Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1856-11-04


ceed a meity of this sum Therefore my
! young friend, you will see that until vot,
can make Up the difference, | should 40,
be doing my duty were to Weld to pear
wishes; and SO saying, he rang the bell
and bowed me ont Of the room with per-
feet courtesy.
left the hoase mechanically, withcat
/ saying word. That evening | read part
of Zancni, took stroll on the Frankfort
| road, and retained to bed at an early
hour. When | awoke the next morning.
the first object that met nav eve was a
large heap of gold carefully piled up on
,he dressing table. Strange that had
not noticed 1t before. | must have mis-
taken nay bed room, or made some con-
/ founded blander so | immediately rang
| the bell and demanded an explanation of
the mystery. The landlady could not
solve 1t; l was IN my own room no mon
ey was left there last night; the servants
had neither Seen nor heard any one move
Ing about the house consequently must
have placed the gold on the table myself
Unable to get at any explanation, |
carefully counted the money, which a.
mounted to the large sum of 10000 for
ms, and locked it up in nay port rt-nap.eau,
| fully expecting to have claimant for it
through the course of the day. But, to
my surprise, no such person app cared, and
L went To bed that night with these riches
| IN my possession, previously taking the
precautlon to lock nay door and place the
key under nay pillow. The following
morning, similar heap of gold and bank
notes stood on nay table. | sprang out of
nay bed, unlocked my port-manteau, and
found the money | had deposited there
untouched next examined through the
room: there aas ic entrance but through
! the door, and this was fastened, and the
key safely slowed away under the pillow.
| now called the landlady, and somewhat
sterniy rebuked her for permitting these
! practical Jokes in her house bat the poor
woman's face toe plainly showed that she
at least was innocent of ali participation
in them SO that again counted the money
and placed it with the other sun,
" That night before going to bed, |
made minute survey of the premises,
carefully hasping the windows and lock-
! ing the door; but the good fairy who sup
| piled me 80 literally with gold, was not
to be shut out thus easily, and | found on
| awakIng Il larger sum than ever on my
table. 1t was perfectly useles asking the
landlady or servants any further questions
they only stared al me and the lodg-
ers were by no means persons Of afluence
! Unable, therefore to arrive at any salts
J factory conclusion, rambled about the
/ promenade In a somewhat dreamy state
OF mind that day. Thought people seem
ed to look at me III peculiar manner as
| passed along, but this was probably mere
fancy on my part. Towards evening |
Received a letter from my darling glrl,
saying that she had at length succeeded
IN inducing her father to accept me as
! his future son-ln-law, and that they were
/ now on their way to Hamburg. The
| count added a few lines, wherein III sta
| ted that his decision was caused partly by
! his daughters entreaties and failing
/ health, and also by the excellent charac-
ter my Colonel had given of me. You
can easily imagine my Joy at this unex-
! pected announcement; IN fact, 1t was al
most greater than | could with safety bear
/ in my excited state of mind. Brimful of
| happiness, | ate a light supper that night,
smoked two or three pipes, and was sound
asleep long before midnight; but although
| Went to bed at an early hour, felt un-
usually lethargic in the morning, and
when | awoke, it was ten o'clock, and the
! count was waiting for me in an adjoining
| room. | sprang out of bed to embrace
him.
" Hold, sir - said he drawing himself
up proudly. promised my daughters
hand to poor but honorable man; 1t shall
never be given to a wealthy blackleg =
| and he pointed scornfully TO the table,
where, as usual, lay mass of bank notes
and gold.
81 felt the blood mount 10 my head as
he uttered these words but made a grand
effort to be calm.
My dear SIR replied, g | know you
do not wish to add insult to my other mis-
fortunes, and therefore / attribute those
harsh expressions entirely to mlsappre-
hension. Inever was gambler. | have
no wish to deny or even extenuate my
many transgressons, but | solemnly as
sure YOU that | never was a gambler
Let me know the name of your inform
ant, and he shall either eat his own words
or bite the dust before ano her day is over
" The count shook his head, and point
ed to the heap of gold.
BY everything that Is holy in this
world, | swear that | am ignorant of how
that money came into this ROOM
The count shook his head and smiled
ironically.
ain the name of God, here on my bend
ed knees, repeat that oath; and as
soldier and man Of honor, pledge my
life that what | have sworn Is true"
The count still shook his head, and his
lips wore the same incredulous smile.
IF, sir, you neither believe my oath
as Christian, nor my word as a gentle
man." said I, rising Indignantly, :" 1 have
nothing further to add, save merely that
that had any other man but the Count
Won $ insulted me in this manner, his
conduct should not have passed with i'm
punity. For your daughters sake, for
the deep love | shall ever bear towards
her, l am content to suffer this indignity
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