The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-08-03
"a PERFECT TREASURE"

One day Frank came home with
look of triumph.
al have perfect treasure for YOU,
he said, Sin the way of a nurse. Ger
aid Temple is going to take his famil,
to Europe, and, when he heard wha
you wanted, offered to let us have thei
nurse, whom they will not want"
heard low sigh. Virginia, Frank
only, ster, had been sitting in corne
of the drawing-room. She rose nov
and slipped out.
"How could you, Frank" l said fol
lowing her with sad eyes. II have nev
er heard your sister speak of the Tenn
Piles since she has lived with us; tn,
very mention of their name brings back
the memory of Geralds brother, anc
all that sad tragedy"
II am sorry" said Frank, "but die
not know she was in the room. Poo
Virginia."
eyes! Poor Virginia." l said tc
myself. But once the loveliest creature
| ever knew. 1t is something ofa story
but tits all tower true tale," and vii
tell it in the shortest way can:
Virginia and Frank were orphans
and old Mrs. Chichester, their grand.
mother, had adopted Virginia almos
from infancy. The old lady had very
ambitious hopes of making a splendid
match for her beautiful grandchild. Blu
Virginia thought differently; and whel
she was seventeen, at the time of M,
wedding, she and Langley Temple were
insane enough to fall desperately In love
with each other. Langley was Frank!
most intimate friend, and the pair me,
continually at our house, until Grandms
Chichester found it out. After awhile
Langley was ordered to his ship Che wa!
in the navy; but Frank waged wal
with Grandma until he obtained vi
perish consent that the lovers nigh
correspond. Grandma took pains no,
to let Frank know how Virginia wal
tOrmented and tyrannized over unit
the poor child consented to 90 out into
society again; and there she met ant
made conquest of the very man whom
Grandma had intended for her beauty
Horace Kent. Virginia refused him
but Grandma said, scornfully, "Tha
made no difference. She would CONT
to her senses soon," and to my uttei
amazement, the preparation of the
tr0ussedu went on, and by-and-by we
were hidden to the wedding-a uuiet
elegant affair, where Virginia walked
and talked as if she was frozen. Frank
and confessed to each other, that night
that the business passed our comprehen
sion, for we had no idea then of fou
play.
Kent and Virginia were to sail fol
Europe within fortnight of their mar
riage, and went to Washington and Balti
more to pass that lime. Left alone one
evening in Baltimore, with a severe
headache, Virginia remembered to have
seen some aromatic vinegar in her hus.
bands dressing case. Kent was pecu.
liar in his careful way of locking UP his
belongings. and she took her own bunch
of keys to open the box, when, rather tc
her surprise, she found the key left In
the box. Some listless, vague impulse
which she never afterwards could &C.
count for, prompted her to lift the up,
per tray, although she had found the
vinegar already. Underneath, to hei
surprise, she saw paper, and was about
returning the tray to its place without
further examination, when her eyes
were caught by the words: "My own
Virginia." in dear, too we'll known
handwriting.
When Kent came back that night, he
found his beautiful young wife senseless
upon her bed, with the two letters
crumbled between her cold tingers,-
one, the last letter Langley had actually
written her; the other, the base forgery
In which he asked to be released from
his engagement. Kent was not at all
bad. He loved her madly, and you may
be sure that his sore punishment began
when, after the physician had got her
out of the death-like swoon, the flrst
words that came to Virginia's lips, In
that strange, passionless tone which il
far worse than anger, were, "Remem.
berl l will never forgive yoii-neverl''
They came back TO New York for a
single day; but Virginia saw no one
but her grandmother. The old lady
upon her deathbed raved of that inter.
view, and vainly implored her forgive.
ness for urging Kent Oh to his treachery,
The newly welded pair sailed In the
Inflated ship which took fire of the coast
of Nova Scotia, and whose name still
carries terror TO many q heart. Virgin.
Ia was one Of the handful of survivors
her unhappy husband fought for her q
place in the boat, and remaining behind
himself. perished with the ship. The
agony Of terror, the long night which
she spent at the mercy of the waves,
proved too much strain upon her already
overburdened frame, and Frank and i
were summoned by telegraph to her at
Halifax, where she lay for days uncon.
scious with brain fever. And then, 70
add TO her misery, when recovering. she
was thrown into nearly fatal relapse
by seeing accidentally that the Tecum-
sch had gone down In the attack on Mo-
bile harbor. The Tecumseh was Lang
ley's ship.
Virginia came to live with us about
two years before the commencement OF
my story. She seemed to feel a sorrow.
full remorse about her husband, which
was not grief, and yet cast shadow
over her life. "He was treacherous and
false" she said TO me one day, "and he
broke my heart; but what right have |
TO judge him2 Harrie, ! told him |
would never forgive him, and he died
thinking himself unforgiven." OF
Langley she never spoke.
Well, the "perfect treasuren made her