Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-11-02
nltslrIlaneous.
THE COUNT.


Of Langeais, in the department Of the Indirect
Loire, and served as a gronedier under the Con-
vcution. Though brave soldier, he was an
thief, and was at length apprehended,
tried and condemned to fourteen years of the
galleys. But ho did not like the seclusion of the
bacne and chained as he was like wild beast
he contriyed, in the fourth year of his imprison-
ment, to make his escape. His success, however,
was attended by circumstance which he had
afterwards occasion to refer to as one of the
great landmarks of his history. His comrade in
the adventure had been likewise condemned, on
the same day with himself, to fourteen years
fetters; and the two desperadoes were drawn
together, not only by this coincidence in their
fortunes, but by dissimilarity in character and
requirements which seemed to point thcm'oat
as fit associates in crime. What the one wanted
the other possessed. Coignard was tolerably
we'll educated; the other had known no other
school than that Of the world. Coignard was
an easy plant man of society; the other
character Of iron, motion by nature in Il mould
which might be broken but never bent Coignard
in fine, obtained his ends by address, fortifedby
esolution; and tho other by an implacable
stubbornness of purpose, which was dead to all
considerations but the one idea before it., which
it grappled and clung to for life or death. The
union of two such men would have enriched the
annals of guilt; but it was not to take place
They were detected in the act of attempting to
escape, and only one could fly. Had that one
been the comrade, he would at once have reject
ed the temptation. And why' Because the
object of their plan had failed, which was the
Aigh4 of both. But Coignard, who never grew
sulky with fate, 50 far from abandoning his en-
terprise, made use of his unlucky friend as a
stepping-stone in his escape; and, putting his
foot upon his shoulder, spurned him away as
he caught the top Of the wall above, behind
which he speedily disappeared, with the vongo-
yell of his associate ringing in his ears. lie
changed his name from Coignard to Points, fed
| LII
came sergeant under the reign Of Marshal
Soult, and distinguished himself by his bravery
and good conduct
At Saragossa, in the year 1913, Points made
the acquaintance of Spanish girl called Rosa
Marcsn, whom he afterwards married and the
two congenial spirits set themselves to work to
discover q way to fortune less tedious and doubt
full than the ranks, An extraordinary coinci-
dence in names gave them the first hint; and
indeed so strange an influence do seeming tridea
exercise over the destinies of mon, that it was
to this coincidence was owing the intimacy Of
two beings SO well calculated to play in each
others hands the game of life. Why Pierre
Coignard, among all other names in the world
should have chosen tha name of Points, is mo-
known; but it SO happened that it was even al
q household word in the ears of Rosa Marcen
she having served in some capacity or other il
an emigrant family bearing that patronymic
Whether her service was that of governess o
q waiting-woman, and whether she retired o
was driven from it are matters beyond the kel
of biography but it is certain she beheld wit
great interest an individual bearing name s
intimately associated with the events Of he
own history And this interest was not lessene
by the fact that Points was young and hand
: some soldier at once polite and daring, and er
y dowed with that gentle and cool self-possessior
i beneath which all weaker spirits quail like 1t
natlcc beneath the voiceless eye of their keeper
But " Points! 4" that was the name of a t
!, tied family. Was this young grenadier CT
. det of the noble house whose representatives ha
fed before the horrors of the Revolution! L
: might be so by his person and bearing ar
: the idea retained hold Of the imagination
: Rosa. even after she had learned that he hs
as little to do with the nobility either of mir
or birth as herself. An epoch by-and-by can
;, when such an idea was likely to present itse
in more ehticing form than now, when coun
were at discount The French were compell'
is to eyacuate the Peninsula. Louis le Desire +
" turned to the throne of his ancestors; and Of
=. Points and his wife found themselves once mo