The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-08-29
A
Disappointment
Bv MARGARET BARR
BY MARGARET BARR

10 tell you which a'' SURF VIII IN
terest you; besides, ! wlsh your sym
natby have met with a disappOint
mont and loss at the same time. Oh.
dear what a world this is!
But I must not begin at the wrong
end or there will be no s'ory
We are expecting to GO abroad next
aut,mn m he absent at least year.
and | know no language except my
own native tongue and French. Since
we are to spend the winter in Italy
concluded 10 study the Italian Ian
guoge In order to be able to speak
q we'll enough to enter society, espe-
cially in Rome, where we have advan-
tages in the way of Introduction, con
clndad to take lessons. secured
teacher who was born ana educated in
Florence and member OF good fam
nv there. so | could be sure that
would get the language pure.
Having only few months for study
in order TO progress rapidly l deter
mined to engage an Italian maid.
advertised for one and received a num-
ber Of replies. called for several Of
them to come to see me and after in
spectlng them all | chose one calling
herself yittoria. She told me her 9th
or name. but was not Interested in
that.
chose yittoria because she seemed
n he of so much higher grade than
the Others and because my Italian
teacher, after talking with her, told me
that she spoke the language with toll
erabIe correctness. Since this was all
I wanted her for decided to give her
the nosition at once. Clarisse, you
know. is my personal maid, who at
tends me when am making my toilet,
does my hair and all that.
Well. | found vittoria quite valuable
TO converse with. While | got moth
ing from her of the construction Of the
language. the practice of talking with
her advanced me more rapidly than
my regular lessons. She spoke French
as well as Italian, and she and Clarisse
became very good friends. You know
how nice 1t is to have servants who
get on well together. If they are at
swords points one has no comfort. Be
sides they divided the work very well
between them. Vittoria would have
nothing to do with my toilet, and Clar-
isse had no reason to fear that the Ital-
ian would become necessary to me.
The arrangement suited me exactly.
The friendship between Clarisse and
Vittoria seemed to be continually grow
ing. 1t appeared that there must be
some bond between them, question
ed Clarisse about it, but got no salts
faction. Then Clarisse began to look
worried. Again tried to get out of
her if there was anything on her mind,
but she would not tell me. One day
tried Vittoria, asking her what was
the matter with Clarisse. She told me
that Clarisse had a lover She had tolt
! her (Vittoria) about him and had intro
duced him to her. vittoria took
great dislike to him and advised Clar
isse to have nothing to do with him
Vittoria also asked me to say nothing
to Clarisse about the information sh(
had given me, for Clarisse would Ger
tainly regard it as a betrayal of con
fidence.
This seemed to me very satisfae
tory explanation. Nittoria after hav
ing informed me of Clarlsse's infatua.
ton and that she was trying to induce
her to give up an unworthy lover, made
no effort to conceal their interest in
one another and once or twice they
asked to have the same afternoon off
This | granted, Of course. wishing to
give Vittoria every opportunity to ar
que with Clarisse against yielding to
love that would likely turn out un-
fortunately. | suppose II was very
selfish in me, but have been so de-
pendant on Clarisse for so long that
to lose her through marriage or from
any other cause would break my heart.
So matters drifted on One after
noon | returned from a bridge party
and went to my room. 1t was Cha
risse's afternoon out A bureau drawer
containing my jewels in use, which
kept always locked, stood open and
the jewels gone. Suspectlng that bur
glars had been in the house, | rushed
to closet where kept an iron box
containing my most valuable gems. 1t,
too, had been rifed | called for Wit
toria. She did not reply. Great heav.
ens What did It mean? My jewels,
worth many thousands Of dollars, had
been taken. and my Italian maid. who
was expected to be close at hand when
my French maid was absent did not
answer when called.
In the midst Of my confusion Clarfsse
came in. When showed her my
empty jewel boxes thought she would
faint. was Obliged to support her
She tried to say something to me, but
her voice failed her.
"Never mind, Clarisse," said sooth-
lngly. Il know what you would say.
vittoria has turned out to be thief.
She has deceived us both. She told
Inc that you had a lover who was un-
worthy of you and she was trying to
dissuade you from him"
"She." repeated Carlsse, covering
her face with her hands. "Vittoria is
a man"
Great heavens"
HE confded his secret TO me; told
me that for love Of me he had dressed
as woman that he might be near me.
| knew was wrong to listen to him,
but | did. My faith What shall l
1o?"
How women NAV be hoodwinked by
nfen. | don't care so much for the
Jewels, since can buy those of later
style. but | am 10 disappointed at los
ing my practice in speaking Italian.
Notice Of Final Settlement
Notice is hereby given that the underslgr
ed administrator o. the estate of Thomas f,
ward lowell deceased, has filed his final a