Year: 1862

thought Of means to frustrate the designs of


her enemies and soon hit upon an extraord-


mary expediens to gain her desired end


By counseling the prince to bequeath a
share of the property to powerful relative


of his own, she secured an influence of a


most important character for the eventful


safety of the share appropriated to herself =


The scheme succeeded to her wish. A will was


made out Ly which the domain Of Chantilly


and other estates were destined to younger
SOB Of Louis Philippe. Duke of Orleans, who,
in ordinary cilc instances, might we'll have
looked for some share of the princes fortune,


but whose acquisition of it in this particular
way is to be regretted. During these pro.
ceedings the Prince de Condc became rest
less. He stated publicly that he had known
no peace of mind since this fatal demand to
make his will had been pressed upon him. /.
He passed whole nights without sleep and
the quiet retreat Of Chantilly was eften dis
tnrbed by the sound of angry words between
him and Madame de Feucheres Incautious
expressions often escaped him in presence of
the servants, who often heard him exclaim:
g My death is the only thing they look for. !"
Another day he forgot himself so far as to
say to N. de Surval, his steward "Once
they shall have Obtained frnm me what they
desire, my life may be in jeopardy On
the Doth Of August, 1899, NJ. de Surval was
witness to terrible scene between the
Prince de Conde and the Baroness de Feu-
eheres. Madame" cried the old man,
it is horrible, atrocious, thus to put
knife to my throat to make me do thing
you know | abhor :" and, seizing the knife,
he added, with significant gesture, "Well,
then, plunge the knife in at once-plunge
it?" The passion of the Prince de Condo
was too extreme to be of long duration. Af-
ter he had signed the will, he fell into a sort
of stupor, from which he was scarcely aroused
by the thunder of the cannon of July, 1880,
which drove his friend and relative, Charles
X, from the throne Of France.


The revolution had been but lust compile.
ted. when dark rumors began to circulate
about the chateau of st. Leu, near Chan
tilly, where the Prince de Conde had taken
up his residence. 1t was reported that on
the morning of the llth of August his high
ness had been found bleeding over the eve.
and had ordered his valet to sleep for the
future at the door of his bedroom, Some
days after the prince was visited by the new
queen, who brought him tho star of the legion
of honor; but he was silent and embarrassed.
On the evening of the same day, horse
man was seen riding towards the chateau.
and at night was secretly introduced into
tho princes bedchamber. The rider was
NJ. de Choulot, secret agent of his high
ness and from some words he dropped,
it was surmised that the prince intended es-
Gaping from France, to get ont of the reach
of Madame de Feucheres. The next morn
ing the Goth of August, a violent scene took
place between the prince and madame,
which was, however, hushed up, to some ex-
tent, by the latter. Nothing extraordinary
transpired during the rest of the day. The
dinner was apparently cheerful, and was
followed, as usual, by game of cards the
prince played whist with the baroness and
two visitors, criticised some movements, lost
money, and did not pay, saying, " to-m NOR
row. The morrow was never to come.


His highness was attended to his bed
room by Lecomte, his valet; and the latter
inquiring, 8 At what hour does monseigneur
wish that | should enter the room to NOR
row?" replied, :" At eight o'clock,' with
his usual tranquility. So the valet went
away, locking the door of the outer dressing
room, as was his custom. The Prince de
Conde's bedchamber had two doors the one
opening upon his dressing room, which led
to the great corridor of the chateau, and the
other passing on to a private staircase, lea
ding to lobby where the apartments of
Madame de Feucheres were situated. The
former door was locked by the valet on the
night of the 9th August, but the latter re-
manned unfastened. The watchmen and
gamekeepers during the night made their
usual rounds in the park and through the
chateau, but nothing unusual happened.-
On the morning of the 9th, the valet knock
ed at his masters door at eight o'cl ,ck, accord
IL = 4 r 4
inside, and received no reply from the prince.
After writing a few minutes, Lecomte went
away to call NJ Bonnie, his highness' ply.
sician. The two knocked again, as loud as
possible, but still no answer. Surprised and
very uneasy, they both went down to Mad
anne de Feucheres. IL will run up directly"
she said when be hears my uoice, he will
reply" and she ran out from her room half
undressed. On coming to the princes door,
with NJ. Bonnie and Lecomte, "Open the
door, monseigneur." she cried; 90 open the
door-c'est moi She repeated the summons,
now began to spread through the chateau
Many servants came running up an iron bar
was brought and the door of the bedroom
was broken open. Then an extraordinary
spectacle presented itself to the eyes of all the
bystanders.


The room was dark, the window shutters
being completely closed and o1ly faint
glimmer of light was proceeding from a small
candle in the fireplace, hidden by metal
screen. When the eyes had become accns-
toned to this dim light, it was seen that the
prince was standing against the window, as
If listening intently to something outside
Madame de Feucheres sank groaning into an
armchair. IN nseigneur is dead!'' cried
the bewilderca domcsties Is and all the deni-
zens of the chateau stood wailing in sight
Of the corpse of the last of the Condos.


The body of The prince was fastened to the
clasp of the nerthern window, with two hand
kerchiefs passed one within the other. One
of these hung loosely over the window clasp;
the other surrounded the head, supporting the
base of the lower jaw. There was no run
ming knot on the handkerchief around the
head it did not press on the windpipe, and
left the back of the head and neck completely
uncovered. 1t was also so loose, that when
the attempt was made to take the body down,
the valet put his fingers between. All this
was very extraordinary, and greatly surpris-
ed the bystanders. SO also did the whole as
pect of the prince. His face was deadly pale;
the tongue did not protrude from the mouth,
but only pressed against the lips; the hands
were firmly closed. the knees bent. and what
was most surprising of all. the points of the
toes touched the carpet. Great was the mar
vel among the domestics but, though many
n whiSnar was heard nohody dared to sneak