Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-04-28

footman descended from his station, open
ed the door. let down the steps, and with
nus piumed hat in hand, respectfully inyi-
tea tne astonished Frederick TO enter the
carriage, lie did SO, and thus. as if by
magic, beheld himself seated beside a
woman both young and beautiful. and
dressed with great elegance and richness
He had hardly time to look around him
before the horses were again at full speed.
" My dear sir," (said the lady, who was
thus running away with him, and in the
sweetest tone of voice imaginable,9 "1
have received your note, but notwithstan-
ding your refusal, hope shall see you
at my little sOiree tomorrow evening. /"
" Me madam" said Frederick. eyes,
you, sir oh beg thousand pardons,
| hope you will forgive me the mistake
l have made, said the lady, with appear
ance of much surprise" /" but you resemble
so perfectly one of my most intimate
friends, that 1 mistook you for him. Oh
excuse me, sir what must YOU think Of me,
but the likeness is so striking it would have
deceived any person" BY the time this
explanation was at an end, the equipage
entered the courtyard of splendid man
sion, and Frederick could do no less than
hand Lady Melville, from her carriage.
Frederick de la Tour, dazzled as we'll
he might be, by so many charms, had no
difficulty in believing that Lady Melville
had mistaken him for some less happy
mortal, and he thanked his stars for il, as
the error enabled him to become favora-
bly, known to my lady whose obliging and
tiattering invitations he eagerly accepted
and strange to tell, soon became not
only marked favorite, but among her
most constant and welcome guests. The
rich widow was surrounded by suitors for
the honor of her hand, who were dismiss
ed one by one, and it was somehow so
brought about, that before the end of a
short month, the young clerk had an In
tervieW by her Ladyship's own appoint
ment-marriage was proposed, by her
and OF course accepted by him, in de-
lirlum of love and astonishment.
The beWildered young gentleman stood
before the small looking-glass in his mod
estly furnished attic, and surveyed him
self from head to foot. He was by no
means an ugly man, but could not consid-
er himself particularly handsome his
dress was such as became clerk with a
salary of as many hundred francs per an
mum as there are months in the year, and
having praiseworthy aversion to running
in debt, he could not therefore attribute
his good fortune to his tailor. He made
up his mind that he must be loved for
himself alone, and his early novel reading
favored this romantic conclusion, but be-
ing naturally of modest turn OF mind,
this solution on second thought appeared
improbable, and he then determined that
Lady Melville must be laboring under
some strange and unnatural delusion.
When the wedding day arrived and
the future husband listened to the silvsr OF
rather golden tones of the notary's voice,
his astonishment redoubled. He would
have (as said the marriage contract a
country seat in Burgundy, a domain in
Normandy, house in the street Saint
Honore in Paris, and numerous other
goods and chattels, of which until that day
he had never heard syllable. Lady
Melville had riches across the channel,
also, coal mines in Wales, and grazing
lands in Devonshire. 1t was TO the young
man golden dream from which he drea.
med to awake. The Mayor has sane.
toned, and the priest had solemnly bless
ed their union, yet with the rites of the
church and the forms of law to aid his
reason, the conviction that it was all but
splendid and unsubstantial vision would
not leave him, even at the feet of his law
tul wife in bridal chamber-he pressed
her hand to his lips, he graspcd convuI.
sively the embroidered night-dress, in his
fear that she might suddenly vanish into
the air
Rise, my dear Frederick, )" again said
his wife, draw that easy chair close To
mine and let me talk to you" The young
man did so, but without releasing the hand
OF his wife, and Madam de la Tour began
thus
"There was once upon timc"-'Good
Heavens, said Frederick, "I am not
wrong then; it is a fairy tale - Listen
my dear sir-there lived once a young
girl whose family had been rich, but when
their only daughter was but fifteen, they
had no other means Of subsistence than
the daily earnings of her father. They
lived at Lyons, and | know not what vain
hope Of bettering their condition induced
their removal TO Paris But some men
when they have once fallen. never rise
again. and indeed few things are found
more difficult of attainment than retrieve
ing our fallen fortunes, again filling ouI
place in society, and moving in the cher
ished circle we have been obliged TO relin-
quish.
1.-THE father of this poor girl eIPerien-
ced this, to him, insurmountable difficult
ty, for after struggling during four long
years with poverty and neglect, he died
in a hospital. Her mothers death soOT
followed, and the young girl was left alOn'
in q cherries garret, long arreaT Of rem
unpaid, with the chilling presence Of tw,
miserable untenanted beds TO increase he