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THE CHIMNEY CORNER.
A Comat Benge
‘Lnaye your books, and leave your toil
Life was made for langhter;
To-day ie Lrighé with pleasure’s Hght—
8 what comes a!
Hand to ‘band, and
Ta youth's ‘enchanted ¢ davai!
Night may gloom with shadows dark,
Rain may fall to-morrow;
Toxday is ours! Its sparkling houre
Forbid thought of sorrow.
Catch the bubble of delight,
Life's yas treasure
Three fairest things take soonest wings—
and love, and pleasure!
BMAD
‘The Enemies.
ees MONG all the gay and
ea He, beautiful creatures. that
.
termed the regency of
his mother, the famous
ponse the canse or erced "ol the Huguenots.
Although the cloud that hung over him in this
relation wi 8 source of great grief and anxi
, yet, her clear judgment and sense
of propriety. mere such as to induce ber to attach
nsure w r to Catharine ot the young
Ki for weal, or for woe, their faith, and that
ot their s ubjects generally, was Catholic; and
they baal beent snght to believe that both the tem.
poral and spiritual welfare of the epended
on their strict adhe
a
Notwithstanding that - Alice had attained her
twenty-second year, her, father, Baron Henri
Col urcelles, was still in the full vigor of manhood.
A short time previous to the opening of ourstory,
however, he had entered into ‘Trojecrs that eatly
imporerished his income, ap esulted ia
the loss of o1 e richest of his es his
latter bad fallen ine he hands of Dominic de
urges, a young F h knight, of undoubted
~chival ry and an‘. * unblenishe name, between
whose family and that of the baron amost impluc- | 8
feud bad existed for generations, The pro-
perty ‘in question bad not passed directly from the
original owner into the possession of the
Gourges, it havin: been purchased from another
patty by the jather of Dominic, who a lew
months after the transfer had been made, leaving
the whole of his enormous wealth to our hero,
st of his race,
mstance served to widen the breach
between both houses, werg such possible, as, just
d generons as Det Cetreieg was, be felt stung
e core wil jealous 3 hatred on
leerniog that a ‘portion i the I lands that had beeo
in his family tor upws J of two hundred years
now belonged to one whom he had long ranked
among his deadliest foes; nor was this feeling or
sentiment modified in ang degree by the co!
tion ‘that, while he seemed hopelessly estranged
from the sympathien of his sovereign, the young
knight, now the only representative of » long an
illustrious line of ancestry, had been summoned
to court, and was already high in royal favor.
chivalrous as ourges was, he
inherited but very little of the hereditary loves or
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aron oF
Cireurnstances, Pret, had long prevented
him trons bestontny ng any attention upon this sub-
ject. 4g the lifetime of his er, who had
bees widower for many years, he bad tra’
murs a god onl
bis sandy” chat atter the decease of his parent ,
and whek, he had hims self just entered his twenty-
seventh year. Now, re as the estates of
the rival houses were no! ote part,
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thrown into anpleasant relations at court with a
pewatitl create who was represented to him as
t the deadliest and most powerful of
As Alice, in personal charms and mental attain-
iments, inked first among the a rounding
the imperious Catharine, 80 mao
beauty and distinguished 20, Pominyes 3 too)
the lead among the gentlemen who stood ucar the
is | covert
| eminenily calc
y took up his abode perm anentiyat rei
King. Nothing could surpass the bewitching
loveliness of the former, or the noble Deering and
generous spirit of the Inter. _ They had ni
| ever, yet been
‘range ofeach other
; deep. the mutual animosities “they were supposed
to enter!
| The truth i is, though De Gourges bad already
been fo: at court, they had never yet
ot even the faintest glim mpse of each other, for
Catharine, believing them to be irreconcilable
managed matters that she always kept
apart, and with the prospect of thei
influence he mig)
King touching the fate of bet tather, and, conse-
quentlr, extorte romi
tress that she would Felieve the court of his hated
avoid
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been ersonal to detest, if not to dread, as the
merciless foe of all who bore her name.
Alice, like Dominie, had lost the tender guard-
janship of a mother w hile yet an infant; and here
“the enemies” stood in a relation to each other
not calculated to engender any additional hostility
atleast. Besides, they were both the sole repre-
sentatives of their respective families; and here,
also, spread a few inche: mmon
latiorm, upon which it might be supposed a civil
Footing could be establish
the force of circumstances, however,
glance had been” cast by the,one or the other in
either of these directions ; and now, as the novelty
jominic’s appearance in 2
circle that gathered about the young King be;
to wear away, Alice could scarcely help eviertains
ing the idea that there was something at once
absurd and unjust in accepting from her cradle as
her hereditary ene
as any of those who oppose
Hence, and notwithstanding hi:
aflection for Alice, he was terribly cut uy
obstinacy in not renouncing ber fai aith, an
@ was no longer in
leep parental
at her
in her
remaining at a conrt wl
favor, and where, he feared, she would contract
an alliance with some personage whose creed was
identical w own, and who, consequently,
ave unbounded influence over her.
e danger that threatened her in
this latter Telaton discussed privately between the
baron and his triends, and none dwelt upon it
wrth deeper emphasis than Victor Montreville, a
suitor for her hand, and a professed Hu-
gnenot of wealth, in high esteem with her father
The estate of this feta be joined that of
Courcelles, so that he had been long well Known
1 Alice; Dut, as be was a widower, with a daugh-
ter older than
moment, fancied that h on her
ever, thet the baron began to be flarmed relative
to the sort of an alliance she might ly form
inareligious senre, {bis same Momsieur Montrevie
retly apprised him of the deep passion he had
loo entertained for her, and begged, at the same
time, that he might bave permission to pay his
addresses to her, and lay his name and fortune at
ber feet.
TI was somewhat surprised at this
declaration and request; but, as tl the dangers sur-
rounding his beloved and ont: rT
sented to him in « new and forcible light, he
entertained to both the one and the other, never
dreaming that the sole object of Alice in remain-
ing at court was to shield him trom the perils that
threatened him so constantly, an
ore than one head bad alr ready fallen,
on, ther tefore, that,
revisit the ancient castle which was still the home
of her family, Montreville should cautiously ply
his suit in person, and endeavor to wii pure,
young, loving heart he xo much coveted, in which
atten empt be was to be faithfully seconded by the
It was
It required no gipsy to Mivine from the coarse
broad palm of Victor Monireville that be should
never vary Ali x
and physically, he w
even pee most unpretending of the softer sex ever
paid a compliment.
H mm cunning and cruel, notwithstanding,
and sometimes evinced an assumed frank kness,
ulated to mislead those who had
never tathom
it a point 10 appear best side out
to bob ‘her and her father; and the consequence
neither one nor the other comprehended his
true essence, even in a remote degree.
When, therefore, Alice arrived at the castle,
she waauspectingty renewed acquaintance
with him as an old friend, wat her eyes were at
last opened by his is declaring, after a few day:
hat be sought her hand, wi e concurrence of
er father, and in the ‘hope tht she should be
toable discover in him or bis family any goo
wite.
s of the
beantiful young creature, and she stood uninjured
amid its ruins, sbe could not bave been more sur-
* ised
" At first she treated the matter with a forced
smile, believing
jest; but on arriving
pressed his suit in good fait!
to her brow, and her eyes fasted with indignation,
as # ahe exelaii
“Most Ler edi it my ears, Monsieur Montreville,
and ucecpt as a reality this Fresum tuous outrage
nm me beneath my ancestral
“
2
&
t acity to offer
Jour hand to one of the De Conreeiles, but to for-
the wan herself, she never, for aj in
d beneath which | belie
resumption with the falsehoo ather,
d that my
| the baron, sanctions your conduct.
latter is possible;
| comment on the subject, i
mesties to drive you from the castle- “ates should
Fou ever altemp( to appr vouch them gain,
Mont rerille, who had cast himself his knees | a!
n he began to speak, now leaped to his icet
ie an oath, and struggling with _ spirit of ine
tense hatre enge, bent one deadly look
upon the angry girl, and without uttering a’single
word that ne comprehend, rushed out into
sbt tha Wsmocked. tbe tempest
e,fofty embattled walls that
overbung bis path tothe outer r gate, ~
t epsountered the baron, who bad pur-
shall order yeu from |
my presence, with strict injunctions to the do-/
en your years in doing so, while fortifying your | carry her off into the wilds and fastnesses of the
neighboring hilly di se-
curity had already been pr.
oceasions after bis ini
e Salt ‘hope of success
is b:
Notwithstanding his peremptorr and final dis-
missal by her, he called occasionally at the castle,
as if to pay his compliments to the baron, and sbe
fearing that she had perhaps, after all? treated
him with too h and un! coming severity, de-
>| clined to give her threatened orders to the domes-
tics, conienting herself with never, seeing him,
posely left his daughter alone with’ view to giv-| or suffering bis name to be mentioned in het
pportuvity of dec imself, and | presence.
as his eye caught the Javancing. raeure, a sudd: In this way matters stood until the day of her
resolve fell upon him ; for, stepping forward, with parture from tbe castle arrived, when she bid a
a fo ced anitle overspreading bis forbidding | fond adicu to her father, and, wi ‘id and
ounte! fe, be inti mated, with a warm shake o| nachman, who w other than the wretch
e had not succeeded to
e3, he had no doubt of suc-
upon the continued
oung
with
the utmost of tis wis!
cess ultimately, and relied
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: Be
spat the baron would not ree es name until
Miss de Courcelles thought pro; of it,
and that he would pay Dut tle attention, for the
Present, to any observations she might think
roper to make in connection wit
In all this be was actuated by the desire to keep
n friendly terms witl aron, so that the
castle-goles might not be closed totally against
m, as there was one e domesties who had
been long in his pay, and wit whom it might be
necessary to communicate now more frequently
no | than ever,
Although a fierce Huguenot, the i baron had, not
long abjured | the pational faith. With tl
a young ci he was unwise and
obtrusive in ‘Yetense of ‘he one he had adopted
in its stead.
Montreville ras more prudent in this direction,
for, although h 6 pro ‘ofessed bimself friendly to the
new cree med to
in all that the | latter se set forth in its favor, he never
professed it openly.
reasos tor this the most powerful. He
appeared friendly e Huguenots with a view
to retaining the ‘rood vill of the baron, and for
© purpose pf disclosing to the Guises, whose
secret ayent he was, any important information
that he might vather ‘through his intercourse with
the Hu: ttenot lead ders.
To obtain the hand of Alice was, norertheless,
an object paramount to all others, a lo this
intended to sacrifice every other “gonsidevation,
, howerer, that he knew he should never call
her his bride, with her own consent, he determined
to betray her father though
false, should at once thrust him into the clutches
Catharine herself'dare not trifle wit ith. +
this end, he caused the domestic already
mentioned to gecrety necuse Alice on oath before
acertain tribunal o
her father since her
re Huguei
is was valet ed in a manner so cunning and
plausible, that danger. now indeed encompissed,
a darker form than it ev eviously, not
only the bead of De Courcelles himself, but that
of his lovely and unsuspecting daughter.
When the baron and Montreville Sparied at the
castle-gates, the former naturally went in search
of our heroine. He er ina state of great
excitement pacing one of the spacious apart-
ments of the ca:
He could not Dutrefer toher extraordinary per-
turbation, but not wishing to appear as if he com-
prebended its cause, he ask. Ted sattectomarle for
some explanation on the subject. Of course he was
prepared a @ certain degree or the reply, but not
‘or the yehemence and r that accompanied
it. The interview was the ‘iat stormy one that
ever occurred between them, for they had
been devoted to each other i in bonds ot the deepest
and purest atfection
je tempe porary. disra tion of these was a source
of intinite regret to ¢ oth; bi m each
upheld—the one, the right to defend the faith of
what he deemed ‘an erroueous creed his only
ebild, and the last of
No other conviction thas this latter cone ever
have tempted the baron to sanction the hopes of
Montreville; for, believing bim to fen ms true
Huguenot, he saw that a union between him and
ice, if somewhat incongruous in certain rela-
tions, would result ultimately in ber total emanci-
pation from the terrible religious superstition in
which he thou ght t her to be immerse
‘ow, however, being satisfied that no such
union could er ver take place, and feeling, at the
close of this painful interview, that
like Montreville @ creature so youthful,
lovely, wand refived, he retired from thé unequal
fente notonly avpoyed with bimself, but acced-
request made by the beautiful girl that
she should e permitted ‘A return to Paris, which
was distant from the castle about aday’s journey,
before another week had el
in the meantime the Guises had become ap
rently satisfied of store
mation, laid before them through the instroment.
ality of Montreville, relative to the- apostacy of
d | Alice, and Bereciving that in it the last link be-
tween the tea Conrcelles and the ex-Queen could
not fail to be be ey set cautiously to
work with a view | Ciatorecint Catharine Upon the
subject.
ified by this knowledge, the pretended
Huguenot felt that be was now at libert;
ter of the baron into his power, and so jeo}
ing her good name tat even she herself mig it find
it necessary to consent to their ui
of ber departure
from the castle, and there ‘reise upon her, and)
e zeal ot | of
agree with the baron |"
lence as even | vel
ved a principle at emake which ought to be} m
who was in the hay of . Montreville, turned once.
more toward f scenes of the capi
The
sea of Summer foliage that trembled in the gentle
breeze to the verge of the distant horizon, and
wrought beneath the emerald glooms that caverned
the magnificent forest already alluded to.
scene was glorious beyond description, and Alies
assed | upon the elevated plateau to enjoy all
KS
Although she bad yritnessed i it ov many aformer
oceasion, never e did it appear ‘to her so
lovely, There, far below, terminated the winding,
rocky road leading to’an ancient bridge tha:
crossed a broad and placid river (pat flowed in
silver murmurs beneath the might
was delightful beyond conception, and had she not
the forest before the
been desirous of traversin F
ave enjoyed it for yet
ould set, s he might
another hour to ¢
Owing to the broken character of the country,
and the extreme difliculty of the roads
ays: the carriage had not entered the torest until
had begun to disappear behind the hills.
The road being now more level, however, and th
coolness of the shade being most refreshing, it
rolled ala along at so brisk i
a
icle was suddenly stopped by four men in
masks, who instantly proceeded ‘to unhitch the
horses.
The animals becoming alarmed, however, in
consequence of gome awkwardness on the part
of one of the villai new restive, and betore the
scoundrel could get" their reach, one o
roke his leg with a1 Mie
‘The wretch rolled to the grounc with a yell the
most demoniacal; but, leaving him to his tate for
the time being, ‘his accomplices, joined by the
coachman, tore open the door of the carriage, and
ordered the two occupants to alight.
that resistance was useless,
ied, and began to divest her-
self of her jewels, believing that they were simply
robbers in search ot plunder who had arrested her
progress,
Or ber mistake in this relation the was soon
e the 8 deep into the
forest, and secure them to seme tree, far from the
highway where they all sto
Previous to this move being executed, however,
the carriage was ragged into a neigh! boring Ta-
vine, where, after its contents h
to the litter, it was secrete
main undiscovered for an indefinite period.
This accomplished, the two prisoners, who had
remained in the custody of o1
take a single step in
is was a'new turn of affairs; but, as t
wounded man began to cry loudly fot relief and
water, his companions turned their Attention to
maimed compa: nions whose condition seemed to
perplex them great!
in the burry ant ‘contusion attending all this,
Alice and her maid found themselves. standing
alone a tew yards. irom “their cal rors A He
glance passed betwee em 5 5 in divine
each other’s thoughts t be intuition, “they darted olf
with the speed of the wind along the unfrequented
Notwithstanding their noiseless footsteps and
the swiftness of their pace, their fii ight was die
deed before they had p laced more than a hun-
dred yards between them and the lawless yaua-
onda “trom whose power ther hoped to ome:
and now that it was-perceived, the sco!
oor the "rapidity of their motions nor their
Id, of course, compare
f their pursuers, so that, a very
few ‘minutes, the space between bot” parties be-
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may “en =~ er = Bee
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