Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1876-03-09
now that you had no living relative, save tn
one who has disgraced your name"
"And is not that true" a. . d.

but I have, within the last few weeks, received
a valuable piece of information, which leads
me to different supposition."
"You speak enigmas," said Manuel, look
ing perplexed. us there, then, any distant
branch of my family" .... .. ....
"No distant branch replied the General
his natural impetuosity overcoming his resolve
to be very guarded and deliberate in bis
method of communication yet anxiously
watching his companions countenance as he
spoke, to judge whether his words would have
too startling an effect. mo distant branch,
Manuel; but near and dear relative still
lives-one whose interests are closely bound
up with yours, and for whose sake you will,
am sure, set more value than you now do upon
your restored liberty and unblemished repu'
tation p FL. ....qq ~. .. .t..i..
II do not-cannot understand you," said
Manuel, in an agitated tone. 81 entrest you
not to keep me in suspenseP. .'ae . .......
"Then listen to me calmly" said General
K, trying to steady his own voice, which
shook with emotion. Il almost fear, now,
that am acting rashly, in bringing too much
excitement to bear upon you in your present
unnerved state; yet it seems that you need
dose of pure, unadulterated good news to
cheer your heart. Dear friend, you said both
wife and child were lost to you. In that, you
were mistaken" .. ..,.... a..
"How ?" cried the other, in astonishment,
rising as he spoke, and laying his trembling
hand on the Generals arm. "Did l not. with
these eyes, see my beloved Louisa stretched a
corpse before me? Did not watch them bear
away her senseless form, over which had
shed the bitterest tears ever wrung from hu'
man woe, and which Ihad not even the mourn
full privilege of following to its last resting
place% .... .-....- .............,.
"You did," said his friend; "but the child,
the little girl What Of her 2" ..
"She was, as you know, placed, through the
kindness of friends in an orphan asylum.
For though one wretched parent lived, she
was in state worse than orphanage; and |
received, not six months afterward, advices OF
her deathl' ... .'...i, ..,r.- f..
"But not authentic ones. They. like many
other tidings with which you have been delu-
ded, we're but base invention. Your child
did not die, but was stolen away from the
refuge where she had been placed, and re-
port of her death spread for the benefit of all
who took an interest in her welfare" T.. ..... =.
"And is she living YETI" cried Manuel.
"Oh if this be indeed true" .... .,. ..r....I
"She is living, and happily circumstanced
at present; but her lot was hard one for
many years. She was given in charge to an
old couple who taught her to call them her
grand 'parents, ami who we're PAID nor 6Frlfg5:
ing her up as their grapdchild and keeping
from her all knowledge of her real station in
life. She received most unkind treatment
at their hands, and was growing up ignorant
and degraded, when fate threw her into the
hands of people whose care and kindness have
compensated her for all past suffering, and
made her what she now is-a lovely and at
tractive girl yet still ignorant of her parent
age, and believing herself to have sprung
from an inferior class. Manuel what is this
not tears, my friend!-oh, 1 have been too
rash! !" ......,
For the poor, broken man was sobbing like
child; sobbing in uncomfortable agitation
at the recital he had heard. Yet the out
break did him good, relieving bis almost
bursting heart of its pent-up emotions, and
easing the pressure on bis fevered brain. i
"Then am not all desolate," he said, when
he could find words for utterance. 81 thank
God for this great mercy! Tell me, where is
my child2 long to see her-to hold her to
my heart? Why did you not bring her to
me?"
"She shall see you Under happier auspices
than these" said the General. 81 left her in
California, with the friends whom / told you
of-and / am looking forward with scarcely
less eagerness than yourself to the meeting
which is in store for you"
Even now, though I believe all you tell
me, it seems utterly unreal" said Manuel.
"Give me more particulars ofthis strange, in.
comprehensive story. Let me hear every
detail, that may arrive at a fuller compre-
hension of its truth
Thus urged, General K, composing his
own feelings in order the better to fulfill the
task before him, proceeded to relate, as mi.
nutely as he could, all the circumstances of
the case in question; circumstances but re-
Gently brought to his own knowledge, wrung
as they had been, partly from the confession
Of the criminal Edowardo Gonzales, hitherto
known under the soubriquet of Pedro Alas
quez to our readers, and to others by various
aliases adopted to suit his purposes atdiferent
times and partly from information given by
his quondam accomplice Juan, and from pa
pers given up by the latter to the General,
sufficiently authentic to leave no doubt Of the
correctness of their statement. The child,
Picciola, was indeed the long-lost daughter of
Manuel Gonzales, mourned as dead by her un-
happy father, consigned in infancy, by her
guilty uncle, to fate from which he had an
ticipated no release for her, in order to destroy
all chance of her iuheriting property which
he desired for his own. 1t had been through
his instrumentality, as the reader has doubt
less already discovered, that his brother had
been imprisoned, on the suspicion of grave