The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-10-16
CHe
ADVENTURE
OF TILE
RED CIRCLE
(Continued.)

tmation as we can be to get It o
understand, madam, that your NUS
band will be arrested and tried for
the death Of the man who lies before
us? What you say may be used IN
evidence. But If you think that he
has acted from motives which are not
criminal, and which he would wish to
have known, then you cannot serve
him better than by telling US the
whole story"
Nov that Gorgiano is dead we fear
nothing" said the lady. HE was a
devil and a monster, and there can
be no judge in the world who would
punish my husband for having killed
him"
In that case" said Holmes, my
suggestion Is that we lock this door,
leave things as we found them, go
with this lady to her room. and form
our opinion after we have heard what
dt Is that she has to say to u.s."
Half an hour later we were seated,
all four, in the small sitting-room OF
Signora Lucca, listening to her re-
rnarkable narrative Of those sinister
events, the ending Of which We had
CHANGED to witness. She spoke In
rapid and, fluent but very unconven-
tional English, which, for the sake Of
,clearness. 1 will make grammatical.
Il was born in Posilippo, near Ma.
PIES" said she, "and was the daugh-
ter Of Augusta Barelli, who was the
chief lawyer and once the deputy OF
that part. Gennaro was in my fathers
employment, and I came to love him,
as any woman must. He had neither
money nor position-nothing but his
beauty and strength and energy-so
my father forbade the match. We fed
together, were married at Bari, and
sold my jewels to gain the money
which would take us to America. This
was four years ago. and we have been
in New York v e since.
Fortune was very good to US at
first. Gennaro vas able to do a serv-
ice to an Italian gentleman-he saved
him from some rufians in the place
Sd.lSc TIC o0WSAyp III oo u4ooO q
powerful friend. His name was Tito
Castalotte, and he was the senior
partner OF the great firm Of Castalotte
and Zamba, who are the chief fruit
importers Of New York. Signor Fam.
ba Is an invalid, and our new friend
Castalotte has all power within the
firm, which employs mor than three
hundred men. He took my husband
into his employment. made him head
Of C department, and showed his
goodwill towards him in every way.
Signor Castalotte was a bachelor,
and I believe that he felt as If Gen.
marc was his son, and both my hus-
baad and I loved him as If he were
our father. We had taken and fur
nished a little house In Brooklyn,
and our whole future seemed assured,
when that black cloud appeared which
was soon TO ~overspread Jul sky.
"One night. when Gennaro returned
from his work. he brought a fellow
countryman back with him. His name
was Gorgiano. an6 he had come also
from Posilippo. J He was a huge nan,
as you can testify, for you have looked
upon his corpse. Not only was his
body that Of giant. brt everything
about him vas grotesque, gigantic and
terrifying. His voice was like thnn-
der in our little house. There was
scarce room for the whirl Of his great
arms as he talked. His thoughts. his
emotions, his passions, all were ex-
aggerated and monstrous. He talked,
CT rather reared. with such energy
that others could but sit and listen,
cowed with the mighty stream Of
words. His eyes blaZed at you and
held you at his mercy. He was a ter
rible and wonderful man I thank
God that he Is dead!
HE came again and again. Yet l
was aware that Gennaro was no ore
happy than I was in his presence. My
Door husband would sit pale aud list
less, listening to the eadless rawlings
upou politics and upon social ques-
tons which made up our visitors con.
versation. Gennaro said nothing. but
I who knew him so well could read
In his face some emotion which ! had
never seen there before. At first I
thought that 1t was dislike. And then,
gradually, ] understood that 1t was
more than dislike. It was fear-a
deep, secret, shrinking fear. That
n!ght-the night that | read his terror
Il put my arms round him and | i'm
plored him by his love for me and by
all that he held dear to hold nothing
from me, and 70 tell me why this huge
man overshadowed him so.
He told me, and my W heart
grew cold as ice as listened. My poor
Gennaro, in his wild and fiery days,
when all the world seemed against
him and his mind was driven half mad
by the ~injustices Of life, had joined a
Neapolitan society. the Red Circle,
which a allied to the old Carbonari.
The oaths and secrets Of this brother
hood were frightful; but once within
its rule no escape was possible. When
we had fed to America Gennaro
thought that he had cast it all off for
ever. What was his horror one eve
ming to meet in the streets the very
man who had initiated him In Naples,
the giant Gorgiano, a man who had
earned the name Of Death in the
South Of Italy, for he was red to the
elbow in murder! He had come to
New York to avoid the Italian police,
and he had already planted a branch