The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-05-01

from yourself whether you have no ex
tenuating circumstances to allege',
g Nothing,
"You are smuggler, them"
ooh, no !"
''Why, then, do you cross into France
every night? What other motive could
induce you to expose yourself to such
peril?"
THAT l will never disclose"
| ''Recollect that the only means of saw
ing your life is a trans and unreserved
declaration Of
Il know it, but | will not do it. will
reply to you. my Lord, as | did TO your
Judge: / have never struggled Wheth
Ter cross nightly into France or not i;
my own business, and my motives are
my own. My doom is spoken; let il
be executed; | am ready to suffer it.
My Lord, shall not answer another In
quiry"
From that moment she was insensible
to advice, menaces or eDtreaties. Moth
| ing could overcome her obstinate silence.
| During three days | was constantly
with her, and did all that | could to eX-
tract her secret from her ; but she treas
ured in the bottom OF her heart what she
| wished to conceal from me, while she
soon guessed what | dared not to disclose
to her. Yes, it was in her chill and
com fortress cell that her judges, her
lord, the arbiter of her life-fell at her
feet and revealed in passionate accents
what she had already read in my looks
and gestures. 1t was in her prison that
she coldly repulsed my love and rejected
| her pardon on the terms | offered it. No
one who had seen US then would have
said: ale is the judge and she is the
victim" She was always calm, cold and
resigned, while | endured all the fortunes
of disappointed love, irritated by re
pulses. The vault of the prison resound-
ed with my entreaties and angry excla-
nations, with my signs and passionate
appeals; and | momentarily was the
prey of every cOntending emotlon-now
ready to kill Milanetta, and now resOlv-
! ing to save her at all hazards; now
| begging her to be mine, and now deter
mined to bid the executioner perform his
fatal office. was no longer myself
loved for the first time, and the being to
whom | poured out my heart and soul
in protestations of alteration, transport,
and idolatly coldly answered: 81 cannot
listen to you love another" After an
awful outbreak of rage at such an an
nouncement, | insisted upon knowing who
my rival was, but she replied, with the
same calmness of tone and look, THAT
you she'll never know"
At this juncture violent knocking
was heard at the prison door. My peo-
pie were looking for me on all sides, as a
French nobleman had just arrived in
great haste at the castle and demanded to
to see me Immediately. | went to him
at once, striving in vain to hide from my
servant the emotions with which l was
agitated and at whose violence | myself
was alarmed, / made my appearance in
the great hall, prey to the most gloomy
| forebodings. | there saw young man,
who was pacing the hall with hurried
steps, and who desired to converse with
out witnesses.
81 am the Marquis de Clairval," said
he; 81 possess a castle in France, which,
like yours, is on the very frontier, and like
you | am engaged in suppressing SNUG
Cling and executing justice against those
engaged in it"
The name of the Marquis was familiar
to NE, as we had corresp bonded together
to devise measures for tie security of the
frontier.
"But," continued he, fhowever rigid
and unrelenting may be our justice
against those taken in the fact, it Is rath
er too much that we should condem inno-
cent people to death merely because
they refuse to give reasons for their be
havior."
s'TQ what do you alIude, monsieur"
"Listep to me. A young girl, named
Milanetta, has fallen into the hands of
your officers
"He! can you EXPLAIN"
''That is the sole object of my visit. 1t
was but this morning that | heard of her
arrest, her condemnation, and that she
declined disclosing the motive of her
frequent trips into France by night.
know the cause and am come TO unfold it
to you; but it is in full confidence OF
your honor and discretion. AIiIanetta is
mine :"
"Yours2 You Milanetta's lQver9"
"You seemed surprised at this-be-
cause such beautiful creature as Mia
Meta did not reside with me in my cas-
Tie, OF IIdt L OIOl IIOJ IdthC IlNI with lIlC W
Paris during last winter. You may be
also astonished that a noble of France
should be sufficiently enamored of a
peasant girl to sqbmit to the constraint of
mystery and the harass and trouble of
nightly and dangerous interviews. But
Milanetta is not one Of those WOMEN who
yield easily, nor is she one whose infu-
ence can be easily shaken off"
81 think l know her character" l
added
ooh, no You can never know the
deep well of love and energetic feeling in
the heart of that young Creature. You
could never know that in yielding to the
passion which possessed her, and which
I shared, she has never passed one day
without weeping for her guilt, even in
our tenderest meetings. She has risked
everything to see me and to love me in
secret-and now you have the object of
her nocturnal journeys, which she would
not disclose to you because she would
have had to blush at the confession, and
lest public declaration made to her
iudae should come to the ears of her
| father. To prevent this she would have
died without opening her lips. Now, my
Lord. have said sufficient to convince
YOU that she is unjustly condemned. You
are absolute here. ask her pardon of
YOU and feel assured that you viii gladly
coneede it,
The Marquis language, the love which
he confessed, and Milanetta's passion for
him. of which he boosted so proudly and
feryently. threw me into rage and dis
nair. ideas of vengeance and blood
rushed through my brain until grew
o;ddy. Without consciousness of what
| was doing or going to do, | rang the
bell impatiently and ordered Milanetta to
be brought Immediately before me.
| - ~ - lot her see me 2 cried the