onstratioa of that theorem.
Well. this time the impeccable psy-
Geological diagnosis of Vico Molise Lad
been found to fail Not only. after
some months. the beautiful Signora
Marchis lad no lover. but 1t appeared
also that she never was to have one.
Always dressed with an adorable ele.
gancc with u luxury full of good taste,
the beautiful Gemma loved to amuse
herself. moving freely in that society
new for her, finding herself in her right
place Gs marvellous plant In vase of
valuable porcelain, developing itself in
all its splendor. She went to dances. to
the theater. enjoying the plebiscite Of
admiration provided by her beauty, CO.
quoting Il little with her adorers. fut
tering about the fire in order to make
them sparkle. her wings Of golden
butterfly, but never letting herself be
burned.
In the very moment Of declaration,
in the midst Of ono Of those waltZeS
whose notes seem made Oh purpose to
stife expiring virtue In their serpentine
splrals, she cut short her adorer by
turning her angelic head and saying
serenely:
Il don't see my husband. Look a
little where my husband is If you will
be so kind"
And it was known that her greatest
delight was to relate precisely to her
husband the declarations which she
had received. When she came home
with him from ball. all wrapped in
the white silken folds Of her sortie du
bal. with her pure throat, her snowy
shoulders that blossomed still more
fair from her swansdown boa; when
in the evening she met him In the din
Ing room, still in visiting costume, with
her slim waist tightly compressed by
an eXGuisltely elegant gown, with her
face animated by the slight excitement
which elegant conversation always pro-
duccS in young woman. she amused
herself immensely in addressing to her
husband some Of these provoking and
roguish phrases:
You know | was ut Countess Fo-
schis'. Molise was there, you know
always faithful and always in despair.
And also Comelli, lie that has such
lugubrious gallantry-he has promised
to kill himself for my sake within
month. We shall see. All. ah"
And. sitting opposite to him in
rustic of satin and jet. making shine
like two stars the brilliants. large as
haZelnuts, which adorned her small
ears, she continued to laugh. with ner
elastic laughter, full Of mischief and
full Of tenderness.
All, indeed old Marchis could call
himself fortunate man!
Fortunate? Yes. he ought to have
considered himself so. When he set
himself to reason about 1t, to describe
mentally his conjugal situation, he had
to conclude that he would have done
wrong to complain Of his destiny. And
yet
What Of the terribly unexpected had
he now discovered In the depths of the
pure sapphire of Gemma's eyes? Was
there arisen in his soul the doubt that
that faithfulness against every trial.
that coldness toward her admirers.
was nothing but the wish to preserve
intact position acquired with ditti-
Guilty and that precisely to that POSI-
ton was directed all the tenderness
shown toward himself? | do not know.
but the vivid und impetuous JOY of the
wedding was no longer In him. al
though his love remained the same. and
a painful doubt thrilled In his voice
when he replied to the playful conf
dence Of Gemma, forcing himself to
laugh too:
"Take care. now, take care-the ven
geance of the tyrant hangs over you
All. the poor tyrant! How he loved
her! How she had known how to bind
him with her little hands, white and
perfumed as two lilies! For nothing In
The world would he have discovered the
truth. changed into certainty his TO-
menting doubt. So she had only to ask
In order to obtain. for now for him
that love of which he doubted had be-
rome his life. and lie felt painful
structure at his heart at the mere
thought that a day might come when
he would be obliged to refuse her some
thing. Yet that day came. Suddenly.
by one of those mysterious cOmplica-
lions of business. his bank. which until
then had gene from triumph to tri-
nmph, underwent violent shock. Not
a noisy downfall. one Of those open.
public ruins which produce great fail
ures. but one of those deep. Intimate.
secret crises that must be borne with.
out n word. lament. under penalty of
leath: that can be overcome only by
force of small privatiOns. little hidden
savings. 1t il then that strict econOm!