PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10144, 21 January 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

(CUR SERIAL..

Ey MARJI OKA WJSIE, Author a "hvaayno's Tomptation," "A Chase Rour*;, tta Worl'V etc.

CHAPTER VII/.-Continued. "Then you are entirely mi sinformed," re\urncd the physician. "They arc both doing well, and will bo out within a week or ten days." "You quite astonish me," exclaimed the. other in a tone that was very far from indicating that the surprise was an agreeable one. "The first report was that they were conveyed from the burning building in a dying condition." "True," said the doctor, with a satirical smile, "but it was one of the exaggerated and sensational statements which you gentlemen of the press are so fond of setting afloat. The eider of the two had, indeed, received a blow on the head which would have fractured the skull of an.ordinary man.. Bat, fortunately, he had been endowed by nature with a skull of abnormal thickness, protected by a dense growth of coarse, black hair. The hair, though cut unusually short, probably saved him. His injuries I from the fire wore more severe than = ' those.of the other, Neitner, A how- ; ever; is in the slighest danger." I "I am obliged to you, doctor, for j \ your information," said the ; pretended representative of the press, as he i i took his leave. "Not in the slightest danger," he repeated to himself, i with a ghastly grin, as lie walked away. "That's as much as the old vfool knows about the matter. Now, would understand that they are in greater danger than they were when Kinge's grocery tr.iK In flames, and j one of them 'was sexless on; the] chafter'.jx, ;~ 'a;strange "or"? ■■ : The scene is the office of Counselor Tripp, a well-known San Francisco advocate. The persons present, besides the counselor, are Mark Punderson and a foreign looking gentleman, whose appearance. is ■ suf-"' " ficiently remarkable to merit doscrip--ion, He; is large framed, but not 1 stout, with long arms/ depending from wide shoulders. His hau' is jet black, and comes low down upon he brow in thick masses of 3hort, crisp eurls. A t.-./a, olivo complexion, dark, velvet? cres, a sensual mouth, with a garniture of . teeth, perfect in shape and dazzling white, a soft silky, moustache shading the upper lip., but not long en- . ough to conceal the- outlines. His dress is rich and showy. His air is jaunty, and slightly threatrical. He is pacing back and forth, talking and gesticulaing, while the two /other 1 persons present are -eated at cj,po >ite sides of an office table, listening, and one of them, the ecunsj:.';;-. ,is 'a!-:*ng an occasional'note or rarduj.'i on a bit of papaj- /tß'te him. "First of all, said' the Count, rtr. the lawyer designated nini, "the per- I iod from which we start ir J. 835-6. At that timo the only living representatives of ,thd inheriting were . the Marchese Ercole Marliaur, his sister Marliani, and myself, Leandro Marliani, the nenliew of the Marchese Ercole, I being at the time an orphan six years of age. Now, the fortunes end estates of which I claim as tha s;ole surviving branch of our family, were devised thus: First, to the Marchese Ercole und his lawful heirs; second, in case of his dying childless, to Paolina, his sister, and her heirs; third, in case of her dying without issue, to me, Leandro Marliani. "The Marchese Ercole Marliani disappeared from Ravenna on the second day after .the sepulture of Lai' Speranza, a.' beautiful tragedienne, • with whom he became so infatuated that he determined to marry her, to the great scandal of all his friends. His infatuation for this woman was so complete—he was so romantically devoted to her, that t'_e universal belief was that, in the shock occasioned by her sudden and mysterious death he committed suicide. Seven years i after his disappearance the remains of a man were discovered in a,thicket in the Pineta, within a few steps of the spot where La Speranzi. had been found dead. The body ,or that which was left of it—corresponded in size with the des:riptiofi of the Marchese Ercole. xhe skull was perforated by a bullet, and a rusty pistol, bearing the crest and mono-, gram of the Marchese, was found | by his side. The family were so j well satisfied on the point of identity, that the remains were placed in the vault of the Marliariis. "At the time of these events the Marchese Ercole was a man of near!ly forty, and a bachelor. Until his sudden passion for La. SperanzaP lae had been a confirmed woman-hater. Even had he not perished in the '

manner supposed, lie would now ne a ; very old man. Thus, we may >as- • sumo that the Marches© Ercole Marr fiani died without issue. - 'That obstacle to my pretensions being thus removed," resumed the - Count, "we will proceed to the ' next—Paolina Marliani. According > to the family traditions she was a ■> woman, of wonderful beauty, which i inspired with a wild and romantic : passion a then renowned savant of j noble family, Professor Geronimo • Spiretti. Though the a a handsome as well as a distinguish?:! man, Professor Spirotti made.ve/y little progress in hig wooing. He was learned, accomplished, and brave, which last quality had been proved in several affairs of honour; but for some years prior to the period'l speak of, j rumour had been busy with his name : in- a way not calculated to recommend him to the fair sex. He had gained the reputation of being overfond of money—of heing, in short, j a miser; and ho made \i speciality I of the study of poisons, us regard j to which he was believed to i-vt moru ' deeply skilled than any j u I Europe. J, •. "When 1 La Spsnuina was found [ dead, in "the grove at that time a popular resort—whither she had gone with a few friends on the morning of the day of her death, the general belief was that she had died of poison. The influence of the Marchese En:,-.,,.,, backed by that of his uncle, tiir) cardinal, sufficed, however, to pravisut an autopsy, and j she was entombed' without hei: lovely form'having been" violated by iho surgeon's knife., "Just prior to these circumstances Professor SpirettT was believed to have received some, encouragement from the Liidy Paolina. But soon. after the disappearance of her brother, the Marchese Ercole, she broke with him entirely, and even refused to see him at the Palazzo. Various reasons for this extreme rtonduct were assigned at the'time. Cue version of the affair was- thai/ Spiretti, who attended the Marchese Ercole in an illness from which he suffered shortly before La "permißa's death, had drugged him in order iojtrolong his sickness until after tIW departure of the actress from Savenna, with a view to breaking off the •match, his motive being, as was insinuated at the time, to secure his fortune for Paolina—and himself. Anether theory was that the lady believed that Spiretti, having failed in his first scheme for preventing the marriage, had resorted to the desperate step of poisoning La 3aeranza to secure his object. ' 'Lady Paolina became iLtnwxafady. .enamoured,.of an Amerjcaai". a :*Ust nat-aed Huntingdon, who • cam» up from -. Rome to spend a month in Ravenna to. copy some oid paintings hr one of 'the churches. ' The scandal caused by this; passion for oho .so j far below her was second only to the scandal caused by her brotli.-.r Ercole's determination to marry La Speranza. Paclina made a pretend to go to Rome under the escort of no less a personage than her uncle, the cardinal. There she secretly married her artist .over, and fled with him to Ameriet. < .:'• ' 'T have succeeded in tracing her history in the; New World. She took up her residence with hur husband at Boston. The bitter « Liters of that bleak i\ew Engknd shore were too severe for tin unfortunate lady, nurturr-d as she 'had been in -a more genu! climate, and symptoms of consumption, developed themselves soon after the birth of;her daughter, Paolina Huntingdon,, whidr occurred ' in, the winter of 1836-7. "In the autumn of 1350 Mrs Huntingdon's healtu, had become ,so ba,d. that her husband determined to take her to • Cuba to spend the winter. They embark on the California steamer, which is to stop at Havana ' |— their destination, taking with them the young Paolina, a girl of twelve or thirteen. On the vessel they meet a widow lady, a distant relative of Huntingdon's. She is returning to California, after a visit to certain friend:; in the South I To be Uontinued.