Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1898-12-31

and now thank the God that these
good old eyes of mine can see but little
more evil in this world.
1t is seldom enough that stir from
home now, for my own limbs are not &C
lissom now as they used to be in the
days Ct the great emperor, when
danced down all the village girls at our
fete of Paques Easter) and New Year d
eve and prayed for the soul Of our young
lord. Henri de Mortemar. for it was up.
on that day that he sinned his greatest
sin, and sorely indeed was he punished
for it. May God have mercy upon his
soull You say you would like to hear
the tale? Well there are not many gen.
tlemen who would care to sit and listen
to an old woman's idle stories, SO If
you're good enough to wish to learn IL
you shall have it. and welcome.
There's but little remaining now OF
the old chateau Of Mortemar, and II
monsieur the marquis could come back
to it he would hardly know his own
home again, for when the people rose
up in 1898 they scarcely left one stone
upon another. You can just see half
burned corner Of one Of the towers, and
that's all. But in the days before the
revolution what place it vast Such
feasting all day long! Such music and
dancing and gayety Of every kind Such
troops of servants in rich liveriea, and
fine gentlemen with laced coats and sill.
yer belted swords, and beautiful ladies
with powdered hair, and glittering
with jewels like the shrine of the Holy
Virgin in the cathedral yonder. But to
pay for all this splendor we Of the peo-
pie had to make soup out of nettles and
10 go without fire In winter, and that .
why I'm glad the times are changed
now.
M. Henri was the only child. but his
father, the great marquis, had adopted
young lady, the daughter Of an old
friend Of his who had been killed by his
side at the battle Of Minden. These
were all that lived in the house, but
there were always plenty Of young gen.
tlemen from the neighborhood hanging
about the chateau-and we'll there
might be when such a pretty girl as
Mile. Adela was in it. 1t would take a
good hour to tell you Of all her admir-
ers but the two gayest and widest Of
them all were CASTOR de st. Cyr, and
Raymond de Mericourt, whom they
used to call the Black Eagle.
Holy st. Joseph What a wild set
they were, those young madcapsl can
remember as if it were yesterday
Though was only child them how
they used to racket about the streets Of
the town at night, kissing every pretty
girl they met and pricking every quiet
old burgher with their swords till he
jumped and hallooed like dancer at a
fair. 1t was no use complaining, for no
one dared to touch gentleman in those
days, and once, when tae mayor ventur-
ed to object to their doings, they an
swered by hanging dead dog at his
door with piece Of paper in it's mouth
saying, A ton tour, mon frere!'' {In
your turn, brother.) Little did they
dream, then, that their own friends and
kinsmen were to be hung along those
streets in the very same way only few
years later.
But there was one among the roister-
ers SO different from the rest that he
quite put me in mind OF that picture of
st. Antoine among the demons which
hangs above the font in our church.
This was young Armand de Courval,
who had been bred up for the church,
oply his elder brother died suddenly
add left MIN heir to the family proper
ty. But every one said he would have
done much better for an able than for
q lord, he was so grave and SO gentle
and SO quiet, hardly ever speaking or
lifting his eyes from the ground. Our
wild young gentlemen used to make
fine fun Of him, as you may think, but
he bore it all without word, till at
last they got tired and left off.
Now, of course, there was good deal
Of talk in our neighborhood about the
young lady and her admirers, and plen.
ty Of guesses were made as to who would
be the man. Some said it was M. Henri,
while others declared that, having been
brought up together like brother and
sister, they would never think Of each
other in any other way. Most people
were for M. de Mericourt, and indeed it
wouldn't have been easy to find hand
somer or holder man If he only had
not been 60 terribly wild, but just then
thing befell which gave ue all some
thing else to think about.
1t was terribly hot all over France
that summer of 1888, and the older men
shook their heads and said that If we
didn't get some rain soon it would be
all over with the harvest. This was bad
news for us poor folks, who had little
enough to live on anyhow, bat upon it
came another piece Of news that we
liked still less-namely, that several
dogs of the neighborhood had gone mad
and were running about the country Bit
ing every one whom they met.
Now, one evening about that time
Mile. Adela went out to stroll among
the trees by the riverside, which was a
favorite walk of hers. All at once there
came bursting through the bushes a
huge black dog, raving mad, with its
tongue lolling out and the foam flying
from its open jaws. She shut her eyes
and sank helplessly to the ground, too
much terrified even to scream.
just then, when all seemed over, out
from behind tree (where he had been
reading all the afternoon) sprang Ar
mand de Courval, the scholar, the
dreamer, the man at whom every one
laughed. He ran right at the savage