The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-22
The Globes Daily Short Story

| cap-a-pie, and lance in rest. to defend
his ancestral glory and good fame
against the calumnies Of two play
virgins the representative of this 9TH
CT family, young officer, very proud
OF the great name he bore, and ex-
ceedlngly ignorant, as it seems. Of his
real origin, returned from Africa.
Honestly believing himself the scion of
Inose heroes who had shed glory on
the name of De PIsle Adam. his rae
and stupefaction may be Imagined
When, hardly had he arrived home. ere
ms friends and relatives placed before
MIN various newspapers, which report
co. with much comment and wit, sea
soned with Attic salt, the particulars
OF the action brought by the high
o ~ ~ poet against the guilty authors
OF Perr1net Leclerc." Incredible az
IL seemed in these days, when the press
penetrateS everywhere the young war
rlor appears to have been ignorant till
then OF the existence Of one of the
Dest-knoWn literary men in Paris. He
Iancled MIN to be some scribbling adj
Venturer, who had picked up for him
self, out of history, a name which he
believed to be extinct In the heat Of
ms indignation, he wrote a letter to a
great daily paper, and, as the officer
knew more about the cavalry sword
exercise than about the amenities of
the french language, his communica-
uo9 was at once plain spoken, rude,
ana aggressive, claiming his right to
pear the name of Villiers de TIsle
Adam, and avowing. that any other
person calling himself by that name
usurped it. This warlike missive soor,
appeared, and forthwith all the venom
Gus small fry of the press, all the en-
vlous Scr1Dblers, all the failures whom
hl1
whom his bitter jests had wounded.
bounced upon this lucky windfalI.
Along the boulevardS, from the Made
ielne 10 the GymnaSe, at the hour of
the absinthe, their little poisonous
speeches. were to be heard on every
slde' Ihat poor Villiers! Don't you !
knoW?-Not De TIsIe Adam soft /
seems he is really the son of a small
grocer at Guingamp."
But the blood of the marshal and
the grand master boiled in Villjer's
veins. and on the very day of the in
suit the officer was waited upon nv
Two poet-frlends of the writer, who
came from the Comte Philippe Au-
guste de Villiers de PIsle Adam to de-
mand reparation for the outrage offer
ed TO their principal. The adversary
was brave, and accepted without
f1nching the meeting which was pro-
posed to him; and the seconds having
arranged
should go, armed with swords, the
day after the next following, on a
little expedition to the neighborhood
of Vesinet. Meanwhile one of the
seconds of Matthias, a sensible man,
though a violent Parnassian, struck
by the exceedingly correct demeaIior
or the other party, though it might
not be altogether useless to submit
to him certain genealogical f3cts
which would demonstrate to him that
right was not altogether on his side.
as he fancied. After a severe strug-
gle he induced Villiers to lend him
those Samous and precious family doc
uments for the space of twenty-four
hours, and sent them to the cavalry
lieutenant with an urgent request that
he would read them before the hour
fixed for the meeting. The result was
amazing. M. de Villiers was a loyal
good hearted, and very chivalrous
man. He appeared on the ground at
the appointed hour, advanced toward
the real Vflliers de PIsle Adam, ma ba
him bow, and offered him the most
courteous apology, adding that it was
only on the preceding evening that
he had learned the truth. 1t is
worth hearing Villiers, with his tragic
gestures, and the perpetual wagging of
his fair front locks. retail the Incl
dents OF this coup de theater. "Sir!"
he would cry, my sword dropped
from my hand when heard this pale
young man, with his brave and re-
signed face, tell me, with an evident
effort, that, French officer as he was.
he would rather pass for a coward
than fight In support Of q lie. / OPEN
ed my arms. I folded him to my heart.
told him he was worthy to be allied
with the illustrious dead whose rep
resentative / was; and in my fathers
name and my own, I authorized, nay,
besought him to continRe to bear
the name of Villiers de PIsle Adami"
But everything, even lawsuits, must
come to an end; and one fine morn
ing the judges gave their decision in
the extraordinary case Of 'L'IsIe Adam
VS.. Simon, alias Lockroy and Anicet
Bourgeois" The tribunal refused the
poor poets appeal, deeming it inad-
Missile because, as the marshal was
historical property every author had
right to show him in whatever light
suited him best; especially when he
based his Judgment, as in the case
of the writers of 'Perrinet Leclerc,"
on the evidence of contemporary doc
uments and memoirs, such as the
Chronicle of the Monk OF st. Denis.
But one consolation Villiers had. The
preamble of the Judgment established
those direct ties of descent which made
him the last representative of that
famous and heroic warrior who was
the friend of the great Duke of Bur-
gundy.-Translated from the French
Of PontaYice de HeQsseX