A GIFT FROM THE DEAD
Signor Bernardo Cignolesi took his watch from his pocket and looked at
Signor Manfredi Guido.
"It is, I think, the exact hour," he said.
They were small and dapper Italians, these two, who had been appointed
by the late Duca di Corleone as the executors of his will and the
keepers of the letter.
The whole party was assembled in Miss Mason's studio. The wedding was
over. Paul and Sara had plighted their troth. The blessing upon them
had been pronounced. And when the last words of it had died away the
church had been suddenly filled with music, the notes of a violin
joyous and sweet, a wedding song for the two, a song that had never
before been played.
It was Michael's tribute to them both. The organist alone had been
taken into the secret, and the man, who was a very true musician,
listened to the song with his eyes full of tears.
"It is Michael," Sara had whispered. And no one had moved till the
music had ceased.
But now they were all in the studio, eating wedding cake and drinking
champagne, which Pippa had never tasted before and which made her gasp.
She was wearing a little pendant Paul had given her. It was gold and
shaped like a tulip, and it held in its chalice a blue sapphire.
And it was exactly an hour from the time the blessing had been
pronounced that Signor Bernardo Cignolesi said to Signor Manfredi Guido:
"I think it is the exact hour."
And Signor Manfredi Guido took a sealed envelope from his pocket,
and holding it in his hand the two crossed together to Sara, who was
standing by Paul, her radiance and magnetism filling the whole place.
"Allow us," said Signor Guido, speaking for himself and his
co-executor, "to give into your possession the letter addressed to
you by the late Duca di Corleone. And now permit me to kiss your hand
and wish you all happiness, thanking you at the same time for your
hospitality." He raised her hand to his lips, and Signor Cignolesi
followed his example. Then bowing and smiling the two dapper little men
returned to their glasses of champagne.
Sara broke the seal of the envelope and drew out the paper it
contained. It was a letter in the late Duca's handwriting, and
addressed to herself.
She crossed slowly to Miss Mason's large oak chair and sat down while
she read it.
"My dear," the letter began, "if ever you read this letter it will
be on the day that you have given yourself into the keeping of the
man you love. Therefore, will you permit me, from the regions of the
peaceful dead, to offer to you my felicitations?
"It is possible that since my death there have been moments when you
have thought of me, if not with anger, at least with vexation. I knew
I ran the risk of incurring this sentiment on your part when I drew up
my will.
"May I now give you my reasons and my excuse for my action? I will be
as brief as possible:
"When you married me, my dear, you were able to bring me a certain
quiet affection, a very true courtliness, and an entire faithfulness.
Love had not entered your life. You did not, then, know its meaning. I
was not the man to teach you. I knew it, and yet I was selfish enough
to take you. My excuse is simply that I loved you. You gave me what
you had then to give, and it made me happy. If I longed for more I
knew it was not withheld, but simply, at the time, non-existent.
"I realized, however, what one day you would have it in your power to
give. And knowing that, I determined that the best should come to you
and be asked of you. Hence my will. Total surrender of all worldly
possessions for love. Love seeking you for your sake alone. My dear,
was I wrong? I may have been. I leave it now for you to judge me. I
wanted you, because I loved you, to have the gift of love in your
life.
"And now that you have it I, from the quiet regions to which I shall
have attained, send my offering to you and the man of your choice.
Signor Cignolesi will give you another packet. In it you will find a
deed leaving you the whole and sole possessor of the Casa di Corleone
on the banks of Lake Como.
"You loved it, and I loved to see you there. If the spirits of the
departed are allowed to return to earth, mine will come there to see
you in your happiness. And remember, my dear, that in it I shall
rejoice, for I believe that the only thing that could mar the peace to
which, please God, I shall attain, would be your sorrow.
"Therefore, my dear, live joyously in the Casa di Corleone. And when
on sunny days you sit in the shadow of the orange trees, and your
children come running to you across the courtyard, God grant that my
spirit may be there to see it.
"And may His Blessing be upon you; and the Blessed Virgin and all the
Saints have you in their keeping,
"GIUSEPPE DI CORLEONE."
Sara looked up. Her eyes were misty. She signed to Paul to come to her.
"Read it," she said. "Giuseppe was a generous man, and a very true
courtier."
And when Paul had read it he kissed Sara's hand. Then he came back to
the table and every one saw that he had something to say.
"My wife," he said simply, "has just received a gift from one who we
know is at peace. It is the gift of a home she loves--the Casa di
Corleone. And the offering comes from the Duca di Corleone."
He bowed his head gravely, as did all the other occupants of the
studio, while Sara, Pippa, Barnabas, and the two dapper little
Italians, made the sign of the cross. And so they all for a moment paid
tribute to the memory of a true and generous man.
* * * * *
Then, of course, came a babel of congratulations, and Paul was called
upon for a speech.
"Speeches," said Paul smiling, "are not very much in my line. My wife
and I thank you all very much for being here to-day, and we know
that throughout our lives we can count on the true friendship of all
present. There is one toast, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to
propose. It is to one who has been, and is, the best friend of many of
us. Ladies and gentlemen let us drink to Aunt Olive in Bohemia."
And everybody got to their feet, and there was a good deal of applause,
and a good deal of laughter, but the eyes of some of them were a
little dim, as were the eyes of the old lady who sat there smiling,
and thanking God in her heart for His wonderful gifts of Love and
Happiness.