Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-03-23
STAR.
THE SALE OF A KINGDOM.
kCOyCIUnYn

| "Ie.cneu anu unndppyS WDlie, X you marry,
he will resign himself to forgetfulne.s. Do
you wish to bo the cause of his misery?
| have no great affection in my nature Ii is
chiefly PRIDE therefore all those pangs with
which L threatened you, wiz infict upon
him, if you disobey. You can 60 forward to
the altar where the Count Entremer awaits
you, or back the way we come In the latter
case my guards will attend upon you, and you
will be forced to witness how bravely the
prince endures his tortures -
1t is not likely the king would have per-
formed an iota of this grandiloquent threat !;
but Nathalie could have given credence to
any evil from him. She trembled an instant
and then with firm step went forward, placed
her hand in the Count d'Entremer's-neyer
seen by her before-snd being quickly and ir-
| revocably pronounced his wife, received the
congratulations of the smiling king and the
| few witnesses Leaning against the altar,
| pallid and cold as sculpture, the first object
that her married eyes discerned was lie Nor
man. He moved forward, with an expression
stabbed him, and appeared to offer his COM
| pliments
"What ardor !" he murmured; "what sin.
certify what constancy. Madame Ia Comp.
tesse is as firm as a rock in her determination
to be fai'hless as shifting sand
y
| Time, too fast for the most of us, Jagged sad
|
than child as she sighed far away in distant
France, and from the windows Of her chateau,
watc he'd the shadows come and 90 on the pur
| pie Pyrenean slopes, while her husband was
absent the greater part Of the time at Paris
| or at the court she had so lately left. Time
| passed not slowly with the prince indeed, La
Norman Witnessed thousand events for every
ore IN the monotonous years Of the Countess
ERtIemer. Having recovered from the first
severe shock of his loss and disappointment,
with the native energy Of his nature, not
| dceming il right to waste his life in idle des-
pair, he wonderfully bestirred himself-super-
intending the education Of his brother, ar
ranging scientific expeditions, and performing
all duties devolving upon him, but steadfastly
refusing tho royal match urged by his father,
and clinging to the loose fragments Of the love
Of earlier days.
Ten years had elapsed since the death
Of his father and his own oronation-his
brother had entered into manhood, and LIE
Norman, as the King, had already command
ed the admiration of all Europe by his daring
genius, when the Count 'Entremer appeared
again at court after short absence, and for
the first time since his marriage brought
the countess OF course all the world were on
the qni viue 70 behold the meeting; but all
the world found very little satisfaction in the
calm nopchalsnt air of the countess, as she
received the rather sarcastically polite well
ty-fve, she was in the full bloom of woman-
hood, and perhaps lovelier, aud with a better
balanced mind han if she had not experience
ed these long, lonely years.
few weeks had elapsed, and in one of the
sea shore palaces the whole court we're assem-
bled at summer festivities. The royal abode
was on a cliff, which afforded in front of the
building a promenade of several hundred
yards, and abruptly terminating in a preci-
pice, whose base was washed by the sea. On
this cliff, one afternoon, party Of courtiers-
among whom was the king, his brother and
the Countess d'Entremer were watching the
approsch Of a small boat, which, cut on a fish
ing excursion, could hardly hope to make the
shore before the squall should burst upon it
Erect in the prov, keen eye could not fail to
recognize the lefty figure of the Count d En-
tremer.
Leaning breathlessly over the cliff, Nathalie
remained with her eyes fixed on the boat; for
although she had no manner Of affection for
the husband forced upon her, she could not
view his danger with indifference, nor desire
anything but his happiness The boat was
still far distant, the wind dincreasiDg-already
| it futtered the ends of her white scarf into
toe sir across the brink of the precipice, as
with hands slightly extended forward she
stood silent and moti0nless. The courtiers
withdrew O little, and the king and herself
remained nearest together upon the edge.
Great rain drops fell, dashing dawn the bands
Of her hair, and soaking her garments, yet
still she stood needless of it
The count saw her, for, dofing his cap, he
raised his hands to his lips with knightly
gesture, and waved it toward her He was so
near that the wind might be seen lifting his
hair, when the little mast cracked and broke,
dragged the boat down, and precipitated the
occupants into the roaring gulf. He was a
strong swimmer, for after every wsve broke
its crest over him he was seen riding the next
one triumphant. Now lost to sight, now again
appearing, now supporting fainting comrade,
| and now with rapid strokes parting the waves
a weaker man would have sunk long ago. The
rain and the spray mingled their strength with
| the wind and the waves, and a thick, white,
curling mist arose and hung round him, clos
| ing him out from the sight of his wife, ard
hiding his beacon star from him. At last the
| wind veered, and the mist cleared away lit
| tie patches of blue sky smiled out from the
south and west, and the waves rocked 20 and
| fro in stray sunshine The countess still
strained her eyes surveying the broad vacant
expanse but neither count nor fisherman
was there; and at the end of an hours in
tense watching. three bodies were tossed high
upon the strand. One was that of the Count
d d'Entremer. Nathalie, with outstretched
hands, instantly fell senseless.
A years seclusion-due not to grief, but to
respect-had passed. and the leafy echo of
Ardennes had iulled Nathalie, for the moment,
into complete forgetfulness Of the last eleven
years-and again she sat beneath the oaks
AMI plucked the flowers growing IN the self
same nook as il her girlhood. All put the
frst fifteen years of her life seemed visionary
as dream and consOnant with all around,
stole mon her ear like "horns of elf-land
family blowing" and thus whom one stood
before her in gart Of Lincoln green, leading
a red roam steed, it seemed as if all the inter
val had never been; and looking up merrily,
she said :" 1t is my birth day to-day, lie Nor
men! 1 am-but here, as she would have
said {" fifteen" memory rushed back on her,
ard hiding her face in her hands, she turned
and would have fed, but his voice sternly
arrested her. .-a. D. .a:- -s-.... .-.
"Stay a moment, madame :" he command
ed. "Since Providence has thrown us once
more together, let me return to you the troth
you once gave me. 1t was broken by you,
and rendered valueless to me eleven years
ago" ....
With O certain wild vehemence, she ex.
claimed, turning upon him, "I wes forced TO