The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-07-31

more famous still. am going to di
here"
Madame indicated the bare roem will
a motion of her hand.
The Cuban told this much "M,
husband is Frenchman too"
what, with the name of ALBANIA P
Yes, persisted the other, but Will
a blush. Madame noticed the blusl
and quietly. reflected upon it. The
story proceeded. "He came to Havans
on mission from his government.
met him at Puerto Principe. He was
over forty years of age, and he wa,
handsome, and his breast was covered
with decorations. That delighted me-
l married him l left my home to do SO,
but we were married for all that. In
one year he went away to France. He
SAID the government wanted him, and ]
could not help thinking he was great
deal OF slave. But he wrote to me
every month. Pretty soon there was q
revolution IN our country. Then I be-
came poor, as the Spaniards seized our
estates. L remained in Havana un il I
was warned away. Then came here. -
This was the substance of long story
| delivered with broken voice and in a
broken tongue. Madame's eyes rested
upon her with tenderness but with great
persistence. Now and then she shed a
few tears, and frequently soft convul-
sion would stir her wrinkEed face.
One day the poor girl placed her
hand in that of her friend, and cried
despairingly,-
4" weet for heem and he does not
COON. I grow tired, 1 tink he cheat
NEE, den I pray for death. My moder
has gone away, my fader has gone
away, and de cruel Spaniards, dey have
| shot my good broder-O mye 20
mye 10 mye loove my hoosband
and my leetle babe, but dere is DO one
to looVe me-"
The young wife and the old wife
mourned together. It became the daily
custom for the Cuban to descend from
her dismal garret to the warm parlors,
with her child, and there to sit until
night returned.
Within Madame's bosom there had
been generated an overwhelming sus-
picion. If it troubled her, she did not
show it; if it occupied most of her
thoughts, she concealed it beneath the
surface.
She augmented her misery by GER
tain exchange of whispers with her
visitor. On one occasion, after long
account of her disappointments, the re.
cital of which had wrought her COM
panlon into paroxysm of tears, and
herself into paroxysm of anger, she
suddenly pressed her lips to the ear of
her hearer and said,-
"They tell me, too, that he has mar
ried a countrywoman of yours that,
since my hair has grown white with the
anguish [ have endured, he has pro
famed his oaths. Can the spirit of af-
Fiction deal me another blow 2"
"Dey make de same whisper to me-"
returned the other dey say that I, too,
have rival, some greet leedy but
try hard to sheek my heed" o
This answered for verifcation. Ma
dame held her breath for moment, but
she was good soldier under fire of
surprises: she encountered shocks i'm
perturbab!y. The face of her friend
had grown terribly pale, an effect of her
own words.
Madame now wished for proof posi-.
tive. She waited for three days, until
all was calm again. Then with great
tact she induced the Cuban to describe
her husband.
For the rest of the day Maiame with !
drew, and in the secrecy of her screened |
apartment she communed and debated |
with her inmost heart. First she con-
sidered her friend and her child; then
she considered herself. She was grave,
rigid, and motionless. She forgot her |
cards, her sugared water, her dinner ; |
she omitted her prayers.
At dusk she called her servant she
had made up her mind.
On the next day she seemed to have |
grown younger by ten years that is,
during the first hours of her friends |
presence. Her eyes were bright, her |
smile delightful, and her language quick |
and full of vivaciOus sentiment She |
related many "reminiscences of her life |
at the French court of the well-known
gay journey to Algiers, for instance,
when the empress was most beautiful |
and the emperor was most an emperor.
the fetes and the banquets.
She told what great personages sat on
her right hand and who on her left
hand. She laughed as she recalled the
disputes concerning precedence. It
amused her to remember the dresses
that were worn and the dishes that were
eaten. She gossiped with an odd in
termingling of French and English, her
light tongue catching at the titles and
names of the elegant with curious pleas
ure.
Then again she would become graphic
and vivid when she spoke, for example,
of the march of a corps of the Grand
Army before Napoleon and Changarnier
just previous to the coup d'etat. 1t |
seemed to her that that was a sublime
at first the cheers were timid
and the eagles were barely dropped. 1t
was a question whether the soldiers
were for the old general or the politi-
clan. Napoleon ON his horse was at one
point; Changarnier was on his horse at
another. Every new platoon was braver
than it's predecessor. The tumult
swelled. 1t roared for the Imperialist
The great ladies who we're there fut-
tered like birds the uproar of drums
and voices filed the air, and a .faufare
of trumpets arose from all the field. 1t
was on the night following that day that
all the ministers were taken from their
beds and thrown into prison.
Madame was pleased to see the rapt
look which rested upon the listeners
face at these recitals. She was bent
upon making a sweet intimacy, CHEEKY
a warm and keen sympathy
between them. She wished to draw this
young and tender heart close to her old
one. She tried hard to smile and to be
kind. She made curious little confess
sion of petty sins and weaknesses, she
related her minute sorrows, she describ-
ed her utmost pleasures, and at rare
times she descanted by contrasts upon
her deep Affections.
For example: one day when she
seemed to be in good heart and when
she looked her best in black robe, she
described an incident of her earlier life
in France. She possessed a face of
matchless dignity and delicacy of out
line. Time had sharpened the profile,
followed the cheek, heightened the nos
triI, empurpled the region of the eye,
but there remained the ashes of the
flower; visage already
shaded by the coming repose, but retain
ing the cast of the old perfection.
She took her friends hand into her
own with a smile. "My husband"
said she, "was appointed the comman-
dant of Fontainebleau, when the distri-
button of rewards was made to those
who had espoused the cause of en-
peror, The palace and gardens then
needed a great deal of repair and alter