The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1872-06-22

but before 'S9 1T was another matter.
7'Onnerre f! it was no joke then to fall
III the way of party of young cheval-
iers, hot with wine and mischief, and
ready for any devils prank that came
into their heads, Every man that came
into their road was sure to be beaten or
run through, and as for the women.
But less said about that the better I
can remember even now Though l was
quite child when it happened,) the
night that our young Lord Henri de
Quesnoy, and three or four of his wild
companions, secured the streets of Bes-
ancon with their riding whips, and
made every one they met go down on
their knees in the mud, and cry 'vive
lie roi ! Then as if it was not enough
for them, they broke ever SO many win
dows, rang the great alarm-bell till
they reused up the whole town, and
finished by hanging dead dog at the
door OF M. lie Marie, with a bit of pa
per IN it's mouth, on which was written:
"A ton tour, mon frere Cts your
turn, brother.) Little did they dream
then, that the day was to come when
they should themsel be hung like
dogs to every lamp-iron, and when their
blood should run in the streets of their
own towns, to the cry, not of 'vive lie
roi ! but of 'vive Ia nation = But all
this doesn't belong to my story.
"Our old siegneur, Maurice de
Quesnoy, who lived at the chateau yon-
der IN the year '89, was such man as
have heard Nj. lie Cure read about in
the gospels-one who feared not God,
nor regarded man. Nothing could
fright him, nothing could melt him;
he was just man of marble-polished
and hard, and cold as death. In one of
the great battles of the seven years war
he had flung his plumed hat into an
English battery, and leaped after it,
without a man at his back and when
he came back alive, his soldiers NUT
tered to each other that his hour was
not yet come; for, you see, there was
legend abroad that he had sold him.
self to Satan for q certain term, and
that nothing could harm him until the
term was out. Our folks used to say
that when he got tired of all his grand
dishes he fed upon children's flesh;
and many time have 7 screamed and
run away for fear of being devOured,
when ] saw him come prancing along
the road on his great black horse, all
lace and jewels and embroidery, with
his long feathers streaming III the wind,
and his smooth, handsome face bent
forward like the head of bird of prey.
But all this was just what pleased him.
he liked to be feared by the cunoiiIe
as he used to call us and, faith 4. we
had good reason to fear him too If
thn oh ata ~ o. r 1
show you the very tower on the top of
ing game in the woods to feed his chill
dren, who were starving. Then there
was poor Simon Allezard, whose wife he
had carried off. He lay in wait for the
Marquis one night, and fired at him;
but the bullet only went through his
hat, and didn't even touch him The
Marquis had no weapon but his light
rapler, and he wouldn't even condo
scend to draw that, but he wrenched
Slmon's own gun from him, and beat
out his brains with the but-end. In
short he did such things that we used
to cross ourselves at the very sound of
his name, just as the Bretons do at that
OF Gllles de Retz, the wicked Count
Bluebeard, who murdered all his wives,
one after another.* 1t would take me
until midnight to tell you all the horri-
bic stories | heard about him, as we
sat crouched round little spark of fire
at night, squeezing close to each other
to try and get WARMTH at last / hard
ly dared stir out of the house for fear
OF meeting him.
at was the spring of '89-the year
of the great cuibuc-that Judgment
first began to overtake Nj. lie Marquis,
he had been away at the court for two
years, and we knew nothing of him ex-
cept that his stewart kept squeezing
more and more money ont of us every
month, to pay for his masters fine do
ings at Versailles, when, all of a sud-
den, word got about that he was COM
ing; and sure enough, a few days later
he came, and with him whole crowd
Of grand folks that fairly filed the chat
eau. And then for several weeks to-
gether, 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 a beauty at the
court, Mime. Claire de Montalbert,
they called her,-who had shown much
favor to our young lord, Monsieur
Henri, when they were at Versailles to-
gether; but when she came down here,
she seemed to have grown tired of him,
and began to smile upon his great friend
NJ. Albert de st. Florent; till at last as
young blood is always hot Especially
when there's lady in the case,) she
bred deadly quarrel between them.
One evening in May, my cousin Pierre,
soldier, who was up to the chateau at
tending upon his colonel, came down
to us and told a terrible story. That
very morning, the two young gentle
men with other two to second them,
had come out of the chateau be-
fore any one was stirring, and away to
little open place at the corner of the
wood, and there they fell to. NJ Henri
was good blade, but this time he was
too hot to be prudent, and at the fifth
pass he was run clean through the
body. But he came of race that al
ways died hard and the moment he
felt the steel pierce him, he threw him
self forward upon the sword, and,
shortening his own ran it into M. AL
bert's side so fiercely that the blade
snapped right across. Then he fell
down, and died where he stood. But
NJ. Albert had little to boast of, for his
wound was mortal, and two days later,
he died also. And SO the lives of two
brave men were thrown away for the
caprice of woman,- of those great
ladies without heart and without con-
-