The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-11-12
THE SPIDERS WEB

beautiful. UnQer ueT lung, oilny
lashes her azure eyes had soft,
caressing light that illumined her
face with kindliness. The form,
though somewhat slender, was well
modelled, and the lines of her neck
set off all the attractiveness OF a
head encircled by a profuslon OF
blond locks.
This was the beautiful and grace
full Paoletta, Giorgio's young wife.
In a carriage the newly welded pair
were proceeding rapidly along the
sun filled river bank, thinking OF
some way of employing the day.
The carriage paused to allow
them to admire the flowers upon
spur of the incline, where the vines,
like wild nests, stretched from dis
lance to distance, half concealed by
the trees.
"Do you wish to go up there"
asked Paoletta.
She pointed with her delicate
hand, from which she had drawn
her glove, to the heights of Belle
vue.
'For what ?" Giorgio asked.
eve might see house that would
suit us. You know we ought to be
looking for one," said Paoletta. owe
can inquire at the inn."
Giorgio hesitated.
"What of our journey to st.
Cloud?" he asked.
"Let it be postponed for awhile"
He did not answer Immediately.
Finally he said, half reluctantly:
GAS you will. 1t really makes no
difference where we live so long as
we are together"
She looked at him brightly, and
they descended from the carriage
and took their way toward the bank
of the Seine. The inn was deserted.
'Let us mount into that little bal
cony," she said. '"There is fine
view from there"
GAS you please"
Soon the sun shone less brightly,
for a space shone pallid, then van
ished. Great clouds heaped them
selves up about them, rapid and
compact. A strong wind blew, and
large drops of water began to fall.
Where should they take refuge?
"There" said Paoletta.
With her hand she indicated a
cottage, upon the threshold of which
an old woman stood.
Giorgio suddenly blushed GRIM
son, but accompanied his wife in
silence.
''It is for rent. It can be looked
over" said the woman, who hoped
to find tenants in this handsome
young couple.
Giorgio did not respond, but while
Paoletta examined the apartments
he regarded with interest this slight,
boxlike construction, so simply
made.
As soon as his wife called him be
entered the house. A vision of the
past rose in his mind. He saw the
garden, the arbor, the honeysuckle
and ivy, now nothing more than a
mass of green foliage, under which
was hidden a little bench covered
with moss and gone to decay. A
marble dove, blackened by moisture,
had been for long years the sole
spectator of this devastation.
ut is ten years since the house
was left tenantless," prattled the
old woman. ''The proprietor, who
was eccentric, did not wish to let it.
But now he is dead, and I have been
directed to have card put up. The
necessary repairs will be made"
Paoletta laughed aloud with hap
Ply, childlike pleasure.
care you willing to rent this
house, Giorgio?" she asked.
"The air might be too bracing for
you, my dear"
'But not more so than every
where in the country" put in the
old woman. Besides, the rent is so
little-400 francs year."
| 'It is very reasonable" said Pao-
letta. 81 shall be delighted to live
here. Come, let us visit the rooms.
/ am charmed with the whole place"
He followed her, examined some
apartments decorated with gray pa
per and red flowers, looked into the
dining hall with windows looking
upon the Seine, and as he glanced
about all the past returned to his
memory. No longer was it Paoletta
who was before him, but Chiara, the
girl he had first loved and whom he
had often seen seated in this little
hermitage, to which he had by
chance returned.
He had lost her while the cup of
| 1ouo moo .%,11 f,,l1 d.