234 Titles and Subjects

soul, and he could eat no food, till one day the loveliest girl
in. the place said to him :

" Gaetano, my grandmother is ill and cannot get her fire-
wood ; come with me to the bosco this evening and help me
to bring her a load or two, will you ? "

And he said he would go.

So when the sun was well down and the cool night air
was sauntering under the chestnuts, the pair sat together
cheek to cheek and with their arms round each other's
waists.

" 0 Gaetano/' she exclaimed, " I do love you so very
dearly. When you look at me your eyes are like—they are
like the eyes "—here she faltered a little—" the eyes of a
cow."

Thenceforward he cared not. . . .

And so on.

A Divorce Novelette

The hero and heroine are engaged against their wishes.
They like one another very well but each is in love with
some one else; nevertheless, under an uncle's will, they
forfeit large property unless they marry one another, so
they get married, making no secret to one another that they
'dislike it very much.

On the evening of their wedding day they broach the
subject that has long been nearest to their hearts—the
possibility of being divorced. They discuss it tearfully,
but the obstacles seem insuperable. Nevertheless they
agree that faint heart never yet got rid of fair lady, " None
but the brave/' exclaims the husband, " deserve to lose
the fair/' and they plight their most solemn vows that they
will henceforth live but for the object of getting divorced
from one another.

But the course of true divorce never did ran smooth,
and the plot turns upon the difficulties that meet them
and how they try to overcome them. At one time they
seem almost certain of success, but the cup is dashed from
their lips and is farther off than ever.

At last an opportunity occurs in an unlooked-for manner.
They are divorced and live happily apart ever afterwards.