Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-02-05
first be exposed in the pillory, and then

lleHt completely uuHldHucu ullI, dA0,
before he could regain his selfpossession,
lady, slight in figure, and elegantly at
tired IN light silk, stepped from behind
the screen, and fixed her eyes triumphant
~ upon him.
Expect no mercy from the king, said
she. "The court has sentenced you, and
his majesty has left the manner in which
your punishment shall be inflicted en-
tirely to me. Do you understand me, Sir
Satirist ?-entirely to me-"
''Good heavens, you are" stammered
Desforges.
"The Marquise de Pompadourp' inter
rupted the lady; 'the same POmpadour
whom you have exercised your wit ID
slandering, and who will now exercise
hers in devising some mode of punish
ment worthy of so gifted a criminal"
Desforges stood like statue, his eyes
fixed on space, and seeming unconscious
of what was going on around him.
In obedience to a gesture OF the mar
quise, the screen was removed, discover
| ing cage made Of strong rods OF iron.
Il propose to preserve this rare specl-
men of a poet" continued the marqulse,
''here in this cage; his wonderful lmagIna-
| ton will enable him, | doubt not, to en-
ldISG Glllo Adl1OW pIlSOu W C1iO N1AAlOAA-
sions of Bastile. It is small, you see,
very small: it's dimensions are such that
man in it can neither stand up, sit, nor
lie down; but a poet is not human
being of the everyday sort, and therefore
l would not see him imprisoned after the
manner of your vulgar, everyday felons %
Another gesture of the Marquise's fair
hand intimated that her victim should be
,N1o in ISIS
obeyed, the door being securely locked,
she herself taking the KEY.
There, my youthful Juvenal," she con-
tinued, looking at him through her
l0rg7a07o, snow you shall be shown to the
ca71GGlle of Paris, that they may amuse
themselves with you as they do with the
monkeys in the menagerie at Versailles. -
With this the beautiful executioner left
her victim to the frightful doom she had
so ingeniously prepared for him. Des-
FORCES the while spoke not word; he
felt that he was at the mercy of heartless
woman whom no prayers of his could
move.
1t was not accidental that the MARQUIS
de Beauvoir and Mile. de Marneville were
married in the church of Notre-D Dame on
the same day the unfortunate satirist was
conveyed to the pillory in his cage, to be
pelted with rotten apples and despatched
with mud by the dregs of the people.
BeauvOir had arranged it so.
Years had passed. Desforges mad long
since been forgotten, even by the two
his murderers,-for was not his fate worse
than death ?-when one day rusty KEY
was found in the drawer of the Marquise's
dressing bureau, which no one recollected
to have ever seen before. It was tried in
all the locks it was at all likely to fit, and
found to belong to none of them.
ooh, have it," cried the Marquise,
suddenly. "I'll wager it's the key to the
cage 1 had that poor devil of satirist
put into some years ago. What was his
name?"
'Desforges," replied one of her women.
"True, Desforges," repeated the Mar
quise. 81 wonder if he is still alive?
Well, I am in gracious mood today; if
he still lives he is pardoned. Let some
one go Immediately to the Bastile and
give him his liberty; on one condition,
hOwever-that he leave France within ten
days"
A Switzer fastened to the Bastile to
execute the orders of his mistress.
When Desforges was told that he could
leave his narrow prison, he stared vacant
ly for some moments at his liberator, and
then began to weep and laugh alternately
like a child.
II cannot, monseigneur," he stammer-
ed; ''my limbs have become so stiff that 1
cannot"
1t was with not little difficulty they
were able to get him out of his cage, and
some days elapsed before he could make
sufficient use of his legs to leave the Bas-
tile even with the aid of crutches.
1t was midday. Paris shone brightly
in the spring-time sun, when a bent, rag
clad figure tottered across the Place Louis
XIV, looking to the right and left at the
houses, show-Windows and passers-by,
with all the curiosity of a peasant.
Suddenly a runner crossed the square,
crying:
Room! rooml for the Marquis de
Beauvoir!'
"Beauvoir murmured the man in
rags. "Beauvoir-where have | heard that
name? Who is this Beauvoir ?" he asked
of passing burgher.
"Our Minister to "Spain," was the re-
ply,
$50, SOP muttered the man in rags.
And now there passed carriage in which
sat, beside distin guished-looking man, a
beautiful woman, with all the coquettish
airs, and in the elegant costume of the
rocco period, chatting gayly with an
officer who rode beside the carriage
"Adriennep' cried the man in rags,
when he saw the lady, and made a sud
den movement toward the carriage She
glanced toward the strange figure, the
aged beggar, as she supposed, and re-
sumed her conversation with the officer,
as she rolled rapidly across the square
"Adriennen repeated the unfortunate
poet, "Adrienne!" but she was already
out of sight. He staggered into narrow
street, sat down on the curbstone, and
wept like child And there he sat, long
after the stars came out; then, suddenly
rising to his feet, he extended his hands
towards heaven and uttered a terrible
curse:
Accused be all women to whom rank
is more than worth! Accused these
tyrants who tread us under foot Ac-
cursed be they, aye, ten times ac-
cursed I"
The curse of the poor satirist was des-
tined to prove prophetic.
With her last gasp, Nine. de Pompa-
dour uttered the ominous words, "After
me the foodi" and the flood came in the
shape of deluge of blood-the revolu-
ton of 1889.
Forty years after Deforges was exposed
to the jeers of the canGille in his cage, he
saw, on the same spot, under the guillo-
tine, the heads of the Marquis and Mar
ouise de Beauvoir.-1TansIated from thu
German for ADpEet0n's Journal.
yy-,rr,r-rp won do never SET nm for q