M. Raymond promised an
enormous sum to the man who would find his sister's betrayer. He
wished to kill him, and he sought for him for years; but all in
vain."
"And did they never receive any tidings of this unfortunate girl?"
"I was told that they heard from her twice. On the morning
following her flight her parents received a letter, in which she
implored their forgiveness. Five or six months later, she wrote
again to say that she knew her brother was not dead. She
confessed that she was a wicked, ungrateful girl--that she had
been mad; but she said that her punishment had come, and it was
terrible. She added that every link was severed between herself
and her friends, and she hoped they would forget her as completely
as if she had never existed. She went so far as to say that her
children should never know who their mother was, and that never in
her life again would she utter the name which she had so
disgraced."
It was the old, sad story of a ruined girl paying for a moment's
madness with her happiness and all her after life. A terrible
drama, no doubt; but one that is of such frequent occurrence that
it seems as commonplace as life itself. Thus any one who was
acquainted with M. Isidore Fortunat would have been surprised to
see how greatly he was moved by such a trifle. "Poor girl!" said
he, in view of saying something. And then, in a tone of assumed
carelessness, he inquired: "Did they never discover what
scoundrel carried Mademoiselle de Chalusse away?"
"Never.
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