Show a CONDENSED CLASSICS V V V f JJ H By GEORGE ELIOT Condensation by William Fenwick Harris V V It has hall been VV claimed t thAt lia t tG S G George e co o r K g c e Eliot's highly t trained r al n e d V mind the Impulsive lve P heart She fer d from bodily V V ill lib tUe most moat all nil of her Iter er c V life Ufe and but for V her extraordinary V mental health she hc could not have ac accomplished nc- nc t the Ii e amount of york work 5 that came from from VV her brain bruin and pen Among the many books which she pubU published hed IT we e r e eSI SI lil I 1 d d I 1 Vt S Daniel Dantel Deronda 4 1 The UThe Th Spanish Groa Gypsy Gyp Gyp- V sy n a dr drama a and d Romola which may be call called d Ii n a historical his noel no A n story tory which owes oue Its power of attraction and its Ita vitality to Its superb presentation of the character character charac charac- te ter o of Tito 1 who belo belongs Js not to any one period but to every every- genera genera- Uon 5 mia nun said the blind V scholar thou wilt reach rench V the needful volumes volumes thou thou them them them-on on the fifth shelf of the cabinet Tito rose at the same moment with Romola saying I will wll reach them If you will vill point them ou out t and fol fo followed fol- fol lowed towed her hastily Into the adjoining S small smal room There they are said pointing upward every book Is just where It was when my father ceased to see them Tito stood by her without hastening to reach the books I hope she continued turning her eyes full on Tito with a n look of grave c confidence I I hope he he will not weary you this work wor-k makes him so happy V And me too too too- Romola Romola Romola-if if you ou only let me mesay say I love oe you you you-If If you will oly c ily V think me worth l loving a little His speech was the softest murmur and the dark beautiful face nearer to hers than it had ever been before was was looking at her with beseeching tenderness I 1 love do you murmured Romola she look looked d at him with the same simple simple sim sim- pie majesty as ever but her voice had neVer neer In her life before sunk to that I murmur It s seemed emed to them both that they were looking g at each other a long while before her hel lips moved again j yet et It was but a a moment till tin she said I 1 know now now what it Is t to be happy The faces just met and the dark mingled for an Instant with the rippling gold Quick as lightning after that Tito set his foot on a projecting ledge of the book shelves and r reached ached down the then needful volumes They were both contented to be silent t and separate sep sep- sep arate arafe for that first blissful experience e of ot mutual consciousness was all m more re exquisite for being unperturbed by imm immediate sensation It had all been as s rapid as ns t the ie Irreversible Ir it reversible mingling of waters for even the eager and Jealous Bardo had not become 1 Impatient V Whey the they told her father he wanted ed time for or refie reflection Be patient my children you ou are are areV V very young No more could be said and Romola's Ro Ito mola's molas heart was perfectly s satisfied Not so Titos If jf the tho subtle mixture of good and evil prepares suffering for human tr truth th and purity there Is is' also suffering prepared for the ithe wrongdoer by th the same mingled conditions As Tito kissed Romola on the their parting that evening the fhe very str strength of the thrill that moved his whole being i ithe b si the sense that this this woman whose beauty It was a hardly ardly possible to think I of as as any anything but lut the h necessary ss ry con I sequence of or her noble nobl n nature ture loved him with ith all nIl the tenderness ss that spoke In her clear eyes ees brought a strong reaction of regret that he had not kept himself free from that first deceit which had dragged him into the danger danger dan dan- ger of being disgraced before her There was vas as a spring of bitterness mingled min with that fountain of sweets 9 George orge Eliot's magnU magnificent nt s study udy of ot character diameter concerns Itself with Florence Florenee Flor Flor- ence enee at the time time when when when- Christopher Columbus was discovering America wh when n Savonarola was prior of Saint Marks Mark's and ruled the city by his moral energy and his fanaticism when I his p pious ous frenzies his visions and his predictions of heavenly wrath seemed to the majority of his feU fellow ow citizens as coming from a more than mortal source when Charles the thc Eighth of France Invaded Italy j when the tho plague brought dire dismay j when the city was distraught by the struggles of the austere devotees of Savonarola and the gay partisans of pleasure when the tho mighty ones of the land were united against poor distracted Fl Flrence rence r- r ence when do MedIc Medici was conspiring con con- f iring tI to tt regain t the e power once held by Lorenzo th Magnificent when finally finally fin fin- ally aUy Florence turned against Savonarola Savon Savon- arola and he met his death In Ignominy or martyrdom as one viewed It as foe or partisan Across the scene there thero flit tho the figures of ot Pico della Mirandola of Fro Fra of Domenico of ot dl ill of of Bernardo del Nero of ot and of Niccolo of a promising youth named Michelangelo Buonarotti ti tl and many others All these make the setting for the lives of a woman and a man and the progress of their souls the one upward and ond the other downward as wonderfully drawn as os ever human lives Jives were portrayed by pen of man or wo woman an Florence saw Tto ever making his way upward from the day when he found fouad himself adrift n after ter II shipwreck and was carried to the market by the omnipresent Bratti Bratt merchant and huckster and introduced to breakfast and a ii kiss from pretty little Tessa and passed under the deft hand of the working wonder-working barber barber- philosopher Nello That shrewd cr crafts craftsman craftsman man with edged tools tools razor razor or tongue introduced him to the bright and powerful folk who frequented his shop as ns if it were a club and brought him to the theof notice of th the blind scholar Bardo Bar Bar- Bardo do dolio who lio needed Just such a clever young student as Tito for a helper From that his path was vas easy to the confidence of the great graft Latin Lath secretary secretary secretary secre secre- tary to the ilie state embassies to Rome home everything e ng was his even to the envy of NIccolo The world saw only the dazzling success j there were a n few who marked the change that came from the thc final departure of moral youthfulness who saw the perfidies and desertions of the dextrous and facIle facile facile fac fac- ile Greek the basen baseness ss that smiles smile and triumphs j who knew how he had left to slavery the adoptive father who had rescued him and m d him Im what wha he was was how he proved false to the memory of Romola's father set him on lila his way to triumph In Florence Florence Flor Flor- ence how bow he betrayed his his his' great groat p pat f f. f rons l ow he lie deceived poor Tessa that sweet pouting pouring Innocent round thing how he th threw ew away the great treasure of Romola's love and how his only bitter thought was that H 14 timely well devised d might have ha saved him from ev ry fatal coa- coa sequence V Over Oyer against the figure of tho the man mane she 10 e married stands Dds Romola fair as ss the Florentine 1 lily y before It got r and turned r red d as ns the rhapsodic Nello described her Her contempt contempt con con- tempt of all Injustice and meanness the noble serenity with which she accepted ac nc- ac- ac though no not noc without Inward struggle all that life and duty brought her the willing service she rendered her father her husband the poor the sufferers In the plague Tito's Titos s 's aLan ahon- done father even even Tessa her riv il to the title of wife the mother of Titos Tito's children the majestic self possession which at the slightest to touch ch on n the fibres of affection or pr pity could b become become be be- come passionate w th with tenderness tenderness all all this justified her godfather Bernardo del Nero in his exhortation to her father father father fa fa- fa- fa ther R Remember member Bardo thou hast a Q rare gem of thy own take care no noman man gets It who is not likely to pay paya a worth worthy price That pretty Greek has hns a lithe sleekness about him that see seems s marvellously fitted d for slipping sUpping easily into any nest he fixes his e eyes es upon But he that smiles and undO triumphs trIumphs' does not always triumph to the end He is sometimes found out So it wai was with ith Tito He had bad made the last preparation for departure to a larger field of action Pursued In th the night by a crowd of angry men he bar barely ly had time to leap from a n bridge Into the Arno A long swim In Inthe the tile darkness dark dark- ness ness ness-In In the tumult of his blood he could only feel vaguely that he was safe and might land But Brit where The current was having its way with him he hardly knew where he was exhaustion ex ox- exhaustion was bringing on the dr dr dreamy amy my state that precedes un unconsciousness But now there were vere eyes that discerned dis discerned dis- dis him him aged aged strong for the distance dis- dis tunc tance Baldassare his his father look father lookIng look look- Ing up blankly from the search to which h his poverty had bad had led led him had seen a white a-white object coming along th the stream stream could could that be any fort fortunate nate chance for him He looked looked V till tm the object gath gathered red form forra j then ho he leaned forward with a start as he lie sat among the thc rank green stems and his eyes seemed to be filled with a new newlight light yet light yet he only only watched watched motion motion less Something was being brought to him The next Instant mans man's a body was cast violently on the grass grass' two yards from him and he be started forward like a 0 panther clutchIng the velvet tunic as he fell for forward ard on the body bOdy- and Cashed a look In tho the mans man's face Dead was Dead was he dead The eyes were rigid Bu But no It co could ld not b be justice had brought him Men looked de dead sometimes and yet the life came back to them Baldassare did not feel feeble fee fee- feeble ble In that moment He knew Just what he could do He Ito got got his large fingers within th the neck of the tunic and held them there kneeling on one knee beside the body and watching the face tace In his ev eves s there was only fierceness Rigid rigid rigid still Those eyes yes with the half fallen lids were were locked against vengeance Could It be that i t he was d dead ad Surely at last the Were quivering the eyes were were no longer rigid There Thero was a vibrating light In them them they they opened wide Ah Au yes I You see m me me- me you know me mel mei I Tito knew him but hut he lie did not know whether It was life Ufe or death that had brought him Into the pres pres- enc enco of his Injured father It might be death death and and death might mean this eLm chill gloom with the thc face tace of the hideous hid eons tous past hanging over him forever forc But Baldas Baldassare's res re's only dread was lest the young limbs should escape him He pressed his knuckles against the round throat and knelt upon the che chest t with all the force torce of his aged frame frume Tet Let death come nO 1 J I Copyright 1919 by the Post Publishing Co The Boston Post Copyright In the United d Kingdom tho the Dominions itji It Colonies Col Col- onies anI and dependencies under the copyright copyright copy ropy right act by the Post Publishing Co Boston Doston AlaS U. U S. S A. A All rights re re served |