Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-07-16

-. 49, NAo DSSS II W A00A0 d uuUDuDs=sS
snail want dresses, loads of them, and
Jewels want such whirl that I shall
be dizzy from now till the wedding.n
Everything shall be as you WISH
aid her uncle. =
The preparation for the wedding went
on famodsly. ~. z ~
Hortense never seemed gayer, and the
Hon. John took note and said. elbow
happy the girl is at the thought of q
title.'' - :
Alec noted it too, but he took more
than a superficial observation, I think,
for when Hortense came one night to bid
him good night, before going to mas
querade at the palace, he said in his
trembling, fearful voice.
"Hortense, what makes you so sad2''
s'sad sad, Alec2 Why, don't you see I
am as gay as can be9 People are not sad
when they are going to be married"
''People are not, I know, but you are
not people, you are Hortense. You are
sad, see 1t net with my eyes, see it
here" and the little fellow laid his hand
on his heart.
She bent over the child, and needless
OF her laces and silks caught him IN her
arms, and moaned.
'1t's dreadful, isn't 1t, Hortense9''
be said at last. "Dreadful, very dreaful,
Alec!"
s.Tben what makes you do it asked the
child.
sit is my awful destiny, I Alec. Kiss
me and say no more about it."
:. "What is destiny, Hortense2 s.Destiny
IS something that drives US to do things
whether we will or not"
SIS it? I thought that was God. II
destiny is not God, Hortense, I'd fight it,
if We're you. I'll help you"
at is no use, Alec. You'll drive me
crazy. You ale such a queer child
KISS me good night, for must go.''
The day and the hour for the wedding
came.
Hortense, all in white and ablaze with
diamonds ana pearls, came into the prl.
vate Office of her uncle.
"My dear. yeu are lovely,' said her
uncle. 1--WE have always been spoken
Of as handsome and distinguished fam.
lily; but you do, to day, a special homo,
| to your race and name.''
Presently the baron entered. His va,
let had spent the whole morning reiu.
venatlng him; he played his part OF d
man OF tbirty-ive to perfection. A few
secretaries were called in, and the cere-
mony was ended. The ceremony at the
| Legation being over, the party were
whir]ed to the church. There the organ
made the air tremulous with the sound
The organ stopped; moment of 81
lence; the voice of the bishop; pauses
responses; silences; the voice of the
bishop; silence broken by the rustling of
dresses; fall; a cry; confusion. The
place was in an uproar. The BRIDE
grc ON had fallen. Some SAID he was
dead.
An old court-beau said thathis cor
sets were too tight.
All were wrong, for the baron had
been struck by paralysis
At last he revived little. He might
live.
The Hon. John SAID to Hortense in a
whisper:
What will you do?''
She drew herself up to her full height,
and replied:
II shall go with my husband to his
home"
"You need not 60. According to the
law of this place, you are. not married.
"Betore God am. No one shall say
that refused my cross because it was
heavy So the guard bore that poo,
human mockery life to his own house
and Horterse followed,
He never spoke from the day he was
married, and Hortense for ten long years
took care Of him as if he had been an in.
FAINT, and then he died. And let us hope
! that Hortense met her true lover, after
this season of suffering, and enjoyed that
| time of life that makes season of youth
possible even to the middle.age and the
old For no two souls planned for each
other can ever stray SO far into divergent
paths tnat God cannot bring them to.
gether again.