The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-08-05
A
Disappointment
BY MARGARET BARR

} My Dear Helen-I have something
to tell you which l am sure will In
terest you; besides, / wish your sym
pathy l have met with disappoint
ment and loss at the same time. Oh
! dear, what world this is.
But l must not begin Mt the wrong
end or there will be no story.
We are expecting to go abroad next
autumn, to be absent at least a year,
and / know no language except my
own native tongue and French. Since
we are to spend the winter In Italy
concluded to study the Italian Ian
guage In order to be able to speak
1t well enough to enter society, espe-
cially In Rome, where we have advan-
tages in the way Of introduction, con-
cluded to take lessons. / secured a
| teacher who was born and educated in
/ Florence and member Of good fam
fly there, so / could be sure that l
would get the language pure.
Having only a few months for study
in order to progress rapidly / deter
| mined to engage an Italian maid.
advertised for one and received mum.
Der of replies. ! called for several OF
| them to come to see me. and after In
| specting them all / chose one calling
! herself yittoria. She told me her 9th
| er name, but / was not interested in
that.
| chose yittoria because she seemed
to be 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
cradle correctness. Since this was all
| wanted her for / decided to give her
the position 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 we'll 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 mevexactly.
The friendship between Clarisse and
yfttoria seemed TO be continually grow |
Ing. 1t appeared that there must be
some bond between them. ! question |
ed Clarisse about 1t, but got no salts
faction. Then Clarisse began to look |
worried Again l tried to get out of /
her IL 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 lover. She had told
her (vittoria) about him and had intro
duced him to her. Vittoria took a
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 she
had given me. for Clarisse would GER
tainly regard it as a betrayal of con.
fidence
This seemed to me a very satisfac-
tory explanation. Vittoria after hay-
ing informed me Of Clarisses 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 I'M
fortunately. | suppose it was very
selfish in me, but | have been so de-
pendant on Clarisse for so long that
to lose her through a 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 Cla-
rises afternoon out. A bureau drawer
my jewels in use. which
/ kept always locked, stood open and
the jewels gone. Suspecting that bur
glars had been in the house, l rushed
to closet where | kept an iron box
my most valuable gems 1t,
too, had been rifled. | 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 Clarisse
came In. When I 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-
ngiy. Il know what You would say,
Vittoria has turned out to be thief
She has deceived us both. She told
ne that you had lover who was I'M
worthy of you and she was trying to
iissuade you from him."
"She," repeated Clarisse, covering
Ter face with her hands. 'yittoria is
man."
Great heaTensr'
He confided his secret to me; told Z
ne that for love of me he had dressed
- ,,o,,ax, 4l,,+ "A. ,3,ierhf ha raar mo q,