Ladies’ Edinburgh Magazine > Volume 5

72 The Ladies Edinburgh Magazine.
more for the ill-fated Torre del Greco. There was silence for
some time after quitting their friends between Concetta and
Carlotta; the incidents of the last few days had followed
eacli other in such quick succession, that all would have
seemed like a dream had not their minds been filled with
anxious suspense as to the fate of the Count TorcelU.
Carlotta, who was the first to speak, urged their unwilling
conductor to make all speed back to Capo di Monte, assuring
liim of a reward for so doing. He scarcely needed such an
incentive, for the continual rumbling of the mountain, and
the oft-repeated showers of stones and cinders, falling within
a short distance, quickened his apprehensions, and muttering
an Axe,, and calling on his patron saint to save him, he once
more urged his tired horses to their utmost power; and ere
the gun on St. Elmo had boomed forth its nightly warning,
Concetta found herself once more at home, where, to her
great delight, her father was waiting to receive her. Their
mutual happiness may be imagined, and the hours passed
quickly in the relation of the events which had so unex¬
pectedly befallen them.
What a scene of ruin and desolation was that witnessed
by the Count at Torre del Greco! The pretty villa, where
they had so lately spent many happy days, was levelled with
the ground, the beautiful gardens buried beneath heaps of
cinders, while scarcely a vestige of the orange groves
remained to mark the spot which but a few hours before had
been so rich in beauty and fragrance. There had been
several slight shocks felt the day preceding the return of
Ciprani, sufficient to cause alarm through the little town,
and prepare its inhabitants for further danger.
The father of Ciprani, who lived at Castellamare, knowing
of the absence of his son and daughter-in-law, had come
early in the morning to seek his grandchildren, who thus
happily escaped the fearful catastrophe that buried their
home. The old man wept as he looked on the scene of
destruction, and thought of all his son's loss. Count Torcelli,
finding he could render no assistance, and ascertaining his
daughter had not yet returned from Ischia, gladly availed
himself of a fisherman's offer to take him in his boat to
Naples, which he reached only one short half-hour before
the welcome arrival of his daughter and her friend.
{To be continued^)