there evil in the communication?"

"Tell me, mother, tell me all about it!" But before the mother could
speak, Rosie was reading the letter aloud. She threw up her hands in
delight and flew into her mother's arms. "How good the Lord is to us!"
Rosie exclaimed. She had been eager for a musical education and to win
fame on the stage.

In June, by appointment, Mrs. Ricci and daughter met the Senator at the
Fifth Avenue Hotel. It was arranged that Rosie should have the best
musical education obtainable in Boston, and further that the senator
should pay her expenses in Boston and New York, and that the mother's
rent should be included in his liberality. At times, the mother
questioned the senator's motives, but he always seemed so kind and
fatherly that she spurned the thought as coming from the Evil One.

The senator as he left, put several bills in Mrs. Ricci's hand, saying,
"You and Rosie will find need of them for clothes for the daughter and
for other expenses."

Never was a girl happier than Rosie the morning she and her mother left
the Grand Central Depot for New England. Rarely, if ever, did a girl work
harder than Rosie at her studies. Her soul often had burned with ambition
for fame and for money so that she could assist her mother. The way was
now open and success was possible. At the sunset hour she often walked
with a friend among the historic elms on Boston Common and in the
beautiful flower gardens.

Often young men longed for her acquaintance, but they could never get the
consent of her pretty eyes. She was petite, her hair black, her eyes dark
brown, her lips ruby-red, and her nose and chin finely chiselled. She had
a cameo-like face and complexion of olive tint that told of the land of
vines and figs in sunny Italy. Her step was elastic, her manner vivacious
and confiding. Her dress was always tidy and stylish. Usually she carried
a roll of music in one hand as she left the conservatory, and lovely
flowers in the other that had been expressed either by the senator or
Leo.

On the completion of her course in the conservatory, Leo had pressed his
suit so devotedly that Rosie consented to an engagement without her
mother's knowledge. The ring of gold contained a single ruby, and Leo had
had engraved on the inside of the ring, "Et teneo, et teneor." When Rosie
saw the old Roman motto she said, "I hold, and am held. How appropriate,
Leo! Your love for me, devotion to the beautiful, and our bright memories