The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1913-09-25
ole MINISTER
I|S n POLICE
~ HENRY MoNTJoY
NIL casyasAI Isl2. The Bosa.MsHul Company
~ HENRY MONTJOY

at the limited mystery of this pie and
the OF the king, but glad, all
the same, IL another chance to push
his request. 9But, IL ! may make so
bold to say so, at the Inauguration of
a novel form of cookery a representa-
tive Of the law seems to me less called
for than a representative OF medicine
IN the form Of your majesty's ply
sfcian.,
Make your mind easy, leaf Mon
sieur de Maupeon," said the comtesse,
my pie will give indigestion to no
compounded oe thing that, accord
ing to the sages, makes men fat"
And what is that, madame?" asked
the vice chancellor.
Laughter" she replied.
Almost as she uttered the word the
door by which the king had entered
opened and a servant announced:
MADAME la Comtesse d,Egmont.s
The daughter OF Richelleu belonged
to the skirts OF the De Choiseul party,
that is TO say, she hated Madame du
1esrf as bitterly as any on of them,
yet was anxious to please the king
on her fathers account Hence her
dpresence today.
She had scarcely made her compli-
ments TO the king and the comtesse
than the servants voice announced:
Monsieur fAbbe Fremont s
And before the cleric had fully paid
his homage, entered the Comtesse de
lCoigny, charming, youthful and full Of
grace, followed by the DUO d'Aiguillon,
Barry, exquisite in a robe au bord do
riyiere green clasped by great
brooch of emeralds at the waist, i
They had all been herded chatter
ing In the anteroom till the last mo-
ment possible. and now as they stood
talking, the king, theFDuc d'Aiguillon,
the yColntesse d'Egmont and the COM
Jesse de Coigny forming n group
the Able Fremont, the Comtesse du
Barry and the Comte de Coigny form-
ing another, while Choir contented
herself with teasing Combefere. AS
they were talking thus the door sud
denly opened and like a. thunderclap to
De Maupeou, the servant announced:
Monsieur lie Comte de Sartines.p
This arrival of Monsieur de Sartines
deserves a word. When he had left
the Due de Richelieu's house, having
given his grace the order of secret adj
n@itttance TO the Bastile, he returned
to the Hotel de. Sartihes very much
perturbed in his mind. He was used to
enemies, he was used to traps, he was
used even to attempts on his life; but
in all his experience he had never
found hipaself in a position half SO
grave as the present. He could i'm
prison the woman who held him in her
grip, but We're he TO do so her Internal
ingenuity would hit him nolless surely;
DE Maupeou would receive the weapon
from the hands OF the unknown who
held it. and as surely as death Is the
portion of man De Maupeou would use
He sat for a while deep in thought.
He could see no possible outlet from
the trap that surrounded him. Sud
4 10 ~ Htn -atrH1nlr hIrann1H 40. 4hnF Fnrn-
head. The king! That was his only
chance, He would lay the whole mat
ter before the king and attack De
Maupeou before De Maupeou could at
tack him. " H&. Emsa 4
He knew the king so well. that
shutter and evader and double-dealer.
HE knew that If De Meaupeou were to
lay a formal charge, backed by that
atrocfous paper, the king would hush
the matter up for his own sake, and
that the hush money he would pay De
Maupeou would be his-De Sartines'-
disgrace and exile. 1t was imperative
to brighten the king, to poison his mind
against De Maupeou--nay, ven to lie
to- the king" accuse De Maupeou and
Madame Linden of having stolen the
paper from De Richelieu. Nay, even
better than that, Of having concocted
the thing and forged his-De Sartines'
signature to II. The king would
know this to be a lie; that did not
matter in the least. Before the dam
bger OF having his own name implicated
the lying king would back his lying
lieutenant general of police.
The king would sacrifice De Maui
peou just as readily as De Sartines. 1t
all depended on which of the two got
his ear first and frightened him
against the other. D.
He glanced at the clock. 1t was now
1880. Driving swiftly he could reach
Versailles ait 5; that would be the
kings dinner hour and a bad time for
an interview; still, the case was des-
perare and he could not delay, as Ii
was imperative for him to return ia
Paris and reach Madame Linden's
house at 8. He rang for his horses
and in 10 minutes was on the road.
When he arrived at Versailles he
was received with the news that h
king was dining with Madame du
Barry. Du Barry! In an instant he
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES he had up to this
forgotten--that he had promised to
! call that day on the comtesse with re-
gard to the ballad He had
promised to call at noon, and he had
failed to keep his appointment. Madame
Linden had driven it out of his mind.
Again in this duel with the Austrian
woman she had scored; just by the
power of Hobsessing his thoughts she
Hau NduSSu hlll 10 iEldhB luIo SIP. ne
lstood for a moment baked and furious,
thought ~outwArdly quite calm. Then,
passing ur the great staircase, he
for the apartments OF the favorite.
The antechamber, crowded all the
morning, was empty Of every
thing but the Chinese Jars and man
darins, the hundred and one nicknacks
that made the place a curiosity shop,
the palms in pots, the cage of mar
mosets and a huge lackey, on duty.
Has dinner been served?" asked De
Sartines of the latter.
Not yet. monsieur"
Announce me"
The servant asst re door wide open
and De Sartipes found himself front
ing the assembled guests.
He saw the Sing, he. saw Madame du
Barry. the CJmtesse de Coigny, the
Comtesse d'Egmont: the DUO d'Aiguil-
Ion. the Able Fremont. .a
All these he saw as one sees the
lesser characters in a play, indifferent
figures besides the figure of De Maui
peou in the circle surrounding the
king. 1 Nat~ '~1. ~. n n Z
De Maupeor was first. =
De Sartines stood for half a moment
as though he sad seen death.
% 81 CHAPTER III.