Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-09-30
that Mons. dErecourt will soon be here,

", ~ am likely to wish myself indeed
! in the family tomb! Enough" she con-
| tinued, in an altered voice, the angry
sparkle dying out OF her eyes; 8 have
no secrets from you, cousin. You know
| the unwilling prisoner hold myself; can
you not comprehend my desire for brief
play-time before my jailer comes?'
Madame would 60 into society?" said
her companion, doubtfully.
Hortense made movement of impa-
tience. "Ah, no; not that! Do you not
see" she said, with scornful bitterness,
all that will be MY prison indulgences
by and by? No; what l would have is
liberty, the freer and wilder the better.
They have detrauded me Of my girlhood
All, well, Hortense de Carignan rebels
against Madame la Marquise; she will
have one taste at least of what they have
taken away. The great lady's day will
come soon; but now, now | will be free to
act my caprice as the veriesr grisette. My
cousin" stopping short, and clasping
her hands with the gravity of sudden reso-
luton, Il will be a grisetten'
Madame cannot mean it," urged her
companion, aghast. Consider the scar-
dal"
bah, who will know it? And am
not a simple demoiselle, but a married
woman, with a married woman's privil-
eyes. Besides, have not you, cousin, to
be my guardian and warrant at need :?
Behold US then, the good bOurgeoise
mamma and the wicked little daughter
Wee la bagatelIe" and she began humming
gayly bar OF popular melody.
But | assure you, madame, it is i'm
possible" began the other, with per
picked face.
And | assure you, madame, that it
will be doner' retorted Hortense, with
light decision. Listen! now / am going
to breakfast; after that | will be dressed
and go for drive. Our campaign must
be settled before we return; so sharpen
your wits, my good cousin.
With which she rose, while Nine.
Lenormand accepting the dismissal,
walked slowly from the room, the look of
perplexity deepening on her face as she
revolved the situation, which was certain
ly an embarrassing one. Given briefly it
stood thus
Hortense de Carignan, from her very
cradle, had been destined for the son of
her fathers neighbor, the Marquis
d'Evrecourt. The projected union was
partly of interest, partly of friendship, in
asmuch as it would unite at once two adj
.jacent estates and two families whose
heads had already in early youth sworn to
each other the romantic devotion of en-
thusiastic natures. In this project they
had never wavered; and when, few
years after the birth Of Hortense, NJ. De
Carignan died, his inconsolable widow
held herself solemnly bound to see his
views for their daughter accomplished.
Unfortunately, before many years Nine.
De Carignan was herself attacked by a
mortal illness. Finding her days num-
bered her one anxiety was to insure the
execution OF the sacred trust; and having
persuaded the d'Evrecourts TO her mind,
the marriage-rite was performed beside
her death bed, between the little Hortense.
thenbarely twelve years old, and Jules
d'Evrecourt, a boy of perhaps fifteen. Hor-
tense was then at once placed ina convent
while Jules returned to the family estate
to grow up, as seemed probable, in the
likeness OF his father, who was passion
ate lover of country life and all of its
sports.
The evil, if evil it were, however
wrought its own cure, so far as Jules was
concerned For NJ. d'EvrecourtA in one
of his break-neck gallops, was thrown and
killed by the plunging of his horse. The
accident gave his widow an unconquera-
BILE aversion to the place and all its asso-
Citations she removed to Paris, where she
presently married again, this time an En-
gllsh lord, who took her to his own coun.
try, Jules accompanying his mother, who
was dotingly fond of him.
Meanwhile his childish bride was grow
ing up in the convent where she had been
placed on her mothers death. At first, of
course, the little creature did not fairly
understand her position; the title of Mad
anne la Marquise, laughingly bestowed on
her by her childish playfellows, made her
toss her vain little head as over some spe-
cial distinction. But as she developed in
to womanhood, and realized how ire
vocably her life had been fixed without
even the semblance of choice Of her own,
the matter appeared to her in a very diff
ferent light She brooded secretly over the
injustice of her fate, till it was a very dis
contented little wife indeed who, in any
thing but IA wifely spirit, left her shelter
ing convent to meet this unknown hus-
band. Young d'Evrecourt, however,
sercnely unconscious of all this, was still
away on his travels, from which he would
not return quite yet And Hortense passed
these weeks of expectation in ever-increas-
ing discomfort, and what would have been
rebellion had rebellion been possible in
her circumstances. As it was, her dis
satisfaction found relief with Nine.
Lenormand, who was the best possible
confidante of such dangerous sentiments
Life, which had been pretty hard school
to the good lady, had taught her that
silent sympathy is the safest, and that
there are times when the greatest service
one can render others is to forget their
own words So she heard all and said
little, making herself safety.valve for
this impulsiye orphaned girl, by her
peculiar position at once dangerously