The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-10-21
for the fireside Ghair.
THE MARES
A TRUE TALE OF MARsEILLES.
By WILLIAM B, oLIyER. u

lsSss ssss BY WILLIAM B. OLIVER. Ia =
In beautiful apartment in one Of tn.
pleasantest houses in Marseilles, youne
mother lay upon couch. with a babe scarce
| ly more than month old beside her. Very
rich and delicate Were all the appointments
| of the chamber. The richest perfumes scent.
ed the air. Pictures in costly frames, elegant
furniture, fine needlework, everything that
could please the eye or minister to the taste
was there in profnsion.
Yet in the midst of allsthi the Young
mothers countenance betrayed an aching
heart. She lay with one white hand upon
the little ones tiny arm, as if she feared to
lose her hold upon the fragile life; while the
other was pressed to her forehead tightly.
perhaps to shut out some terrible memory oi
pain and sorrow. 1t was hard tor that young
and lovely woman, in the first hours of her
motherhood, to lie there with such settled
look of grief. And the lady who sat by her
couch, and looked SO tenderly upon her. seem
ed to think so too
The resemblance. between them marked
them as mother and daughter; but on the
lips OF the elder lady there seemed to sit a
more steady and determined resolution. The
younger had the short and small chin that
betokened weakness of purpose as we'll as
delicacy of organization, but she was very
beautiful
Have you seen my husband to-day, moth
er?' asked the invalid
"Only at breakfast" was the reply.
"And did he speak of me or the. babe?,
No, my love- He seemed depressed and
thoughtful, and of course 1 did not interrupt
his mood''
"of course not, dear mother. But oh. /
have such longing to show him nv child
TO have him bestow fathers kiss upon
her cheek. Oh, mother, mother, you cannot
know what terrible thing it is for me to lie
here, with. the consciousness that my hus-
bands affections, once so devoted, are now
ailenated from me, and powerless to bring
them back. And, more than all this. the
feeling that this poor babe is not to know a
fathers love. Itgis dreadful.
Hush, Marie You must not grieve in
this way. Providence will open some way
to make you happy yet. Believe me, the
innocent cannot be permitted to suffer al
ways" 5ls.
" T hanks. dearest mother. That word
comforts me; for surely am innocent of
aught against him, in word or look or deed
True, was light-hearted and happy in NV
first year of married life as I well might be;
but 1t was because he made my life a fairy
dream. taking from it all common. cares. and
surrounding me with gay and cheerful com
.panions. If | ever seemed too light and
frivolous then, he should have told me- /
would have obeyed him, to the death of. all
other friendships. Nothing would have been
too great a sacrifice to have secured his ap-
probation"
1he conversation was interrupted by a
summons for the elder lady to the library.
where some person was awaiting her. Has
tily calling the attendant from ans ante room
to wait on the invalid, shs descended, not
without beating heart, for matters seemed
in this family to have taken strange and
unaccountable turn, as puzzling to herself as
it was grievous to her daughter.
Madame La Tour, the lady who has Just
left the bedside of her daughter, was the
widow of person who held small place
under the Governor of Marseilles, and who
had died ten years before, leaving her and a
little girl, with but scanty means to carry out
the mode of life to which he had accustomed
them. xss
Marie grew up beauty and genius. Her
varied charms of mind and person gained her
passionate admirer in Monsieur Francois
Foyers, gentleman twelve or fifteen years
older than herself, whose wealth enabled him
to dispense with any on the part of his bride
Marie was seucs sixteen when she married
him. She loved him with true, hearty af-
lection, altogether different from the sickly
sentimentality SO rife in France s
s There was short wooing. He made up his
mind upon the strength of her beauty and
omplishments, and she made up hers upon
his apparent nobleness and goodness. Both
obtained what they expected. Butsometimes
there are additional qualities in both husband
and wife, that are all unseen before marriage,
and that work woe and misery afterwards.
In the innocent gaiety of her heart, Marie
talked and laughed with her husbands
friends, perfectly unconscious that ii could
ever be called flirting. And Monsieur Foyers
held principle in his bleast which initiated
very strongly against this foible of his wife,
and which he would have been surprised to
hear named as jealousy. He forgot that 9TH
ers admired his wife for her beauty, he. wit,