Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1879-11-29


tho other side the crest Of the house of
de Sevignac was plainly visible, and i'll
minute characters was inscri bed the
name Of Irma. The Countess was con-
vinced her child was before her. g She
is indeed my child" she cried, throwing
her arms about the young girls neck,
" for with these very hands l placed this
medal on the neck of my babe She
pressed the trembling and scarcely less
agitated girl again and again to her
heart, while Louise, the elder daughter,
was hastily summoned to the room to
rejoice in the recovery of her young sis
ter. 1t was clearly proven that til Q girl
was truly the lohg lost 1rma, who so mys-
tcriously had disappeared over fifteen
years before. The Countess made jour
ney to the littlo Normandy village, and
saw Pcre Michael, who still survived, he
fully corroborated all the woman had
told, and showed the Cour tess the spot
where Jeanne LabOrd was inferred. No
one could decide why the nurse had act
ed in so singular 4 manner, though it
was con.jectured by the Countess that
VI
that threatened the nobility in Paris and
at Versailles, and becoming alarmed at
the unsettled condition of her own little
village, and fearing to take tho child to
its parents i'll Paris, she had hastily and
stealthiiy left her homo, to convey her
infant cnarse to the protection of some
relatives Of the Counts who lived on the
~. H.
Journey on foot were more than she could
endure. And while she died, the wall
ing, feeble infant by some mysterious
providence was spared. Nestled in the
dead woman's bosom, and wrapped in
the garments of which she had stripped
herself, the Cure returning from Ii vis-
tatioll, had found the dead nurse, and
| scarcely breathing infant. He tenderly
carried the child home, and gave it to the
care of the good wife of Mathurin the
miller, who had 4 child about the age of
the little founding. Procuring assist
ance, he had the corpse deccntly clad in
the habilments of the grave, and Inferred
in a corner of the village cemetery.
The infant rapidly recovered from the
exposure it had undergone, and, under
the good management of her new foster
mother, Elise, and the guidance of the
good old Cure, grew into comely maid
en-. Neither, OF course, knew or guessed
her parentage. Elise, after the death OF
her only daughter, :. child of three OF
after Irma became an inmate of her hohe
thereafter was content to look upon the
little girl as y Dieu-dennee, q " gift from
God," to replace her own daughter, and
the gentle old priest was better acquain
ted with his beads, and his Pater-nostcr
than with the legends of the noble houses
or he might have learned much more
than her name from the medal around
Irma's neck. In those pcrlious times
nows was long coming to the obscure lit
tie hamlet, which, from its very obscuri
ty, escaped the fury OF the Revolution
so it CHANGED that Irma was as safely hid
den from the search of her friends a.
But Elise's husband, the worthy miller
became posse sscd of ar uncomfortable de
sire to behold Paris. Year after year tn
wish grew stronger, till, enc fine sum
me1's day, he donned his miller 8 best
and brushing the tloury dist from hi
, Sunday chapeau, he bade his wife AM
adopted daughter attire themselves il
their gala dresses for he was bound 70
, Paris. Elise, who had a mania for econ
omy and bargains, thoIght it a good oy
, pogtu,ity to dispose of some of the man
:, nicely knitted pctticoats and jacket
= which she and Irma had spent the loc
, winter nights in manufacturing, and i
=, that way put by little money towar
E the dot of her adopted daughter. SO 4
ternately riding little in the miller
crcaking cart, and jogging more on foe
they FINALLY reached the goal of the mi
- lcr's ambltions-Paris. Thrifty Els
, work in hand, went from door to door o
fering her goods for sale, till finally st
o Glanced upon tho Hotel dc Sevigna
= with what result to Irma we have alread
!, seen.
y Mathurin and his wife, though LOT
to give the maiden up, yet seeing
@ could not be. helped, returned sad
@ home, their small income, howevc
r. much increased by Il generous pensi'
J. from the Countess. Madame found h
# daughter had but little rustic roughnc
;, to polish off; the supplemented b'
h kind old Cure had taught her to read,
Il write, and to cast accounts; she posses
4 ed innate Refinement and dclicacy, ar
= with surprising grace and beauty, I'll
mother saw she had no cause to
q ashamed of her rustic. bred daught'
II though she were. a few months Icvo
: cd to the requirement of some fashion;
o ble accomplishment, and to the bleach