The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-25

Paul was frantic when he heard or the decision. Margaret took her son aside and said: Why my dear boy will you cherish a vain hope which will render your disappointment only the more bitter? It is time for me to reveal to you the secret of your lie and mine Mile. de la Tour belongs on her mothers side to a high and noble family, while you are but the son of a poor peasant girl" And then she told him the secret of his birth.
 "Oh. my dear motheri" cried Paul. 'I see now why Mile. de la Tour mas estranged herself from me so much for the last two months and why she has determined to go to France An, perceive too well that she desplse6 mel" cried Paul.
 That night when Virginia seated herself in a secluded retreat overlook ing the ocean to muse on the rate which was before her Paul went and sat by her side. You will find brother more worthy of you than am l. whom you will choose from among the rich and noble An, since your lot IS changed, since you seek in a far coun- tr,, other nossessions than the fruits of my labor, let me go with you. Tn France. where you are going, VIII wat m you as your slave. Happy on- I,, in vour happiness, you will find me in those palaces where l shall see you receiving the homage of the rich ana noble and find me rich ana hopIe enough myself to make the greatest of all the sacrifices by dying at your feet!" ..-
 Tha violence of his emotions stop ned his speech, and Virginia answered, in A voice broken by sobs; 1t is TOT vou go. whom I see tired to death every day by the labor of supportlng two helpless families. If I accept tnls opportunity of being rich. 1t is oniy that I may return thousandtold the good which you have done us' An PauI Paul. you are far dearer to me than brother"
 Shortly after Paul was induced to snend day or two with the recluse who so often had assisted the dwellers ir inc valley at their times of need. The first object that met nis slght as he neared home on his return was tha negro woman, Mary, mounted on rno,, and looking earnestly toward the sea. As soon as he percetVeo her ne called out: where is Virginia
 The woman, her eyes streaming +esrs nointed to a sail which was just disappearing below the horizon
 Seating himself on this rock, where the deep moaning of the sea came from far below his feet and the winds the ocean BlOWlnB oNSi nm " ''NH among the palm trees like the meIan- cho[v strains of some vast organ, Paul remained in a stupor of despair. It was only when his mother came and besought him to return to his nome that he reused himself enough to speak even words of grief
 The young man abandoned himSelf to sorrow, and wandered for days amid the scenes that the lost Virginia had
 Al frnOnent calling her name to the rocks and birds and be- wailing his fate to the rustling trees. Al every sight of the ocean on which he had seen her vessel disappear his heart would overflow with grief anu he would weep bitterly. No restraints of an artificial civilization had taught him to either control or conceal his emotions and he gave them full rein.
 For a while they feared that hls reason was in danger; but as time nassed his mind settled into a gentle melancholy, and he besought the re- oiuse of the neighboring valley to teach him to read and write that he might correspond with Virginia, and to give him knowledge of geography that he might the better comprehend whither she had gone. The recluse In duced him to read history. but he found in that study only a record of general and periodical evils the cause of which he could not discover; wars without either motive or reason: un- interested intrigues among nations des- tituteof principle and princes devoid of humanity. He much preferred to read romances, which. being occupied with the private feelings and concerns of men. sometimes represented situations similar to his own. Thus no book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus, with the picture it draws of pastoral NaN val al to the human breast.
 More than a year and a half passed before Mme. de Ia Tour received any