The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1879-05-01

To the outward seeming she lived
= golden life in Paris of ease and luXur
and grandeur, stepped in all the eXtrava
f gance and display of the second empire
| Nor did she fail to carry out her inten
: tions toward her parents in America
She sent them, year by year, out of he
, superabundance, enough to keep til
wolf from the door. Nor was the duke
promise to Oscar forgotten. The DO,
was established in well-known bankin!
house after year or so Of additiona
schooling.
But there were times when, in spit
of all this. Hilda De Bonne Fortune asked
herself whether her grand marriage hat
been worth while! To be sure, she haC
not been guilty of the baseness OF marry
ing for her own mere meat and raiment
but all the same she had learned by .
wearisome experience how infinitely les
were these than the demands 0fthe soul
1t bored her TO death to be fine lady
1t seemed to her that she was n very
ghost of her former self; that that ha(
diediong ago, when she had closed thu
door upon the real things Of life-tht
art she had surrendered, the mutua
love she might have worn like a crown
She grew quiet and pale, and her hus-
band noticed it, and reproached her fol
it fretfully. Had he not married hel
for her youth and freshness? She must
exert herself; she must 60 into the
world; she must dress in manner be-
fitting her station. He did not choose
his wife to be dowdy. When he re-
preached her he dropped the mask ot
his smooth gallantry. He was as out
spoken and as rough and coarse as though
he had not been educated, in the foremost
of modern civilizations.
The poor little duchess was in despair.
Whom was there to turn to? SHE
against the hard, cold world! There
was Il church not far off. A fancy
seized her to 60 there. She had seen her
mother come out of church sometimes
with wonderful look of peace on her
face. She might might find peace too.
She took her maid with her--since she
never more went quite free now-and
strayed into the great, quiet cathedral.
She dropped down on her knees. She
thought of q storm, and of voice that
came in the storm, and Of the calm that
followed. And presently there was a
calm with her.
A calm, and strength that is only
born of calm. She went about her ways
serenely; she ruled her kingdom beauti-
fully. IF she had made grave mistake,
she did not sit down with folded hands
in its shadow. Poor little soul! she had
strayed into hades; but she became the
light, the tranq q,lil moonlight, Of the
place. .-
In day of unfaith and of materialism
and of mammoni worship, she was true
to her own ideals of goodness and lowell
ness. She never lost her childlike ma
ture, her innooen"e, her simplicity.
The worldly meH and women about her
treated her with a certain Multiplying
reverence.
So she made EsY peace with life, with
nature, as the pagans would have said,
and rs we Christians still may phrase it,
with devouter and more tilial signifi-
canoe.
But in so making her reconciliation
she must also find her way back to her
old place in the heart of the bright
little woman across the ocean who had
sent her forth so reluctantly to her mar
ried life. She had written to her mother
cold and studied letters during the first
months of her married life; it was not
until she had conquered her disappoint-
ment and her loneliness that she could
write to her as she used to talk to her,
with the outpouring of her heart.
One evening at crowded reception ut
her hotel, tall, fair man, with the
slightly stopped shoulders of the student,
made his way through the throng, and,
hesitating slightly, bowel presently over
her hand.
"Iw was by no means sure it was you,
| Madame DE Bonnc Fortune" DR..
Douglass said. And in truth she was
sufficiently altered to have made recogni-
ton difficult. She had lost her fresh
color; the mild rose bloom had given
place to the pallor of the lily. There
was an outlooking patience now in her
eyes, and there were shadows under them
that told of sleepless nights and restless
days. But if the luster of her youthful
beauty was dimmed, perhaps the splen-
dor of the setting sdfficed to make
amends Her palace was very splendid ;
her toilette was triumph in its way
her fair head was diadcmed with dia-
monds. She looked the queen that she
was in the world of fashion.
u seem to be in dream," DR.. Doug
lass went on; "or rather it seems to me
that it must have been in dream that
we once took country rambles together
down shady lanes, and gathered wild
flowers, and rowed about in boat, and
did various other rustic things. Part OF
the dream was that you wore q white
straw hat trimmed with scarlet poppics.
Your dress is trimmed with scarlet pop
pies tonight, l see"
"Poppies are said to be the flowers OF
dreams. AS far rs that goes, this scene
tonight is the dream for me. am not
accustomed to MY grandeur yet; tits still
unreal. Oh, DR.. Douglass "-dropping
her voice" how is my mother? When
did you see her ?"
Poor little queen there were tears in
her eyes. Looking into her earnest face
and so into the soul behind it, it did in
deed appear US though her fine clothes
and her jewels were q mask, and as
though she were holding court in veri,
table place Of shades. DR.. Douglass had
thought hard things of her {; he had called
her a mcrccnary wording. lie took il
all back now he forgave her; he pitiet
her.
After that, Hilda never rested unit
she had seem her mother face to face
Her conversation with DR.. Douglas:
brought up the past so vividly that shC
could not be satisfied without. So in tht
spring she crossed the Atlantic, with hel
; little retinue of man and maid, two year:
after her marriage.
She knocked at the door of the shabby
little house she used to call home, latt
one evening. 1t was May. In the twi
light gloom she could distinguish famil
iar flowers in the small garden-heart's
ease and daffodils. She STONED an(