Graziella

# "Graziella" The Argosy (Summer 1888)

This romantic melodrama follows Mary Banks, a Berkshire farmer's daughter working as equestrienne Signorina Graziella with Circus Koberstein in Nuremberg. Paul Hillern, a humble circus employee and unrequited admirer, watches her performances nightly. One winter night while alone, Hillern places a candle in a box to read Schiller, violating safety rules. He falls asleep; the candle overturns, igniting the wooden building. Horses perish; he flees town in guilt.

A year later, working for an English gentleman, Hillern returns to Nuremberg. At a cemetery, he discovers a gravestone bearing his own name—presumably from the fire. The reorganized circus has returned with Graziella, now seemingly interested in an elegant gentleman visitor. Hillern watches disguised, jealous and uncertain whether to reveal himself.