The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-01-20
Giovanni and
The Princess
10y ANNA CASE


MuTIc. SlOOu at Tue CIOSSlIlS anu "dNtu
The little red flag which warned tray
e,ers and chauffeurS that an eXcava-
lion lay just beyond. This excavation
had been Il source OF annoyance 10 the
great city for many months. but Clio
vanni had prayed that it might never
be filled in, first, because so long as he
waved the little red flag he would draw
81 day, and then had come the prin-
cess.
TO be sure. back i'll sunny Italy he
had dreamed of different things. He
had no conception of the noisy, Shrek
ing city whose streets were filthy by
comparison with the hard white roads
of his Neapolitan home. He had dream
ed of cities paved with gold and of
people who paid big prices to lads with
good voices. but he had found the OPP
era season closed and his grandmother
Skeptical of the commercial value of
fresh. unframed voices. She had been
in America five years, and of the little
red flag and the dollar a day she was
sure
Even VI lllC lJIIIStSo uC lIlI
a bit uncertain, for he thought it odd
that a princess should walk by his cor
ner every morning with a portfolio I'M
der her arm. There were other young
men, better versed in American ways,
who also thought the princess should
not walk and carry Il portfolio, but
the princess would not ride i'll their
carriages nor allow them to carry her
portfolio. She had gone in for art, and
the young men interfered with the re-
aliZation of her ambition.
In GiovanniS mind, however there
was no question about her royal blood.
1t showed i'll her carriage, in her pa
trician features and her proudly car
ried little head, in the fit of the Won
derful gray gown she always wore and
i'll the violetS at her belt. In time the
young Italian was glad that she did
not ride in a carriage. else it had not
been given to him to see that she got
safely across the street on his side of
the tracks and to turn her over to the
more stalwart policeman on the other
side
Giovanni did not tell his grandmoth-
er about the princess. Old Marie ran
boarding house for Italian workmen,
and constant intercourse with these
men and the struggle to get her board
money each week had rather killed SEN
timent, but under her vehement fault
finding her love for Giovanni burned
| clearly and steadily.
Spring came, and the academy closed,
much 10 the regret of Kate Cameron,
| otherwise the princess. She was just
becoming interested in painting from
| life, 50 she persuaded her father to fit
up studio in the attic of their town
| house. though she knew full fell that
| in less than Il month the whole fam
lily would fit TO their country place.
| One of the professors at the academy
agreed to call occasionally and criti-
| else her work, and there remained only
| the question of models. \ half dozen
| young men who heard her talk about
| it at fashionable tea Immediately Of
| fered to act in this capacity, but she
laughed aside their suggestions. They
We're sadly lacking in the artistic tenn
| permanent, she said.
| The very next morning she stopped
| at Giovanni's crossing. He had not
| seen her for nearly 4 week, and he was
| glad that 4 broken dray barred the
| passage of both vehicles and pedestri-
| ans. The princess carried no portfolio
this morning, but Il little silver mount
ed memorandum book filled with the
| addresses of models. When she saw
| Giovanni she lost interest in the memo
randum book. She had noticed him
| before rs 4 graceful, 1.-THE lad despite
| his rough garments, and now his eyes,
| glowing with delight at sight of her,
| his beautiful white teeth showing as
he smiled. and the graceful gestures
| with which he continued to wave the
| flag, despite the fact that vehicles
could neither come nor go, caught and
held her interest.
Being 4 young woman of impulse,
| she then and there asked him to pose
| for her. Giovanni said, Sure one of
| the few American bywOrds he had
| picked up, and he said it so softly that
! it became almost verbal caresS. His
voice was the last touch. Miss Cam
eron was sure now that no other mod
ell would do, but unfortunately Giovan-
| nj had not understood word she had
said. He would have said sure to
any request the princess made of him,
and this much he had gathered from
her words-the princess had need of
him and his services. The girl looked
puzzled, and u fellow workman, who
understood both Italian and English,