he exclaimed. "They are my choicest ornaments. Such a
parure is fit for an empress."

"And an empress of beauty wears them!" I said, lightly. "But they are
mere trifles compared to other gems which I possess, and which I intend
to offer for your acceptance."

Her eyes glistened with avarice and expectancy.

"Oh, let me see them!" she cried. "If they are lovelier than those I
already have, they must be indeed magnificent! And are they all for me?"

"All for you!" I replied, drawing her closer, and playing with the
small white hand on which the engagement-ring I had placed there
sparkled so bravely. "All for my bride. A little hoard of bright
treasures; red rubies, ay--as red as blood-diamonds as brilliant as the
glittering of crossed daggers--sapphires as blue as the
lightning--pearls as pure as the little folded hands of a dead
child--opals as dazzlingly changeful as woman's love! Why do you
start?" for she had moved restlessly in my embrace. "Do I use bad
similes? Ah, cara mia, I am no poet! I can but speak of things as they
seem to my poor judgment. Yes, these precious things are for you,
bellissima; you have nothing to do but to take them, and may they bring
you much joy!"

A momentary pallor had stolen over her face while I was
speaking--speaking in my customary hard, harsh voice, which I strove to
render even harder and harsher than usual--but she soon recovered from
whatever passing emotion she may have felt, and gave herself up to the
joys of vanity and greed, the paramount passions of her nature.

"I shall have the finest jewels in all Naples!" she laughed,
delightedly. "How the women will envy me! But where are these
treasures? May I see them now--immediately?"

"No, not quite immediately," I replied, with a gentle derision that
escaped her observation. "To-morrow night--our marriage night--you
shall have them. And I must also fulfill a promise I made to you. You
wish to see me for once without these," and I touched my dark
glasses--"is it not so?"

She raised her eyes, conveying into their lustrous depths an expression
of melting tenderness.

"Yes," she murmured; "I want to see you as you ARE!"

"I fear you will be disappointed," I said, with some irony, "for my
eyes are not pleasant to look at."

"Never mind," she returned, gayly. "I shall be satisfied if I see them
just once, and we need not have much light in the room, as the light
gives you pain. I would not be the cause of suffering to you--