The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-12-15
PART TWO

lOuIlu SL "llS el5S- ilt-It l IlS I-OL u of FosConc married again, and by that marriage had other children. But still his daughter Fiammetta stood nightly on the platform of the Castle of F'oscone. gazing down at the hill path, waiting for her An tonic to climb the wall and whisper his love.
 ''Now she only lived in that state of ardent expectancy The days and weeks and months were but one hour. the hour preceding his last approach to her. Every moment, in her Gelusion, she expected him to end that hour by coming to her as young as ever. to find her as win some as before. In consequence. lime vanished from her thought And in vanishing from her thought. time lost it's power over her.
 Her father died; but Fiammetta still kept her vigil. in appearance the same as on the evening of that tragedy. \ new generation of the F'oscone grew old in their turn, but FTammetta's loveliness was still perfect In her madness there seemed to be a sanity surpassing the sanity of other mortals. For by becoming insensihle to time she had attained an earthly immortality, an interrupted physical beauty, in which she constantly looked for ward to the delight of loving.
 50 she went on and on"
 The tower shook in terror of the gale, and we shook with it, in terror of this revelation. My thoughts turned toward the woman below, who had smiled at us from that aura of physical resplendency. I felt my hair rising, and heard q voice, my own, cry out: NO, mol"
 'YesI' Antonio shouted. fixing his hands upon my arms. We were both standing, and our leaPing shadows on the wall resembled a combat in which one was struggling to force insanity upon the other He went on speaking, but his words were drowned in a screaming of vast forces that cIutched at the tower as if in fury because the nor maj processes of nature had been defed. Would those forces attain their revenge? Was the tower about to thunder down upon the Castle of Manzecca, annihilating her and us. the secret and it's nossessors? For a moment would nave "eAto4ttGl SNCAA NAANNN from thinking.
 ."Yes" he repeated, releasing my arms and sitting down Imply on the bench. "As you anticipate. so it turned out"
 was still able to protest:
 Admitted that this has happened elsewhere, to a certain degree. In Victorian England there lived woman whose love-affair was wrecked and whose mind auto maticalIv closed itself against every thing associated with her tragedy, or subsequent to it. In her madness she. too. protected herself against Dain by living in expectation of the lovers return. Because that eX- pec1atiOn was restricted to her girl hood. she remained a girl in appear ance for over fifty years. Fifty years. that is comprehensible!"
 The principle is the same" said Antonio, wearily. "Every mental phenomenon has minor and major examples. But I will tell you the rest
 'aThe Foscone, also, finally moved 10 Florence. Their castle was left in the care of hereditary servants, devoted and discreet. On that iso- lated AlIlIOD no CilCtIlCS was dllOI NCN strangers to solve the mystery of the woman who paced the high platform in the attire of another ase. Was there. in the Foscone's conceaIment of the awesome fact, a medieval impulse. the ancient in stinct of noble houses to defend themselves against all forms of az gression, including curiosity? Or was it merely the usual aversion to being identified with abnormality? Some abnormality is so terrifying that it seals the loosest lips.
 "Now and then, to be sure. some serv ants tongue was set wagSing bv wine. or some heir of the Eos cone confided in his sweetheart. But the rumor, if it went farther, soon became distorted and incredi- ble, amid the ghost stories of q hundred Indian castles. palaces, and villas. I myself found hints in the archives of .my family. yet saw in them only q pretty tale, such IS re- suits when romantic invention is combined with pride of race.
 But | was destined to sing an other tune.
 Not long ago. the last of the FosCOne's modern generation passed away There came 10 me an old woman servant from the castle. It was Nuta, whom you saw below as we entered
 Why had she sought me out? Be cause. if you please. in the year if teen hundred one of my family had brought this thing to pass. It seemed to Nuta, the fact now being subject to discovery by the eXecu- tors of the estate, that the care of her charge devClved upon me.
 At first I believed that old Nuta was the mad one. In the end, how ever. I accompanied her to the castle At dusk. concealed by the expresses. I disCerned on the plat form q face that seemed to have been transported from another epoch just in order to pierce my heart with an intoIerabIe longing. I fell in love as one slips into vortex. and instantly the rational world was lost beyond a whirl of ecstasy and friCht.
 q reCained Florence with but one thourht: how could she be restored to sanity. vet be maintained in that beauty which had triumphed over centuries? As I entered my apart rlent I saw before me the portrait