Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-05-10
The Story Teller.
AFTER MANY YEARS.

OF 8 nunQroQ louis lOT yOuI oAPohoo'' Aoof>
forward constantly to my return; and when
fortune again smiles upon me snail come
back, never again to be separated until
DEATH" -r,.
The weeping wife could not be comforted.
It was hard that, so soon after her marriage,
when the world seemed so bright and gay,
and when wealth and, fortune smiled SO Sc
renely upon her, all should be swept away,
and She left like a lone widow, to protect
herself The husband was almost distract
ed with the thought of leaving her. His
heart had been bound up in his beautl1ul
Hortense. She had been his idol from boy
hood, the bright dream OF his existence !.
and when he had attained the distinction OF
one of the merchant princess OF Montreal ne
married her and placed her in the very
heart of luxury.
Misfortunes came on swift wings to the
happy pair. One by one his possessions left
him, and worse than that, others were IN
volved in his affairs who were less able to
lose than himself. He could not look upon
the ruin of those around him; Tor he had
kind heart and would not wrong any one
for the world They that lost by his I'LL for
tune admitted that M. Valentin was strict
ly honest man; and that is great praise
from those who are injured BY mans Ill
luck. People are but too apt to call 1t dis
honesty. ....-..-.-
There was but single bright spot before
M. Valentin. Australia cleaned up warm
and golden, and with desperation born OF
love to his wife and justice to his creditors,
he secretly embarked for the land Of prom
Use. There was nine days wonder as to
where he was gone and to what purpose !;
and then he died out of the thoughts of the
community as thoroughly as if he had been
dead and buried.
The weeping Hortense removed to anoth-
erlocality ; the fashiOnables who had strain
ed every nerve to get invited to the house
of the rich merchant, never paused to ask
after his wife ; and lonely and miserable,
without friends or relatives, Hortense droop-
ed and pined, until the beauty which her
husband so praised was changed into DIM
ness. She never heard from NJ. Valentin.
No single.Mord had, ever eheered her soil
tude since he left her. AS month after
month dragged it's slow weight along and
no tidings reached her, her heart utterly
sunk within her, and she believed him dead.
What indeed could she think? 1t was bet
ter to think so than to believe him unmlnd-
ly of her, and day after day she Watered his
memory with tears of genuine sorrow, as
one sorrows for the beloved dead.
She put on the deepest mourning, Kept
her room for months, and when she finally
went out again, and that only to church,
her sorrow was written plainly in the face,
which if it had lost some of its beauty, was
vet most deeply interesting. So at least
thought the young Eugene Stanbury, an
Englishman of unblemished character and
prosperous business. He saw her at church,
devised some genious expedient to be intro
duced. and begged the privilege of waiting
upon her. The lady pleaded her inability
to entertain company, the impropriety OF
her receiving gentlemen, and a thousand
reasons why he should not visit her.
He overruled them all, besought her to
waive all ceremony with him, to consider
him as deeply attached friend, brother,
anything in short, if he might be permitted
to see her sometimes; and Hortense, weary
of her monotonous and dreary life, at last
consented.
Once having renewed the delicious con-
sciousness of protecting presence, she
found it hard to give it up for the mere
punctilious fear of what the world would
say of her. Indeed she had long since sha-
ken hands with the world, and parted from
it. She owed it no favor. 1t had no right
to criticise her conduct. Thus she reasoned
while she listened to Eugene's impassioned
entreaties that she would lay aside her
sorrow for the dead and become his wife.
Still she hesitated. She truly believed IN
her husbands death; for would he not have
written had he been living? Of the many
letters she had written him, the many
injuries she had instituted, no answer
could be obtained. No one knew anything
of NJ. Valentin.
In an hour of more than usual loneliness
and trouble she whispered to- herself that
should Eugene press his suit anew she
would consent to marry him. She liked
him. She was weary of her own life, Gagged
and cribbed as she was; she longed for free
dom from the restraint that poverty and
widowhood were constantly imposing upon
her; and all these combined operated Won
was strictly private; and half Mr.. Stanbu-
RVS friends had no suspicion that he had
ever married at all until she became his
wife.
He took her to a pleasant home, as COM
Portable if not quite as luxurious as the one
she had shared with NJ. Ealentin and all
that she could ask for was shOWered down
upon her with generous profusion. Their
dwelling two or three miles from the heart
of Montreal, was surrounded with trees and
Towering shrubs of every description. In
heart could suggest. The heart Of Hortense
awoke to life, to love, to happiness and to
see her thus, rejoiced that of her husband.
Two years of almost unDlingled bliss went
by, but the third year commenced with
some alarm at the health Of Eugene. Twice
had Hortense seen him draw handkerchief
from his lips, which was stepped in blood
and often his nights were passed in coughing
until nature was exhaused, and the morning
sleep found him drenched in terrible sweats
which so surely portend consumption. Hor-
tense struggled against this new and terrible
sorrow. It was the first time that she had
watched over one dear to her. 1t was the
first time that she had seen the effects of
this insiduous disease, and hope and fear
alternated in her breast, until at length she
hoped against all hope, and the blow came
down upon her all the harder that she had
not schooled herself to feel its approach.
1t was hard to see him parting with the
mute evidences Of his brief happiness.
Every window where he sat with her, every
arbor where they had rested, every tree
under whose shades they had walked, or
whose trunk he had carved with her name,
all received a farewell look.
'How can part with you, dearest"' he
asked, after his painful journey round the
rooms and the garden.
Eugene! do not name it," she said
"you will break my heart"
''But you must hear it, Hortense. | can
not STAY with you long. Thank heaven