Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-04-07


 My father brought me here child. He found a great king reigning over mighty kingdom with an empty treasury. He devised a plan for the filling of that treasury. You would not permit him to carry 1t to conclu- sion; you intrusted 1t to the unskilled, ignorant hand of your minister; 1t failed. He studied the plan more care fully and saw the merit of my fathers minute advice, hitherto unheeded. He tried again; he succeeded; and now his successor sits here the second man in France, while my father, to whom all was due"
 Was amply rewarded" interposed Louis, "and went back to Italy to live in well-deserved comfort his remain ing days, dying in peace shortly after his return
 "No," bitterly explained Tonti with menacing glance at Colbert. That was probably what his lying tongue told you. An! Sire, the life of a loyal soldier wcs ever mine. Through the years of rough campaigning, through siege and sortie, camp and fleet, per- formed those deeds that you have graciously enumerated, and returned home to find the father who ought to have been loaded down with hon. ors awaiting the arrival of his soldier son fresh from hundred battles"
 Tonti stopped an instant as though to gain control of himself. The king was listening earnestly. Colbert sat with a disdainful smile upon his lips, and venomous look in his eyes.
 ITO find the father whose skill ia finance and gratitude to the monarch that received him, an exile, had given you the means of conducting glorious war and gathering fresh laurels that can never fade; that father who de- served as his reward the half of your kingdom and place at your right hand: who taught me fear God and honor the king as the first whole sen tence my young lips framed;-to find, I say, that he had been housed in the Bastille since my departure;;' that he had died alone and in. prison; died a victim of the cruelty and neglect of his gaolers. Tell me, sire, is that the way to reward a faithful servant? For my own reward, paltry though it was, do not complain; but now when come to you loaded down with this gross injus- tice and wrong and beg favor such as the present, am to be refused? Nay this is favor I now beg. ask, yea, more than that, demand of you. It is not the days of fighting, the nights of vigilance, the dangers met and passed, the cords that bound these wrists in captivity, the loss of this hand,"-here Tonti struck the table with his gloved hand, causing a sharp metallic sound,- "and the shame at having chosen an ungrateful king to serve that cries to you now from the mouth of a humble capitaine,-it is more! It is a voice higher than the voice of kings, louder than the justice calling to a great monarch, one who believes himself to be just. whose kingly nature cannot afford to be ungrateful to even the meanest of his subjects"
 King though he was, Louis delighted in a brave man, even though he were opposed to him. The better nature of the monarch was stirred at such evil dent injustice at his hands, so, in- stead ,0f" being angry at Tonti for his plain speaking (strange speech indeed for royal ears to hear), he turned sharply toward Colbert.
 Your explanation" he demanded curtly.
 You will recollect, sire, that after the failure of the elder Tonti's plan, you were very much enraged. feeling that he had deceived you, and desired his name placed on the list of those liable to have lettres de cachet issued against them?" said Colbert in an in- siIuating tone, as though fearful of showing the king the fault of his own doing. "ln some way his name was not erased, and in due process of time you yourself signed one for him; he was apprehended, confined in the Bastille, and died, not by cruelty of those who cared for him as his son suggests, but by his own hand. Some ono else must have told you the story about his re- tirement to Italy. I have never heard it said"
 The king looked at his oily-tongled servant long ard suspiciously, but such was the confidence placed in him and so great was his influence over the royal mind that Louis finally with drew his gaze, and muttering. T must have signed it without looking at the name." he seizei a pcn. and taking up the unsigned commission before him, interDolated a few words and hur- riedly wrote tLs word "Louis," then handed it to T,nti. saying:
 Shame on al, ungrateful king! Ac- cept this commission as partial re- turn for your ows wrongs. In it have added several -rivileges additional As to the injustice to your father. be- lIeve me. Louis. Sho lcves 10 be called 5 4 7 \ 55 / ~