The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1859-01-12

year had passed, her physician pronounced
her case hopeless, and in year from the time
| first fixed upon for her wedding she was quietly
/ sleeping beneath the shadow of the willow
Al the time of Flavilla' death, Rosaltha had
vowed an everlasting revenge upon Dumont,
Notwithstanding Flavilla had prayed her to
| forgive him as she had DONE But in vain!
The thought of revenge had ranked in her
bosom until it had become the al-absorbinG
motive of her life. and when she, by chance,
heard of him at his home in the south, her
passions knew no bounds, and despite The tears
and entreates Of her mother, she startled upon
her perilons expedition.
Disguised in male attire, and under the title
of Henry Davenport, she soon found an oppore
tunity of forming the acquaintance of Dumont
and in short time they were on their way to
New Orleans for season of rioting and dissi-
patton, For weeks the gay circle Of the city
had been favored with the presence of Dumont
and Rosaltha, Cor Davenport, as we shall now
designate her, for through the influence of the
latter, Dumont had forsaken His desire of re;
firing from society, and the more abandoned
and gay the scene, the better contented did he
appear.
AT times, when alone Dnmont would re-
solve to leave the company of Davenport; for
although he confded nothing to him. and was
in all respects his entire opposte--he being of
froliekng disposition, drinking and playing to
excess, while Davenport did neither-yet he
could not but acknowledge that he held an un-
accountable influence over him, ever hanging
over him when at play, and never leaving him
when In company.
At last he began to look upon him as his evil
genius, whose presence he could not shake off;
and with those thoughts he drunk deeper and
played more reckless, and as fortune went
against him, and his funds began to fall Daven5
port was ever ready to advance him money,
taking his note of hand for security.
After losing until he felt that he must owe
Davenport as much as his entire property was
WORTH he resolved at all hazards to get out of
his power. He mortgaged his entire estate to
raise the money with which to redeem his note.
But what was his surprise to learn that Daven-
port had overeached him in this, and through
his agent had advanced the money, and he was
now irretrievably in his power. With this
thought came despair unutterable, and he re-
solved to be at last rid of his incubus, by conf
mittng suicide, and nothing but the hand Of
Providence prevented the consummaton of his
object, and he was rescued from watery
grave and conveyed to the charity hospital.
Here, TOO. he was followed by Davenport
but in a still different character. Having
learned of the whereabouts of Dumont, he
FASTENED thither, and, having ascertained his
condition, again retired, but soon returned in
the guise of sister of charity, and in this
character watched over him with all the Jealous
care of fond mother for her child, and in her
own solitude would rave lest he should be taken
away, and she thus lose the enjoyment of see
ing his misery; for the sole object now seemed
to be to see how much misery he could endure.
But change was about to take place, for
which she was little prepared; for. in his deiri-
ums, Dumont was constantly calling upon Fla
villa to come to him; and from his broken SEN
tenees, Rosaltha became aware that some great
mystery was hidden, and with this knowledge
came longing for the preservation of life
which she had so nearly sacrificed; and at last
joy dawned upon her, for the crisis was passed.
and he was declared to be out of imminent
danger. and by the aid of a strong constitution
and careful nursing he was soon in a condition
to give an explanation of his affairs and it was
then they both learned that they had been the
victims of treachery, and that the letters of
both Dumont and Flavilla had been in some
manner intercepted, thus causing their estrange-
ment.
But why continue this longer? Suffice it that
Rosaltha, now appearing in her own character
but subdued and humbled, felt that the ven
geance she had held in store for another was
recong upon her own head; while Dumont
now he knew that he had been truely loved by
the sister who was quietly slumbering in the
grave, felt for her, not hatred, but friendship,
which he soon found should assume another
name; and as soon as he was sufficiently recoy-.
cred to be able to travel, he accompanied Ro-
saltha to her home, where they were soon after
married. and together visited the scenes in the
old world, which he had SO recently visited.
EFFECT OF SPEcULATEoS-T late CONNER.
cial revulson laid its hand heavily upon many
Of the cities and towns of the west, where the
credit system was expanded to an enormous ex-
tent, and now nothing is heard from them but
terribly earnest cry of .'hard times.'' The
city of Chicago, which has been the great
headquarters Of speculation at the west, and
where store lots two years ago were worth al
most untold gold, feels the reaction with great
severity. Business is emphatically down to the
"hard pan" What trade there exists is limit
ed to the actual necessities of commerce, and
the improvements" which depended on flush.
times are greatly retarded. The price of labor,
building materials and produce Of all kinds has
fallen one hundred per cent in a year and a
half Real estate is kept up by making no
sales, except forced ones. Mortgages are not
foreclosed by land agents, for the reason that
it would prove loss to the holder as not
enough has been paid by the purchaser to make
up the difference of depreciation in value since
the purchase was made, to the present time
Hence it is for the interest Of the creditor to
obtain another payment on the land. The num-
Der of unoceupied stores and houses, already
counted By hundreds,.is increasing daily.
AtSt Paul, Minnesota, rents have declined.
25 to so per cent, while real estate has, on ar
average, lost one-third Of last years valuation.
Outside of the city the decrease has been great
er Wages have partaken of the downward
tendency, and laborers who last year obtained
81 so per day, are this year forced to be con-
tent with ninety cents. From Iowa. too there
e,nnaral crv If hard fin,ac Wa baar e