The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-02-28

bright and sunny spirit had vanished, anq :
IN the place Of my joyous young Drlue
beheld q woman weighed down py rooteu
melancholy. In vain sought 70 Iatn -. !
the cause OF my darling's sadness. Sne
assured me that She had no reason Tor sor,
row or discomfort, and that II she seemed
sad without motive, / must forgive ne'
sadness, and consider II as misfortune
rather than fault. -,
/ told her the court physician would
| speedily md some cure for her despond.
ency. which must needs arise from physica
ansesSsince she had no real ground fol
sorrow But although she said nothing,
could see she had no hope Of relief in the
healing powers Of medicine.
One day, when wished TO beguiie he'
from that pensive silence in which she was
wont TO sit an hour at q time, ! told her
! Laughing, that she appeared TO have forgot.
ten her mysterious cavalier Of the wood
and it seemed also as If he had forgotten
her. ....- ~. -.-..., ~.
To my wonderment, her pale face be.
came Of q sudden crimson and from Grim
son turned to pale again in breath.
"You have never seen him since you
deserted your woodland grotto?" l said.
She turned to me with q heart-rending
look. - ...-....,-
"Hector,n she cried, "I see him every
day; and II is that which is killing me-"
She burst into passion of tears when
she had said this. / took her in my arms
as If she had been q frightened child, and
tried to comfort her.
"My darling, this is Madness" | said
" You know that no stranger can come TO
you in the pleasaunce. The moat is ten
feet wide and always full Of water, and the
gates are kept locked day and night by old
Mason. The chatelaine Of medieval
fortress need fear no intruder in her an
tique garden"
NV wife shook her head sadly.
81 see him every day." she said.
On this I believed that my wife wa:
mad. I shrank from questioning her more
closely concerning her mysterious visitant
It would be i'll, thought, to give form
and substance to the shadow that torment
ed her by too close inquiry about It's lool
and manner, its coming and going.
took care to assure myself that nc
stranger to the household could by any
possibility penetrate to the pleasaunce
Having done this, was fain to wait the
coming of the physician.
He came at last. revealed to him the
conviction which was my misery. told
him l believed my wife to be mad
He saw her, spent an hour alone with her,
and then came to me. To my unspeakable
relief. he assured me of her sanity.
"It is just possible that she may be
affected by one delusion," he said, "but
she is SO reasonable upon all other points
that l can scarcely bring myself to be-
leve her the subject of monomania.
am rather inclined to think that she really
sees the person of whom she speaks. She
described him to me with perfect minute
ness. The descriptions of scenes or indi-
yiduals given by patients afflicted with
! monomania are always more or less dis
jointed; but your wife spoke to me as
clearly and calmly as | am now speaking
! to you. Are you sure there is no one who
can approach her in that garden where she
walksw
81 am quite sure"
els there any kinsman of your steward,
or hanger-on of your households young
man with fair womanish face, very pale,
and rendered remarkable by crimson
scar, which looks like the mark of q
blow 7"
"My God !"I cried, as the light broke
in upon me all at once. Sand the dress
the strange, old-fashioned dress"
"The man wears hunting costume of
purple and orange" answered the doctor.
| knew then that Andre de Brissac had
kept his word, and that in the hour when
my life was brightest his shadow had come
between me and happiness.
| showed my wife the picture in the
library, for l would fain assure myself that
there was some error in my fancy about
my cousin. She shook like leaf when
she beheld it, and chung to me convul-
sively.
"This is witchcraft, Hector" she said.
"The dress in that picture is the dress of
the man see in the pleasaunce; but the
face is not his"
Then she described to me the face of the
stranger; and it was my cousins face line
for line-Andre de Brissac, whom she had
never seen in the flesh. Most wildly of
all did she describe the cruel mark upon
his face-the trace Of fierce blow from
an open hand.
After this l carried my wife away from
Puy Verdun. We wandered far-through
the southern provinces, and into the very
heart of Switzerland. thought to dis
lance the CHASTITY phantom, and | fondly
hoped that change of scene would bring
peace to my wife.
1t was not so. Go where we would, the
ghost of Andre de Brissac followed us.
To my eyes that fatal shadow neverrevealed
itself. That would have been too poor a
vengeance. 1t was my wife's innocent
heart which Andre made the instrument
of his revenge. The unholy presence de-
stroyed her life. Ny constant companion
ship could not shield her from the horrible
intruder. In vain did l watch her; in
vain did strive to comfort her.
"He will not let me be at peace" she
said "he comes between us, Hector. He
is standing between US now. can see his
face with the red mark upon it palmer
than ! see yours"
A Clever Parody.