The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-06-07 00:00:00

ROMANCE AND REALITY.
(From tho N elo York Tams.)

" The whirligig of time brings about its revenges,"
and in a country like this, the revenge eometitnee
comes very swiftly. Something happened the other
day, in a great Atlantic city, which, omitting place
and names, as the dEmn2entent of a romantic drama in
real life, is worth telling, both for its interest and its
moral. Fiction, in the form of novel or play, often
copies truth, but in this case tenth has followed fiction.
In other words, what has occurred is the exact repro-
duction of a drama which, for vigour, beauty of
diction, and pathetic interest, deserves to be better
known than it is We refer to the "Patrician's
Daughter," written, we believe, by Westland Marston.
The powerful lesson enforced by the play has now
found its literal prototype in reality.

- - -
Some six or seven years ago, by one ot the current
accidents of social intercourse, there came together,
and got interested in each other, in the city werepeak
of, a young man and a young woman. The man was
educated, in professional life, of good social rank, and
generally esteemed of more than average ability. Those
who thought best of him believed he was sure, sooner
or later, to do great things. In the meantime, he had
the misfortune to be poor. The young woman was the
daughter of alich manufacturer. She had been brought
up to attach at least its proper value to money, and, in
fact, to attach too much credit to its possession. She
had too much innate refinement to be purae-rroud ;
but living always with those who, possibly for lack of
anything better, pique themselves on their posses-
sions, it is not likely to have a wholesome effect on
impressionable youth. Be this as it may, an affection
sprang up between these two people, avowed in time
on both sides, cemented by every reciprocal pledge
of fidelity. The matter became known, after a space,
to the lady's family, and then began the peculiar phase
of the story that has now reached its climax. An ex.
planation having become necessary, the lover was con.
fronted with the statement from his perfidious adored
one that be had totally misconceived her feelings and
intentions. There was much talk, but this was the
gist and end of it. The invention was as palpable as
Its purpose. Astonished as was the poor feLlow, he
was equally helpless. Either the girl's own pride, or
the stress of family influence, had led her to adopt a
course which, however painfnl or however wicked,
presented the advantage of admitting absolutely of no
appeal. Bewildered, humiliated, and stricken to the
heart, the suitor accepted the situation like a brave, if
also like a sensitive man. Adieux were exchanged in
the guise of friendliness, but when the discarded ad.
minr went away he made up his mind that he had
gone away for ever. The play and the reality are in
precise accord here, and they continue wonderfully so
to the and.

Years rolled by, and the affluent manufacturer, who
had thought himself far and away beyond the caprice
of fortune, by a series of unlucky chances became
slightly embarrassed. Tight money markets, the
failure of correspondents, the encroachments of com-
petitors, a reduced demand in his special trade, each
or all, increased this embarrassment, until at last, in
advanced age, and living in a most expensive manner,
he,found himself on the brink of failure and ruin.
Pending this, the '' whirligig of time' had been at
work in go id earnest. The man who had been so
dexterously—or shameltsily—coseted out of his bride,
partly by the force of his natural genius, partly by good
fortune, had risen to wealth and power. By one of
those strange chances which it is the fashion to say
happen only on the stage, or in sensation romance, but
which do in Rooth often come to peas in real life, the
key, so to speak, to the manufacturer's position fell
into this gentleman's hands. Notes to a large amount
made by the former Crossns, potential influence
with the corporations and individuals with whom his
affairs were most blended, were at the control ot the
lover of five years ago. By a natural process again,
it fell out that the old position was resumed, but this
time under happier auspices. It was natural that the
old gentleman should be willing to espy and WM a prac-
deal method of escape from his difficulties. It was
natural that the younger man should hail with joy the
charms to recover his lost love. An engagement was
somi made, then, on terms may to imagine, and this
time without any lying or equivocation. The relative
situations had changed, and there was room both for
a happy revival of the past and politic silence concern-
ing it. In this, too, the lover presented himself, and
then, in presence of the bride's family and friends,
came the climax. It is not ti oe justified, and yet
none can say it was not a righteous retribution. Ti be
brief, the bridegroom, in the drama and the reality,
are in the same exact accord as up to the catastrophe.
On the morning of the day fixed for the wedding,
and at an hour fixed for signing necessary papers, the
bridegroom expectant aaremblage of the persons named,
proceeded calmly to tell the whole story of bis relations
with the young lady and her. family. Having recited
the nature of his provocation, he wound up by
announcing that of his revenge. This consisted in his
utter reiusal ever to wed the woman he once bad loved,
and to whom he had thus been for a second time
affianced. The indignation and excitement that fol-
lowed nerd not be desaibed. The net was cruel,
perbapo unmanly; but surely it was not entirely with-
out palliation, and it must be remembered that for
years the iron had been cutting into the perpetrator's
soul. In the play, the girl, who throughout every-
thing, tenderly loves the man whom she once betrayed,
and so taught to betray herself, marries him, after all,
when she is just dying of a broken heart. In the
drama of real life, the action has proceeded only as far
as we have related it.