The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

132 SUPPL " What can I do for you, Monsieur le Marquis de Boufflers ?" replied the Duke, with the most perfect calmness, while he laid an affected Treci sion on every word he spake. " A great deal, Sir," said the boy. " Will you kindly accompany me into the recess of this win dow ?" " Most willingly." " It is but a moment since, Sir, you uttered the most insulting words respecting me." " Well! and then ?" " And then, Sir ! you are in love with my cousin, Madame de St. Cerets ?" " Is that all ?" " To-morrow then," said the youth, break, I shall call for you at your hotel." " Oh ! you must excuse me," said the 'other, " I never get up early, I am far too indolent, but what do you say if we put off our engagement to ten or eleven o'clock, or better still, after dinner." " at day- " To-morrow at ten, Sir, be it ; your seconds shall be mine," while he muttered below his breath, " I shall find some way of escaping the College." "Be it so," said the Duke, bowing cere moniously, while, with a most insulting smile, he added— " Adieu, Sir, till to-morrow." It was about eleven o'clock on the following morning, as Madame de Saint Cerets had com menced her toilette, a servantinformed her that her young cousin, the Marquis de Boulders, requested to see her, and the next moment he entered the room flushed and excited. " What is the matter ?" said she. " What has brought you here at this hour without you tutor ? I thought you were long since back in College." " College 1" said the youth with indignation. " Let me tell you M. de Coigny is the most faith less gentleman that breathes." " Indeed ! what has he done 7" " What has he done ! This morning at ten he was to have given me a meeting. He has broken faith." " Is it possible ?" " I see," cried he, " you are as much shocked as I am. For my part, I shall proclaim it every where—M. de Coigny, is a coward. I'll write it on the very door of his hotel, and I'll sign it with my name." " It would be very well done, indeed," said the Duchess, endeavouring to suppress her laughter. " You have some great grudge, then, against this poor Duke ?" " To the death !" " And what is his great offence towards you ?" "What ! has he not had the insolence to love you ?" "Did he tell you so ?" " No, but I have guessed it many a day since." " After all, Henry, I don't think that any such strong reason for killing M. de Coigny, nor even for your coming here at this hour of the morn- "Don't you see," said the youth, dropping his voice, " that to meet him I made my escape from my father's house while my tutor was still in bed, and that, at this very moment, they are looking for me everywhere." " Oh, this is serious, indeed." " And after waiting half an hour at the Duke's hotel in vain, as I've told you, the very first person I met as I issued from the door was—my tutor." Did he see you ?" " I can't tell. I bad only time to take to my heels ; and as my legs were better than his, here I am." "Si lly boy ! But what will the Reverend Jesuit Fathers say at your absence ?" MENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STAN " They may say what they like. lam no child now ; lam a man. lam ,one of the first digni taries of the kingdom. I shall be fifteen in June. Ah, my dearest cousin, I reckon on you to save me." " So I would, Henry, with all my heart ; but ain't you afraid of compromising me ? Only think, at your age—the Governor of a Province ? It would never do." " Ah," stammered the boy " you think so. I never thought of that." The lovely Duchess, as she looked upon the perplexed and troubled features of her young cousin, could continue no longer to sustain the part she undertook, but.burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. Bouffiers, who could make nothing of this excess of mirth, stood like one thunderstruck ; and at last, she continuing to laugh on, his temper gave way, he stamped his foot upon the ground with auger, and walked to the other end of the room. She tried in vain to coax him back ; and at last, walking on tiptoe, she approached him, and, taking his hand within her own, she said— "My poor boy ; so you are very angry with me 'I" _ _ _ Bouffiers spoke not a word ; the heavy tears rolled down his cheeks, and his heart swelled to bursting ; but love triumphed, and, smiling through all his sorrow, he murmured timidly, " Oh, no ; I am not angry with you." " Bad boy !" said Madame de Saint Cerets, as she pressed her lips upon his forehead, and looked on him with admiration. He threw himself upon his knee before the lovely Duchess, and burst forth into a regular declaration of love, when suddenly the door opened with a crash, and a middle-aged man in the dress of an Abbe, pale, travel-stained, and flurried, entered the chamber. " Ah ! Monsieur le Marquis," cried he, "you'll not escape me this time ;" and at the mo ment he seized him by the arm, and proceeded to drag him from the room. " Come, Monsieur," said he, in a tone half supplicating, half com manding, " the carriage is in waiting. Come quickly, or you'll miss the Greek lecture, which begins at one exactly. What will their Reverences say on your coming so late ? Madame le Duchesse, aid me, I beseech you, to persuade him." Unhappily for the poor Abbe, the lovely ally whose aid he invoked had as much as she could do to repress her laughter at the whole affair ; upon which the tutor, looking on the case as desperate, resolved not to lose a moment, and called to a lackey without—" Holloa there ! Take Monsieur le Marquis, and with every respect to his rank carry him to the carriage." The next moment the unhappy Bouffiers was seized in the strong arms of the lackey, and before he was well conscious of the change, the carriage door was closed upon him. In less than half an hour after the carriage drew up at the College of the Jesuits. When young Boufflers entered that gloomy portal his heart sickened within him. He felt that on that threshold he must drop every privilege of his rank and fortunes, all the illusions, and as it were all the high hopes that make life glorious, and become the mere equal of three hundred others, taken from every class and con dition in society. The clock of the college chimed two, and at the same moment a deep voice called out through the ample hall— I I" Monsieur de Boufflers, you are five hours late. The Superior wants you." Suddenly remembering the events of the day before, he bethought him that the favour of Louis XIV. was like a halo, which should ward off every danger, and with a courageous effort he walked manfully forward and stood before the Prior. , ARD . The latter, who was busy writing at aitt:ft several of the Fathers around him'6ol first to pay not the slightest atten_sol youth's approach. Some minutes P' deeply to the mortification of B ouill,V, last, without raising his eyes, the Dr i "Ah, Monsieur de Bouffiers, I thin de Boufflers will doubtless give Me t ' c o7 l answer why he did not return to the 0? morning at the same hour with his C I # l O " Reverend Father, I know I r 5 O ( but as I cannot reply to your quesno r falsehood, I beg that you may excus e silent." . 101 The Prior raised his eyes upoli 4, strange expression, and then touching ic which stood beside him on the table'd,i brother appeared at the door of the l;, "Is this, then, your final answer e l The boy bowed his head in token , " Reflect upon it well," said the oil. have five minutes to make up your il! t o 0 0 1 At the same moment he pointed te 11 0 4 to the massive clock of bronze aboveived then, without adding a word, resunc e b The Fathers on each side of him d i O A . V and impassive, as though they hear: 6 r A ,' which passed on either side. e silence, the sight of those stern shaven crowns, bent over the table, w o moveable as statues—all imparted n fear to the boy's mind, who, as he so le hands of the clock, wondered wha t when those five minutes had elap se,, the the deep voice of the Prior roused lio doubts, as he called out— " The time has passed, call up Pere Le - The Pere Arsene it was who exeell Jesuit College, the terrible functions J At that dreaded name the waving 1' boy almost stood erect upon his head ;,, e palor spread over his cheeks, and from head to foot. 10 Reverend Fathers" cried he;O: t tremulous from emotion, " it is zpoitt,i you have sent for the Pere Arse° Ote e i l et know I am no longer a child. I atA, f punishment does not' suit my agil be iv oi you will on me but that, and I i'l l g oire out a murmur, but for pity's sake ~"'s od The words were scarce spoken, -„e- sill stood a man of stern and sa t oeno, held in his hand the horrible i o st, pe ture. A cry of agony burst frr li o js,„, as he buried his face within hence 0f denly remembering the immin he"eout— I C Orl Pardon, pardon, Fathers , I all, but send away that man." "It is too late," said the p rior voice. le "1 " Too late ! Oh, no, Monsieur _4,, to me but a few moments , I beseW know not what has happened to day ; you know not th at I ovenorlie am mod day f General of Flanders, and tt f see that I cannot rec eive the lash. '1 honour for ever the glorious titles v i e ff; it would offend his Majesty who l it tl' t I ask your pardo n, then, Reverend / ask you also for justice. Is it no e l Di eu ! mon Dieu! you don't sp e y a nswer me. Dear Fathers, aid me , l it e; As he spoke, the boy hurried thro.o calling upon each by his name ' v a oir and a look that must have penetra te he than theirs. He prayed, he vceP b " . '5 0 0 1 and at last, half suffocated with il of JO; cold and breathless at the fee t sc eil,e s , Long habituated as they were 9 t he the Fathers seemed touche d, an u ° CZ 11 of 1 511 f ro 14 4 44)11 40.% ilOcToi_3 l 2j .1