Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1843-01-20
MONTPELIER, JANUARY 20, Is43.

w MS Veefnce NecIhFinH InHt 10 enUnfe existence
any longer without seeing her he felt TO he impos.
sihc. He implored Gustave Ivy the love he bore
10 Elise, Ivy their long friendship aud by his nhec-
lion for Louise, TO grunt his request He propo-
scd Tint they should meet in The garden Of he fIo.
tel de Brelenl, which could he arranged by admit
ting him hy private door that opened into the
Rue lie Babylon. Gusnve consented 10 his llnn,
aud while they IRE concerning measures to curry
u INTO effect we must take retrospective view OF
the circumstances that had led the CoIntc de Bre.
tell TO offer such an nuarcouutube opposition to
the happiness Of his children.
In early youth he had made what is called n
love match, and during the hrici duration of his
welded life had possessed happiness that rarely
accompanies marriages in the formation of which
passion has bad more influence than reason. The
Countess de Breicrl, on her death bed to which
III lew fleeing hours violent malady had con
Quoted her. win The shor-sehled selfshness of
al IlI-rrgnIned affection, had exlorteh from her
agoni2ed husband solemn promise that he would
never give her successor IN his heart. or plure
over his children M aleu- mother This request,
framed by love, led, as shall see, to tie most
fatal results aud drove from the pnle Of domestic
bliss man who might have dispensed and parla-
Ken tlin blessing. The fret violent grief Of the
hereaved hushnnd having subsidrd into the stag
nnilt calm Of morbid melancholy, he sought in
vain 10 ii1d relief in his former avOculions Books
failed to give him their wnnted solace because ey.
cry pnge OF his iavori'c authors teened with pas.
sagcs marked by the pencil Of her he sought to
target; and the sympathy of their tastes brought
thus before him, renewed Tire overwhelming grief
her loss bad oocasIoned. His home had now be.
come nnheGrublo to him, for it was iraught with
images OF the past. Her vacant chair opposite to
his own; the ahourel on which her delicate feet
used to repOsc the vase, now empty in when
the flowers she loved we're wont to arlorii her ia
ole the unfinished sketches from her pencil, sui
resting on the easel and her harp standing where
she had last awakened its tones, ull-nll spoke to
INN OF the happy past and rendered The present
iIsupporablc 1t was to fly from this state of
gloomy grief, Tint he sought iorgeiiuness in play
that fearful remedy which, like the posons intro
duced IN medicine, is much more destructive
than the mnady il may Danish. The excitement
nj hrsf produced was such relief 10 his hnrassed
feelings, that hr had recourse to il ms the victim
oi acute pain flies to opiatcs when suffering has
conquered tortitude, and iOrget!une>s for ieW
briei hours is all he hopes to oh ain. The fatal
habit OF play grew on hin,.-iljy, soon became
the engro,sng passion Of his life, until fortune.
lame, pCace-a were sacrificed 10 lis destructive
indulgence. Ills large funded properly, touched
Ivy the burning fingers of the reckless ganestcr
had melted like snow before the sun; and when
Sladnme de Iournaville placed in his hands the
ample fortune Of her orphan daughter, he was on
the very verge OF ruin, into which. without
this timely aid he must have inevitably been plum
ged. He gradalions OF vice nre imperceplible
only TO the wrechel ono " lo passes through HEM
lew months heiore, and the COME de Breleu
would have spurned the idea that he could even
lie suspected OF rlskiug the property Of his own
children, n properly which lie considered as sa-
cred deposit confirlcd TO his care hut no,o he
hlushcd not 10 risk that Of his youthful ward and
saw thousand after thousand OF it disappear in the
same fatal gulf which had swallowed up is own.
Inc Conte de Breteul had NOT lost the vast
sums that had le 10 his ruin without linvng made
nequaininnres as disrepulahle to his fame, us the
pursuit by which lie formed them was destructive
10 his fortune. Men of all countries ms ruined in
reputation as in purse, had now become his n,so-
cIhes; sums of money lost 10 rhen which lie had
MOI always Tie power TO pay, had placed Inn in
their disgrncelul dependence, and they no longer
felt under their former restraint in his presence
lie CnnIte de Breleul, naturally proud man.
had not reached this Illuminating stare OF d-gra-
taiion without frequent sef.reprouch, aud sickcn-
ing feelings ut disgust hut The hope, the deep
i've hope of regaiuug his lusses, that hope which
lures The gamester TO obstruction, still led him on
lie had been living on credit for some months
and retained but Il few thousand francs of the
once large fortune of Made de Tuurnaville in
his possession, when by the death OF n relation n
large some of money WINS bequeaihed to her
which was IT, descend to him uul his children in
case OF her dying childlesS. This Ind occurred
only few days before the arrival of GusIave de
Brelen AT Paris, and the guilty and ruined father
determined on forming marriage between Ma
Tide and his sun, which would give him the POW.
er OF arpropii niing nj least portion Of this mon
ey To his own pressing eXigencies, and prevent
the discovery of his dishonest waste of her paier
nal fortune, ms he knew that bolh Matills and
Gnsave would leave the whole OF their pccunia
ny concerns TO his management.
WIN thus plan IN view, the only one which Of
iered II chance Of cuncealing his diShonorable
conduci, and lis ruinous results, il may easily he
imagined with what dread lie watched the looks
OF The NIcome dc Vllleneuve, trembling lest any
attachment should be formed helNepn hin, INIT
halde, aud with what anger he discovered his
sons engagement TO Madeuolselle de Vllleneuve,
which offered bar TO the completion of his plan
The marriages Of his children in the family of
De Nleneuye could not take place without The
state OF his fortune being made known and once
known, would they, could they be permitted by
any prudent parents? Who could CONSENT to re.
ceive lie portlOness son and daughter OF u ruiuCd
dishonest gnmester? No. his gentle and high.
minded Louise, aud his honorable aud inipeiuutls
Gusinve, would he spuned 10y the parents OF De
Nllenenve, aud he-he would lie the cause of all
this, There was agony, there was bitterness in the
thought aud the reproaches which his TOO lately.
awakened conscience whispered, almost avenged
the crime that excied them. The unhappy ruan
still loved his chldren ondly, truly loved them:
and perhaps The cruel injustice he had committed
~ reducing them 10 poverty, added poignHncy to
MS affection for remorso und pity were allied TO
his parental feelings
This affection for his offspring which, had lie
been unlimited with The vice that bad cutsed his
run, would have been n source vi the pufest hap
piness 10 him, was now the instrument of his
heaviest punishment; for the Iungs of disappoin.
teo hope which he bad inflicted on hem in Cppo.
sing their love, recoiled on his own heart making
hlni feel that he had brought misery on those
whose felicity he might have insured
lie was writing under repentance for The pns,
AMI terror for the future, when le Chevalier Rous-
sci was announced and his presence added poign-
ancy 10 the bitter feelings 20 which the guilty
COule dc Breleul was n prey
Roussel was a ehepaiier dind,tsirie, who thougl,
far from beng sans reprOche was sans peur aud
who had attained II proficiency in The science he
proicssed, never acquired but NJ the price OF MIA.
my Luckily Tor society lhnt il is 50 the exposure
which ultimately awaits such characters limits
he power OF plundeiing that their knowledge of