The evening world. Newspaper, July 8, 1905, Page 10

THE WORLD: SATURDAY EVET G. JULY 8, 1905. B of his time... Through the open window we could hear the ““Oh, yes, very kind 1 and day, L undertook not to give the poor beast away, but at the same hand-rail ran up one wall, so I carefully flattened myself against the other, and “Mar—ga—ri" a few hundred yards further on, 1 fancied “And you would live in his house afterward? tums told hin | had not the faintest intention of doing another stroke of and he passed within six inches of mo, puffing and wheezing like a brass istentng to it while he paused. He shook his head abstractedly ot How, mia cara—not now!! work that night band. 1 let him go a few steps higher, and then I let him havo it with nded him the cigarettes, and his tone hereafter was never just “No, by God, you don't!’ sald Tin English, ‘But you would have don: 1 very dark, and 1 remember knocking my head against the both lungs, ; Fad been, 80, eh? oranges as I ran up the long, shallow steps which ended the journey bee“ ‘Buona s eccellenza signori!’ 1 roared after him, And a scream MGn'e know, Bunny, whether you're a believer in transmigration of “Of course, That was arranged. The Count ts really very kind tween the dircctore’s lodge and the villa itself, But at the back of the came down in answer—such a scream! A dozen different terrors were ia 1 have cften thought it caster to believe than lots of other things, “Do you see anything of him when he comes hero? villa: was garden 1 spoke about, and also a bare chunk of the cliff it; and the wheezing had stopped with the old scoundrel’s heart ; hive been pretty near belioving in it mysclf since 1 had my being on Where it was Uored by that subterranean stair, So 1 saw the stars close Chi sta la?’ he squeaked at last, gibbering and whimpering like a Wilk OF Tiberie, ‘he brite who had it in ms day, if he ent overheat | the fishermen’s torches far below, the coastwise lights and whipped monkey, so that I could not Lear to miss his face and got a match BAing it with a whole skin, was or is os cold-blooded a black as the crimson hieroglyph that spelt Vesuvius, before 1 plunged into the all ready to strike. AY worst of the emperors, but 1 have often thought he had a lot in com- rhness the shaft. And that was the last time 1 appreciated — the “Arturo, signori.’ fon with Tiberius. He had the great, high, sensual Roman nose, eyes that van. ‘ide and peaceful charm of this outlandish spot “He didn't repeat my name, nor did he damn me in heaps. He did nott eve sinks of iniquity in thomselyes, and that swelled with fatne like \ The stair was in (wo long flights, with an air-hole or two at the top ing but wheeze for a good minute, and when be spoke it was with in the rest of him, so that he wheezed If he walked a yard; otherwise rather a fine beast to look at, with a huge gray mustache, like a fiying gull, and the most courteous manners even to his men, but one of the worst, Bunny, one of the worst that ever was. It was said that the vineyard was only his hobby. If so he did his best to make his hobby pay. He used to cofie out from Naples for the week-ends—in the tub when it wasn't too rousi for his nerves—and he didn’t always come alone. His very name sound unhealthy—Corbucci. I suppose I ought to add that he was a count, though counts are two-a-penny in Naples and in season all the year rend He had a little English and liked to air it upon me, much to my dis- gust. If 1 could not hope to ¢ nationality as yet | at least did rot want to have it advertised, and the swine had English friends, When of the upper one, but not another pin ating civility, in his best English. prick till you came to the iron gate a “‘Come nearer, Arturo. You are in the lower regions down ther the bottom of the lower, As yo! may want to speak with you.’ read of an infinitely lighter place, in “°No, thanks. I'm in a hurry,’ I said, and dropped that match back a finer work of fiction than you are into my pocket. He might be armed, and I was not. ever likely to write, Bunny, it was “*So you are in a ‘urry!’ and he wheezed amusement. ‘And you Freon AY oon ate eam an Saune thought still.in Rome, no doubt; and so I was until this afternoon SUMS HL RERMIANIBIIG IeWOUTC ee En when T caught train at the eleventh moment, and then another traln fron Ry = i Uta: Naples to Pozzuoli, | have been rowed here now by a fisherman of Po; g Heater see iat is autGtaneitn those Zuoli, 1 had not time to stop anywhere in Naples, but only to drive from the inside of the safest safe ir *tation to station, So I am without Ste Arturo, 1 without Stefano. a a “His si voice sounded preternatur sly in the absolute darkn he heard that I was bathing in November, when (ie bay is still as warm Che WattOH AGRE KERORMSFOOEN IBC MH ; c } \ a3 rew milk, he would shake his wicked old head and say: ‘You are Chancery Lane Deposit, Yet L had jot Dut even through that impenetrable veil [knew it for a sham. 1 had laid very audashuss—you are very and put on uo side be- hold of the hand-rail. It shook violently in my hand; he also was holding ¢ it where he stood, And these suppressed tremors, or rather their « tection in this way, struck a strange chill to my heart, just ning to pluck it up “It is lucky for St ‘Ah, but you m *You have stole hi with you. It is very even going to meet hi told him str hen there You didn't se to keep it to myself. ‘L had no such fortune,’ the old devil said he is there, all the same. Lonly wich I ‘ad known. “In fact, | threw this over my shoulder as 1 turned and went r down fore his Italians. By God, he had pitched upon the right word unaware’, and I let him know it in the end! “But that bathing, Bunny; it was absolutely the best | ever had any- where. I said just now the water was like wine; in my own mind I used to call it blue champagne, and was rather annoyed that 1 hal no one to admire the phrase. Otherwise I assure you th 1 as I was begin ano,’ said 1, grim as death st not be too ‘ard on ‘im,’ remonstrated the Cow irl; he speak with me about it, and 1 wish to sp vudashuss, Arturo, very audashuss! Perh now, eh t that | was ; no ‘urry, for she is not there.’ her in the cave?’ I cried, too delighted at the theug't tl micsed my ¢ lar kind very little indeed, though I often wished that you were there, olf chap, particularly when I went for my lonesome swim first thing in the morning, when the bay was all rose le a ng at night, when your body caught phosphorescent fire! Ah, yes, it was a good «nough life for a chamze, a perfect paradise to lie low in, another Eden yntil * * * My poor Eve!” And he fetched a sigh that took away his words; then his s snapped together and his eyes spoke terribly while he conquered is emotion. 1 pen the last word advisedly. 1 fancy it is one which T have never used be- fore in writing of A. J. Raffles, for I cannot at the moment recall any other occasion upon which its use would have been justified. On resuming, however, he was not only calm but cold. and this flying for safety to the other extreme is the single instance of self-distrust which the present Achates can record to the credit of his imy Aeneas “I called the girl said be. “Her real name she was one of a vast family who hung out ina hovel on the inland border ious voice came croaking after me. ‘ope you will find her!" hi DU Wil 1 "ope sv And find her 1 did Raffles had been on t moving to sit still or to stand, od still enough, his elbows et some time, un. m. But now he s Faustina, and of the vineyard. And Aphrodite rising from the sea was less wonderful on the e, his head between his hands, . and not more beautiful than Aphrodite emerging from that hole! De ispered “It was the most exquisite face I ever saw or shall soe in this life— And he nodded to the wall . alsolutely perfect features, a skin that reminded you of old gold, so deli- There w yt a sor the cave. There was no answer to my voice, cate its bronze; magnificent hair, not black but nearly such eyes Then I went in d my foot touched hers, and it was colder than the 1ock * * © Bunny, they had stabbed her to the heart and th had stabbed her to th “You say ‘the I said gently, stood in he still turned, “I thought Stefano had been left behind?” Raffles was round in a tl face white-hot, his eyes dancing deat! “He was in the cave!” he shouted. “I saw him—TI spotted him—it broad twilight after those stairs—and | went for him with my ba ands. Not fists, Bunny; not fists for a thing like that; | meant getting my fingers into his vile le heart and tearing it out by the roots, I But he had the revolver—h He blazed it at arm's length and And that steadied me. I had shed h nny-bone against the fore he could blaze again; the revolver fell with a rattle, but without going off; in an instant I had it tight, and the little swine at my mercy at last “You didn't show him any?” he had fought them, and teeth that would have male the fortune of a face without another point. I tell you, Bunny, London would go mad about irl like that, But I don’t believe there's such another in the world. And there she was wasting her sweetness upon that lovely but desolate little corner of it! Well, she did not waste it upon me. I would have married her and lived happily ever after in such a hovel as her people’s—with her. Only to look at her-—only to look at her for the rest of my days—I could have lain low and remained dead even to you! And that’s all I'm going to tell you about that, Bunny; cursed be he who tells more! Yet don’t you run away with the idea that this poor Faustina was the only woman I over cared about. I don't believe in all that ‘only’ rot; nevertheless 1 tell you that she was the onc being who ever entirely satisfied my sense of beauty, and I hon- estly believe I could have chucked the world and been true to Faustina for y silence, his back that alone. “Merey? With F% . 2 1 . ; 4 posed by Kyrle Bellew, arrangement Liebler Company. ahercy ith Faustina dead at my feet I should have rveed “We met sometimes in the little temple I told you about, sometimes '* 5 hone in the next worid if I had shown him any in th I just stood among the vines, now by honest accident, now by flagrant design, and “And then—we were alone for the last time,’ over him, with the revolver in both hands, feeling the « ere ith ny found a ready-made rendezvous, romantic as one could wish, in the cave . thumb; and a back to that one down all those subterranean steps. Then the sea would call us—my bine “Yes, he had sometimes brought her litue’ presents, sweetmeats, ribbons got far down them with my bare feet before I heard somebody else coming and b champagne, my sparkling cobalt—and there was the dingy ready to our and the like, but the offering had always been made through this toad up in boots. You may imagine what a turn that gave me! 11 could not And I can spare you two or three » LT said, for my poor girl eee rey celts! T never knew which T liked best, the moonlit ones Of a Siefano. Knowing the man, I now knew all. But Faustina, she had be Faustina, who went barefoot three seasons of the four, and yet there could not have fired a shot. “Take that one to hell with you—and that— when you sculled through silver and could see for miles, or the dark nights the pure and simple heart and the white soul, by the God who made it, s Faustina waiting for me down below. What a fright she must have and that! i when the fishermen’s torches stood for the sea and a red zigzag in the sky for her Kindness to a tattered scapegrace who made love to her in And all at once my own blood ran cold; for the man sang like a ket- “Th for old Vesuvius. We were happy. I don't mind owning it. We seemed broken Italian between the ripples and the stars. She was not to kmow what he plodded up and up. It it must be, the short-wi Count place w I was, remember, and beside Corbucci and his henchman 1 was the Arch- I stood he stabbed at me; but I steppec yught him down with a bullet in his guts. n I started coughing and wheezi ike the Count hi as full of smoke When it cleared my man was very dead, and IT elf, whom we all supposed to te in Rome! tipped him sto the M ep Me not to have a care between us. My mates took no interest in my affairs a E : sea t¢ le that rather than Faustina’s cave. And and Faustina’s family @id not appear to bother about her. ‘The Count was anne) Gala comeldown nee alg ; “Higher he came and nearer, nearer, slowly yet hurriedly, now stop- then—and then—we were for the last time, she and I, in our own pet in Naples five nights of the seven; the other two we sighed apart. Arai bs a ayake that night two more ines of Swinburne came into ping to cough and gasp, now taking a few steps to elephantine assault. 1 haunt; and I could scarcely see her, yet 1 would not strike a match, for I “At first it was the oldest story in literature—Eden pl Theiplace ynead and came. to\stay: should have enjoyed the situation if it had not been for poor istina in knew she would not have me see her as she was. I could say good-by to od said: ‘Let him who wins her take the cave; as it w And keep Paustine.’ “On that couplet I slept at last, and it wds my text and watchword when I awoke in the mornings. I forget how well yer know your Swit burne, Bunny, but don't you run away with the idea that there was anything else in common between his Faustine and mine. For the last time let m tell you that poor Faustina was the whitest and the best I ever knew. 1 was filled with name! fears. But I could not re- her without th sist giving that grampus Corbucci one bad moment on I said it; and I left like a man, and up the first count. A crazy open-air steps with my head in the air and the stars all sharp in the had been a heaven on earth before, but now it was heaven i So for a little. Then one night—a Monday ‘night—Faustina burst out crying in tLe boat, and sobbed her story as we drifted without mishap by the mercy of the Lord. And that was almost as old a story as the other “She was engaged—what! Had I never heard of it? Did I mean to upset the boat? What was her engagement beside eu love? ‘Niente, niente,’ crooned Faustina, sighing yet smiling through her te: No, but ee est Te -_ Bore aia atiy was that the nian had (hreatened to stab her wothemhoart gay pe una t ned ceeee, «hed tete eats Thee aan a eee ene TU = and would do it as soon As look at her—that 1 knew. villa in my best manner during his absence in Naples. Not that it gave me ‘I knew it merely from my knowlelge of the Neapolitans, for T had gjightest trouble, but no human being could have told that I had been in no idea who the man might be I knew it, and yet I took vais wetail bette? when I came out. And I had stolen nothing, mark you, but only than the fact of the engagement, though now I began to laugh at borrowed a revolver from’a drawer both. As if I was going to let her in the Count’s desk, with one marry anybody else! As if a hair of or two triuing accessories, for by th her lovely head should be touched ey while I lived to protect her! I had a animed Neapolltann tier ure great inind to row away to blaz enough with a knife, but you show with her that very night and never ARewO ha hin neEelend lok choolie Reansar iter vineyard Grain oF iron and they'll streak like rabbits Bomciner PBut- we hed snot a lira for the nearest hole. But the revolver between us at the time, and only the Se ERTaR Sten Aton rage in which we barefoot in th Fanetina, and 1 taught her how to boat. Besides, IT had to know th Gea \tiinethelcave down thereiby the name of the animal who had threat- dea \ehooting at candies atick upon ened a woman, and such a woman fre eae ne Se cera lee ata Vac Ea something frighiful, but high up orp jong time she refused 10 above it couldn't be heard at all, tell me, with splendid obduracy, bu SS Ove IA een Chines aauatae:| I was qs determined as she, so at last NEE One IARI poevmade:conditions.. I wascnolitocg So now Faustina was armed with and get put in prison for sticking a mpunitinne for” selfcaetense: and Ll Knife inte him--he wasn't worth it Hiaty GUNS oe han OC ator tn en and i did promise not to stab him in Aatainn Hauke ce io thee apiatal the vack. Faustina seemed quite sat- even tontan ais Bataan cheba isflec, though a little puzzled by my De PECR CRSA ON Teen eine manner, having herself the racial tol- IH Sep: Cet TPT RrIoy erance for cold steel, and next mo- pel 9 ment she had taken away my breath But the Saturday brought word ‘It is Stefano,’ she whispered, and that the Count was not coming thi hung her head. week, being in Rome on business and pene. welt whe wient, neor ting unable to return in time, so for a Btefano, of all creatures on God's DE CRE ee ee ae earth—for her peace and made bold plans accord- BuUny He -ynaip miserabla ttle ingly. ‘There was no further merit in Mbeeralars preted, ll tay ored yee hushing this thing up. ‘Let him who master in bestial cunning and hypoc- wins, her take, Ani. Been auvilne risy, His face was enough for me; Noe, peu dat nian ae ates ben} that w: what I read in it, and I don’t cuithe Sunilay.l sw pole ionavell Ree, make inisiakes He Wee bead out with her pe »ple—with the Coun ducei's own confidential body servant Q Aaa | Pad eeemte| and that alone was enough to damn Aus Busten) CUA ca AT ind decent eyes: always came out remember, ever to return to surrep: rst on the Saturday wit P Spesc Ape A 2 be oe é first the Saturday with the spe titious life within a ) fare of to have all ready for his master and ¥ Parront mistress, and stayed bebind Wormwood Serubbs. Faustina and on the Monday to clear and lock up the Bay of Naples were quite good Stefano! Thet worm! 1 could well enough for me. And the prehistoric understand his threatening a woman man in me rather exulted in the idea with a knife, What beat me was how of fighting for my desire. any woman could ever have listened ‘On the Saturday, however, we were to him; above all, tha ustina to meet for the last time as he should be the one! It passed my fore—Jjust once more in et, down comprehension. But | questioned her there in the cay oon as might he 4s gently as I could, and her explana- after dark, Neither of us minded if tion was largely the threadbare one re were Bet for haurai ach knew you would expect. Her parents were at jn tho: ens the other would come, #0 poor, They were so many in fam- ind there was a charm of its own ily. Some of them begged—would | even in waiting for such knowledge, Fee! Hut that night I did lose patience, not promise never to tell? Then some of in the cave but up above, where first em stole—sometimes a ‘ ave but up above, where firs them le—sometime and all knew on one pretext and then on another eater Dre, the pains of actual want. She looked . ‘ } ectore after the cows, but there were only Psd vy Kyrie | roan J Y a a ahaa es on ee "For tu’ two of them, and brought the milk to *¢ Buona Sera, eccellenza signori,’ | roared,” exacting oyertine, this director : taformation elsewhere, but tha’ * aeya i ere, whose only fault was his servile sub: mail tila coupom, was not employment for more than cne, and there were countless sisters jection to our common boss, It seemed protty obvious, therefore, that he forday, Now Amatepe walt dam Casualty Company, 16 William at,, New York. Please Send to following address full infors mation regarding your burgli Hag to ke her Place. ‘Then he was so rich, Stefano, vas acting Upon some secret instructions from Corbucei himself, and the waht T ec hood, Stefano moment T suspected this | asked him to his face if it was not the case, And Bh Arturo mio! , it was: he admitted it with many shrugs, being nveniently weak per- 2 es, 1 played the game on thai vineyard, Bunny, even to going by my son, Whom one felt almost ashamed of bullying as the occasion demanded, OFF, Ae. nemne. mes } ” fact was, however, that the Count had sent for him on finding Upon seeing the closed house number Raffles referred to his list of protected : iethasley TgAna haw comes he to be rich?" 1 asked suspiciously. he had to go to Rome, and hud said he was very sorry to go just then, as residences and said; “No lay for us here, Bunny, ‘This place is one covered d not know, e had given her such beautiful jewels, the among other things he inten to speak to me about Faustina, Stefano by a burglary policy of the } h mally had Uvad on them for months, she pretending an ayocat had taken had told bit all aout his row with her, and, moreover, that it Was on my which wien we would EW AMSTERDAM CASUALTY COMPANY, ge of them for her against her marriage. But 1 cared nothing about account, which Maustina had never told me, though T had guessed as much O WOTKED Mi place, “all that, for myself. Well, th } ba ; Aen j 0 ¢ ve Count was going 10 take his Jackal’s part for all he : dawe 1s Btots 10!’ T could only mutter. was worth, which was just exactly what T expected him to do. He intended ds er] pape Recount has paid for some of them, He is very kind.’ foing for me on his return, but meanwhile I was not to make hay in his ‘o you, is he? absence, and so this tool of a directore had orders to keep me at it night