, 1863-01-10
The Faithful Wife.

day, whilst crossing the market place, he was
compelled to stop by long row of wagons, all
loaded with vegetables. The willy courtier, gen.
orally so dead to emotion. could not but look
with kind of pleasure at these wagons, and the
little wagoners, who by the by, were young and
pretty country-women. Suddenly the vehicles
came to a stand, and the eyes of M. de Talley
rand CHANGED to rest upon OF the young wo-
men who appeared more lovely and graceful than
the others. An exclamation escaped from his
lips 1t attracted the attention of the fair one,
whose country dress and large hat bespoke daily
visits to the market; as she beheld the astonsh-
ed Talleyrand, whom she recognized Immediately,
she burst out laughing.
"What is it you ?" exclaimed she.
"Yes, indeed, it is /. But you, what are you
doing here P"
81, said the young woman Il am waiting for
my turn to pass on. 1 am going to sell my
greens and vegetables at the market"
AT that moment the wagons began to move
along, she of the straw hat applied the whip to
her horse, told M. de Taleyrand the name of the
village where she was living, requesting him ear
nestly to come and see her, disappeared, and left
him as if rivited on the spot by this strange ap-
partition.
Whc was this young market gomanP Ma
dame la Comtesse de la Tour-du-pin, (Mademoi-
selle de Dilon), the most elegant among the
ladies of the court of Louis the XVIth. king of
France, and whose moral and intellectual worth
had shone with so dazzling lustre in the society
of her numerous friends and admirers. AT the
time when the French nobility emigrated she was
young, lively endowed with the most remarkable
talents, and like all the ladies who held rank at
the court, had only time to attend to such
duties as belonged to her nlghly fashionable
and courtly life.
Let any one fancy the suftrings and agony of
that woman, born in the lap of wealth, and who
had breathed nothing but perfumes under the
gilded ceilings of the royal palace of Versailles,
when all at once she found herself surrounded
with blood end massacres, and saw every kind of
danger besetting her young and beloved husband
and her infant child.
They succeeded in flying from France. It was
their good fortune to escaped from the bloody
land where Robespierre and his associates were
busy at the work of DEATH Alas! in those times
of terror the poor children themselves abandoned
with joy the parental roof, for no hiding place
was secure against the vigilant eye of those mon
steTs who thrsted for innocent blood
ho E,ri 1oI ~, G.
to Boston, where they found a retreat. But what
a change for the young, pretty and fashionable
lady, spoiled from infancy by loud and continual
praises of her beauty and talent
Mons de la Tour-du-Pin was extravagantly
fond of his wife. At the court of France he had
seen her with the proud eye of husband, the
object of general admiration. Indeed, her con-
duct had always been virtuous and exemplary
but now, in foreign land, and among unsophist-
Gated republicans (1793) what was the use of
courtly refinement?
Happy as he was in seeing her escape from all
the perils he had dreaded on her own account, |
still he could not but deplore the future lot OF the
wife of his bosom. However, with the prudent
foresight of good father and kind husband
he nerved himself against despair, and exerted
himself to render their condition less miserable |
than that of many emigrants who were starving |
when the little money they had brought over with |
them had been exhausted. Not word of Eng
lish did he know; but his wife spoke it fuently |
and admirably we'll
cd Mr1l Il
ed, notable woman, who on every occasion evinced
the greatest respect and admiration for her fair
boarder; yet NJ. de la Tour, r,du-Pin was in con-
slant dread lest the conversation of that good,
plain and well-meanng woman might be the
cause of great ennui to his lady What con-
trast with the society of such gentlemen as NJ. de
Norbonne, M. de Talleyrand, and the high
minded and polished nobility of France! When
ever he was thinking of his transition, (particu-
larly when absent from his wife, and tilling the
garden of the cottage which they were going to
inhabit, he felt such pangs and heart-throbbings
as to make him apprenensive on his return to
Mrs Muller to meet the looks of his beloved
wife, whom he expected to see bathed in tears
Meanwhile the good hostess would give him
hearty shake of the hand, and repeat to him,
"Happy husband happy husbandp
At last came the day when the fugitive family
left the bOarding-house of Mrs. Muller to go and
inhabt their little cottage when they were to be
at last exempt from want, with an old servant.
negro, kind of JACKIE all-trades, viz, gardener,
footman and cook. The last function NJ. de la