The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-06-28

cross ourselves at the very sound of his
name, just as the BretOns do at that
of GILES de RetZ, the wicked Count
Bluebeard, who murdered all his wives,
one after another 1t would take me
till midnight i'll were to tell you all
the horrible stories heard about him,
as we sat squeezing close to each other
to try and get warm-till at last
hardly dared stir out of the house for
fear of meeting him.
ut was i'm the spring Of'S9-the year
of the great ctibme-that Judgment
first began to overtake M. lie MARQUIS.
He had been away at the court for two
years, and we knew nothing of him
except that his steward kept squeezing
more and more money out of us every
month, to pay for his masters fine
doings at Versailles, when, all of a
sudden, word got about that he was
coming and, sure enough, few days
later he came, and with him a whole
crowd of grand folks that fairly filled
the chateau. And then, for several
weeks together, there was nothing but
feasting and drinking, and dancing
and card-playing, and making love all
day long. Now it happened that
among the ladies was one who had
been beauty at the cOurt-Mademois-
ellie Claire de Montalbert, they called
her-whO had shown much favor to
our young lord Monsieur Henri, when
they were ut Versailles together; but
when she came down here she seemed
to have grown tired of him, and began
to smile upon his great friend, M.
Albert de st. FlOrent; till at last, as
young blood is always hot, Especially
when there's a lady in the case, she
bred deadly quarrel between them.
One evening in May my cousin Pierre,
the soldier, who was up at the chateau
attending upon his Colonel, came down
to us and told terrible story. That
very morning the two young gentle
men, with other two to second them,
had come out of the chateau before any
one else was stirring, and away to a
little open place at the corner of the
wood, and there fell to. M. Henri was
a good blade, but this time he was too
hot to he prudent, and the fifth pass he
was run clean through the body. But
he came of a race that always died
hard; and the moment he felt the
steel pierce him he threw himself for
ward upon the sword, and shortening
his own ran it into Mr.. Albert's side so
fiercely that the blade snapped right
across. Then he fell down and died
where he stood. But, M. Albert had
little to boast of, for his wound was
mortal, and two days later he died
also. And 50 the lives of two brave
men We're thrown away for the caprice
of wOman-One of those great ladies
without heart and without conscience,
whom God created to avenge the sins
of the nObJesse upon themselves.
"When the news of this got abroad,
our people God forgive them !! began
to rejoice, and to say that now the
aristOcrats were beginning to devOur
each other, and that he who had rob-
bed so many of their children knew
not what it was to lose child himself.
But, as we afterwards learned, the old
Marquis, however he might grieve,
was not one to let his grief be known.
When he heard the news, he never
sighed or trembled, but only asked
how it Jared with NJ. de st Florent; !;
and when they told him that the
wound was mortal, he smiled his own
cruel smile, and muttered to himself:
"Good: the De QuesnOys always strike
home!n And after that he never
mentioned his sons name again.
"Well, Monsieur, few months later
came the news of the fall of the Bas-
tile, and the peasants began to lift up
their heads, and talk of doing some
thing; but no one dared to speak OPEN
ly, for there were t,OOps quartered III
Besancon, and nobody knew yet
whether they would join us or not. Il
heard afterwards that they were ready
enough to side with us, but, having no
leaders, and each man doubling
whether his comrades would stand by
him, they did not stir.) By the open
ing of the year go, the soldiers in all
the garrison towns had communicated
with each other and were all on the
side of the people; SO, one day in
March, the TWO BesancOn regiments
rose as one man, depOsed their officers,
shot their Colonel, and elected Sergeant
Roussel in his stead (the same ROussel
who afterwards commanded a brigade
under the great EmperOr). Then our
peasants began to think that it was
time to square accounts with M. lie
Marquis, especially as all his grand
friends had gone away, and there were
only few lacLeys left to defend him.
But somebody must have told him of
| what was going on; for just as the
peasants We're gathered in the village
Wonder, with hatchets and pitchforks,
and what not, ready to go to the cha
| teau, there came rattle of hOOfs along
the road, and into the market-place
broke the old Marquis himself, on his
great black horse, with lis gay dress
| glittering i'm tie sunshine and his ia &c
| quiet and smooth as if he were going
into a drawing-rOOm but his lips were
set like the jaws of a wolf-tray. When
i saw him coming / shrink away,
fearing that he would seize and devOur
me even among them all, but l could
see how he reined up his horse 1.-THE
crowd parting be fore him right and
left, leaped from the saddle, aid stood
facing us, with his arms folded on his
breast. Morbleu! / think 1 see him
now, drawn up to his full height, with
his lip curling in defiance, and his eye
looking through us like the flash of a
sword, as he said, in his clear, scOrnful
voice, Il am told that you have some
thing to say to me. Here / am. What
swer. At the sight of his face and the
|
in this way like an old powerful mas
ter, the old fear of him and his, brand
ed into us by ages of oppression, rose
up again stronger than ever, and the
whole crowd of furious men hung their
heads like rated schoolboys, and melt
! ed away before him. IORneTre de eicl!
tyrant, and servant of the devil though
he was, he did good deed that day
worthy of the Twelve Paladins; and
perhaps the bon Dieu may yet have
mercy upon him, for he was a brave
manw
1 recalled the wierd pathos of the
English ballard
THAT Heaven may yet have more mercy than mar
On such bold riders sOul,''-
and looked with involuntary admira.
ton upon this thoroughly French sym
pathy with courage, even in an here
ditary and implacable enemy. The old
man was silent for an instant, while
the mOmentary sOftnesss faded from his
iron features, leaving them sternel
than before. When he resumed, his
tone was deeper and more solemn.
"But although M. lie Marquis escaped
for that time, his day was near at hand
for now came news that the people
had marched upon Versailles, that the
King and Queen had been brought tt
Paris, that the tiers were up in every
part of the country, and that the AS
semblee NatiOnale had decreed tht
abolition of taxation, monopoly, aristO
cratic oppression, and had pronounced
all men free and equal fOrevermOre
Every fresh bit of news worked like
n