The daily gazette., 1878-08-06

ne snouiu i've Then followed the fune-
raj and the black dresses. Then a long,
remembered by Vladimir"
"Did his sister-did Viyienne recollect
nothing of this?"
"Nothing. Her earliest memories date
from their life at Cloudland, whittier their
guardian took them Immediately on their
arrival in England"
"And we know all the rest of the hear
say-how the bachelor, Lord Beaudevere
represented these children to his neigh
bors az his little cousins and wards; how
ne sent Valdir to Elton, and afterwards to
oxford, where the young man distin-
gushed himself as much by devotion to
study as by skill in athletic sports how
the guardian sent him on his continental
tour, and at bis return celebrated his ma
jority at Cloudland, presenting him to the
tenantry as the heir how the baron pro-
cured the most accomplished governess
and masters for Vivienne, and took her
to London and had her presented to the
queen. AL this we know of these two
individuals, whose earliest days were
passed in squalid tenament-house in O
foreign city. said Aspirita," scornfully.
"Well, the fellow is the heir-presump-
tive Of the title and estate of Lord Beau
devere! If 1t were not SO, he might
never have dared to aspire to the hand of
the Lady Arielle Montjoie. Or if he had.
his aspirations would have been treated
with CONTEMPT"
"Then If he is the heir of the Barony
OF Beaudevere he must be SO through his
mother, for he cannot be so through his
father, since the name of Desparde is not
to be found in the Beaudevere genealo.
gy," said Aspirita, sententiously.
at Is probably through his mother,
whoever she was, since Beaudevere Is
one Of those baronies that, failing male
heirs, descend to the female. But know
nothing about it," replied Brandon, tessi-
"Do you know that he really Is the
heir?"
Eyes, because it Is so set down in the
Peerage. Under the tabular list of no.
blemen, with their titles, family names,
seats, and heirs, you will find this entry:
.Beaudevere-Baron; Family name,
Beane; Seat, Cloudland, in shire /;
Heir -Presumptive, Vladimir Desparde,
ESQ.,"
"Ahl Just now yeu alluded to this
young mans father as Vladimir Desparde
the elder. So that the son bears the ex-
act name of his father?"
ayes, the exact name of his father"
''He knows that. does he"
eyes, he knows that; but that is alb
solutely all that he does know of his
father"
"Then we will try to enlighten him p
exclaimed Aspirita, with blaze of ma
hgnity from her big black eyes.
"You'Do know something then?" cried
Brandon, startling.
eyes, 1 do. know that Lord Beau
devere is merciful in leaving Vladimir
Desparde in his ignorance, and that he
| would have been much more merciful to
have left HIM in obscurity," said Aspirita,
II IColamnlu
"Sister! WHAT do you mean? WHAT
discovery have you made?" exclaimed
| Brandon, in great excitement.
"One that I intend you to reveal to
Vladimir Desparde. And when you
shall have done so, should he be the man
| of honor we believe him, he will release
Lady Arielle from her engagement to
him, and he will fly to the uttermost
parts of the earth rather than wed with
her"
"What is this discovery? Explain
yourselfp exclaimed Brandon COyle,
starting up and standing before her.
Aspirita put her hand in her pocket
and drew forth folded newspaper, vel.
low and faded with age, ,,and so worn all
| around its creases that 1t threatened to
fall to pieces on being opened.
"What is that" demanded Brandon,
i reaching forth his hand.
| "Don't touch it yet. 1t is the New
Orleans Courier of sixteen years ago
Uncle sent me up with his keys to open
his secretary and fetch him some docu-
ments which he described to me. That
was this morning, while the bailiff was
here. Well, went up to his secretary
in the library, and unlocked the upper
drawer, but had hard work to pull it out
When did SO, by main strength, at last,
1 pulled it too far, and it fell with a
crash"
"For Heavens sake, get on" inpatient
ly exclaimed Brandon.
"And the jar, or something, touced or
started the spring of a secretspace at the
back of the drawer that flew open and LET
this paper tumble out. There was moth
ing else in the hiding-place but this paper
1Oh! you will call it fate-its falling into
my possession in this way"
The young man eagerly seized the pa
per.
He looked at the lines she had indica-
ted until his gaze dilated into stare, his
cheeks grew pale, and his chin fell
aghast with horror!
"Oh this is terrible! terrible! terrib p
he exclaimed, when at last he could
speak for emotion.
"If it be 30 terrible in your eyes what
must it be in his ?" whispered Aspirita
"What, indeed! Oh, this is worse
than the worst that could be imaginedP P'
i ne muJt0rou.
"He-Valdimir Desparde-ought not
to be permitted to marry Lady Arielle
Montjoie," whispered Aspirita.
"Ought not9 He must not and shall
not! Oh! that Lord Beaudevere conld
have known this and kept it concealed! u
bitterly exclaimed Brandon.
"He did it in mercy to Vladimir and
Viviennew
"But what sort of mercy, or even JUS
tice, has he shown In his dealings with
Lord and Lady Altofaire and Lady Ari-
ellie Montjoie"
"Perhaps he thought this secret would
never come out to injure them."
"And yet an old paper fortunately
comes to light just in time to save the
young lady from ruin and her family
from dishonor 1 will take this paper to
the Earl of Altofaire this morning and
lay the case before him"
"No, moi Do not so"
"Why notw
"Because, if you do, the Earl will stop
the marriage, for Lady Arielle's sake,
and then all Lady Arielle's sympathies
will be with her betrothed lover, and she
will remain faithful to him, and perhaps
l-eyen clone with himw
"That is true! What, then, would you
| al ,,;oa mo to do uit tb this naner 2u