Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-11

which you first said you loved me ?.
"Bnt the habit of using totally differ.
emit language, stammered Octave Labinsk',
quite at his wits end.
eOlaf," said the Countess in a reproach-
full tone, 81 see that Paris has spoiled
you | see I was right in not wishing to
come here. Who could have made me be.
lieve that when the noble Count Lsbinski
should return to the home of his fathers he
would not be able to answer the congratu-
lations Of his yassals 2
Pascove's charming face wore grieved
expression this strange, inexphcable for
getfulness wounded her to the very depths
OF her soul it seemed like treason.
The meal was finished in silence. Plas-
COVE was almost offended by the Count Ias
she supposed him to bel. Octave. on his
side, was in torture, in continual dread of
other questions to which he could not re-
ply. Ire Countess rose and retired to her
own apartments.
Octave, LETT alone sat playing with the
handle of his knife, which he would have
liked to plunge in bis heart, so intolerable
did he find his position he had expected
N occasional surprise, but here he found
himself involved in the endless labyrinth
of an existence with which he was wholly
unacquainted in assuming the form of
the Count Olaf Lab,nski he ought at the
same time TO have possessed himself Of all
his anterior ideas, his knowledge of Ian
guages, his memories of childhood, the
thousand domestic tales which compose the
ego Of a man all those innumerable bonds
linking his daily life with that of Others
and this, NJ Balthazar Cherbonneau, with
all his power, was quite unable to accom-
plish. How hardening to be in this Para
disc, under the same roof with Plascovie,
to see her, TO speak to her, even to kiss
her hand with her husbands very lips
without once discerning her shrinking
delicacy, and yet betraying himself inces-
sanity by some inexcusahls stupidity. His
dreary reverie was interrupted by the
groom, who, with profound reverence,
inquired which saddle, horse he would ride
Receiving no reply, he ventured timidly to
speak, again:
"Vulture or Rustem They have not
been used for a week"
20 Rusten," answered Octave. as he
would have said Vulture had it been the
last name.
He dressed for riding, and started for
the Bots de Boulogne, longing, in his ner-
vous and excited condition, for the fresh
morning air.
Rustem, magnificent animal. needed no
urging, but, seeming to understand and
sympathize with the feelings of his rider,
few like an arrow the moment he left the
pavement. After furious gallop of two
hours the cavalier and steed returned, the
one restored TO calmness, the other with
inhamed nostrils and covered with foam.
Entering the salon, Octave Labinski
found the Countess in full toilet, for being
Thursday, it was her reception day.
charming smile, without a trace of the
MORNINGS displeasure, have you found
your memory during your ride through the
Bots :"
"No, indeed, nay dear, not at all but 1
have something to tell you"
"Then l do not understand your
thoughts before you utter them We are
no longer transparent to one another p
" Yesterday l went to see that physician
everyone is talking of. y
8" Yes, / know-Doctsr Balthazar Cher
bonneau, who has been so long in India,
and who, they say, has learned any num-
Der of miraculous secrets, each one more
startling than the other. You remember
you wanted to take me with you, and
did not care about it. / am not at all
curious about such matters. l know you
love me, and that is all the science l am
interested in.
"He made some remarkable exhibitions
of skill, and worked such miracles that it
disturbs me now to think of them. Well,
this eccentric man, who seems to possess
an irresistible power, threw me into mag
netic sleep so profound that on waking |
seemed to have lost the memory of many
things. All in the past was dimmed and
confused, but my love for you, Plascovie,
was still unaltered."
You were wrong, Olaf, to submit your
self to this man-to place yourself In his
power. God, who alone creates the soul,
alone has the right to control it; and man,
in attempting it, is guilty of impiety," said
the Countess Plascovie, gravely and re-
proachfully. &c hope you will never re-
peat your visit, and that when l say some
thing amiable to you in Polish, you will
understand me as usual"
Octave, during his ride, had bethought
himself of this excuse of the magnetic
sleep as a plausible explanation of the mis-
takes he could not fail to make in his new
existence but his trials were not at an
end. A servant, throwing open the door,
announced visitor:
M. Octave de Saville."
Although he knew that sooner or later
this meeting was inevitable, the veritable
Octave became deadly pale. He was
obliged to exercise all his self-control, re-
peating that he was master of the situa-
ton, to prevent himself from starting back.
Instinctively he grasped the back of a chair,
and thus succeeded in maintaining the APP
pearance of tranquility.
Count Olaf, under the personnel of Oc-
tave, advanced to the Countess, to whom
he made profound bow.
an. lie Comte Labinski-M. Octave de
Saville," said Plascovie, presenting the
gentlemen to one another.
Esch bowed dis,antlS at the same mo.
ment, glaring at each other like wild ami.
mails through the mask of conventional pc.
likeness which covers so much that is tragic
in our daily lives.
"You have been very ceremonious with
me since the old Gays IN Florence, NJ. DC
tave," said the Countess. in a familiar,
friendly voice. Z" | feared should have left
Paris without seeing you. You were more
attentive at the Villa Salviati and | relied
upon you there as one of my most devoted
admirers"
Madame, replied the false Octave, in
constrained tone, 81 have been travelling
and have been i'll so much so, indeed
that on receiving your kind invitation
debated with myself whether l would take
advantage of it; for one ought not to abus.
the kindness and indulgence which friends
exert themselves to show to an invalid
however much of bore he may be"
"Ennuge, perhaps, but never ennuyeuz,
said Plascovie. You were always in
clined to melancholy, remember, but ii
it not one of your poets who says of it
'Apres roiSiUcte, c'est le nseitLeur de
mduI ,"
"Ah that comes from those who, hap
py themselves, desire to be absolved from
pitying those who are unhappy"
With an expression of ineffable sweetness
and gentleness, as if begging forgiveness
| for having involuntarily inspired him wit