The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-09-23
The Golden Bracelet.

She was beautiful; beautiful with
that beauty which inspires giddiness,
beautiful with beauty IN nothing
comparable to that which we dream
of as possessed by angels, and yet,
superna tural, devllish beauty, which,
perla ps, the devil furnishes to some
beings to make them his instruments
and agents on earth. He loves her,
with that love which ignores restraint
or limits; that peculiar love in which
one seeks pleasure and only finds
martyrdom--a love that Stimulates
happiness, and yet, seems to be in
stilled by Heaven for the expiation
of sin.
She was capricious, and cxtrava-
CANT like all women of the world; he
was superstitious and valiant, as all
men of his time ~yE<s I'll.
Heriname was Maria Antunez; he
was called Pedro Alfonso de Orellana.
Both we're from Toledo, and both
lived in the same city that their
bhtl'EIsl.I ),I. s. /. III
sTha aaHsationI aHs which tells us about
this wonderful incideut. OF. many years
ago, docs not say anything else about
these two principal characters, so, in
nay character of a truthful narrator
+ will not add single word of my
Own. to characterize them better.
He found her one day weeping, and
asked her: "Why do you weep?"
She, wiped the tears away from her
eyes, looked at him, sighed, and be-
gan to weep again. ..,.
Pedro then approached Maria, took
her hand, leaned her elbow against
the Arabian battlement, from which
she watched the current of the river
whirling away, and asked her again
"Wby do you cry?''
The Tajo groaned, twisting itself
among the rocks at the foot of the
castle, the sun was setting down be.
hind the neighboring mountains, the
mist of the evening floated as veil
Of blue gauze, and only the monoto
nous ripping of the water interrupted
the great silence that reigned that
moment. Ea..E
Maria exclaimed: DO not ask me
why I cry-do not ask me, because l
will not know how to answer you, nor
will you understand me. There are
wishes that strangle in our woman s
soul without being revealed except
for sigh; crazy ideas that cross our
imaginations, without our lips being
able to formulate them; incomprehensi
bic phenomena of our mysterious ma
ture,, that man cannot even conceive
I beg you, do not ask me the cause
of my sorrow; if I revealed it to you.
perhaps / would make you laugh"
When these words were spoken, she
bent her head again, and he began to
reiterate his questions
The girl, breaking at last her obsti.
nate silence, told her lover with a
broken voice: '.
g.. ".You wish it; it is an insanity that
will make you laugh; but don't care
l will tell you since you want me to.
'''"1 was at the church yesterday. 1t
was the feast Of the Virgin; her i'm.
age, placed on the high altar upon a
golden throne, shone as blaze; the
notes of the organ trembled, spread.
ing their harm ony through the church
and in, the choir, the priests sang the
,"sSalvc Regina
II was praying, absorbed in my
thoughts, when mechanically | raised
my head and my sight was directed
to the altar. do not know why, but
my eyes were fixed Immediately upon
an object which till then had not seen;
an object which. without being able to
explain it to myself, called upon itself
all my attention Do not laugh-that
object was the gold bracelet which the
Mother of God had on one of the arms
on which her divine son reposes !
turned my sight away, and tried to
pray again; impossible! My eyes rest
ed again and again on the same point.
The lights on the altar, rejecting
themselves on the facets Of the dia-
monds, were reproduced in a wonder
full manner Millions of sparks of
light, red and blue, green and yellow,
vaulted around the stones as a cas-
cade of fiery atoms, as vertiginous
dance of those spirits of the flames
that fascinate with their brilliancy and
their incredible restlessness.
81 left the church, came home, but
T an mo- with that idea fiya1 in NV