The true Democrat., 1855-09-04
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II was cold winters evening; the rich ban ker, BroUnker, had drawn his easy chair close to the corner of the stove, and sat smoking his long clay pipe with g2eat conpaccncy while his intimate friend Won Grotc employed exact y in the same manner, occupied the opposite corner All was quiet in the house, for Broun ker's wife and children were gone to a masked ball. and secure from fear of interruption, the two friends ndulgcd in confidential conver- satiOn.
 q cannot think" said Von Grote, "whv you should refuse your consent to the marriage Berlenrode can give his daughter good for tune, and you say that your son is desperately iii love with her"
 "l don't object to it,'' said Brounker. |" It IS my wife who will not hear of it."
 And what reason has she for rcfusing?" cone which 1 cannot tell you,' said his friend, sinking his voice.
 con, a mysterv--come, out with if. You know l have been open and frank with you, even to giving you my opinion ol your absurd jealousy of your wife"
 "Jealous of my wife?-nonSonsc. Have l not just sent her to masked hall?'
 "l don't wonder you boast of it. l should like to have seen you do as much when you were first married. To be sure, you had reason to look sharply after her, for she was the pret- tiest girl in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, she has taken such advantage of your love, that the gray mare has become the better horse, and you refuse an advantageous match for your son to gratfy her caprice.'
 You arc quite wrong, my good friend, l never allow any one to be master here but my self and in the present instance l cannot blame Clotilda The secret of her refusal lies in a herring pie"
 "A herring pie!'' exclaimed Won Grotc.
 "Yes herring pie. You may remember that 1t was favorite dainty of mine and that my wife could not endure the smell of it. Well, during the first year of our marriage, must confess was little--a vely littlc-jeal- ous of Clotilda My situation obliged me to keep open house. and among the young sparks that visited us none gave me more uneasiness than the handsome Colonel Berkenrode. The reputation that he had already acquired for gal lantry was enough to create alarm, and the marked attention he paid my wife convinced was impossible to forbid him the house for he had it in his power to deprive me of the government contracts; in other words, to ruin me. After pom dering deeply on the subject, decided on doing nothing, until danger should become immi-
 
 things really stood- Having just purchased this house, caused secret closet to be made be- hind the stove here. It communicates with my private room, and from it 1 could over hear everything that passed in this apartment, with out fisk of being discovered Thank God, 1 have had no use for it for the last twenty years, and, indeed 1 do not even know what has be- come of the key Satisfied with this precau- tion, did not hesitate to leave Clotida when any of her admirers paid her visit, though l promise you that some of the Colonel's gallant speeches made me vince"
 | "Upon my word" interrupted his friend, "you showed most comlnendable patence- | In your place I should have contented myself with forbdding my wife to receive the his visits"
 "There spoke the old bachelor But as I did not want to drive her headlong into his arms I went different way to work. Day after day I was forced to listen to the insidious arguments of the seducer. My Wife--I must own she made st out defense-at ono time tried ridicule at another entreaty, to deter him from his pursuit of her. He began to lose hope in proportion as 1 gained it, till one day he bethought himself of threatening to blow his brains out if she would not show him some compassion Moved at this proof of the strength of his passion, she burst into tears, and pleaded that she was not free-in short, she gave him to understand that I was the obstacle to his happiness Berkenrode was too we'll skill led in the art of seduction not to see that he had gained point. He raved, cursed me as as the cause of his misery, and tried to obtain a promise from her in case she should become a widow. She stopped him peremptorily; but I never closed an eye that night, and Clotilda, though she did not know that I watched her, was as uneasy as myself. Onthe following day