Washington telegraph., 1851-05-21
FACT STRANGER THAN FICTION.
A PARISIAN STORY.

:,o romance in real life. Although told
IN single column, it contains more than
lIot enough Tor half dozen of James
ovels. If any one should ask us, seri-
ausIv. whether we believed the tale, we
shonld say, seriously, "not word of it,"
Rat il is still we'll worth reading as a
snecimen of what the French feuilIeto on
;des can manufacture, when they set
,be;r wits to work. Here it is: @
During the first three years of the
,picn of Louis Philippe, man inhabited
q. magnificent hotel in the Faubourg St.
Honore, not far from the place Beauveau
His fortune was immense, his disposition
s,,urnne He saw no one, and occupied
small apartment on the ground floor,
which apartment was decidedly the most
rphospitable in Paris. AS for the other
rooms in the hotel. they were always
empty and closed. This strange person
aoe went out every day at midday. and
returned at d O'Clock in the afternoon;
the rest of the time he was invisible.
His only relatives lived at Perigcrd, with
the exception of nephew whom he had
brought TO Paris, aud sent to college-a
handsome boy, active aud bold, and fair
as Saxon The uncle and nephew
dned together every Sunday. and after
dinner the Ole man said to the young one
slipping louis d or into his hand, You
will be my heir" and the inner itance
consisted of seven or eight millions at
least Every Sunday and Thursday
morning the proprietor of the Place
Beauveau received a visit from beauti-
fu! and elegantly dressed woman. She
always came in carriage, entered the
garden, and returned at noon on Sunday,
and Oh Thursday at midnight On no
other day was she seen at the hotel.-
This state of things lasted for some years.
The scholar was growing into young
man; the single louis had been replaced
by double one. aud still the old man
said, You shall be my heir. to which
the nephew sometimes replied, "Heir or
not, have time TO wait.
The truth is. that the millionaire was
dry as a rattan, green as bunch OF holly,
and strong as an oak One Wednesday
they found him dead in the bed. A
charcoal fire, half consumed, burnt on
the hearth; there had been asphyxia, or
congestion of the brain. Justice came
and sealed up everything. The relatives
duly notified came, and before witnesses
proceeded to the opening of the desk
where the papers of the defuncL were
kept. A will, written in the testator's
own hand, left, as sole legatee, the
lady who had paid the Sunday and
Thursday visits 10 the hotel OF the
Place Beauveau, with the. single charge
of all annuity of two thousand four
hundred francs to the nephew Of the
deceased. The family attempted to set
aside the will A thousand rumors
as to the cause of the sudden death pre-
vailed but spite of rumors and law pro-
ceedings the lady was maintained 10y the
tribunals III possession OF the goods and
cLaltles which constituted the wealth of
the millionaire. The nephew, who
should have had an income of three or
four thousand francs, had only an annui-
,y of one hundred louis. Rich, he would
have been a sportsman: poor. he became
a sailor.
Eight or ten years rolled on. The
sailor, in cruising around the world, had
doubled his small fortune. Chance led
him TO Paris, aud having at the moment
no voyage to make to Vera Cruz or Calcut-
ia. lie paraded the Boulevard, believing
that a man who had five or six thousand
lIvres year has good right TO bask IN
the sun.
do 10 ho
he met young girl he thought the
most beautiful he had ever seen. He
followed her, without thinking any harm,
to her residence in the Rue de Bac.-
The next day, and without any settled
purpose, the sailor was again traversing
the garden of the Tuileries. The same
woman aud young girl were walking
there again. He caught the young girls
eye, and she blushed celestial rosy red
The same thing took place for several
successive days; but on Sunday, in
stead OF going TO the Tuileries, he betook
hmself to Saint Thomas d'Aquin. where,
at the first glance. he caught sight OF a
lutte white bonnet and little brown
head from which he could no: turn his
eyes. Although bold and resolute as
rover, the sailor was, by nature, senti-
mental and romantic. One day the young
slrl had dropped bouquet of violets,
which he pounced upon and wore next
70 his heart as talisman.
MA FOL- said he to himself one morn
ing 81 should like to have that little
sltl for my wife. must set about max
ing inquiries on the subject
The result of which was that he learn
ed that the young girl was immensely
Fch, and with a sigh he said:
bon! if she had been poor | might
have married her; but rich as fairy, il is
impossible"
Ihe-eupon he bit his mustache and
went home to pack up his travelling
traps His trunk packed. he went TO
0ed, and before sleep had visited his eve