The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1857-01-23

Iio BWcos BuA oe1~, ~
lips and said, Farewell, Mis Herbert fsfe'
well! know I shall never meet any one
like you again but at least 1t is blessing
to have known you-though II bc but 70 10. 10
gret that fortune has not favored me stu
farther. Farewell! farevell!'
Henry Ashton sailed for Canada, and va.
of some service there. He distinguished
himself a. an officer, and his narne was In
several Dispatches. A remnant Of tho oid
chivalrous spiri. mado HIM often think when
he was attacking a fortified village, or chars. :.
ing body Of insurgents, Alice Herbert VIII
hear of this = but often, too, he would ask
himself, Il wonder II she Is married yet7'
and his companions used to jest with him
upon always looking FIRST at tho wsmans q
part of the newspaper-tho births, deaths
and marriages.
His fears, if we can venture to call them
such, were vain. Alice did not marry, al.
though about year after Henry Ashton
had quilted England, her father descended
a little from his big ambition, and limited
that, il she thought ct, she might listen to
the young Earl of--. Alice was not
inclined to listen, and gave the Earl plainly
to understand that she was not disposed to
become his countess. The Earl, however,
and Mr.. Herbert now began to
add his influence but Alice was obdurate,
and reminded her father Of q promise be had
made never to press her marriage with any
one. Mr.. Herbert seemed moro annoyed
than Alice expected, walking up and down
the room in silence, and, on hearing it, shut
himself up with Mrs. Herbert for nearly two
hours.
What took place Alice did not know
but Mr.. Herbert insisted that the Earlshould
be received at the house as friend, though
he urged his daughter no more; and balls
and parties succeeded each other 90 rapidly.
that the quieter inhabitants Of Portland
Place wished the banker and his family
where Alice herself wished to be-in Cana
ia. In the mean time Alice became alarmed
for her mother, health was evidently suffer
ing from some cause; but Mrs. Herbert
would consult no physician, and her hus-
band seemed never to perceive the state Of
and depression into which she was
sinking.
Alice resolved to call the matter TO her
fathers notice, and rs he now went out
every morning at an early hour, she rose
one day, sooner than usual, and knocked at
the door Of his dressing.room. There was
no answer, und unclosing tho door, she
looked to sso IL he was already gone. rhs
were still drawn, but through them
some of the morning beams found their way
and by the sickly light. Alice behsld an OBJ.
joct that made her clasp her hands and trsm.
bic violently. Her fathers chair before the
dressing table was vacant: but beside II lay
upon the floor something like the figure Of .
man asleep.
Alice approached, with her heart beating
80 violently that she could hear It; and
there was no other sound in the ROOM
She knelt down beside hint was hel
father. She could not hear him breathe,
and she drew back the curtains. He Wa
pale As marble, and his eyes were open but
fixed. She uttered not u sound, but with
wild eyes gaIed round the room, thinking
what she would do. Her mother was In
the chamber at tho side of tho dressing.
room; but Alice, thoughtful, oven in the
deepest agitation, feared to call her, and
rang the bell for her fathers valet. Tho
man came and raised his master, but Mr..
Herbert had evidently been dead some
hours. Poor Alice wept bitterly, but still
she thought Of her mother. and made no
noise and the valet was silent too for in
lifting the dead body to the sofa, he hnd
found small vial, and was gazing on It in
tently.
Il had better put this away, HERBERT he
said at length, in low voice Ihad botter
put this away before any one comes.
Alice gszed at the vial with fearful eyes.
It was marked Prussic acid-poison'
This was but tho commencement Of many
~, rows. Though the corners jury pro-
noun, I'd that Mr.. Herbert had died natu.
al death. yet every one declared ho had
poisoned h, 'uself, especially when it wal
found that hc S'ad died utterly insolvent /:
.ha. all his last great spccnlati0n' had
failed, and that tho news Of hs aosoln'S
beccary had reached him on the night pre-
,eding his deceasc. .irhen camc oil the hor
rors Of such circumstances to poor Alic'
and her mother the fu ueral the eIamin'
alton Of tho papers the .alo Of tho farni'
turc; the tiger claws Of the law rendlng
open the heart in all its dea. rest associations
the comm;sseration Of frien ds; the taunt
and scofs Of those who had ,snvied and hat
cd in silence. Then for poor Alice hefsel
came the last, worse blow, the sickness ant
Of mother - sickt,ess and dea1
in poyerty,