The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales

The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and?by Francis A. Durivage

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Title: The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales
Author: Francis A. Durivage
Release Date: February 3, 2006 [EBook #17669]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE
THREE BRIDES,
LOVE IN A COTTAGE,
AND
OTHER TALES
BY
FRANCIS A. DURIVAGE.

BOSTON: SANBORN, CARTER, BAZIN & CO., 25 & 29 CORNHILL.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
F.A. DURIVAGE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

TO
MY MOTHER,
THE FIRST TO ENCOURAGE MY EFFORTS,
AND THE MOST INDULGENT OF MY CRITICS,
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

PREFACE.
The volume here submitted to the public is composed of selections from my contributions to the columns of the American press. The stories and sketches were written, most of them, in the intervals of relaxation from more serious labor and the daily business of life; and they would be suffered to disappear in the Lethe that awaits old magazines and newspapers, had not their extensive circulation, and the partial judgment of friends,--for I must not omit the stereotyped plea of scribblers,--flattered me that their collection in a permanent form would not prove wholly unacceptable. Some of these articles were published anonymously, or under the signature of "The Old 'Un," and have enjoyed the honor of adoption by persons having no claim to their paternity; and it seems time to call home and assemble these vagabond children under the paternal wing.
The materials for the tales were gathered from various sources: some are purely imaginative, some authentic, not a few jotted down from oral narrative, or derived from the vague remembrance of some old play or adventure; but the form at least is my own, and that is about all that a professional story-teller, gleaning his matter at random, can generally lay claim to.
Some of these sketches were originally published in the Boston "Olive Branch," and many in Mr. Gleason's popular papers, the "Flag of Our Union," and the "Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion." Others have appeared in the "New York Mirror," the "American Monthly Magazine," the New York "Spirit of the Times," the "Symbol," and other magazines and papers.
Should their perusal serve to beguile some hours of weariness and illness, as their composition has done, I shall feel that my labor has not been altogether vain; while the moderate success of this venture will stimulate me to attempt something more worthy the attention of the public.
FRANCIS A. DURIVAGE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
THE GOLDSMITH'S DAUGHTER.
PHILETUS POTTS.
THE GONDOLIER.
THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS.
THE THREE BRIDES.
CALIFORNIA SPECULATION.
THE FRENCH GUARDSMAN.
PERSONAL SATISFACTION.
THE CASTLE ON THE RHINE.
LOVE IN A COTTAGE.
THE CAREER OF AN ARTIST.
SOUVENIRS OF A RETIRED OYSTERMAN IN ILL HEALTH.
THE NEW YEAR'S STOCKINGS.
THE OBLIGING YOUNG MAN.
EULALIE LASALLE.
THE OLD CITY PUMP.
THE TWO PORTRAITS.
UNCLE OBED.
THE CASKET OF JEWELS.
ACTING CHARADES.
THE GREEN CHAMBER.
HE WASN'T A HORSE JOCKEY.
FUNERAL SHADOWS.
THE LATE ELIAS MUGGS.
THE SOLDIER'S WIFE.
A KISS ON DEMAND.
THE RIFLE SHOT.
THE WATER CURE.
THE COSSACK.
MARRIED FOR MONEY.
THE EMIGRANT SHIP.
THE LAST OF THE STAGE COACHES.
THE SEXTON OF ST. HUBERT'S.
JACK WITHERS.
THE SILVER HAMMER.
THE CHRIST CHURCH CHIMES.
THE POLISH SLAVE.
OBEYING ORDERS.
THE DEACON'S HORSE.
THE CONTRABANDISTA.
THE STAGE-STRUCK GENTLEMAN.
THE DIAMOND STAR.
THE GAME OF CHANCE.
THE SOLDIER'S SON.
TAKING CHARGE OF A LADY.
THE NEW YEAR'S BELLS.
THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW.

THE GOLDSMITH'S DAUGHTER.
A LEGEND OF MADRID.
Many, many years ago, in those "good old times" so much bepraised by antiquaries and the laudatores temporis acti,--the good old times, that is to say, of the holy office, of those magnificent autos when the smell of roasted heretics was as sweet a savor in the nostrils of the faithful, as that of Quakers done remarkably brown was to our godly Puritan ancestors,--there dwelt in the royal city of Madrid a wealthy goldsmith by the name of Antonio Perez, whose family--having lost his wife--consisted of a lovely daughter, named Magdalena, and a less beautiful but still charming niece, Juanita. The housekeeping and the care of the girls were committed to a starched old duenna, Donna Margarita, whose vinegar aspect and sharp tongue might well keep at a distance the boldest gallants of the court and camp. For the rest, some half dozen workmen and servitors, and a couple of stout Asturian serving wenches made up the establishment of the wealthy artisan. As the chief care of the latter was to accumulate treasure, his family, while they were denied no comfort, were debarred from luxury, and, perhaps, fared the better from this very frugality of the master. Yet in