Plymouth Weekly Democrat, Volume 14, Number 27, Plymouth, Marshall County, 11 March 1869 — Page 1

PLYMOUTH WEEKLY DEMOCRAT.

VOLUME XIV, poctn).

PLYMOUTH, INDIANA, THURSDAY, MARCH II. 1869. N EMBER 27.

" WE WILL LIFT A LITTLE" Lirr little! Lift a little! Neighbor, lend ahstplag hand To Th it heavy-laden brother. Who for weakness, sc irce can t tanrt. What to thee, with thy stfOM MOSele, Seem a light and e.iy load, I to him a pondron burden. Cumbering his pilgrim road. Lift a little: Lift a little! Effort cHm one alded trer-''h : That which 8tatrcer him when rUinc. Thou cant hold at arms full length. Not his fault that he i ieable. Not thy pnfec that ihon art ptron? : It if (J od make lives to ditiV r, Some from wsiling, tome lrom cong. Lift a little! Lift a little I Many they who need thine aid : M.tnv iving on the roa-Me, 'Neath misfortune' drearv bade, ras not hv, like Priest and I.evite, Ileedle" ol" thy fellow man ; But with heart and arms extended. Be the tiood Samaritan.

Selected ifltsfclltmn. ".RS. STRF.TTOX'S FRII.NIt Mu. jStrktton looked down into his yourg wife's face. " You are such a cencrous little darling Eily, there is no getting yon to see faults in others." " Oh ! Gilbert, it is not that' She held up her swcef mouth to kiss him, standing almost on tiptoe. "I Had plenty of fault with other people only not with Giulia. Ah ! if you only knew her as I do she is so loving, so fond ; but you will find out her goodness in time; you can't help it, for you will let me have her here o'ten; won't you, darling ?" But though Mrs. Stretton's brown eyes were very tender a? she spokt, her husband said " Yes," against his will. lie could not help it, but he had taken a great dislike, at first sight, to his wife's beautiful friend. He and Lilian had scarcely been married a month; they had j ist decided to spend some weeks longer in the charming Neapolitan villa they now inhabited, and only that very morning, while they still lingered over their late breakfast, the Marchesa di Riveredo had been announced, and Gilbert Stretton had seen Iiis wife rise impetuously, and throw her arms around the lady who entered. "It is Giulia, Gilbert: my owi darling Giulia Larini." And then Mr. Stretton remembered to have heard of a S'gnora Larini and her daughter, who had spent six years of exile in England. The daughter had been Lilian's dearest friend, and after her return to Italy had corresponded with her till she married an Italian nobleman much older than herself. But the Marchesa was a widow now. She was living on one of her estate, a few miles from Naples, and had just learned that a Mr. and Mrs. Stretton were residing at the Vill. Iinrcano. 8he had heard of Lilian's marr age, and she had come to. claim a revival of friendship. Lilian was full ot delight ; she could talk of nothing but Giulia. She is more beautiful than ever, and her manners are perfect ; so soft, and yet sometimes BO full of charming notes fe. I really am so happy I don't know what to do." said the young girl to herself. Lilian had never seen Italy till no-y ; aH was new and delightful. The weather had been glorious; a deep blue sky reflected its own depth of color into the broad expanse of sea. From the verandah in which she sat, festooned with grape and rig vines, she could follow the windings of the coast, dotted with white villas, here and there groups of cottages clustering together, in front of them brown limbed, half clothed children at pUy. " I thought yeterday it was impossible to be happier when I sat here with Gilbert : and yet it seems as if Giulia's return to me had made life still brighter." Gilbert Stretton listened quietly to his wife's raptures; but that night after she left him, he lingered out in the verandah, and, while he watched the moonlight, he asked himself what could have given him this strong repugnance to Lilian's friend. She was very beautiful, tall and stately, with the fully-developed form of a true Roman woman; her cameo like hca,d was magnificently set, and crowned wih massive coils of shining black hair ; her complexion had that wonderful mite whiteness one seldom sees in English women, and her eyes were marvelous There was thought in them, an almost regal dignity ; but, overmastering these expressions, there was a depth of passion that had attracted Mr. Stretton's attention. "I hate vehement women," he said to himself, as he watched the reflection of the moon on the water, broken by each rippling wavelet; "they are always restless and exacting; this Marchesa wi 1 be sure to tyrannize over a sweet, gentle creature like Lilian ; besides I don't want any one to come between me and in) dirling. Why do we stay here away from England, if it is not to be all in all to each other ?" He went on smoking his cigar ; he had given two reasons for his dislike, but he had not given the true one. He would have called himself a coxcomb for owning it. In his heart, Gilbert Stretton had shrunk from the intense, unfeigned admiration the Marcheea's first glance at h;ni had expressed. Weeks passed on, and still the fine hoi liday weather lasted. The Marchesa drove over more than once a week to see her friend : but, although the journey was fatiguing, she invariably relused Lilian's invitations to stay at the villa. " I do believe, Gilbert, it is because you never join in inviting her," Lilian said half sadly. And the next time she came he struggled against his disinclination, and second f 1 Lilian's invitation. Madame di Riveredo accepted at once very graciously, and she arrived next day at the Villa Burcano. In the evening the Marchesa had gone to her room and Stretton and his wife were sitting in the verandah vi the (da. "There is no limit to happiness, I ßee," said Mrs. Stretton. She tried to look very wise as she spoke, but irresistible delight peeped out of her soft brosvn eye3. " Do you know, Gilbert," she clasped both hands round his arm --"that I can hardly contain myself when I watch you and Ctiulia beginning to like I :u !i r,thcr ? Y M nee now the truth of what I have alw;i)s said about her she only wants a little love nnd kindness, and she is ready to give her whole heart in return." " But I don't want her whole heart." " No, because you have got a sidy littie wife to love you. But, think (it poor Giulia, lett alone in the worl 1 do y ju know, darling, that she has not ontj near relation, escept seme "Id tiger of ag node in the Appemnesy" M8Ut &m your )yv, J,üian, Md that in

enough to content any man or woman either " He bent down his head to hers. Neither of them heard the window above them close; if they had heard it, they must have remembered that the Marche si's bed room overlooked the same pronpert as their favorite verandah. Next morning brought letters. " Don't you think letters are very tiresome thing, Giulia? If there is anything horrible in this world it is the having to write a letter I never know what to say or how to say it." The Märchen smiled she had such an exquisite smile, a mixture of melancholy and brightness " You are maligning yourself, a3 usual, dear child. You must once surely have found a pleasure in a' swerlnn letters?" And she glanced slightly at Lilian's husband. ' Ah ! no, you are quite mistaken ; is she not, Gilbert? One of the gre;;i charms of our engagement was thai we saw each other so often. There wai no time for correspondence ; and as we are never, never going to be separated, we shall probably not exchange a 1 ve-lettcr in our lives." Giulia smiled again, but she looked incredulous. Gilbert Stretton had heard his wile's last words, and he pushed an rpen letter across to her. "I don't know what yon will say, Lilian. Fergus Mackenzie teils me he has given up his plan of coming to us here. He leaves Rome to-morrow, and unless I meet hit there I have no chance of seeing him before he starts for New Zealand. In his state of health, I feel that this parting may be a final one " " But I could go loo ? Oh, no ! I see that would be useless. Put, Gilbert, dear, you would not be away long?" " I3y starting at once that is to say in two hours time, I might be here again by evening the day after to-morrow ; but I

will not go If you dislike to be left alone here, Lilian." "Alone? you forget I hall have Giulia. Oh, no ! I would not have you disappoint poor Mr. Mackenzie for the world such friends as you have been. I will go and tell Benson about your thirgs." Mrs. Stretton ran away up stairs, and then the Marchesa, with a bright glow on her usually pale cheeks, turned to Gilbert and told him, with a warmth he felt he little deserved, how rejoiced she should be to watch 07er his Lilian during his sb sence. " She is all I have to love me now," said the musical, thrilling voice, and those dark velvet eyes were fined to his with a timid and beseeching earnestness that touched him strangely. It was as if she had know his doubts and dislike and strove to deprecate both. He thanked her heartily with a warmth of manner that plainly touched her, for he faw tears in the bright, beautiful eyes as he ended. His preparations were soon made. He said good-bye to the Marchcsn, and meeting again that same wistful, half-assured look by a sudden impulse he raised her hand to his lips. He would have been sorry for yielding to it if he had seen how passionately the Italian lady pressed her hand to her own lips as be hurried out of the room where Lilian stood waiting for him. " You need not mind leaving me a bit, my own ! You know I have never had a sister or brother, and now that I have lost papa, and have none of my own people h it, Giulia seems quite a mother and sister too. Do you know darling that if anything ever happened to me, I should like her to manage everything just like a sister would f M He stopped her mouth with kisses. It was very hard to leave her ; now it came to the point, he hardly found courage. " I will not ask you to write, my Lily, my precious wife ! You shall hear ol my safe arrival, and you will see me again Boon after." " Giulia, I don't know what has come to you; one would think Gilbert was your husband and you moped for him. I believe you arc tired of being alone with me, and it is scarcely a day and a half since he went away." The last words were spoken wearily, and the fair young face Was sad and thoughtful. Lilian did not look toward the Marchesa she did not see the crimson flush overspread her face for a moment and then leave it more colorless than it had beeu. Before her silence could be remarked, Giulia was answering her friend : " You must forgive me, my dear child, if I have seemed dull ; my spirits, since my mother's death, arc very unequal. It c miforts me that my sadness has not infected you, Lilian. I could not have hoped to see you so gay in your husband's absence. Ah! that II the best of you English; either you do not feel as we southern women do, or you have a strange power of controlling rtffction." She fixed her dark, bright eyes on Mrs. Stretton ; she was trying to read her true feelings, but Lilian's frank nature was too open for her friend's comprehension. Mrs. Stretton looked up at her, sorrowful and puzzled. " Have I been gay f I did not know it. My heart has not been gay, Giulia. But. where is the use of trying to be duller, and get along, pale face by the time he comes home? Come along, Carlo," and she ran down the steps of the verandah, followed by her little greyhound. "I am too much vexed with Giulia to stay with her. How little she understands me ! Oh ! my darling, my darling ! how can she say I am happy, when my heart is almost breakim? for want ot von ? If I had known it would have been so hard to bear I believe I could not have let you go." She had tried to bear up against what she had told herself was a childish foreboding; but now, when she reached the stone garden-seat, where Gilbert had so often sat beside her, she burst into passionate weeping. A huge evergreen oak overshadowed her, and the Italian lady could not witness an agitation which might have checked her scorn. She btood still, just as Lilian had lelt her, except that she seamed to dilate with the vehemence she had now no cause to restrain. "And he thinks himself beloved, and he is content with a heart like this ! It is im possible ; or, if he seems to be content, it is because he knows no better. His soul hll never been awakened to ardor by a passion which would lose its life in his. Love! if she loved him she would droop and fade as a fl wer fades when the sun iot reach it. Love! it ilckeni meto bear her Dame him f Sh" !;!pe both hands over her foreI id, and walked op and down the room Bp and down, pacing the whole length with the Arm elastic tread nf the women of

It had grown dusk before Mrs. Stretton eame in. The Marchesa was not in the iila. She inquired for her, and was told that she felt tired, and begged Mrs. Stretton to excuse her absence. Lilian reproached herself, and a sweet penitent expression came into her eyes as she stood hesitating whether she should go and seek her friend. " Never mind ; I will make it up to her to-morrow. It was much better to run away as I did. When I am vexed with any one, it is always soon ov.r if I am left alone. If I had staid in doors just then, Giulia and I should have quarreled." She went up stairs to bed, followed by bei maid, an Italian recommended her by the Marchesa. The tender little heart was very heavy at the thought of the miles that lay between her aud Gilbert; but to-morrow, a letter must come in the morning, and, perhaps, he might come buck In the V Li ig. "It is strange that this sounds so impossible while I say it strange and silly, too that I cannot believe he z coming back. I knew I was rot clever, but I did not fancy I coaJd be Mich a littie goose as this. Why, other women! busband giaway often and they think nothing of it. I believe Gilbert would be almost angry if he could see me now." The anxious little heart fought bravely against the strange, sombre presentiments Ol evil that had been slowly gathering strength all day. She tried to sleep, but she awakened again, terrified by some shadowy dream, the full meaning of which she had not been able to grasp.' That it had been alarming, her beating heart and ague-like terror revealed. Morning found her pale and unrcfreshed ; but she rose early ehe wanted to be down stairs when the letters arrived. Tue Marchesa was not in the rl,it ard the fragrant morning air came in refreshingly at the open windows. " I shall get rid of my headache in the open air," said Lilian, "and be in again long before the letter comes." She had hardly passed down the vcrnandah step when the Marchesa appeared. She walked up to the window, following Lilian with her eyes as she went down to a terrace at the bottom of the garden. There was a very scornful look on the Italian lady's face, as she turned quickly away. She went through the entrance hall, down the steps of the portico, and then, wrapping a shawl around her head, walked carelessly toward the road that led to Naples. She had not far to go. Coming to a sudden turn in the road, she found herself face to face with a man with a leather pouch at his waist. The Marchesa signed to him to stop, and the man obeyed, bowing low to the stately lad'. "You hive letters for the padrona?" and she stretched out her hand. The man hesitated. " There is but one letter and ." " Give it to me; I have come to fetch it for the Signora Stretton." She kept her hand outstretched, and her eyes fixed on the man's face. lie delayed an instant or two longer, but the will in those bright, steadfast eyes compelled his acquiescence. He drew a letter out of hi? bag, and gave it her. " This is the only letter for Villa Burcano! You are not going there?" The man shook his head and seemed inclined to return to Naples. (Jiulia stood in his way. " Did the Signor Stretton, the padrone of the Villa Burcano, order, then, that all his letters should be sent on to the villa?" " Si si Signora." The man spoke impatienUy ; he was in a hurry to be gouc. "Well, then" the Marche3a paused, pressing the letter tightly between her slender fingers " the padrona does not wish them sent until further orders. If she wants them, a servant will go into Naples to f"tch them." The man nodded, and turned on his steps. He was glad to be released glad also that he should not have to toil along the hot, dusty road to morrow. Giulia stood still, with the letter in her hand. She looked around her. The road was very lonely at this spot ; high banks on each pide shut out distant objects it was impossible that the courier's approach coul l have been seen from the villa. Up to this moment no defined purpose hail developed itself from the tumult of jealous anger that raged in Giulia's heart, but the touch of the letter suggested one. Wild and impracticable it seemed at first, but the vehement nature welcomed the difficulties she foresaw for the excitement, and perhaps joy, their mastery promised. She looked down again at the letter, and then deliberately removed the seal. As she read the contents, the troubled look which had ciou ied her face ever since Gilbert's departure vanished, and in its place came a proud exultation, and then an expression of passionate love. She tore the letter to fragments, and seemed about to cast it from her ; then she suddenly kissed the torn pieces, and replaced them in the envelope. It is just a week since Lilian passed that sleepless night at the Villa Burcano and still Mr. Stretton has not returned. He is on his way home now, and he hopes to reac' the villa late in the cveniDg. He had told LQ1 in not to write ; for when he found himself obliged to go to Marseilles with Mr. Mackenzie, instead of at once returning home, he knew his movements would be uncertain, but since he had parted from his friend, the hours passed very heavily, and he had repented his prohibition. "I might have given dates sud places at a venture," he said, " but then she does so dislike the trouble of writing. Nearly ten days since I saw her! I wish Mackenzie had not delayed his starting so long. I am not sure that I ought to have left the dear child alone with those lazy Italian servants ; I wish she had not been persuaded to change her English maid for that Francesca the Marchesa recommended. I may be fanciful, but I don't like the woman's eyes ; however, Lilian has had her dear Giulia." He did not stay in Naples, except to change horses ; it seemed strange to him that, as he drew nearer the villa, he became more nervous and anxious. However, he was very close to home now. A few minutes more, and he should be looking into Lilian's sweet brown eyes again. " I will give her a surprise," said Mr. Stretton to himself. He stopped the carriage and dismissed it, then he went on rap'dly on foot to the villa. The great gates were opened, as if he were expected ; as he passed through them

he saw a DOT, whom he recognized as one of the Marchesa's servants, running quickly to the house. Mr. Stretton called on him to stop; lie did not want Lilian to be made awaro of his approach ; the boy only ran away faster, and was oat of sight in an instant But 8tretton was thinking too much of Jilawifeto bo angry with tho boy. Ho

sprang up the steps. There was no one at the entrance no one in the aafa as he pushed the door open . but in the verandah, at the farther end, he caught the flutter of a white dress. What came next he scarcely knew. He remembered but more as we recall a dream than a reality that it was Giulia who stretched out both hands to greet him; that when he tried to ask for hs wife, for something in the beautiful face cheeked hii words, a most Ineffable com passion beamed out of the liquid eyes ; and warned him to prepare for sorrow. Then a mist came over his memory, till he found himself living on a couch in the verandah, and the Marchesa kneeling beside him, and watching him with tender, anxious eyes. Slowly, but with the sureness with which one awakens from deep sleep to the sense of keei physical pain, his memory repeated one word the word which had robbed him of consciousness. Dead lost to him his Lilian, so full of bright living beauty when he left her ! Lie looked sternly in the sorrowful eyes still bent on him. " Tell me it all again when it happened, and how. ' The Marchesa repeated the s:ul story imply and pityingly; her own grief for her friend was lost in her sympathy for the bereaved husband. Lilian had seemed well and blight at first had even teised her friend for being dull : but suddenly she had complained of hcadaehe ; violent fever had come on rapidly; the Märchen had fert fr her own ph)'sician, but he, aks! was away from home when the messenger arrived, anil before another doctor could reach the villa the sufferer had sunk under the violence of the disease. The scrvauts had taken fright, and all except the maid who had waited on Mrs. Stretton, and helped Giulia to nurse her, had departed one after an )ther, preferring to yield up their wanes rather than run the dreaded risk of infection. Stretton listened with a frowning face, his hands grasping the sofa cushions as if they offered some power of resistance. He could not submit to this terrible grief. Why was his life to be turned into night at the very daybreak of happiness?" " When? You have not said when?" He spoke with an air of sullen doubt. The sweet, angel-like compassion in her eyes rebuked him ; but he did not feel soriy. What was any suffering he might inflict compared to the mighty, unutterable anguish that had turned his heart in the full bounding of joy to a stone ! His Lilian was gone from him, lost to h;m forever ! Buried by strangers' hands and among strangers ! He felt thankful then for the difference of creed which at one time he had feared might have caused want of sympathy between them. If Lilian had not belonged to the Roman Church, probably the rites of burial might have been denied her altogether. The Marehesa asked him pn ontly if he would like to see the Padre Auselino. " No !" Be got up from the sofa very pale and haggard, the ghost of the ardent man who had come into the sola so short a while ago. "I will only aak you to take me where she lies. I want no comfort from any living creature." Days passed on, and still Gilbert Stn tton stayed at the Villa Burcano, and the MarcheM stayed there too. She told herself that she could not leave her poor friend's husband in his despairing sorrow ; besides, she had filled the places of his runaway servants with her own, so that it seemed like home to her. In the depths of her heart she knew that her only home now was beside Gilbert Stretton. Among her Italian friends she was called cold, haughty, indifferent ; to him she was as humble nd devoted as an Indian. At first he seemed to shrink from her kind care, and to resist any attempt at considering him an invalid ; but the shock had been too sudden, and his lassitude and weakness increased every day. Giulia grew alarmed ; but Mr. Stretton steadily refused to consult an Italian doctor. "There is nothing really the matter wilh me," he said.

She looked at him earnestly : " My friend, if you saw your changed faco with my eyes you would let me send for Dr. Litta." The thrill in her voice attracted him ; he saw that her eyes were fttU of tears. Once more he took the slender, white fingers in his own and put them to his lips, and this time the hand lay warm and trembling in his, without an effort to withdraw it. " You are too anxious about me," he said, " worse than I am. Iain inft cling you with my sadness." He lookei up smiling. There met him in the dark eyes bending over his couch a passionate glance of love, and the strange, chill foreboding returned which his first meeting with the Marchesa had created. He let Giulia's hand fall, and pressed his own to his cyt s. The Marchesa moved away, and it seemed to Stretton that his coldness had pained her. How devoted her care of him had been. Lilian even could scarcely have surpassed it. Raising himself on his elbow, he looked round at her. Yes, she was going out of the W'f, her queenly head bent, an indefinable expression of humiliation, at least so he thought, in her whole figure. He felt a keen pang of self-reproach. If during his illness this Italian had learned to love him, ought not her devotion to demand his pity and gratitude rather than his condemnation f He had always known that the temperament of Southern women were not to be judged by those of their English sisters ; he ought to show her all the more tender consideration because he had no love to offer. In a few days he should leave Naples forever ; why should not this short time be made happy to this woman, who had done so much for himV And meantime, while a month had passed since Lilian's death, and while Gilbert Stretton had been linger ng, brokenspiritel and unnerved, at the Villa Burcano, all around him had been in a state of ferment. A rising was expected daily, and all sorts of unoffending travelers were constantly brought into Naples as Garibaldian spies. At any other time Giulia would have been deeply interested. She detested the Liberal movement, and would have joined ardently in opposing it ; but Gilbert Stretton was her all now, of life, or country, or creed. His softened manner, the tenderness of his thanks, fed her h"pes every hour ; she was becoming intoxicated with her approaching joy, for she had not thought lie would so soon forget Lilian and surely he had almost forgotten her. Hut the fifing was eomiug if wtsi l.v:. at hand. Far away la a 1 on vein at Milan, a fair rotynj 9j(lült wlft wm alrnttly w

over the fate of her husband ; she had just got the news that he had beeu found in arms as a Garibaldian, and had been shot without mercy. Poor little weeping English girl ! when first she learne 1 that her hnsband was with the Garibaldians, she had lied from her Italian home in the hope of joining him ; but her escort had proved either stupid or faithless, and had conducted her to Milan, instead of taking her to one of the towns nearer Rome. She kew a friend of the Superior of the religious house to which her guide led her, and she soon arranged to stay there till she could learn definitely where her husband might be found. But within these quiet walls news came long after it was known elsewhere, and before any public rumor of open strife had reached the convent, a friendly letter had told her husband's fate. Now prostrate before a crucifix in her plain, whitewashed room, her eyes streaming with the tears caused by the open letter beside her, she was takieg farewell of the outer world, and all its pomps and pleasures, and vowing herself in thought to dwell forever in the quiet, merciful home she had found with the good Bisten, She took up the letter again, ana read it carefully ; it was written in a woman's hand, and it was signed " Giulia." This time the tears did not gush forth with the same uncontrollable violence ; rdie rosa up from her knes3 and stood thinking. "I will do nothing hastily," she said. " He " and a long, shuddering sigh burst through her words "always told me not to act on impulse, and I will ob;;y him now. I will wait a little, till these tidings can be confirmed by some outward proof and then well, if I am alive then," and sobs burst forth unrestrainedly, "I will ask the Superior to admit me into the sisterhood." It was just such an evening as that on which we last saw Gilbert Stretton. The light was not quite the same ; the Cottage of the clinging vines had chaanged to glorious tints of orange and crimson, burnished now into almost metallic radiance as the late intense sunlight touched them; in all ways the year was some weeks older, but to Marchesa it seemed as if time had gone back. She looked years younger ; her beauty had lost the stat uesque paleness that it had possessed on her visit to the Villa Burcano; life and love danced in every look and movement. She had been sitting In the verandah, waiting for Gilbert. He always sat there with her in the evening, and she had noticed joyfully that for more than a week he had not spoken r,f Lilian. She could hear her heart beating as he came through the entrance into the uda which ran along the back of the house. I have said before that it fronted the garden and the terrace overhanging the shore. Mr. Sirelton's step sounded less weary than usual, and Giulia law almost the old light in his eyes. She had looked in his face with a warm welcome glowing in her own ; but his first words stupefied ber seemed to make her heart stand stid with sudden terror. "Going to England !" Had she heard him rightly? She pushed back her hair with both hands and gazed strainingly at him as if she would reach the truth. Something of consciousness in his fce puzzled her. " Ah !" and the sudden thought came, " he is trying me he is not sure of my love ;" aud with the thought, the horrible agony of losing him from any mistake any want of openness between them the life blood went scorching through her veins like lava. "To England ! to leave me oh ! Mr. Stretton! Gilbert you could not be so cruel l" She had thrown herself on her knees before he could restrain her, her beautiful arms, from which the muslin sleeves fell buck, raised toward him. He bent over her, and tried to raise her and soothe he r ; but she would not rise, would not listen ; she only repeated, her hands now holding Ins, that if he left her there was nothing for her to do in the world but to die of his cruelty. He did not known how to answer her He reproached himself now for the mistake into which he saw he had led her, and as he looked down on this exquisite woman keeling before him in such utter

shame ami self-abandonment, for a moment he asked himself if it would be Impossible to return, In some measure', the love she had betrayed for him. And yet it was a relief to be prevented from answering, to hear quick footsteps approaching, coming nearer and nearer so near now that Giulia was forced to acknowledge their presence, and to rise to her feet. As she arose she face I the garden, interposing herself between Stretton and the front of the verandah. She saw several persons coming up from the water terrace and something irresistible seemed to fasei nate her eyes on their movements. She saw one small, slight figure sign to the rest to stop and then turn round hastily toward the villa. The light was fading every instant ; but as this figure a woman retched the foot of the steps, her face was raised toward the verandah and Giulia recognized it. For an instant the Marcüesa looked round desperately, as we do in danger for a weapon to rid us of something whose presence we fear; then she swiftly passed Gilbert and was out of the il( before he had aroused from the surprise her strange change of manner had caused him. But when he roused, it was not to think of Giulia. He heard his name called in a voice that quivered through him with a joyful terror, for it was Lilian's ! and then, when she had called his name twice or thrice, so as to assure him of her presence, Lilian's arms were round hi.: neck, Lilian's lips were pressed to his, aud he held her no impalpable vision of his imagination, but warm with love and hope and thrilling with happiness a real Lilian in his arms' It took sometime to make Gilbert understand the fraud that had been practiced, for Lilian was too full of happiness to vouchsafe any coherent explanation of her sudden appearance ; but little by little, and with the assistance of the friends who had accompanied her, he learned all. How just a week ago en the very day when Lilian had at length resolved to make her request to be received as a probationer t the. Superior cf the Milanese convent, she had been summ ned to the parlor to se visitors. These were U 0 English ladie, her aunt and her cousin, who had recog ailed her at vespers in the convent chapel on the prerioos evening. From them Lilian learned tne fctory of her own supposed death, and, to her unspeakable amaz-ment, read her husband's reply to her aunt's letter of Condolence, dated a lull week alter that of the Marcheaa announring his tragical l ite. Fortunately, her aunt was a t U ver, an ergetffl woman, and she at once inaneoted the Marcheaa, and dtaided on seeking n SUuUou at the Villa llurcam;. ' U wm diniewH to Aonviflft Lllknofhai

, f iend's treachery. On the morning when the Marches 1 returned to the villa, after destroying Mr. Stretton! letter, she told his wife that he had sent news by a spy that he had joined the Garibaldians, and when Lilian asked to see the messen- ' ger, Giulia told her the man dared not enter the grounds, as he was liable to be arrested, being a known patriot. At first Mrs. Stretton had been incredulous; but a whole day passed away without news from her husband, and she grew anxious. Giulia told her that if she persisted in remaining at the villa, her husband would certainly attempt to join her there, und would as certainly be arrested and shot ; the only chance of escape lnth for her and for Mr. Stretton was to go away quietly northwards and await the approach of the Garibaldians on their way t) Rome. Meantime the Marchess would try to find a peasant who should carry Lilian's letter to her hnsband in the rebel camp. Lilian hsd yielded against her better judgment to the strong will and adroit management of her friena. Giulia dismissed her secretly with a guide, who had private instructions to convey Mrs. Stretton to Milan instead of t :king her towards Rome : and the Marchesa and Francesca spread the alarm of fever, and frightened the Ignorant Italian household into flight. Then, surrounded by her owu dependents, it was easy for Giulia to carry euit the plan of a mock funeral and burial. ' 1 will never have likes or dislikes that yondont approve, darling; perhaps" the sweet brown eyes sparkled mirthfully for an instant " if I had been a day later, Gilbert, I might have lost my hnsband as well ai my friend." "God forbid f Gilbert Stretton shuddered, even while he held his wife dose to his heart, at the thought of the beautiful fiend from whom he had escaped. The Marchess never reappeared In Naples; she sold her place, dismissed her sei vmt?, and went away, it was said, to a grim castle among the Apenines, where her Gather's brother lived in a solitude more suited to a monk than a nobleman. Ion pie Dir.

PRESIDENT ; KIM'S IN1UGUR1L. GKXEnAL Gn ant took the oath of ii':.-.' as President of the United States at noon on the -1th, and soon afterward delivered his Inaugural Address, which h as follows : INAUGUHAL ADDHC8S. e'itizens of the Unitcil Sttstoe: Yout niffragefl having elevated me to tbe office of President of the United States, I have, in conformity vitii the Constitution of our country, taken the oath of ofhc provided therein. I have taken this oath without mental reservation, and with the determination to do, to the best of my ability, J1 thrt is required of me. The responsibilities 01 the position I feel, but accept them without fear. The office hits come to me unsought, I commeuce its duties nntiammeled. I bring to it a conscientious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability, and to the Eatisfaction of the people. On all leading questions agitating the public mind, I will always express my views to Congress, and urge, them according to my judgment, and when I think it advisable I will exercise the constitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose; but all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they meet my approval or not. I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, none to enforce against the will of the people; laws are to govern all alike, those opposed to, as wed as those who favor them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution. The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many questions will come before it for settlement in the next four years which the preceding Administrations have never had to deal with. In i meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached calmly, without prejudice, hate or sectional pride, remembering that the greatest good to the greatest number is the object t be attained. This requires security of person and property, and tohartion for religious and political opinion in every part of our common country, without regard to local prejudice Laws to secure these will receive my best efforts for tin ir enforcement. A great debt has been contracted in ' seenring to us and our posterity the Union. The payment of this, principal and interest, a3 well as the return to a specie basis, as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class or to the country at large, must be provided for. We must protect the national honor. Every dollar of the Government tndebb d ncss should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far toward strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in the world, and will, ultimately, enable us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay. To this should be added a faithful collection of the revenue, h strict accountability to the Treasury for every dollar collected, and the greatest practicable retrenchment In expenditure i:i every Department of the Government. When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with ten States still in poverty, from the effecti of war, but soon to emerge, I tr.ct, Into greater prosperity than ever before, with its paying capacity twenty five years ago, and calculate what it will be twenty live years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of paying every dollar then with more ease than we n w pav for useless luxuries' Why, it looks as though Providence had ! bestowed upon us the strong box the precious metali locked up in the sterile mountains of the far West, which we are now forging the key to unlock to meet the very contingency that is now upon us. Ultimately it may be necessary to increase the faeilities to reach theße riches, :'ud it mny be necessary, also, that the General Government should give its aid to secure this access, but that should only be when a dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the same s-ut of dollar to use now, and not before. While the question of specie payment is in abeyance, the prudent tmainesi man is careful abowl contracting debts payable in the distant future, The nation should follow the Mane rule. A prostrate commerce is t bc rebuilt andjall industries encouraged Theyonnt men of the country - those who, irm their age, must be its rulers twenty live years hence - have a pe I culiar interest in maintaining tue national ; honor A moment's reflection as to what j WIS Dl OIU Oonunar.ding iiitlutoice am n. ' ti- q -ok lb' earth in ij.cjf lift o

they are only true to thenu res, should inspire them with national pride. All divisions, geographical, political and religious, can Join in this common sentiment. How the public debt is to be paid, or specie payment resumed, is not so important as that a plan should be adopted snd acquiesced in A united determination to do, is worth more than divided counsel upon the method of doing. Legislation upon the subject may not be necessary now, or even advisable, but it will be when the civil law is more fully restored iu all parts of the country, and trade resumes its wonted channel. It will be my endeavor to execute ifl laws in good faith, collect all revenues assessed, nnd to have them properly accounted for and economically disbursed. I shali, to the best of my ability, appoint to office thfie only who will carry out this design. Iu regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations equitably, as the law requires individuals to deal with each other, and I would protect a law abiding citizen, whether of native cr foreign birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized or the flag of our country floats. I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us we may be compelled to follow their precedent. The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land the Indians is one dererv'ng care and equal study, and I will favor any course towards them which tends to their civilization, Christianiza- ! tion and ul Minute citizenship. The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation arc excluded froin its privileges in any State. It seems to me very desirable that this question should be setiled now. I entertain the hope, and express the desire, that it may be by the ratification of the 10th article of amend mcnt to the Constitution. In conclusion, I ask patient forbearance, one towards another, throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part Of every citizen to do his share towards cementing a happy Union, and I ask the prayers of the nation to Almighty Gd in behalf of thhl consummation.

Vice President Colfax's Address. The following is Vice President Colfax's addr B8 ou assuming the chair as President of the. Senate : Brkators : In entering tpn the duties in tins Cfeamber, to the performance of whie h I have been called by the people ol' the United States, I realize lolly the delicacy, a well as the nsponvibilily, of tbe position of pre dding over a b dy whose members are in so large a degree my .-eniors in uge. Not chosen by the body itself, I shall certainly need the assistance f your support aud your generous forbearacce anil confidence ; but pledging to you all a faithful and indexible impartiality in the administration of your rule, and earnestly desiring to co- ope rat: with you, in making the deliberations of the Senate worthy not only of its toric renown, but also of these States, whose commissions you hold, I am now ready to take the oath of office required by law. FACTS AM) FHU RES. Ran PkaKCISCO thinks of having a "World's Fair' in 1ST0. Kioyti. B kiN has written 108 Japsoaj sc novels. It lias taken him thirtj'-eight years. Tiik Free churches of England raise about 3,000,000 per annum for religious purposes. Boten l'1- three hundred and cightyei.dit Protestant Missionaries 1 we gone out to China. PBD8SU expended 1113,113,020 in the war of lSd', of which half a million were for secret service. In isr,7 the mints of Paris, Strasbourg and Bordeaux coined 11 '1,000,000 francs in gold and silver. A im;o DRITT Texan considerately saved 000, anil then inconsiderately died without telling where it was deposited. Sisw Mnnnr.KKV is the name ol a Connecticut prodigy four years old, who accurately plays hundreds of pieces on the piano. Rby. Buncos Paummuc, D. D , of Westford, Vt., hns preached 10,000 sermons, and attended about 1,000 funerals. A NBW ITamtsiiihk Baptist pat'r, Lowell by name, has strat:ge to relate accepted a " call " at a less salary than his present one. Thbre arc 55 Protestant Churches in Turkey, besides 75 other places of worship, with an average attendance of 0,000. Tw Houston (Texis) editors, one day lately, Bh t at and missed each other, but killed a small boy who was standing near. Tiik Seventh-day Bant Ms have seventy-five churches in the United States. Of these the oldest is that in Newport, loaded in 1 7 1 It is said thai the ( ommissions and per qnfsites of one re;il estate atrency in Ni a York have amounted to $ 100,000 sime January 1. A man la London, having married two wivs, survived l r tweu'y years without letting cither into the secret of the other's existence. QXXXUAL Ki r , he great Hungarian ; k r il, U living at Nico on a small pension, which th1 Prussian Government is paying to him. Tin: Church of England holds in fee simple the rieht to property worth $140,000,000 In gold, the annual income of Which goes to rapport the clergy. Da Onnan, Bn, and Dr. Orier, .lr., ot the Presbyterian church at Hrandywine, Pi, have occupied the pastorate of the Church fbff a combined period of eighty year?. RoeeTa baa granted permission tor the bi.ihbng of about 4,'200 miles of railroad ia all, and the greater part of this distance has been constructed and if in operation. Mme. Rosim ha decided that her husbands remains shall not be transferred to Italy, nr will she herself have France. Over the Mueafrua grave the wfdew WW erect an humble tombstone. Tin,: average earnings of the bys who swer p the crossings of the London treets ire Irom Ito to f iur shillings a day, but on some h 'ilus they earu fury much more. To" R ni ! claim in Pennsylvania a 1 ,-!-;', with colleges, 86 i male seminaries. 20 select schools, LUJ ; ai.uhial ch-.da, 0 aylUl, '-U hu 1,1. and ll.Vj pr1W!,