El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-06
HIS VINDICATION.

received. The king refused to see him
and the kings courtiers 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
establishment 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.
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 a mirror here, and in this
he surveyed himself. The hardshlps
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-
iectedly. 81 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
and Vaudreill-"but all this" he told
himself, "has been in vain. The king,
nv 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 coming-he, too, is gone, for
have sold him. No one-noth1ng is
left to me-
One black thought was succeeded by
another, and his gloom and melancholy
increased until life seemed but Dur-
den to be got rid of. He was man
OF promptitude and decision, and, hav-
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 disconnected with his work, M. lie
Comte de la Puysaye returned to
France and to the court He
gained prestige at Mesdames
de Bouf1ess', de Chauvelin's, de
Surgere's, and Luxembourg's, and
asked new service of the king. and
solicited a regiment. He called him
self a friend of Bossue's. Poor fell
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 a brave man him
;v,r c-i-
blev'
But yes!' said his informer. 1--WE
repeat only what the reports said-re-
ports which were sent to the king d.
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 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,
81 can't forget him. 1 loved him we'll,
and 1 believe 1 love him still. Very
we'll, 1 shall allow myself this little &C.
centricity-that Of loving dishonored
wretch. Bossue remains my friend, and
OF all the world 1 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
for ten years. 1 must find him.
Once, while his friend still served
with him, he had seen the horse-a
curious beast, of dark-yellowish color,
the product of a 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 descrip-
ton given had been found in field in
Artois. He went to the place and
bought the animal at once. 1t was
! indeed, Bossue's extraordinary beast
the friend of his friend. old and thin
worn by the hard service before the
pillow and the Ill 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-that
made one uneasy. Strange animal!
| thought La PuySaye.