The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-03-12 00:00:00

:s ADRIENNE

OR,
THE SHADOW OF THE PAST.

CALL RIGHTS RESERVED. j

CHAPTER XIL
EADY wae the last one to leave the room, and she
turned the key in the lock and this time put it in her
Pocket while she regarded Adrienne in silent amaze-
ment. M. Lecour witnessed the action, and drily
said—
_ "Restore the key to its usual ma-e, Jackdaw. In
Itsture it will be useful to this wilful girl as she will
relesse you of much of your attendance on our helpless
guest."
"1 aint above attendin' to my own business," said
Eady, sturdily, "and I aint gwine to put no sich
lervice on my yeting mistiss'
"The menial- service you most still perform, of
Course; but Adrienne will necessarily become the
companion of many of the vacant hours of the poor
recluse. It is well for him, perhaps, that she came
hither, but not so wetl for herself, for she will find it
but a weary burden to find amusement for a poor
imbecile like Prinee Louis."
"It I can brighten his life, I am willing to under-
take it," replied Adrienne, with an expression of sin-
cerity which brought a satirical smile to the lips of
M. Lecour. He paused in the lower hall, and laid
aside his crimson robe and his wand of office.
Eady took charge of them, and turning to Adrienne,
be sternly said—
" Come with me and hear the history your dis-
obedience has compelled me to confide to you."
Adrienne followed with alactrity, for she was yet in
It state of amazement at the extraordinary nature of
the morning's revelation.
M. Lecour closed the door behind them, pointed
to a seat, and threw himeelf into a large arm chair.
After a few moments of moody thought he aroused
himself and said—
"I have been meditating on the possibility of in-
trusting to you the sad secret of this house, made-
moiselle, and therefore your rash act escapes the anger
it would otherwise have aroused. The presence of
Louis beneath this roof could not long have been kept
a secret from you, at any rate."
"And is this really and truly the son of the un-
fortunate Marie Antoinette ? How, then, has all
France been deceived into the belief that he perished
from the effects of the ill-treatment he received ?"
"That was managed easily enough. A boy suffer-
ing from the same disease, which had almost run its
course, was sought for and found in one of the public
hospitals. While he took the place of Louis of France,
the young prince was secretly removed to Marseilles,
and phiced on a vessel bound for New Orleans. While
his substitute breathed his last Louis was conveyed
from his native land for ever."
"And why was this done?"
"To remove an imbecile from the path of his uncle,
Who will yet rule France as Louis XVIIL"
"And you? what led you to undertake this
charge, mon pere ?"
A scornful smile wreathed his lip as he replied—
"lt will doubtless shock you to hear that money
Was the inducement. A large bribe and a munificent
annuity were my rewards for the service."
"And how was it that you were the agent selected
to carry out their plans ?"
"I am quite willing to tell you why /.assumed this
charge; but it involves a portion of my previous
history. I was one of the fiercest of those democrats
who called for the blood of the Austrian woman and
her facile husband. I was once the friend of Denton
—I possessed his confidence, and but for my counsels
the massacres of September had never deluged the
streets of Paris with 'blood. Yes—l glory in the re-
membrance of those days—the aristocrats fell beneath
the knife of the guillotine, and I do not regret my part
in the grand tragedy."
He arose, threw his arms aloft, and walked to and
fro in an excited manner. He laughed aloud as he
stopped suddenly in front of Adrienne, and said—
"You are shocked—you are amazed; you feel
very much like the child in the fairy tale when she
found herself in the den of the ogre. Yes, I am your
Ogre."
"No, man pl,re, I am not afraid of you, for I do
not believe that you would wilfully harm me; but I
am terrified at this unlooked-for revelation."
M. Lecour regarded her with grim composure, and I
there was horrible sarcasm in the icy tones of his voice
as he replied—
Might makes right,' says the old adage. I am a
bad man, mademoiselle, a
.fatal man, but I am no
hypocrite. 1 stand before you in my true colours.
Listen to what further I have to reveal to you."
Adrienne bowed submissively, and he went on:
"I stirred up the masses against the king. His head
fell, but the vengeance of the people was still Un-
satisfied; the true curse of France lived in the Austrian
woman, on whoa' head I charged all the evils of her
vacillating husband's reign.
"On her trial, for the first time was I brought face 1
to face wit h this royal heroine, and I felt that a truly
great soul inhibited that delicate woman's body. My
feelings underwent a strange revulsion as I looked
upon the worn face, the hair silvered by anguish, and
Witnessed,. the simple dignity with which she repelled
the insults heaped upon the daughter Of the Gesars.
Oh! amid its darkest epochs the world has witnessed
no such scene as that! A crowned queen of the
greatest nat'on on earth arraigned as a common
criminal! her purity insulted, her dignity outraged, by
a lawless mob that claimed to be her judges
"All the enormity of the crime we were about to
peroetrate flashed suddenly upen me. It came AEI a
reval,ition from another world, and I do not pretend
to account for the sudden revulsion my feelings under-
went, I felt that I must speak in her defence, or die.
I ventured to address the raging mob whose passions I
had helped to arouse, and I faltered something which
meant that armed men should find better employment
than making war on a defenceless woman. Those few
• words nearly cost me my life. The human tigers had
feasted on hloed toe long to give up their victim, and
a howl of rage was the reply I received. They would
have thrown themselves upon me, and•hurled me, too,
to destruction if I had not at once retracted my feeble
effort at defence. I was compelled to show that I was
eager for the destruction of the unfortunate woman
before the tribunal. They demanded of me a speech
setting forth her crimes against the dignity of the
realm over which she had reigned, and I was base
enough to obey the command. With reckless eloquence
I summed up all the evil deeds of which she was ac-
cused, and asked death as their penalty. With ap-
plauding cries, and clapping of hands, the sentence
Was prenounced. I looked but once at that fallen
majesty. She stood calm and unmoved; after all the
horrors to which she bad been subjected, the repere of
the grave was evidently welcome. I saw it in the corn-
Posed resignation of her face; I read it in the deep
sadness of her eyes. Oh! then I could have kneeled
before her, and prayed for pardon for all the wrong I
knew that I had done her; but it was too Iftee—too
late! The evil was accomplished, and I was powerless to
aid or Save!
" Ah, child! do not expect that I shall attempt to
Clear myself from the stain of blood. No: it clings ,
to me for ever—it blights my days. and renders night
terrible to me. Its curse is your heritage, as it has
been my punishment, for the evil I aided to ac-
complish
Adrienne shivered and grew pale, but M. Lecour
went on, apparently regardless of her emotion:
"I asked to stand sentinel over Marie Antoinette
during the last night she was to spend on earth. I had
sufficient interest to secure this favour, and I watched
her without ceasing throughout its dreary hours. I saw
her prepare her death toilette from the meagre and
wretched materials in her possession. Look / behold
the Queen of France, in the cell whose very atmosphere
was heavy with the sighs of those who had preceded
her in its narrow limits"
He approached the picture which stood upon his
easel, swept aside the curtain that hung over it. and
pointed to the stately figure of the fallen queen. Tears
rushed into Adrienne's eyes as she beheld the noble
face, and silver hair—the delicate hands engaged in
re/Wring her shoes for the last service that would be
required of them.
M. Lecour went on in a more subdued tone—
"I ventured to approach her, and said, in a guarded
tone—
Citizen eRs, I would have saved you to-day, but
the mob was too strong for me. I spoke against you,
but I did it unwillingly. I would atone for the wrongs
I have done you by any service you may claim, which
it is possihe for me to render.'
She looked up with an expression of surprise, and
steadily regarded me for a few moments. I do not
know what she read in my ace, but she seemed
moved as she replied—
" I have now but one earthly care—my children_..
They will be barbarously treated, perhaps destroyed.
If you can do so, save the heir of France; take my
forgiveness for any evil you have ever done to me, if
You will befriend my helpless darlings.'
"'I swear to do so to the best of my ability,' I
replied; and 1 endeavoured to redeem that pledge. It
was long —long before I had the power to de so.
Denton, my patron, fell, and I was involved it. his
ruin. I was forced to live in concealment, and, In my
turn; I endured all the horrors of the fugitive wit ,se
life is haunted by the remorseless bloodhounds of
sanguinary mob.
"The reign of Terror slowly passed away; a new
era dawned upon the country whose Soil was deluged
by tee blood shed in the name of liberty. I came
fo,th from niy hiding place, and sought the means of
fultillir,g my promise to the hapless Marie
Antoinette Her son was removed from the power of
th a vile shoe maker, who had wrecked both mind and
body ty the unparalleled ill-treatment he had inflicted
ea the unfertunate child. I found him under the care
el respectable people, who endeavoured to restore him
to health and happiness. I soueht the post of atten-
daet upon nim and as I had some knowledge of
medicine, the physician who waited on him, employed
me to carry out his system of treatment more in-
telligently than an ordinary nurse could have done.
" The le alth of Louis slowly improved, but his
dulled tub Ilect never brightened. He could be taught
to repeat a form of words, but they conveyed no ideas
to his vacant mind. I soon saw that the mischief was
irremed able. A sprightly, intelligent child had been
Slowly tortured into semi-idiocy.
"This conviction hid scarcely fixed itself upon my
mind when an agent fr)m the Comte d'Artois Foupht
!:ne end proposed to me to remove the unfortunatA

boy from his path, when away seemed opening to him
to ascend his brother's throne. Enough—l was suc-
cessful; but 1. warn you against betraying your
knowledge of these facts, for if 'Father Eustace dis-
covers the presence of the prince beneath my roof, it
will c .use evil to many."
Adrienne started, and listened with even deeper in-
terest than before. She endeavoured to conceal her
!motion by asking:
. "Why have you thought it necessary to surround
the unfortunate youth with the outward semblance of
royal state —to imbue his mind with the idea that he
is really king ?"
" Ah ! that is the revenge my cynical pride induced
me to take upon royalty degraded in his poor imbecile
person. lam a republican still—a rabid one if you
will—and it amuses me to make this wretched
creature, dethroned of reason as well as of power,
play the part of the roi faineant. It can do no harm
to any one, and what was at first a jest has now
become a habit and a necessity to the poor imbecile.
If he were deprived of the empty state in which he
lives, Louis would pine away and die. I should lose
my annuity, and the power I possess over certain
persons in Europe, to whom the re-appearance of this
poor lad on the political arena would be fatal. It is
'-yen said that a project has been formed to proclaim
Leuis king, with Buonaparte as military dictator.
l'f,e little Corsican can do better than that, as he will
soon prove by seizing Imperial power. lam far away
from France, hut am kept well informed of what is
passing there, and I can dispassionately judge of the
march of events. lam talking to you, child, as if you
can comprehend all these affairs. Go— --leave me;
I have talked too much already. Take your new task
u ;on yourself to-day, and be wary oi the priest, if he
should attempt to communicate with you."