The Trinity times., 1855-03-10
The Mt.

Pierre Cognard was the son of vine
dresser of Langeais, in The department of the
tndre- e-et-L Loire, and served as a grenadier
under the Convention. Though brave SOL
der, he was am audacious thief, and was at
length apprehended, tried and condemned to
fourteen years in the galleys. But he did no!
like the seclusion Of the bagne; and chained
as he was like wild beast, he cOnrved, in
the fourth year of his imprisonment, to make
his escape.
His success, however. was attended by a
circumstance which he had afterwards occa-
sion TO refer to as one Of the great landmarks
of his history. His cOmrade in the I'D ven
ture had likewise heon condemned, on the
same day with himself, to fourteen years fet-
ters and the two dcsperadoes we've drawn
together, not only by this coincidence in
their fortunes, but by dissimilarity in char
actcr and requirements, which seemed to
point them out as fit associates in crime
What the one wanted, the other possessed
Coignard was tolerably well educated /; the
other had known no other school than that of
the world. Cognard was an easy, plant
man of society; the other character Of
iron. molten by nature in mould which
m ght be broken, but never bent.
Coignard, in fine, obtained his ends by ad-
dress, fortified by resolution; and the other
by an mplacabe stubbornness of purpose,
which was dead to all considerations but the
one idea before it, which it g;apped and
cluuo to for life or death The union of
two such men would have enriched the ans
nails of guilt; but it was not to take place.
They were detected in the act of attempting
TO escape, and only one could hy.-llad that
one been the comrade he would at once have
rejected the temptation. And why Be
cause the object Of their plan had failed
which was the flight Of both. But Cognard
who never grew sulky with fate, so far from
abandoning his enterprise, made use Of his
unucky friend as a stepping stone in his es-
cape, and, putting his foot upon his shoulder,
spurned him away as he caught at thc wall
above. behind which he speedily disappeared,
with the vengerul yell of his associate ring
Inc in his ears. He changed his name from
Coignard to Points, fled into Spain, joined
anew the French army became serieant
under the reign Of Marshal Soult, and dis
tnguished himself by his bravery and good
conduct.
At Saranossa. in the year 1913, Points
made the acquaintance Of Spanish girl
called Rosa Marcen, whom he Afterwards
married and the two congcnal spirits set
themselves to work to discover way 10 for
tune less tedious and doubtful than the ranks.
An extraordinary coincidence in names
gave them the first hint; and indeed so
strange an influence do seeming trlhes exer-
else over the destinies OF men, that It was to
this coincidence was owing the intlmacles Of
Two beings so well calculated to play in each
others hands in the game of lie. Why
Pierre Coignard among all the names IN the
world, should have chosen the name OF Pom
lis, is not known; but il go happened that it
was even as a household word in the ears Of
Rosa Mercen, she having served, in some
capacity or other, in an emgrant family
bearing that patronymic. Vine her her SER
vice was that OF goveruess or waiting wO-
man, or whether she retired or was driven
from it, are matters beyond the k OF biog-
raphv: but it is certain that she beheld with
rreat interest individual beari ? a name
80 intimatclvf ociated with the events Of her
avn history. And this interest was not les
sened by the fact that Points was a young
and handsome soldier, at once polite and
daring. and endowed with that cool and gen
lie self possession before which all weaker
spirits quail. Ike fanatics beneath the voice
less eye Of their keeper.
Bat Points ~ that was the name Of a
titled family. Was this young grenatier a
cadet Of that uobl. house, whose representa-
tives had fed before the horrors Of the lseyo.
hutton
lie might be 50 by his person and bearing