Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-04-26
WHOLE NO. $500.

u
haven to Dieppe, the lady was ex
] ltremely sick, aud reached France Il
such condition that she had to b.
almost carried on shore. 1t hat
been her intention To stop few
days at this fashionable watering
place, but she declared that sh,
must go straight TO Paris, wher,
she could be properly attended to
! AHkl, moreover, that she never want
ed 30 see the sea again. When sh,
had been placed in the train fo
Paris she sent for the nurse, anC
feebly asked how the baby was, and
, II it had been seasick. On beina
lt0ld that 1t was all right and hao
not shown assign OF illness, she ex
pressed her qualification, and lay
| back among her rugs.
II The nurse and the waiting maid
travelled together, as before, but the
latter, wearied by her nights at.
tendance on her mistress, slept all
the way from Dieppe to Paris
When they reached that city, they
went into the waiting-room until a
carriage could be procured for them,
and there the nurse, placing the
i baby on seat, asked her compan-
ion TO take care of it for a few min
utes. She then went out of the
station door, and disappeared into
i Paris,
1 In this way the brunt of the terri
BILE disclosure, which came very
soon, was thrown upon the waiting
/ maid. No one, however, attached
any blame to her Of course, the
/ absconding nurse had carried away
| the fair haired child. The waiting
maid had been separated from her
during the passage from the train
| to the station, and it was supposed
that in this way an exchange OF
babies had been easily made by her
and her confederates. When the
mother knew of her loss, her grief
life was In danger. All Paris was
searched by the police and her
friends, but no trace could be found
of the wicked nurse and the fair
haired child. Money, which, of
course, was considered the object of
| the inhuman crime, was freely Of
fered, but to no avail. No one inn
agined for an instant that the ex-
change was made before the party
reached Paris. 1t seemed plain
enough that the crime was commit
ted when the woman fed.
Corinne. who had been placed in
the charge of servant until 1t was
determined what to do with her.
was not at all satisfied with the new
state of affairs, and loudly demands
ed her papa and mamma, behaving
for time ina very turbulent way.
In few days the lady recovered
her strength, and asked to see this
child. The initials upon Corinne's
heels had been discovered, and,
when she was told of these, the lady
examined them closely.
"The people who left this child"
she exclaimed, ''do not intend to
lose her They know where she Is,
and they will keep a watch upon
her, and when they get a chance
they will take her. L, too, will
keep a watch upon her, and when
they come for her shall see them"
Her use of words soon showed
Corinne to be of English parentage,
and it was generally supposed that
she had been stolen from some trav-
elers, and had been used at the sta
tion as means of giving time to
the nurse to get away with the other
child.
In accord with her resolution, the
grief-stricken lady put Corinne In
the charge of a trusty woman, and,
moreover, scarcely ever allowed her
to be out of her sight.
1t was suggested that an adver-
tisement be made for the parents of
child marked with r. G. and j.
P. But to this the lady decidedly
objected.
"If her parents find her" she said
ssthey will take her away, and l
want to keep her till the thieves
come for her. ] have lost my child
and as this one Is the only clew /
shall ever have of her, i intend to
keep 1t. When / have found my
child it will be time enought TO re-
store this one"
Thus selfish is maternal love.
Pomona bore up better under the
loss than did Jonas. Neither of
them gave up the search for a day |;
but Jonas, haggard and worn,
wandered aimlessly about the city,
visiting every place into which he
imagined a child might have wan
dered, or might have been taken,
searching even to crypt in the
Guildhall and the Tower of London.
Pomona's mind worked quite as
actively as her husbands body. |
She took great care of "I4ittle Ken |
sington,i as she called the strange
child, from the place where she had |
been found and therefore could |
not go about as Jonas did. After |
days and nights of ceaseless suppO-
sition, she had come to the conclu-
sion that .Corinne had been stolen
by opera singers.
81 suppose you never knew it."
she said to us, ''for took pains not
to let it disturb you, but that child
has notes in her voice about two |
stories higher than any opera pry-
mer dOnner that / ever heard, an
I've heard lots of 'em for used 10
go into the top gallery of the operer
as often as into the theayter; an If
any operer singer ever heard them
high notes of Corinne's-an' there
was times when she'd let 'em out
without the least bit of notice-it's
them that's took her."
"But, my poor Pomona, said
"you don't suppose that
little child could be of any use tOan
opera singers at lesst, not for years
and years" -.
"Oh, yes, ma'an" replied Pomo-
ma; "she was none too young.
Snnro m m ORC a.e, HLxa noqkinU. hirdS.
they've got to be took young"
No arguments could shake Pomo-
mas belief, in this theory, And she
daily lamented the fact that there
was nu opera in London at that
time that she might go to the per-
formances and see If there was any
one on the stage who looked mean
to steal child.
"If she was there" said Pomona,
"I'd know it. She'd feel the scorn
of a mothers eye on her, an her
guilty heart would make her forget
her part"
Pomona frequently went into
Kensington Gardens, and laid traps
for opera singers who might be So
journing in London. She would
take Little ,Kensington into the gar
dens, and placing her carefully in
the corner OF bench would retire
to. a short distance and pretend to
be absorbed in q book, while her
sharp yes kept up the watch for a
l.. n aNf