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ovelette.
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{Drawn and engraved expressly for. The Weekly Kovelette
JKotered according to Act of Congress, in the Clerk’s Office of
. the District Court of Massachusetts.)
THE FOUNDING:
—or,—
HERMIONE OF ST. ANTOINE.
A ROMANCE GF THE CONTINENT.
BY MAJOR F. C. HUNTER.
{conTinvEp.]
CHAPTER XIII.
MONSIEUR BERDOTTE AND HIS FAMILY.
Tue family of Monsieur Berdotte, of Paris—the
father of Francois, consisted of his wife and three chil-
dren; a daughter, Eloise the eldest—Francois, four
ears her junior, and Julien, the youngest son. The
ast named had proved a wild youth, who had left his
home many years before, and his whereabouts or final
fate had never been known. Julien had long since
been dead, it was supposed, no trace of him having ever
been had, after his sudden disappearance, The daugh-
ter, Eloise, was just budding into womanhood, and had
attained her eighteenth year, when Monsieur D’Aumail,
the Commissary de Police, first chanced to meet her.
Though many years her senior, she became flattered
with his lavish attentions and polished address, and his
station in society gave her manifest advantages over
any rivals. He was wealthy, high in position, and
well-favored ; and, under honorable pretences he won
the favor and confidence of the beautiful but ill-fated
Eloise, whom he betrayed, as we have already seen.
‘Finding exposure certain, he rented the small mansion
in the Rue de Charenton, where he placed her for the
time being, and where we first saw her, on the night of
the 23d of March, in the chamber from which Chanfrau
abducted the infant.
SS
D’AUMAIL AND THE AVENGER OF ELOISE.
Francois Berdotte, her brother, had been partially
educated at the Polytechnic School of Paris, as we have
also shown. At the time he left France so suddenly,
he had no intimation of D’Aumail’s villany, nor had
his sister had the opportunity to communicate with
him, ignorant as she then was of Francois’s error.
When the commissary suffered the young burglar to
escape, little did he dream that D’Aumail was aware
of his relationship to Eloise; but that functionary was
rejoiced at the apparent opportunity thus to be ridded
—as he believed he would be, forever, of the presence
of him who might one day, if at liberty, call him to
account for the foul wrong he had committed. Francois
was guilty of a crime, for which, if convicted, he must
suffer a severe and frightful penalty; but ignorant of
the greater crime perpetrated by the commissary, he
bade adieu to France, and left D’Aumail comparatively
at his ease.
Upon the arrival of the strange nobleman in Paris,
he found that Monsieur Berdotte had long been dead.
He was related to the family, and his next inquiries
were for the brothers and the daughter—the once
lovely Eloise. He learned with concern and sorrow,
that the latter was rapidly sinking under a fearful
malady for which no aid could be found, and he was
informed that even at that moment she might scarcely
be living. He ascertained her address, and hastened
with all possible despatch to a small, ill-furnished tene-
ment in the suburbs of Paris (whither she had been
forced, at last), where he found her on her death-bed.
O, how changed was that beauteous girl from her
former self! Emaciated, broken down with suffering
and grief, he could scarcely believe it was the Eloise he
saw a few years since, in the bloom of health and beauty
of womanhood. She extended her feeble hand—that
hand so curiously marked, which, could the wealthy
Chanfrau have seen again, he would never have for-
gotten, assuredly, and the visitor was satisfied of her
identity. She was supported now by a small stipend,
paid monthly to the old crone who took nominal charge
of her—but the nobleman saw plainly that her care
would be needed but a few hours longer, at best ;
Eloise was dying !
The unknown had not disclosed his name to any one
in Paris save Eloise, for reasons of his own, though
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years had elapsed since he left his native place ; yet he
was desirous to make an exertion for the better comfort
of Eloise, and proposed that she should be moved at
once to more healthy and convenient quarters.. His °
proffered kindness came too late—the poor sufferer felt
that her hour of dissolution was rapidly approaching.
“You have come,” said the invalid, “ only to receive
my dying blessing. Jt is kind in you, thus to feel for
me ; but a few hours hence, and I am convinced that
this emaciated and shrunken form, the poor remains of
once admired beauty, will be cold in the embrace of
death. Do not oppress me with your tears, but listen
calmly to the little I have to say.”
“ Poor Eloise !” sighed the stranger.
esi I fecl that my strength is rapidly passing away,
and even now the chill of death is on me. But I would
speak of a terrible secret—a secret known but to myself,
my betrayer, and to God alone! Nay, listen—and do
not speak till I have finished.”
Her voice failed her, but amid her sobs and dying
groans, she related briefly to the attentive stranger the
history of her wrong, and gave the details, day and
date. She informed him how her infant child had been
removed from her side on the night of its birth, how it
had been thrown into the Seine, as she subsequently
learned, how she had been robbed of a valuable ring on
that occasion, etc., and with her dying breath, she pro-
nounced the name of her destroyer.
“D’Aumail, the commissary !” exclaimed the noble-
man. ~
“Twas even he,” she said.“ Now take this ring.
Keep it for the sake of Eloise. It was his ring—and I
wore it, treasured it, under circumstances of want and
suffering, for I loved him. He gave me two—the other
was stolen—his station was too far above—O, I am
dying—adieu!” said the sufferer, faintly, and she
swooned away.
Eloise lay for some minutes calm and rigid; then a
struggle came, a gasp—she opened her eyes upon her
friend, and a faint but sweet smile pervaded her fea-
tures, a smile which called back to the recollection of
the stranger the scenes of brighter days. He took the
ring, imprinted an affectionate kiss upon her cold fore-
head, and a few minutes afterward he wept over her
corpse! He left the chamber of death, and swore in
oe
fea
