Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-09-24

who you are, and am in such anxiety |
that you must really pardon my forgetting |
YOU. MY son.in.law Is dangerously i'll |
here in this house | have been summon.
ed from Zurich, and every moment is OF |
Importance if wish to find him alive |
may even as 1t is be too late"
With this reaching the entrance to the
Schweitzcr Hot where the landlord was
waiting to receive him, Mollctt passed rap
idly up the staircase with the host with
out deigning to bestow another word or
look upon me. ....s..
Thus left alone in the hall with Fritz
lfor of course | did not attemptto follow,
! turned to him with look of bewildered
inquiry. Now It so happened that had not
seen him the whole of this day, and there.
fore had not been favored with his usual
gossip, otherwise ! might possibly have
been prepared for the sudden appariton
of my old tutor, aud so perhaps have
gained clew as now did to the mystery
of my dream. l say, perhaps; for | will
not be tempted to assert that 1t was any
thing more than coincidence, however
difficult it may be to think SO.
"Ahl sarer' instantly began my gar
.rulous friend, az have not had time to-
day Yes, Yes, you know him-I Fought
you would, you all know each ozer and zar
has been such sad work before he
come ze poor lady, too, so distrcss-his
daughter-did you see ze bookY No
All Bien, will show you Madame dc
Pomberas, French nameS Yes, but Eng
lish writing mo mistake in zatp And
he hurried me into the salle-a-manger,
seized the book, opened it, and put his
finger triumphantly down on the last entry,
made, as l instantly recognized, in the
once familiar handwriting of Bertha Mol
lett 1t ran simply Monsieur and Mad
anne Binos de Pombens, en- route de Milan
Paris, October 1Sme."
As was gazing at it half bewildered,
Fritz continued, "Zay arrive last night,
ven you vas out, monsieur very i'll, go
straight to bed-madame take some
supper at zis table, and While she
vait, bring her &c -book-she eX
| plain-she have great fear for her hus
band-she want to get to Zurich, but he
would not be ablc-Zen she go to bed
and quite early zis morning monsieur
much vorse-oblige to have doctor-he
have great fear--ze heart-ze heart-hc
says-must not be moved--zen she send
me to Zurich to fetch her fazer who wait
zere to meet zem-and l just bring him
back now you know him-so perhaps
too you know his daughter-zay all travel
togezer, sometimes-zay have been here
before-ze old man look after his money
re money of his gendre,' vat you call
n-in-law."
Here Fritz was called away, leaving me
to ponder over the remarkable coinci-
dence, which fate or some mysterious
latent force had seemed to bring about.
need not dwell on what followed Mon
sieur Binos de Pomberas died that night,
and was buried at Lucerne. | studiously
avoided coming in contact with either Bcr-
tina or her father who, almost immediate
ly after the funeral, left for England, and
nearly a year elapsed before | ventured
to present myself at the old familiar
house.
l at first by no means met with cor
dial reception from Mr.. Mollett, who new,
released from all pecuniary need by the
wealth inherited by his widowed daughter,
had given up his old vocation, and was
of former days He drew but one conclu-
sion, of course, from my temperance on
the scene His selfish instincts evidently
shrank from the idea of parting with his
daughter again, not so much from the fear
of losing her companionship, as from the
possibility that through her making a
second marriage, he would no longer be
able to keep up his present easy and nxu'
rtOus mode OF life.
1t was only by very slow degrees that ]
could make him see that it was Bertha and
not her wealth l coveted; the close and
narrow heart OF the money -worshippiug
man. refusing to believe in anything like
disinterestcd affection When, however,
he was finally convinced that my own
means were ample, and that his worldly
position would not be interfered with, by
realizing, at last, the dearest wish of my
heart, he placed no obstacle in my way
and need hardly say, that when due time
had elapsed, Bertha had nothing to urge
against my suit.
Here, then, are the circumstances which
led to my present happinessl Were they
purely accidental Had not the visitors
book with Bertha's handwriting in it, on
which had been leaning that memorable
evening at Lucerne, had not the pen which
she had then just been using, and with
which / had dallied whilst l read the
newspaper, some mysterious influence over
me, of which L was unconscious at the
time?
Had not the fact of my being under the
same roof with her, of having entered the
salle-a-manger the moment after she
quilted it-nay, even having taken, per
haps, the very chair which she had just
vacated, something to do with my dream
And the dream itself, was it not the re-
suit of Il prevision--a seeing, as it were
without eyes, and without presence, what
was probably actually taking place in an
adjacent chamber? And had l not had
Lucerne another day, should / ever have
Pomberas tile BrOddaOay.