The Nevada journal., 1852-05-15

less happy mortal, and he thanked his
stars for it, as the error enabled him
10 become favorably known to my lady
whose obliging and very flatfering in
vitations he eagerly accepted--and
strange to tell, soon became not only q
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
dismissed one by one, and it was some
how SO brought about, that before the
end of short month, the young clerk
lad an interview by her Ladyship's
own appointment marriage was pro.
posed by her, and. of course, accepted
by him, in delirium of love and as
tonishment.
The bewildered young gentleman
stood before the small looking glass in
his modestly furnished atti,', and sur
veyed himself from head to foot. Ee
was by no means an ugly man, but he
could not consider herself particularly
handsome his dress was such as be-
came a clerk with salary of as many
hundred francs per annum as there
are months in the year, and having a
praiscworthy aversion to running in
debt, he could not therefore attribute
his good fortune to his tailor. He
made up his mind that he was loved
for himself alone, and his eally novel
reading favored this romantic conclu-
sion, but being naturally of modest
turn of mind, this solution on second
thoughts 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 a1-
rer, or rather golden tones of the no.
tary's voice, his astonishment redou-
bled. He would KAYE, $50 said the
marriage contract,) n country seat in
Bergundy, domain in Normandy, a
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 chan
mel, also, coal mines in Wales, and
grazing lands in Devonshire. It was
to the young man a golden dream from
which he dreaded to awake. The
Mayor had sanctioned and the priest
had solemnly blessed their union, yet
with the rites of the church and the
forms of law to aid lis reason, the con-
viction that it was all but a splendid
and unsubstantial vision would not
leave him, even at the feet of his law.
ful wife in the bridal chamber-he
pressed her hand to his lips, he grasp.
ed convulsivcly the embroidered night
dress, in his fear that she might sud
denly vanish into the air.
Rise, my dear Frederick again
said the 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 Ma
dame de Ia Tour began thus:
There was once upon q time -
Good Heaven, said Frederick, am
not wrong then; it is it is fairy
tale? Listen, my dear sir--there
lived once young girl whose family
had been rich; but when their only
daughter was but fifteen they had 70
other means of subsistence than the
daily earnings Of the father. They
lived at Lyons, and l 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 retrieving our fallen fortunes,
gain filling our place in society, and
moving in the cherished circle we have
been obliged to relinquish.
The father of this poor girl expe-
rienced this, to him, insurmountable
difficulty, for after struggling during
four long years with poverty and neg
lect, he died in a hospital. Her mo-
ther's death soon followed, and the
young girl was left alone in cheer
less garret, long arrear of rent un-
paid, with the chilling presence Of two
miserable untenanted beds to increase
her feelings Of grief and desolation
If there were to be fairy in my sto-
ry, she should without doubt now pre-
sent herself, but there was no glimpse,
not the shadow of one. Tho young
girl was unknown in Paris, without
money, without either friend or pro-
tcctor to sustain or cherish her, and
she asked in vain for that employment