The daily Alaskan., 1917-01-23


 my sudden disappearance. Then ask ed those who had Kidnapped me to leave word at my apartments that l had been called to Sienna on a very important case. This had the effect of Quieting those who sought me.
 My patient turned out to be as en- gazing a man as had deemed him to be when he passed me in the Pitt palace.
 Your effort" I said to him one day, ito keep your drama-it came very near being q tragedy-from me would possibly have been successful had 1t not been that I was at the ball at the Pitt palace the night you were stab bed. l saw you pass me with the man who stabbed you and the lady for whom you were stabbed. So you see it would be safer for you to tell me ! the whole story, since 1 have a part of it, I pledging myself to secrecy, rather than to permit me to go away I with what l already have unpledged."
 He was not only very much aston | lshed. but saw the reasonableness of what said.
 q did not notice. you," he replied, "at the ball and supposed that you had no position in court society. An Ital- ian surgeon would have been unavail- able for us. We are all so interlaced socially, those below constantly watch ing those above and all watching one another, that we dare not trust any one of our own number. You, as an American, are not mixed in our jeal- ouses, our disputes, Our'-
 "AsSaSsinatiOns."
 You are wrong there. There are no assasSinatiOns in modern Italy. fought with the Duke But I will tell you the story and have every con fdeuce that you will not reveal it.
 T am Count Baradini and my ances- tors have lived in this palace since the twelfth century, The man you saw on the other side Of the signorina at the ball was the Duke of AboIinO, a rela- tive of the king. The signOrina herself | is the daughter of the Countess Fran cOccio, an old family that sprang up under the influence of Lorenzo de Me dicl, commonly called Lorenzo the Mag nifcent. SiCnOrina Blanca Francoccio ! and myself have been lovers ever since | I was sixteen and she fourteen years old. Upon her entrance into society lately on her eighteenth birthday the duke saw her and became desirOus of 1 possessing her. He is a widower, very rich and has great Influence with the 1 king. Soon after seeing SignOrina Bi- anca he made a formal application for 1 her hand. Her mother-her father is l dead-urgcd her to accept what is to | be considered in a worldly point of view a better position than could give her. To be a duchess and rich is high CT in the worldly scale than to be countess and with no possessions ex- ccpt this old palace. As for Blanca, 1 her heart is all mine, as mine Is hers, and if left to her own will she would refuse the duke to marry me. Indeed, rather than wed with him she declares she will go into a convent
 "The duke was expecting to have his own way in the matter when at the recent ball at the Pitt he discovered that was his rival. I was with Signo- 1 riua Blanca few minutes before we passed you, when the duke joined her 1 and by a look bade me give way to him. asked the lady to go with me into another apartment She assented, whcrcuDOn the duke went with us. On reaching the other room Blanca show ed the duke so plainly that his pres ence was not desirable that he left us, giving me a malignant look as he did so that plainly meant I am man of l too much importance to be interfered with by such as you
 "On leaving the palace the duke, who took occasion to go out at the same time as 1, jostled me. Seeing that l must have it out with him, I sent him a challenge.
 "Just at present the king would be furious if he knew that members of the nobility to whom he looks for sup port, especially his relative, had fought a duel. If l were known to have sent 1 q challenge to tie Duke of AbolinO l 1 should in some way be made to suffer. I met him within an hour after we | left the Pitt; but, realizing my posi- ton, I did not dare even pink him. l He came very near killing me, as you see. and I doubt not will be disappoint- ed if l recover.
 "The duke and my second joined in conference as to how to keep the mat ter q secret and decided to call upon you to attend me-
 "There you have the story so far as 1t has been enacted"
 The balance of the tale I learned from Count Baradmi after he had re- covered. SignOrina Blanca was con- handed by her mother to marry the duke, and the king sent message to say that he would be pleased at match between her and his well be- loved cousin. Despite these commands and requests the girl fatly refused to marry any one but the man she loved, and when tuose who were conspiring against her found 1t impossible to move her they desisted, and finally her mother gave a reluctant consent that she should marry the count.
 When the wedding came off | was present and had a pleasant chat with the bride about her husbands wound ing. of which she had been kept In ig- norance till the affair had blown over. So long as I remained in Florence l was welcome at the palace of Count and Countess Baradini.