Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-02-05
DAILY SHORT STORY
An Episode of the
French Revolution
IoriginaI.l

patrician who was about to be led to
the guillotine. Among them that which
was conceived for the, young Marquise
de Ia Favette was probably the most
pathetic in its results
Jean Truville was anhdealist Though
of good but not noble family, he joined
the revolutionary forces simply through
a desire to better the condition of the
lower classes. When, however, he saw
Paris deIuged with blood, he learned
how dangerous it is'to put power into
the hands of people who. do not know
how to use it. Jean hah studied the
law and before the revolution had been
summoned to the Chateau Favette to
draw the old dukes will. There he had
met the Marquise Louise, Al his daughter.
and she had won his heart not only by
the charm of her presence, but by treat
ing him as her equal When during the
reign of terror one day the duke was
led out to execution and Jean learned
that Louise was to suffertthe same fate
in order that the family of aristocrats
might become extinct, he resolved to
save her even if he lost his own life in
doing So.
In drawing the dukes will. Jean had
noticed that provision was made for
the return of a son and heir to the es-
tate who had gone to America with La
fayette to take part in the American
Revolution and had been reported miss
ing after one of the battles in which the
French troops We're engaged. Jean went
to the Chateau Favette, procured a
likeness of this young man and hired
costumer to make him up to resemble
the subject of the picture. Then, seek
ing an old woman who had been his
laundress for years. he gave her all the
money he possessed to sign a statement
that she had carried n child to the Cha
teau Favette twenty years before who
had been adopted by the duchess in
place of her own child. still born. and
without the dukes knowledge of the
substitution.
1t was the day appointed for the ex
ecution of Louise de IL Favette. Jean
as soon as the tribunal whose sole bust
ness it was to bring aristocrats to the
guillotine came together walked up to
the desk before the president and said:
Citizen, l am Antoine de Ia Favette,
just returned from America, where i
have been fighting the great battle
which you are fighting here-the bat
tie of human liberty. l find that you
have executed my father. and my sis
ter is to die today. If you desire to cut
off our family completely, you must ex-
ecute me and not the young girl who is
supposed to me my sister, for she is not
La Favette, having been adopted by
my mother without her knowledge"
what proof have you of the truth
of what you say?" asked the citizen
judge.
Il may easily be identified from por-
traits OF me in the Chateau Favette.
Besides, my father must have left n
will. In that will he surely made pro
vision for my return, for he had no
proof of my death. AS to proof of my
statement respecting my supposed sis
ter, 1 have provided myself with the
sworn statement of Rachel Duprey,
who carried the babe to the chateau"
The citizen judge looked at the young
man who proposed to give his life for
another with establishment, then read
Rachel Duprey's statement.
Arrest this man and stay the execu-
ton of Citizeness Favette.''
Jean was imprisoned in the concier-
gerie while the court investigated the
truth of his statement. The will of
the late duke on file verified jeans
statement as to the missing heir, and
Rachel Duprey stood by her written af-
fidavit that she had carried Louise to
the chateau. The court was too husily
engaged in it's bloody work to probe
the matter and decided to consider Jean
the rightful heir to the Favette estate.
The next question was, should he, hav
ing voluntarily given himself up, be
executed. He had fought in the cause
of liberty in America and had acted
nobly in presenting himself to save
Louise But he was the Duke de la
Favette, and the revolutiOnistS wished
to exterminate his family and to get
possession of his estate. Therefore aft
er spirited debate it was voted to ex-
ecute him.
One morning a soldier entered the
eonciergerie and read the names of
number of persons there who were to
be taken out for execution. One of
them was Citizen Favette.
Louise. who supposed that the man
had made an error in reading citizen
instead of citizeness, was trying to
get up from her chair to go to her
death when she saw young man rise
and take his place among the con-
demned. The next moment the soldier
read:
''She who was known as Citizeness
Eavette is free to CO.,
| When the batch was completed and
the prisoners were filing out, Jean,
passing Louise. whispered in her ear:
Il die for you because 1 love you.'
After the restoration of the Bourbons
the Duke de la Favette, returned to
France. He had been left for dead on
q battlefield, taken by a trapper west
ward and captured by a tribe of In
| dams in the then wilderness of Ohio.
In Paris he found his sister, who had