Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-08-11

whom she was pretty sure TO meet whenever
she ventured-ncver without wateh:nl at
acknowledgement the chateau grounds They
had always a very respectful, yet, as it were,
kindly familiar, greeting for her and hand
some Pau-it was Impossible that Mademol-
sele Beaudesert, slightly impreSsioDable as she
WIS in that direction, could help remarklng
that he was very handsome Young fellow -
had often fresh boqaet to present. whatever
was the season of The year. These rCac0ntres
do not appear to have been reported to Mad
anne de Vautpre or the Abbe MorlaiX, or what
they migh., and justly, have deemed the imper-
incnt audactY of the peIpechsr woUldy there
can be little doubt have been sumIDariiy re,
pressed.
But it was not such love as that With which
Paul Delpecb had the vanity to believe he had
inspired the girl-heress, that, by the time she
touched upon her sixteenth birthday, had ban
iShed every tinge Of color from the dropping
maidens check, light from her eyes. wasted
her finely rounded form, and still burned in her
veins with the fever of acousumng passion
Adrienne Beaudesert, child or girl of exquisite
sensibility was, be it remembered, morally iSo-
lated in her relatives magnificent abode, with
30 one to love, aud beloved by none: the ach-
passing day, more completely monJpoIized fill
ed to bursting by the imaged memories of her
mother and sister Of that tender mother, that
sweet sister, who so fully reciproca;cd her
gushing, passionate love but whom she was
only permitted 10 see once in each dreary year,
and in the constraining presence OF Madame
Ia Baronne to correspond with only at stated
intervals, and under the same chilling Snpe. yls-
ion. Adrienne5 heart beat wildly, rebeIIlouS-
~, against those cruel, unnatural restraints !;
and who at all conYersant with poor human
nature, will feel surprise that, finding her aunt
inexorable, calous, deaf to her tears, cntreat
les, prayers, the indignant girl began to listen
with kindling eyes and glowing cheeks to re
marks upon Madame de Nautpre's faS-faillng
health, hating herself the while, as she after
wards declared for the involuntary feeling re-
yealed in those keenly marked, teIl-taIe sghs :.
that in moments OF great irritation words Of
the like significance, eagerly caught up, repeat
ed, exaggerated, distorted, escaped her lips !;
or that, after a last, supreme effort, preceded
by sets of prayers, gone through as if they were
so many yincantatonS-votiveg garlands suSpen-
dcd upon statues Of the Virgin and SaintS-to
shake Madame de Nautpre'S fixed resolve, had
failed the girl with much less excuse, because
with more deliberation, poured forth her pas
sionate feelings to her mother in writing ?
This letter she thought to have sent off sur
reptitousIy, but the treachery of the servant to
whom it was intrusted, placed in the hands of
VI. MorlaiX-all the grefs, resentments, hopes,
and anticipations by which her mind was di,-
tracted The able was profoundly disturbed
upon reading the intercepted letter aud i'm
mcdiately sending for Mademoisele Beaudes-
ert, stcruly upbraidcd her with the black in
gratitude displayed in the sinful effusion she
had dared to pen dwelt especially upon the
heinous crime of but imagining the death of
her kind relative aud benefactreSS concluding
with solemn warning that one OF Gods heav-
lest judgments was to curse the wicked with
the fuflment of their own evil wishes
Adrienue BeaudeseTt, was rebuked, humbled
terrifed-but not softened or subdued, as she
would have been to tears of deepest contriton
bad but few words of kindness or compass
sion mingled with the abbe'S stern homily-
The strong consciousness that whatever seem
ing color or Justification, her wild, hasty ex
preSsions might give to the abbes inju-
rious denunciations, her heart had never for
one moment harbored the dreadful thoughts
to which those denunCiations pointed, helped
to sustain her yielding, Aexie nature during
the terrible interview and not till escaped to
the privacy of her own chamber did she sink
upon the floor, crushed, convulsed by the rend-
ing agony of hamiated pride, degrading ac
cusation, and bitter self reproach
No doubt, too, she felt, as the tumult OF con
1ictng passions caImcd somewhat, that NJ.
Moraix would deem it his duty to place the
L.
fore Madame de Tautpre and then farewell
forever to the visions of future independence
and grandeur in which she had, it seemed, not
thoughtlessly only, but wickedy induIged.-
Not that Adrenne BeaudeSert, child thought
ed girl. valued present or prospective splendor
very highly, but her mother dd---as we, re-
membering how impatently Madame BeaudeS
ert bore the evaniShmeDt of her own dream of
youthful grandeur, can easily believe-and at
her yearly visits, talked privately of the little
else than the coming, though it might be dis
tant, time, which was to compensate thous-
andfold for the bitter past, the halting, unsat-
iSfactory present Here was a new grief but,
as it proved, an imaginary one only as the
abbe whether wisely or not the sequel will
show, did not communicate or mention the con.
tents Of the letter to Madame de VAMPIRE Du-
ring these painful passages in Mademoselle
Beaudesert's girl-Iife, and indeed almost from
the FIRST day, Of her domicilIation at the Chat
eau d'Em, Jules Delpech had contrived to keep
himself acquainted with al! that pissed there;
and with the blind infatuation of a foregone
conclusion persisted in pcrsuading himself, or
trying to do SO, that the change in AdriennneS
personal appearance, herreported fits of moody
melancholy, were solely attributable to grow
ing and nvncibIe attachment to his sOn-an
attachment that would perhaps be openly avow-
ed when the tomb closed over Madame ie
Vautpre-an event which he believed, would
not long be waited for. Nor was this sinister
belief or trust unfOunded
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