Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-10
A SENSATION In ACTUAL LIFE.
A Romance with q Painful Ending
How a Happy Family Was Plunged
into GrIeTby a Letter.

A Romance with a Painful Ending
How a Happy Family Was Plunged
into Grief by a Letter.
A New York correspondent of the
Auburn NeaOs furnishes that paper
the following story:
A startling instance Of the freaks
in which Outrageous fortune" some
times revels has recently taken place
in the family of quondam magnate
of Wall street, now retired and living
in quiet elegance in the lower vicin-
ity of Central Park. The gentleman,
whosename "mOught be" Jones, but
isn't, returned some years since,
with his family, from Europe, bring
ing a young French girl, Susette, as
nurse to the young babe. After a
few months she left the service of
the family on some trivial pretext,
and another nurse being substituted,
Susette was quite forgotten. Mrs
Jones had moved in fashionable cir
cles while rearing a family of three
sons and four daughters, the young
est of whom was the nursing of
Susette. AS years rolled on, the
Youngest grew to be blooming girl
of twelve years, attending a board
inc school on the Hudson. The
eldest daughter and two of the sons
had married happily, and nothing in
the serene prosperity of the house
hold threatened to ruffie the even
tenor of their life. Among other
kindly promptings of their generous
natures, the family had taken a deep
interest in an humble widow woman
supporting a family Of five children.
She had for many years been in
trusted with the family washing,
which was usually returned by one
of the girls of the faithful laundress,
and many little niceties were sent
home by this girl, whose gentle de
meanOr had so won upon Mrs.
Jones that she arranged for her par
tial education, and already regarded
her as a sort of protege, for all of
which the poor widow was profusely
grateful, and declared she would yet
"make a lady of her" A few weeks
since the family received a letter
bearing the postmark Of an obscure
town in the south of France. 1t
contained voluminous enclosures,
bearing official seals, all in
French. A family council was con-
vened to decipher the contents, and
many Jest was banded in the mer-
ry circle about the center table, as
each contributed their knowledge
of written French in loose CHR
ograph, to get at the meaHingOf so
formidable missive. The young
est daughter, quite fresh in her stud
les, seemed to make more progress,
and the mysterious documents, first
passing from hand to hand, were
finally allowed TO rest before her, the
rest of the group laughingly crit
cising her broken accents as she
read slowly on. She hesitated-
was met by another Volley Of badi-
mage, which was strangely checked
as the young girl strained her eyes
more closely to the paper, pressed
| her ieweled hand upon her temples
/ turned ashy pale-uttered one
scream, and fell back into her faith
er's arms in q swOOn
TWAS a fearful night with thai
stricken household as they hoyereC
over that senseless form. A physi
clad hastily called in, seeking for
, | cause of the strange attack, wa
: shown the scattered missives left up
9 on the parlor floor. Being a fiuen
e scholar, he could read them readily
! and there, in the dead hours Q
c night, the moaning winds withou
r and the decaying fire in the graf
forming a weird scene, the blow fe
d upon the already affrighted house
. hold! No wonder the poor girl ha
been stricken down in reading he
u own dOom-that she was no child
d theirs, but of poor washerwoman
/. The substance of the death-be