Romance of a Foundling.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 347, 1 January 1903, Page 5

Romance of a Foundling.

LEFT WITH A REWARD FOR ITS FINDER. A curious aud most romantic incident is reported to have happened near Evreux I France) a few weeks ago. - Between 8 and 7 o’clock a motor car, minus the regulation number and letter, in which were four passengers, one of them a woman, was observed on the great high road that leads from Paris to Cherbourg. While the motor-car was in the Commune of Fontaine-la-Souvet it was seen to stop, and one of the occupants got down with a bulky parcel in his arms, which he placed on the roadside not far from a farm. When he had taken his seat again the car mbved off, but it did not leave the vicinity until two peasants on their way home stopped to examine the curious bundle. At that moment the motor-car dashed off at full speed in the direction of Farm When the labourers picked up the parcel they discovered it was a cradle, containing a newly-born child, and they decided to take it to the Mayor. On? of them, however, suggested that it would be advisable first to take the cradle into the nearest house so as to have a closer look at it with a view to finding some clue to its indentification. His astonishment may be guessed when he found pinned beneath the baby’s pillow fourteen bank notes of £4O each, representing a sum of £560, to which was attached a sheet of paper bearing the words “ Whoever will take care of this child until its majority will have good fortune assured to him during his lifetime, on the express condition that he never seeks to penetrate the secret of the birth of the child, the issue of one of the noblest families of England.” The happy labourer, evidently considering that the stipulation was a light one, took the child under his arm, put the notes in his pocket, and resumed his homeward journey.