Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1902-03-25
CHAPTER XIII.

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The Palazzo Spero was one of the fin
est old palaces in Rome For hundreds
of years It had been the seat of the fam
Gus Spero family, and they were as an
Gent almost as Rome itself. They had
been foremost in all the grand civil wars;
they had been foremost in the cultivation
of the arts and sciences; they had been
among the first and most famous patrons
of art.
Like most other grand families, the
Speros reached a certain point of gran
deur. perhaps the highest point that
could be reached inethis world, and after
that their greatness declined slowly,
steadily as it had risen. until they became
name and a tradition. until the last Of
the Speros died, leaving behind him one
only daughter. The young heiress Of the
Speros had but this palace and small
income; she wanted neither, for just be-
fore her fathers death she was asked in
marriage by the Duke of Bayard, at that
time 4 handsome yong nobleman travel
ing in Italy. lie saw Beatrice Spero at
grand entertainment given in Rome, and
fell in love with her beautiful face, a
face which had in it all the pathos, all
the loneliness, all the royalty of the last
of a race.
They were married while the old count
still lived, and they remained with him
for a few weeks, until he died; then the
duke put some few servants in the palace
and left it, taking his beautiful young
wife 20 England. where a new life await
ed her.
This is not the Writ annals of the
Bayard family. or a whole romance could
be written of the young duchess, who
won all hearts with her wondrous beauty,
and was famous in a land famed for its
| lovely women. England with its mists
and fogs did not suit her. She longed
| always for the sun and the sky of Fertile
Italy, for the orange groves and the myr-
| ties, for the vine-eiad hills SnG clens
lakes, for the sweet air and the rar4 fow-
ers England was a cold land, land
of mist and fogs; though she loved her
| handsome goung husband. she Dropped in
the midst of her grandeur.
She died when she Ets quite young,
not more than twenty-three, aRd the duke
went almost mad with grief; it had been
| such a perfect love on his side. He re-
covered in time; that is, he took his place
| in the great world; he carried his honors
| Win ne ulSpehSFu Lhc must SSA
eral and graceful hospitality; he was one
of the most famous statesmen and accom-
plished courtiers; but he never recovered
\ his lost happiness. Some of the most
beautiful women in England sought him,
| but he found no pleasure, no love. no
! hope-his heart was with his dead wife.
| But in his sixtieth year. when different
pains and aches had reminded him that
he was mortal, a great longing to revisit
! his old palace at Rome came over him.
He had heard from his agent there that
some of his most valuable pictures were
suffering from damp, and that one or two
needed instant attention. OF all living
English artists the Duke of Bayard pre-
ferred Santon Darcy; he liked the pathos
of his pictures; whenever he saw them he
said to himself: THAT man has had a
great sorrow, and sorrow has taught him
his art" So that now, when he required
the services of an artist he wrote at once
| to him. When the artist wrote asking
if he could take his daughter with him
as companion, the duke through his
secretary answered Yes and then new
err gave another thought to the matter.
ITO be cOntinued.)