The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-11-24

: last evening""
]. Among the refreshments whicl
? Mr.. Marcoy had found upon the ia
J. BILE in his room the evening befor'
e was some very choice and cOstl!
4 brandy. He took very little of i
himself but he poured out a NOR
: generous portion both for his guide
3 and the major-dOmo, with view o
: putting them in good humor. L
I seems that, according to Migueli
account, the drink had the effect o
! putting the major-domO into mOrt
t than good humcr.
| Il rather think, said he, chat thu
= glass you gave him had more in it thar
/ you thought. At any rate, after hC
: drank it be became very talkatiyC
and silly, and wanted to tell me al
his secrets. HenOt only told me al
about himself and the maid, but also
| gave me the history OF his mistress.
, ''Do you know, then, who thai
lady is -
"Oh, yes, as well as if | had known
her ten years. She was sister il
a convent somewhere, and she fell in
love with a man and eloped with
him from the convent. The man was
French physician. She lived with
him for three years, and then he left
her."
Mr.. Marcy says that he was al
most stupeGed with amazement at
hearing this statement.
an tell You how it all happened,
continued Miguel. according to
what the major domo told me-"
so Miguel went on 10 repeat the
story, which was TO this effect.
lie "avc the original baptismal name
OF lie lady, and also her convent
name, which was Sister Maria.
While she was in the convent, he
said, her health began to fail, and
she seemed 10 be sinking into a de-
cline. They sent for physician to
| pTeScTi be for her. lie came 10 visit
/ her regularly for some time, and she
/ began gradually TO improve in
/ health. At length, ono night, when
the body Of one Of the nuns, who had
died thcday before from the effects
of malignant disease in one of her
feet, was living in the chapel ready
| for the funeral. which was TO take
| place the next day, the convent took
! fire. The fire was cXtinguiShed, but
not till after it had burned cOnsid-
eraDic part Of the convent. including
a whole range Of cells. in which that
| of Sister Maria was situated.
All the other nuns that occupied
the range Of cells, it seems, made
their escape, but when they came the
next morning To that Of Sister Maria
they found clarred and hali-cOn-
sumed body lying in it, from which
thew at once inferred that Sister Ma
ria herself had been hcmmed in by
the smoke and the flames, and had
perishcd. Thc- took up the black
ened remains and conveyed them to
the chapel, intending to inter both
bodies together. but they found to
their astOnishmcut that the body
which had been left in the chapel had
disappeared. In the course Of the
Investigations which were at once
made to discover the meaning of this
mystery they found that the balf-
buA ANAi bONl vas HOi NAidl vi EDlSLGI
Maria at all, but Of the nun that had
died. They identified il by the foot,
which, notwithstanding the effects of
the fire, still retained traces of the
original disease.
1t was finally ascertained that Sis
ter Maria, in connection with the
physician, who had become her lover
had planned an escape from the con-
vent, and in order to conceal the fact
OF her flight, and thus preclude all
ideas Of pursuit, SIZE had Contrived
to remove the dead body to her own
cell, in hopes that, being found there |
in a state too much dishgured to be !
recognized, II would be supposed |
that il was she herself that had per- !
ished. Having Eecretly made this !
arrangement she had then set the |
convent on fire and fed with her
lover.
AT first" said Miguel, when he
came 10 the end of his story, Il did |
not believe word of what the major
domo had been telling me. thought
it was all the nonsense of a tipsy /
man. But he showed me a card |
which he said he found in drawer,
and which he said had upon it the
nape OF the physician. | did not
care about the card, for | could not
read it, but [ thought that perhaps
you might like to see il, and so |
noticed where he put it, and, as he
and | slept in the same chamber, |
watched my chance in the night and
slipped the card into my pocket;
and here il is
SO saying, he handed TO Mr.. Mar
coy an old card containing the name
ofa physician of Lima, and the street
and number where he lived.
Mr.. M4rcoy remembered that he
had heard, some years before, the
story, when i'll Lima, of the abduc-
ton of nun froIa a convent by a
young physician under circumstan,
ces precisely similar in its details 10
those which the maiOr-domo had
given and he was convinced that the
mysterious person to whose lonely
retreat the chances of travel had
brought him was no other than this
unhappy nun. who had been enticed
from her duty by the intoxication of
love, and who was now doomed, af-
ter y brief interval of feverish and
guilty pleasure, TO a life which must
consist of days of bitter remOrse
and anguish and unceasing appre-
heDsion, and nights of sorrow and
tears. He pitied her most sincerely,
for he regarded the impulse which is
the cause of the ruin in many cases,
as in this, as, after all, more of the
nature Of madness than crime. In
deed, he was not very far wrong in
this idea. The wise man of ancient
days who said that anger was brief
insanity might well have said the
same of love.
Cur traveller reflected sadly Upon
the unhappy fate of his new acquain-
tauce, as he went on his way. Rut
what he had learned of her guilt Z,
did not destroy his interest in her
welfare, nor lesson his sympathy and
pity for her in her sorrows. When -,
he reached his homo he took the lit
tie sprig-emblematical Of the Strick-
en hrart--which he had carefully I
protected from injury during the
journey, and mounting it with deli
cate clre, he inclOsed 1t in a case
made of white satin, with edges
trimmed with lace, to be preserved
as a perpetual memorial of this
strange adventure in the valleys of !
the Andes. .
Redemption Of Fractional Currency.
The Secretary of the Treasury pro-