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*.to retreat. - She paused to: rest, but they resumed | -
the fight, and in less than ten minutes she was dis-
armed, and sank into a chair with exhaustion.
«What. strength you possess!’’ she cried, almost
, overcome with the abruptness of the conflict.
“A woman cannot put it fairly to the test!”
- shrieked Viltrac; «the baron, here, shall now de-
velope it still further!’’ and as he spoke he turned
‘his sword on the baron...”
« Eh—fight? - No—no!" , ‘He hed been ‘observ
‘ing Viltrac’s skill -with evident symptoms of :un-
. easiness, ‘I'll be content with an apology!” .
» Never !’’ cried the chevalier ; * come, don’t lose
time!” the
«Then I'll make you one. rr,
: “V1 not receive ith: Defend younel or PNG im-
: pale you on the spot !’’.
Raising from the floor the ‘sword which ‘madame
had dropped, Viltrac made several’ lunges at the
. baron, who, half frightened out of his wits, defended
« himself most clumsily ; ; and at length bawled out,
. in a tremulous voice, that he was wounded, though
. the chevalier had only passed the point of his sword
, through the sleeve of his coat. -
“ Enough—enough !" screamed the baron, falling
with difficulty on his great knees.
»“Then honor is satisfied, and I know you for a
miserable coward 1” And, throwing himself at the
: feet of the ‘lady, still enmasked, the chevalier said:
«Will you deign, madame, to pardon | me for that
. blow inflicted by mistake?”
:| A pretty white hand now removed the ‘mask, a
merry laugh rang joyously through that gay bou-
doir, and. the marchioness ‘stood disclosed. before
ao You are fully forgiven vr cried shes “ but never
repeat the offence!”
«The marchioness |” cried the chevalier, sanding
‘as if transformed to marble.
: :.The marchioness now-—but who: ‘was once that
.. same little Florine of whom you told me to day!”
| “Can it be possible that the .Marchioness
a Espalier. is the same Florine I once Joved at St:
Germains ?”
»« The very same!’’,’ And, the ‘charming march-
joness bestowed on him ene of her most fascinating
s Smiles. 2 6) -
a “It has all the wildness of 2 vision ! 1 “said the
chevalier; but a cloud passed over his fine, manly
face, as he inquired: But how about | that elope-
ment with the dragoon officer!” °°” <
“It wasa wicked invention of your aunt to ative
ime out of your. head !’ :
. “Instead of which it drove me almost out of my
own! But tell me about that blow last night? I
am still in the dark !"?) 0) 5." t
.“ Strange to say, it was received by me, ‘and not
Madame Parabéne, as you supposed! To confess
: the truth—and I hope you will forgive my frank-
ness, though it should wound you—I had some
-:doubts as to your courage, from the: grounds you
‘took against duelling! . I formed a sudden plan to
» personate the lady whom: you thought. you ‘had
assaulted, and challenge you to combat! If I. had
‘ doubts ; of, your valor, they | are: now for ‘ever
- removed !’? ;
2. And it was you who received the blow that has
made so’ much noise?” the astonished chevalier
could not help repeating. .A thousand pardons,
dearest Florine—for I will still call you. so!, The
baron has beer kind enough to take me into his
_ confidence, and. tell me’ the ‘story of . your ‘mar-
. Tiage!.. I know you are now the most charming of
widows!”
The baron, piqued and mortified at the part he
had enacted in the scene; and ‘hitherto silent, now
ventured to remark 3.3. | ~
“But she need not be 80 any onger! I Offer her
. my hand!’
re “And take care you do not get this i in’ retum! ”
‘And the chevalier raised his foot, and threw towards
him the. gold. coins ‘he had. intended as_ bribes,
* simultaneously. “ There are your bribes, old man!”
:, That the marchioness was really beautiful there
could be no doubt; but in Viltrae’s eyes she looked
can angel, as she timidly desired to know whether
« he loved the marchioness as he once did Florine.
«With my whole soul!’’ exclaimed the chevalier,
» in the most impassioned manner, folding her gently
to his breast: «and, singular as it may appear, I
am indebted for all this happiness to that blow in
the dark. -It has enabled/me ‘to discover. little
Florine transformed into one of the most fascinating
of marchionesses, and to hope that’ the Chevalier
- Viltrac is destined, I trust, to be at no _Sistant day
her husband ”
Iu blows the wind that profits nobody. Abe iy .
: FRANK. LESLIE’S NEW. YORK JOURNAL.
Marteriars rv THEIR Invisintz State.—If a piece
of silver be put into nitric acid, a clear and color-.
‘| less liquid, it'is rapidly dissolved, and vanishes
from the sight.;--The solution of silver may be
-|mixed with water, and, to appearance, no effect
whatever is produced; thus, in a pail of water-we
dissolve and render invisible more than fifty dollars’
worth of silver, not a particle of which can be seen.
-| Not only silver, Jead, and. iron, but every other
metal can be treated in the same way, with similar
results.» When charcoal is: burned, when candles
;| are burned, when paper is burned, these substances
al] disappear, and become invisible. , In fact, every
material which is visible can, by certain treatment,
be rendered invisible. -Matter which:in one condi-
tion is perfectly opaque, and will not admit the least
ray of light to pass through it,:will,;in ‘another
form, become quite transparent. The cause of this
wonderful effect of the condition of matter is utterly
inexplicable. ». Philosophers. do rot even: broach
theories upon the subject, much less do they en-
deavor, to explain it. The substances dissolved in
water or burned in the air are not, however, de-
stroyed or lost ;. by certain well-known means they
can be recovered, and again be’ rendered visible ;
some ‘in exactly the same state as _they were before
their invisibility ; others, though not in the same
state, can be shown. in their elementary condition ;
and thus it can be proved that matter, having once
existed, never ceases to exist, although it can change
its condition, like the caterpillar, which becomes a
chrysalis, and then a gorgeous butterfly. . Ifa pail-
ful of the solution of siler, be €ast into-the sea, it
is apparently lost by its dispersion in the mighty
|} ocean ; but it nevertheless continues to exist. . So,
when a bushel of charcoal is burned in a stove, it
.; | disappears, in consequence of the gas produced
being mixed with the vast atmosphere; but yet the
charcoal is still in the air. ; On. the brightest and
sunniest day, when every object can be “distinetly
seen above the horizon, hundreds of tons of char-
coal, in an invisible condition, pervade the air,
Glass is a beautiful illustration of the transparency
of a compound, which,in truth is nothing but a
mixture of the rust of three metals. . ‘This power of
matter to change its conditions from solid opacity to
limpid transparency, causes some rather, puzzling
phenomena, Substances increase in weight with-
out any apparent cause; for. instance, a plant goes
on, increasing in w eight a‘hundred-fold for every
‘atom that is missing “from the earth i in which ‘it is
growing.. Now, the simple explanation of this is,];:. <. :
that the leaves of plants have the power of with-
drawing the invisible charcoal from the atmosphere,
and restoring it to its visible state in some shape or
other. "The “lungs of animals and a smokeless fur-
nace change matter from its visible to its invisible
state.. The gills of fishes and the leaves of plants
reverse this operation, rendering invisible or " gaseous
matter visible. ‘Thus the balance in nature is main-
tained, although the continual change. has ; been
going on long prior to the creation of the « ss extinet
animals,”
A Party In THE Desert When. the country
was absolutely arid, we went steadily on in a com-
pact body; but occasionally in the beds'of valleys, | ii
or in almost imperceptible hollows in the plain,
were. expanses |’) | : li
covered by a .
growth of dwarf...
plants, .. with.
more weed than ..
leaf, or even by © ..
spare thickets of
rather __ lively
green. Then the
camels stretched .
down their long ;.
necks, now to
one. side, . now |..;
to the other, not ..
absolutely stops |
ping, but paus-.
ing . to. snatch :
mouthfuls, .and
munched it as.
they went, It.
isscarcelyneces-, -
sary to say that...
thecamel carries .
water tor others}: -
than itself, and
that only at co- .,.,
pious wells is it’
allow’dto drink, «
The donkeys, by , .
their nature,
claimed. better:
treatment, and generally, when we. halted’ about
evening time, they had to be satisfied with no more
than a draught once in forty-eight hours, and then,
poor things, they drooped, and we were obliged to
dismount, and walk with .their halters round our
arms, . The rate at which a donkey travels. is about f
four miles to the hour; so that, when our animals
were well refreshed, we used to ride on ahead and
wait for the slow-moving caravan, enjoying our
pipes, and sometimes even making coffee, though
rarely could a patch of shade be found.
. Worth Heepina.—If men gave three times as
much attention as they now do to ventilation, ablu-
tion, and exercise: in:the open air, and only one-
third as much to eating, furnishing, and late hours,
the. number of doctors, dentists, and apothecaries,
and the amount of neuralgia, dyspepsia, gout, fever,
and consumption, would be changed in a corres-
ponding ratio. . Mankind would rapidly present the | |
aspect, not only of a far healthier and thriftier, but }
a far more beautiful and more virtuous race.
Fanny Keasrx says :—* I firmly believe that we
must not look for the real feelings of writers in
their works; or rather, that what they give us, and
what we take for heart-feeling, is head-weaving—a
species of emotion engendered somewhere betwixt
the bosom and the brain, and bearing the same pro-
portion of resemblance to reality that a picture does;
that is, like feeling, but not feeling; like sadness,
but not sadness ; ‘like what it appears, but not, in-
deed, that very thing. And the greater the man’s
power of thus producing sham realities, the greater
his main qualification for being a poet.”
Tue Press 1n Amenrica.—I should not expect to
be credited, (says Mr. W. Chambers. in his new
book on America,) did I not' speak from official
authority, when I say that on the Ist of June, 1850,
there were in the United: States 350 daily. news-
papers, with an aggregate circulation of 750,000
copies; as many as 2,000 weeklies, circulating in
the aggregate 2,875,000 copies ; and that altogether,
including semi- weekly, tri-weekly, monthly, &c.,
there were 2,800 prints, with a total aggregate cir-
culation of 5,000,000.. ‘The number of newspapers
printed during the year which . then expired
amounted 'to 422,600,000. copies — a’ fact ‘which
throws more light on the freedom of thought: in the
States than any other I could advance. »
Cowaxps die many times before their deaths ; the
valiant never taste of death but once. :
‘
es : ,
Fishing Houses on the Bosphorus,’
. Tux crystal clearness of the waters of the Bos-
phorus is evidenced by the rude and simple apparatus
of the Turkish fishermen, of which we present our
readers: with a sketch... A few poles are driven into
the beds of the stream, upon’ which'a hut of the
rudest description is constructed. Nets are stretched
across the banks of the stream, and such is the trans-
parency of the water, that the fishermen from their
huts can see the fish in their nets, and haul them up
without any further trouble... By this simple con-
trivance large captures of the finny tribe are made;
the fishermen, with true Eastern gravity, smoking
their pipes in the huts above while the nets are fill-
The fish, when taken, are immediately sent off
ing.
for the supply 0 of the faithful at at Constantinople.