The Whitefish pilot., 1912-12-05
LOVES
HORRORS
BY LOUISE D. CUMMINGS

II The iOveiiest. the most barbarous
mitted by human beings find their mo
tive in love- And there Is no country
in which love In its greatest intensity
has fiourished us in Italy. 1t is the
soul Of Italian poetry. 1t is the motive
Of Italian crime.
/ One of the oldest families Of Italy
is. or, rather. was, the Contis. Me
dieval Italy was ruled by great fami
lies. and their power lasted with va
ried degree for centuries Beatrice
Cont, a beautiful girl who lived in
Rome a hundred years ago. when the
Cont family was still. at least in name
prominent. loved Caesar Brandini. and
her love was returned Beatrice was
superior girl. and Brandini was q
prominent young man. He was very
accomplished. especially in those many
arts pertaining to war. being the bes,
1encer 40 we'll a. the best shot among
the patrician set Of Rome. But he was
nothing Of bully or a braggart and
had only once had occasion to punish
any man. That was for abusing a de-
formed child.
6cipione Brescini. a man about Cae-
sar's age. WAS one day seen by the
latter to cuf a crippled beggar who
got In his way while crossing a street.
Caesar was 20 indignant that he cuff
ed Brescini. Scipione did not return
the blow. and the matter seemingly
ended then and there.
Scipfone was a rejected lover Of
Beatrice. 70 have been struck BY his
successful rival turned his soul into
Z nery furnace. Had he not feared
the superior akill Of Caesar he would
have challenged him. As It was, he
found himself In contemplate po-
sitton. with no way out Of 1t. Strange
to say. he. not only coveted revenge
on Brandini. but on Beatrice. He
brooded and brooded till he conceived
the idea Of striking the girl through
her lover.
One night AZ Caesar was passing
through one OF those medieval Roman
streets, too narrow for even q side
walk. an arm was thrust out Of win
dow. and knife entered his back,
piercing the heart. He fell and died in
few minutes
Beatrice. knowing that her lover had
only one enemy In the world and that
was Scipione. felt assured that he was
the murderer. but when stiletto was
left at her house on dark night when
the person leaving it could not be rec.
ognized she knew that it was the
weapon with which Caesar had been
stabbed and that Scipione was his MUIR
derer.
No more fiendish revenge Is to be
conceived. Beatrice was at once
changed by It from the gentlest Of
women to deadly fury. The new
Beatrice differed from the former Bea-
trice in proportion to the strength of
her love. 1t did not even occur to her
to punish Scipione through the courts
She had no proof that he was the guilty
person. and II she had she would not
have produced 1t. The blood of the
Contis ran pure in her veins. and the
Contis of the past had not been in the
habit Of troubling the courts with their
disputes. The men relied on their
swords: the women-one of them was
Borgia.
She did not meet Scipione Brescini
for some time after the murder and
when she did surprised him by appear.
ing not to suspect that he had any.
thing to do with 1t. She even asked
him II he could not think of some one
whose enmitv Caesar had aroused.
Moreover. she did not appear to take
her lovers death to heart so much as
be had expected. Scipione gained con.
fdence.' All might yet be we'll between
him and her. True, for time he had
hated her. but her presence rekindied
love-
The two met often. Sciplone did not
need to 60 to see her at her house, for
at that time every one in Rome met
socially at all sorts of open air fes-
dvala Beatrice always greeted Sci
phone with smile-a smile that never
had and never could fail to win him.
And this Is an effect Of love. Like
liquor. 1t steals mans brains.
And 40 Scipione drifted to his ruin.
He renewed the offer of his hand to
Beatrice and was accepted.
Before their marriage Beatrice in.
sisted on making trip to India. She |
had heard of something in that coun-
try she wanted. scipione was loath to
part with her and could not under
stand her going. She told him she
wished a flower that grew there and
was nowhere else to be found with
which to decorate her bridal veil
What a singular woman's whim-to
go all the way to india for a flower!
Beatrice was gone long while on |
her journey. When she returned she |
fixed date for her wedding. but pre-
terred that 1t should be In private.
After the ceremony she sat in her |
wedding dress. decked In the fresh.
piucked flowers of plant she had
brought from India. Her husband sat |
beside her.
For my sake, inhale the perfume OF
the flowers was at so much pains to |
get for our bridal." she said.