The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-07

/ high wall of the garden, ana cautious
lv peerins through the foliage are ~
brutal faces. gazing upon .ne pan NAN
sit beneath the myrtle tree. one lnan
! fumbles in his bosom, and MS Manu-
brings forth a small dagger he IS
upon the point of Spr1nglnS from ~
wall into the garden, put tne ~
| holds him back and makes q thredteh-
ing movement HIS comma nni
glance seems to say 3 silent anu
! OBSERVE They whisper low tosether
I and disappear.
That night two letters were handed
to Paula. one from the RUSSIAN Lesd-
ton and one from the Cardinal Der
| mis-. Ambassador of France at Ronle-
| PalIlo shuddered as he saw the Rus
/ stan arms on the packet. and, laying
, it aside opened the letter of the car
dinal. 1t was an invitation to attend
a GREAT entertainment to be given III
the Cardinals palace. He read 1T TO
Natalie, and when she heard that the
celebrated inprovisafr1ce. Corllla. was
! to be present, she said:
"Oh, let US go. T should SO like to
/ see a poetess..' Yes, We will go, re-
i-plied Paulo after a minute OF deep
thought. lit is time. my Natalie was
introduced into this circle. of influen-
tial Romans that she may have other
and more powerful friends than Paulo,
| who may watch over her when 1 no
longer can" ooh, Paulo. you VIII
never leave me, will you?" why may
guess what fate has in store" SAID
Paulo kissing her. But it is now time
for you to go to your slumber. Good.
night, my child.
I When he was alone Pauio opened
the other letter. When he had read
it it fell from his hand and a deadly
paleness spread over his ace. His
faithful servant. Cecil, stood looking
at his master. Your presentiment is,
then. fulfilled?' asked Cecil. 1T u.s."
replied Paulo. my property is Sc
money; they require my immediate re-
turn to Russia ''And you are lost,
my lord, if you do not obey this COM
mand." exclaimed the servant. And
Natalie" said h Count, "can I, dare
I, leave her?' She is much safer
Without you than with ~yOu>under these
circumstances" replied Cecil. They
may, not suspect who h is. 1t is pos
Sible that YOU are recalled simply un-
der the absentee laws of Russia, which
require that every subject must re-
turn after q certain number of years.
Fulfill, therefore. this hard duty. Pre-
tend that our return is only to renew
your passport and pay tonnage to the
Empress. Appear innocent and I'M
concerned and all may Yet go we'll"
No" said Paulo, nothing will ever
&C we'll any more"
II was the Empress CdLneflnS VINO
now reigned over Russia. Her hus-
band. Peter H., who had succeeded
Elizabeth, had been assassinated bv
her agents., and she had usurped the
vacant throne. And one Of those as
%sassins, who openly boasted of the
part he had played in the death Of the
Gar, was now come to Rome as Rus
sian envOy-the Count Alexis OriOff
whose brother, COun Gregory. was
the reigning favorite of the dissoiute
Empress. That the secret of Natalie's
existence had become known to the
mercliess Empress and that her place
of refuge had been discovered was
only too apparent to him who was
once Count Pau R~asczinsky and was
now known as Count Paulo.
The idea which he once had Of Civ
ing Russia an empress and raising
hlmse1f to be an emperor had Ions
ago vanished. His only concern now
was to preserve Natalie from the dan,
gers with which the mere fact OF her
birth envlrOned her. He had come to
love Natalie truly and fervently. but
knew that she loved him only as 4
1rlend n protector. So, as The time
went by she became to him only as a
dear and cherished daughter, whose
welfare was his first thought and duty.
Except Paulo and the servants Ma
talie, in her closely guarded retreat.
mad seen no men but her music
.ooSHei, NdIio, d mar she had come
70 AVE a great affection Tor. and who.
alas. had at length found himself das-
pertely in love with his pupil, though
this love his position forbade him to
utter.
Carlo had formerly been a lover or
Gorilla, the improvisatrice, but. since
he had realized his love for Natalie
mad forsaken her The two
men whose sinister faces had peered
THROUGH the branches Of the over
tree upon the garden wall cf
Nataiie,s villa were the agents Of Co
rlila, IN her love and anger she had
hired them to as~sassinate tho GIRL -
nad stolen from her the heart-of
carlo. They had not killed Natalie
that night IN the garden because the
elder and more cautious and exneri-
enced OF the ruffians saw danger of