The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-01-12
The Three Friends.
BY ELLEN RUSSELL.

BY ELLEN RUSSELL.
The ancient chateau of Ecouen, sit
uated on the northern route that ira
verses the still more time-hOnored town
of Saint Denis, near Paris, was origi-
nally the appanage of the illustriOus
house of MOntmorency, but is now the
School of the Legion of Honor.
This institution was founded by Ma
poleon l., in favor of the daughters of
his bravest soldiers, of those men who,
in exchange for their blood shed for
their country, received the cross of honor
on their breast.
But the daughter of the humble COM
batant in the ranks was here treated
with the same honor and distinction as
the heiress of the batoned marshal Of
France; and when the great emperor Wis
tied Ecouen, and he visited it often, he
would bend with an equal respect before
each and all of these daughters of brave
men, of whom he delighted to call him
self father, and would find in his CRATE
ful heart and memory some word or ex-
preston for each and all that would
cause their young hearts to beat with
happy pride, and their young eyes to
overflow with happy tears. To one he
would say: "Your father was with me
at the passage of Saint Bernard; be good
as he was brave, my child" And to
another: "Rejoice, my daughter your
father received his grade as colonel on
the battlefield of Wagram."
At the time at which this story opens,
among the pupils of the Institution
were three young girls whose deep and
devoted attachment to each other caused
them to be held up as patterns to all
their companions. The names of these
three girls were Marie, Clarissa, and
HOrtense. Marie was the daughter of a
poor sub-lieutenant who had lost his
sight from a wound in the head during
the Rhenish campaigns; Clarissa was
the daughter of one of those generals
whom the wars of the first empire had
enriched, and on whom Napoleon be-
slowed principalities while waiting for
something better to bestow on them;
and Hortense, the third friend, was of
illustrious birth.
Years went by, and the attachment of
the three friends grew deeper and
stronger as they emerged from girlhood
into womanbOod; but there came day
when their mutual affection was des-
tined to encounter trial, one of those
trials at the sole thought of which the
eyes rain down tears of sorrow. They
must separate! Of the three, but two
would remain. What would become of
her, the cherished companion, who was
about to departT What would become
of those she was so sorrowfully leaving
behind? Adieu forever to all the sweet,
innocent pleasures of girlhood, to the
sweet delights of study, to the tender
caresses and counsels of their wise, gen.
tie, and beloved directress, Madame
Campan, to the long hours passed to-
gether at eventide beneath the chestnut
trees of Ecouen, where the mind whis-
pered to them of Paris, the great city,
and waited to them the pungent per-
fumes of the woods of Chantilly! Ah!
what tears the three friends wept be-
meath the trees, behind the ivy-cur-
tanned walls, before the altar of the
chapel of the chateau of Ecouen! She
who was about to depart was the blind
sub-lieutenants child, Marie. Hell
mother was dead, and she must 60 and
devote herself henceforth to her sole re-
naming parent.
"Let us promise each other" said
Clarissa, who was also shortly to leave
Ecouen, to make her debut in the most
brilliant society of the most brilliant
city in Europe, 'let us make a vow
that, whatever may happen to US in oul
future life, to meet all three again, OIL
this very day and date, at the palace O
the Tuileries.n
"Yes," exclaimed Hortense, "I prom.
Use, Clarissa; promise, Marie; on this
same day, ten years hence, will be al
the gate of the Tuileries. Will you
meet me there, Marie?"
"Ah, HOrtense! can you doubt it?
solemnly promise to meet you there
you and Clarissa, whatever betide me
ip the interval"
George" said Hortense to one o
the gardeners who was passing by, "bt
witness to our vow. We, Hortense
Clarissa, and Marie, we here make 8
VOW to meet again ten years hence, OF
this same day and hour, at six in the
evening, at the gate of the palace of the
Tuileries."
And Marie quilted Ecouen.
Three months later, Clarissa likewise
bid adieu TO the institution where hel
happy childhood and girlhood had beer
passed to become a bride, and about 6
year after, HOrtense, the youngest o
the three, having finished her educa
ton, bade adieu in her turn to the
School of the Legion'of Honor.
Ten years. Ten years pass quickly
away out in the world, speed rapidly OF
whether "a J ~ or sorrow, and the des.
tiny to which Clarlssa was called wa.
of the happiest. She became celebrated
for her beauty, for her grace, the splen.
dor and luxury of her establishments
and was idoliEed by her husband, one
of the richest bankers in Europe.
But if ten years seemed but day tC
happy Clarissa, how. passed they fol
Hortense, the high and noble lady, or
whom fortune had bestowed more thar
gold and riches; who, lifting up hel
eyes from the high places she had at
tanned to, could discover none above
her?
AS for poor Marie, she had neither
splendid equipages nor brilliant estab
lishments like her former friends, Hor
tense and Clarissa; only a poor ole
father to comfort and console, and lead
about in that sunshine so dear to those
who can no longer see the sun. Eight
years, nine years had passed and gone,
then cQnno fha tanfh war than fho 10 y