Won by Crime
Page 5
Diniz flushed, and his eyes grew bright with suppressed joy.
"Perhaps some of our countrymen, Miriam. Let us hasten forward to welcome them," he cried eagerly; and leading his wife, while the crowd followed curiously behind, Sampayo hurried in the direction from whence the strangers were coming.
It was not long before they met the tired crew, now dwindled to about twenty, many having perished on the way.
As Diniz stepped towards the first stranger, on whose arm leaned a young and beautiful woman, a low cry burst from his lips.
"Panteleone!" he gasped, "is it really you?"
"What, Diniz!" and the two friends, separated for so long a time, warmly clasped hands.
"But how comes it that you are like this?"
Panteleone briefly related their voyage from India, and the disastrous end. Tears shone in his eyes when he recounted the sad death of Lianor and her husband.
"Poor, poor girl! How sorry I am!" Diniz said mournfully, while Miriam, scarcely able to repress her sobs, drew Lianor's orphan boy in her arms, and bore him to their pretty home.
"You are welcome—all!" Sampayo said gently, turning to the haggard-looking seamen. "Come."
A few days later a grand old ship, bound for Portugal, started from that coast, bearing the wrecked crew to their former destination.
Amongst those on board were Diniz and his wife (Phenee had long since joined his forefathers), who, now his innocence was made known, had no longer the fear of being imprisoned, and could return in safety to his native land.
Panteleone's father received Savitre with almost paternal love, and some months after their arrival, when their mourning for poor Lianor was lessened, the two faithful hearts became one.
Little Garcia, Tonza's son, was tenderly nurtured in their tranquil home, and the aunt he loved so dearly became a second mother, replacing the one he had lost.
No shadow of his father's sin darkened his young life; he lived unconscious of the sad fate of his mother, who, won by crime, by her death avenged Luiz Falcam, for, through her, Manuel Tonza had atoned for all.
THE END.
About Won by Crime
"'It is no use!' she cried, at last, pushing back the mass of thick black hair falling over her white brow; 'I shall never be able to get India by heart, unless I can see the places. I wish papa would let us go reconnoitering amongst the ruined temples and other mysterious buildings; it is so annoying staying here day after day, never seeing anything outside the palace.'"
In "Won by Crime", the Portuguese Viceroy Don Garcia has brought his daughter Lianor and nephew Pantaleone to the wild island of Goa, which will lead them on a series of dramatic adventures.
This novella was originally included in "Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective Or, The Crime of the Midnight Express."