San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-09-04

wEi, and the period Of her educational
course having just closed at the con-
vent, Hubert Meurice, the uncle,
brought her home TO his family circle.
Nine. Meurice, it appears, was a
scheming, calculating woman, and
knowing that Julie would be an heiress
she tried every way to promote her init
macy with her own son, who was an
uncouth and ignorant youth of IS years,
without one attractive point in his
character.
Hubert Meurice, the uncle Of Julie,
was a sea captain, whose calling carried
him much away from his home. Dur
ing his absence his wife treated Julie
with the utmost tyranny, even keeping
her locked up in her room for days to-
gether, telling her that when she would
consent to marry her son, Hubert, she
would release her and do all she could
to make her happy. But to this Julie
could not consent. imprisonment even
was preferable to accepting her awk-
ward and repulsive cousin.
One day she overheard conversation
between her aunt aud her hopeful son,
wherein the mystery of her treatment
was solved.
The boy asked his mother what was
the use of bothering and importuning
Julie sa
If she doesn't want to marry me,
mother drop the matter. like Julie,
and she would make me a nice little
l,,+ I hnr
will"
"You are a fool" said the mother.
'Yoa know nothing about the matter.
Her fathers will endows her with fort
une at her marriage, even if it be at IT,
Just her present age. At 20 she receives
the fortune at any rate. Now, don't you
see if you marry her we are all fixed for
life%'
Does Julie know about the money?
he asked.
mo, of course not.
Its little sharp on her." said the
boy.
I'm looking out for you," said the
mother.
Just & D." unused the hopeful
Il : resolved that she shall marry
you, and that is why l keep her locked
up, so that she may not see some one she
would like better. Your father is Eex-
pected home next week. / want you to
be married before he returns. He APP
proves of it, but is little too delicate
about pressing matters so quickly. |
know that no time is like the present
time, so | have been making arrange
ments to bring this about Immediately.
l have got a Protestant clergyman who
will perform the ceremony first, and then
you can be married at any time after
ward in the Catholic church, to make it
valid on her side, for her father was a
Catholic"
This was enough for Julie. She I'M
derstood the situation fully now, and
saw that her aunt would hesitate at moth
ing. The poor child feared her beyond
description, and had yielded to her in
everything, save this one purpose of her
marriage with Hubert.
Julie was very gentle girl: one upon
whom her aunt could impose with i'm
punity. She had no idea of asserting
her rights, much less of standing up for
them. But she was thoroughly fright
ened now, and resolved to escape at any
cost from the tyranny which bound her.
No fate could be worse, she thought, than
to be compelled to marry that coarse,
vulgar and repulsive creature.
The next day after Julie had heard
this information was Sunday, tho gayest
day of the week in Marseilles, and, for
tunately, Julie succeeded in making
her escape from her aunt's house. Still,
undecided where to go, and in her des-
peration fearing that at any moment she
might be seized and carried back, she
had wandered into the flower market,
where she came upon us, already de-
scribed
As she explained to Harry afterward,
she was intent only upon escape, and be-
lieved this to be her last chance. Wher
she saw half dozen young Americans.
who seemed perfectly respectable, the
idea that positive safety lay onlyi in mar
riage dawned upon her, and she actually
ran toward us, as we have related, the
moment the thought developed itself.
Harry became more and more i'm
pressed with jules story as they walked
along. while he was delighted by her
innocent beauty and manifest refine
ment 1t was all like a dream, almost
too romantic for truth. Our fate"
sometimes comes to us in this singular
fashion, he thought. There is tide