The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-09-22

she stopped before a high, wrctched house,
in poor street
1T is here have to call, she remark.
ed "A wretchcd abode, Mr.. Melville
but will you como with mc?'
If it were the unmentionabe region
itself, dear countess, Iwou!d follow you,
| rejoinod, bowing gallantly.
Whereupon we went into the dark
close smelling passage, aud mounted ur
the stairs, until nearly under tho tiles.
Here sho knocked at q door heard
sobs within out no answer coming, the
countess entered. Never had | beheld O
scene Of such misery. The wretched
room was almost barc OF furniture, and
on the chair by the table, on which her
arms and face rested, was a woman with
disheveled hair, weeping passionatcly
while two pretty, but ill.clad, children
clinging to her dress lifted their tiny
voices with their mothers.
The countess approached and address.
ed her in soothing tones, which calmed
her grief. Then she asked, Lima, may
go into the next room with this gentle.
MANI
The weeping woman bowed assent, and
my cicerone beckoned me to follow. II
was miserable bedchambcr, while on
the bed evidently lay the cause Of the
woman's tears-a body covered by a
sheet.
Her husband " 1 exclaimed, in,crrog-
atively.
Yes \ suicide. He made away
with himself last night Mr.. Melville,
proceeded the countess, solcmnly yestcr-
day you broke the bank, and deprived
wife Of husband, and her children Of
father. His few coins increased your
gaiu. Do you know the iace?'
She drew the sheet aside, and shraDk
back with sclf.rcproach. 1t was the ltal.
ian-the man whom | suspected intended
to raise his hand against me. 1t had
been lifted against himself.
This is, indeed, my work = | clecnlat-
ed.
Not altogether. It's tho reward OF
play she answered. Lima Decard was
my lody's maid, as pretty as good. She
married this man, who was well to do.
They settled here. Gaming attracted
him. All else was neglected he sold
everything for the tables. You sec the
result Last night he returned pcnniless.
He forced from his wife the few cents
she had kept to get bread for her children,
and bought the poison which had caused
his death =
Cover that ghastIy, accusing face |
said, with oathing lit will haunt me to
my grave. Let us go from here the air
is sitting
She obeyed. We returned to the other
room. There laid my purse, containing
fifty pounds, in tho widows lap, and with.
drew. | was not, yet felt myself the
indirect cause of her husbands ruin.
Poor wretch when | saw him at the
tables, suicide was on his mind, said
when the countess joined me.
Yes she remarked slowly, you played
for amusement, he for life The stakes
we're widely different. All. it is yon
easy rich people who are criminal these
wretched houses would not be kept open
for such as he. Shut up, the weak would
not be fascinated and such a. Decard driv.
en- to evil deeds
Countess. your lesson has been severe
but oiiectuhl one.
Il believe it Mr.. Melville knew |
had not misunderstood you; so let me
ease the pain you now suffer. Lima has
lost but little in her husbands death
Living he would ever have kept her poor
She is good and industrious, and with
your kind muniiicencc, and my help will
soon have once again comfortable home
dined with the countess that DAY
and this year We are both in Lonion
She is married, so am | that is, she il
my wife. Lima is also married. Wher
we go to Italy we make it point to cal
on her, apd when | SEQ her bright smiles
and rosy, laughing children, / cannot bu
contrast them with those other faces
had first beheld in this wretchci attic
| think, too, Of the ghasty face of he
first husband, and stick more firmly I,
my motto, which is--savc in quiet so
cial rubbcr-'No cards.