Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1890-08-22

ANNIN aNNANAAAN"H
The designing princess lifted the
queens lace sleeve to her red lips, whis-
pered gratefully, "Oh, that 1 night be
permitted to die for my beloved qucenf'
Live for me, you dear child, and, my
word for it, ] viii provide the three
millions for which you viii be willing to
live
At this moment a courtier approx ed
and broke to them the dreadful tidings;
"His majesty has been poisoned by NJ.
de Maurepas with sugar"
A moment later the queen, white to the
| very lips, stood beside her husband.
For heavens sake, Louis" cried she,
in her distress, unmindful ofall ceremony.
"What is the matter, my q%ueenf"
asked Louis, in the gentle way he had
never abandoned toward his beloved wife.
"What brought yo0to me? You are very
pale" Heseized a glass of water, poured
some of the newly discovered sugar in it
and handed her the glass.
Drink. It is too warm in the salon,
and the company is too exciting. This
sugar water will refresh you"
The queen cast a penetrating glance at
Maurepas, who o fully understood
what he had only half heard. With a
quick movement he took the glass from
the kings hand and drained it at a
draught.
Red with anger, the king demanded an
explanation of this in~solence, but Marie
Antoinette offered the minister her hand
and was about to explain to the king,
when suddenly the broad leaves of the
great door flew open and the palace guard
led in a man quite up to the feet of the
king. The terrified appearance Of the
prisoner. his coarse coat, the brown waist
coat and %pantaloons, the broad, clumsy
shoes with leaden buckles, c%ontrasted
strangely with the gay silken attire, the
gilded hangings, the laces and diamonds
of the surroundings.
"What does this mean?" asked the king,
astonished.
Permit me, your majesty, to bring this
man before you whounderstaEds how to
makesugar out of vegetables. Dumonet
is trying to ruin our colonies and make
them useless to us. This is the %discovereT
of beet sugar"
"Discoverer? No, that honor does not
belong TO me-" exclaimed the Chemist
Dumonet. at was learned major. Serre,
who, during the regency, deceived by the
beautiful red color the beet gives u in
cooking, fancied he could make red wine
out of it. Instead of the desired wine he
found the bottom of his retort covered
with fine sugar. At that time France
t was rich in colonies on the Mississippi
] therefore no n paid anyheed to the dis
r covery. Nor was it fully developed.
s learned abroad, in Prussia, new improve
e ments, expended my small possessions t
. test it, and l hope 1 have succeeded"
at is not a poison, them cried Mari
Antoinette, meaningly. The king for tn
first time understood what had preceded
and discovered also that the chemist wa
Sound. at a sign the bond was cut and tn
guard left the room without Dumonet.
Meanwhile the queen bravelv took
piece of sugar in her lovely mouth. Tha
was the signal for the young courtiers
rush upon the before distrusted sugar
wing with each other to exhibit thei
courage, their devotion. through tn.
: harmless poison.
Gently, my ladies, my lordsr' erie
Maurepas; every little piece Of th'
sugar cost a golden louis"
"But the sugar is not one bit bette
than our ordinary sugar demonstrate
the queen, land it is only a c~uriosit
y leading to ruin
Dumonet dropped on one knee. You
n majesty is in a measure correct. E.
g p%erimenting in small way, at the sam
expense as a great trade, naturally make
this sample excessively dear; but if you
majesty will advance me two millior
for the development Of larger f~aciliti'
for the manufacture, l shall be able
u furnish a pound of sugar for ten sous il
y stead of four francs"
The king recoiled i%nvoluntarily, an
/ Marie Antoinette grasped her famo'
necklace, which had cost two millions,
if the plain man before her had been
robber. Her disappearing glance gay
direction to the kings answer.
K "Dr. Dumonet, l honor enterprise; a
cept this snuff box as a recognition Of
But two millions the state cannot poss
4 bly, lend you. That is too much monC
"a for the exhausted ~exchequer."
Dumonet received the gift respectfu
~. ''Sire. sooner or later my enterpri
e will find the money"
The whole, shallow, subservie
swarms Of courtierlings cried out an c
lg cited echo to the royal words:
1.-TWO millions for sugar. Two mi
SIS ionsl The man should be in a ms
housed How can any n be so sham
Il less? Just as if it were not all the san
20 whether n pays ten sous or four fran
for a pound of sugar. And if any car
pay it let him take his food unswee
ened. What has the government to
with that?'
And so Dumonet was dismissed.
as had only needed a million; the secol
s, was the price demanded by the minist
for the introduction. This evening Ma
repas composed the only good verse
his life, which. translated, runs som
what thus;
Although his life 70 sweetea
u Is all his royal care,
Two million francs for sugar
The king finds rather dear
The Juror which his wit created at t
court consoled him somewhat for t
lost million, and was It not all I
III same whether ut his death there shou
lg be a deficit of one paltry million me
Up or lessg lie left, in fact, a round ten mi
"a ions i'm debts, It was a noble sum; nj