Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-09-16

| haStened to his side ana SelZeu his
wrist and bowed down and listened for
his breathing. Then suddenly crying
out, "Holy Virgin, he is dead!' he drop,
ped upon his knees and buried his face
in his hands. Then presently he arose
and. turning to me sadly, said:
1--WE are too late. We are too late.
Look upon him, Timoseo: look upon the
last of thy father. the noble Arno!fo
de- Pazzi Eccelentissma." he contin'
ued, 1--WE must eftsoons seek out and
| inform Father Sylvester. the old and
worthy priest who for many years has
been the confessor Of thy good sire
that he may arrange for tonights
watch over the corpse. Fortunately
his grace was shriven and absolved by
him yesterday. so that his passage
hence must have been straight and
easy. After | have found Father Syl'
vester I will put into thy possession
the princes strong box. that thou may
est examine it's contents and reckon
thy Inheritance"
"Where is the strong box OF which
thou speakest?" asked.
Marry, it is here, my master, upon
the floor. under the princes bed, con-
cealed by yon valance Of embossed
leather, and the key will doubtless be
found under his pillow"
The old servant dragged the box from
its hiding place and lifted it with some
difficulty upon heavy oaken table In
the center of the apartment. While he
was feeling under the pillows for the
kew | was examining the box itself.
1t was not much over foot in length
| and something less than a foot Ii
width, being wrought out of iron. and
at the same time was Of great strength
| and worked so curiously and beautiful
ly as to be fortune in itself Never
had supposed it possible to file and
hammer out of iron such leaves and
flowers and tiny human figures rs ap-
peared In high relief upon all its sides
and upon the lid.
"Jacopo," | demanded. does the
workman live who fashioned this
| boxW
mo, perdio illustrious sisnor. nor
| has he lived these 400 years. The
trinket was made for one OF thy an
cestors by n young artisan or ancient
Florence. Thou canst read the maker =
name within the medallion upon the
lid"
I looked. and my surprise and won
der were great when behcld the ngne
and date. Leonardo da Ninci, 14U.
"Talk of your Cellini vases and your
Palissy pottery:" thought l. Here Is
treasure which surpasses all OF them
| together
Jacopo had now found the key. and
we opened the casket without dill
Guilty. 1t contained n large number of
precious stones of one kind and an
other and very goodly quantity OF
golden flCrins. Most of tie latter bore
the face of Cosmo de- Medici and dates
ranging from 1440 to 1850. They were
all rather light in weight, which bore
out the theory l had always had of OLD
Cosmo and his system Of banking.
determined to touch none Of this money
for my own use. but | gave over to
Clan Jacopo q handful, with orders to
Law It out in what might be necessary
to give to the old gentleman sendoii
proportionate to his rank.
The trusty old domestic having de
parted upon his errand and left m'
with the remains of my distinguished
forbear, I set myself to musing upoI
the almost miraculous experiences
which had that day encountered.
The explanation Of the puzzle wa:
nearer ut hand than l imagined. Upol
marble writing leggio which stood
near the head of the bed lay a yer!
voluminous manuscript engrossed In
small but distinct handwriting. Pos
sessing myself of it, found that j
was entitled 1.-THE Chronicles Of Firen
zalino. From the Year 1892 Until TIT
Present Time, Set Down and Com
mented Upon Briefly by Signor Arnol
70 de- Pazzi." If | was anxious FOL
ANYTHING, it was to know something
about the strange land into which
had so strangely been introduced, ant
In this manuscript beheld the author
ity which best would enlghten me.
therefore sat down and perused 1t witt
avidity and in an hour or thereabou
had mastered it's contents. do no
say that read more than tenth par
of the whole matter which it contained
To do so would have been impossible
in so short time, but by reading tn
heads of chapters and glancing huI
riedly over the less important details
managed to make myself reasonab!!
conversant with the history and ap
pearance Of the country and with tn
customs, peculiarities and occupation
of its people.
Typon the arrival of Father Sylveste
| withdrew with Clan .Iacopo into tn
garden, taking the casket with me. ant
there under the shade OF gigant
olive tree, | put to the trusty hench
man such questions as might enlightel
me further upon the subject or TIL
mysterious mountain and this ancien
and valiant race of men. taking car
at the same time to clothe my inquire
I'm such garb as to awaken no suspicion
I'm his mind that | was not the rca
| .;,,on nuro VrimOtpO
I will here set down as plainly an
as briefly as possible the results OF m
examination of the chronicles and
nv conference with Clan Jacopo. tn
same being the story Of Firenzalin
and its people, or as much of 1t as 1t
necessary for you to know.
From the middle Of the thirteenth t
the end of the fifteenth century man
people were exiled from the grea
and glorious city of Florence-some TO
crimes and the most Of them for dif
ferent political reasons. Among thes
were the great family Of Pazzi, exile
for completely in the murder of Giul
ano de- Medici, and another great fan
lily, the Albizzi, exiled by their enem
Cosmo when he got the upper hand q
them.
Well, in time. perhaps along towar
the middle Of the fifteenth century,