Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-06-13

not God, nor regarded man." Nothing
could brighten him, nothing could melt
him; he was just man OF marble-pol-
ished 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 man to his back; and
when he came back alive, his soldiers
muttered to each other that his hour had
not come yet-for, you see, there was a
legend abroad that he had sold himself to
Satan for a certain term, and that moth
ing could harm him till his 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 |
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 in the
wind, and his smooth, handsome, cruel
face bent forward like bird of prey.
But all this was just what pleased him
he liked to be feared by the rabble, as he
used to call us; and, faith, we had good
reason to fear him, too! If the chateau
were still standing. I could show you
the very tower Oh the top of which he
hanged Jean Ferret for sharing game in
the woods to feed his children, who were
starving. Then there was poor Simon
Allezard, whose wife he 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 rapier, and he wouldn't
even condescend to draw that, but he
wrenched Simon's own gun from him,
and beat out his brains with the butt
end. 1t would take me till midnight if
I were to tell you all the horrible stories
[ heard about him as we crOuched round
our little spark of fire at night, squeez-
ing close to each other to try and get
WARMTH at last | hardly dared stir out
Of the house.
1t was in the spring of 1889 that judg-
ment first began to overtake him. He
had been away at 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 Yer
sailles- when all of a sudden word cot
about he was coming; and, sure enough,
a few days later he came, and with him
a whole crowd of grand folks that fairly
filed the chateau And then, for some
weeks together, there was nothing but
feasting and drinking, and card playing,
and making love, all day long. Now, it
happened that among the ladies was one
who had been a beauty at court, Mad
emoiselle Claire de Montalbert, they
called her, who had shown much favor
to our young lord, Monsieur Henri,
when they were at Versailles together;
but when she came down here, she SEEM
ed to have grown tired of him, and be-
gan to smile upon his great friend Albert
de St. Florent; till at last, as young
blood is always hot Especially when
there is lady in the CASEY, she bred a
deadly quarrel between. One evening
in May, my cousin Pierre, soldier, who
was at the chateau attending upon his
colonel, came down to us and told a ter
rlble story. That very morning the two
young gentlemen, and two more to sec
ond them, had come out of the chateau
before any one else was stirring, and
away to little open place in corner of
a wood, and there they fell to. Henri
was good blade, but this time he was
too hot to be prudent, and at the fifth
pass he was run through the body. But
he came of race that died hard; and
the moment he felt steel pierce him,
threw himself forward upon the sword,
and shortening his own, ran it into Nj.
Albert's side so fercely the blade snap
ped right across. Then he fell back 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 so the lives of two brave men were
thrown away for the caprice of woman,
one of those great ladies without heart
and conscience, whom God has created
to avenge the sins of the mobiles upon
themselves.
When the news of all this got abroad,
our people God forgive themI began to
rejoice, and to say that now the aristo-
Gratis were beginning to devour each 9TH
er, and that he who had robbed so many
of their children knew not what it was
to lose child himself But, as we after
ward 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;
GoodI The De Quesnoys always strike
homeI' And after that, he never men
toned his sons name again
Well, Monsieur, few months later
came the news of the fall of the Bastille;
and then the peasants began to lift up
their heads, and talk of doing something;
but no one dared to speak openly, for
there were troops quartered in Besancon,
and nobody knew yet whether they
void join us or not. q heard after
wards that they were ready enough to
side with us, but, having no leaders and |
each man doubling whether his com
rades would stand by him, they did not
stir). But by the opening 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,