Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-11-15
GLOW, lady?"

you have professed, and will be yours
-as truly as heaven shall spare my
| life" {,
''oh, cruel suspense!"
"You demur?"
"Nay, lady, shall fulfil your injune.
ton as promised"
"If at the expiration Of year you do
not hear from me, then the contract shall
be null and void Take this half ring
she continued, "and when supply the
broken portion / will be yours"
He kissed the little emblem, swore
again and again to be faithful, and
pressing her hand to his lips, babe her
adieu. ....
He was conducted away as myste-
riously as he had been brought thither:
nor could he by any possible means dis
cover where he had been, his companion
rejecting all bribes, and refusing to an
swer the simplest questions.
Months rolled on. Colonel Merville
is true to his vow, and happy in the an
ticipatiOn of love. Suddenly he was
ordered on an embassy to Vienna, the
gayest of all the European capitals, the
time that Napoleon was planning to
marry the Archduchess Maria Louisa.
The young colonel is handsome, manly,
and already distinguished in arms, and
becomes at once a great favorite at
court, every effort being made by the
women TO captivate him-but in vain;
he is constant to his VOW.
But his heart is not made of stone
the very fact that he had entertained
such tender feelings Tor the white domi-
no had doubtless made him more sus-
ceptible than before.
AT last he met the young Baroness
Caroline Won Waldrof, and in spite of
his VOWS she captivates him, and he Sc
cretly curses the engagement he had so
blindly made in Paris. She seems to
wonder at what she believes to be his
devotion-and yet the distance he main
tains! The truth was, his sense of hon
or was so great, that, though he felt he
loved the young baroness, and even she
returned his affection, still he had given
his word and it was sacred.
The satin domino is no longer the
ideal of his heart, but assumes the most
repulsive form in his imagination, and
becomes in place of his good angel, his
evil genius.
Well, time rolls on; he is to return in
few days-it is once more the carni-
val season; and in Vienna, too, that gay
city. He joins in the festivities of the
masked ball, and wonder fills his brain
when, about the middle of the evening,
the white domino steals before him in
the same white satin dress he had seen
her wear the year before at the French
Opera house in Paris. Was it not a
fancy?
81 come, Colonel Eugene Merville, to
hold you to your PROMISE" she said
laying her hand lightly upon his arm.
''Is this reality or dream?" asked
the amazed soldier.
"Come, follow me, ami you shall see
that it is reality" continued the mask
pleasantly.
81 will"
"Have you been faithful to your
promise?" asked the domino, as they re-
tired into saloon.
"aiost truly in act; but, alas, 1 fear
not in heart"
"lndeed."
'It is too true, lady that I have seen
and loved another; though my vow to
you has kept me from saying so to
her."
"And who is it that you lover"
81 will be frank with you, and you
will keep my secret?"
'Most religiously."
at is the Baroness Won Waldroff," +"
he said with sigh.
"And you really love herr"
"Alas! only too dearly" said the sol
dier sadly.
"Nevertheless Unjust hold you to your
promise. Here is the other half of the
ring; can you produce its mate?"
"Here it is," said Eugene Merville.
"rhen, !. too, keep my PROMISE" said
the domino raising her mask, and show
ing to his astonished view the face of
the Baroness Won Waldroff
She had seen and loved him for his
manly spirit and character, and having
found by inquiry that he was worthy Of
her love, she had manged this delicate
intrigue, and has tested him, and now
gave him her wealth and title and ev-
erything. s-.-
They were married with pomp, and
accompanied the archduchess to Paris.
Napoleon, to crown the happiness of
his favorite, made him at once a gen eral
of division. ar