The Duke's Prize A Story of Art and Heart in Florence

lind, and lov

ant of

, when two lovers, who had evidently been strolling together, sat down side by side under a natural trellis of vines. The twilight hour of midsummer will

ersuasive mien, that easy elegance of manner and polish in his address, which travel and good society can alone impart. Around his noble forehead, now bared to the gentle breeze, his long auburn

ogether he was of handsome form and pleasant mien. His dress bespoke the hollowness of his purse, notwithstanding he bore about him the indelible marks of a gentlem

beautiful, she must be so indeed; for there is no half way between beauty and the opposite extreme here. There are but few really handsome women in Tuscany, but these few are of a class of beauty that may w

nnels. The mouth and features were of the Grecian model, and when she smiled she showed a ravishing sweetness of expression, and teeth that rivalled those of an Indian. In form, her person was slightly

ompanion, sighing heavily; "and of a metal worse than all

" said the lady persuasively, and in a voice as sw

I know that I am no favorite of

seeming neglect. She's a fickle goddess, and often plays the coquette, but, like

done so through

nswered wi

orly do I appreciate the blessing of thy

ou art

iles, dear

ith fervor to his lip that was

e, before I can call t

ne already

but the hand, Florinda,

, Car

s are so

ld make

they not,

in my

e looks da

s well for our hopes. Already has thy name reached the Grand Duke as one of remarkable ability

ti; but alas, many years of toil might not place me in the pecuniary eye of the duke, as a fitting suitor for thy peerless portion. And then, Florinda, th

reputation here in Florence of possessing unbounded wealth-actually unequalled in amount by that of any European monarch. Until the prospect of aiding you by this amplitude of

ist, as he listened to

no question of necessi

the world, Florinda. The greater the amount of thy riches, the farther art t

lady in the sweet, honeyed tongue of her land. "All

ith blind ey

e is a peculiar one, and this-is

t would make it," h

not your

respec

tha

on those eyes, and hear thee speak thus, and know the goodness

flatt

t?" said Carlton, e

Carlton," said h

y; and yet," he continued, after a moment's paus

t so, C

humble citizen? O, Florinda, there are few in this cold and mercenary worl

thee," said the lovely girl, placin

another tie to bind us to each oth

t is that,

, as it were, alone in the world, without

died while I was yet too young to k

was an

parents to love and advise one. I

ness; and none would seem to deserve the

d an enviabl

," said the artist, thoughtfully,-

eath those long eyelashes, proving the poet's words, "that beauty's tears are lovelier th

gentle and affectionate tenderness far more eloquent than words; while the response that met this token from her expressive face might have told t

for her education, the Grand Duke by chance met her while quite young, and learning her name, he at once knew her to be an orphan, and now under the care of her uncle Si

the monarch himself. About the time, or rather some months previous to the commencement, of our tale, the duchess had died of consumption. Florinda for more than a

d for a long time, weeping in secret the affliction he had sustained in her loss. To this day there ornaments the private apartments of the Pitti Palace busts of the grand duchess, and portraits o

t. The duchess, during the period that Florinda had been with her, had contracted for her a tender affection, and did not forget in the trying moments of her last hours to commend her to the continued and true

that she was an orphan, the last of a proud and noble house long attached to the

, "now tell me one of those Rhine legends which yo

companion, drawing still closer to her s