The New York herald., 1874-08-24
YORK HERALD MONDAY AUGUST a. 1s74-TRIPLE SHEET


their landlords apartments that wretched M.
Nourrou is reduced to tue rank OF stranger at his
own board. The rebellions OF Nourron and his
transformation into a 0ewildered, henpecked nus
band are az finely drawn a. the gradual meta
morphoses Of his wife. The frst quarrel OF the pair
takes place on q money question. Marthe had al
ways been very abstemious in asking her husband
Tor money, for she wen aware OF his st,nginess;
but there comes TO Plassans q disreputable sister
OF the Abbe Fsujas and her husband. and this pair.
divining Marines affection for the priest. work
upon It 10 swindle her out of large sums Of money.
II is to pay an alleged debt OF Faujas' sister that
Marthe first asks her husband point blank for
sum which makes him stand aghast He refuses,
out then ensues stormy scene, at the end Of
which Nourron Is vanquished, and definitely alb
dlcates the mastery under his own roof.
From this time events move apace. The Abbe
Fauias by cleverly circumvenIing the Bishop OF
Plassans, obtains an important benehce and be.
comes a leading character In the town. Assisted
by Marthe he iounds some useful charities, is re-
sorted to as confessor by the wives OF the local
magnates, and plays his cards so well in
the interests Of the government which has
Guilty favored him that he gets Bonapartist
returned at the elections instead OF the former
oppostionist These triumphs strengthen his po-
siton in the Nourron household; and his sister,
NnOul ut udlcS OUT IcdTS, UcCduSc sue kuUVS tuc
OF his past le pronts by his rising fortunes
10 carry on her depredatlons on grander scale
than ever. Marthes children are successively
sent out Of the house. one goes to be clerk in a
oank; another is driven into a state Of ianatical
exaltatlen and enters q seminary TO take holy or
ders; the little naiwitsed girl, who had always
been the pet OF her parents, Is despatched to live
with nurse; and these changes so prey upon
NOurron that he falls into melancholy and solitary
mornings. This gives the Faujas family pretext
for declaring that ne is mad, ana, as they have
been seized BY this time with the ambition OF get
ting hold Of all the wretched mans property, they
contrive to get him put into an asylum, where he
very shortly becomes mad for good.
But Msrthe Is rapidly growing insane too. Her
love for Faujas finds no response In the bosom Of
the priest, who is too astute man to imperil his
career anew by furnishing occasion for scandal,
and the result OF this is that Marine, thinking her.
self despised lapses into hystera and thence into
consumption. Feeling her end approaching, she
Is stricken with remorse for her conduct toward
her husband and sets out to visit him In his mad
house with the intention of liDerating him II she
should ind him IN possession OF his senses she
discovers him, however, to be quite lunatic, and
so returns broken hearted to her mothers house
in Plassans, where she swoons on the floor In high
fever. But while she is being put to bed horrible
tragedy is being enacted in her own house-that
where the Faujas were reigning, and to which she
had not dared to return.
The priest, in his ascent to honors and power.
had made himself numerous enemies and among
them one particularly unscrupuous in the person
Of the Abbe Pheline, whom he had supplanted in
the bishops good graces. This Pheline "a cog
INFANT OF the state OF things in Nourron's house,
hold, and has been told that Nourr0n In his attacks
OF frenzy proreis horrible menaces against Faujas.
He bribes one OF the Keepers In the asylum to let
Nourron escape, and the lunatic Is accordingly let
out In the dead OF night He runs OF to his house.
knocks at the door, but, not being answered,
chambers over the garden palings and begins
bewdered investigation OF his premises. He
finds everything changed-trom the gardens to
the furniture OF the house He CLIMBS noiselessly
up the staircase, calling In piteous whispers for
his wife through she keyholes Of the different
rooms, but obtains no reply; and looking through
the keyhole Of the room which was once his wiie's
and his own, he the priests sister reading in
bed, with his best silver candlestcks on the table
beside her. Then he creeps down as furtively as
he hao come, goes TO penthouse where frewood
s stored. and for the next hour journeys to and
fro with big armfu,s OF fuel which he heaps up tn
all the rooms and on all the landings. Then ne
sets fire TO each pile separately, beginning with
the ground moor, and, running up from story to
story, scattering the flames every where about
him. The house, fred In dozen places at once,
soon bazes like furnace and the escape OF any OF
the inmates impossible. Nourron. with maniacai
cnuckle, sits down on the staircase opposite the
door of the Able Faujas and gloats over his
work. 1t is full ten minutes before the priest is
aroused BY the cries OF his mother, whom the
smoke has awakened. but when he rushes to the
door he is blinded by torrent OF name and smoke
and ewoons. His mother catches him up IN her
arms as II be were child and endeavors to force
herself way out with her burden; but 1t Is then
that Nourron, with o shrek OF exultatlon, springs
upon her and brings her to the ground. The three
roll headlong into the names together. though the
mother. In her desperate struggles to free her
son from Nourron's grasp has clutched the latter
with grip Of death and fastened her teeth in his
throat. While tais pretty scene is being per-
formed In her house Marthe Is dying in convul.
sions under her mothers roof
Such is the plot Of LA Conquete de Plassans.' ,
1t Will be seen that the story is not an edifying
one, and some OF the incidents are rendered re.
pulsve by the authors very crude realism; but as
Q study OF provincial life In France and as o de-.
lineation Of characters 1t Is almost matchless and
II one could Wish the author more delicacy IN his
choice OF subjects one cannot require OF him more
vigor and artistic skill in the mode OF treating
them.
"DHRNrEREs NorvELLEs," BY PROSPER MERINEE.
That agreeable Wit ana erudite cynic, NJ. Pros
per Merlmee, has left a posthumous volume OF
noveettes which not quite equal TO those which
he wrote In his earlier days, but which afford
attractive reading nevertheless. The most popu-
lar in the present volume-though 1t is the worst
in point OF literary execution-is la Chambre
Bleuen which the author wrote specially for the
amusement OF the Empress Eugenie. The story Is
nj A vounp French cOuDie who clone. and In the
inn room where they pass the night are
aroused BY hearing heavy fall and .
groan in the chamber adjoining theirs The
young man gets up and, to his horror
sees pool of blood which has trickl ed under the
door which connects the two apartments. 1t is
evident that murder has been committed, and
the young man, memoering that the next room
Is tenanted by an English fellow traveller, whom
he saw logged out OF the railway station oy an III
favored young man who addressed him