Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-03-27
A String of Beads
and a Queen of the AdriatiC.
A Charming Love Story of Old Venice, Pledge
and the Falling of a House of Cards.

her great eyes would sparkle with
pleasure when Nello told her they were
for her very own!
A hundred times he rehearsed the
scene as he sat at his work. He would
watch her face as she opened the little
parcel. Perhaps she would let him
clasp them round her throat.
He had never told Rosa Of his love
except in a dumb, faithful way, as a
| dog may who serves his mistress and
guards her always, satisfied with
careless word of approval ora passing
smile. But tonight he would tell her,
for he would soon be earning good
wages. and was not he his uncle's heir
| to the business at the carpenter shop?
Nello thought himself lucky indeed
to find the little Rosa at home in her
grannie's tiny room.
Come out on the canal? OF course
she would.
Her laughter sounded softly as an
| accompaniment to the swish of the
oar in the water. Nello, from his
place as gondolier on the graceful
craft, looked down on the little figure
enveloped in the thin, b1ack-fringed
Venetian shawl. The night was warm
and she tossed It aside.
| II shall have done with this when
I am in Paris with the signora."
Nothing will ever become you SO
well, Rosa, as your shawl"
Her laughter rippled again.
mo, it is black and ugly; love
bright colors."
They had reached the Rio Santa
Maria della Salute. He guided the
gondola to the low steps. and came
down from the poppe.
"See, Rosa" he repeated, dangling
the corals before her eyes, "they are
the color of your lips; and you viii
wear them as pledge"
She held out her hand.
"Si, will wear them"
Her eyes were sparkling. But had
Nello been less in love himself he
would have questioned the light that
shone there.
He gave the beads to her, murmur-
ing again:
"As pledge. And you will come to
me when 1 write that your home is
ready for'youT
eyes, yes"
She leaned over the boats side to
see the effect In the rejecting water.
1t was evidently satisfactory, for she
turned to him with adorable candor.
II shall wear them often" she said;
"that is, If the signora will allow me.
And II she will not, l shall take them
out of my little trunk, and look at them
when l am alone, because"
| "BecauseT said Nello, hungrily.
"Because," she added, airily, "they
are SO pretty"
He was sitting by her side nov on
the great black leather-cushioned seat.
l "My uncle has promised to give me a
share in the carpenters shop when l
am twenty-five" he said; "and then l
shall write. And you will come to Inc,
little one"
Eyes. yesw she assented. eagerly.
She longed to be alone with her new
treasure. His insistence annoyed her.
The short, sharp Venetian winter
: came and passed; the months sped on.
, rounded their circle and commenced
J another year. The year that was born
was to be full Of happiness for Nello
/ Liscouraz. Was not his uncle dead,
and he the owner Of his shop. the en-
, ployer of three workmen? But more
than ALL was he not even now awaiting
, the crown of his joy, Rosa Ricordo?
For once the hum of his busy lathe
, was silent; the merry Pietre npdged
, his fellow, and whispered that the mas.
, ter was moonstruck, his head turned
t since the good fortune had come to
+ him. s
: Nello needed then not; he was look.
= ing out toward the Graed Canal, and