The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-06-15

"Loye. I" said the young officer. Have
YOU never heard OF his love for Marie
Antoinettey"
Both Dixmer and Morand laughed de-
risiyely. and the conversation was turned
into another channel.
A few days afterward 6enevieve asked
Maurice If the Queen were really as
"Haye you never seen herr" he inquired
with some surprise. :,
II nave not been long in Paris. she
replied, "and the opportunity has never
presented itself -
Nor do fancy would you take ad-
vantage Of that which may soon un-
happily occur.
"What do you meanS" she asked breath
lessly.
"Citizen Maurice alludes to the prob
able condemnation Of Marie Antoinette,
and her death on the scaffold, said
Morand quietly.
"Ah, no" she murmured.
"But," +" continued Maurice. II am on
duty at the Temple, and could place you
any day where you could SEQ her during
exercise in the gardens.
The offer was gratefully accepted, and
on one fine morning Maurice appeared In
full civic uniform TO escort his friends To
the Temple prison. Dixmer declared
himself too much occupied with his bust
ness Tor any such idle expedition. and
Morand protested no could i'll DO spared,
but was overpersuaded, and, excusing
himself for his working dress, prepared To
make one Of the little party.
The accustomed reader of romance
already divines that tho green spoctaoles
were more than ever noedful for com
plete disguise, that the pretended chemist
was no other than the Chevalier de Maison
Rouge, and that the Dixmers were both
devoted Royalists
a. 4 ..fN fAN..
they We're nearing the-Hotel de-Nille
when they were accosted by flower girl
% Buy bouquet mon beau Munich
pale +" she said; "buy a bouquet for the
pretty citizeness " She held up bunch
of splendid red carnations, and Maurice
presented them to Mime. Dixmer. Morand
had stood apart during this apparently
trHing episode. He WAS pale as death,
but Maurice observed nothing.
Arrived at the Temple, he installed
thcm at the end Of narrow passage
through which the queen had 10 pass on
her way to the gardens. At 10 O'Clock
there was call to arms, the clang OF
musketry upon the stones resounded
through the courts, the iron gates opened
and the royal family appeared.
THE first two Gre the sister and daugh-
ter of Capet, " whispered Maurice. 1.-The
last 20 come is Marie Antoinette.
Morand. white as ashes drew back
against tne WALL nuU beneNleNt took ~
step forward. Her white dress and red
carnations attracted the Queen S attention,
and she said, smiling: "Ah, madam, how
happy you are to have such flowers.
Genevieve made q rapid movement to
offer them, but Maurice laid his hand on
her arm.
us it forbidden" she exclaimed with
deep disappointment lie thought for
moment and then said: "No give them. "
"Oh, thank you, thank you, said the
Queen and with her thin white fingers she
chose one Of the flowers almost at random
from the bouquet.
"Ob, take them, take them all, said
Genevieve.
"Allons, allons. Cheyenne Capet,"
shouted the officer OF the guard. and she
passed on.
"She never saw me- " groaned Morand.
who was almost kneeling.
II But you saw her, Mime. btxmer7
said Maurice. intent on pleasing her and
blind TO everything else.
"Ob, YES, yes. - sho replied; land IL I
were to live hundred years l should
never forget it. "
The same evening, in her prison. by the
aid of smoking lamp, her little daugh-
ter's arms round her neck, hiding her
movements from the eyes OF her guards,
Marie Antoinette deciphered IA few lines
written on tissue paper, which was tightly
folded between the petals Of one Of the
carnations. These told her that pas
sage had been opened underneath one OF
the garden walks leading into the street
into which she could easily pass through
a trap door in one of the canteens opened
for the use of the soldiers, and into
which she must find some excuse to enter
unobserved.
There was nothing impossible in this
but the plot was discovered through one
of tho accidents which 1t was impossible
to foresee.
The queen had dropped one Of the car
nations, In which there was a duplicate
of the paper in her own, and flower
girl had been noticed on one or the
bridges flinging whole basket OF her
wares into the river. In those days IL re-
quired much less to cause misgivings
and there are suspicious which are quickly
justified The trap door was observed;
tho temple gardens were considered n
Source of danger, and Marie Antoinette
was parted from her sister and her chill
dren and driven in the darkness of sum
mer night to her cell in the Conciergerie.