The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-20

reminding the man In power, ARE not !
faithful friends" aug I
He gave me a sharp look as he passed
on, and repeated what afterward learned
was one Of his favorite maxims: :; |
IA faithful friend is the true image
Chapter Viii. I
Must you go to Mittau?' the Marquis
du Plessy said when I told him what in
tended to de- lit Ia long, expensive post
not be able to post. Riga, on the gulf
beyond Mittau, Is fine Old town or
pointed gables and high stone houses. But
when was in Mattau found 1t a mere
winter camp Of Russian mobiles. The
houses are low, one-story structures.
royal highness the count Of Provence
holds mimic court" 49,
We were riding to Versailles, and our
horses almost touched sides as my friend
put his hand on my shoulder.
Don't go Lazarre, You will not
welcome there"
II must 80. whether am welcome or
not"
BACK" ,...s..
"You will last two months, Can't post
to M!ttau and back In two menths?"
God kaews," -.
looked at him dropping forward in the
If YOU need me will stay, and think
no mere about seeing those OF my own
II do. need you; but you shall not stay
You shall go to Mittau in my own post
carriage. 1t will bring you back sooner"
But his post-carrtage could not accept.
The venture to Mittau, its wear and tear
and waste, were my own; and I promised
to return with all speed. could have un-
oertaksn the road afoot, driven by the
necessity felt.
THE Duches Of Angouleme is good
line OF my thoughts. "she has devoted
hersslf to her uncle and her husband.
When the late GEAR withdrew his pension,
and turned tho whole mimic court out of
Mtttau, she went with her uncle, and
even wadsd the snow with him when they
fell into straits, Diamonds given to her
py ner grandmother, the Empress Maria
Theresa. she sold for his support. But
the new czar reinstated them; and though
they live less pFetentIeusly at Mittau in
these days. they still have their priest
and almoner, the Duke of Gulche, and
other ceurtiers hanging upon them. My
pey: can you make court bow and walk
backward? You must practice before 60
Ing into Russia"
"Weuldn't 1t be better" said, "for
these Who know how. to practice the &C.
cempltshment before me?''
Imagine the Count of Provence step
ping down from playing royalty to do
that" nay friend laughed.
don't know why he shouldn't. since
no knows am alive. He has sent money
every year for my support"
: An established custom, Lazarrs, gains
strength every day it Is continued. You
see how hard 1t ls to overturn an existing
system, because men have to undo the
work they have been doing perhaps for
eri1y
stability. Monsieur the Count of Provence
has been practicing royalty since word
went out that his nephew had died In the
TEMPLE 1t will be no easy matter to
convince him you are fit to play king In
his stead"
This did not disturb me, however I
thought more Of my sister. And thought
OF vast stretches across the center of
Europe. The Indian stirred in me. as it
always did stir, when the woman wanted
was Withdrawn from me-
could not tell my friend, or any man,
about Nine. de Terrier. This story of my
life Is not to be printed until am gone
from the world. Otherwise the things set
down so freely would remain buried in
myself.
Some begears started from novels. run
ming like dogs, holding diseased and
crooked-eyed children up for aims, and
pleading for Gods sake that we would
have pity ON them. When they disap-
peared with their coin I asked the mar
auis If there had always been wretched-
ness In France.
There is always wretchedness every
where he answered.. Napoleon can
turn the world upside down, but he cannot
cure the disease of hereditary poverty I
never rode to Versailles without encoun ;.
tering these people,
When we entered the Place d'Armes
fronting the palace, desolatton worse than
that Of the beggars faced U.S. That vast
noble pile, untenanted and sacked, SYM
bolized the vanished monarchy of France.
Doors stood wide. The court was strewn
with litter and filth, and grass started
rank betwtxt the stones where the proud
est eourtiers In the world had trod. I
tried to enter the queens rooms, but sat
on the steps leading to them, holding my
head In my hands. 1t was as impossible
as it had been to enter the temple.
The fountains which once made a con-
cert Of mist around their lake basin,
satisfying like music, the marquis said
were dried, and the figures broken. Mil
lions had been spent upon this domain
of kings, and nothing but the summers
stretches. The foot shrank from sending
echoes through empty palace apartments,
and from treading the weedy margins of
canal and lake.
II should not have brought you here.
Lazarre," said my friend. +
II had to come, monsieur"
We walked through meadow and park
to the little palaces called Grand and Petit
Trianon. where the intimate life of the
last royal family had been lived. + looked
well at their outer guise. but could not
explore them.
The groom held our horses in the street
that leads up to the Place d'Arnaes, and
as we sauntered back, r kicked old
leaves which had fallen autumn after au-
tumn and banked the path.
It rushed over mo again. '.
I felt my arms go above my head as
they did when sank into the depths Of
recollection. r.
"Lazarre. Are you in fit?''
II remember! I remember! I was
kicking the leaves-I was walking with
my father and mother-somewnere-
where-and something threatened u.s.
-"It was in the garden of the Tuileries,"
| said the Marquis du Plessy sternly. 1.-THE
mob threatened you, and you were going
| before the National Assembly. I walked
| behind, was there to help defend the
| king"
We stood still until the paroxysmal
Fending In my head ceased. Then sat
on the grassy roadside trying to smile at
the marquis. and struggling an apology
| for my weakness. The beauty of the
arched trees disappeared, and when next I
recognised the world we were moving
| slowly toward Paris in a heavy carriage