The New Orleans crescent., 1868-06-28


from whence his father was last heard from.
The day of his arrival was the annual fast for
the death of the Emir AL Raschid, satrap of
Yezd, and also of the induction Of his grand
child, a daughter and princess of his line,
into the sovereignty of his province. At
tracted by the magnifcence of the celebra-
ton and the singular display of Eastern
grandeur, Richard visited the palace, which
formed a scene of such oriental splendor as
the inhabitant of our western hemisphere
could never imagine. OF course on an occa-
sion of this sort, it was necessary to first
obtain the good offices of some person high
in power before admission could be gained
to the sacred precincts of an emir's
palace. Richard was fortunate in this,
since the kindness Of distinguished French
savant, resident there, supplied him with
an introduction, which was all sufficient
"He was presented to the princess and his sur
prise was most intense when he discovered that
she spoke the English tongue almost as fluent
ly as he did himself; but when his name was
mentioned in her presence she testified the
most profound emotion, and reeled and would
have fallen but for the intercession of her at
tendants. Her face had suddenly grown as
pale as the dead, and her agitation was singu-
lar and profound. The most intense emo
ton had taken possession of her faculties,
and destroyed for the moment her ability to
speak. But when she did obtain sufficient
degree of self-possession, she ordered the
40 ha clo A..
in the palace less exposed to observation.
When Richard reached this apartment the
young princess was already there. Waving
away her attendants she questioned him of
his name and birthplace, and learned from
him all he knew of his fathers history
When he had finished all he knew of his
own and his fathers life, she placed in his
hands package in his fathers handwriting,
which disclosed his fate.
81 have not time to enter into the details of
this history. Suffice it for my present pur-
pose, to say, that it informed his relatives
that he had welded secretly the daughter of
the reigning emir, a lovely, beautiful girl,
who, on seeing the young American, had
loved him, and despite the difference in birth
and station had married him. The birth of
an infant daughter, the fruit of this ILL
omened union, disclosed to the old emir his
child's mesalliance. He tore his daughter
from the embrace of her husband, and
plunged him into a dungeon where he lived
and languished for fourteen years. Yes, for
fourteen years-and was only relieved from
this imprisonment to endure a most hor-
rible death.
cat this time his wife died-and the old
emir gratifed his horrid animosity by bury
ing the living husband and the dead ,oife together
IN the same grace.
Before Mr. Bartrelle suffered this horrible
torture, he was permitted to see his child.
To her he narrated the incidents of his life
and told her of son-a half-brother, who
lived beyond the sea. He enjoined upon her
that when she came to rule in her grand
fathers dominions, that she would search out
his family and make known his fate; and that
she should love and cherish this brotherif des-
tiny ever threw him in her way.
''The next year the old emir died, and his
grand-child became ruler in Yezd At the
breaking out of the war she came to this
country to see her brother, and has remained
in retirement here ever since but on the next
steamer she will return, accompanied by
Richard and Laura, to her own country.
"The horrible fate of the father has bound
the brother and sister by ties that can never
be broken. Their devotion to each other is
deep, abiding and intense, and the sister es.
pecially has testified her devoted love by
self-saerifce and acts of heroism unexampled
in the legends of romance"
AS the old man concluded with evident
emotion this strange family history, a pro-
found silence fell upon his visitors. 1t was
broken by the noise of an arrival. Col Tay-
lor left the room for an instant. When he
re-entered, he led by the hand the lovely,
dark-eyed Persian, whom he desired his
friends to know. As they crowded around
the pair, he introduced each in turn to the
Princess Zera Al Hassan, of Yezd.
Our story is told
In two weeks from Zera's introduction to
the acquaintance of the friends of her broth
er, a joyous bridal party set off on their far
oriental tour; and to-day Zera strolls along
the wales of Yemen recounting TO the little
Richard, whom she holds by the hand, the
fairy tales of the orient
THE END.