The Yale expositor., 1914-02-26
His Method
OF Revenge
BY RUTH GRAHAM

NeTSlly. lie was TdLDef inclined 10
arms than to study and became pro.
ficient in the use of the small sword
rather than writing theses. Having
finished the university course. he went
TO Paris His father forwarded him
letter of introduction to Benjamin
Franklin, who was then representing
the new American republic at the
court of Versailles, and young Sinclair
was admitted into the society OF the
court circle.
Sinclair fell in love with Nine.
Ocrelle de Torcelers, and his passion
was returned. Her brother, the Duke
of Lascelles. TO get rid of the Amer
lean, Conspired with the Count de
Beauville. a rejected sutton of his sis
ter. and the two secured his arrest and
Imprisonment
Having got the young man into the
Bastille, it was not difficult to keep him
there. for they gave instructions to his
jailer not to permit him to communi.
cate with any one. especially the Amer.
lean embassy. Sinclair remained there
for several years. gaining his freedom
only when the mob opened the prison
by battering down the gates OF the
Bastlle.
One would suppose that he had had
enough OF the France of those times
and would go home at once. When he
had been shut up the country was
peaceful; now it was a boiling pot.
Having been shut up by royalists, he
might now dread being guillotined by
revolutionists. But Sinclair had only
one thought-to find the men who had
imprisoned him and be revenged, for
he had heard while in prison that
Jules de Lascelles had died.
The French royalists were only be-
ginning to get out Of France. Sinclair
learned that the Duke of Lascelles had
been arrested on a charge Of being an
enemy to the revolution, but the Count
de Beauville was still free. Sinclair
went to the leader of the revolution of
that time, told him how he had been
imprisoned on a charge Of melting In.
surrection and asked that the Duke of
Lascelles be liberated that Mr.. Sin
clair might seek revenge by lighting
him. The request was granted.
The next day a prison official an
nounced to the duke that he might go
free. Lascelles, who had been expect
Ing death by the gulllotine. was over
joyed. But when at the prison gate
he recognized the man he had thrown
into prison several years before he
turned pale.
Come with me-" said Sinclair, who
led the way into a courtyard near
by, where two gentlemen were wait
ing, the one to second Lascelles, the
other Sinclair. Lascelles. having es-
capped death by the guillotine to meet
1t by an enemy's rapier. fought des-
perately, but he was no match for
one who had championed his corps
at Heidelberg. Sinclair played with
him for a time as a cat would with
mouse, then with a Take that for
your villainy," ran him through.
Sinclair next sought the Count de
Beauville. He found 1t difficult to
find him. for the count had been pro-
scribed and the revolutionists were
looking for him as well as the man
whom he had imprisoned. Sinclair got |
on his track through information CIV |
en- by one who had seen him in court |
and supposed him to be sympathizer |
with the royalist cause Sinclair found |
his man, but would neither give him |
up to his enemies nor seek revenge or |
information that had been impaired |
on the suppostion that 1t was given to |
a friend. He proposed TO De Beau |
vile that they journey together to Bel |
GUM. passing as two Americans. De |
Beauville could not understand why, |
since Sinclair had him in his power, |
he did not turn him over to the revo-
lutionists. and why the man he had |
injured should help him to get out of |
the country was indeed mystery 10 |
him. However, there was nothing for
him to do but to accept the offer.
Sinclair possessed passport, though |
Of date several years gone by. as an /
American citizen. He suggested to De |
Beauville that he travel ostensibly as
his servant, and the two thus passed
beyond the Paris gates. A number Of |
times during their journey they were
held up by revolutionists, but every
time Sinclair. by showing his passport
and ordering De Beauville about as
his servant but, most OF all, by his
cool assurance. secured a passage for
himself and his enemy. At last they
reached the frontier. They passed the
border In the night, and De Beauville
slipped away into the darkness and
But Sinclair knew that the emigres
escaped his enemy.
were gathered in Belgium. and there
he went. 1t was not long before one
night at a ball he saw De Beauville
dancing with the noblesse Of France
and, going up to him, drew his glove
across his face. There was no avoid
ing a meeting. and De Beauville con-
sented to fight.
The two men met on a field where
such affairs were accustomed to take
place. De Beauville was a good
swordsman, but somehow there was
something in having injured his OPP
ponent. something so uncanny in that