Year: 1874




Closer and closer, insidiousiy as does the
serpent enchant encoil and finally lure =.
fatal surrender To- its facinatlons its un-
wary victim, did the false aud beau"
Countess Blanca Tutti enrapture and en-
slave the infatuated young artist, Thurston
A beautiful and bad woman is to be
Stunned, for her grace and perfectness.of
feature atone to the mind rendered sophis-
tical by her fascinating wiles, the absence
of rectitude and morality but who can
resist beautiful woman when her whole
energies are called forth to enslave mans
heart, and every charm and feature ex
hausted IN accomplishing such an object.


And 50 it was that, two months after his
first interview with the Countess, Thurston
was madly in love with her, seeking every
excuse to be at her side. Encouraging his
passion, deceiving him with the bestowal of
her sweetest smiles and most fulsome fiat
terry, the Countess won him to total trans
lent forgetfulness of every tie and pledge
that held him In honor or duty bound to
other things than his affection for her.


The day previous to the events last
chronicled in the preceding chapter, Thur
ston set out early in the afternoon for the
villa Of the Countess. There was to be a
masquerade there that evening, and he had
sent his costume forward by servant,
thus obtaining an excuse to present himself
at an earlier hour than the remainder of
the guests, in order to arrange his costume
ariAht. He found time for quite a long
conversation with the Countess, which was
broken in upon early i'll the evening by the
arrival of guests.


Hilarlty and enjoyment were at their
full height when the young artist and the
Countess, masked, yet readily divining
each others real identity, found time for a
little conversation in a secluded portion Of
the villa. Wine and praise had completely
frenzied Thurston and now, when the
opportunity presented, he pressed his claim
eagerly, forgetting in the moment that she
might not love him-impassioned, impetu-
Gus, infatuated.


In gay badinage she parried his words,
seeking not yet to have him divulge his
passion. With the ready tact of a woman
Of the world, she satisfied him with false
words, stimulated him with unjust promi-
ses. In the passion Of the moment, he
forgot everything and, returning to the
revel, was the widest, gayest and most
volatile of all the mad votaries present who
worshlpped at the shrine OF pleasure.


Never accustomed to the use of wine in
excess, the liquor fired his brain electrical
ly never before so fully under the spell o.
beauty and passion, his heart became
drowned in q sea of ecstasy and excite
ment.


By design, or y singularly, to him, un-
fortuitous accident, Tnurston, at the sup
4aA ~ haaA ho
Countess Tutti on one side, Colonel Dele
van on the other. The false praises and
adulation Of the latter, and the burning
smiles and thrilling words Of the Countess
had their due effect upon the young artist,
and had produced exactly the feelings the
plotters had calculated.


Unlicensed mirth and levity reigned su-
preme. The gay masqueraders, removing
their masks, banded words and jests which
caused many q modest cheek to blush with
shame, and the tide of jollility to run still
higher. Gay cavaliers became sensibly
affectionate and demOnssrative, and little
| firtations, under the magnetic influence Of
wine and women and song, melted into q
more tender passion than friendly trifing.
Flushed by wine, elated ut the apparent
success Of his attentions, Clarence Thurs
ton, as the revel went ON, leaned over from
his seat and drew the form Of the Countess
nearer to him. Those around them we're
toe fully occupied with affairs Of their own
to notice the lovers, and the Countess
risked her reputation as true woman on
the grand coup she was about to make.
Delsvan watched the pair from under his
eyebrows, awaiting the action Of the Count
ess. What the artist murmured in the ear
of the Countess may not be repeated here.
Like all love scenes, it embraced the words
man has sworn and ~ lightly broken since
time began. She listened with apparent