The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-07-31
THE POISONERS.
a story Of tho Days of the Grand
Monarch.

1ace De Greve in a CRIMSON. mantle,
ano sent Lavoisin and Lavigoreux to
eueir last account, had been burned
LOT many days. Not even the
siies We're left to tell the tale OF the
awful end of those two old hays whose
poason walls had put to sleep so many
sSores OF lnconvenient husbands, un-
.oFeu wives and Fostering mistresses.
out II the stake was now cool and
inert waiting silently and patiently
LOT new victims to devour, Paris had
Hot yet forgotten the sensational story
OF those poison sellers. Had not their
customers included some of the great
est IN the land? Did not their trial
iprlng to light in all it's sickly terror the
whole hideousness of this poisoning
mania that was rampant throughout
Inc length and breadth of fair France.
And as though to keep the horror
OF their names and their history still
fresher in the public mind, Mile. Mo-
here had caused them to be placed in
a play, La Devneresse" the joint
work of Thomas Corneille and De-
wise.
Already for three nights the theater
in the Rue Mazarine had been crowd
L
timed idea of Moliere's widow was
raining livres into the treasury with
a merry jingle that made the Come
diens du Roi belaud her enterprise and
wisdom in unmeasured terms. On the
third night of the production the King
had come, with the President of the
Chambre Ardente in his train-that
same Chambre Ardente which his mai
esty had endowed with such eXtraor
binary powers for the detection and
punishment of those guilty of the
practice of slow poisoning.
Il like the play" Louis XIV. grac-
iously avowed to Mile. Moliere in the
course of the evening And who
knows but what it may do something
to stay this ghoulish mania which
seems to run riot among my people?'
Or it may wipe out the Troupe
Royale," murmured the Councillor Of
State, who hated the players and en-
We'd the favors the King showered
upon them. ''These prisoners, as
know full well, are revengeful fiends;
and they will not like your play,
madame"
The King looked displeased at the
remark. Louis was in mortal fear of
himself being a victim of the mania.
AT the English Court it was a favorite
joke that the King of France would
not eat fish because it was poisson.
Perhaps, then, we ourselves are in
danger of their revenge for daring to
punish Them" he cried. You brighten
madame, monsieur, and do yourself no
credit by raising such fears
M. lie President went a trihe pale,
and paler still as Louis promptly
turned his back upon him.
But Mile. Moliere's nature was too
light and frivolous to be impressed by
the gloomy forebodings of the Coun-
cillor. and she returned to her dress
lng-room so nightly pleased with the
Kings kindness that she speedily for
got all about them
The next evening she walked from
her house to the theater leisurely and
alone. The night was dark but fine,
and the air braced and freshened her.
AT the threshold of the theater, as she
reached out to open the private door
leading to the stage, man suddenly
stepped out of the shadow and thrust
note into her hand.
Mile. Moliere," he said, and made
to hurry away. but the hilt of his
sword caught in her cloak, and as
some one within flung open the door
the light fell for an instant full on his
face. A pale repulsive face, with
deep scar on the left cheek-that was
how it struck her as he hastily
snatched himself free and disappeared
into the night.
In her dressing-room she opened the
letter and read:
IF La Devineresse' be PLAYED for
two more nights Lavoisin will be re-
yenged. There are those who will see
that her name is no longer reviled
The King burnt her at the stake, and
now you place her on the stage to
Withstand the fires of the mob's deris-
ion. Beware! This is no light warn
ing. In two nights you must have a
new play, Mile. Moliere, Or
The actress blanched moment and
cOnvulsively grasped the arm of her
chair then she shrugged her shoulders
and laughed lightly and scornfully.
"Freycinet," she said a little later
after scribling a note and incosing
with it the threatening missive, take
this at once, Freycinet, to the Chambre
Ardente."
ing messenger a tiny sigh of relief
escaped her, and she proceeded to
make the toilet her part demanded.
IL
With that sigh her fears had van
ished. She slept as soundly and as
peaceably that night as she had ever
slept She trusted implicitly to the
dark and tortuous machinery of the
Chambre Ardente to protect her, and
after she had dispatched the letter gave
the matter not a moments further
thought
Thus it was that she leaped to her
feet with an exclamation of surprise
the next afternoon when a servant an
nounced a gentleman from the Cham
bre Ardente. The new play of Pra-
don's which she had been reading was
tossed aside.
His name?" she asked.
m. Dupin.''
He is Without"
YES madame"
Il will see him at once, certainly"
A moment later a tall. lean man, at
tired neatly in the soberest of colors.
stepped into the room He bowed and
waited until the servant had retired.
Mile. Moliere spoke first.
You have come from the Chambre.
monsieur. about the letter 1 sent?"
II have, madame"
Am l being played with, think you,
or is it a grave matter NJ. Dupin?'
He smiled somewhat sarcastically.
There is no hoax about it, can as
sure you. 1t is meant earnestly
enough; of that there can be no doubt.