Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-01-07

dlulOSb SVuulDleu lnu0 N1nette S retreat.
The young man, after %apologizing, with
drew hastily, but his dogs, enjoying the
caresses of the timid but delighted girl,
refused to answer his call, and he was
obliged to return to induce them to fol-
low him.
From this incident there grew an &C
quaintance as carefully conducted as
the strictest rules OF the old French
family conduct would prescribe. And
n morning the count was somewhat
surprised to receive a visit from the
young mans father and mother, who
had driven from the extreme end Of the
island for the purpose of introducing
themselves and requesting permission
for their son to pay his addresses to Nj
nette. The motherless child was intro
duced to the woman who desired to be
her mother-at-law and her husband.
Family history and family matters
were discussed at length, and the plant
er and his wife did not depart until the
desired consent had been obtained. Aft
or this the young couple were betroth-
ed, the engagement duly announced,
and at the expiration Of nearly a year
the date Of the marriage set and made
public, when one day Ninette, while
reading in her favorite nook, was over
taken by II of those fierce storms for
which the island is famous, and in at
tempting to regain the top Of the hill
slipped and fell down through the tan
gled underbrush, cut and SCARED by
jagged rocks, to the sands below. Here
she vas found by friends, who were
alarmed at the storm and her absence
and started out to search for her.
She was carried home almost lifeless,
and for several days lowered between
life and death, until the vigor of youth
enabled her to recover sufficiently to
understand the terrible accident that
had befallen her. Her once beautiful
features were so cut and SCARED that
after one Mortified look into a hand mir
ror the poor girl turned away, sent for
her father and announced her intention
OF entering a convent az soon as she was
we'll enough to do SC.
The almost distracted lover had rid
den v e from his mountain home day
after day to inquire after her condition,
His parents had made repeated calls,
and kind hearted strangers hitherto ex.
cluded from the counts domain by the
cold, exclusive disposition Of its owner
now CAME and offered sympathy and as
sistanoe daily. AS soon as the attending
physician decided that Ninette had
sufficiently recovered to be able to bear
an interview with her lover without Sc
rious results the almost frantic young
man presented himself, only to be tear
fully informed by the old count that his
daughter desired him to convey her un-
dying love with every assurance that it
would remain unchanged until death,
but that as the fearful accident that she
had met with had disfigured her SO that
she was confident she could not survive
Henri's expression of horror when he
looked upon her poor mutilated features
she would beg him to remember her as
he saw her last, and that she would ever
cherish his memory in the convent re-
treat that she desired to be conveyed to
as soon as her health would permit.
Sadly and silently the young man
took his departure, to return two days
later, when he came instead of on horse
back, as was his wont, in the clumsy
old family carriage, from which he was
assisted to alight by a favorite servant,
when he said to the astonished count:
"Take me to your daughter. Tell her
that the changes in her features I can
never know. She will always be as
sweet and beautiful to me as when |
saw her last. I shall never see her
again, but cannot live without her so.
ciety. Take me to her. She will see no
looks of horror, for I am blind"
Henri, after leaving the counts door,
had ridden to his own home, taken a
last look at the scene that he had loved
since boyhood, and then summoned a
Hindoo fakir, and after a long consulta-
ton submitted to a painful operation
that deprived him Of his sight forever.
The devotion that could not exist out
side the atmosphere Of mystery and su.
perstition that hangs heavily over the
little island was rewarded, and the de-
%scendants of Henri and Ninette now
live in the beautiful little valley back
Of the capital and tell Of the yelled wo-
man who conducted the blind planter
over his estate, and who was his guide
and companion until both were laid to
rest near the scene Of their first meet
ing, where a marble tablet set in the
side of the cliff marks the spot and
makes it almost sacred to the residents
of the island.
l returned to the city, and it was sew
eral days before I was able to complete
ly shake off the Understandable impress
sion caused by what the old innkeeper
asserted was a true story Of the
love Of Henri and Ninette. San Fran
Chronicle.