ANTONLELLO,

ol instinet ol Antoncello, had picked up the remnants of the Perlimpimpino powder left by the doctor. “Cousin 7 T now exclaimed, “you can save me yet; vou can save the Count! Hasten to his cell, remind the remains of the powder in his pocket, and learn from him the way to use it. and all will vet be well 7 He shook his head ineredu- lously, pressed my hand, and went.

“Sadly passed the minutes aw vav. The horrid - doubit oppressed mie, whether the powder would exereise its wondrous clilcacy i the absence of the doctor @ whether the mystie sentences he spoke over it had not cverything to do with its power whether the gaoler could exereise the necessary quickness and accuracy noats use. The lamp that hall Tit up my low vault burnt darkly and sadly, as 1t impatiently waiting myv departure, so that 1t, too, might go to sleep. In despair I threw myself on the marble heneh and shut myv eves, but the glitter of the dreadful axce shone through my fast-closed cvelids, Then acknock at the door sounded o my cars, and the words : “Wake up, Antonello, the priest is waiting - take thy beheading, cousin, and afterwards thou mayest sleep till the trump of doom !’

“The memory of what followed - of Con- fession and al)xolutl()n of the exceutioner’s block —has (,()mpl(,tdl\z vanished from my brain. I only know that 1 sncezed violently, opened my eves, and found mysell” once more m my usual dress) Iying at the foot of the column under the sh adowof the holv"I'codoro: that T saw standing at my fect the patrician Orazio Mcmmo,and that I heard him e J”H]" : “Hi, wake up, Antoncllo! A\ league’s row on the canal !’

“ O Lxcellenza 7 T eried, ~and vou will agaim to the cenchanted garden of Propori- mxm? And we are both really alive and

1177

him of

and the confusion with our heads is now happilv disposcd of 7

“ He measured me with his cye, shook his head as il at a loss to understand me, and asked 10 T was still dreaming, or it the cheap Vincentin wine was muddling my brain. Dejected and silent T loosed the chain and rowed the nobleman up and down. No trace of any strange red and silver gondola could he seen, far or near. Count Orazio dozed away the h()m on the water with a composure that scemed mexphicable to me. When we landed, [implored him at least to tell me whether we had no further conscequences to fear on the part of the ‘I'ribunal whether he had not saved a pinch or two of the Perlim- pimpino - powder for future contingencics. But he persisted in pretending surprise and called me a fool tand T then concluded that a stony silence had been imposed on him by the [nquisition, and that he pretended ignorance with design,

“Simee that day I word of the mcident to any human being ; and vou, myv children, are the first to whom, under the scal of an oath, |1 cntrust 1t Had T not, since that day, suffered from a peculiar twitching sensation m the neck, at the place where the double wound was made - — especially when the

Lhave not breathed a ]

weather changes T omight have taken the whole for a dlm(lhll dream. As 1t s, h()w-

cver, the plam facts remam, burned in, in vivid colours, on my bram.”

With thesc words my father closed his story, the teliing of which had used up all his re nmmmu stunulh We sent at once for the pricst of San Moise. He came with the holy Viaticum, and anointed the forchead of my father, who soon after breathed out his last sigh. Peace be with the soul of the honest man !

q‘ s “u il(“’fifimlfi%nw'q‘; ?rfififif ‘ ]N”[ 1“““” Wil e e

)lll H H

“‘ ed

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