The San Francisco call., 1905-04-30


small rough fragment of stone.
What is that?" he questioned, try
ing to speak lightly. "A jewell"
A change passed over her face and
she raised the stone to her lips. Yes.
she answered.; do you not recognize
it?"
AS he looked at it curiously. she
added: 1T was in your pocket that day
on the convent hill. You never missed
it, did you? The kriss"-she shuddered
as she spoke-'struck it. See-here is
the mark. 1t saved your life,1
Wondering, he took it from her
hand. "Strange!" he said. as he
handed it back. 'It is a piece of the
tomb of Juliet which I got long ago
in Verona"
"Juliet?" she repeated, and dropped
the stone on the bench between them,
coloring. Did you-care for herr"
The feminine touch in tone and ges-
ture brought Gordon at one time a
smile and a Dang. 1t had not occurred
to him that Shakespeare could be un-
known to her. "All Englishmen love
her. he said gravely; "she was one of
the great lovers of the world, She died
500 years ago.
Her face flushed more deeply now.
"Will you tell me about her?"
Sitting there, the revelation of the
early morning enfoldings them, he told
her the undying story of those tragic
loves and deaths that the great Anglo
Saxon gave to all ages.
There were two noble families In
Verona" he began, who for genera
tions had been at enmity-the Capulets
and the Montagues. Juliet was the
daughter of Lord Capulet. She was so
beautiful her fame went throughout the
country. Romeo, scion of the house of
Montague, heard of her beauty, and to
see it went masked TO a fete given yby
her father. Among the Veronese ladies
he saw one who shone amid the splen-
dor like a jewel in an Ethioos ear
They danced together and he kissed her
hand. Not till they parted did either
know the other was an enemy. That
night Romeo, unable to stay away from
the house where he had left his heart,
scaled the wall of its garden and they
plighted troth upon her balcony. Next
day they were secretly married by a
monk whom Romeo had prevailed
upon.
There had been one. however, who,
beneath his mask, recognized the unin-
vited guest-a nephew of Lord Capulet
himself. He kept silence then, but the
day OF the marriage he met Romeo,
forced quarrel and was killed by him.
For this Romeo was sentenced to ban
lshment. That night he gained Juliet's
chamber from the garden. Only these
few hours were theirs; at dawn he fled
to Mantua, till the monk could make
public their marriage.
Lord Capulet meanwhile had select
ed another for Juliet's husband and
bade her prepare for the nuptials. She
dared not tell the truth and in her ex-
tremity appealed to the monk He
counseled her to consent to her fathers
plans, and on the night before the mar
rage to drink the contents of a phial
he gave her. The potion he told her.
would cause death-like trance, in
which apparently lifeless state she
would be laid In the family vault.
Thither he would bring Romeo in the
night and she should awaken in his
arms"
Teresa's eyes had grown brighter.
The lovers meeting among the mask
ers, the garden trothing and the con-
strained marriage seemed somehow to.
fit ner own case. She leaned forward as
he paused And she took the potion ?''
Yes. Love and despair gave her
courage. 1t happened partly as the
monk had said. But, unluckily. the
news that Juliet was dead travelled to
Mantua faster than his letters. Romeo
heard. and heart-broken came to We
roma at mldnlght, broke open her tomb
and swallowed poison by her side. A
few moments later she awoke, saw the
cup in his hand and guessing how it
had befallen unsheathed the dagger he
wore and died also by her own hand
So the monk found them, and over
their bodies the lords of Capulet and
Montague healed the feud of their
houses
The bruised petals of a rose Teresa
had plueked fiuttered down. How she
loved him." she said softly.
He remembered that among the
volumes in the portmanteau he had
opened had been the Romeo and
Juliet" which he had put into his
pocket the night he left England. IT
have the book" he said, rising; Il
will give it to YOU"
He went back under the Towering
trees to fetch 1t. This one hour" his
heart was repeating: this last houri
Then ! will tell herr
He was gore but a few moments.
When he came down the stair she
was in the hall. He paused, for
man who had just dismounted at the
casa entrance stood before her. Cor
don saw Teresa sink to her knees,
saw the othersmake the sign above
her head as he handed her a letter,
saw him mount and ride away; saw
her read and crush it to her breast
What did it mean? The man had
worn the uniform of nuncio of the
papal see. Had the Contessa Albrizzi
succeeded?
Teresa turned from the entrance
and saw him.
Here is the book" he said.
She took it blankly. Suddenly she
thrust the letter into his hands. Read
it," she whispered
1t was the Pope's decree. Teresa
was free, if not from the priestly
bond, at least SO far as actions went
Free to leave Casa Guiccioli and to
live under her fathers roof-free as
the law of the church and land could
make her. But that was not all. The
decree had its conditions and one of
these contained his own name She
was to see him only once each month
between noon and sunset.
Such was Count Guiccioli's SOP
from Rome.
As Gordon read he felt dull an
ger at the assumption that had cou-
pied his name with hers in that doc
ument Yet underneath he was con-
scious of a painful relief; fate had
partially solved the problem for them.
He raised his eyes as "a sob came from
Teresa's lips.