Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Vendetta By ROSE B. ETHERIDGE " (Copyright. 1919, by the Western News paper Union.) It was in imperial Rome that I had first met Rafael Brose. ? wa? then of the artist community and his pleasant ways and love of pictures had com mended him to every member of our Bohemian group. He was wont to make the round of the studios, an en couraging visitor and of times a pa tron. Once or twice he brought with him his sister. Teresa. She was then barely sixteen and the most beautiful being I had ever met. She and I were fast drifting from mutual friendship Into something more fervent when sud denly both brother and sister disap peared. It was an old native sculptor who solved the mystery of their vanish ment. It seemed that the Broses were the inheritors of a deadly vendetta which had pursued the family until four of Its members fell victims to the | stiletto. "The last living relative of Rafael fled to America to save his life five years ago," explained my informant. "I heard that he had died there. Per haps he has left his fortune to Rafael and his niece." The memory of the beauty and gen tleness of Teresa did not leave me, even after I had returned to my home in a Western city, but I learned noth ing of their whereabouts until about a year later. I had entered a city res taurant one day and just as I seated myself at a table from the next there ?arose a young man and a veiled lady The former wore a beard, the latter colored glasses, but I knew them at once. "Rafael, my dear friend !" I exuber ated, rushing up to him and seizing his arm in a transport In a flash he turned, cast a sweeping glance over the crowded room and said hurriedly "Not that name in public. Follow as If casually until we get clear of this place.f> I handed Rafael my card. "Tonight," he said In a low, cautious tone. "And . lt may be late." "At any hour; I shall be waiting up for you." I replied, and they hurried -.away, Teresa with a slight responsive movement of her hand. It was after midnight when Brose tapped at the door of my studio. He lingered at the threshold for a mo ment or two, peering sharply down the street stairway as though fearful of being followed. It was a strange story that Rafael told me. For the sake of his sister he had fled from his native land to evade the desperate menace of the vendetta that had been sworn against them. His uncle had died, bequeathing all he owned to them, but it was In a shape where slow liquidation would be nec essary. His dealings had been mainly with a large number of foreigners. Rafael had taken up his abode and that of his sister in the poor quarter of the city where his uncle bad lived, assumed a new name and pretended to be the at torney for heirs abroad. Piece by piece, but unostentatiously, he had been selling off the property. "About a month ago.'^he told me. "I received a black-hand letter demand ing a large sum or death would follow. Some one of my enemias abroad, or a local blackmailer has guessed my true identity. With fervent haste I am closing up ray business, then to seek a new home under less hazardous con ditions. I hope within a week to close out all my business and then we can welcome you as the esteemed friend that you are." It was one evening, a month later, ""when my landlady came rushing to ray room In a state of frantic exclte men. "Oh, slr !" she quavered, "a gen tleman all blackened and burned is In a taxi below and a lady with him, fainted or dead!" I ran down to the street. Rafael Indeed looked as though ' he had gone through some terrific ex perience. He bore his sister In his -arms. "Give us shelter." he spoke. "She has only fatotfj^^rpm fright. The :black hand dynamited-Oar house, but I escaped with a ?ew^:bru!ses?v My landlady took, charge 3$f Teresa. When she had brnt carried to her room Rafael sat In my apartment tell ing of the vindictive efforts of his per secutors. "I am through with lt all, however," he said, almost gaily, "as all the old business has been settled," and so we sat discussing our plans for a pleasant home on the coast, for a renewal of our old close friendsh'p. There was a tap at ?he door. A gen r tie voice spoke. It belonged to Teresa. "May I come In?" I stood spellbound. There was my old-time love, now vellless. There was the old-time beauty, unmarred. To drive away rude and unwelcome visit ors she had disfigured her face with pigments and stains. Now her peer less beauty shone forth, and, too, in those expressive eyes, divested of glasses, there gleamed the old raUiant light {hat told that she still loved me. There ls no^cho-of the dark past for Rafael Btfd?^a?w, for his peerless sister is my wtfev-jln a beautiful home looking down from vine-chid hills upon the placid ocean, I at my easel, Rafael engrossed In new art collections avail able through his fortune he inherited, we bask in the sunshine of perfect twtiataent P# loya. |jj ^ ' After being sterilized, filled i and sealed, each bottle of Chero y^SBBBa^ \M Cola is labelled with the famous ill! ^his ^a^e^ is y?ur guararvtee w?Ml?? ..^^^W^^^^ of a pzire, wholesome drink! ?????jp Without this label gp it isn't t?f;m?p ^ \ un^W /Ww The automatic machine labels bottles at NT(\ \^\ \ Of the rate of two-a-second, or 7,200 each United States Railroad Administration Announces Very Low Excursion Fares ACCOUNT Southern Exposition Fair Augusta, Ga., Nov. 11-22,1919 ROUND QA A 7 FROM TRIP <pl/r/ EDGEFIELD (War Tax to be Added) Tickets on sale November 10th to 21st, inclusive, and for trains scheduled to arrive in Augusta before noon Nov. 22, 1919, good returning to reach original starting point prior to mid-night Nov. 24th, 1919. Minimum round trip fare 25 cents. Ample equipment will be provided on all regular trains to handle the extra travel. Southern Railway Lines For information and correct round trip fares from other points apply to Ticket Agents ! Hulls and Meal f t I can fill your orders for Cotton Seed Hulls and | I Meal at 70 cents per hundred for hulls and $3.70 per J % sack for meal. % J I am in the market for cotton seed and will always J % pay the highest market price. J ! A. M. Timmerman ! * f v 4* B. B. RUSSELL, JR. R. E. ALLEN RUSSELL & ALLEN INCORPORATED COTTON FACTORS 857, 859 and 861 Reynolds Street AUGUSTA, GEORGIA Bonded Warehouse. Liberal advances on cotton in storage, orrespondeuce invited and consignments solicited. We Are Equipped to give good service on generators, start ers and lighting system. Don't forget our battery service station. We rent batteries while re-charging yours. Full line of auto accessories, tires and inner tubes. / Dixie Highway Garage INSURANCE What Kinds of Insurance? Fire Rates Reduced. Six or eight best Companies. A pleasure to adjust losses agreeably and pay them promptly. Ufe Prudential Life Insurance Company and Southern Life & Trust Company. All kinds of policies, no better contracts or lower cost, ex cept Uncle Sam's. Accident and Illness Pays your salary while you are laid up by illness or ac cident. Horses and Mules $7.00 per $100.00 on life of animals. Automo bile $1.50 per $100.00 for Fire j and $1.75 for Fire and Theft. Bonds 50 cents per $1000.00 up to $4.00 per $1,000.00. Desirable Property For Sale WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING: J. H. Allen-One three-acre lot on Addison St., nice location for a home, at $1,700. Mrs. M. A. Dorn-One six-room house and lot, Adams St.^A bar gain at $2,200. J. T. McManus-One-acre lot and l;hree-room house at $1,100, on Columbia road. J. B. Minick-120 acres, five-room house, barn and tenant houses on Blocker road at $60.00 per acre. ? D. B. Hollingsworth-140 acres on Dixie Highway, five-room house, barn and tenant house at $50 per acre. Dr. A. R. Nicholson-281 acres one and a half miles from Antioch church and school, one six-room house, two four-room houses, barn at each house; 50-acre pasture, wired. i Edgefield Realty &Auetion Company