The Philipsburg mail., 1899-05-26
HIS VINDICATION.

court In France he was mostly cOldly
received. The king refused to see him
and the kings courters were quite un-
civil. At his sweethearts house in
the Rue des Saints Peres. the door was
closed in his face. He was filled with
astonishment and grief both Of which
were increased when he went to see
his friends. All looked askance at
him, few deigned even to speak to him.
yet sensitive enough to suffer keenly
under the treatment he had received,
he went to his room to brood alone.
There was a mirror here, and in this
he surveyed himself. The hardships
of war had deprived him of his good
looks; his face was drawn and haggard,
his skin wrinkled; his eyes were dull
and sad, while across his left cheek a
long, disfguring scar told where a
saber had cut deep.
He left the mirror and sat down de-
jectedly. Il am grown ugly" he said.
"and poor, and therefore they shun
me-" He thought Of his life, offered
to his country and to glory; of his
hard campaigns in America and the
Indies; of the famous battles in which
he had done his part under Montcalm
and Vaudreill-"but all this" he told
himself, has been in vain. The king,
my love, my friends, they are none of
them left to me. The only faithful
one of them a!l-my horse, who used
to lick my hand and neigh gladly at
my coming-he, too, is gone. for I
have sold him. No one-nothing is
left to me-
One black thought was succeeded by
another, and his gloom and melancholy
increased until life seemed but bur-
den to be got rid of. He was a man
ing come to this conclusion, he did
not procrastinate. His pistol lay ready
t. his hand-one shot and the deed
was done.
At court they said: IN. de Bossue
had the fever" Weeks and months
passed and they spoke no more of him.
But there remained to Bossue an
old-time friend. After serving in
Spain for some ten years. and grow
ing discontented with his work, M. le
Comte de la Puysaye returned to
France and to the court He
gained prestige at Mesdames
ie Boufless', de Chauvelin's, de
Surgere's, and Luxembourg's, and
asked new service of the king, and
solicited regiment. He called him
self friend of Bossue's. Poor fel-
low!' he said; "only 80 years old What
could have made him leave us in that
way?"
'His face clouded when he heard the
story, for he was brave man him
self. "a cOward!' he cried; impossi-
blev'
But yes" said his informer 1--WE
repeat only what the reports said-re-
ports which were sent to the king di-
rect. NJ de Bossue, it seems, disliked
the enemy too greatly-so much so, in
fact that he could never bring himself
to approach him"
"Bossue coward'' cried the count
"He must have changed greatly, then.
May not those reports have been
false?"
We'll the marshal himself" and
so on. La Puysaye heard the story re-
peated score Of times, and found that
the mention of Bossue's name brought
forth only curses or reproaches. He
ended by renouncing him.
But" he said to himself one day,
~ can't forget him. l loved him well,
and I believe love him still. Very
we'll. l shall allow myself this little &C.
centricity-that of loving a dishonored
wretch. Bossue remains my friend, and
OF all the world l alone shall recall
him with something other than dis
dain."
He hung the dead mans portrait on
his wall once more. But the portrait
was an old one, and no longer resem-
bled anybody. La Puysaye, discon-
tented, wished for some other souvenir
something which Bossue had used.
He thought Of the horse "Where is
he now? They tell me that he sold
him. That horse carried poor Bossue
AL Icll years, HluSt ma MIN.
Once, while his friend still served
with him, he had seen the horse-a
curious beast,of dark-yellowish color
the product of cross between Span-
ish barb and an Indian pony. He was
able to furnish descriptions of the an
imal to certain men whom he sent in
search of it.
The men were away three months.
One day La Puysaye received notice
that a horse answering to the descrlp-
tion given had been found in a field in
Artois. He went to the place and
bought the animal at once II was,
indeed, Bossue's extraordinary beast
the friend of his friend, old and thin
worn by the hard service before the |
plow and the i'll treatment of the farm
hands. There were the white legs
still as fine as those Of a racer the
long black tail and name, and those
eyes-dark, cold. clear and fixed-.hat |
made one uDaaSv HCtropoo .-.,,,