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MADELINA:

A ROMAN STORY.

"I COMMAND you to see that graceless varlet, Joseppa, no more; no good can come to him; he has been a disobedient son, and is the talk of the whole village, for his idleness, and his insolence."

This was the prohibition of Giovanni Vitelli, one of the most affluent farmers in the neighbourhood of Albano, to his only child, Madelina, the pride and darling of his old age. Tears and imploring looks, were the only answer given to the stern mandate, by the gentle Madelina; but they produced more effect on the heart of

her loving father, than the most eloquent appeal could have done. He pressed her to his breast, and, "My poor child!" broke from his lips, as he affectionately patted her glossy raven locks.

"Do not think that I would willingly pain you, my girl," said Giovanni. "The Madonna knows, how much it costs me to see these tears, and these poor pallid cheeks; but Joseppa is indeed unworthy of you, and a union with him. can be productive only of misery and disgrace."

"Oh! my father, surely you judge him too severely," replied the weeping maiden; “idle, and unthinking, he may be, but his heart is not bad, and he may yet be reclaimed."

"Do not anger me, Madelina, by this weak defence. It is thus ever with you women; you fancy a man is never irreclaimable, as long as he affects to love you; and ye think, simpletons as ye are, that the heart cannot be a bad one, wherein ye fancy yourselves treasured. Would a good heart have allowed its owner to indulge in follies-nay, worse than follies-crimes, until

his ill conduct brought his poor mother to her grave?"

"But Joseppa repents his evil doings, indeed he does, dear father."

"And shows his repentance," interrupted Giovanni, "by a total neglect of his little farm, and continual wanderings among the mountains, where, if rumour is to be believed, he has formed some most discreditable and dangerous alliances. Even our good pastor told me"

"Oh! what did he say, my father? he who is so good, so merciful!" said Madelina, her "Has he too

cheeks becoming deadly pale. pronounced against Joseppa?"

"He has warned me that this reckless youth is pursuing desperate courses, that he has been seen holding stealthy converse with men of whom nothing but evil is known; and that he is out night after night, no one knows exactly where, but every one suspects, for no honest purpose."

Little did the father or the daughter imagine, that he who was the subject of their conver

sation, was a listener to it, or the thirst for vengeance which it awakened in his breast. Joseppa had been hovering round the cottage, to see Madelina, and through the open window had heard the whole discourse. Some days elapsed, during which Madelina saw or heard nothing of Joseppa, and she formed the resolution of adopting the advice of her father, to whom she was fondly attached. But though she could not even entertain the idea of ultimately giving up Joseppa, without tears of anguish, and heartfelt pangs, still she resolved never to destroy the happiness of her only parent, by persevering in encouraging a suitor, whom he so much disapproved.

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"No, my father," would the affectionate girl ejaculate to herself, when alone, your Madelina will never desert you, nor leave

your

hearth lonely; you have lost the dear partner who made your life, and mine too, happy, and your child will never cause you a pang."

Every recurrence to her mother, whom she had followed to the grave, two years before,

softened the heart of Madelina, and rendered her more devoted to her remaining parent; yet her passion for Joseppa was still unsubdued, for the poor girl thought, with the sophistry of youthful minds, that, so long as she refused to join her fate with Joseppa's, she could injure no one by allowing his image to retain its place in her heart. She carefully avoided all the haunts where she had been accustomed to meet her lover, though the effort cost her many a sigh, and many a longing, lingering glance did she cast from the door of the cottage to see if he was hovering nigh.

Ten nights after the prohibition of her father to see Joseppa, she was awaked from her slumber by a gentle tap at her window. How did the heart of Madelina palpitate at the wellknown sound! Yet her good resolution of not seeing him was remembered, and she moved not. The tap was now repeated more loudly, and fearful that her father might also hear it, she arose and opened the casement.

"Cruel Madelina," said Joseppa,

"how