0 IE DOLLAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
Thursday Morning,. August 18, 1859.
[From Chambers' Journal.]
POUDRE HOSE.
[CONCLUDED.]
The elasticity of hope is in youth rarely
completely crushed : and before many days had
gone by, Adrienne's brain was again busy with
expedients for bringing aboat the family recon
cilement upon which her mind was set with
such morbid intensity ; and all the more eag
erly, that the third annual visit of her relatives
was close at hand. But the resources of tears,
supplications, incantations, votive-offerings,
having failed, what other device remained like
ly to injure a fortunate result ? Mademoiselle
Beaudesert was thus anxiously ruminating,
when Lisette Mendon, a favorite and shrewd
attendant, took occasion, whilst perfecting the
transparent-tlioughted young lady's dinner
toilet, to remark, with reference to a wedding
soon to take place among the chateau servants,
how extraordinary it was that ce gros vieux
fivnsard should have won so easily the affec
tions of young and pretty Fanchette Lenoir,
who was, moreover, quite as well, if not better
off, than he. "Certainly," she added with
emphasis, " such a match could not have been
brought about without the he'p of the poudre
rose, or similar magic compound."
" Poudre rose !'' murmured Adrienne, turn
ing her unquiet, dreamy eyes upon the attend
ant ; " I have heard that spoken of before.—
What are its real or supposititious qualities ?"
1 can assure mademoiselle," replied Lis
ette, " that there is no supposition in the case.
The poudre rose is well known to possess ex
traordinary virtues, though i should not 1 ke
Madame de Vautpre or the Abbe Morlaix,
both of whom have unreasonable prejudices
upon such matters, to hear me say so. For
example, there was Marie Devenlle, a widow
with a strong cast in her eyes, four small chil
dren, and not a liard's worth of property, who
married, about a fortnight after she was seen
to pay a sly visit to the late Madame Delpech,
Jean Lucas, a good-looking young farmer, and
one of the most prosperous in the commune.
It must lie admitted that nothing short of very
marvellous mag e could have accomplished such
a marriage as that. For my part," added
Lisette, " 1 should feel no scruple, if an op
portunity oc.urred—But 1 am fatiguing made-
UIOiM lie.
" Not at all, Li>ette ; you interest me on the
contrary. How is this precious poudre rose
administered V
" Nothing more simple, mademoiselle. The
prescribed quantity is placed in a glass of wine,
a cup of colfee—n<J matter what. The wine
or coffee is then handed—let us byway of il
lustration, suppose—to Jean Lucas by Marie
Devenlle, she looking her fulur smilingly in
the face all the while ; he drinks, and the af
fair is finished. Certainly, there can be no
such great.harm in all that, even if everybody,
with the exception of Madame la Baronne and
Monsieur Morlaix, deceive themselves as to the
wonderful powers of the poudre rose."
" No harm, as you say, Lisette, if no good.
And is it not said to be equally efficacious in
reconciling enmities—between, for example,
estranged relatives ?"
" Oh yes, mademoiselle ; 1 could tell you of
several such instances—of oue particularly,
where "
Lisette's instances were cut short by the
last summons of the dinuer-bell. But the in
teresting colloquy was renewed the next day,
when the wily confidante succeeded, if not in
persuading Madtuoiselle Beaudesert into an
absolute belief in the miraculous properties of
the poudre rose, to at least consult Delpech
prre upon the subject. "My father's friend,"
thought Adrieune, " who will be sure to deal
frankly with me. My grandmamma," she ad
did aloud, "had great faith in such charms.
Still, I can hardly—But, as you say, Lisette,
tiiere can be no possible harm in making the
trial ;" and her scruples thus silenced, the rash
girl s*it down to w rite a note appointing a pri
vate interview with Delpech on the morrow,
at a place indicated by Lisette, and not very
distant from the chateau.
" I'uttl Delpech, mademoiselle," Hastily in
terposed the waiting-woman, as her uasnspect
ig uristrees was about to address the note.
" Yes, certainly. 1 had it in my head, as I
to'd you, that Paul was the son's name ; but
of coarse you know. You will keep this, per
haps foolish, matter, profoundly secret," she
added, as Lisette was leaving the room.
" Secret as the grave," replied the \Aung
woman qnicklv, and with averted face, lest
Adrienne should see the triumph flashing there
" Delpech himself shall not suspect that 1 am
aware of the contents of this note ; made
moiselle may fully rely upon me."
" Here is the assignation, monsieur,"' said
Lisette Meudon about an hour afterwards, ad
dressing Jules Delpech. " You turn pale, and
tremble very much," she presently added.—
" There is, I hope, nothing more meant by this
frolic than what I know of !"
"Nothing—nothing, Lisette," replied Del
pech. fumbiing in his purse wi'h shaking fin
gers for some gold pieces, and p aciug thcui in
her ready palm.
" And w hen the wedding takes place, yours
with Claude Simouet—if a fat dowry can win
the old man's consent—will not be far off."'
" That is well understood, Monsieur Del
pech. But tell me why," added the young
woman, still under the iufluence of a suddenly
awakened feeling of distrust —" if you are so
positive Mademoiselle Beaudesert has a decid
ed penchant for your handsome son, are you so
anx'.ou< to compromise her by these pretended
assignations ? As to the poudre rose pretence
1 - iat , excuse me, is as absurd as the faith of
the credulous fools about here in its wonder
working powers."
Vou err, Lisette," replied Delpech. "If
Mademoiselle Beaudesert ouco partakes of
iome wine, tinctured with poudre rose, iu Paul's
presence,• I shall have no fear that the wedding
i will be long.delayed after Madame la Baronne
lias taken her place in the vaults of the Church
: of the Assumption."
" That may be, Monsieur Delpech ; but you
know Mademoiselle Beaudesert will never do
any thing of the kind, just as well as I do,
that you dare not propose it to her. I have
jno misgivings upon that point. Mademoiselle
' is as sensitive aud prond as she is pure and
■ simple-hearted. Still," added Lisetle, one of
that numerous class of persons whose aid in
evil purposes may, for a sufficiently tempting
reward, be counted npon to a certain extent,
but no further—" still it occurs to me, that if
you really are so confident"—
" I will be frank with you, Lisette Meudon,"
interrupted Delpech, swallowing the rage he
felt at the woman's persistence. " 1 saw
Madame la Baronne a few days since : she is
going fust ; Mademoiselle Beaudesert will soon
and suddenly find herself in a dazzling posi
tion, which now she can have no just idea of.
Her mother, a woman of the world, will be
with her—parasites, flatterers, suitors innumer
able, w ill crow d about her. All this may turn
her head It is prudent, therefore, to strength
en Paul's hold upon her fancy by these little
compromising arts, which, when one is prompt
ed by a laudable ambition, are, you will agree,
perfectly permissible."
" Perhaps. However, Ido not see that any
harm can accrue. Tlie marriage-portion," ad
ded Lisette, opening and holding the door in
her hand—"the marriage-portion, Monsieur
Delpech will do well to remember, should he
succeed in his audacious project, must be a
liberal one, and legally secured before the grand
wedding takes place."
" Precisely, ma fille. Paul and myself, more
over, will owe you a large debt of gratitude
for your services and silence."
" Chut, chut I look to be rewarded by
money, not moonshine, Moniseur Delpech."
" Claude Simouet," said Jules Delpech with
a wry grimace, meant for a complimentary
smile—" Claude Simouet won't be the father
of fools, if his children take alter his pretty
wife."
'• He won't, in that case, be the father of
dupes," was the retort ; "a fact which, I re
peat, the Delpeehs, father and son, will do
well to bear in mind. Bonjonr, mi nsieur."
"An pl'iisir. Mademoiselle Meudon," re
sponded Jules Delpech, adding with a savage
snap of the teeth as the door closed : "The
j insolent liussy ! 1 should like, instead of a
dowry, to accommodate her with a "' —What,
he did not say ; but one might have sworn
from his looks it was something which Lisette
Meudon would have decidedly demurred to as
the substitute for a handsome marriage-por
tion.
The child-heart of Adrienne Beaudesert beat
violently, and a vague feeling of terror so op
preyed her, upon approaching the appointed
, rendezvous on the following day, that she was
, upon the point of turning back, and abandon
ing her purpose. "It was the last effort,'' she
afterwards said, "of my guardian angel to
draw me back from the precipice to which 1
was madly hastening. It was made in vain.
I shook oil" the warning impulse, bade the
valet remain where he was for a few minutes
and hastened on."
Jules Delpech would have made a capital
actor, if one might judge by his natural as
, sumption of surprise and dcferential'interest,
as Mademoiselle Bcandcsert, blushing and pain
fully agitated, stood before him. It was some
time before he appeared able to even diiuly
make out her meaning from the confused, hur
ried sentences in which it was expressed. At
last he seemed to catch it, but still uucertaiu
ly.
" Mademoiselle Beaudesert wishes to know
of me if there is any truth in the reported
marvels effected by the poudre rose. Do 1
rightly comprehend bet ?"
" Yes, that is the question I wish to put ;
and if—if : but perhaps it is all an idle tale ?"
" It is not an idle tale," replied Delpech,
with well-sernbled gravity and earnestness.—
•'The miraculous properties of the poudre rose
have been proved over and over again ; but
Mademoiselle is perhaps not aware that to
dispense it is to act in contraveutiou of the
law, though not of morality?"
"Oh no, 1 had not thought of that ; aud I
would not for the world that"
" If, mademoiselle,'' interrupted Delpech,
" will tell me frankly for what purpose she re
quires the poudre rose, the wish to serve a
daughter of the noble-minded victim who
oncv honored me wita the name of friend, will
if I see a probability of doing so effectively,
render me indifferent to auy legal penalties J
may incur."
" Ah, monsieur," said Adrienne, her soft
eyes ti ling with tears at the allusion to Iter
fatlu-r, "it is because you were his friend that
I wished to consult you, knowing that I should
not be either deceived or exposed to ridicule.
I have a fancy to try the effect of poudre rose
upon—upon Madame de Vautpre."
"Madame de Vautpre!'' ejaculated Jules
Delpech, in a tone and with a start that would
not have disgraced Talma—" Madame de
Vautpre ! For what purpose, in the name of
Heaven >"
Adritunc explained ; Jules Delpech the
while, as >he subsequently recalled to uiind,
though too agitated and confused at the mo
ment to appreciate its strange significance—
Jules P. Ipech, I say, gazing the while into her
eyes with a piercing intensity, as if more de
sirous of reading there the secret of her soul,
than of listening to the words of her mouth.
" 1 understand you, Mademoiselle Braude
scrt," said Delpech, with slow, stage solemnity
of speech. " The poudre rose icill effect your
pur|Kise in giving it to Madame de Vautpre."
" Seriously, I am so glad ; for do you know,
Monsieur Delpeech, I felt almost sure that you
would say it was a childish, absurd illusion."
'• When shall I place it in mademoiselle's
hands ?" inquired Delpech.
" To-morrow, if you please, at this place and
hour "
'• Be it so, mademoiselle ; I will bepuuctual
and silent.
" Almost a woman, and a charming one, too,
person,'' muttered Delptcb, lookiDg after
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TO WANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
Mademoiselle Beaudesert as she hurried back
to where she had left the valet—"in mind, the
veriest child ! The amiable Ursilines may
prepare their pupils very well for heaven, but
certainly they do not succeed in fitting them to
deal with this wicked world. After all, Paul
will make her an excellent husband ; and if,
which is quite possible, we have deceived our
selves as to the young lady's partiality for him,
or at least that it is so decided as to induce
her to stoop to a union with him from the
height whereon a very few days, or I err great
ly, will see her placed, it will require the iron
link which I have so successfully begun to
forge, to coerce and bind her prideful will.—
And yet, at all events, I can say beaujeu, bien
jour; and, lest of all, should our audacious
project, as it may be truly called, fail, neither
Paul nor I shall be seriously compromised, as
I will manage ; but it will not, cannot fail
Madame Beaudesert and her daughter Clar
isse had passed the stipulated number of hours
at the Chateau d'Em, and were seated at
breakfast with Madame de Vautpre, M Mor
laix, a*;d Adrieune ; which repast concluded,
the two visitors would be conveyed, in a car
riage already in waiting, to the Messageries
lioyales, Lyon, en route for Clichy. M. Mor
laix could not help remarking that Adrienne
was very much more restless, perturbed, ill at
ease, thau on the like former occasions. And
why were the burning eyes of the pale, agita
ted girl turned with such intense, sudden scru
tiny upon Madame de Vautpre's countenance
when Madame and Ciarisse Beaudesert hand
ed chocolate to that lady ? Was it that Ad
rienne's solicitude was awakened by the signs
of recent and severe suffering visible there, for
Madame de Vautpre had passed a much worse
night than usual, and at her own request hud
received the sacrament soon after rising.
The abbe would fain have believed so, but
could not, knowing whathedid. It was rath
er, lie greatly feared, that that young, and, as
he once thought, guileless, unworldly heart,
was agitated by criminal hopes, which those
signs of probably mortal disease had quicken
ed aud inflamed.
A harsh but perhaps not unnatural judg
ment ! Poor Adrienue's criminal hopes, were,
in sooth, limited to the magical effect produced
by the poudre rose. Certainly, Madame de
Vautpre's demeanor was more gracious towards
her mother and sister than on former occa
sions ; and, unhoped-for condescension ! suffer
ing aud feeble as she was, Madame la Baronne
would accompany them down the grand stairs
to the entrance-hall ; had shaken hands with
Madame Beaudesert, and was abofit apparent
ly to embrace Ciarisse, when she suddenly
staggered, caught wildly at vacancy, aud fell
heavily upon the tesselated pavement, before
a hand could be stretched forth to save her.
A medical gentleman, who had resided lor sev
eral weeks at the chateau, was quickly on the
spot, and opened a vein ; a few drops of dark
blood flowed, and at the end of a few breath
less minutes, the man of science announced, in
a grave whisper, that Madame de Vautpre
was dead—dead of apoplexy !
"Apoplexy ! you are certain of apoplexy !"
said the abbe, addressing the surgeon, but with
his stern glance fixed upon Adrienue's chang
ing countenance, till she, overcome by a rush
of contending emotion, lost her senses, and
sank with a low, moauiug cry into her mother's
arms.
Towards evening ou the same day, and
whilst Adrienne was still iu a manner stunned
by the suddenness and magnitude of the event
which had changed the aspect of her life, she
received a message from the Abbe Morlaix,
requesting to sec her immediately, and alone.
She obeyed the summons, and divined its mean
ing the moment she was in the abbe's presence.
He wore his priest's stole ; and a velvet cush
ion had betu placed beside his chair. " I have
sent for you, Adrienne Beaudesert," said he,
"on this day in which He, iu whose handsare
the issues of life und death, has visited this
house with such sudden judgment, in the hope,
the confidence, that at such a solemn moment
you will not refuse or delay to lay bare your
whole heart to Hod."
The abbe's word's and tone wounded the
susceptibility of the young girl, who, with the
hauteur inspired by conscious purity and inno
cence, answered that she had no present inten
tion of placing herself under Monsieur l'Abbe
Morlaix's spiritual superintendence. The abbe
was enraged beyond all bounds by such a re
ply, and in t li e first movement of his anger,
gave partial vent to the dreadful suspicions
that hud arisen in his mind. Mademoiselle
Beaudesert only appeared to comprehend iu
his angry, menacing language and reproach,
that she rejoiced at the death of Madame de
Vautpre ; and even that wastoo much for her
shaken strength ; and again losing conscious
ness, as in the morning, she would have fallen
on the floor but for the dismayed aud bewildered
abbe. Directly assistance came, M. Morlaix
left the loom, and soon afterwards the chateau,
to seek counsel as to what course, under the
circumstances, he was bound to pursue.
Whatever that counsel may have been, re
mained unknown to those whom it must have
chictiv concerned, since it was not, visibly at
least, developed in action. The routine of the
chateau weut on as usual ; and on the appoint
ed day, the corpse of Madame la Baronne de
Vautpre was borne in state to the vaults of
the Church of Assumption, to be laid by the
side of that of her nephew. The funeral dis
play was yet more splendid—the catafalque
more gorgeously emblematic of the dignity
that lay rotting beneath its imposing uphol
stery, the crowd more dense, the oration more
effective than ou the former occasion ; albeit
the essentials of the show were identically the
same in both cases : the same catafalque, only
more splendidly bedizened ; the same crowd
in larger numbers ; the same oration from the
hame text, " Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serp
! ent shall bite him skilfully amplified to in
clude certain special admonitions, which found
their way to at least one conscience, if it
might be fairly so inferred from the convulsive
sobbing of,ostensibly,the chief mourner amongst
that throng of seeming mourners ! The spec
tators whispered to each other that Mademoi-
" REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
selle Beaudesert was more violently affected
than at her father's fuueral ; and some others
of the more observing sort noticed that Jules
Delpech, present with liis son Paul, was again
recognized by Madame de Vautpre's grand
niece, as she left the church ; but this time
with a start, shudder, a crimson suffusion of
face and neck, rendered more striking by the
instantly recurring paleness. What might
that mean, coupled with the flashing looks in
terchanged between the father and son ? A
question that which Adrienne Beaudesert her
self could not have answered, had she choseD
to do so, except by saying, that since the death
of Madame de Vautpre, immediately after
drinking the chocolate in which poudre rose
had been mixed, the idea of the men who had
provided her with the unholy drug—it was
Paul Delpech who was in waiting for her with
the sealed packet at the second interview,
Mademoiselle Beaudesert being accompanied
by Lisette Meudon—had been associated iu
her mind with images of death and sin !
Lisette Meudon could have given a more plau
sible solution of the seeming mystery —name-
ly, the conflict iu mademoiselle's mind of pride
and high station, with the suggestions of a
; romantic attachment to haudsome Paul Del
pech ; and Lisette, a young woman of strong
, feeling, though lax in principle, would not have
. hesitated to give up the money recompense she
| was to receive of the Delpeehs, were not her
marriage with the amiable son of miserly old
j Simouet dependent thereon, if she might there
by have assisted in breaking the ignoble fet
ters in which a vagrant fancy, helped by cun
ning arts, hud bound her gentle-miuded mis
tress. But, ulas ! Lisette Meudon, keen aud
; warv as she deemed herself, had been as fatal
ly duped by those cunning arts as Adrienne
Beaudesert herself. So at least confidently
| calculated the two Delpeehs
The death-rites duly celebrated, the affairs
of life regained regard and prominence ; and it
was found that the large possessions of Mad
ame la Baronne de Vautpre were secured to
Adrienne Beaudesert, clogged by one condi
tion only, that whosoever she married was to
assume the name of Beaudesert; and it was
also provided that during Adrienue's minority,
Cardinal Retz aud the Abbe Morlaix were to
have a certain control over her expenditure—
M. Morlaix to reside of right during that pe
riod at the Chateau d'Em, and to jeceive for
life the same honoraries as had been paid him
by the testatrix. The instruments by which
1 the property was thus devolved had been exe
cuted only about three months previously.
The brilliant future that had so long eluded
the grasp und mocked the hopes of Madame
I Beaudesert was at last more than realized, to
! her exuberant delight, unbounded exultation ;
and it was not very long before the dark, fit
ful fancies that haunted the imagination of
Mademoiselle, her daughter, were chased awav,
or superceded by the excitement attendant up
on the novel and dazzling position to which
Madame la Baronne's death had raised her.—
The Abbe Morlaix, who kept himself very se
cluded, rarely interfered with the management
of affairs ; aud Adrienne, with her prouder,
aud more elated mother and sister, seemed
never wearv in realizing to themselves, in a
, thousand ways, the intoxicating possession of
riches, power, social supremacy. It was the
acted fable, so far, of the beggar on horseback,
, with the catastrophe of the dizzyiug ride to
i come.
After three months' enjoyment of home
splendors, however, ennui began to arise, and
a lengthened tour was projected by the ladies,
through Switzerland und italy.
During these three months, the Delpeehs
had made no demonstration whatever. The
father's timidity of temperament had operated
to suspend the blow, the possible recoil of
which might bring about his own destruction.
Might —yes ; but not if his brain retained its
mastering, guiding power. After all nothing
could be w anting to iusure success, but raudace,
el encore de I'audace.
"Sucre bleu —yes ; we know that very well,"
sullenly exclaimed Paul, who had heard that
soliloquy, or one very like it, a hundred times
before ; "but wheu the moment of action ar
rives, your heart is to be found in youi shoes,
if anywhere. It was worth while, truly, to
venture so far, only to short when the prize
was in sight—within hand-clutch, as you well
know ! Not long to remain so," added the
young man bitterly, "for it is quite certain the
Bcaudeserts leave France for one, perhaps two
years; but whether one or two, Mademoiselle
will not return, we may fully assure ourselves,
says Lisette Meudon—the confiding simpleton
she is, or more correctly, had been."
" Yon have seen Lisette Meaudon ?"
" I hare seen Lisette Meudon, who through
me, returns the three Napoleons you once lent
her, with her compliments, and a polite intima
tion that, for the future, she must decline the
honor of our acquaintance."
" The insolent baggage !"
" That polite peremptory intimation," con
tinned Paul, " did not prevent her from cou
doling with me UJKJII the sad blight to my
hopes caused by the discovery that .Mademoi
selle Beaudesert cares no more for my facia a
ting self than for any other of the country
clods upon which the light of her countenance
may have occasionally fallen."
"And what, pray, may he the meaning of
all that insolence ?"
"The meaning is plain enough ; la demois
elle Meudon, thanks to the powerful interposi
tion of her mistress, will be Madame Claude
Simonet iu a day or two ; elevated, therefore,
above our position in life—and, cent diablcs !
that is true, too," added Paul Delpech, with
an explosion of savage temper.
"True ! Surely, Paul"
" True—yes, certainly it is true," interrupt
ed the son, with a heat inflamed by the liquor
he had oeen drinking, " but it shall not be for
long. Hear, cow, my unalterable resolve, if
you please, sir. Having striven so far, hav
ing suDk so deep, I at least will not hesitate
at the final leap or plunge ; and since you will
not evoke the power you have acquired over
Adrienne Beaudesert, I will do so myself ; ard
but a few hours shall have passed before that
yoaDg lady is made to thoroughly uaderstaad
that the sole choice left her is between marri
age with Paul Delpech, and public exposure,
followed by shameful death !"
" You would fail, Paul—utterly fail," trem
bled from the ashen lips of Jules Delpech. " I
—I, since you are so resolved, will get about
the—the business at once—by letter first—ob
scure, preparatory hints, awakening preludes
to the else overwhelming thunder burst. Don't
you think it will be best so, Paul ?"
As you please ; only, if possible, get rid of
your coward fears. A bold, determined throw
must win ; but a shaking hand will lose both
fortune and fair lady, skillfully as the dice
have been loaded."
Thus urged, Jules Delpech managed to screw
his courage to thesticking-pluue ; and Madem
oiselle Beaudesert, while busied with prepara
tions for the impending journey, was surprised
and startled at receiving several brief notes—
-1 not disrespectfully phrased, but indirectly men
j acing in toue, subscribed D. "D 1" thought
Adrienne—a child disporting itself iua parter
re of gorgeous flowers, from amidst which a
serpent suddenly uprears its flaming crest, de
laying only to strike—"D ! that must mean
Delpech. What cauAr require of me? What
shall I do ?"
It was difficult to say. Lisette was unfor
tunately absent—just set oil upon a wedding
trip to her relatives iu Paris ; aud after con
siderable hesitation, arising from an unacknowl
edged dread lest the vague, sliudowv terrors
which the letters had excited in herowu mind,
should, were those letters submitted to the
clearer, stronger vision of others, assume tan
gible shape and substance, Adrienne Beaudes
ert determined upon showing them to her moth
er and sister.
"How absurdly nervous you are, Adrienne,"
said Madame Beaudesert, after running tliem
over. "The man of whom you, silly goose,
obtained that precious poudre rose, wants to
be handsomely paid for his nostrum ; but,
lrom a wholesome dread of the law, does not
choose to distinctly specify the nature of his
demaud. 1 oila tout, chrr eJUIe."
" I hope so," said Adrieune, only partly re
assured ; "and yet, would that Lisette were
here ; she would go aud conclude the affair at
once." Madame Beaudesert remarked that
Li.-e tte would be back again in quite sufficient
time to attend to such a bagatelle ; ai.d chang
ed the conversation to other topics.
Not, unhappy maiden, not to be so conclud
ed even by clever and zealous Lisette, as the
following note, received the next day, too plain
ly showed : " Mademoiselle Beaudesert, 1 have
already sent you three letters, which, though
ouly signed by the initial of my sirnamc, must
have been perfectly intelligible to you, request
ing an interview at an address enclosed. Has
the elevation to which Mademoiselle has been
so suddenly raised, precisely eight days after
her interesting conference icith me, seven after
that uith my son, turned her brain, blinding
her to the fatal consequences of a refusal to
reward, in the only manner reward is possible,
the love, the devotion—nt what cost evinced
Mademoiselle Beaudesert Ico well knows—of
that son ? I demand, then, for the lust time,
a strictly iuterview with Mademoiselle Beau
desert, to take place within the %xt tweutv
four hours— JUI.ES DELF CH."
"What, manum —what mean those wild
looks, this pale lace ?" gasped Adrienne, a>
her mother, having glanced over the letter,
stood transfixed as by the stroke of a dagger.
—"speak, or 1"
"My child—my precious, innocent child,"
interrupted the mother, clasping, straining ad
rienne in her embrace, with terrified, convul
sive tenderness ; " I see it, understand ir ail
now. The villain of whom you had the—the
poudre rose, means, 0 Hod ! —means to assert
that you—you, beloved Adrienne—you, sweet,
sinless child—knowingly obtained—obtained,
under the pretence of poudre rose, a drug of
him to—to O Father iu Heaven, cau such
things be ?''
"What things?" exclaimed Ciarisse.—
" Speak, mother. You are killing Adrienne."
"'lhat—that Adrienne obtained a drug of
him—to—to shorten the life of Madame de
Vautpre."
\\ ith those words, the flame-crested ser
pent leaped at Adrieune's throat, and life for
a time forsook her. It was long before the
distracted mother and sister could recall her to
consciousness, and to what eou.-ciousmss, when
successful ? What else but this, that she,
Adrieune Beaudesert, was the murderess of
her relative aud benifuetrevs—in fact, though
not, blessed be Hod, iu purpose—that she held
her life, and (minor, but stiil bitter conse
quence), the splendid position which had so
lifted her up with pride, at the mercy of a mis
creant whose forbearance could only lie pur
chased, it seemed, by the abhorred pollution
of a marriage. But no; she would lite a
thousand deaths first !
For all this, however, before the expiration
of the stipulated twenty four hours, a message
reached Delpech to the effect that Mademoi
selle Beaudesert wished to sec him early in
the forenoon of the morrow at the Chateau
d'Em.
The hoary-headed conspirator did not fair to'
attend at the time appointed, sprucely attired,
and prepared with a number of careful conned
phrases in deprecation of thcoutburst of wrath
ful terror with which he expected to be assail
ed if the young lady or her mother had fath
omed, and he could hard believe they had n< t
fathomed, the true purport of his menacing
letters. "But the first flash of the tempest
over," argued Jules Delpech, " the stern neces
sity of tjie"
The current of his thoughts were checked,
and he himself staggered back in dismay from
before the apparition, as it were, of Adrienne
Beaudesert, who, with her face the color of
the loose white morning robe she wore, her
hair in disorder, her eyes flaming with insane
excitement, came swiftly towaid.s him fioni a
door which silently closed after her, grasped
his arm, and whilst perusing his countenance
with intensest scrutiny, said in low, rapid, earn
est accents :
" I have consented to see yon, sir, not to
defy, to curse you—human maledictions could
not reach fiead-aatcre such a? yonrs—but to
VOL.. XX. —NO. 11.
say this : your object in inventing the horri
ble lie !—yes, lie, lie, lie 1 with which you have
sought to stab my life, is, must be, money.—
Well, confess that it is a lie ; give uie proof,
easy for you, that it is one ; proof that .Mad
ame de Yautpre died—as she did die—a nat
ural death, and I will secure to you the half
of all I possess ! The half, did 1 say ? Ah,
all, will I give iu exchange for unstained life
—in redemption of my else lost soul !"
Adrieune's voice ceased, not so the fierce in
quisition of her eyes ; and Jules Delpecb,
amazed nud shaken by tbe wild distraction of
her aspect, could with difficulty stammer out,
iu a low, husky undertones, that Mademoiselle's
own words betrayed a knowledge complete as
his own—though not so much as hiuted at iu
his letters of—of—the cause of Madame de
Vautpre's death—of what the pretended poudre
rose really was.
As these words, slowly distilling from the
man's poison-lips, fell upon Adrienue's ear, her
erect, rigid form seemed to collapse, and pres
ently tossing her arm distractedly iu the air,
she turned away with a scream of terror, made
as if to flee from Delpech's presence, and was
received in the embrace of her mother, who,
with Clarisse, had been a trembling listener
close without the door. Delpech, quite satis
fied with his progress so fur, now hastened to
be gone, first, however, muttering to Madame
Beaudesert, that such violence aud agitation
were absurd, uncalled for, as the profoundest
secrecy would of course be observed—at all
eveuts, till a defiuite understanding was arriv
ed at ; aud that there was not perhaps one
great family iu all France whose private ar
chives, if brought to light, would not reveal
secrets of a similar kiud.
Mademoiselle Beaudesert did not leave her
bed for mar.y days after this; and Delpech's
negotiation with the wretched feuiily at the
chateau—M. Morlaix, as it happened, was,
fortunately or unfortunately, abseut in Paris
was carried on through her mother. The sub
stantive position of tbe two parties, the Del
pechs and Beaudeserts. was set forth by Jules
Delpech at those interviews, with a quiet cool
ness, derived from the poor lady's panic fears,
that looked courageous, bold-faced ruffianism.
Madame Beaudesert has since frequently
declared, that while listening to Delpech's
atrocious ta-k, she felt as in the actual pres
cuce of a fiend from the bottomless pit, speci
ally commissioned to achieve the perditiou,
body and soul, of herself and children ! Once
or twice, iudeeed the thought, piercing with
momentary light the thick darkness, glanced
across her mind, that it was surely impossible
a man, however reckless, who had really com
mitted the dread crime of murder, could speak
of it with that calm cynicism, prate so glibly
of the awful penalty he by his own showing
—if that showing were true —bad primarily
incurred. But how to act upou that blessed
hope? Write to already deeply prejudiced
M. Morlaix, cutreating his immediate return,
and, upon his arrival, lake counsel of his judg
ment, his knowledge of the ways of uieu, and
all too iale, find Delpech's assertions confirm
ed ! Impossii le—utterly impossible to iueur
that tremendous risk—to desperately stake
character, life, the inuoceut life of her child,
upon that fcariu! issue !
Finally, for the suggestions of unreasoning
fear prevailed, and Adrieune Beaudesert was
at last subdued—terrorized into consenting to
a compromise, by which it was settled that
the civil and legally binding fonu of marriage
was to lie gone through by her and Paul Del
pech—the blessing of the Church, unessential
to the validity of the contract, she would not
a.-k for such constrained, unnatural vows—im
mediately after which, and in accordance with
the provisions of u solemn instrument subscrib
ed and attested beforehand, the nominal wife
and husband were to separate and remaiu
strangers to each other forever. Adrieune—-
till such time as arrangements could be made,
without attracting too much public attention,
for her seclusion for life in a convent—to in
habit with her relatives one wing of the cha
teau—the Delpeelis the other ; and the dispo
sition of the property was settled by the same
document, which Jules Delpech drew up in
imposing wordy form. It was formally exe
cuted, and the civil marriage, it was agreed,
should take place on that day s'enuight.
la the meantime, it had been industriously
set about, that the seclusion of Mademoiselle
Beaudesert, the anxiety and consternation ob
servable in the demeanor of her mother aud
sister, were caused by the thwarted but obati
nate determination of the young lady to wed
one so far beneath her in station as Paul Dcl
pech, with whom, it was asserted, she had all
along bceu upon terms of secret lover intimacy
—one note addressed by her to the young man,
appointing a private interview, it id beeu seen
by Madame Sabin, a most r spectable person,
well acquainted with her handwriting ; and
her impulsive, affectionate recognition of the
older Delpech amidst the crowd iu the Church
the As.-umption at her father's funeral, was
cited as corroborative proof, if any were want
ing, ot the early, deep-rooted attachment which
had gained strength and intensity with every
day of her life ! Scarcely any thing else
would, one may he sure, be talked of or writ
ten about by the go-sips in the vicinage of the
Chateau d'Fm ; and it thus fell out that Mad
ame Claude Simonet, or Lisette.ns I may cou
tinue to call her, beard, in Paris, of the as
tounding marriage on the very day the same
intelligence reached M. Morlaix ; the imme
diate result being, that Li-e'te and her hus
band and the able nut a few hours afterwards
at the bureau of the Lyon diligence, aud were
fellow, and exceedingly communicative, pas
sengers during the journey homewards.
Instantly upon reaching the Chateau d'Em
M Morlaix demanded an andicuce of Made
moiselle Beaudesert. It was peremptorily re
fused, in accordance with an understanding
come to with the Delpecbs ; and the half-de
mer.tod abbe could on'y extract from Madame
and Clarisse Beaudesert that Adrienue was
determined upon the marriage, aud would
not suffer hcr-elf to be importuned upou the
subject. M. Morlaix had next recourse to the
Lawyers, with equally disheartening result—
the mother's consent, he was informed, being.