Litchfield enquirer., 1880-06-10
MARIUs B0UGEARDs AMNESTY.
THE STORY OF ONE GOOD TURN AND ANOTHER.

Master Pascal Ledoux, barrister Tn the town
 of Vile-Aubry, sat one morning in his study
 and reflected on all that Providence had done
 for him. He was healthy, good-looking
 least no girl had ever shown him that she
 thought the countrywide had a personal fig
 ,re, and knew how to clothe it in shapely gar
 .nents; he had money in the bank, good
 practice, and he had lately been elected by ] his fellow-toWnsmen to a seat in their Munich
 pal Council. To crown all, Master Pascal
 vas betrothed to Mile. Rosalie Marsault, the only child of the richest notary in the town-a | pretty girl whose small hands were to hold 8
 dowry of three hundred francs. to say nothing
 of those pron,issory notes on the future, which we call expectations.
 Well, now, really!" exclaimed Master
 Ledoux, as he mused upon these blessings; T can't say that fortune has drowned upon me. :" l And he smiled. When man indulges in such
 il grateful train of thought before he has ac-
 complished half the journey of life, he may
 reasonably apprehend that the second half of
 his pilgrimage will not beso happy as the first | But our friend Ledoux was troubled with no
 .nisgivings of the kind. Sitting back in his
 cnar and stroking his fresh -shaven chin, he
 thought complacently of all that he was going
 10 do; and the while his honest round face
 for he was plump and ruddy-beamed with an
 air of intense satisfaction.
 Let us see," said he, spreading out the fat
 fingers of his left hand and checking off his
 calculations upon them. "With hundred
 thousand francs of Rosalie's dower I'll buy an
 estate and a baronial chateau the second hun | dred thousand I'll invest but with the third
 hundred thousand I'll buy political influence,
 and get elected member of Parliament. MOn-
 sies1r Pascal Ledoue, Depute:: that will look
 well on my letters; then by and by, when l
 am forty, I'll try for the Senate. Perhaps by
 that time I shall be Cabinet Minister. Son
 E1celIe1ace Monsieur Led0ug! That has nice
 sound. Why shouldn't I become Cabinet
 Minister, since so many other ninnies- may
 even become President of the Republic. Aha
 ha-ah Everything is possible to man whom
 fortune aids"
 l Honest Pascal Ledoux laughed broadly at
 the idea of coming to such high honors; but | he was quite in earnest about his ambitious
 schemes. He had always been popular even
 as school-boy and a student he made new
 friends every day; and now he had reached
 a time of life when men beg in to understand
 the value of being everywhere liked. Ledoux
 thirsted for popularity, because he had found | the first taste of 1t so sweet and fOrtifylng.
 He rose and examined himself in the glass,
 just to see if he had the face of one born to
 august destinies. He thought he had. He | glanced down his calves, and liked the shape
 of them He stretched forth his hand, crying:
 'Messieurs les Senateurs!' as if he were ha-
 rangulng his future colleges, and he enjoyed
 the sound of his own voice. He. was in the
 act of combing his hair with his fingers, to see what style of dressing suited him best,
 when there was ring at the door, and pres
 ently his future father-in-aw, M Marsault,
 the notary, walked in, hale and bluff.
 My dear Pascal" said the old gentleman.
 without preamble, '.Ive come to ask favor
 of you. 1 want you to exert your influence to
 obtain the pardon of a transported Colnmun- l ist.''
 ''Of half dozen if you like" laughed Pas
 cal, accommodating the notary with seat
 near the fire.
 '.No, not of half dozen: heaven forbid r"
 exclaimed M. Marsault, as he removed his | gold spectacles and wiped them on the skirt
 of his coat. ''The man whose pardon want was, 1 think, unjustly condemned; his name
 is Marius Bougeard. Not euphonous names l 1 admit, but then he had no hand in choosing them. He was accused of arson, murder, l shooting etc., in the civil war, and transport ed almost without trial. He had first been | sentenced to death, but he escaped execution | Dy falling ill of the jaundice at about the time | fixed for his dispatch. 1 believe there was question of shooting him ill spite of Lis jaun- | dice"
 Such savagery makes one's blood boil, " l which boiled easily
 'tWell, I don't know that society would | have missed Bougeard much if he had been | shot" remarked the notary; 'but since he is | alive, and has suffered more than six years exile 1 think it is time that he should have 1 his innocence established. At least such is l the opinion of Rosalie, who is interesting her. | self in the case"
 'Ah it is Mile. Rosalie who"
 b,,. <l, | Bougeards mother, an old woman who keeps d lace shop. Mme Bougeard has spoken so | much about her son that Rosalie feels quite | touched, and this morning she said to me | Papa, if M Pascal wants to make me we'd l ding present, let it be Marius Bougeards par don. There is nothing I should like better than that
 'Such generosity honors Mile Rosalie :" ex- 1 claimed Pascal Ledoux, wlping drop of | moisture from his eye; for, as above said, he
 was easily accessible to soft emotions Well, come home to lunch," said the mo- | tary, rising, and you shall hear the story | from Lill's own lips, I confess-hm m-that 1 | don't understand much of it, myself" The two men went out together. The | notary's house was close at hand-a big stone | mansion with offices on the ground floor and a | large garden behind. In a capital such l residence would have been called a palace as | it was, M. Marsault could boast that he had the finest house in Ville-Aubry after the Pre- fect's, and ne used always to walk in with his head erect. as if the consciousness of this fact gave him great satisfaction. Leading his fu- | ture son-in-law toward the garden he called | to Mile. Rosalie, who was watering bed of | roses: 'Hi, Lii, here's Pascal come to lunch | with us and he agrees to do all you wish" Rosalie dropped her water-pot, and ran for | ward smiling. She was a really pretty girl, l with fair hair and blue eyes, who greeted the barlister without embarrassment, quite cor dially, as if they were old friends: "Good morning, NJ. Ledoux. It's so kind to interest | yourself in my protege; but I'll show you his photograph, and you'll see what nice young lovely dark curly hair and black eyes and it seems he used to write verses, paint, slug, | play, and dance all to perfection"
 That's his mothers account of him, " in | corrupted the notary drily
 ''Oh, but, papa, it's eyerybody's account of | him. Every one will tell you that M. Marius | Bougeard would have become the pride of the 1 town if it had not been for the mallce of his enemies who got him transported" Well, Mademoiselle, promise to do my | best to procure the release of this fascinating creature" said Paul Ledoux amused. Thanks I'll tell you all about him at
 luncheon!" exclaimed the notarys daughter You'll see how unjustly treated he has
 been." z. rsSs f.v Esn Er# Pascal LedouX was SO deSlrouS of being con-
 vinced that he listened with but half his usual common seDce to the explanations which | Rosalie presently voucbsafed. It did certain l ly strike him as odd that Marius Bougeard should have joined the Commune at all, and sill more so that his detractors should have
 been able to prove before ccurt-martial that
 he had plundered certain houses, burned oth-
 CTS, and caused hostages to be shot; but then
 the Commune was mystery altogether, and
 nobody had yet been able to make out the
 rights or wrongs of it. So far as he was con- cerned, Pascal Ledoux was willing to take up I Boageard's cause, in the first place because | Rosalie wanted hlm to do so; and in the next
 because the advocacy. of 8 political convicts
 wrongs was likely to put him in excellent I odor with the Liberal electors of Ville-AubrY