The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-09 00:00:00

An Austrian Love Story.

A new species of the truly inexhaustible genius
of matrimonial suits has recently turned up in a case
tried and decided in Vienna. In the house of one
Herr Hahne, a teacher of languages, Dr. Kant, a
young lawyer, happened to make the acquaintance
of a lady, burdened with some property and thirty
years. The lady, being unmarried, evinced parti-
cular interest in the young, shy, and rather abashed
man of law. She talked a great deal with him in
company, preferred him in the dance, and ended
with inviting him to her house. Dr. Kant, who,
as the unhappy lover of another girl, was not par-
ticularly inclined to pay visits, at first did not
comply with the courteous request of the fair, but,
seeing her again at a friend's, and her invitation
being repeated, at length allowed himself to become
a habitue of her and her mother's hospitable house.

It appears that the lady wasted for several months
for him to " pop the question ;" until, getting
weary of his melancholy mein and indescribable
reserve, she resolved to open a way for her retiring
Adonis to propose, or retreat for ever. One
evening when the doctor, according to his wont,
was sitting opposite tar tabouret, conversation—
accidentally, of course—turned on marriage, and
the happiness of harmonising souls. Dr. Kant pie.
tared the fetters of Hymen in rosy colours ; the face
of the lady brightened, and with a palpitating heart
she put the question—" With your favourable idea
of matrimony, may I ask if you ever thought of
marrying yourself ?" Dr. Kant sighed, and, his eyes
resting on the ground, hesitatingly muttered in
reply—" I have already thought of marrying, and
made my choice, but—" "But !" the lady hastily
inter posed. " But," he continued, " the lady is rich,
very rich, and lam poor. lam afraid I can hardly
aspire to her hand, and rather than allow myself to
be taxed with sordid designs, I will bury my passion
in my breast, and leave it unavowed for ever." A
short pause ensued. Both parties were embarrassed,
and the doctor rose to take his hat and leave the
lady at an unusually early hour. Miss Martini
bade him good evening in a friendly and cordial
way, without, however, adding another word on she
subject of their conversation. At an early hour of
the following day she, however, betook herself to
a solicitor, and, in legal form, declared her wish
to present and hand over as his sole property the
sum of 150,000 gulden (Z 15,000) to Dr. Kant.
'When the document had been signed, counter-
signed, and duly completed, she sat down in the
office, and enclosing it in an elegant envelope, added
a note to the following effect : " Dear Sir,—l have
much pleasure in enclosing a paper, which I hope
will remove the obstacle in the way of your mar-
riage.—Believe me, &0., ALICE MARTINI." Dr.
Kant, for he and no other was the addressed, was
the happiest man in the world on receiving this
generous epistle. Bat alas! that he should have
put a different construction on it to that expected.
Repairing at once to the parents of Fraulein
Fische!, the lady of his love, he proposed for and
received the hand of a girl who had long been flat-
tered by his delicate though unavowed attentions.
His' reply to Fraulein Martini, besides convoying
his sincerest thanks, contained two cartes de visite,

linked together by the significant rose coloured
ribbon. Miss Martini fortnwith sued the happy
bridegroom for restitution ; bat as no promise of
marriage had been made, the case was by two sac•
cessive courts decided against her:

BEGGING LETTER WRITERS.—These are the cor-
porate beggars. But there are besides the indivi-
dual beggars; and how does the heart of the secretary fail
him when he has to cope with them ! And they must be
coped with to some extent, because they all enclose docu-
ments (they call their scraps documents ; but they are, as to
papers deserving the name, what minced meat is to a calf),
the non-return of which would be their ruin. That is to
say, they are utterly ruined now, but they would be more
utterly ruined then. Among these correspondents are
several daughters of general officers, long accustomed to
every luxury of life (except spelling), who little thought
when their gallant fathers waged war in the Peninsula that
they would ever have to appeal to those whom Providence,
in its inscrutable wisdom, has blessed with untold gold, and
from among whom they select the name of Nicodemus
Boffin, Esq., for a maiden effort in this wise, understanding
that he has such a heart as never was. The secretary learns
too that confidence between man and wife would seem to
obtain but rarely when virtue is in distress, so numerous
are the wives who take up their pens to ask Mr Boffin fcr
money without the knowledge of their devoted husbands,
who would never permit it ; while, on the other hand, so
numerous are the husbands who take up their pens to ask
Mr Boffin for money without the knowledge of their devoted
w yes, who would instantly go out of their senses if they
had the least suspicion of the circumstance. There are the
inspired beggars, too. They were sitting, only yesterday
evening, musing over a fragment of candle which must soon
go out and leave them in the dark for the rest of their nights,
when surely some angel whispered the name of Mr Nicode-
mus Boffin, Esq., to their souls, imparting rays of hope, nay
confidence, to which they had long been strangers. Akin
to these are the suggestively-befriended baggers. They
were partaking of a cold potato and water by the flickering
and gloomy light of a lucifer-match, in their lodgings (rent
considerably in arrear, and heartless landlady threatening
friend, happened to look in, said, "Write immediately to
Nbodemus Boffin, Esq.," and would take no denial. There
are the nobly independent beggars, too. These, in the days
of their abundance, ever regarded gold as dross, and have
not yet got over that only impediment in the way of their
amassing wealth, but they want no dross from Nicodemus
Boffin, Esq. No, Mr Boffin, the world may term it pride,
paltry pride if you will, but they wouldn't take it if you
offered it. A loan, sir—for fourteen weeks to the day,
interest calculated at the rate of five per cent. per
annum, to be bestowed upon any charitable institution
you may name—is all they want of ,you, and if you have
the meanness to refuse it, count upon being despised by
these great spirits. There are the beggars of punotnal busi-
ness habits, too. These will make an end of themselves at
a quarter to 1 p,m. on Tuesday, if no Post-office order is in
the interim received from Nicodemus Boffin, Esq. ; arriving
after a quarter to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, it need not be sent, as
they will then (having made an exact memorandum of the
heartless circumstances) be "cold in death." There are
the beggars on horseback, too, in another sense from the
sense of the proverb. These are mounted and ready to
start on the highway to affluence. Tho goal is before
them, the road is in the best condition, their spurs are
on, the steel is willing, but, at the last moment; for want
of some special thing--a clock, is violin, an astronomical
telescope, an electrifying machine—they must dismount
for ever, unless they receive its equivalert in money
from Nicodemus Boffin, Esq. Less given to detail
aro the beggars who make sporting vultures. These, usually
to be addressed in reply under initials to a country post -
offine, inquire in feminine hands. Dare one who cannot
disclose herself to Nioodemus Baffle, Esq., but whose name
might startlohim were it revealed, solicit the immediate ad-
vance of £2OO from unexpected riches exercising their
noblest privilege in the trust of a common humanity.—Our
Mutual Friend.
ACCIDENT AT DOVER.—Last night a lady named
Miss Hall, on a visit to Dover, fell over the pier—a 30 feet
fall— into 2or 3 feet water. She was immediately taken up
and convoyed to the Sailors' Ileum:She is not, it is hoped,
seriously hurt,