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35 (MUSIC) Our story today is called Rappaccini’s Daughter. It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. We will tell the story in two parts. Here is Kay Gallant with the first part of our story. (MUSIC) Storyteller: Many years ago, a young man named Giovanni Guasconti left his home in Naples to study in northern Italy. He rented a small room on the top floor of a dark and ancient palace. Long ago, the building had belonged to a noble family. Now, an old woman, Signora Lisabetta, rented its rooms to students at the University of Padua. Giovanni’s room had a small window. From it he could see a large garden that had many plants and flowers. “Does the garden belong to you?” he asked Signora Lisabetta one day. “Oh no!” she said quickly. “That garden belongs to the famous doctor, Giacomo Rappaccini. People say he uses those plants to make strange kinds of medicine. He lives in that small brown house in the garden with his daughter, Beatrice.” Giovanni often sat by his window to look at the garden. He had never seen so many different kinds of plants. They all had enormous green leaves and magnificent flowers in every color of the rainbow. Giovanni’s favorite plant was in a white marble vase near the house. It was covered with big purple flowers. One day, while Giovani was looking out his window, he saw an old man in a black cape walking in the garden. The old man was tall and thin. His face was an unhealthy yellow color. His black eyes were very cold. The old man wore thick gloves on his hands and a mask over his mouth and nose. He walked carefully among the plants, as if he were walking among wild animals or poisonous snakes. Although he looked at the flowers very closely, he did not touch or smell any of them. When the old man arrived at the plant with the big purple flowers, he stopped. He took off his mask and called loudly, “Beatrice! Come help me!” “I am coming, Father. What do you want?” answered a warm young voice from inside the house. A young woman came into th