St. Landry democrat., 1881-09-10

the officer replied immediately:
81 will inform you the more willingly |
on what you wish to know, nee you
have relied on simple attestatIon from |
me in keeping this unhappy Muller IN
your service Notwithstanding the mvs-
terry which surrounded him. This uni !
form, these epaulettes, these decora-
tons belonged to him justly; he bravely
earned them as soldier. A fault
caused him to lose them. but he has SO
nobly expiated it that | think can bet
ter render homage to his memory by
YOU perpleXed by doubts which you will
not be able to explain.
"Muller is none other then the Count
de v, my elder brother. There is
nothing extraordinary in his history ex-
cept what you know. At an early age
he had gained the grade and the dis
tinctions, the titles of which you have
Just discovered, and his military fortune
had been so rapid that he raised hopes
in my fathers mind that he would rise
to the highest offices of honor in the
State. A sing lie event, as so often hap
pens, destroyed all these hopes. My
| brother. wounded in a combat. in which
he had distinguished himself, was forced
| to retire to the waters of Carlsbad in
order to recover. He found there a
| large number of his fellow countrymen
possessed of immense fortunes. You
know to what a limit the passion of
| play is carried in these resorts, where
person comes oftener to expose his
wealth than to recover his health. My
brother, forgetting too easily that he
possessed nothing but his rank as a
! Colonel, engaged in these gaming par
| ties, where the persons with whom he
PLAYED had much more money than he,
and certainly much less honesty. In a
short time he found himself ruined and
en- numbered with that species of debt
which people are accustomed to call
'.debts of honor and which, for all
that, have little that is honorable about
them. If my brother had not been so
young, he would not have felt as ur-
(. gentlyas he did the necessity of paying
these debts in few days, and perhaps,
to repair fault would not have been
driven to commit crime. In his de-
spair, his reason lost, imagining that
he could no longer appear in public
without having paid the amounts he
had lost. he had recourse to a very dis
honorable means of satisfying his cred
itors; he forged the name of my father,
who, at that time had great credit in
Germany; he discounted the draft, and
very soon freed himself from his en-
barrassment. But he had scarcely
committed this crime, when he foresaw
all the consequences of it; he lost his
head, and, profiting by 4 certificate OF
convaescenHe which he had obtained,
he left Germany.
"My father was far from suspecting
all that had happened; aud when the
drafts, which had been drawn on him,
and which he was supposed to have &C
cepted, were presented to him, he did
not recognize his signature and pro-
ceeded to prosecute as swindlers those
who had presented them to him. In
passing from hand to hand it was not
long before the person from whom the
drafts had issued was found, and you
can judge of my fathers despair when
he learned that it was his son who had
committed this crime, and that he, his
father, had publicly dishonored him,
by the rigorous inquiries which he had
instigated In spite of his anger, my
father sacrificed his entire fortune to
the payment of these forged drafts,
and when he learned of the circum-
stances which had surrounded my I'M
happy brother. he felt disposed to
pardon him. But all our efforts to
discover his whereabouts were in vain.
Notices inserted in the journals an
nounced that it was by mistake that
the old Count Y. had failed to recognize
his signatures, that the charge of fraud
which was made was entirely due to a
understanding, and that all the
sums drawn on him had been paid;
this indirect way of announcing to my
brother that his honor was shielded
from all suspicion, and that he could
reappear, was without success, and we
formed the conviction, all but certainty,
that. in his despair, he had put an end to
his existence.
You will remember my astonish-
ment when recognized the servant at
your table; he was no more able to con-
troll his surprise than /, and after the
; dinner was over fastened to find him.
was resolved to make him return to
our family. The idea that he had
killed himself to escape dishonor had a
! long time since appeased the indigna,
Il ton of my father, and, without doubt
!. the information | would have brought
him OF the punishment my brother had
| in 1icted upon himself, would have rem
dered his pardon still more easy, but
my brother was deaf to my prayers. he
remained immovahle in his, resolution,
and answered me that he would never
J, resume name which he had showed
} himself UNIV orthy Of bearing. All that
attempted by way of argument was
frustrated by his resolution, and he
. made me promise, not only to tell you