The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-07-30
"The auccn's FilIet.,


BY Canon Sheehan, D. .. LonRmans.
Green & Co. of New York
The clue to the title of this novel. in
which Marie Antoinctte. Queen of
France. is the heroine, is found in these
paragraphs:
y stranger sought out Samson. the
executioner. at his lodgings. and said: I
was present at the Queens execution
to-day. You took off the Queens hllet
from her head and hid It, What price
DO you demand?' The man mentioned
a fabulous sum.
In a few weeks the same stranger
called and produced the money. Sam
son handed him the nllet which the
man kissed and put in his breast It
was Maurice de Brignon. The money
was collected across the frontier by
Talleyrand and sent by trusty mes
seneers to his friend"
The tremendous drama of the French
revolution has inspired many pens
The figure of a woman heroic through
months of agony and despair still stirs
the heart of humanity and annhiiates
time In an eager endcavor to still serve
and defend her whose suffcrings long
ago ended on the scaffold and in tho
Place de la Revolution at Paris.
The man who holds the central place
ih tue STORY Is Maurice de Brignnn.
Alter the Revolution, in which he took
part was over, crisis came in the
life of his daughter. Adele. Comtessc
de Brignon. wien choice was given
her of entering nunnery or of being
perpetual exile from France. Her
father said to her:
1T would be wrong for me to force
your decision. But. my dear child. NAV
repeat what / said before-that all
else is vanity and smoke and dust on
this earth except the service of God?
gave tho greater part of my life to
the world. although through what
believed to he the criminality of 9TH
ers. was destined for the priesthood
Having turned my hack on tho sane
tuary. l was plunged at once into the
.orteX OF the Revolution. / had had
little experience OF the peace and the no.
llness and tho vast learning and pro-
round humility of those who have been
wise enough to choose tho cloister in
stead of the camp and court But the
not blood Of youth was in my veins,
and thought the cassocls an emblem OF
shame and weakness.
Then | was allowed, along the paths
or bitter experience. to see life's real
lties. They are summed up In bcstial
hatred. brutal loves. sanguinary deeds.
concerted and protested skepticlsm and
deception.
Then. once more. after witnessing
the supreme tragedy of our race and
epoch my eyes were opened. I saw
the Queen on the scaffold. I saw
her who had teen for twenty wears
clothed in regal srlendor now arrived
In the skirt and blouse of her poorest
subject. saw the woman whose ears
were never open except to nattery and
the WAS of the multitude. shrink nm
uef ihe curses OF mob who few
years before would have allowed her
carriage TO roll over them in the street.
J saw her lips part as she gazed for
inc last time at her royal palace. and
thought read her mind as she said:
non ami Now and in that SUI
IRENE moment read all the lessons
thal have been ever taught by sage
or saint on the vanity and fooIishness
OF life Then went back to the clois
ter and the choir to seek and find
peace"
The book contains most interesting
mention of Talleyrand Miraheau,
Robe"nierrc and other grea, men borne
In On the tide OF the Revolution. men
VINO during the reign OF blood helped
Ia sway the desinies of France. II is
fhoWshtfully written and fun of emo
'ionm appeal, alone with its historic
aud dramatic interest