Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-09-18

me exactly confirms what logical rea-
soning has made me suspect, and now,
to be brief again, I do not know MOI
do I want to know, VIVA act of Mon
sieur de S%artines has placed him in
your bad graces, but this l must know;
am l invited to your house tonight IN
my official capacity or simply as Mon
sieur de Maupeou?"
I'm your official capacity, Mon
sieur."
ITO meet"
"A criminal who has c%onspired
against the welfare of the state"
Madame, this is q serious matter,
and I o if I come to your house
tonight, I shall come armed with terri
Bile powers"
Come armed as you please, Mon
sieur, only I warn you Of this: If you
display your power before the right
moment arrives you will spoil ALL"
Madame" replied he, rising to go,
Il leave the matter in your hands, as
sured as I am that your aim Is the
same as mine-justice. l shall be with
you tonight"
He took his leave, entered his car
riage,. and gave his coachman the or
der, Versailles" #
His hatred of De Sartines had been
a growth of years, one Of those hatreds.
complex as a mechanism and cold as
ice, despite the fire that keeps it alive.
He knew much against De Sartines,
but he had never been able to make use
of his knowledge. Instinct told him
now that this woman was probably the
instrument he had been long searching
for. That she had the lieutenant gen
eral of police in her grip was self-evi-
dent.
"a criminal. who has c%onspired
against the welfare of the state" He
kept mumbling the words over as
though they pleased him.. The Grim
inal could be none other than De Sar-
tines. What crime had he committed
out Of the many possible crimes that
he might commit? De Maupeou could
no tell, nor did he care so long as the
crime was big enough.
An hour and q half after leaving
Paris, that is to say, at about 20 min
utes past 4, De Maupeou's carriage en-
tered the courtyard of Versailles. We
have said that at this period the din
ner hour Of the nobility wax 4 o'clock;
that of the king S. From this it fol-
lowed that from 4 to 5 o'clock there was
an emptying Of the ante-rooms and
corridors adjoining the kings apart
menus. One might have fancied that
the dinner hour would have emptied
them entirely, but this was not so. A
lumber of courtiers always chung on in
the hope of a glance or word from the
king as he passed to the dining room
VI eue private apartments or Madame
du Barry.
Nothing is more extraordinary than
this obsession of the courtiers of the
kings Of France which caused them to
cling to the presence of the monarch as
bees to their queen. Marked in the
time OF Louis XIII, 1t became acute in
the reign of the grand monarch, and
still more SO in the time of Louis XIV.
From the Duchesse de Gramont to the
Marchioness de M1repoix, from Mon
sieur de Choiseul to the Prince de Sou
bise, there was not one of these people
who did not feel half stifled when con
demned to brenthe air other than the
air OF the court.
So, though it was past the dinner
hour, Monsieur de Maupeou as he
passed UP the stairway Of the ambassa-
doris encountered several of his ac-
quaintances, and more in the Hall of
Mirrors.
But it was not to the king that Mon
sleur de Maupeou a come to pay his
court, and disregarding the people
whom he met and who made attempts
to hold him IN talk, he turned his steps
toward that wing of the chateau once
occupied by h Princess Adelaide and
now occupied by Madame du Barry
when that lady was not in residence
at Luciennes.
CHAPTER II.