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"But, Tony," said Miss Eversham,
"surely it is not necessary for you to
marry a girl whom you have never
seen, if she is to be an invalid all her
life."
s "I have sent the money," said
Tony, hopelessly. "She arrive in
free weeks."
"But why, Tony?"
"Her father save my father during
the revolution," said Tony. Then
suddenly he qlasped his hands and
wept unrestrainedly. "Oh, it ees
hard, Mees Eversham,"" he said. "I
love Juliana Legardi."
Miss Eversham drew the story
from him then. Juliana was the young
woman who had brought him news
of Marta. She had come to America
to display some paintings, and had
achieved great success. Already she
had become something of a vogue in
the world of art. Only twenty-two,
she bade fair to become one of those
woman, painters whom modern Italy
is producing in numbers. She had
taken an interest in Tony, and he had
fallen madly in love jvith her. Poor
Tony! He felt that he was not worthy
to kissthe ground she walked upon.
"An honest man may aspire to the
hand of any woman," said Miss Ever
sham, in a pardonable aphorism.
"Tony, there is no reason why you
should consider yourself bound to
marry your cousin." ,
"I have sent her the money," ex
plained Tony, hopelessly.
"But, Tony " - - -
"Her father save my father in the
time of the revolution," Tony con
tinued, and there was such finality in
his tone that Miss Eversham ven
tured no more.
Her curiosity did, however, lead
her to attend the art meeting at
which Juliana Legardi was announc
ed as one of the attractions. She
saw a modest and singularly at-j
tractive young woman, but obviously
far -above Tony. She went away I
sighing. Poor Tony! There was no
use attempting to do anything. And !
what could she do? It was not Jul-
iana's fault if Tony had fallen in love
with her.
Juliana Legardi departed for Italy
suddenly a couple of days later. Miss
Eversham read of her sailing in the
newspapers, and looked anxiously for
Tony the following evening. But he
did not appear at night school, then
or at any future date. And as the
days went by and no word cameof
him, she gradually came to abandon
all expectation of ever hearing of him
again. He remained in her mind,
however, as the type of fidelity, his
faithful brown eyes often came be
fore her, and she would glance at her
class of ignorant immigrants, and
sigh, thinking how nearly she had
succeeded in creating one genius out
of the heap of raw material that pass
ed through her hands.
And then, about a year later, when
she had ceased to think of Tony, ex
cept as an incident of the past, she
saw him at the door of the night
school as she was leaving, waiting
for her.
"Tony!" exclaimed Miss Eversham.
"Why, where have you been all this
time?"
"In Italy, Miss Eversham," he an
swered, and Miss Eversham looked at
him in astonishment. Gone were the
gaucheries of the-young man whom
she had taught; he spoke like a gen
tleman and looked like one. Uncon
sciously she found herself accepting
his. offer of the inner side of the
street. And sfie found, too, that she
was regarding him as one of her own
class, and no longer as "raw ma
terial." ,
"And did you marry Marta?" she
wanted to ask, as he" escorted her
through the streets toward her home;
but she could not bring herself to do
so. The young man at her side look
ed so radiant, so evidently prqsper
ous. "You see, Miss Eversham," he
explained, "when I got home I had a
chance of a commission for some
statuary in the town hall which at
tracted the attention of art critics,
and well, I am well-to-do now, and