The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-12
THE RING OF MARCASITE
Bng Extract From the Diary the Countess de Vergne
TransI lated Fromthe
Copyrighted by The Foreign Syndicate company Burlington
French Of Andre TheurIet.

Floreal, year ii. (May, 1794). Yesterday
we were transferred from Versailles to
Plessis, the old college on the rue Saint
jacques, recently brought into use as
prison. The change was effected by the
road which borders the woods Of Cour-
Roland, crosses the plain of Villacoublay
and then descends towards Chatenay. We
were tightly shut up in three horrible old
wagons and rudely jolted, but in spite of
that the spring season, being then In all
its freshness and glory, helped me to en-
dure the hardships patiently. and l
breathed with delight the glorious air
of which l had been deprived so many
weeks. ,.- ,-.'
The sight of the green fields and the
orchards that were a mass or PINK ana
white blossoms, sweetened my sorrow In
my thoughts I was transported once more
TO my calm hermitage af Gif. from
whence a month before. I had been torn,
under the law of suspects which en-
joins authority to arrest MOBILES, priests.
peopla Of any class who are suspected OF
''incVism' and also the blood relations
and rela tons law of those that nave
emigrated This last case was my own.
Monsieur de Vergnes had judged 1t con-
yenient to emigrate towards the end OF
1874, but, with perfect selhshness, he re-
solved to depart alone and to leave me In
Paris, under the preteXt that being wo-
man, and a woman with a head. l should
know how to get myself out of the scrape.
and also to save the rest Of our belongings
from confscation. AS there has never
been, between the count and myself. much
show Of tenderness or even of sympathy,
I saw him depart without many regrets.
Nevertheless, a young woman-I am only
2S-who finds herself, In these troubled
times, abandoned to her own resources
and obliged to take a thousand precau-
lions to defend her security and her fu-
ture, Is not exactly in a position to rejoice
r J,,-oI tif,r1a 1Ir
the alert. have never been interested IN
politics, and in October, 1893; I retired tC
my chateau at Gif and, there, in absolute
isola ton. I sought to forget the dangers
that threatened me and to be myself for
gotten. This did not hinder me, however
one fine morning, from being arrested
borught to. Versailles, and thrown into
JAIL and here 1 am to-day. in a company
of about thirty women, of all sorts anC
conditions, locked up in this prison o.
Plessis, from whence no one leaves except
to go to the Conciergerie, and from there
to the Revolutionary Tribunal
Floreal %. Plessis has only renectly
been transformed into a prison, The
corner where T am lodged in the third
story has been newly whitewashed, the
windows are half way walled and the
window panes covered with plaster. A
bed, table and some: rude chairs com
pose all the furniture. The numerous
corridors have each been given strange
names; the one which extends the whole
length of the womens cells Is called thu
"Corridor of the Graces" and the 'Corri
dor of the Fates," while that Of the men
situated on the ground floor, bears TIL,
names Of 'Brutus' and "Scaevoa.'' TIL
"Corridor Of the Graces' was at first gu
only place for promenades, but later W
were allowed to go down into the cour
yard. There we sometimes meet compan
ions in misery belonging to the opposit
sex, who, for certain sum of money
have obtained little freedom of tn
Jailers and who salute us courteously II