The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-05


young man trembIed when he heard
MIN. 1t is true that he had acted on
the impulse of the moment and had
replaced the paper in the envelope as
soon he had discovered that 1t was of
confidential nature. but, nevertheless,
he had learned its contents, and there
fore he blushed like a detected GRIM
inal as he replied:--'I don't know yet
whether they are all there or not, but
have just just found this lettera mong
them" He was then on the point of
confession that he had read the letter.
but sense OF shame restrained him.
What? An enveloper exclaimed the
Prince. And addressed to mel 1 sup
pose there's letter inside and she'd
like to trick me into reading it. But
she won't succeed, for i'll tear up the
letter If I find one. Let us see
He was standing NOR the door as he
spoke, and having found the sheet of
paper, he began to read aloud This
is my'-.Suddenly he stopped short
and grew frightfully pale. Alfred
saw that his hand was closed tightly
on the paper. as though he wished to
crumple and destroy 1t. Then. folding
1t again, he replaced it an the enve-
lope, which he laid on the mantlepiece
under a book as though 1t was a mat
ter of no Importance. Returning TO
the door, ne lOOheu at AilTtu " Az
seemed to be again absorbed in his
work and thus was able to avoid his
employers searching scutiny. The
Prince seemed DESTROYS to ask quest
ion Yet he did not speak He was in
the act of shaving when he question
ed the young man as to the number of
letters in the package and he finished
the task without saying anything
more. Boyer meanwhile continuing to
IAA% fner
hands At last the work was done.
and In a voice which he could hardly
control on account of emotion he
said :-"Thirty-seven letters are here
Are you quite sure? asked the
Prince who was himself so disturbed "
what had occurl ed that be did not not
ice the young mans strange agitation
You need not begin to work on them
at once" he continued. for I'm going
to give you holiday It's long time
since you've been in Paris, and as you
would like to meet 1 will let you have
the entire day to yourself. All ask
is that you will drop in here about
six o'clock in the evening to see
whether 1 need you or not"
AS he walked along the Rue de
Bourgogne Alfred Boyer felt so much
remorse for his conduct that he stood
still for some minutes, wondering
whether he ought not to return to the
Prince and confess that he had read
the will. He felt, however, that it
would be impossible for him to speak
frankly In the Princes presence. and 1t
was not because he feared that the
latter would reproach him for what
he had done, since examining the con-
tents of the envelope he had simply
f.,l, Ia 4
been given him. His subsequent sill
ence, therefore. was solely due to his
lack of courage. Indeed. the reason
why he shuddered at the thought of
making a confession was because he
had Just seen the hero's grandson suf-
fering the torture of a supreme moral
anguish.
The manner in which the Prince had
spoken of his sisterin-law, his be-
havior at the Hotel DIvera, the brus-
que fashion in which he had grasped
the envelope containing the will. his
sarcastic words when he found that it
was addressed to himself, his strange
nervousness as he crumpled the paper
in his hand, all these were indisput-
able tokens of a hatred which was the
result, not of an ordinary domes C
quarrel such as death usually brings
to an end, but of the most bitter and
intense contempt.
The silence which the family strict
ly maintained in regard to this matter
showed that the aversion was not a
personal matter. But why, then, was
the entire elder branch so much OPP
posed to the marriage of the head of
the younger branch? That the Ouch
ess dIvrea was well aware of her rela-
tives' hostile attitude toward her Al
fred was confident; indeed, otherwise
she would not have taken so much
pains to attract her brother in laws
attention to her will. But why had she