AMUSING MATRIMONIAL BLUNDER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5328, 12 March 1879, Page 2

AMUSING MATRIMONIAL BLUNDER.

A. letter from Vaud states that a young German, wounded in the late war between France and Germany, was sent to a village in that canton early in the month of October to recruit his strength. There he made the acquaintance of a young lady whose parents reside in the same village, and the couple became engaged. Owing to the mildness of the climate and the interesting circumstances under which he found himself placed, the hero soon regained his health, and before long an order arrived from head-quarfcera desiring him to report himself within a week at Berlin, where tho depot of his regiment was then stationed. The grief of the lovers when the time came to part may be imagined ; but with many vows of constancy tho lieutenant at last tore himself away, and in due time arrived at Berlin. .At first his letters were filled with protestations of the enduring nature of hig love,

but]J gradually, as time wore on, they became less frequent and colder in tone. Six weeks had elapsed since he had last written, when, instead of a letter full of reproaches, the lieutenant received a telegram from his dear Marie in the following words : — " Dear Fritz, — I have just received a letter informing me th°.t my uncle who was a millionaire at Frankbar, in the East Indies, is dead, and that lam his sole heiress." The lieutenant lost no time. He set out for the village. The young lady was overwhelmed with joy on seeing her lover once more, but reproached him for his long silence. "Don't let us talk of it, dear Marie," he replied ; " there is now no obstacle to our union. The unexpected good fortune which Providence has sent us has removed the objections of my parents to our marriage, for a fortune bo great, so colossal " At these words Marie looked at him with a puzzled and somewhat pained expression, and taking his hand, said, " Fritz, do not make fun of me." The lover drew out of his pocket the telegram, asking her whether she had not written the words, "My uncle has just died a millionaire at Frankbar." Utterly astounded, Marie dropped his hand, and, when she recovered the use of her tongue, said sadly, her eyes filled with tears, " Dear Fritz, there is a mistake in the telegram. What I wrote was, ' My uncle has just died a missionaire in the East Indies, and the amount he has left me is just 196 f. 45c' " The lieutenant returned to Berlin a sadder and a wiser man.