Count Meric d'Argenteau, a noted Paris roué and duelliste, has
married the daughter of an innkeeper at Constantinople. The affair has made a great noise in that stupid city, and furnished a subject for the correspondent of the Morning Post, who thus describes the man- ner in which it came to pass- " Such of your readers as have been at Constantinople will probably re- member the Hotel de l'Europe and they will, doubtless, at the same time (par. ticularly such as are bachelors); remember what induced them to put up there; certainly it could not have been the spurious quality of its wines, still less the comfortless state of its ruined apartments. If they speak:the truth, they must own there was metal far more attractive in the shape of the innkeeper's step- daughter, to whose jet black eyes and voluptuous form (undeniable vouchers of her Andalusian descent) not only theirs but the pi incely heart of the Sultan Malitnoutl himself was compelled to yield at discretion. After these admis- sions, it will be unnecessary to tax the memory of these gentleman any further, simply because it is a hundred to one they have nothing further to confess. Fortunately for herself, as for the benefit of the Hotel de l'Ettrope, to the fasci- nations I have described she united all the virtuous intrepidity which we read of in a Pamela, and which in her case was destined to as signal a reward. Into this house did his stars conduct our Lothario , and week after week did he put up with its bad beds and worse champagne, for the sake of the Muni who made the one and the Hebe who poured out the other. On the other- hand, this was just thesort of customer that suited Boniface, who, strong in the faith of his daughter's virtue, no less than in her attractions, was continually urging her to give full scope to the former. He had not calculated that she might have a game of tier own to play, and might possibly think that fate had reserved for her a better lot than that of a perpetual bait to his dingy old trap of a hotel. Great, therefore, was his consternation upon discovering one fine morning, that not only had she decamped with the Count, but that her younger sister had done the same thing with one of his friends. He immediately raised a hue and cry, and in the course of the next day the fugitives were detected in a house at Galata, and brought hack to him. But this by no means satisfied our host, who, having taken advice on the subject, was decidedly of opinion that he was en- titled to damages with them. He accordingly waited on the Count, and armed to the teeth, demanded instant reparation for the dishonour inflicted on his house. But the former laughed at his loaded pistols, and set his threats at de. fiance. Just as much respect did he show to the demands of the Spanish Minister, who deeming the national honour compromised in that of the only family which could lay claim to his protection at Constantinople, repaired to him in person, and charged him in the name of her Majesty the Queen of Spain and the Indies, to give the satisfaction that was required of him. The Count, in reply, charged hint in the name of the same august personage, to leave his house im- mediately, or his own honour would certainly suffer from the application of his foot to the seat of it. But that which he refused to menace and compulsion, he yielded to a softer influence. Damages he declined giving, probably because be was conscious there was no foundation for them, but he made a tender of his hand ; and as some doubts were raised as to the legality of such a marriage in his own country, he bound himself under heavy pecuniary penalties to preserve it inviolate. To complete this strange eventful history, his fidus Aflutter, a young French merchant, who had shown his sympathy by running away with the younger sister, gave a still more striking proof of his devotion by leading her to the hymeneal altar on the same day that witnessed the happiness of his friend. The whole party are now on their way to Europe, and will doubtless create no small sensation on their arrival."
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