Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-12-03

Tue goiu would have burned both my heart and
my brain II had accepted it, but could not
confess the truth. Complete your task by
you will learn ALL"
"You have deceived me. then. in the affair
of Naples too, perhaps?r
son the faith of dying man, you have heard
the truth, and nothing but the truth, on that
subject. told you, when we first met, that 1
had enemies who had taken away my honor.
and now they have reached my life"
This terrible hint confirmed suspicious in my
mind that had been indistinctly forming since
the first period of our acquaintance. Corn
wallis uncle had children who might be largely
benefited by his death; the suspected valet
was probably their agent, and the strange out
rage committed at Naples might have been a
stratagem to disorder his imagination, or an
attempt to remove him, baffled by some secret
means Mine was not the only judgment
BIASED against Sir Frederick Cornwall, and
the emaciated state of his nephew everywhere
ascribed to the cruelties inflicted on him,
caused such general Indignation ssd abhor
renee, that the darkest suspicious were willing
ly received. Letters were privately sent to
powerful persons in Naples, urging them to
trace the Italian valet; and while we awaited
the result, my uncle and myself neglected no
means to allure the melancholy man from his
solitude. He was our guest for whole days and
and weeks, and his house, on these occasions,
was left to the care of three trusty servants,
who had known and loved him from his youth
They were alarmed one evening, in their
masters absence, by the stopping of hired
postchase at their gates, from whence, without
ceremony or inquiry, yelled woman came
into the hall, and seated herself. The servants
looked at each other in stupid confusion, for
they all recognized their masters divorced wife,
BE under no embarrassment" said she,
with GOODNESS which completed their astonish.
ment; "Colonel Cornwall is absent, and |
neither desire. nor expect to see him. Bring
me ink and paper, and carry the letter / shall
write"
They all obeyed without understanding her
authority, and the whole household gathered
round, each indulgng his curiosity, by holding
some article of the writing apparatus. With
her veil still over her face and an unmoved
attitude, she wrote and sealed her billet, which
the steward, a man of great fidelity and shrewd-
ness, brought instantly to me. His account Of
this singular visit, gave me great hopes Of some
decisive crisis; and, not without many anxious
expectations, gave the paper into her hus-
bands hands. He read it twice, his counte-
nance changed extremely, but merely writing
two lines with his pencil on the back of his
wife's note, he desired me to deliver it myself
On such mission there could be no hesitation.
found her still sitting in the hall, with her
veil drawn over her, and the servants stationed
in cluster at some distance to watch her mo-
tons. She read her husbands answer, and,
after short pause, rose and threw back her
VEIL
u have recollected myself, sir" she said,
advancing towards me; these people all
know me, and | have no right to screen myself
from their contempt: it is part Of the punish
ment | come to meet, and this veil is an in
diligence do not deserve Colonel Cornwall
commands me to quit his house, but something
is due to justice and public opinion. His un-
Gle accuses him of inventing the conspiracy at
Napes-you suspect his uncle of abetting it
for his own purposes. ] was the only witness
OF that transaction, and will give my evidence
when and where you please; but | adjure all
these persons to attest that their master has
spoken the truth, and that his uncleis innocent"
was COMPOUNDED by this public declaration
on subject so unfit for the ears of vulgar and
prejudiced hearers. l begged a private au-
dience, and endeavored to persuade her that
her late husbands health was in no state to
bear agitating appeals and discoveries; but she
persisted in offering termination of all secrets
as the readiest and most certain medicine for
his melancholy. She urged me to conduct her
into his presence, or to be the medium of her
communication. l accepted the last alterna-
tive, and she put large drawinginto my hand.
took an oath,' said she, half smiling,
(" never to name the principal actor in this az
tar, but did not promise to conceal his pic
ture."
The servants of Colonel Cornwall's establish,
ment received my orders to observe her mar
rowly till my return, and / set out, charged
with heavy and difficult task, to see him
again. His first words were to prohibit the in
truslon OF the woman once called his wife.
Then cycling me steadfasty, he added
She has told you all, see but the disclo-
sure might have been spared till after my de-
cease. You have heard that williams who per-
sonated English seamen BETRAYED me into TIL the
hands OF Neapolitan traitors. /, who had
volunteered my services on an important IN
dertaking, and was entrusted with secret docu.
ments-l, while the army was sailing to its
destination, was imprisoned in the den of that
false woman's paramour, and then released
alive with the mockery of mercy"
But, perhaps, even that small mercy was
shown at her intercession."
Yes" he rejoned, with smile full of bitter
ness, "and she probably believed I would owe
my liberty second time to her interference
and thank her for it. Tell her | do give her
thanks, not for my life, but for making me
seem mailman rather than coward or
traitor, and for Fastening my death now by her
Look at this picture, however and if it re.
sembes the person whose agents imprisoned
you, tell me by whit name he is now called"
de looked at it an instant, and thrusting it
into the fire, replied,
An emperor's brother-in,law-the kinq of
Naples!"
These were his last articulate words. Elk.
cept look of sorrow, and long pressure of
my hand when asked forgiveness for his wife,
ne gave no sign of recollection before he died
that night. The unhappy woman fell into tho
EXTREMIST agonies of despair, and resigned
herself to the most desolate solitude Yet the
energy of her conduct in her last confession,
ner courageous efforts to release her husband
rom the tortures of q mad-house in the garh Of
: French boy, and her deep repentance of the
railty which led her step by step into the so
ciety OF military renegades, proved mind
worthy of better fate. / did not discover
Off hat Il a