An American recently solved a mystery which had confused and amazed a wedding party in Rome. The bride was the daughter of one of the most noble Marquises of old or modern Rome, and the groom was the scion of another noble house. When the wedding contract had been signed, the groom took the hand of his young wife in his own and kissed its fingers. She smiled at this, and allowed her hand to rest where he had placed it. But in a moment, to the dismay of the company, a voice was heard, as from her lips, saying: “Impertinent! how dare you touch my hand? Be off, fool.” Still she smiled as before, and her lover gazed upon her face in dismay. Suddenly she seemed to laugh, and it was a dry and ironical laugh that startled people more than the words they had heard before. “Has the girl gone mad?” some one asked. She fainted, and her friends gathered closely around the sofa on which she had fallen. At this moment a young American, described as “of great learning, but generally very taciturn and almost timid in manner,” offered to examine into the cause of the strange occurrences, and approached the sofa. Casting his eyes on and around the sofa, and then about the room, he proceeded to crawl along the floor on his hands and knees until he came to a large ottoman. Behind this he found a young servant who had been dismissed from the house that morning, and went away declaring that she would be revenged. By some means she had found her way into the parlor and concealed herself behind the ottoman. Being a ventriloquist, she was able there to speak in a tone of voice which was naturally attributed to the bride.–N.Y. Tribune.
Boy, that maid was a really talented ventriloquist!