THE AMERICAN. THE WANDERING JEW. ! M t II Al t I It l lit Wl.fH Patt''hta hvl .jtuttrl t'"'t, I in .nk lltf liUrf fio-,1 Al l l iH t '"n l.aud, I Hit l. " 1 "ktrd to l-VuJ for tjrilihi, In t in llt t. i let f ht jttri n-at, Ihtn n Iht Vi t l hmd, tin u in llml f Mi lr(iM; and f 'I lnm)l all orr with hlh handt, with mi mi of ircrrl and iirMr". Hit iltvrtu molctm'tit of On pantomime, rifittinfl it tlt ittft tint it ml manner, rte itoanrd ly Iht exclaiimii-on, "Oh l-ar tiir' how veititiou'" "What i the mailer?" akfd Djalma, Matting from thr gloomy mIchc in whtih he had hem plunged f r aouie minute. " Ala! my dear ptinoc!" replied Rodin, "the most vulgar and puerile accident may aometitiira CftUi-o the greatet inconvenience, I have forgot ten or lout my spectacle. Now, in thia twilight, with th very poor eyesight that years of lahor have loll me, it will ho absolutely impossible for mo to read this most important letter tin! an immediate answer is expected most simple and categorical a yes or a no. Time presses; it i really most annoying. If," added Rodin, laying great stress on his won!, without looking at Djalma, hut so as the prince might remark it; "if only some one wouhl render me the service to read it for me; hut there is no one no one!" 11 Father," said Djalma, obligingly, "shall I rend it for you? When I huve finished it, I shall forget what 1 have read." , "You?" cried Hodin, as if the proposition of the Indian had appeared to him extravagant and dnngrn; " it is impossihlo, princo, for you to read this letter.'' "then excuse nty having olTercd," said Djalma, mildly. " And yet," resumed Rodin, after a moment's reflection, and as if speaking to himself, " why not?" And ho added, addressing Djalma: "Would you really ho so obliging, my dear prince? I should not have ventured to ask you this service." So saying, Rodin deliverod tho letter to Djalma, who read aloud ns follows: "'Your visit this morning to Saint-Dicier House can only he considered, from what I hear, as a new act of aggression on your part. Hero is tho last proposition I have to make. It may ho as fruitless as the (.top I took yester day, when I called upon you in the Hue Clovis. After that long and painful explanation, I told you that I would write to you. I keep my promise, and here is my ultimatum. First of all, a pioco of advice. Howard If you aro determined to maintain so unequal a struggle, you will he ex nosed even to the hatred of those whom you so foolishly seek to protect. There aro a thousand ways to ruin you with them, by enlightening them as to your projects. It will ho proved to them, that you have shared in the plot, which you now protend to reveal, not from generosity, but from cupidity."' Though Djalina had tho delicacy to feel that the least question on tho subject of this lotter would he a serious in discretion, he could not forbear turning his heard suddenly towards the Jesuit, as he read the last passage. ... .1 i . i . . ,. , "un, yes! it relates to me. uch as you see me, my dear princo," added he, glancing at his lliabhy clothes, "I am accused uf cupidity." "And who are these people that you protect? " "Those I protect?" said Hodin, feiging some hesitation, as if ho had been embarrassed to find an answer; "who are those I protect? Hem hem I will tell you. They are poor devils with out resources; good people without a penny, hav ing only a just cause on their side, in a law-suit in which they are engaged. They are threatened with destruction by powerful parties very pow erful parlies; but, happily, these latter are known to me. and I am able to unmask them. What clfe could have been? Iieing myself poor and weak, I range myself naturally on tho side of the poor and weak. But continue, I beg of you." Djalma resumed: " ' You have therefore every- thing to fear if you persist in your hostility, anc nothing to gain by taking the side of those w hom you cull your friends. They might more justly bo. termed your dupes, for your disinterestedness would be inexplicable, were it sincere. It must therefore conceal some after-thought of cupidity Well! in that view of the case, we can offer you ample compensation with this difference, that your hopes aro now entirely founded on the prob able gratitude of your friends, a very doubt fu chance at the best, whereas our offers will be re alized on the instant. To speak clearly, this is what we ask, what we exact of you. This very night, before twelve, you must have left Paris and engage not to return for six niotnhs.'" Djal i. n', I H t If) H I Hi rnxtit i.f .it j r. n I ! t It i I; I n i J t flMtl . iVII )U I tht til r l, J 1..'tiH l-r liio'.h' t ltt ll till Y'i n t t.iy i't pnm a, t fu' ! lily llm I'limr, i ir i tttthl:ttrf Inltfc '! n ''Hut !tat i .iUtiii" m,, niutf tut f. t hiii 4 itiirt i uj tc I ni tli.ntji, indeed, mhIi i?- po tto, t tttU tut " Dif.ii it l .o.tim . I " 'That r in If c 1 1 jm ll ,.f j,ui tftu nt ft tii 111 fr t tnontb. j on ill t' till hHp tif fllrul III tftilll, Y'ii will Ikete l i pml ith grnftou hpi tnlilv, hut f'-riiblv detdinrd until lh ftj.irtiM uf thf tr tti 'Ve, yit' a toluntaty ptimn," itid iJixliu, "'On tln"e i i.u.hlionv juu itHeivi n fiii of one thoUMiul ftnuc do n, mi l Iwenl) thonnand at the end of the ix month the whole to he completely secured to you. Finally, t the end of the nix month, we will pine you in a position both honorable and independent.'" Djiilina having stopped horl with involuntary indignation, Hodin enid to him: "Let me beg you to continue, my dear prince. Head to the end, and it w ill give you some idea of w hat passes in the midst of our civilization." Djalma resumed: "'You know well enough the course of affairs, and what we are, to feel that in providing for your absence, we only wish to get rid of an enemy, not very dangerous, but rather troublesome. Do not be blinded by your first success. Tho result of your denunciation will bo stilled, because they are calumnious. The udge who received your evidence w ill soon re cent his odious partiality. You may make what use you please of this letter. We know what we write, to whom wo write, and how wo write. You will receive this letter at three o'clock; if by four o'clock we have not your full and complete ac ceptance, written with your own hand at the ottoni of this letter, war must commence be tween us and not from to-morrow, but on the instant.' " Having finished reading the letter, Djalma ookod at Hodin, who said to him: " Permit me to summon Faringhen." He rang the bell and the half-caste appeared. Hodin took the etter from the hands of Djalma, lore it into talves, rubbed it between his palms, so as to make a sort of a ball, and said to the half-caste as he returned it to him: "(.Jive this paper to the person who waits for it, and tell him that is my answer to his shameless and insolent loiter; you understand me this shameless and insolent etter." "I understand," said the half-caste; and he went out. "This will perhaps bo a dangerous war for you, father," said the Indian, with interest. " Yes, dear prince, it may be dangerous, but I am not like you; I have no wish to kill my en emies, because they are cowardly and wicked. I fight them under the shield of the law. Imitate me in this." Then, seeing that the countenance of Djalma darkned, he added: " I am wrong. I will advise you no more on this subject. Only, et us defer the decision to the judgment of your noble and motherly protectress. I shall see her to-morrow; if she consents, I will tell you the names of your enemies. If not not." "And this wdinen, this second mother," eaid Djalma, "is her character such, that I can rely on her judgment? " "She!" cried Rodin, clasping his hands, and speaking with increased excitement. "Why, she is the most noble, tho most generous, the most exalted, the most valiant being upon earth! why, if you were really her son, and she loved you with all the strength of maternal affection, and a case arose in which you had to choose be tween au act of baseness and death, she would say to you: "Die !" though she might die with you." "Oh, noble woman! so was my mother!" cried Djalma. "Yes," resumed Hodin, with growing energy, as he approached the w indow concealed by the shade, towards which he threw an oblique and anxious glance, "if you would imagine you pro trectrcss, think only of courage, uprightness and loyalty personified. Oh! she has the chivalrous frankness of the brave man, joined with the high-souled dignity of a woman, who not only never in her lifo told a falsehood, never con cealed a single thought, but who would rather die than to give away to the least of those senti ments of craft ond dissimulation, which are al most forced upon ordinary women by the situa tion in which they are placed." It is difficult to express the admiration which shone upon the countenance of Djalina, as ho listened to this description. His eyes sparkled, his cheeks glowed, his heart palpitated with en thusiasm. "That is well, noble heart!" said Hodin to him, drawing still nearer to the blind; "I love to see your sparkle through, y-jur eyes, on hearing . t A thw f i is in,kn. i it.ti(f !.',. i lisl tbtt t If i it I impcMrtiii tuluif l- I .... t tl hmh liH i put iim fi.i ni.tr j jnfll tl!tlll llt f. t H'-llM. in I . I tlrml !i( . i. t 'I'fty, H, Tk t U, ptirnt ftptut t bun ini H f innt ttfuaiti I n?t " H mi toe. A lutnnt lt '!, M ivt l t Mth ff I tiff l l ! ftl l 1.tth tJ.Ht iitiui!." mi 1 tit ll t . Ml tf sit .f ! ii 4 If tl t ! j, tttt ilitlnHH It tt! " 1 I-! Jon, itirl h. mill ).uiiin "in) t.t tt t I'lU f Imimti.m m l s't k t .nt1iiuri.. f. r to to 'thtt It n tn. tt. til ft tut h a isiifi tit'" ' f ht Hl'li I' t tbt I' lit 'Utl'MI i f tl.t l.'ll of lift M !- flt, Instli, li'l tbt 1iiit f f4irh"d, ht tlU N'.i lit, ti. ditiit. Im tirr tmtittd htr yity, bttiiiniit mid btii'M tit I. I f knight i lilt 1 ft duv (i tlmt Ihl liohle wi'iunti Jhtkt to Hit tbtft n Imimblt Hi'tdt, litli, in all my life. I ha!l tit fi'tjj' I ' .ir,' l.itd he, if fri I iU!pi ct anyotif tlmt I hue orelf in "' Rodin did not tinUh. The lmde, o ioltntly hakeu that the Fptiug broke, m draw up ab ruptly, and, to the gieul Htuirhiupiit of Djalmi, Mdlle. do Cnrdoville appeared hffote him. Adti- eune'i cloak had fallen from her ht'uldet, and in the violence of the movement with which the had approached the blind, her bonnet, the string'' of which were untied, had also fallen. Having left home suddenly, with only just time to throw a mantle over the picturesque and charming costume which she often chose to wear when ulone, she appeared so radiant with beauty to Djalma's daz.led eyes, in the centre of those leaves and flowers, that the Indian believed him self under the influence of a dream. With clasped hands, eyes wide open, the body slightly bent forward, as if in the act of prayer, he stood petrified with admiration. Mdlle. de Cardoville, much agitated, and her countenance glowing with emotion, remained on the thres hold of the greenhouse, without entering the room. All this had passed in less time than it takes to describe it. Hardly had the blind been raised, than Hodin, feigning surprise, exclaimed: "You here, madame?" "Oh, sir!" said Adrienne, in an agitated voice, "I come to terminate the phrase which you have commenced. I told you, that when a suspicion crossed my mind, I uttered it aloud to the person by whom it was inspired. Well! I confess it: I have failed in this honestly. I came here as a spy upon you, when your answer to the Abbe d'Aigrigny was giving mo a new pledge of your devotion and sincerity. I doubted your upright ness at tho moment when you were bearing testi mony to my frankness. For the first time in my life, I stooped to deceit; this weakness merits punishment, and I submit to it demands repar ation, and I make it calls for apologies, and I tender them to you." Then, turning towards Djalma, she added. " Now, prince, I ant no long er mistress of my secret. I am your relation, Mdllo. de Cardoville; and I hope you will accept from a sister the hospitality that you did not re fuse from a mother." Djalma made no reply. Plunged in ecstatic contemplation of this sudden apparition, which surpassed his wildest and most dazzling visions, he felt a sort of intoxication, which, paralyzing the power of thought, concentered all his facul ties in the one sense of sight; and just as we sometimes seek in vain to satisfy unquenchable thirst, the burning look of the Indian sought, as it were, with devouring avidity, to take in all the rare perfections of the young lady. Verily, never had two more divine type of beauty met face to face. Adrienne and Djalina were tho very ideal of a handsome youth and maiden. There seemed to be something providential in the meeting of these two nature s, so young and so vivacious, so gonerous and so full of passion, so heroic and so proud, who, before coming into contact, had, singularly enough, each learted the moral worth of the other; for if, at tho words of Hodin, Djalina had felt arise in his heart an admiration, as lively as it was sudden, for the valiant and gen- crous qualities of that unknown benefactress, w hom lie now discovered in Mdllo. de Cardoville, the latter had, in her turn, been moved, affected, almost terrified, by the interview she had just overheard, in which Djalma had displayed tho nobleness of his soul, the delicate goodness of his heart, and the terrible transports of his temper Then she had not been able to repress a move ment of astonishment, almost admiration, at sight of the surprising beauty of the prince; aiu soon after, a strange, painful sentiment, a sort of electric shock, seemed to penetrate all her being, as her eyes encountered Djalma's Cruelly agitated, and suffering deeply from this agitation, she tried to dissemble the impres sion she had received, by addressing Hodin, to aiioWi.e for havincr suspected him. Hut the obstinate silence of the Indian redoubled the lady's painful embarrassment. Again raising her eyes towards tho prince, to invito him to re spond to her fraternal offer, she met his ardent gaze wildly fixed upon her, and she looked once more with a mixture of fear, sadness, and wouud ed pride; then she congratulated herself on hav ing forseen the inexorable necessity of keeping Djalma at a distance from her, such apprehen- lf la t"tn I t!tMt Hut. at tbt titl ttp, Djalnm !'!'!$ tnl hff itli tbt lutn I of a lij'fi I ,m tb btM. i t ' ,, h'pul -f hi pttv, TenthM by tht tptt itm f iS l euitonittil hkh in tlatiifd tbt Indian count tUftiKf, tht Jimtij; lady dtf bik with a lu l m tfan . At Hit, Djalina t lurinli t d liiinilf. Biol all that had .i-1. Pah- with tCjitfl and hatnt, tmubling, di-nniyd, hit ryrtt ftdttiiug with ttati.and hII hi fonfurt mailed with ait ex pu iott of the noM tombing depair. he fill at Adrienne' feet, and lifting hi thi-ped handi to. waidi her, Mid in a soft, tupplicating, timid voice: "Oh, lentain! remain! do not leave me. I have waited for you so long!" To thii prayer, uttered with the timid simplicity of a child, and a resignation which contrasted strangely with tho savage violence that had io frightened Adri enne, she replied, as he made a sign to Florine to prepare for their departure: "Prince.it is impossible for inc to remain longer here." " But you will return?" said Djalma, striving to restrain his tears. " I shall see you again? " Oh, no! never never!" said Mdlle. de Cardo ville, in n failing voice. Then, profiting by tho stupor into which her answer had thrown Djal ma, Adrienne disappeared rapidly behind tho plants iu the greenhouse. Florine was hastening to rejoin her mistress, when, just at tho moment she passed before Ro din, ho said to her in a low, quick voice: "To morrow we must finish with the hunchback." Florine trembled in every limb, and, without an swering Hodin, disappeared, like her mistress, behind the plants. Broken, overpowered, Djalma remained upon his knees, with his head resting ou his breast. His countenance expressed nieth- er rage nor excitement, but a painful 6tupor; he wept sileutly. Seeing Hodin approach him, he rose, but with so tremulous a step, that he could hardly reach the divan, on which he sank dow n hiding his face in his hands. Then Rodin, advancing, said to him in a mild and insinuating tone: "Alas! I feared what has happened. I did not wish you to see your bene tactress; and if I told you she was old, do you know why, dear prince?" Djalma, without answering, let his hands fall Upon his kness, and turned towards Hodin a countenance still bathed in tears. "I knew that Mdlle. do Cardoville was charm ing, and at your age it is so easy to fall in love," continued Hodin; " I wished to spare you that misfortune, my dear prince, for your beautiful protectress passionately loves a handsome young man of this town." Upon these words, Djalma suddenly pressed both hands to his heart, us if he felt a piercing stab, utiered a cry of savage grief, threw back his head, and fell fainting upon the divan. Hodin looked at him coldly for some seconds, and then said as he went away, brushing his old hat that his elbow: "Come! it works it works ! " 1 i i CHAPTER XLV. THE CO N S U LT AT 1 0 N. It is night. It ha9 just struck nine. It is the evenine of flint chiv on wbirli Mdllo 1r. C.urAe,. ville first found herself in presence of Djalma. f , Florine, pale, agitated, trembling, with a candle f in her hand, had just entered a bedroom, plainly but comfortably furnished. This room was one of the apartments occupied by Mother Bunch, in Adrienne's house. Tliey were situated on tho ground-floor, and had two entrances. One opened on the garden, and the other on the court-yard. From this side came the persons who applied to the workgirl for succor; an ante chamber in which they waited, a parlor.in which they were received, constituted Mother Bunch's apartments, along with the bedroom, which Florine had just entered, looking about her with an anxious and alarmed air, scarcely touching ll.n ...111. ll..., , f 1 .. 1 .1 1 11 mo v.iwj'vv mm mc iijio Ul iiur SUUll SI10CH, I101U- ing her breath, and listening at the least noise. Placing the candle upon the chimney-piece, she took a rapid survey of the chambor, and ap proached the mahogany desk, surmounted by a well-filled book-case. The key had been left in the drawers of this niece of furniture nml tl.v were all there examined by Florine. Thev con- t tained different petitions from persons iu dis tress, and various notes in the girl's handwriting. That was not what Florine wanted. Three card board boxes were placed in pigeon-holes beneath the bookcase. These also were vainly explored, and Florine, with a gesture of vexation, looked and listed anxiously; then, seeing a chest of drawers, she made therein a fresh and useless search. Near the foot of the bed was a little door, leading to a dressing-room. Florine en-