The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1899-07-05
B0SSUE'S viNDICATION.

w men vi. Gle BOSSue returned 10 the
court in France he was most coldly
received. The king refused to see him
and the kings courtiers were quite
uncivil. At his sweethearts house, in
the Rue DIES Saints Peres, the door was
closed in his face. He was filled with
astonishment and grief. both of which
We're increased when he went to see
his friends. All looked askance at
him, few deigned even to speak to him
and none accorded him the explana-
ton he sought.
Too proud TO question strangers, and
yet sensitive enough To suffer keenly
under the treatment he had received,
he went to his room to brood alone.
There was IA mirror here, and in this
he surveyed himself The hardships
Of war had deprived him OF his good
looks; his face was drawn and hag-
gard, his skin wrinkled; his eyes were
dull and sad, while across his left
cheek long, distiguring scar told
where n saber had cut deep.
He left the mirror and sat down de-
jectedly. Il am grown ugly" he said,
land 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
Vaudreuil-but all this he told him
self, ''has been in vain. The king. my
love, my friends, they are none of them
left TO me. The only faithful one of
them all-my horse, who used to lick
my hand and neigh gladly at my COM
ing-he, too, is gone, for | have sold
him. No one-nothing is left to mel"
One black thought was succeeded by
another, and his gloom and melancholy
increased till life seemed but burden
to be got rid of. He was a man of
promptitude and decision, and, having
come TO this conclusion, he did not
procrastinate. His pistol lay ready TO
his hand-One shot and the deed was
done.
At court they said, m. de Bossue
had the fever" Weeks and months
passed and they spoke of him no
more.
But there remained TO Bossue an old
time friend. After serving in Spain for
some ten years, and growing discon-
tented with his work, NJ. le Comte de
la Puysaye returned to France and to
the court He gained prestige at Mes
danes de BOufless', de Chauvelins, de
Surgere's, and LuXembourg's: and
asked new service of the king, and CO.
licited a regiment. He called himself
a friend of Bossue's. Poor fellow"
he said; only thirty years old. What
could have made him leave us in that
way"
story for he was brave man himself.
"A coward he cried; "impossible!'
But yes" said his informer: I'VE re-
peat 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 a coward" cried the count:
''he must have changed greatly, then.
May not those reports have been
false?'
well. the marshall himself" and
SO on. La Puysaye heard the story re-
peated Il score of times, and found that
the mention of Bossue's name brought
forth only curses of reproaches. He
ended by renouncing him.
But" he said to himself one day
Il can't forget him. | loved him well,
and | believe | love him still. Very
well, shall allow myself this little &C.
centricity-that of loving a dishonored
wretch. Bossue remains my friend,
and of all the world | alone shall re-
call 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 for ten
years. | must find him."
Once, while his friend still served
with him, he had seen the horse-a
curious beast Of a dark, yellowish
color, the product of cross between
Spanish barb and an Indian pony.
He was able TO furnish descriptions of
the animal 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 descrip-
ton given had been found in a field in
Artois. He went to the place and
bought the animal at once. 1t was. in
deed, Bossue's extraordinary beast, the
friend OF his friend, old and thin, worn
by the hard service before the plow
and the ill-treatment of the farm
hands. There were the white legs,
still fine as those Of a racer, the long,
black tail and name, and those eyes,
HQfIy polI aIaor o,,I fwoI -, IL