San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-04-13

himself. His father never once suffered him
TO forget it, that his mother, so beautiful and
so beloved, was a slave, who was doomed to
feel, perhaps, the slave drivers lash on her
tender, quivering flesh From his earliest
consciousness it was impressed on Leon that
be was to avenge the wrong inflicted on his
| father and mother.
Leon was beautiful; he had,the best educa-
ton the French capital could bestow and that
Undesirable air of the great world that sets
| the seal of polish on a man. His father, look
ing at him, felt all the revenge and hatred he
had nursed so long crystalline i'll a plan Of
action He would send Leon to New Orleans
with proper letters and Credentials; there he
should meet the daughter of the man who had
stood between him and Adele: he should
marry this GIRL and there then he would be
revenged, when the daughter of the naughty
aristocrat knew she was married to the son
of her own slave!
Leon had not lived under his fathers NOR
| bid influence so long without becoming in
fected by it, He, too, felt the degradation of
his mother being held as a slave, and he
| chafed at the impossbility of freeing. her.
There were but few generations between
him and his savage forefathers, and ,hefelt
brute Indifference to the pain he was to in
| fict.
The programme his father so carefully
| mapped out ha fulfilled to the letter 1t
| might all have been rehearsed a thousand
! UimeS-his appearance and success in New
| Orleans society, even his meeting with the
! shy, sensitive girl who was no match for the
brilliant Pi-risian. When society received
| the news OF their engagement it shrugged its
| shoulders.
Bah" 1t said "a little chit of thing who
| does nothing but make nOuvenas! He will
tire OF her in week"
The marriage followed close upon the an
nomcement of the agreement. 1t was cele-
brated in the gay old cathedral, and after
| few weeks of pleqsuring the young couple
left for the brides plantation home.
To Adele the time that had elapsed since
! her boys return to America SEEMED in
terminabe. She knew that by some means
| he was married to her young mistress, but
she did not understand the plot that was to
avenge her. At last, however, he was COM
! ing home her little Leon her heart her soul
She would see him, hear him speak, be near
him once more. He might not speak to her;
| she might not claim him before the world,
but that was nothing. Some night he would
slip down to the little cabin and call her
mother" and she would be repaid. She was
faint and giddy with happiness. Suddenly
the door opened and Icons father stood on
the threshold he had not crossed since the
day he pleaded with the naughty planter
for her The courteous old host advanced to
meet him.
Monsieur" he said, lit is many years
since | have welcomed you within these
! doors"
Yes" responded the other, 'but tonight
|
ter, and | came to offer my fluctuations"
Almost as he spoke the door opened and
the bridal party entered. Tie servants fell
back and stood blocking door and window, a
dense mass of faces. Only Adele stood apart
in the shadow of a door, trembling fearing,
she knew not what. Suddenly there fell
deep, portentous silence, like the breaks in a
tempest Before a word could be said Icons
father stepped forth and took his hand.
MY son." he said, ION a dark night,
twenty-five years ago. L took you from your
mothers arms. promised her then to bring
you back Tonight | redeem my promise"
| AS he spoke he laid Icons hand in the trem-
bling hand of Adele. Leon stopped down and
brushed with his bearded lips his mothers
! aShen cheek, and then he turned to his pale
and affrighted wife.
Petite" hesaid, with hooking tenderness
Il present to you my mother. After so many
years separation it is charming to bereunited
! and under your ancestral roof"
The poor little bride turned from his cruel
ewes to where her father stood. frozen with
| horror, as the truth OF the scene forced itself
! on him All her love for the man in whose
| face she read now only bitter aversion, all
the teachings of her life rushed back upon
her in one Overwhelming flash of conscious
ness that she was married to a negro, the son
of her own slave, and with a wild cry she fell
senseless to the floor.
For weeks she hung between life and DEATH
and when health came unwelcomely back
| it brought no return OF consciousness, for she
was mad Reason was overthrow by the
| great shock and she was maniac
Leon and his father entreated Adele to 90
back with them to Paris, but she stubbornly
refused Her love told her that happiness
was over for her, that it has passed her by
and would never come back She would be
but burden ON those she loved, more sepa-
rated from them than if oceans rolled be-
tween Their life and hers could never be
| the same So a second time she stood watch
ing the black hull and tall spars of the ocean
steamer bearing all she loved away from her.
| and she turned away patiently, knowing it
! was forever
| In daTkened room, knowing nothing of
the present, her young mistress called cease
llesSly for Adele" and she answered the pitt
| full cry, sitting her own bitter grief aS'best
she might.
The proud old planter did not long survive
the sorrow that wrecked his daughters life
and when he died the priest and physician