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THE COMEDY OF HUMAN LIFE 
 By H. DE BALZAC 
 
 SCENES FROM POLITICAL LIFE 
 
 AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY 
 
 (UNE TENEBREUSE AFFAIRE) 
 
BALZAC'S NOVELS. 
 
 Translated by Miss K. P. Wormeley. 
 
 Already Published: 
 PEEE GORIOT. 
 DUCHESSE DE LANGEAIS. 
 RISE AND FALL OF CESAR BIROTTEAU. 
 EUGENIE GRANDET. 
 COUSIN PONS. 
 THE COUNTRY DOCTOR. 
 THE TWO BROTHERS. 
 THE ALKAHEST. 
 MODESTE MIGNON. 
 THE MAGIC SKIN (Peau de Chagrin). 
 COUSIN BETTE. 
 LOUIS LAMBERT. 
 BUREAUCRACY (Les Employe's). 
 SERAPHITA. 
 SONS OF THE SOIL. 
 FAME AND SORROW 
 THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
 URSULA. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY. 
 ALBERT SAVARUS. 
 BALZAC : A MEMOIR. 
 PIERRETTE. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, 
 BOSTON. 
 
 
HONORE DE BALZAC 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 KATHARINE PRESCOTT WORMELEY 
 
 An Historical Mystery 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS 
 
 3 SOMERSET STREET 
 
 BOSTON 
 1892 
 
Copyright, 1891, 
 By Roberts Brothers. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 $23 ff 
 
 tKm'btrsttg J3rcss : 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Judas 1 
 
 II. A Crime Relinquished 28 
 
 III. The Mask Thrown Off 47 
 
 IV. Laurence de Cinq-Cygne .... 58 
 V. Royalist Homes and Portraits un- 
 der the Consulate 72 
 
 VI. A Domiciliary Visit 89 
 
 VII. A Forest Nook 105 
 
 VIII. Trials of the Police 122 
 
 IX. Foiled 149 
 
 PART II. 
 
 X. One and the Same, yet a Two-fold 
 
 Love 165 
 
 XI. Wise Counsel 188 
 
 XII. The Facts of a Mysterious Affair 202 
 
vi Contents, 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIII. The Code of Brumaire, Year IV. . 214 
 
 XIV. The Arrests 227 
 
 XV. Doubts and Fears of Counsel . . 239 
 
 XVI. Marthe Inveigled ! 254 
 
 XVII. The Trial 262 
 
 XVIII. The Trial Continued : Cruel Vi- 
 cissitudes 274 
 
 XIX. The Emperor's Bivouac 297 
 
 XX. The Mystery Solved 317 
 
Of THE 
 
 VEBSIT1 
 
 AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY. 
 
 To Monsieur de Margone. 
 
 In grateful remembrance, from his guest at the Chateau de 
 Sache. De Balzac. 
 
 PART I. 
 I. 
 
 JUDAS. 
 
 The autumn of the year 1803 wa r ne of the finest in 
 the early part of that period oi present century 
 
 which we now call " Empire." Rai iad refreshed the 
 earth during the month of October. ,o that the trees 
 were still green and leafy in November. The French 
 people were beginning to put faith in a secret under- 
 standing between the skies and Bo^a oarte, then declared 
 Consul for life, — a belief to which nat man o>ves part 
 of his prestige ; strange to sa} T , on the daj* the sun failed 
 him, in 1812, his luck ceased ! 
 
 About four iii the afternoon on the fifteenth of 
 November, 1803, the sun was casting what looked like 
 scarlet dust upon the venerable tops of four rows of 
 
 1 
 
2 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 elms in a long baronial avenue, and sparkling on the 
 sand and grassy places of an immense rond-point, such 
 as we often see in the country where land is cheap 
 enough to be sacrificed to ornament. The air was so 
 pure, the atmosphere so tempered that a family was 
 sitting out of doors as though it were summer. A man 
 dressed in a hunting-jacket of green drilling with green 
 buttons, and breeches of the same stuff, and wearing 
 shoes with thin soles and gaiters to the knee, was clean- 
 ing a gun with the minute care a skilful huntsman gives 
 to the work in his leisure hours. This man had neither 
 game nor game-bag, nor an}' of the accoutrements 
 which denote either departure for a hunt or the return 
 from it ; and two women sitting near were looking at 
 him as though beset by a terror they could ill-conceal. 
 Any one observing the scene taking place in this leafy 
 nook would have shuddered, as the old mother-in-law 
 and the wife of the man we speak of were now shud- 
 dering. A huntsman does not take such minute pre- 
 cautions with his weapon to kill small game, neither 
 does he use, in the department of the Aube a heav}' 
 rifled carbine. 
 
 " Shall 3'ou kill a roe-buck, Michu?" said his hand- 
 some 3 T oung wife, trying to assume a laughing air. 
 
 Before replying, Michu looked at his dog, which had 
 been lying in the sun, its paws stretched out and its 
 nose on its paws, in the charming attitude of a trainev 
 
An Historical Mystery. 3 
 
 hunter. The animal had just raised its head and was 
 snuffing the air, first down the avenue nearly a mile long 
 which stretched before them, and then up the cross road 
 where it entered the rond-point to the left. 
 
 " No," answered Michu, "'but a brute I do not wish 
 to miss, a lynx." 
 
 The dog, a magnificent spaniel, white with brown 
 spots, growled. 
 
 " Hah ! " said Michu, talking to himself, " spies ! the 
 country swarms with them." 
 
 Madame Michu looked appealingly to heaven. A 
 beautiful fair woman with blue eyes, composed and 
 thoughtful in expression and made like an antique 
 statue, she seemed to be a pre}' to some dark and bitter 
 grief. The husband's appearance ma}' explain to a 
 certain extent the evident fear of the two women. The 
 laws of physiognomy are precise, not only in their appli- 
 cation to character, but also in relation to the destinies 
 of life. There is such a thing as prophetic physiog- 
 nomy. If it were possible (and such a vital statistic 
 would be of value to society) to obtain exact likenesses 
 of those who perish on the scaffold, the science of 
 Lavater and also that of Gall would prove unmistak- 
 ably that the heads of all such persons, even those who 
 are innocent, show prophetic signs. Yes, fate sets its 
 nark on the faces of those who are doomed to die a 
 
 blent death of any kind. Now, this sign, this seal, 
 
4 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 visible to the e}-e of an observer, was imprinted on the 
 expressive face of the man with the rifled carbine. 
 Short and stout, abrupt and active in his motions as a 
 monkej', though calm in temperament, Michu had a 
 white face injected with blood, and features set close 
 together like those of a Tartar, — a likeness to which 
 his crinkled red hair conveyed a sinister expression. 
 His eyes, clear and 3 T ellow as those of a tiger, showed 
 depths behind them in which the glance of whoever 
 examined the man might lose itself and never find 
 either warmth or motion. Fixed, luminous, and rigid, 
 those eyes terrified whoever gazed into them. The 
 singular contrast between the immobility of the e}*es 
 and the activit}- of the body increased the chilling 
 impression conveyed by a first sight of Michu. Action, 
 alwa}'S prompt in this man, was the outcome of a sin- 
 gle thought ; just as the life of animals is, without 
 reflection, the outcome of instinct. Since 1793 he had 
 trimmed his red beard to the shape of a fan. Even if 
 he had not been (as he was during the Terror) presi- 
 dent of a club of Jacobins, this peculiarity of his head 
 would in itself have made him terrible to behold. His 
 Socratic face with its blunt nose was surmounted by a 
 fine forehead, so projecting, however, that it overhung 
 the rest of the features. The ears, well detached from 
 the head, had the sort of mobilitj 7 which we find in 
 those of wild animals, which are ever on the qui-vive. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 5 
 
 The mouth, half-open, as the custom usually is among 
 country-people, showed teeth that were strong and 
 white as almonds, but irregular. Gleaming red whiskers 
 framed this face, which was white and yet mottled in 
 spots. The hair, cropped close in front and allowed to 
 grow lonsr at the sides and on the back of the head, 
 brought into relief, by its savage redness, all the strange 
 and fateful peculiarities of this singular face. The 
 neck which was short and thick, seemed to tempt the 
 axe. 
 
 At this moment the sunbeams, falling in long lines 
 athwart the group, lighted up the three heads at which 
 the dog from time to time glanced up. The spot on 
 which this scene took place was magnificently fine. 
 The rond-point is at the entrance of the park of Gon- 
 dreville, one of the finest estates in France, and b}' far 
 the finest in the department of the Aube ; it boasts of 
 long avenues of elms, a castle built from designs b} T 
 Mansart, a park of fifteen hundred acres inclosed by 
 a stone wall, nine large farms, a forest, mills, and 
 meadows. This almost regal property belonged before 
 the Revolution to the family of Simeuse. Ximeuse was 
 a feudal estate in Lorraine ; the name was pronounced 
 Simeuse, and in course of time it came to be written 
 as pronounced. 
 
 The great fortune of the Simeuse family, adherents 
 of the House of Burgundy, dates from the time when 
 
6 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the Guises were in conflict with the Valois. Richelieu 
 first, and afterwards Louis XIV. remembered their 
 devotion to the factious house of Lorraine, and rebuffed 
 them. The then Marquis de Simeuse, an old Burgun- 
 dian, old 1 Guiser, old leaguer, old frondeur (he in- 
 herited the four great rancors of the nobilit} T against 
 royalty), came to live at Cinq-Cygne. The former cour- 
 tier, rejected at the Louvre, married the widow of the 
 Comte de Cinq-C3 T gne, younger branch of the famous 
 family of Chargebceuf, one of the most illustrious names 
 in Champagne, and now as celebrated and opulent as 
 the elder. The marquis, among the richest men of his 
 da}', instead of wasting his substance at court, built 
 the chateau of Gondreville, enlarged the estate by the 
 purchase of others, and united the several domains, 
 solely for the purposes of a hunting-ground. He also 
 built the Simeuse mansion at Tnryes, not far from that 
 of the Cinq-Cygnes. These two old house:, and the 
 bishop's palace were long the onl} T stone mansions at 
 Tnyves. The marquis sold Simeuse to the Due de Lor- 
 raine. His son wasted the father's savings and some 
 part of his great fortune under the reign of Louis XV., 
 but he subsequently entered the navy, became a vice- 
 admiral, and redeemed the follies of his 3'outh by bril- 
 liant services. The Marquis de Simeuse, son of this 
 naval worth} T , perished with his wife on the scaffold at 
 Troves, leaving twin sons, who emigrated and were, at 
 
An Historical Mystery. 7 
 
 the time our history opens, still in foreign parts follow- 
 ing the fortunes of the house of Concle. 
 
 The rond-point was the scene of the meet in the 
 time of the " Grand Marquis" — a name given in the 
 family to the Simeuse who built Gondreville. Since 
 1789 Michu lived in the hunting lodge at the en- 
 trance to the park, built in the reign of Louis XIV., 
 and called the pavilion of Cinq-Cygne. The village of 
 Cinq-Cygne is at the end of the forest of Nodesme (a 
 corruption of Notre-Dame) which was reached through 
 the fine avenue of four rows of elms where Michu 's dogr 
 was now suspecting spies. After the death of the 
 Grand Marquis this pavilion fell into disuse. The vice- 
 admiral preferred the court and the sea to Champagne, 
 and his son gave the dilapidated building to Michu for 
 a dwelling. 
 
 This noble structure is of brick, with vermiculated 
 stone-work at the angles and on the casings of the 
 doors and windows. On either side is a gateway of 
 finely wrought iron, eaten with rust and connected by a 
 railing, beyond which is a wide and deep ha-ha, full 
 of vigorous trees, its parapets bristling with iron ara- 
 besques, the innumerable sharp points of which are a 
 warning to evil-doers. 
 
 The park walls begin on each side of the circumfer- 
 ence of the rond-point ; on the one hand the fine semi- 
 circle is defined by slopes planted with elms ; on the 
 
8 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 other, within the park, a corresponding half-circle is 
 formed by groups of rare trees. The pavilion, there* 
 •fore, stands at the centre of this round open space, 
 which extends before it and behind it in the shape of 
 two horseshoes. Michu had turned the rooms on the 
 lower floor into a stable, a kitchen, and a wood-shed. 
 The only trace remaining of their ancient splendor was 
 an antechamber paved with marble in squares of black 
 and white, which was entered on the park side through 
 a door with small leaded panes, such as might still be 
 seen at Versailles before Louis-Philippe turned that 
 Chateau into an asylum for the glories of France. The 
 pavilion is divided inside b} T an old staircase of worm- 
 eaten wood,* full of character, which leads to the first 
 story. Above that is an immense garret. This ven- 
 erable edifice is covered by one of those vast roofs with 
 four sides, a ridgepole decorated with leaden ornaments, 
 and a round projecting window on each side, such as 
 Mansart, very justly delighted in ; for in France, the 
 Italian attics and flat roofs are a foil}* against which our 
 climate protests. Michu kept his fodder in this garret. 
 That portion of the park which surrounds the old 
 pavilion is English in st} r le. A hundred feet from the 
 house a former lake, now a mere pond well stocked with 
 fish, makes known its vicinity as much by a thin mist 
 rising above the tree-tops as by the croaking of a thou- 
 sand frogs, toads, and other amphibious gossips who 
 
An Historical Mystery. 9 
 
 discourse at sunset. The time-worn look of everything, 
 the deep silence of the woods, the long perspective of 
 the avenue, the forest in the distance, the rusty iron- 
 work, the masses of stone draped with velvet mosses, 
 all made poetry of this old structure, which still exists. 
 
 At the moment when our history begins Michu was 
 leaning against a mossy parapet on which he had laid 
 his powder-horn, cap, handkerchief, screw-driver, and 
 rags, — in fact, all the utensils needed for- his suspicious 
 occupation. His wife's chair was against the wall be- 
 side the outer door of the house, above which could still 
 be seen the arms of the Simeuse family, richly carved, 
 with their noble motto, " Cy meurs." The old mother, 
 in peasant dress, had moved her chair in front of 
 Madame Michu, so that the latter might put her feet 
 upon the rungs and keep them from dampness. 
 
 " Where 's the boy?" said Michu to his wife. 
 
 " Round the pond ; he is crazy about the frogs and 
 the insects," answered the mother. 
 
 Michu whistled in a way that made his hearers trem- 
 ble. The rapidity with which his son ran up to him 
 proved plainly enough the despotic power of the bailiff 
 of Gondreville. Since 1789, but more especially since 
 1793, Michu had been well-nigh master of the property. 
 The terror he inspired in his wife, his mother-in-law, 
 a servant-lad named Gaucher, and the cook named 
 Marianne, was shared throughout a neighborhood of 
 
10 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 twenty miles in circumference. It may be well to give, 
 without further delay, the reasons for this fear, — all 
 the more because an account of them will complete 
 the moral portrait of the man. 
 
 The old Marquis de Simeuse transferred the greater 
 part of his property in 1790 ; but, overtaken by circum- 
 stances, he had not been able to put the estate of Gon- 
 dreville into sure hands. Accused of corresponding 
 with the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of Cobourg, 
 i;he marquis and his wife were thrust into prison and 
 condemned to death by the revolutionary tribunal of 
 Troyes, of which Madame Michu's father was then 
 president. The fine domain of Gondreville was sold as 
 national property. The head-keeper, to the horror of 
 many, was present at the execution of the marquis and 
 his wife in his capacity as president of the club of Jaco- 
 bins at Arcis. Michu, the orphan son of a peasant, 
 showered with benefactions b}' the marquise, who 
 brought him up in her own home and gave him his 
 place as keeper, was regarded as a Brutus by excited 
 demagogues ; but the people of the neighborhood ceased 
 to recognize him after this act of base ingratitude. 
 The purchaser of the estate was a man from Arcis 
 named Marion, grandson of a former bailiff in the 
 Simeuse family. This man, a lawj'er before and after 
 the Revolution, was afraid of the keeper ; he made him 
 his bailiff with a salary of three thousand francs, and 
 
An Historical Mystery. 11 
 
 gave him an interest in the sales of timber ; Michu, 
 who was thought to have some ten thousand francs of 
 his own laid by, married the daughter of a tanner at 
 Troves, an apostle of the Revolution in that town, 
 where he was president of the revolutionary tribunal. 
 This tanner, a man of profound convictions, who resem- 
 bled Saint-Just as to character, was afterwards mixed 
 up in Baboeuf s conspiracy and killed himself to escape 
 execution. Marthe was the handsomest girl in Troyes. 
 In spite of her shrinking modesty she had been forced 
 by her formidable father to play the part of Goddess of 
 Liberty in some republican ceremony. 
 
 The new proprietor came onlj- three times to Gondre- 
 ville in the course of seven years. His grandfather 
 had been bailiff of the estate under the Simeuse family, 
 and all Arcis took for granted that the citizen Marion 
 was the secret representative of the present Marquis 
 and his twin brother. As long as the Terror lasted, 
 Michu, still bailiff of Gondreville, a devoted patriot, 
 son-in-law of the president of the revolutionary tribunal 
 of Troyes and flattered b}' Malin, representative from 
 the department of the Aube, was the object of a cer- 
 tain sort of respect. But when the Mountain was over- 
 thrown and after his father-in-law committed suicide, he 
 found himself a scape-goat ; everybody hastened to 
 accuse him, in common with his father-in-law, of acts to 
 which, so far as he was concerned, he was a total 
 
 THE f 
 
 TTWTVF-RRTTV 
 
12 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 stranger. The bailiff resented the injustice of the com- 
 munity ; he stiffened his back and took an attitude of 
 hostility. He talked boldly. But after the 18th Bra- 
 maire he maintained an unbroken silence,, the philoso- 
 phy of the strong ; he struggled no longer against 
 public opinion, and contented himself with attending to 
 his own affairs, — wise conduct, which led his neighbors 
 to pronounce him sly, for he owned, it was said, a for- 
 tune of not less than a hundred thousand franes in 
 landed property. In the first place, he spent nothing ; 
 next, this property was legitimately acquired, parti}' 
 from the inheritance of his father-in-law's estate, and 
 partly from the savings of six thousand francs a year, 
 the salary he derived from his place with its profits and 
 emoluments. He had been bailiff of Gondreville for 
 the last twelve years and every one had estimated the 
 probable amount of his savings, so that when, after the 
 Consulate was proclaimed, he bought a farm for fifty 
 thousand francs, the suspicions attaching to his former 
 opinions lessened, and the community of Arcis gave 
 him credit for intending to recover himself in public 
 estimation. Unfortunately, at the very moment when 
 public opinion was condoning his past a foolish affair, 
 envenomed by the gossip of the counts-side, revived 
 the latent and very general belief in the ferocity of his 
 character. 
 
 One evening, coming away from Troyes in conipairy 
 
An Historical Mystery. 13 
 
 with several peasants, among whom was the farmer at 
 Cinq-Cygne, he let fall a paper on the main road ; the 
 farmer, who was walking behind him, stooped and 
 picked it up. Michu turned round, saw the paper in 
 the man's hands, pulled a pistol from his belt and 
 threatened the farmer (who knew how to read) to blow 
 his brains out if he opened the paper. Michu's action 
 was so sudden and violent, the tone of his voice so 
 alarming, his eyes blazed so savagely, that the men 
 about him turned cold with fear. The farmer of Cinq- 
 Cj'gne was already his enemy. Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 Cygne, the man's emplo}'er, was a cousin of the Simeuse 
 brothers ; she had only one farm left for her main- 
 tenance and was now residing at her chateau of Cinq- 
 Cygne. She lived for her cousins the twins, with 
 whom she had pla} r ed in childhood at Tro}'es and at 
 Gondreville. Her only brother, Jules de Cinq-Cygne, 
 who emigrated before the twins, died at Mayence, but 
 by a privilege which was somewhat rare and will be 
 mentioned later, the name of Cinq-Cj'gne was not to 
 perish through lack of male heirs. 
 
 This affair between Michu and the farmer made a 
 great noise in the arrondissement and darkened the 
 already mysterious shadows which seemed to veil him. 
 Nor was it the only circumstance which made him feared. 
 A few months after this scene the citizen Marion, pres- 
 ent owner of the Gondreville estate, came to inspect it 
 
14 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 with the citizen Malin. Rumor said that Marion was 
 about to sell the property to his companion, who had 
 profited by political events and had just been appointed 
 on the Council of State bv the First Consul, in return 
 for his services on the 18th Brumaire. The shrewd 
 heads of the little town of Arcis now perceived that 
 Marion had been the agent of Malin in the purchase of 
 the propertj', and not of the brothers Simeuse, as was 
 first supposed. The all-powerful Councillor of State 
 was the most important personage in Arcis. He had 
 obtained for one of his political friends the prefecture 
 of Troj'es, and for a farmer at Gondreville the exemp- 
 tion of his son from the draft ; in fact, he had done 
 services to rnan}\ Consequently the sale met with no 
 opposition in the neighborhood where Malin then 
 reigned, and where he still reigns supreme. 
 
 The Empire was just dawning. Those who in these 
 da3's read the histories of the French Revolution can 
 form no conception of the vast spaces which public 
 thought traversed between events which now seem to 
 have been so near together. The strong need of peace 
 and tranquillity which every one felt after the violent 
 tumults of the Revolution brought about a complete 
 forgetfulness of important anterior facts. History 
 matured rapidly under the advance of new and eager 
 interests. No one, therefore, except Michu, looked 
 into the past of this affair, which the community ac' 
 
An Historical Mystery. 15 
 
 cepted as a simple matter. Marion, who had bought 
 Gondreville for six hundred thousand francs in assi«;- 
 nats, sold it for the value of a couple of million in coin ; 
 but the only payments actually made by Mai in were for 
 the costs of registration. Grevin, a seminar}* comrade 
 of Malin, assisted the transaction, and the Councillor 
 rewarded his help with the office of notaiy at Arcis. 
 When the news of the sale reached the pavilion, brought 
 there b} 7 a farmer whose farm, at Grouage, was situ- 
 ated between the forest and the park on the left of the 
 noble avenue, Michu turned pale and left the house. 
 He lay in wait for Marion, and finally met him alone in 
 one of the shrubberies of the park. 
 
 " Is monsieur about to sell Gondreville? " asked the 
 bailiff. 
 
 •'Yes, Michu, yes. You will have a man of power- 
 ful influence for 3'our master. He is the friend of the 
 First Consul, and very intimate with all the ministers ; 
 he will protect t you." 
 
 " Then you were holding the estate for him? " 
 
 " I don't sa}* that," replied Marion. " At the time 
 I bought it I was looking for a place to put my money, 
 and I invested in national property as the best security. 
 But it does n't suit me to keep an estate once belonging 
 to a family in which my father was — " 
 
 " — a servant," said Michu, violently. "But you 
 shall not sell it ! I want it ; and I can pa}' for it." 
 
16 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 "You?" 
 
 "Yes, I; seriously, in good gold, — eight hundred 
 thousand francs." 
 
 "Eight hundred thousand francs!" exclaimed 
 Marion. " Where did 3'ou get them? " 
 
 " That 's none of 3'our business," replied Michu ; then, 
 softening his tone, he added in a low voice: " My 
 father-in-law saved the lives of many persons." 
 
 " You are too late, Michu ; the sale is made." 
 
 "You must put it off, monsieur!" cried the bailiff, 
 seizing his master by the hand which he held as in a 
 vice. " I am hated, but I choose to be rich and power- 
 ful, and I must have Gondreville. Listen to me ; I 
 don't cling to life ; sell me that place or I '11 blow 3-our 
 brains out ! — " 
 
 "But do give me time to get off my bargain with 
 Malin ; he 's troublesome to deal with." 
 
 " I '11 give }'Ou twent3'-four hours. If 3'ou stay a word 
 about this matter I '11 chop 30111- head off as I would 
 chop a turnip." 
 
 Marion and Malin left the chateau in the course of 
 the night. Marion was frightened ; he told Malin of the 
 meeting and begged him to keep an eye on the bailiff. 
 It was impossible for Marion to avoid delivering the 
 propert3' to the man who had been the real purchaser, 
 and Michu did not seem likety to admit anj r such rea- 
 son. Moreover, this service done 113* Marion to Malin 
 
An Historical Mystery. 17 
 
 was to be, and in fact ended by being, the origin of the 
 former's political fortune, and also that of his brother. 
 In 1806 Malin had him appointed chief justice of an im- 
 perial court, and after the creation of tax-collectors his 
 brother obtained the post of receiver-general for the 
 department of the Aube. The State Councillor told 
 Marion to stav in Paris, and he warned the minister of 
 police, who gave orders that Michu should be secretly 
 watched. Not wishing to push the man to extremities, 
 Malin kept him on as bailiff, under the iron rule of 
 Grevin the notaiy of Arcis. 
 
 From that moment Michu became more absorbed 
 and taciturn than ever, and obtained the reputation of a 
 man who was capable of committing a crime. Malin, the 
 Councillor of State (a function which the First Consul 
 raised to the level of a ministry), and a maker of the 
 Code, played a great part in Paris, where he bought one 
 of the finest mansions in the Faubourg Saint-Germain 
 after marrying the only daughter of a rich contractor 
 named Sibuelle. He never came to Gondreville ; leav- 
 ing all matters concerning the propert}^ to the man- 
 agement of Grevin, the Arcis notary. After all, what 
 had he to fear? — he, a former representative of the 
 Aube, and president of a club of Jacobins. And 3'et, the 
 unfavorable opinion of Michu held by the lower classes 
 was shared by the bourgeoisie, and Marion, Grevin, and 
 Malin, without giving an}' reason or compromising 
 
 2 
 
18 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 themselves on the subject, showed that they regarded 
 him as an extremely dangerous man. The authorities, 
 who were under instructions from the minister of police 
 to watch the bailiff, did not of course lessen this belief. 
 The neighborhood wondered that he kept his place, but 
 supposed it was in consequence of the terror he in- 
 spired. It is easy now, after these explanations to 
 understand the anxiety and sadness expressed in the 
 face of Michu's wife. 
 
 In the first place, Marthe had been piously brought up 
 by her mother. Both, being good Catholics, had suffered 
 much from the opinions and behavior of the tanner. 
 Marthe could never think without a blush of having 
 marched through the street of Troyes in the garb of a 
 goddess. Her father had forced her to marry Michu, 
 whose bad reputation was then increasing, and she feared 
 him too much to be able to judge him. Nevertheless, 
 she knew that he loved her, and at the bottom of her heart 
 la} T the truest affection for this awe-inspiring man ; she 
 had never known him to do anjthing that was not just ; 
 never did he say a brutal word, to her at least ; in fact, 
 he endeavored to forestall her every wish. The poor 
 pariah, believing himself disagreeable to his wife, spent 
 most of his time out of doors. Marthe and Michu, dis- 
 trustful of each other, lived in what is called in these 
 da}-s an ''armed peace." Marthe, who saw no one, 
 suffered keenly from the ostracism which for the last 
 
An Historical Mystery. 19 
 
 seven years had surrounded her as the daughter of a 
 revolutionary butcher, and the wife of a so-called traitor. 
 More than once she had overheard the laborers of the 
 adjoining farm (held by a man named Beauvisage, 
 greatly attached to the Simeuse family) say as they 
 passed the pavilion, "That's where Judas lives!" 
 The singular resemblance between the bailiff's head and 
 that of the thirteenth apostle, which his conduct ap- 
 peared to carry out, won him that odious nickname 
 throughout the neighborhood. It was this distress of 
 mind, added to vague but constant fears for the future, 
 which gave Marthe her thoughtful and subdued air. 
 Nothing saddens so deeply as unmerited degradation 
 from which there seems no escape. A painter could 
 have made a fine picture of this family of pariahs in the 
 bosom of their pretty nook in Champagne, where the 
 landscape is generally sad. 
 
 11 Francois ! " called the bailiff, to hasten his son. 
 
 Francois Michu, a child of ten, played in the park and 
 forest, and levied his little tithes like a master ; ho ate 
 the fruits ; he chased the game ; he at least had neither 
 cares nor troubles. Of all the family, Francois alone 
 was happy in a home thus isolated from the neighbor- 
 hood by its position between the park and forest, and by 
 the still greater moral solitude of universal repulsion. 
 
 " Pick up these things," said his father, pointing to the 
 parapet, " and put them away. Look at me ! You love 
 
20 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 your father and }T>ur mother, don't you ? " The child 
 flung himself on his father as if to kiss him, but Michu 
 made a movement to shift the gun and pushed him 
 back. "Very good. You have sometimes chattered 
 about things that are clone here," continued the father, 
 fixing his eyes, dangerous as those of a wild-cat, on the 
 bo}\ " Now remember this ; if you tell the least little 
 thing that happens here to Gaucher, or to the Grouage 
 and Bellache people, or even to Marianne who loves us, 
 you will kill 3'our father. Never tattle again, and I will 
 forgive what 3*011 said 3 T esterda3 T ." The child began to 
 ciy. "Don't cry; but when an3' one questions 3'ou, 
 sa3*, as the peasants do, ' I don't know.' There are 
 persons roaming about whom I distrust. Run along ! 
 As for you two," he added, turning to the women, 
 " 3011 have heard what I said. Keep a close mouth, 
 both of you." 
 
 " Husband, what are 3 T ou going to do?" 
 
 Michu, who was carefully measuring a charge of 
 powder, poured it into the barrel of his gun, rested the 
 weapon against the parapet and said to Marthe : — 
 
 " No one knows I own that gun. Stand in front of 
 it." 
 
 Couraut, who had sprung to his feet, was barking 
 furiously. 
 
 "Good, intelligent fellow!" cried Michu. "I am 
 certain there are spies about — " 
 
An Historical Mystery. 21 
 
 Man and beast feel a spy. Couraut and Michu, who 
 seemed to have one and the same soul, lived together 
 as the Arab and his horse in the desert. The bailiff 
 knew the modulations of the dog's voice, just as the dog 
 read his master's meaning in his eyes, or felt it exhaling 
 in the air from his body. 
 
 " What do you say to that?" said Michu, in a low 
 voice, calling his wife's attention to two strangers who 
 appeared in a by-path making for the rond-point. 
 
 " What can it mean? " cried the old mother. "They 
 are Parisians." 
 
 " Here they come ! " said Michu. " Hide my gun," 
 he whispered to his wife. 
 
 The two men who now crossed the wide open space 
 of the rond-point were typical enough for a painter. 
 Oiiq, who appeared to be the subaltern, wore top-boots, 
 turned down rather low, showing well-made calves, and 
 colored silk stockings of doubtful cleanliness. The 
 breeches, of ribbed cloth, apricot color with metal but- 
 tons, were too large ; the\ T were baggy about the bod\', 
 and the lines of their creases seemed to indicate a 
 sedentary man. A marseilles waistcoat, overloaded 
 with embroidery, open, and held together b}' one button 
 only just above the stomach, gave to the wearer a dissi- 
 pated look, — all the more so, because his jet black hair, 
 in corkscrew curls, hid his forehead and hung down his 
 cheeks. Two steel watch-chains were festooned upon 
 
22 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 his breeches. The shirt was adorned with a cameo in 
 white and blue. The coat, cinnamon-colored, was a 
 treasure to caricaturists by reason of its long tails, 
 which, when seen from behind, bore so perfect a re- 
 semblance to a cod that the name of that fish was given 
 to them. The fashion of codfish tails lasted ten 3'ears ; 
 almost the whole period of the empire of Napoleon. 
 The cravat, loosely fastened, and with numerous small 
 folds, allowed the wearer to bury his face in it up to the 
 nostrils. His pimpled skin, his long, thick, brick-dust 
 colored nose, his high cheek-bones, his mouth, lacking 
 half its teeth but greedy for all that and menacing, his 
 ears adorned with huge gold rings, his low forehead, — 
 all these personal details, which might have seemed gro- 
 tesque in many men, were rendered terrible in him by 
 two small e3'es set in his head like those of a pig, ex- 
 pressive of insatiable covetousness, and of insolent, half- 
 jovial cruelty. These ferreting and perspicacious blue 
 eyes, glass} 7 and glacial, might be taken for the model of 
 that famous E}-e, the formidable emblem of the police, 
 invented during the Revolution. Black silk gloves were 
 on his hands and he carried a switch. He was certainly 
 some official personage, for he showed in his bearing, 
 in his wa}' of taking snuff and ramming it into his nose, 
 the bureaucratic importance of an office subordinate, 
 one who signs for his superiors and acquires a passing 
 sovereignty hy enforcing their orders. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 23 
 
 The other man, whose dress was in the same style, 
 but elegant and elegantly put on and careful in its 
 smallest detail, wore boots a la Suwaroff which came 
 high upon the leg above a pair of tight trousers, and 
 creaked as he walked. Above his coat he wore a 
 spencer, an aristocratic garment adopted by the Clich- 
 iens and the young bloods of Paris, which survived 
 both the Clichiens and the fashionable youths. In those 
 days fashions sometimes lasted longer than parties, — a 
 symptom of anarchy which the year of our Lord 1830 
 has again presented to us. This accomplished dandy 
 seemed to be thirty years of age. His manners were 
 those of good society ; he wore jewels of value ; the 
 collar of his shirt came to the tops of his ears. His 
 conceited and even impertinent air betrayed a conscious- 
 ness of hidden superiority. His pallid face seemed 
 bloodless, his thin flat nose had the sardonic expression 
 which we see in a death's head, and his green eyes 
 were inscrutable ; their glance was discreet in meaning 
 just as the thin closed mouth was discreet in words. 
 The first man seemed on the whole a good fellow com- 
 pared with this younger man, who was slashing the air 
 with a cane, the top of which, made of gold, glittered in 
 the sunshine. The first man might have cut off a head 
 with his own hand, but the second was capable of en- 
 tangling innocence, virtue, and beauty in the nets of 
 calumny and intrigue, and then poisoning them or 
 
24 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 drowning them. The rubicund stranger would have 
 comforted his victim with a jest ; the other was incapa- 
 ble of a smile. The first was for t} r - five j'ears old, and 
 he loved, undoubted!}', both women and good cheer. 
 Such men have passions which keep them slaves to 
 their calling. But the young man was plainly without 
 passions and without vices. If he was a spy he 
 belonged to diplomacy, and did such work from a pure 
 love of art. He conceived, the other executed ; he was 
 the idea, the other was the form. 
 
 " This must be Gondreville, is it not, my good 
 woman ? " said the young man. 
 
 " We don't sa}* ' my good woman ' here," said Michu. 
 " We are still simple enough to say ' citizen ' and ' citi- 
 zeness' in these parts." 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed the young man, in a natural way, 
 and without seeming at all anno\ed. 
 
 Plaj-ers of ecarte often have a sense of inward dis- 
 aster when some unknown person sits down at the 
 same table with them, whose manners, look, voice, and 
 method of shuffling the cards, all, to their fane}', fore- 
 tell defeat. The instant Michu looked at the j'oung 
 man he felt an inward and prophetic collapse. He was 
 struck by a fatal presentiment ; he had a sudden con- 
 fused foreboding of the scaffold. A voice told him that 
 that dandy would destroy him, although there was 
 nothing whatever in common between them. For this 
 
An Historical Mystery. 25 
 
 reason his answer was rude ; he was and he wished to 
 be forbidding. 
 
 " Don't you belong to the Councillor of State, Malin ? " 
 said the younger man. 
 
 " I am my own master," answered Miehu. 
 
 " Mesdames," said the young man, assuming a most 
 polite air, " are we not at Gondreville? We are 
 expected there by Monsieur Malin." 
 
 " There 's the park," said Michu, pointing to the open 
 gate. 
 
 "Why are you hiding that gun, my fine girl?" said 
 the elder, catching sight of the carbine as he passed 
 through the gate. 
 
 " You never let a chance escape you, even in the 
 country ! " cried his companion. 
 
 They both turned back with a sense of distrust which 
 the bailiff understood at once in spite of their impassi- 
 ble faces. Marthe let them look at the gun, to the 
 tune of Couraut's bark ; she was so convinced that her 
 husband was meditating some evil deed that she was 
 thankful for the curiosity of the strangers. 
 
 Michu flung a look at his wife which made her trem- 
 ble ; he took the gun and began to load it, accepting 
 quietly the fatal ill-luck of this encounter and the dis- 
 covery of the weapon. He seemed no longer to care 
 for life, and his wife fathomed his inward feeling. 
 
 "So you have wolves in these parts?" said the 
 young man, watching him. 
 
26 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " There are alwa} r s wolves where there are sheep. 
 You are in Champagne, and there 's a forest ; we have 
 wild-boars, large and small game both, a little of ever}'- 
 tliing," replied Michu, in a truculent manner. 
 
 " I'll bet, Corentin," said the elder of the two men, 
 after exchanging a glance with his companion, "that 
 this is my friend Michu — " 
 
 " We never kept pigs together that I know of," said 
 the bailiff. 
 
 " No, but we both presided over Jacobins, citizen," 
 replied the old cynic, — " you at Arcis, I elsewhere. I 
 see you 've kept } T our Carmagnole civility, but it 's no 
 longer in fashion, m} T good fellow." 
 
 " The park strikes me as rather large ; we might lose 
 our wa}'. If 3'ou are really the bailiff show us the path 
 to the chateau," said Corentin, in a peremptory tone. 
 
 Michu whistled to his son and continued to load his 
 gun. Corentin looked at Marthe with indifference, 
 while his companion seemed charmed b} T her ; but the 
 3'oung man noticed the signs of her inward distress, 
 which escaped the old libertine, who had, however, 
 noticed and feared the gun. The natures of the two 
 men were disclosed in this trifling 3-et important 
 circumstance. 
 
 "I've an appointment the other side of the forest," 
 said the bailiff. " I can't go with 3-ou, but m3 T son here 
 will take 3^011 to the chateau. How did you get to 
 Gondreville ? did 3'ou come 03' Cinq-Cygne ? " 
 
An Historical Mystery. 27 
 
 " We had, like j'ourself, business in the forest," said 
 Corentin, without apparent sarcasm. 
 
 "Frangois," cried Michu, " take these gentlemen to 
 the chateau by the wood path, so that no one sees 
 them ; they don't follow the beaten tracks. Come 
 here," he added, as the strangers turned to walk away, 
 talking together as the}' did so in a low voice. Michu 
 caught the boy in his arms, and kissed him almost sol- 
 emnh T with an expression which confirmed his wife's 
 fears ; cold chills ran down her back ; she glanced at 
 her mother with haggard e}'es, for she could not weep. 
 
 " Go," said Miohu ; and he watched the boy until he 
 was entirely out of sight. Couraut was barking on the 
 other side of the road in the direction of Grouage. 
 " Oh, that's Violette," remarked Michu. "This is 
 the third time that old fellow has passed here to-day. 
 What 's in the wind? Hush, Couraut ! " 
 
 A few moments later the trot of a pony was heard 
 approaching. 
 
28 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 II. 
 
 A CRIME RELINQUISHED. 
 
 Violette, mounted on one of those little nags which 
 the farmers in the neighborhood of Paris use so much, 
 soon appeared, wearing a round hat with a broad brim, 
 beneath which his wood-colored face, deeply wrinkled, 
 appeared in shadow. His gra} T eyes, mischievous and 
 lively, concealed in a measure the treachery of his 
 nature. His skinny legs, covered with gaiters of white 
 linen which came to the knee, hung rather than rested 
 in the stirrups, seemingly held in place by the weight of 
 his hob-nailed shoes. Above his jacket of blue cloth 
 he wore a cloak of some coarse woollen stuff woven in 
 black and white stripes. His gray hair fell in curls be- 
 hind his ears. This dress, the gray horse with its short 
 legs, the manner in which Violette sat him, stomach 
 projecting and shoulders thrown back, the big chapped 
 hands which held the shabby bridle, all depicted him 
 plainly as the grasping, ambitious peasant who desires 
 to own land and buys it at any price. His mouth, with 
 its bluish lips parted as if a surgeon had pried them 
 open with a scalpel, and the innumerable wrinkles of 
 his face and forehead hindered the play of features 
 
An Historical Mystery. 29 
 
 which were expressive only in their outlines. Those 
 hard, fixed lines seemed menacing, in spite of the humil- 
 ity which country-folks assume and beneath which 
 they conceal their emotions and schemes, as savages 
 and Easterns hide theirs behind an imperturbable grav- 
 ity. First a mere laborer, then the farmer of Grouage 
 through a long course of persistent ill-doing, he con- 
 tinued his evil practices after conquering a position 
 which surpassed his early hopes. He wished harm to 
 all men and wished it vehemently. When he could 
 assist in doing harm he did it eagerly. He was openly 
 envious ; but, no matter how malignant he might be, he 
 kept within the limits of the law, — neither be}*ond it nor 
 behind it, like a parliamentary opposition. He believed 
 his prosperit}' depended on the ruin of others, and that 
 whoever was above him was an enem} r against whom 
 all weapons were good. A character like this is veiy 
 common among the peasantry. 
 
 Violette's present business was to obtain from Malin 
 an extension of the lease of his farm, which had only 
 six years longer to run. Jealous of the bailiff's means, 
 he watched him narrowly. The neighbors reproached 
 him for his intimacy with " Judas ; " but the si}* old 
 farmer, wishing to obtain a twelve }'ears' lease, was really 
 lying in wait for an opportunity to serve either the gov- 
 ernment or Malin, who distrusted Michu. Violette, by 
 the help of the game-keeper of Gondreville and others 
 
30 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 belonging to the estate, kept Malin informed of all 
 Michu's actions. Malin had endeavored, fruitlessly, to 
 win over Marianne, the Michus' servant-woman ; but Vio- 
 lette and his satellites heard everything from Gaucher, — 
 a lad on whose fidelity Michu relied, but who betrayed 
 him for cast-off clothing, waistcoats, buckles, cotton 
 socks and sugar-plums. The boy had no suspicion of 
 the importance of his gossip. Violette in his reports 
 blackened all Michu's actions and gave them a criminal 
 aspect b} r absurd suggestions, — unknown, of course, to 
 the bailiff, who was aware, however, of the base part 
 played by the farmer, and took delight in nrystifying 
 him. 
 
 " You must have a deal of business at Bellache to be 
 here again," said Michu. 
 
 " Again! is that meant as a reproach, Monsieur 
 Michu? — Hey! I did not know you had that gun. 
 You are not going to whistle for the sparrows on that 
 pipe, I suppose — " 
 
 " It grew in afield of mine which bears guns," replied 
 Michu. " Look ! this is how I sow them." 
 
 The bailiff took aim at a viper thirty feet away and 
 cut it in two. 
 
 " Have you got that bandit's weapon to protect your 
 master?" said Violette. " Perhaps he gave it to you." 
 
 " He came from Pari -s expressly to bring it to me," 
 replied Michu. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 31 
 
 " People are talking all round the neighborhood of this 
 journey of his ; some say he is in disgrace and has to 
 retire from office ; others that he wants to see things 
 for himself down here. But anyway, why does he come, 
 like the First Consul, without giving warning? Did 
 you know he was coming?" 
 
 " I am not on such terms with him as to be in his 
 confidence." 
 
 " Then you have not seen him?" 
 
 " I did not know he was here till I got back from my 
 rounds in the forest," said Michu, reloading his gun. 
 
 " He has sent to Arcis for Monsieur Grevin," said 
 Violette ; " they are scheming something." 
 
 '* If you are going round by Cinq-Cygne, take me up 
 behind you," said the bailiff. " I 'm going there." 
 
 Violette was too timid to have a man of Michu's 
 strength on his crupper, and he spurred his beast. 
 Judas slung his gun over his shoulder and walked 
 rapidly up the avenue. 
 
 "Who can it be that Michu is angry with?" said 
 Marthe to her mother. 
 
 k< Ever since he heard of Monsieur Malm's arrival he 
 has been gloomy," replied the old woman. " But it is 
 getting damp here, let us go in." 
 
 After the two women had settled themselves in the 
 chimney corner they heard Couraut's bark. 
 
 " There 's my husband returning ! " cried Marthe. 
 
32 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Michu passed up the stairs ; his wife, uneas} r , fol- 
 lowed him to their bedroom. 
 
 " See if any one is about," he said to her, in a voice 
 of some emotion. 
 
 " No one," she replied. " Marianne is in the field 
 with the cow, and Gaucher — " 
 
 " Where is Gaucher? " he asked. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 "I distrust that little scamp. Go up in the garret, 
 look in the hay-loft, look everywhere for him." 
 
 Marthe left the room to obe}* the order. When she 
 returned she found Michu on his knees, pra}ing. 
 
 " What is the matter? " she said, frightened. 
 
 The bailiff took his wife round the waist and drew 
 her to him, saying in a voice of deep feeling : "If we 
 never see each other again remember, my poor wife, 
 that I loved you well. Follow minutely the instructions 
 which 3 t ou will find in a letter buried at the foot of the 
 larch in that copse. It is inclosed in a tin tube. Do 
 not touch it till after nry death. And remember, 
 Marthe, whatever happens to me, that in spite of man's 
 injustice, my arm has been the instrument of the justice 
 of God." 
 
 Marthe, who turned pale by degrees, became white 
 as her own linen ; she looked at her husband with fixed 
 e\'es widened by fear ; she tried to speak, but her throat 
 was dry. Michu disappeared like a shadow, having 
 
An Historical Mystery, 33 
 
 tied Couraut to the foot of his bed where the dog, after 
 the manner of all dogs, howled in despair. 
 
 Michu's anger against Monsieur Marion had serious 
 grounds, but it was now concentrated on another man, 
 far more criminal in his eyes, — on Malin, whose secrets 
 were known to the bailiff, he being in a better position 
 than others to understand the conduct of the State 
 Councillor. Michu's father-in-law had had, politically 
 speaking, the confidence of the former representative to 
 the Convention, through Grevin. 
 
 Perhaps it would be well here to relate the circum- 
 stances which brought the Simeuse and Cinq-C3*gne 
 families into connection with Malin, — circumstances 
 which weighed heavily on the fate of Mademoiselle de 
 Cinq-Cygne's twin cousins, but still more heavily on 
 that of Marthe and Michu. 
 
 The Cinq-Cj'gne mansion at Troyes stands opposite 
 to that of Simeuse. When the populace, incited by 
 minds that were as shrewd as the}' were cautious, pil- 
 laged the hotel Simeuse, discovered the marquis and 
 marchioness, who were accused of corresponding with 
 the nation's enemies, and delivered them to the national 
 guards who took them to prison, the crowd shouted, 
 u Now for the Cinq-Cygnes ! " To their minds the 
 Cinq-Cygnes were as guilty as other aristocrats. The 
 brave and worth}* Marquis de Simeuse in the endeavor 
 to save his two sons, then eighteen years of age, whose 
 
 3 
 
34 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 courage was likely to compromise them, had confided 
 them, a few hours before the storm broke, to their aunt, 
 the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne. Two servants attached 
 to the Simeuse family accompanied the young men to 
 her house. The old marquis, who was anxious that his 
 name should not die out, requested that what was happen- 
 ing might be concealed from his sons, even in the event 
 of dire disaster. Laurence, the only daughter of the 
 Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne, was then twelve years of age ; 
 her cousins both loved her and she loved them, equally. 
 Like other twins the Simeuse brothers were so alike 
 that for a long while their mother dressed them in dif- 
 ferent colors to know them apart. The first comer, the 
 eldest, was named Paul-Marie, the other Marie-Paul 
 Laurence de Cinq-Cj'gne, to whom their danger was 
 revealed, played her woman's part well though still 
 a mere child. She coaxed and petted her cousins. and 
 kept them occupied until the very moment when the 
 populace surrounded the Cinq-Cygne mansion. The two 
 brothers then knew their danger for the first time, and 
 looked at each other. Their resolution was instantly 
 taken ; thev armed their own servants and those of the 
 Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne, barricaded the doors, and 
 stood guard at the windows, after closing the wooden 
 blinds, with the five men-servants and the Abbe d'Haute- 
 serre, a relative of the Cinq-Cygnes. These eight 
 courageous champions poured a deadly fire into the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 35 
 
 crowd. Every shot killed or wounded an assailant. 
 Laurence, instead of wringing her hands, loaded the 
 guns with extraordinary coolness, and passed the balls 
 and powder to those who needed them. The Conitesse 
 de Cinq-Cygne was on her knees. 
 
 " What are you doing, mother? " said Laurence. 
 
 " I am praying," she answered, "for them and for 
 you." 
 
 Sublime words, — said also by the mother of Godo} r , 
 prince of the Peace, in Spain, under similar circum- 
 stances. 
 
 In a moment eleven persons were killed and lying or* 
 the ground among a number of wounded. Such results 
 either cool or excite a populace ; either it grows savage 
 at the work or discontinues it. On the present occa- 
 sion those in advance recoiled ; but the crowd behind 
 them were there to kill and rob, and when they saw 
 their own dead, they cried out: "Murder! Murder! 
 Revenge ! " The wiser heads went in search of the 
 representative to the Convention, Malm. The twins» 
 by this time aware of the disastrous events of the da}*, 
 suspected Malin of desiring the ruin of their family, and 
 of causing the arrest of their parents, and the suspicion 
 soon became a certainty. They posted themselves 
 beneath the porte-cochere, gun in hand, intending to 
 kill Malin as soon as he made his appearance ; but the 
 countess lost her head ; she imagined her house in ashes 
 
36 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 and her daughter assassinated, and she blamed the 
 3 T oung men for their heroic defence and compelled them 
 to desist. It was Laurence who opened the door slightly 
 when Malm summoned the household to admit him. 
 Seeing her, the representative relied upon the awe he 
 expected to inspire in a mere child, and he entered the 
 house. To his first words of inquiry as to wiry the 
 family were making such resistance, the girl replied : " If 
 you really desire to give liberty to France how is it that 
 you do not protect us in our homes? The}' are trying 
 to tear down this house, monsieur, to murder us, and 
 you say we have no right to oppose force to force ! " 
 
 Malin stood rooted to the ground. 
 
 4 'You, the son of a mason employed by the Grand 
 Marquis to build his castle ! " exclaimed Marie-Paul, 
 "}-ou have let them drag our father to prison — you 
 have believed calumnies ! " 
 
 " He shall be released at once," said Malin, who 
 thought himself lost when he saw each youth clutch his 
 weapon convulsively. 
 
 ' ' You owe your life to that promise," said Marie- 
 Paul, solemnly. " If it is not fulfilled to-night we shall 
 find you again." 
 
 " As to that howling populace," said Laurence, " If 
 3 T ou do not send them away, the next blood will be yours. 
 Now, Monsieur Malin, leave this house ! " 
 
 The Conventionalist did leave it, and he harangued 
 
An Historical Mystery. 37 
 
 the crowd, dwelling on the sacred rights of the domestic 
 hearth, the habeas corpus and the English " home." 
 He told them that the law and the people were sover- 
 eigns, that the law was the people, and that the people 
 could act onty through the law, and that power was 
 vested in the lav/. The particular law of personal neces- 
 sity made him eloquent, and he managed to disperse the 
 crowd. But he never forgot the contemptuous expres- 
 sion of the two brothers, nor the " Leave this house ! " 
 of Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. Therefore, when it 
 was a question of selling the estates of the Comte de 
 Cinq-Cygne, Laurence's brother, as national property, 
 the sale was rigorously made. The agents left nothing 
 for Laurence but the chateau, the park and gardens, and 
 one farm called that of Cinq-Cygne. Maliii instructed 
 the appraisers that Laurence had no rights be} ond her 
 legal share, — the nation taking possession of all that 
 belonged to her brother, who had emigrated and, above 
 all, had borne arms against the Republie. 
 
 The evening after this terrible tumult, Laurence so 
 entreated her cousins to leave the country, fearing 
 treachery on the part of Malin, or some trap into which 
 they might fall, that they took horse that night and 
 gained the Prussian outposts. The}' had scarcely 
 reached the forest of Gondreville before the hotel Cinq- 
 Cygne was surrounded ; Malin came himself to arrest 
 the heirs of the house of Simeuse. He dared not lay 
 
38 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 hands on the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne, who was in bed 
 with a nervous fever, nor on Laurence, a child of 
 twelve. The servants, fearing the severity of the 
 Republic, had disappeared. The next day the news of 
 the resistance of the brothers and their flight to Prussia 
 was known to the neighborhood. A crowd of three 
 thousand persons assembled before the hotel de Cinq- 
 Cygne, which was demolished with incredible rapidity, 
 Madame de Cinq-C} T gne, carried to the hotel Simeuse, 
 died there from the effects of the fever aggravated \>y 
 terror. 
 
 Michu did not appear in the political arena until after 
 these events, for the marquis and his wife remained in 
 prison over five months. During this time Malin was 
 awa}' on a mission. But when Monsieur Marion sold 
 Gondreville to the Councillor of State, Michu under- 
 stood the latter's game, — or rather, he thought he did ; 
 for Malin was, like Fouche, one of those personages 
 who are of such depth in all their different aspects that 
 the\ T are impenetrable when they play a part, and are 
 never understood until long after their drama is ended. 
 
 In all the chief circumstances of Malin's life he had 
 never failed to consult his faithful friend Grevin, the 
 notary of Arcis, whose judgment on men and things 
 was, at a distance, clear-cut and precise. This faculty 
 is the wisdom and makes the strength of second-rate 
 men. Now, in November, 1803, a combination of 
 
An Historical Mystery. 39 
 
 events (already related in the "Depute d'Arcis") made 
 matters so serious for the Councillor of State that a 
 letter might have compromised the two friends. Malin, 
 who hoped to be appointed senator, was afraid to offer 
 his explanations in Paris. He came to Gondreville, 
 giving the First Consul only one of the reasons that 
 made him wish to be there ; that reason gave him an 
 "appearance of zeal in the e\'es of Bonaparte ; whereas 
 his journey, far from concerning the interests of the 
 State, related to his own interests only. On this par- 
 ticular day, as Michu was watching the park and expect- 
 ing, after ^he manner of a red Indian, a propitious 
 moment for his vengeance, the astute Malin, accus- 
 tomed to turn all events to his own profit, was leading 
 his friend Grevin to a little field in the English garden, a 
 lonel} T spot in the park, favorable for secret conference. 
 There, standing in the centre of the grass plot and 
 speaking low, the friends were at too great a distance 
 to be overheard if any one were lurking near enough to 
 listen to them ; they were also sure of time to change 
 the conversation if others unwarily approached. 
 
 " Why could n't we have stayed in a room in the 
 chateau?" asked Grevin. 
 
 " Did n't you take notice of those two men whom the 
 prefect of police has sent here to me?" 
 
 Though Fouche made himself in the matter of the 
 Pichegru, Georges, Moreau, and Polignac conspiracy 
 
40 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 the soul of the Consular cabinet, he did not at this 
 control the ministry of police, but was merely a coun- 
 cillor of State like Malin. 
 
 "Those men," continued Malin, " are Fouche's two 
 arms. One, that young eland} 7 Corentin, whose face is 
 like a glass of lemonade, vinegar on his lips and ver- 
 juice in his eyes, put an end to the insurrection at the 
 West in the year VII. in less than fifteen days. The 
 other is a disciple of Lenoir ; he is the only one who 
 preserves the great traditions of the police. I had 
 asked for an agent of no great account, backed by 
 some official personage, and they send me # those past- 
 masters of the business ! Ah, Grevin, Fouche wants to 
 pry into my game. That 's why 1 left those fellows 
 dining at the chateau ; they may look into everything 
 for all I care ; they won't find Louis XVIII. nor any 
 sign of him." 
 
 "But see here, my dear fellow, what game are you 
 playing ? " cried Grevin. 
 
 " Ha, my friend, a double game is a dangerous one, 
 but this, taking Fouche into account, is a triple one. 
 He may have nosed the fact that I am in the secrets of 
 the house of Bourbon." 
 
 "You?" 
 
 " I," replied Malin. 
 
 " Have vou forgotten Favras?" 
 
 The words made an impression on the councillor. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 41 
 
 " Since when? " asked Grevin, after a pause. 
 
 " Since the Consulate for life." 
 
 " I hope there 's no proof of it? " 
 
 "Not that!" said Malin, clicking his thumb-nail 
 against his teeth. 
 
 In few words the Councillor of State gave a clear and 
 succinct account of the critical position in which Bona- 
 parte was about to hold England, by threatening her 
 with invasion from the camp at Boulogne ; he explained 
 to Grevin the bearings of that project, which was un- 
 observed by France and Europe but suspected b} r Pitt ; 
 also the critical position in which England was about to 
 put Bonaparte. A powerful coalition, Prussia, Austria, 
 and Russia, paid by English gold, was pledged to fur- 
 nish seven hundred thousand men under arms. At the 
 same time a formidable conspiracy was throwing a net- 
 work over the whole of France, including among its 
 members montagnards, chouans, royalists, and their 
 princes. 
 
 " Louis XVIII. held that as long as there were three 
 Consuls anarch}' was certain, and that he could at some 
 opportune moment take his revenge for the 13th Vende- 
 miaire and the 18th Fructidor," said Malin, " but the 
 Consulate for life has unmasked Bonaparte's intentions 
 — he will soon be emperor. The late sub-lieutenant 
 means to create a dynasty ! This time his life is in 
 actual danger ; and the plot is far better laid than 
 
42 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 that of the Rue Saint-Nicaise. Pichegru, Georges, 
 Moreau, the Due d'Enghien, Polignae and Riviere, the 
 two friends of the Comte d'Artois are in it." 
 
 " What an amalgamation ! " cried Grevin. 
 
 1 ' France is being silently invaded ; no stone is left 
 unturned ; the thing will be carried with a rush. A 
 hundred picked men, commanded by Georges, are to 
 attack the Consular guard and the Consul hand to 
 hand." 
 
 " Well then, denounce them." 
 
 1 ' For the last two months the Consul, his minister of 
 police, the prefect and Fouche, hold some of the clues 
 of this vast conspiracy ; but the}' don't know its full 
 extent, and at this particular moment the}* are leaving 
 nearly all the conspirators free, so as to discover more 
 about it." 
 
 "As to rights," said the notaiy, " the Bourbons have 
 much more right to conceive, plan, and execute a 
 scheme against Bonaparte, than Bonaparte had on the 
 18th Brumaire against the Republic, whose product he 
 was. He murdered his mother on that occasion, but 
 these royalists onl}* seek to recover what was theirs. I 
 can understand that the princes and their adherents, 
 seeing the lists of the emigres closed, mortgages sup- 
 pressed, the Catholic faith restored, anti-revolutionary 
 decrees accumulating, should begin to see that their 
 return is becoming difficult, not to say impossible. 
 
An Historical Mystery. . 43 
 
 Bonaparte being the sole obstacle now in their way, they 
 want to get rid of him — nothing simpler. Conspirators 
 if defeated are brigands, if successful, heroes ; and your 
 perplexit} r seems to me very natural." 
 
 " The matter now is," said Malin, " to make Bona- 
 parte fling the head of the Due d'Enghien at the Bour- 
 bons, just as the Convention flung the head of Louis 
 XVI. at the kings, so as to commit him as full}' as we 
 are to the Revolution ; or else, we must upset the idol of 
 the French people and their future emperor, and seat the 
 true throne upon his ruins. I am at the mercy of some 
 event, some fortunate pistol-shot, some infernal machine 
 which does its work. Even I don't know the whole 
 conspiracy ; they don't tell me all ; but they have 
 asked me to call the Council of State at the critical 
 moment and direct its action towards the restoration of 
 the Bourbons." 
 
 " Wait," said the notary. 
 
 " Impossible ! I am compelled to make ray decision 
 at once." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Well, the Simeuse brothers are in the conspiracy ; 
 they are here in the neighborhood ; I must either have 
 them watched, let them compromise themselves, and so 
 be rid of them, or else I must privately protect them. 
 I asked the prefect for underlings and he has sent me 
 lynxes, who came through Troyes and have got the 
 gendarmerie to support them." 
 
44 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Gondreville is your real object," said Grevin, 
 thoughtfully, " and this conspirac}- your best chance of 
 keeping it. Fouche, Talleyrand, and those two fellows 
 have nothing to do with that. Therefore play fair with 
 them. What nonsense ! those who cut Louis XVI. 's 
 head off are in the government ; France is full of men 
 who have bought national property, and yet }'Ou talk of 
 bringing back those who would require you to give up 
 Gondreville ! If the Bourbons were not imbeciles they 
 would pass a sponge over all we have done. Warn 
 Bonaparte, that 's nry advice." 
 
 wt A man of nry rank can't denounce," said Malin, 
 quickly. 
 
 " Your rank ! " exclaimed Grevin, smiling. 
 
 " They have offered to make me Keeper of the 
 Seals." 
 
 " Ah ! Now I understand 3'our bewilderment, and it 
 is for me to see clear in this political darkness and find 
 a way out for you. Now, it is quite impossible to fore- 
 see what events may happen to bring back the Bour- 
 bons when a General Bonaparte is in possession of 
 eighty line of battle ships and four hundred thousand 
 men. The most difficult thing of all in expectant poli- 
 tics is to know when a power that totters will fall ; but, 
 my old man, Bonaparte's power is not tottering, it is in 
 the ascendant. Don't you think that Fouche may be 
 sounding you so as to get to the bottom of your mind, 
 and then get rid of you ? " 
 
An Historical Mystery. 45 
 
 " No ; I am sure of my go-between. Besides, Fouche 
 would never, under those circumstances, send me such* 
 fellows as these ; he would know they would make me 
 suspicious." 
 
 "They alarm me," said Grevin. "If Fouche does 
 not distrust you, and is not seeking to probe you, why 
 does he send them ? Fouche does n't play such a trick 
 as that without a motive ; what is it ? " 
 
 " What decides me," said Malin, " is that I should 
 never be easy with those two Simeuse brothers in 
 France. Perhaps Fouche, who knows how I am placed 
 towards them, wants to make sure they don't escape 
 him, and hopes through them to reach the Condes." 
 
 " That's right, old fellow ; it is not under Bonaparte 
 that the present possessor of Gondreville can be 
 ousted." 
 
 Just then Malin, happening to look up, saw the 
 muzzle of a gun through the foliage Of a tall linden. 
 
 " I was not mistaken, I thought I heard the click of 
 a trigger," he said to Grevin, after getting behind the 
 trunk of a large tree, where the notar}*, uneasy at his 
 friend's sudden movement, followed him. 
 
 " It is Michu," said Grevin ; " I see his red beard." 
 
 •* Don't let us seem afraid," said Malin, who walked 
 slowly away, saying at intervals: "Why is that man 
 so bitter against the owners of this propeity? It was 
 not you he was covering. If he overheard us he had 
 
46 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 better ask the prayers of the congregation ! Who the 
 devil would have thought of looking up into the trees ! " 
 
 "There's always something to learn," said the 
 notary. " But he was a good distance off, and we 
 spoke low." 
 
 " I shall tell Corentin about it," replied Malin. 
 
An Historical Mystery, 47 
 
 III. 
 
 THE MASK THROWN OFF. 
 
 A few moments later Michu returned home, his face 
 pale, his features contracted. 
 
 44 What is the matter? " said his wife, frightened. 
 
 " Nothing," he replied, seeing Violette whose pres- 
 ence silenced him. 
 
 Michu took a chair and sat down quietly before the 
 fire, into which he threw a letter which he drew from a 
 tin tube such as are given to soldiers to hold their 
 papers. This act, which enabled Marthe to draw a 
 long breath like one relieved of a great burden, greatly 
 puzzled Violette. The bailiff laid his gun on the man- 
 tel-shelf with admirable composure. Marianne the ser- 
 vant, and Marthe's mother were spinning by the light of 
 a lamp. 
 
 "Come, Frangois," said the father, presenth T , " it is 
 time to go to bed." 
 
 He lifted the boy roughly by the middle of his body 
 and carried him off. 
 
 " Run down to the cellar," he whispered, when they 
 reached the stairs. " Empt} r one third out of two bot- 
 tles of the Macon wine, and fill up with the Cognac 
 
48 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 brandy which is on the shelf. Then mix a bottle of 
 white wine with one half brandy. Do it neatly, and 
 put the three bottles on the empty cask which stands 
 hy the cellar door. When you hear me open the win- 
 dow in the kitchen come out of the cellar, run to the 
 stable, saddle m}* horse, mount it, and go and wait for 
 me at Poteaudes-Gueux — That little scamp hates to 
 go to bed," said Michu, returning ; "he likes to do as 
 grown people do, see all, hear all, and know all. You 
 spoil my people, pere Violette." 
 
 " Goodness ! " cried Violette, " what has loosened 
 your tongue? I never heard you say as much before." 
 
 " Do you suppose I let myself be spied upon without 
 taking notice of it? You are on the wrong side, pere 
 Violette. If, instead of serving those who hate me, 
 you were on m} T side I could do better for you than 
 renew that lease of } T ours." 
 
 4 'How?" said the peasant, opening wide his avari- 
 cious eyes. 
 
 " I '11 sell you my propert}' cheap." 
 
 " Nothing is cheap when we have to pa}'," said 
 Violette, sententiously 
 
 " I want to leave the neighborhood, and I '11 let you 
 have my farm of Mousseau, the buildings, granary, and 
 cattle for fifty thousand francs." 
 
 ''Really?" 
 
 ' ' Does that suit you ? " 
 
An Historical Mystery. 49 
 
 •« Hang it ! I must think — " 
 
 44 We '11 talk about it — I shall want earnest money." 
 
 " I have no monej-." 
 
 44 Well, a note." 
 
 44 Can't give it." 
 
 44 Tell me who sent you here to-day." 
 
 44 1 am on my way back from where I went this after- 
 noon, and I only stopped in to sa}- good-evening." 
 
 44 Back without your horse? What a fool you must 
 take me for ! You are lying, and you shall not have 
 my farm." 
 
 44 Well, to tell 3 t ou the truth, it was Monsieur Grevin 
 who sent me. He said ' Violette, we want Michu ; do 
 you go and get him ; if he is n't at home, wait for him.' 
 I saw I should have to stay here all this evening." 
 
 44 Are those sharks from Paris still at the chateau? " 
 
 44 Ah! that I don't know; but there were people 
 in the salon." 
 
 44 You shall have my farm; we'll settle the terms 
 now. Wife, go and get some wine to wash down the 
 contract. Take the best Roussillon, the wine of the ex- 
 marquis, — we are not babes. You'll find a couple of 
 bottles on the empty cask near the door, and a bottle of 
 white wine." 
 
 44 Very good," said Violette, who never got drunk. 
 44 Let us drink." 
 
 44 You have fifty thousand francs beneath the floor of 
 
 4 
 
50 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 your bedroom under your bed, pere Violette ; you will 
 give theni to me two weeks after we sign the deed of 
 sale before Grevin — " Violette stared at Michu and 
 grew livid. "Ah! you came here to sp} r upon a 
 Jacobin who had the honor to be president of the club 
 at Arcis, and you imagine he will let you. get the better 
 of him ! I have eyes, I saw where your tiles have been 
 freshly cemented, and I concluded that you did not pry 
 them up to plant wheat under there. Come, drink." 
 
 Violette, much troubled, drank a large glass of wine 
 without noticing the quality ; terror had put a hot iron 
 in his stomach, the brand} 7 was not hotter than his 
 cupidity. He would have given many things to be 
 safety home and able to change the hiding-place of his 
 treasure. The three women smiled. 
 
 "Do you like that wine?" said Michu, refilling his 
 glass. 
 
 " Yes, I do." 
 
 After a good half-hour's discussion on the time when 
 the buyer might take possession, and on the various 
 punctilios which the peasantry bring forward when con- 
 cluding a bargain, — in the midst of assertions and 
 counter-assertions, the filling and emptying of glasses, 
 the giving of promises and denials, Violette suddenly fell 
 forward with his head on the table, not tipsy, but dead- 
 drunk. The instant that Michu saw his eyes blur he 
 opened the window. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 51 
 
 " Where 's that scamp Gaucher?" he said to his 
 wife. 
 
 " In bed." 
 
 " You, Marianne," said the bailiff to his faithful ser- 
 vant, " stand in front of his door and watch him. You, 
 mother, stay down here, and keep an e} r e on this spy ; 
 keep }'our eyes and ears open and don't unfasten the 
 door to an} T one but Frangois. It is a question of life 
 or death," he added, in a deep voice. " Even* creature 
 beneath my roof must remember that I have not quitted 
 it this night ; all of you must assert that — even though 
 3'our heads were on the block. Come," he said to 
 Marthe, " come, wife, put on your shoes, take your coif, 
 and let us be off! No questions — I go with you." 
 
 For the last three quarters of an hour the man's 
 demeanor and glance were of despotic authority, all- 
 powerful, irresistible, drawn from the same mysterious 
 source from which great generals on fields of battle who 
 inflame an army, great orators inspiring vast audi- 
 ences, and (it must be said) great criminals perpetrating 
 bold crimes derive their inspiration. At such times 
 invincible influence seems to exhale from the head and 
 issue from the tongue ; the gesture even can inject the 
 will of the one man into others. The three women 
 knew that some dreadful crisis was at hand ; without 
 warning of its nature they felt it in the rapid actions of 
 the man, whose countenance shone, whose forehead 
 
 ttwtVEBSITI 
 
52 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 spoke, whose brilliant eyes glittered like stars ; they 
 saw it in the sweat that covered his brow to the roots 
 of his hair, while more than once his voice vibrated 
 with impatience and fury. Marthe obe3^ed passively. 
 Armed to the teeth and with his gun over his shoulder 
 Michu, dashed into the avenue, followed hy his wife. 
 They soon reached the cross-roads where Frangois was 
 in waiting hidden among the bushes. 
 
 " The bo}~ is intelligent," said Michu, when he caught 
 sight of him. 
 
 These were his first words. His wife had rushed 
 after him, unable to speak. 
 
 " Go back to the house, hide in a thick tree, and 
 watch the country and the park," he said to his son. 
 " We have all gone to bed, no one is stirring. Your 
 grandmother will not open the door until you ask her to 
 let } t ou in. Remember every word I sa}' to } T ou. The 
 life of your father and } T our mother depends on it. No 
 one must know we did not sleep at home." 
 
 After whispering these words to the boy, who in- 
 stantly disappeared in the forest like an eel in the mud, 
 Michu turned to his wife. 
 
 "■Mount behind me," he said, " and pray that God 
 be with us. Sit firm, the beast may die of it." So 
 sa} T ing he kicked the horse with both heels, pressing 
 him with his powerful knees, and the animal sprang 
 forward with the rapidity of a hunter, seeming to under- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 53 
 
 stand what his master wanted of him, and crossed th 
 forest in fifteen minutes. Then Michu, who had no. 
 swerved from the shortest way, pulled up, found a spo 
 at the edge of the woods from which he could see the 
 roofs of the chateau of Cinq-C3'gne lighted by the moon, 
 tied his horse to a tree, and followed by his wife, 
 gained a little eminence which overlooked the valley. 
 
 The chateau, which Marthe and Michu looked at 
 together for a moment, makes a charming effect in the 
 landscape. Though it has little extent and is of no 
 importance whatever as architecture, }'et archseologi- 
 cally it is not without a certain interest. This old edi- 
 fice of the fifteenth century, placed on an eminence, 
 surrounded on all sides b} 7 a moat, or rather by deep, 
 wide ditches always full of water, is built in cobble- 
 stones buried in cement, the walls being seven feet 
 thick. Its simplicity recalls the rough and warlike life 
 of feudal days. The chateau, plain and unadorned, has 
 two large reddish towers at either end, connected by a 
 long main building with casement windows, the stone 
 mullions of which, being roughly carved, bear some 
 resemblance to vine-shoots. The stairway is outside 
 the house, at the middle, in a sort of pentagonal tower 
 entered through a small arched door. The interior of 
 the ground-floor together with the rooms on the first 
 stoiy were modernized in the time of Louis XIV., and 
 the whole building is surmounted by an immense roof 
 
54 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 broken by casement windows with carved triangular 
 pediments. Before the castle lies a vast green sward 
 the trees of which had recently been cut down. On 
 either side of the entrance bridge are two small dwel- 
 lings where the gardeners live, connected across the 
 road by a paltry iron railing without character, evi- 
 dently modern. To right and left of the lawn, which is 
 divided in two by a paved road-way, are the stables, 
 cow-sheds, barns, wood-house, bakery, poultry-yard, 
 and the offices, placed in what were doubtless the 
 remains of two wings of the old building similar to 
 those that were still standing. The two large towers, 
 with their pepper-pot roofs which had not been rased, 
 and the belfry of the middle tower, gave an air of dis- 
 tinction to the village. The church, also very old, 
 showed near by its pointed steeple, which harmonized 
 well with the solid masses of the castle. The moon 
 brought out in full relief the various roofs and towers 
 on which it played and sparkled. 
 
 Michu gazed at this baronial structure in a manner 
 that upset all his wife's ideas about him ; his face, now 
 calm, wore a look of hope and also a sort of pride. His 
 eyes scanned the horizon with a glance of defiance ; he 
 listened for sounds in the air. It was now nine o'clock ; 
 the moon was beginning to cast its light upon the mar- 
 gin of the forest and to illumine the little bluff on which 
 the} T stood. The position struck him as dangerous and 
 
An Historical Mystery. 55 
 
 he left it, fearful of being seen. But no suspicious 
 noise troubled the peace of the beautiful valley en- 
 circled on this side by the forest of Nodesme. Marthe, 
 exhausted and trembling, was awaiting some explana- 
 tion of their hurried ride. What was she engaged in? 
 Was she to aid in a good deed or an evil one ? At that 
 instant Michu bent to his wife's ear and whispered : — 
 
 " Go to the house and ask to speak to the Comtesse 
 de Cinq-Cygne ; when 3'ou see her beg her to speak to 
 3'ou alone. If no one can overhear 3*011, say to her : 
 ' Mademoiselle, the lives of your two cousins are in 
 danger, and he who can explain the how and wh}- is 
 waiting to speak to 3*011.' If she seems afraid, if she 
 distrusts 3*011, add these words : ' The3* are conspiring 
 against the First Consul and the conspiracy is discov- 
 ered.' Don't give 3'our name ; the3' distrust us too 
 much." 
 
 Marthe raised her face towards her husband and 
 said : — 
 
 " Can it be that 3*ou serve them? " 
 
 -- What if I do? " he said, frowning, taking her words 
 as a reproach. 
 
 -'You don't understand me," cried Marthe, seizing 
 his large hand and falling on her knees beside him as 
 she kissed it and covered it with her tears. 
 
 " Go, go, 3'ou shall cr3* later," he said, kissing her 
 vehementlv. 
 
56 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 When he no longer heard her step his e} T es filled with 
 tears. He had distrusted Marthe on account of her 
 father's opinions ; he had hidden the secrets of his life 
 from her ; but the beauty of her simple nature had sud- 
 denly appeared to him, just as the grandeur of his had, 
 as suddenly, revealed itself to her. Marthe had passed 
 in a moment from the deep humiliation caused by the 
 degradation of the man whose name she bore, to the 
 exaltation given by a sense of his nobleness. The 
 change was instantaneous, without transition ; it was 
 enough to make her tremble. She told him later that 
 she went, as it were, through blood from the pavilion 
 to the edge of the forest, and there was lifted to heaven, 
 in a moment, among the angels. Michu, who had 
 known he was not appreciated, and who mistook his 
 wife's grieved and melancholy manner for lack of affec- 
 tion, and had left her to herself, living chiefly out of 
 doors and reserving all his tenderness for his boy, 
 instantly understood the meaning of her tears. She 
 had cursed the part which her beauty and her father's 
 will had forced her to take ; but now happiness, in 
 the midst of this great storm, pla} T ed, with a beautiful 
 flame like a vivid lightning, about them. And it was 
 lightning ! Each thought of the ten years of miscon- 
 ception, and they blamed themselves only. Michu stood 
 motionless, his elbow on his gun, his chin on his elbow, 
 lost in deep reveiy. Such a moment in a man's life 
 
An Historical Mystery. 57 
 
 makes him willing to accept the saddest moments of a 
 painful past. 
 
 Marthe, agitated by the same thoughts as those of 
 her husband, was also troubled in heart by the danger 
 of the Simeuse brothers ; for she now understood all, 
 even the faces of the two Parisians, though she still 
 could not explain to herself her husband's gun. She 
 darted forward like a doe, and soon reached the road 
 to the chateau. There she was surprised by the steps 
 of a man following behind her ; she turned, with a cry, 
 and her husband's large hand closed her mouth. 
 
 " From the hill up there I saw the silver lace of the 
 gendarmes' hats. Go in by the breach in the moat 
 between Mademoiselle's tower and the stables. The 
 dogs won't bark at you. Go through the garden and 
 call the countess by the window ; order them to saddle 
 her horse, and ask her to come out through the breach. 
 I'll be there, after discovering what the Parisians are 
 planning and how to escape them." 
 
 Danger, which seemed to be rolling like an avalanche 
 upon them, gave wings to Marthe's feet. 
 
58 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 IV. 
 
 LAURENCE DE CINQ-CYGNE. 
 
 The old Frank name of the Cinq-Cygnes and the 
 Chargeboeufs was Duineff. Cinq-Cygne became that of 
 the younger branch of the Chargeboeufs after the de- 
 fence of a castle made, during their father's absence, b} T 
 five daughters of that race, all remarkably fair, and of 
 whom no one expected such heroism. One of the first 
 Comtes de Champagne wished, by bestowing this pretty 
 name, to perpetuate the memory of their deed as long 
 as the family existed. Laurence, the last of her race, 
 was, contrary to Salic law, heiress of the name, the 
 arms, and the manor. She was therefore Comtesse 
 de Cinq-Cygne in her own right ; her husband would 
 have to take both her name and her blazon, which bore 
 for device the glorious answer made 03- the elder of the 
 five sisters when summoned to surrender the castle, 
 " We die singing." Worthy descendant of these noble 
 heroines x Laurence was fair and lily-white as though 
 nature had made her for a wager. The lines of her 
 blue veins could be seen through the delicate close text- 
 ure of her skin. Her beautiful golden hair harmonized 
 delightfully with eyes of the deepest blue. Everything 
 
An Historical Mystery. 59 
 
 about her belonged to the type of delicacy. Within 
 that fragile though active body, and in defiance as it 
 were of its pearly whiteness, lived a soul like that of a 
 man of noble nature ; but no one, not oven a close 
 observer, would have suspected it from the gentle coun- 
 tenance and rounded features which, when seen in pro- 
 file, bore some slight resemblance to those of a lamb. 
 This extreme gentleness, though noble, had something 
 of the stupidity of the little animal. " I look like a 
 dreamy sheep," she would say, smiling. Laurence, who 
 talked little, seemed not so much dream}- as dormant. 
 But, did any important circumstance arise, the hidden 
 Judith was revealed, sublime ; and circumstances had, 
 unfortunately, not been wanting. 
 
 At thirteen years of age, Laurence, after the events 
 already related, was an orpjiaji living in a house oppo- 
 site to the empty space where so recently had stood one 
 of the most curious specimens in France of sixteenth- 
 century architecture, the hotel Cinq-Cygne. Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre, her relation, now her guardian, took the 
 young heiress to live in the country at her chateau 
 of Cinq-C} T gne. That brave provincial gentleman, 
 alarmed at the death of his brother, the Abbe d'Haute- 
 serre, who was shot in the open square as he was 
 about to escape in the dress of a peasant, was not in a 
 position to defend the interests of his ward. He had 
 two sons in the army of the princes, and every da}*, at 
 
 I : 
 
60 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the slightest unusual sound, he believed that the muni- 
 cipals of Arcis were coming to arrest him. Laurence, 
 proud of having sustained a siege and of possessing the 
 historic whiteness of her swan-like ancestors, despised 
 the prudent cowardice of the old man who bent to the 
 storm, and dreamed only of distinguishing herself. 
 So, she boldly hung the portrait of Charlotte Corday 
 on the walls of her poor salon at Cinq-C3'gne, and 
 crowned it with oak leaves. She corresponded by mes- 
 senger with her twin cousins, in defiance of the law, 
 which punished the act, when discovered, with death. 
 The messenger, who risked his life, brought back the 
 answers. Laurence lived only, after the catastrophes 
 at Troyes, for the triumph of the royvl cause. After 
 soberly judging Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre 
 (who lived with her at the chateau de Cinq-Cygne), and 
 recognizing their honest, but stolid natures, she put 
 them outside the lines of her own life. She had, how- 
 ever, too good a mind and too sound a judgment to 
 complain of their natures ; always kind, amiable, and 
 affectionate towards them, she nevertheless told them 
 'Ljione of her secrets. Nothing forms a character so 
 much as the practice of constant concealment in the 
 bosom of a family. 
 
 After she attained her majority Laurence allowed 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre to manage her affairs as in the 
 past. So long as her favorite mare was well-groomed, 
 
 r 
 
 
 
An Historical Mystery. 61 
 
 her maid Catherine dressed to please her, and Gothard 
 the little page was suitably clothed, she cared for noth- 
 ing else. Her thoughts were aimed too high to come 
 down to occupations and interests which in other times 
 than these would doubtless have pleased her. Dress 
 was a small matter to her mind ; moreover her cousins 
 were not there to see her. She wore a dark-green habit 
 when she rode, and a gown of some common woollen 
 stuff with a cape trimmed with braid when she walked ; 
 In the house she was always seen in a silk wrapper. 
 Gothard, the little groom, a brave and clever lad of 
 fifteen, attended her wherever she went, and she w r as 
 nearlj T alwa}*s out of doors, riding or hunting over the 
 farms of Gondreville, without objection being made by 
 either Michu or the farmers. She rode admirably well, 
 and her cleverness in hunting was thought miraculous. 
 In the countiy she was never called anything but 
 "Mademoiselle" even during the Revolution. 
 
 Whoever has read the fine romance of "Rob Roy" 
 will remember that rare woman for whose making 
 Walter Scott's imagination abandoned its customary 
 coldness, — Diana Vernon. The recollection will serve 
 to make Laurence understood if, to the noble qualities 
 of the Scottish huntress you add the restrained exalta- 
 ^tion of Charlotte Corday, suppressing, however, the 
 charming vivacity which rendered Diana so attractive. 
 The young countess had seen her mother die, the Abbe* 
 
 . 
 
 . i 
 

 62 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 d'Hauteserre shot down, the Marquis de Simeuse and 
 his wife executed ; her only brother had died of his 
 wounds ; her two cousins serving in Conde's arm}' 
 might be killed at any moment ; and, finally, the for- 
 tunes of the Simeuse and the Cinq-Cygne families had 
 been seized and wasted by the Republic without being 
 of any benefit to the nation. / Her grave demeanor, 
 now lapsing into apparent stolidity, can be readily 
 understood. 
 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre proved an upright and most 
 careful guardian. Under his administration Cinq- 
 Cygne became a sort of farm. The good man, who 
 was far more of a close manager than a knight of the 
 old nobility, had turned the park and gardens toj3roj|t, 
 and used their two hundred acres of grass and woodland 
 as pasturage for horses and fuel for the family. Thanks 
 to his severe economy the countess, on coming of age, 
 had recovered by his investments in the State funds a 
 competent fortune. In 1798 she possessed about twenty 
 thousand francs a year from those sources, on which, 
 in fact, some dividends were still due, and twelve 
 thousand francs a year from the rentals at Cinq-Cygne, 
 which had lately been renewed at a notable increase. 
 Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre had provided for 
 their old age by the purchase of an annuit} 7 of three 
 thousand francs in the Tontines Lafarge. That frag- 
 ment of their former means did not enable them to live 
 
An Historical Mystery. 63 
 
 elsewhere than at Cinq-Cygne, and Laurence's first act 
 on coming to her majority was to give them the use for 
 life of the wing of the chateau which the} 7 occupied. 
 
 The Hauteserres, as niggardly for their ward as they 
 were for themselves, laid up every year nearly the 
 whole of their annuity for the benefit of their sons, and 
 kept the young heiress on miserable fare. The whole 
 cost of the Cinq-Cygne household never exceeded five 
 thousand francs a year. But Laurence, who c^nde- 
 soenfleg to no details, was satisfied. Her guardian 
 and his wife, unconsciously ruled by the imperceptible 
 influence of her strong character, which was felt even in 
 little things, had ended by admiring her whom the}' had 
 known and treated as a child, — a sufficiently rare feel- 
 ing. But in her manner, her deerj_vo]ce, her command- 
 in g eye, L aurence held that inexplicable power which 
 rules all jmen, — even when its strength is mere appear- 
 ance. To vulgar minds real depth is incomprehensible ; 
 it is perhaps for that reason that the populace is so 
 prone to admire what it cannot understand. Monsieur 
 and Madame d'Hauteserre, i mpr essed by the habitual 
 silence and erratic habits of the young girl, were con- 
 stantly expecting some extraordinary thing of her. 
 
 Laurence, who did good intelligently and never 
 allowed herself to be deceived, was held in the utmost 
 respect by the peasantry although she was an aristo- 
 crat. Her sex, name, and great misfortunes, also the 
 
 
64 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 originality of her present life, contributed to give her 
 authority over the inhabitants of the valley of Cinq- 
 C3 r gne. She was sometimes absent for two days, at- 
 tended by Gothard, but neither Monsieur nor Madame 
 dHauteserre questioned her, on her return, as to the 
 i reasons of her . absences Please observe, however, that 
 there was nothing odd or eccentric about Laurence. 
 What she was and what she did was niaskgd, as it were, 
 by a feminine and even fragile appearance. Herjieart^ 
 was full of extreme vsensibility, though her head con- 
 tained a stoical firmness and the virile gift of resolu- 
 tion. Her clear-seeing eyes knew not how to weep ; 
 but no one would have imagined that the delicate white 
 wrist with its traceiy of blue veins could defy that of 
 the boldest horseman. Her hand, so noble, so flexible, 
 could handle gun or pistol with Ihe ease of a practised 
 marksman. She alwa} r s wore when out of doors the 
 coquettish little cap with visor and green veil which 
 women wear on horseback. Her delicate fair face, thus 
 protected, and her white throat tied with a black cravat, 
 were never injured by her long rides in all weathers. 
 
 Under the Directory and at the beginning of the 
 Consulate, Laurence had been able to escape the obser- 
 vation of others ; but since the government had become 
 a more settled thing, the new authorities, the prefect of 
 the Aube, Malin's friends, and Malm himself had 
 endeavored to undermine her in the communit} T . Her 
 
An Historical Mystery. 65 
 
 preoccupying thought was the overthrow of Bonaparte, 
 whose ambition and its triumphs excited the anger of 
 her snnl, — 1* fiold, d(>lil>pra.t,ft anger. The obscure and 
 hidden enenrv of a man at the pinnacle of glory, she 
 kept her gaze upon him from the depths of her valley 
 and her forests, with r elentl ess fixitj' ; there were times 
 when she thought of killing him in the roads about 
 Malmaison or Saint-Cloud. Plans for the execution of 
 this idea ma^Lhave been the cause of man} r of her past 
 actions, but having been initiated, after the peace of 
 Amiens, into the conspiracy of the men who expected 
 to make the 18th Brumaire recoil upon the First Con- 
 sul, she had thenceforth subordinated her faculties and 
 her hatred to their vast and well laid scheme, which 
 was to strike at Bonaparte externally b}' the vast coali- 
 tion of Russia, Austria, and Prussia (vanquished at 
 Austerlitz) and internally b} x the coalition of men 
 politically opposed to each other, but united by their 
 common hatred to a man whose death some of them 
 were meditating, like Laurence herself, without shrink- 
 ing from the word assassination. This j'oung girl, so" 
 f ragil gL-to the eye, so_. powerful to those who knew her 
 well, was at the present moment the faithful guide and 
 assistant of the exiled gentlemen who came from Eng- 
 land to take part in this deadly enterprise. 
 
 Fouche relied on the co-operation of the emigres 
 everywhere beyond the Rhine to lure the Due d'Enghien 
 
 5 
 
66 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 into the plot. The presence of that prince in the Baden 
 territory, not far from Strasburg, gave much weight 
 later to the accusation. The great question of whether 
 the prince r.ealty knew of the enterprise, and was wait- 
 ing on the frontier to enter France on its success, is 
 one of those secrets about which, as about several 
 others, the house of Bourbon has maintained an un- 
 broken silence. As the history of that period recedes 
 into the past, impartial historians will declare the im- 
 prudence, to say the least, of the Due d'Enghien in 
 placing himself close to the frontier at a time when a 
 vast conspiracy was about to break forth, the secret of 
 which was undoubtedly known to eveiy member of the 
 Bourbon family. 
 
 The caution which Malm dispkyed in talking with 
 Grevin in the open air, Laurence applied to her everj 
 action. She met the emissaries and conferred with 
 them either at various points in the Nodesme forest, or 
 be3'ond the valley of Cinq-Cygne, between the villages 
 of Sezanne and Brienne. Often she rode forty miles 
 on a stretch with Gothard, and returned to Cinq-C3'gne 
 without the least sign of weariness or pre-occupation on 
 her fair young face. 
 
 Some 3*ears earlier, Laurence had seen in the e}'es 
 of a little cow-bo}', then nine )'ears old, the artless 
 admiration which children feel for everything that is 
 out of the common way. She made him her page, 
 
An Historical Mystery. 67 
 
 and taught him to groom a horse with the nicety 
 and care of an Englishman. She saw in the lad a 
 desire to do well, a bright intelligence, and a total 
 absence of slj motives ; she tested his devotion and 
 found he had not only mind but nobility of character ; 
 he never dreamed of reward. The young girl trained 
 this soul that was still so } T oung ; she was good to him, 
 good with. dignity ; she attached him to her by attach- 
 ing herself to him, and by herself polishing a nature 
 that was half wild, without destroying its freshness or 
 its simplicity. When she had sufficiently tested the 
 almost canine fidelity she had nurtured, Gothard be- 
 came her intelligent and ingenuous accomplice. The 
 little peasant, whom no one could suspect, went from 
 Cinq-Cygne to Nanc}*, and often returned before any 
 one had missed him from the neighborhood. He knew 
 how to practise all the tricks of a spy. The extreme 
 distrust and caution his mistress had taught him did 
 not change his natural self. Gothard, who possessed 
 all the craft of a woman, the candor of a child, and the 
 ceaseless observation of a conspirator, hid eveiy one of 
 these admirable qualities beneath the torpor and dull 
 ignorance of a country lad. The little fellow had a 
 silly^weak, and clumsy appearance i but once at work 
 he was active as a fish ; he escaped like an eel ; he 
 understood, as the dogs do, the merest glance ; he 
 nosed a thought. His good fat face, both round and 
 
 I 
 
 
 // 
 
68 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 red, his sleep3 T brown e} r es, his hair, cut in the peasant 
 fashion, his clothes, and his slow growth gave him the 
 appearance of a child of ten. 
 
 The two young d'Hauteserres and the twin brothers 
 Simeuse, under the guidance of their cousin Laurence, 
 who had been watching over their safet}' and that of 
 the other emigres who accompanied them from Stras- 
 burg to Bar-sur-Aube, had just passed through Alsace 
 and Lorraine, and were now in Champagne while other 
 conspirators, not less bold, were entering France by the 
 cliffs of Normandy. Dressed as workmen the d'Haute- 
 serres and the Simeuse twins had walked from forest to 
 forest, guided on their way 03- relays of persons, chosen 
 03' Laurence during the last three months from among 
 the least suspected of the Bourbon adherents living in 
 each neighborhood. The emigres slept 03* day and 
 travelled by night. Each brought with him two faith- 
 ful soldiers ; one of whom went before to warn of dan- 
 ger, the other behind to protect a retreat. Thanks to 
 these military precautions, this valuable detachment had 
 at last reached, without accident, the forest of Nodesme, 
 which was chosen as the rendezvous. Twenty-seven 
 other gentlemen had entered France from Switzerland 
 and crossed Burgundy, guided towards Paris with the 
 same caution. 
 
 Monsieur de Riviere counted on collecting five hun- 
 dred men, one hundred of whom were young nobles, 
 
An Historical Mystery. 69 
 
 the officers of this sacred legion. Monsieur de 
 Polisrnac and Monsieur de Riviere, whose conduct as 
 chiefs of this advance was most remarkable, afterwards 
 preserved an impenetrable secrec}' as to the names of 
 those of their accomplices who were not discovered. It 
 may be said, therefore, now that the Restoration has made 
 matters clearer, that Bonaparte never knew the extent of 
 the danger he then ran, an}' more than England knew the 
 peril she had escaped from the camp at Boulogne ; and 
 yet the police of France was never more intelligently or 
 ably managed. 
 
 At the period when this history begins, a coward — 
 for cowards are always to be found in conspiracies 
 which are not confined to a small number of equally 
 strong men — a sworn confederate, brought face to face 
 with death, gave certain information, happily insuffi- 
 cient to cover the extent of the conspirac}', but precise 
 enough to show the object of the enterprise. The 
 police had therefore, as Malin told Grevin, left the con- 
 spirators at liberty, though all the while watching 
 them, hoping to discover the ramifications of the plot. 
 Nevertheless, the government found its hand to a cer- 
 tain extent forced b} T Georges Cadoudal, a man of action 
 who took counsel of himself only, and who was hiding 
 in Paris with twent} r -five chouans for the purpose of 
 attacking the First Consul. 
 
 Laurence combined both hatred and love within her 
 
70 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 breast. To destroy Bonaparte and bring back the 
 Bourbons was to recover Gondreville and make the for- 
 tune of her cousins. The two sentiments, one the 
 counterpart of the other, were sufficient, more espe- 
 cially at twenty- three years of age, to excite all the 
 faculties of her soul and all the powers of her being. 
 So, for the last two months, she had seemed to the in- 
 habitants of Cinq-Cygne more beautiful than at any 
 other period of her life. Her cheeks became rosy ; 
 hope gave pride to her brow ; but when old d'Haute- 
 serre read the Gazette at night and discussed the 
 conservative course of the First Consul she lowered her 
 e} T es to conceal her passionate- hopes of the coming fall 
 of that enemy of the Bourbons. 
 
 No one at the chateau had the faintest idea that the 
 young countess had met her cousins the night before. 
 The two sons of Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre 
 had passed the preceding night in Laurence's own room, 
 under the same roof with their father and mother ; and 
 Laurence, after knowing them safely in bed had gone 
 between one and two o'clock in the morning to a ren- 
 dezvous with her cousins in the forest, where she hid 
 them in the deserted hut of a wood-dealer's agent. 
 The following day, certain of seeing them again, she 
 showed no signs of her joy ; nothing about her betra}'ed 
 emotion ; she was able to efface all traces of pleasure 
 at having met them again ; in fact, she was impassible. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 71 
 
 Catherine, her pretty maid, daughter of her former nurse, 
 and Gothard, both in the secret, modelled their behavior 
 upon hers. Catherine was nineteen years old. At that 
 age a girl is a fanatic and would let her throat be cut 
 before betraying a thought of one she loves. As for 
 Gothard, merety to inhale the perfume which the coun- 
 tess used in her hair and among her clothes he would 
 have borne the rack without a word. 
 
72 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 v. 
 
 ROYALIST HOMES AND PORTRAITS UNDER THE 
 
 CONSULATE. 
 
 At the moment when Marthe, driven by the immi- 
 nence of the peril, was gliding with the rapidity of a 
 shadow towards the breach of which Michu had told 
 her, the salon of the chateau of Cinq-Cygne presented a 
 peaceful sight. Its occupants were so far from suspect- 
 ing the storm that was about to burst upon them that 
 their quiet aspect would have roused the compassion of 
 any one who knew their situation. In the large fire- 
 place, the mantel of which was adorned with a mirror 
 with shepherdesses in paniers painted on its frame, 
 burned a fire such as can be seen only in chateaus 
 bordering on forests. At the corner of this fireplace, 
 on a large square sofa of gilded wood with a mag- 
 nificent brocaded cover, the 3 T oung countess lay as 
 it were extended, in an attitude of utter weariness. 
 Returning at six o'clock from the confines of Brie, 
 having pla}*ed the part of scout to the four gentlemen 
 whom she guided safely to their last halting-place 
 before they entered Paris, she had found Monsieur 
 and Madame d'Hauteserre just finishing their dinner. 
 
 i 
 
An Historical Mystery. 73 
 
 Pressed by hunger she sat down to table without chang- 
 ing either her mwkty habit or her boots. Instead of 
 doing so at once after dinner, she was suddenly over- 
 come with fatigue and allowed her head with its beau- 
 tiful fair curls to drop on the back of the sofa, her 
 feet being supported in front of her b}' a stool. The 
 warmth of the fire had dried the mud on her habit and 
 on her boots. Her doeskin gloves and the little 
 peaked cap with its green veil and a whip lay on the 
 table where she had flung them. She looked sometimes 
 at the old Boule clock which stood on the mantelshelf 
 between the candelabra, perhaps to judge if her four 
 conspirators were asleep, and sometimes at the card- 
 table in front of the fire where Monsieur and Madame 
 d'Hauteserre, the cure of Cinq-Cygne, and his sister 
 were playing a game of boston. 
 
 Even if these personages were not imbedded in this 
 drama, their portraits would have the merit of represent- 
 ing one of the aspects of the aristocracy after its over- 
 throw in 1793. From this point of view, a sketch of 
 the salon at Cinq-Cj'gne has the raciness of history seen 
 in dishabille. 
 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre, then fifty- two j'ears of age, 
 tall, spare, high-colored, and robust in health, would 
 have seemed the embodiment of vigor if it were not 
 for a pair of porcelain blue eyes, the glance of which 
 denoted the most absolute simplicity. In his face, which 
 
74 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 ended in a long pointed chin, there was, judging by 
 the rules of design, an unnatural distance between his 
 nose and mouth which gave him a submissive air, 
 wholly in keeping with his character, which harmon- 
 ized, in fact, with other details of his appearance. 
 His gray hair, flattened by his hat, which he wore nearly 
 all da}*, looked much like a skull-cap on his head, and 
 defined its pear-shaped outline. His forehead, much 
 wrinkled 03- life in the open air and by constant anx- 
 ieties, was flat and expressionless. His aquiline nose 
 redeemed the face somewhat ; but the sole indication of 
 any strength of character la} T in the bush}' eyebrows 
 which retained their blackness, and in the brilliant 
 coloring of his skin. These signs were in some re- 
 spects not misleading, for the wortlry gentleman, though 
 simple and very gentle, was Catholic and monarchical 
 in faith, and no consideration on earth could make 
 him change his views. Nevertheless he would have 
 let himself be arrested without an effort at defence, 
 and would have gone to the scaffold quietly. His 
 annuity of three thousand francs had kept him from 
 emigrating. He therefore obeyed the government de 
 facto without ceasing to love the royal fainilj T and to 
 pray for their return, though he would firmly have 
 refused to compromise himself by any effort in their 
 favor. He belonged to that class of royalists who 
 ceaselessly remembered that they were beaten and 
 
nit 
 
 j>^- r- 
 
 J.w Historical Mystery. 75 
 
 robbed ; and who remained thenceforth dumb, economi- 
 cal, rancorous, without energy ; incapable of abjuring 
 the past, but equally incapable of sacrifice ; waiting to 
 greet triumphant royalty ; true to religion and true to 
 the priesthood, but firmly resolved to bear in silence 
 the shocks of fate. Such an attitude cannot be con- 
 sidered that of maintaining opinions, it becomes sheer 
 obstinacy. Action is the essence of party. Without 
 intelligence, but loyal, miserly as a peasant yet noble 
 in demeanor, bold in his wishes but discreet in word 
 and action, turning all things to profit, willing even to 
 be made mayor of Cinq-Cygne, Monsieur d'Hauteserre 
 was an admirable representative of those honorable 
 gentlemen on whose brow God himself has written the 
 word mites, — Frenchmen who burrowed in their coun- 
 try homes and let the storms of the Revolution pass 
 above their heads ; who came once more to the surface 
 under the Restoration, rich with their hidden savings, 
 proud of their discreet attachment to the monarch}', and 
 who, after 1830, recovered their estates. 
 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre' s costume, expressive en- 
 velope of his distinctive character, described to the eye 
 both the man and his period. He always wore one of 
 those nut-colored great-coats with small collars which 
 the Due d'Orleans made .the fashion after his return 
 from England, and which were, during the Revolution, 
 a sort of compromise between the hideous popular gar- 
 
76 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 ments and the elegant surtouts of the aristocracy. His 
 velvet waistcoat with flowered stripes, the style of 
 which recalled those of Robespierre and Saint-Just, 
 showed the upper part of a shirt-frill in fine plaits. He 
 still wore breeches ; but his were of coarse blue cloth, 
 with burnished steel buckles. His stockings of black 
 spun-silk defined his deer-like legs, the feet of which 
 were shod in thick shoes, held in place by gaiters of 
 black cloth. He retained the former fashion of a mus- 
 lin cravat in innumerable folds fastened by a gold 
 buckle at the throat. The worthy man had not in- 
 tended an act of political eclecticism in adopting this 
 costume, which combined the styles of peasant, revolu- 
 tionist, and aristocrat ; he simply and innocently obeyed 
 the dictates of circumstances. 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre, forty } T ears of age and wasted 
 by emotions, had a faded face which seemed to be 
 alwa}^s posing for its portrait. A lace cap, trimmed 
 with bows of white satin, contributed singularly to give 
 her a solemn air. She still wore powder, in spite of a 
 white kerchief, and a gown of puce-colored silk with tight 
 sleeves and full skirt, the sad last garments of Marie- 
 Antoinette. Her nose was pinched, her chin sharp, 
 the whole face nearly triangular, the eyes worn-out with 
 weeping ; but she now wore a touch of rouge which 
 brightened their gra} T ness. She took snuff, and each 
 time that she did so she employed all the pretty precau- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 77 
 
 tions of the fashionable women of her earl}' clays ; the 
 details of this snuff-taking constituted a ceremony which 
 could be explained by one fact — she had very pretty 
 hands. 
 
 For the last two years the former tutor of the 
 Simeuse twins, a friend of the late Abbe d'Hauteserre, 
 named Goujet, Abbe des Minimes, had taken charge of 
 the parish of Cinq-Cygne jout oL ixiendship for lh° 
 d'Hauteserres and the young countess. His sister, 
 Mademoiselle Goujet, who possessed a little income 
 of seven hundred francs, added that sum to the meagre 
 salary of her brother and kept his house. Neither 
 church nor parsonage had been sold during the Revolu- 
 tion on account of their small value. The abbe and his 
 sister lived close to the chateau, for the wall of the par- 
 sonage garden and that of the park were the same in 
 some places. Twice a week the pair dined at the 
 chateau, but the} T came every evening to play boston 
 with the d'Hauteserres ; for Laurence, unable to plav 
 a game, did not even know one card from another. 
 
 The Abbe Goujet, an old man with w!iilc£hair and aJ— 
 face as white as that of an old woman, endowed with a 
 kindly, smile and a gentle and persuasive voice, re- 
 deemed the insipidity of his rather mincing face by a 
 fine intellectual brow and a— pair— ef^keem eyes. Of 
 medium height, and very well made, Be still wore the 
 old-fashioned black coat, silver shoe-buckles, breeches, 
 

 78 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 black silk stockings, and a black waistcoat on which 
 lay his clerical bands, giving him a disiingttis-hed air 
 which detracted nothing from his d ignity. „ This abbe, 
 who became bishop of Troyes after the Restoration, 
 had long made a study of young people and fully under- 
 stood the noble character of the young countess ; he 
 appreciated her at her full value, and had shown her, 
 from the first, a respectful deference which contributed 
 much to her independence at Cinq-C}'gne, fpr it led the 
 austere old lady and the kind old gentleman to yield to 
 the young girl, who by rights should have yielded to 
 them. For the last six months the abbe had watched 
 Laurence with the intuition peculiar to priests, the most 
 sagacious of men ; and although he did not know that 
 this girl of twenty-three was thinking of overturning 
 Bonaparte as she lay there twisting with slender fin- 
 gers the frogged lacing of her riding-habit, he was well 
 aware that she was agitated by some great project. 
 
 Mademoiselle Goujet was one of those unmarried 
 women whose portrait can be drawn in one word which 
 will enable the least imaginative mind to picture her ; 
 she was ungainly. She knew her own ugliness and was 
 the first to laugh at it, showing her long teeth, 3-ellow 
 as her complexion and her bony hands. She was gay 
 and hearty. She wore the famous short gown of 
 former days, a very full skirt with pockets full of keys, 
 a cap with ribbons and a false front. She was forty 
 
An Historical Mystery. 79 
 
 years of age very earl}', but had, so she said, caught up 
 with herself by keeping at that age for twenty years. 
 She revered the nobility ; and knew well how to pre- 
 serve her own dignity by giving to persons of noble 
 birth the respect and deference that were due* to 
 them. 
 
 This little comparry was a god-send to Madame 
 d'Hauteserre, who had not, like her husband, rural oc- 
 cupations, nor, like Laurence, the tonic of hatred, to 
 enable her to bear the dulness of a retired life. Many 
 things had happened to ameliorate that life within the 
 last six 3 r ears. The restoration of Catholic worship 
 allowed the faithful to fulfil their religious duties, which 
 play more of a part in country life than elsewhere. 
 Protected by the conservative edicts of the First Consul, 
 Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre had been able to 
 correspond with their sons, and no longer in dread 
 of what might happen to them could even hope for 
 the erasure of their names from the lists of the pro- 
 scribed and their consequent return to France. The 
 Treasury had lately made up the arrearages and now 
 paid its dividends promptly ; so that the d'Hauteserres 
 received, over and above their annuit}% about eight 
 thousand francs a year. The old man congratulated 
 himself on the sagacity of his foresight in having put 
 all his savings, amounting to twent}* thousand francs, 
 together with those of his ward, in the public Funds 
 
80 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 before the 18th Brumaire, which, as we all know, sent 
 those stocks up from twelve to eighteen francs. 
 
 The chateau of Cinq-Cj'gne had long been empt}* and 
 denuded of furniture. The prudent guardian was care- 
 ful not to alter its aspect during the revolutionary 
 troubles ; but after the peace of Amiens he made a 
 journey to Troj'es and brought back various relics of 
 the pillaged mansions which he obtained from the 
 dealers in second-hand furniture. The salon was fur- 
 nished for the first time since their occupation of the 
 house. Handsome curtains of white brocade with green 
 flowers, from the hotel de Simeuse, draped the six win- 
 dows of the salon, in which the family were now assem- 
 bled. The walls of this vast room were entirely of 
 wood, with panels encased in beaded mouldings with 
 masks at the angles ; the whole painted in two shades of 
 gray. The spaces over the four doors were filled with 
 those designs, painted in cameo of two colors, which 
 were so much in vo^ue under Louis XV. Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre had picked up at Troyes certain gilded 
 pier-tables, a sofa in green damask, a ciystal chande- 
 lier, a card-table of marquetrv, among other things that 
 served him to restore the chateau. In 1792 all the fur- 
 niture of the house had been taken or destnryed, for the 
 pillage of the mansions in town was imitated in the 
 valley. Each time that the old man went to Treves he 
 returned with some relic of the former splendor, some- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 81 
 
 times a fine carpet for the floor of the salon, at other 
 times part of a dinner service, or a bit of rare old por- 
 celain of either Sevres or Dresden. During the last six 
 months he had ventured to dig up the family silver, 
 which the cook had buried in the cellar of a little house 
 belonging to him at the end of one of the long faubourgs 
 in Troj'es. 
 
 That faithful servant, named Durieu, and his wife 
 had followed the fortunes of their }Oung mistress. 
 Durieu was the factotum of the chateau, and his wife 
 was the housekeeper. He was helped in the cooking 
 by the sister of Catherine, Laurence's maid, to whom 
 he was teaching his art and who gave promise of be- 
 coming an excellent cook. An old gardener, his wife, 
 a son paid by the day, and a daughter who served as a 
 dairy-woman, made up the household. Madame Durieu 
 had lately and secretly had the Cinq-Cygne liveries 
 made for the gardener's son and for Gothard. Though 
 blamed for this imprudence by Monsieur d'Hauteserre, 
 the housekeeper took great pleasure in seeing the din- 
 ner served on the festival of Saint-Laurence, the coun- 
 tess's fete-day, with almost as much style as in former 
 times. 
 
 This slow and difficult restoration of departed things 
 was the delight of Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre 
 and the Durieus. Laurence smiled at what she thought 
 nonsense. But the worthy old d'Hauteserre did not 
 
 6 
 
82 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 forget the more solid matters ; he repaired the build- 
 ings, put up the walls, planted trees wherever there was 
 a chance to make them grow, and did not leave an 
 inch of unproductive land. The whole valley regarded 
 him as an oracle in the matter of agriculture. He had 
 managed to recover a hundred acres of contested land, 
 not sold as national property, being in some way con- 
 founded with that of the township. This land he had 
 turned into fields which afforded good pasturage for his 
 horses and cattle, and he planted them round with pop- 
 lars, which now, at the end of six }'ears, were making a 
 fine growth. He intended to buy back some of the 
 lost estate, and to utilize all the out-buildings of the 
 chateau by making a second farm and managing it 
 himself. 
 
 Life at the chateau had thus become during the last 
 two 3 T ears prosperous and almost happy. Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre was off at daybreak to overlook his labor- 
 ers, for he emplo}'ed them in all weathers. He came 
 home to breakfast, mounted his farm pony as soon as 
 the meal was over, and made his rounds of the estate 
 like a bailiff, — getting home in time for dinner, and fin- 
 ishing the day with a game of boston. All the inhabi- 
 tants of the chateau had their stated occupations ; life 
 was as closely regulated there as in a convent. Laurence 
 alone disturbed its even tenor by her sudden journeys, her 
 uncertain returns, and by what Madame d'Hauteserre 
 
An Historical Mystery. 83 
 
 called her pranks. But with all this peacefulness there 
 existed at Cinq-C3'gne conflicting interests and certain 
 causes of dissension. In the first place Durieu and his 
 wife were jealous of Catherine and Gothard, who lived 
 in greater intimacy with their young mistress, the idol 
 of the household, than they did. Then the two d'Haute- 
 serres, encouraged by Mademoiselle Goujet and the 
 abbe, wanted their sons as well as the Simeuse brothers 
 to take the oath and return to this quiet life, instead 
 of living miserably in foreign countries. Laurence 
 scouted the odious compromise and stood firmly for the 
 monarch}-, militant and implacable. The four old peo- 
 ple, anxious that their present peaceful existence should 
 not be risked, nor their spot of refuge, saved from the 
 furious waters of the revolutionar}* torrent, lost, did 
 their best to convert Laurence to their cautious views, 
 believing that her influence counted for much in the 
 unwillingness of their sons and the Simeuse twins to 
 return to France. The superb disdain with which she 
 met the project frightened these poor people, who were 
 not mistaken in their fears that she was meditating 
 what they called knight-errantry. This jarring of 
 opinion came to the surface after the explosion of the 
 infernal machine in the rue Saint-Xicaise, the first roy- 
 alist attempt against the conqueror of Marengo after 
 his refusal to treat with the house of Bourbon. The 
 d'Hauteserres considered it fortunate that Bonaparte 
 
 \ 
 
84 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 escaped that danger, believing that the republicans 
 had instigated it. But Laurence wept with rage when 
 she heard he was safe. Her despair overcame her 
 usual reticence, and she vehemently complained that 
 God had deserted the sons of Saint-Louis. 
 
 "I," she exclaimed, "I could have succeeded! 
 Have we no right," she added, seeing the stupefac- 
 tion her words produced on the faces about her, and 
 addressing the abbe, " no right to attack the usurper 
 by every means in our power ? " 
 
 " My child," replied the abbe, " the Church has been 
 greatly blamed by philosophers for declaring in former 
 times that the same weapons might be emploj'ed against 
 usurpers which the usurpers themselves had empk>3 r ed 
 to succeed ; but in these days the Church owes far 
 too much to the First Consul not to protect him against 
 that maxim, — which, by the by, was due to the 
 Jesuits." 
 
 " So the Church abandons us!" she answered, 
 gloomily. 
 
 From that day forth whenever the four old people 
 talked of submitting to the decrees of Providence, Lau- 
 rence left the room. Of late, the abbe, shrewder than 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre, instead of discussing principles, 
 drew pictures of the material advantages of the consu- 
 lar rule, less to convert the countess than to detect in 
 her eyes some expression which might enlighten him as 
 
An Historical Mystery. 85 
 
 to her projects. Gothard's frequent disappearances, 
 the long rides of his mistress, and her evident preoccu- 
 pation, which, for the last few days, had appeared in 
 her face, together with other little signs not to be hid- 
 den in the silence and tranquillity of such a life, had 
 roused the fears of these submissive royalists. Still, as 
 no event happened, and perfect quiet appeared to reign 
 in the political atmosphere, the minds of the little 
 household were soothed into peace, and the countess's 
 long rides were once more attributed to her passion for 
 hunting. 
 
 It is easy to imagine the deep silence which reigned 
 at nine o'clock in the evening in the park, courtyards, 
 and gardens of Cinq-C}'gne, where at that particular 
 moment the persons we have described were harmoni- 
 ously grouped, where perfect peace pervaded all things, 
 where comfort and abundance were again enjoyed, and 
 where the worthy and judicious old gentleman was still 
 hoping to convert his late ward to his system of obedi- 
 ence to the ruling powers by the argument of what we 
 may call the continuity of prosperous results. 
 
 These ro} T alists continued to play their boston, a game 
 which spread ideas of independence under a frivolous 
 form over the whole of France ; for it was first invented 
 in honor of the American insurgents, its \evy terms 
 applying to the struggle which Louis XVI. encouraged. 
 While making their " independences" and " poverties," 
 
86 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the players kept an eye on the countess, who had fallen 
 asleep, overcome by fatigue, with a singular smile on 
 her lips, her last waking thought having been of the 
 terror two words could inspire in the minds of the 
 peaceful company by informing the d'Hauteserres that 
 their sons had passed the preceding night under that 
 roof. What young girl of twenty-three would not have 
 been, as Laurence was, proud to play the part of Des- 
 tiny? and who would not have felt, as she did, a sense 
 of compassion for those whom she felt to be so far 
 below her in loyalty? 
 
 44 She sleeps," said the abbe*. " I have never seen 
 her so wearied." 
 
 " Durieu tells me her mare is almost foundered," re- 
 marked Madame d'Hauteserre. " Her gun has not 
 been fired ; the breech is clean ; she has evidently not 
 hunted." 
 
 " Oh! that's neither here nor there," said the 
 abbe*. 
 
 "Bah?" cried Mademoiselle Goujet; " when I was 
 twenty-three and saw I should be an old maid all my 
 life, I rushed about and fatigued myself in a dozen 
 ways. I understand how the countess can scour the 
 country for hours without thinking of the game. It is 
 nearly twelve years now since she has seen her cousins, 
 and you know she loves them. Well, if I were she, if I 
 were as young and pretty, I 'd make a straight line for 
 
• An Historical Mystery. 87 
 
 Germany ! Poor darling, perhaps she is thinking of the 
 frontier, and tha^t may be the reason why she rides so 
 far towards it." 
 
 44 You are rather giddy, Mademoiselle Gonjet," said 
 the abbe, smiling. 
 
 44 Not at all," she replied. 44 1 see you all uneasy 
 about the goings on of a young girl, and I am explain- 
 ing them to you." 
 
 " Her cousins will submit and return soon ; they will 
 all be rich, and she will end by calming down," said old 
 d'Hauteserre. 
 
 44 God grant it!" said his wife, taking out a gold 
 snuff-box which had again seen the light under the 
 Consulate. 
 
 44 There is something stirring in the neighborhood," 
 remarked Monsieur d'Hauteserre to the abbe. 44 Malin 
 has been two days at Gondreville." 
 
 44 Malin!" cried Laurence, roused by the name, 
 though her sleep was sound. 
 
 44 Yes," replied the abbe, 4 ' but he leaves to-night; 
 everybody is conjecturing the motive of this hast}' 
 visit." 
 
 44 That man," said Laurence, 44 is the evil genius of 
 our two houses." 
 
 The countess had been dreaming of her cousins 
 and the }'oung Hauteserres ; she saw them in peril. 
 Her beautiful eyes grew fixed and glassy as her mind 
 
88 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 thus warned dwelt on the dangers they were about to 
 incur in Paris. She rose suddenly and went to her bed- 
 room without speaking. Her bedroom was the best in 
 ihe house ; next it came a dressing-room and an oratory, 
 in the tower which faced towards the forest. Soon 
 after she had left the salon the dogs barked, the bell of 
 the small gate rang, and Durieu rushed into the salon 
 with a frightened face. "Here is the mayor!" he 
 said. " Something is the matter." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 89 
 
 VI. 
 
 A DOMICILIARY VISIT. 
 
 The mayor, a former huntsman of the house of 
 Simeuse, came occasionally to the chateau, where the 
 d'Hauteserres showed him, out of policy, a deference 
 to which he attached great value. His name was Gou- 
 lard ; he had married a rich woman of Troyes, whose 
 property, which was in the commune of Cinq-Cj'gne, he 
 had further increased by the purchase of a fine abbey 
 and its lands, in which he invested all his savings. 
 The vast abbey of Val-des-Preux, standing about a mile 
 from the chateau, he had turned into a dwelling that 
 was almost as splendid as Gondreville ; in it his wife 
 and he were now living like rats in a cathedral. " Ah ! 
 Goulard, you have been greedy," Mademoiselle had 
 said to him with a laugh the first time she received 
 him at Cinq-Cygne. Though greatly attached to the 
 Revolution and coldly received by the countess, the 
 mayor always felt himself bound by ties of respect to 
 the Cinq-Cygne and Simeuse families. He therefore 
 shut his eyes to what went on at the chateau. He 
 called shutting his eyes not seeing the portraits of 
 Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and the royal children, 
 
90 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 and those of Monsieur, the Comte d'Artois, Cazales 
 and Charlotte Corday, which filled the various panels 
 of the salon ; not resenting either the wishes freery ex- 
 pressed in his presence for the ruin of the Republic, or 
 the ridicule flung at the five directors and all the other 
 governmental combinations of that time. The position 
 of this man, who, like many parvenus, having once 
 made his fortune, reverted to his early faith in the old   
 families, and sought to attach himself to. them, was now 
 being made use of by the two members of the Paris 
 police whose profession had been so quickly guessed by 
 Michu, and who, before going to Gondreville had recon- 
 noitred the neighborhood. 
 
 These men had a secret mission. Malin was not mis- 
 taken in attributing a double purpose to those stars of 
 tragic farces. But, before seeing them at work, it is 
 advisable to show the head of which they were the 
 arms. When Bonaparte became First Consul he found 
 Fouche at the head of the police. The Revolution had 
 frankly and with good reason made the management of 
 the police into a special minist^. But after his return 
 from Marengo, Bonaparte created the prefecture of 
 police, placed Dubois in charge of it, and called Fouche 
 to the Council of State, naming as his successor in the 
 ministry a conventional named Cochon, since known as 
 Comte de Lapparent. Fouche, who considered the min- 
 istr} T of police as by far the most important in a govern- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 91 
 
 ment of broad ideas and fixed policy, saw disgrace or 
 at any rate distrust in the change. After Napoleon 
 became aware of the immense superiorit} 7 of this great 
 statesman, as evidenced in the affair of the infernal 
 machine and in the conspiracy with which we are now 
 concerned, he returned him to the ministry of police. 
 Later still, becoming alarmed at the powers Fouche 
 displayed during his absence at the time of the affair at 
 Walcheren, the Emperor gave that ministry to the Due 
 de Rovigo, and sent Fouche (Due d'Otrante) as gover- 
 nor to the Illyrian provinces, — an appointment which 
 was in fact an exile. 
 
 The singular genius of this man, Fouche, which had 
 the power of inspiring Napoleon with a sort of fear, did 
 not reveal itself all at once. This obscure conven- 
 tional, one of the most extraordinary men of our time, 
 and the most misjudged, was moulded, as it were, by 
 the whirlwind of events. He raised himself under the 
 Directory to the height from which men of genius can 
 see the future and judge the past, and then, like certain 
 commonplace actors who suddenly become admirable 
 through the light of some vivid perception, he gave 
 proofs of his dexterit} T during the rapid revolution of 
 the 18th Brumaire. This man with the pallid face, 
 educated to monastic dissimulation, possessing the 
 secrets of the montagnards to whom he belonged, and 
 those of the ro}-a lists to whom he ended b} T belonging, 
 
92 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 had slowly and silently studied the men, the events, and 
 the interests on the political stage ; he penetrated 
 Napoleon's secrets, he gave him useful counsel and 
 precious information. Satisfied with having proved his 
 capacity and his usefulness, Fouche was careful not to 
 disclose himself completely. He wished to remain at 
 the head of affairs, but the Emperor's restless uneasi- 
 ness about him cost him his place. 
 
 The ingratitude or rather the distrust shown by Na- 
 poleon after the affair at Walcheren, gives the key-note 
 to the character of a man who, unfortunately for him- 
 self, was not a great seigneur, and whose conduct was 
 modelled on that of Talleyrand. At that time neither 
 his former colleagues nor his present ones had suspected 
 the amplitude of his genius, which was purely minis- 
 terial, essentially governmental, just in its forecasts 
 and incredibly sagacious. To-day, every impartial his- 
 torian perceives that Napoleon's inordinate self-love 
 was among the chief causes of his fall, a punishment 
 which cruelly expiated his wrong-doing. In the mind 
 of that distrustful sovereign lurked a constant jealousy 
 for his own rising power, which influenced all his actions, 
 and caused his secret hatred of men of talent, the pre- 
 cious legacy of the Revolution, with whom he might have 
 made himself a cabinet capable of being a true reposi- 
 tory for his thoughts. Talleyrand and Fouch^ were not 
 the only ones who gave him umbrage. The misfortune 
 
An Historical Mystery. 93 
 
 of usurpers is that those who have given them a crown 
 are as much their enemies as those from whom they 
 snatch it. Napoleon's sovereignt}' was never convinc- 
 ingly felt by those who were once his superiors or his 
 equals, nor by those who still held to the doctrine of 
 rights ; none of them regarded their oath of allegiance 
 to him as binding. 
 
 Malin, an inferior man, incapable of comprehending 
 Fouche's hidden genius, or of distrusting his own per- 
 ceptions, burned himself, like a moth in a candle, by 
 asking him confidential^ to send agents to Gondreville, 
 where, he said, he hoped to obtain certain clues to the 
 conspirac}\ Fouche, without alarming his friend by 
 any questions, asked himself wiry Malin was going to 
 Gondreville, and why he did not immediately and with- 
 out loss of time, give the information he already pos- 
 sessed. The ex-oratorian, fed from his }'Outh up on 
 tricker} T , and well aware of the double part played b} T a 
 good many of the conventional, said to himself: 
 " From whom is Malin likely to obtain information 
 when we ourselves know little or nothing ? " Fouche 
 concluded therefore that there was some either latent 
 or prospective collusion, and took care to say nothing 
 about it to the First Consul. He preferred to make 
 Malin his instrument rather than destroy him. It was 
 Fouche's habit to keep to himself a good part of the 
 secrets he detected, and he thus obtained for his own 
 
94 An Hlsto7ical Mystery. 
 
 purposes a power over those concerned which was even 
 greater than that of Bonaparte. This duplicity was one 
 of the Emperor's charges against his minister. 
 
 Fouche knew of the swindling transaction by which 
 Malin became possessed of Gondreville and which led 
 him to keep his e}^es anxiously on the Simeuse brothers. 
 These gentlemen were now serving in the army of 
 Conde ; Mademoiselle de Cinq-C3'gne was their cousin ; 
 possibly they were in her neighborhood, and were sharers 
 in the conspiracy ; if so, it would implicate the house of 
 Conde to which they were devoted. Talleyrand and 
 Fouche were bent on casting light into this dark corner 
 of the conspiracy of 1803. All these considerations 
 Fouche saw at a glance, rapidly and with great clearness. 
 But between Malin, TanVyrancl, and himself there were 
 strong ties which forced him to the utmost circumspec- 
 tion, and made him anxious to know the exact state of 
 things within the walls of Gondreville. Corentin was 
 unreservedly attached to Fouche, just as Monsieur de 
 la Besnardiere was to Talle3 T rand, Gentz to Monsieur 
 de Metternich, Dundas to Pitt, Duroc to Napoleon, 
 Chavigny to Cardinal Richelieu. Corentin was not the 
 counsellor of his master, but his instrument, the Tristan 
 to this Louis XI. of low estate. Fouche had kept him in 
 the ministry of the police when he himself left it, so as 
 to still keep an eye and a finger in it. It was said that 
 Corentin belonged to Fouche by some una vowed relation- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 96 
 
 ship, for he rewarded him lavishty after every service. 
 Corentin had a friend in Peyrade, the old pupil of the 
 last lieutenant of police ; but he kept a good many of 
 his secrets from him. Fouche gave Corentin an order 
 to explore the chateau of Gondreville, to get the plan of 
 it into his memory, and to know every hiding-place 
 within its walls. 
 
 " We may be obliged to return there," said the ex- 
 minister, precisely as Napoleon told his lieutenants to 
 explore the field of Austerlitz on which he intended to 
 fall back. 
 
 Corentin was also to stud} 7 Malin's conduct, discover 
 what influence he had in the neighborhood, and observe 
 the men whom he emplo} T ed. Fouche regarded it as 
 certain that the Simeuse brothers were in that part of 
 the country. By cautiously watching the two officers, 
 who were closely allied with the Prince de Conde, 
 Peyrade and Corentin could obtain precious light on 
 the ramifications of the conspirac}' beyond the Rhine. 
 In any case, however, Corentin received the means, 
 the orders, and the agents, to surround the chateau of 
 Cinq-Cygne and watch the whole region, from the forest 
 of Nodesme into Paris. Fouche insisted on the utmost 
 caution, and would only allow a domiciliary visit to 
 Cinq-C}'gne in case Malin gave them some positive 
 information which made it necessary. By way of in- 
 structions he explained to Corentin the otherwise inex- 
 
96 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 plicable personality of Micliu, who had been watched 
 b} T the police for the last three years. Corentin's idea 
 was that of his master: " Malin knows all about the 
 conspiracy — But," he added to himself, "perhaps 
 Fouche does, too; who knows?" 
 
 Corentin, having started for Troyes before Malin, 
 had made arrangements with the commandant of the 
 gendarmerie in that town, who picked out a number of 
 his most intelligent men and placed them under orders 
 of an able captain. Corentin chose Gondreville as 
 the place of rendezvous, and directed the captain to 
 send some of his men at night in four detachments to 
 different points of the valley of Cinq-C} T gne at sufficient 
 distance from each other to cause no alarm. These 
 four pickets were to form a square and close in around 
 the chateau of Cinq-Cygne. By leaving Corentin alone 
 at Gondreville during his consultation in the fields with 
 Grevin, Malin had enabled him to fulfil part of Fouche's 
 orders and explore the house. When the Councillor of 
 State returned home he told Corentin so positively that 
 the d'Hauteserre and Simeuse brothers were in the 
 neighborhood and probably at Cinq-Cygne that the two 
 agents despatched the captain with the rest of his corn- 
 pan}', who, fortunately for the four gentlemen, crossed 
 the forest on their wa} T to the chateau during the time 
 when Micliu was making Violette drunk. Malin had 
 told Corentin and Peyrade of the escape he had from 
 
An Historical Mystery. 97 
 
 lying in wait for him. The two agents related the inci- 
 dent of the gun they had seen the bailiff load, and Gre- 
 vin had sent Violette to obtain information as to what 
 was going on at Michu's home. Corentin advised the 
 notary to take Malin to his own house in the little 
 town of Arcis, and let him sleep there as a measure of 
 precaution. At the moment when Michu and his wife 
 were rushing through the forest on their way to Cinq- 
 Cygne, Peyrade and Corentin were starting from Gon- 
 dreville for Cinq-C} T gne in a shabby wicker carriage, 
 drawn by one post-horse driven by the corporal of 
 Arcis, one of the shrewdest men in the Legion, whom 
 the commandant at Tro}'es advised them to emplo} T . 
 
 " The surest way to seize them all is to warn them," 
 said Peyrade to Corentin. "At the moment when 
 they are well frightened and are trying to save their 
 papers or to escape we '11 fall upon them like a thunder- 
 bolt. The gendarmes surround the chateau now and 
 are as good as a net. We sha'n't lose one of them ! " 
 
 4 ' You had better send the inavor to warn them," said 
 the corporal. " He is" friendly to them and would n't 
 like to see them harmed ; they won't distrust him." 
 
 Just as Goulard was preparing to go to bed, Corentin, 
 who stopped the vehicle in a little wood, went to his 
 house and told him, confidentially, that in a few mo- 
 ments an emissary from the government would require 
 him to enter the chateau of Cinq-Cygne and arrest the 
 
 7 
 
98 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 brothers d'Hauteserre and Simeuse ; and in case they 
 had already disappeared he would have to ascertain if 
 they had slept there the night before, search Made- 
 moiselle de Cinq-Cygne's papers, and, possibly, arrest 
 both the masters and servants of the household. 
 
 "Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne," said Corentin, " is 
 undoubtedly protected by some great personages, for I 
 have received private orders to warn her of this visit, 
 and to do all I can to save her without compromising 
 myself. Once on the ground, I shall no longer be able 
 to do so, for I am not alone ; go to the chateau yourself 
 and warn them." 
 
 The mayor's visit at that time of night was all the 
 more bewildering to the card-pla}'ers when they saw 
 the agitation of his face. 
 
 " Where is the countess? " were his first words. 
 
 " She has gone to bed," said Madame d'Hauteserre. 
 
 The ma}'or, incredulous, listened to noises that were 
 heard on the upper floor. 
 
 "What is the matter with you, Goulard?" said 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre. 
 
 Goulard was dumb with surprise as he noted the 
 tranquil ease of the faces about him. Observing the 
 peaceful and innocent game of cards which he had thus 
 interrupted, he was unable to imagine what the Parisian 
 police meant by their suspicions. 
 
 At that moment Laurence, kneeling in her oratorj% 
 
An Historical Mystery. 99 
 
 was praying fervently for the success of the conspiracy. 
 She pra} T ed to God to send help and succor to the mur- 
 derers of Bonaparte. She implored Him ardentl}* to 
 destroy that fatal being. The fanaticism of Harmodius, 
 Judith, Jacques Clement, Ankarstroem, of Charlotte 
 Corday and Limoelan, inspired this pure and virgin 
 spirit. Catherine was preparing the bed, Gothard was 
 closing the blinds, when Marie Michu coming under 
 the windows flung a pebble on the glass and was seen 
 at once. 
 
 "Mademoiselle, here's some one/' said Gothard, 
 
 seeing a woman. 
 
 " Hush ! " said Marie, in a low voice, " Come down 
 and speak to me." 
 
 Gothard was in the garden in less time than a bird 
 would have taken to fly down from a tree. 
 
 " In a minute the chateau will be surrounded by the 
 gendarmerie. Saddle mademoiselle's horse without 
 making any noise and take it down through the breach 
 in the moat between the stables and this tower." 
 
 Marthe quivered when she saw Laurence, who had 
 followed Gothard, standing beside her. 
 
 " What is it?" asked Laurence, quietly. 
 
 "The conspiracy against the First Consul is dis- 
 covered," replied Marthe, in a whisper. " M} r hus- 
 band, who seeks to save your two cousins, sends me to 
 ask }'ou to come and speak to him." 
 
100 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Laurence drew back and looked at Marthe. u Who 
 are you? " she said. 
 
 "Marthe Michu." ' 
 
 " I do not know what you want of me," replied the 
 countess, coldly. 
 
 "Take care, you will kill them. Come with me, I 
 implore you in the Simeuse name," said Marthe, clasp- 
 ing her hands and stretching them towards Laurence. 
 " Have } t ou papers here which may compromise } T ou? 
 If so, destro} f them. From the heights over there nry 
 husband has just seen the silver-laced hats and the 
 muskets of the gendarmerie." 
 
 Gothard had already clambered to the ha}--loft and 
 seen the same sight ; he heard in the stillness of the 
 evening the sound of their horses' hoofs. Down he 
 slipped into the stable and saddled his mistress's mare, 
 whose feet Catherine, at a word from the lad, muffled 
 in linen. 
 
 "Where am I to go?" said Laurence to Marthe, 
 whose look and language bore the unmistakeable signs 
 of sincerit}^. 
 
 "Through the breach," she replied; " nry noble 
 husband is there. You shall learn the value of a 
 ' Judas ' ! " 
 
 Catherine went quickly into the salon, picked up the 
 hat, veil, whip, and gloves of her mistress, and disap- 
 peared. This sudden apparition and action were so 
 
An Historical Mystery. 101 
 
 striking a commentary on the mayor's inquiry that 
 Madame d'Hauteserre and the abbe exchanged glances 
 which contained the melancholy thought: "Farewell 
 to all our peace ! Laurence is conspiring ; she will be 
 the death of her cousins." 
 
 " But what do you really mean?" said Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre to the ma3*or. 
 
 " The chateau is surrounded. You are about to 
 receive a domiciliary visit. If your sons are here tell 
 them to escape, and the Simeuse brothers too, if they 
 are with them." 
 
 "My sons!" exclaimed Madame d'Hauteserre, 
 stupefied. 
 
 " We have seen no one," said Monsieur d'Hauteserre. 
 
 "So much the better," said Goulard; "but I care 
 too much for the Cinq-Cygne and Simeuse families to 
 let any harm come to them. Listen to me. If you 
 have any compromising papers — " 
 
 " Papers ! " repeated the old gentleman. 
 
 " Yes, if you have any, burn them at once," said the 
 ma} T or. " I ? 11 go and amuse the police agents." 
 
 Goulard, whose object was to run with the royalist 
 hare and hold with the republican hounds, left the room ; 
 at that moment the dogs barked violently. 
 
 " There is no longer time," said the abbe, " here they 
 come ! But who is to warn the countess ? Where is 
 she ? " 
 
102 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Catherine did n't come for her hat and whip to 
 make relics of them," remarked Mademoiselle Goujet. 
 
 Goulard tried to detain the two agents for a few mo- 
 ments, assuring them of the perfect ignorance of the 
 family at Cinq-Cygne. 
 
 " You don't know these people ! " said Peyrade, 
 laughing at him. 
 
 The two agents, insinuatingly dangerous, entered the 
 house at once, followed b} T the corporal from Arcis and 
 one gendarme. The sight of them paralyzed the peace- 
 ful card-players, who kept their seats at the table, terri- 
 fied by such a display of force. The noise produced by 
 a dozen gendarmes whose horses were stamping on the 
 terrace, was heard without. 
 
 " I do not see Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne," said 
 Corentin. 
 
 " She is probably asleep in her bedroom," said Mon- 
 sieur d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " Come with me, ladies," said Corentin, turning to 
 pass through the ante-chamber and up the staircase, fol- 
 lowed by Mademoiselle Goujet and Madame d'Haute- 
 serre. " Rely upon me," he whispered to the old 
 lady. "lam in your interests. I sent the mayor to 
 warn you. Distrust my colleague and look to me. I 
 can save ever}' one of you." 
 
 " But what is it all about? " said Mademoiselle 
 Goujet. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 103 
 
 " A matter of life and death ; you must know that," 
 replied Corentin. 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre fainted. To Mademoiselle 
 Goujet's great astonishment and Coren tin's disappoint- 
 ment, Laurence's room was empty. Certain that no 
 one could have escaped from the park or the chateau, 
 for all the issues were guarded, Corentin stationed a 
 gendarme in every room and ordered others to search 
 the farm buildings, stables, and sheds. Then he re- 
 turned to the salon, where Durieu and his wife and the 
 other servants had rushed in the wildest excitement. 
 Pe}Tade was studying their faces with his little blue 
 eye, cold and calm in the midst of the uproar. Just as 
 Corentin reappeared alone (Mademoiselle Goujet re- 
 maining behind to take care of Madame d'Hauteserre) 
 the tramp of horses was heard, and presently the sound 
 of a child's weeping. The horses entered by the small 
 gate ; and the general suspense was put an end to by 
 a corporal appearing at the door of the salon pushing 
 Gothard, whose hands were tied, and Catherine whom 
 he led to the agents. 
 
 " Here are some prisoners," he said ; " that little scamp 
 was escaping on horseback." 
 
 " Fool ! " said Corentin, in his ear, " why did n't you 
 let him alone? You could have found out something 
 by following him." 
 
 Gothard had chosen to burst into tears and behave 
 
104 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 like an idiot. Catherine took an attitude of artless 
 innocence which made the old agent reflective. The 
 pupil of Lenoir, after considering the two prisoners 
 carefully, and noting the vacant air of the old gentle- 
 man whom he took to be sly, the intelligent eye of the 
 abbe who was still fingering the cards, and the utter 
 stupefaction of the servants and Durieu, approached' 
 Corentin and whispered in his ear, " We are not deal- 
 ing with ninnies." 
 
 Corentin answered with a look at the card-table ; then 
 he added. " They were playing at boston ! Mademoi- 
 selle's bed was just being made for the night ; she 
 escaped in a hurry ; it is a regular surprise ; we shall 
 catch them." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 105 
 
 VII. 
 
 A FOREST NOOK. 
 
 A breach has always a cause and a purpose. Here 
 is the explanation of how the one which led from the 
 tower called that of Mademoiselle and the stables came 
 to be made. After his installation as Laurence's guar- 
 dian at Cinq-Cygne old d'Hauteserre converted a long 
 ravine, through which the water of the forest flowed into 
 the moat, into a roadway between two tracts of unculti- 
 vated land belonging to the chateau, by merely setting 
 out in it about a hundred walnut-trees which he found 
 ready in the nursery. In eleven years these trees had 
 grown and branched so as to nearly cover the road, 
 hidden already by steep banks, which ran into a little 
 wood of thirty acres recently purchased. When the 
 chateau had its full complement of inhabitants they 
 all preferred to take this covered way through the 
 breach to the main road which skirted the park walls 
 and led to the farm, rather than go round by the en- 
 trance. By dint of thus using it the breach on the sides 
 of the moat had gradually been widened on both sides, 
 with all the less scruple because in this nineteenth cen- 
 
106 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 tury of ours moats are no longer of the slightest use, 
 and Laurence's guardian had often talked of putting 
 this one to some other purpose. The constant crumb- 
 ling away of the earth and stones and gravel had ended 
 by filling up the ditch, so that only after heavy rains 
 was the causeway thus constructed covered. But the 
 bank was still so steep that it was difficult to make a 
 horse descend it, and even more difficult to get him up 
 upon the main road. Horses, however, seem in times 
 of peril to share their masters' thought. 
 
 While the } T oung countess was hesitating to follow 
 Marthe, and asking explanations, Michu, from his van- 
 tage-ground watched the closing in of the gendarmes 
 and understood their plan. He grew desperate as time 
 went by and the countess did not come to him. A 
 squad of gendarmes were marching along the park wall 
 and stationing themselves as sentinels, each man being 
 near enough to communicate with those on either side 
 of him, by voice and e}'e. Michu, tying flat on his 
 stomach, his ear to earth, gauged, like a red Indian, by 
 the strength of the sounds the time that remained to 
 him. 
 
 " I came too late ! " he said to himself. " Violette 
 shall pay dear for this ! what a time it took to make 
 him drunk ! What can be done ? " 
 
 He heard the detachment which was coming through 
 the forest reach the iron gates and turn into the main 
 
An Historical Mystery. 107 
 
 road, where before long it would meet the squad coming 
 up from the other direction. 
 
 " Still five or six minutes ! " he said. 
 
 At that instant the countess appeared. Michu took 
 her with a firm hand and pushed her into the covered 
 way. 
 
 " Keep straight before you ! Lead ber to where my 
 horse is," he said to his wife, " and remember that gen- 
 darmes have ears." 
 
 Seeing Catherine, who carried the hat and whip, and 
 Gothard leading the mare, the man, keen-witted in 
 presence of danger, bethought himself of playing the 
 gendarmes a trick as useful as the one he had just 
 played Violette. Gothard had forced the mare to 
 mount the bank. 
 
 "Her feet muffled! I thank thee, boy," exclaimed 
 the bailiff. 
 
 Michu let the mare follow her mistress and took the 
 hat, gloves, and whip from Catherine. 
 
 " You have sense, bo}', 3'ou'll understand me," he 
 said. "Force your own horse up here, jump on him, 
 and draw the gendarmes after you across the fields 
 towards the farm ; get the whole squad to follow you — 
 And 3'ou," he added to Catherine, "there are other 
 gendarmes coming up on the road from Cinq-Cygne to 
 Gondreville ; run in the opposite direction to the one 
 Gothard takes, and draw them towards the forest. 
 
108 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 Manage so that we shall not be interfered with in the 
 covered waj-." 
 
 Catherine and the bo}', who were destined to give in 
 this affair such remarkable proofs of intelligence, exe- 
 cuted the manoeuvre in a wa}' to make both detachments 
 of gendarmes believe that they held the game. The dim 
 light of the moon prevented the pursuers from distin- 
 guishing the figure, clothing, sex, or number of those 
 they followed. The pursuit was based on the maxim, 
 " Always arrest those who are escaping," — the folly of 
 which sajing was, as we have seen, energetically declared 
 by Corentin to the corporal in command. Micku, count- 
 ing on this instinct of the gendarmes, was able to reach 
 the forest a few moments after the countess, whom 
 Marthe had guided to the appointed place. 
 
 "Go home now," he said to Marthe. " The forest 
 is watched and it is dangerous to remain here. We 
 need all our freedom." 
 
 Michu unfastened his horse and asked the countess to 
 follow him. 
 
 " I shall not go a step further," said Laurence, " un- 
 less you. give me some proof of the interest } t ou seem to 
 have in us — for, after all, you are Michu." 
 
 "Mademoiselle," he answered, in a gentle voice; 
 " the part I am playing can be explained to you in two 
 words. I am, unknown to the Marquis de Simeuse and 
 his brother, the guardian of their property. On this 
 
An Historical Mystery. 109 
 
 subject I received the last instructions of their late 
 father and their dear mother, my protectress. I have 
 played the part of a virulent Jacobin to serve my dear 
 young masters. Unhappily, I began this course too 
 late ; I could not save their parents." Here, Michu's 
 voice broke down. " Since the young men emigrated I 
 have sent them regularly the sums they needed to live 
 upon." 
 
 " Through the house of Breintma} r er of Strasburg? " 
 asked the countess. 
 
 " Yes, mademoiselle ; the correspondents of Monsieur 
 Girel of Tro}'es, a roj'alist who, like me, made himself 
 for good reasons, a Jacobin. The paper which 3-our 
 farmer picked up one evening and which I forced him 
 to surrender, related to the affair and would have com- 
 promised } T our cousins. My life no longer belongs to 
 me, but to them, }'ou understand. I could not buy in 
 Gondreville. In nry position, I should have lost my 
 head had the authorities known I had the money. I 
 preferred to wait and buy it later. But that scoundrel 
 of a Marion was the slave of another scoundrel, Malin. 
 All the same, Gondreville shall once more belong to its 
 rightful masters. That 's my affair. Four hours ago I 
 had Malin sighted by m} r gun ; ha ! he was almost gone 
 then ! Were he dead, the property would be sold and 
 } r ou could have bought it. In case of my death my 
 wife would have brought you a letter which would have 
 
110 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 given you the means of buying it. But I overheard 
 that villain telling his accomplice Grevin — another 
 scoundrel like himself — that the Marquis and his 
 brother were conspiring against the First Consul, that 
 they were here in the neighborhood, and that he meant 
 to give them up and get rid of them so as to keep Gon- 
 dreville in peace. I myself saw the police spies ; I laid 
 aside my gun, and I have lost no time in coming here, 
 thinking that you must be the one to know best how to 
 warn the } T oung men. That's the whole of it." 
 
 " You are worthy to be a noble,." said Laurence, 
 offering her hand to Michu, who tried to kneel and kiss 
 it. She saw his motion and prevented it, saying: 
 " Stand up ! " in a tone of voice and with a look which 
 made him amends for all the scorn of the last twelve 
 years. 
 
 * ' You reward me as though I had done all that re- 
 mains for me to do," he said. " But don't you hear 
 them, those huzzars of the guillotine? Let us go 
 elsewhere." 
 
 He took the mare's bridle and led her a little distance. 
 
 " Think only of sitting firm," he said, " and of saving 
 3 r our head from the branches of the trees which might 
 strike you in the face." 
 
 Then he mounted his own horse and guided the 3"oung 
 girl for half an hour at full gallop ; making turns and 
 half turns, and striking into wood-paths, so as to con- 
 

 An Historical Mystery. Ill 
 
 fuse their traces, until they reached a spot where he 
 pulled up. 
 
 ' "I don't know where I am," said the countess look- 
 ing about her, — "I, who know the forest as well as 
 3*011 do." 
 
 " We are in the heart of it," he replied. " Two gen- 
 darmes are after us, but we are quite safe." 
 
 The picturesque spot to which the bailiff had guided 
 Laurence was destined to be so fatal to the principal 
 personages of this drama, and to Michu himself, that it 
 becomes our dut} T , as an historian, to describe it. The 
 scene became, as we shall see hereafter, one of noted 
 interest in the judiciary annals of the Empire. 
 
 The forest of Nodesme belonged to the monastery of 
 Notre-Dame. That monasteiy, seized, sacked, and 
 demolished, had disappeared entirely, monks and prop- 
 erty. The forest, an object of much cupidity, was 
 taken into the domain of the Comtes de Champagne, 
 who mortgaged it later and allowed it to be sold. In 
 the course of six centuries nature covered its ruins with 
 her rich and vigorous green mantle, and effaced them so 
 thoroughly that the existence of one of the finest con- 
 vents was no longer even indicated except by a slight 
 eminence shaded by noble trees and circled by thick, 
 impenetrable shrubbery, which, since 1794, Michu had 
 taken great pains to make still more impenetrable by 
 planting the thorn}' acacia in all the slight openings 
 
112 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 between the bushes. A pond was at the foot of the 
 eminence and showed the existence of a hidden stream 
 which no doubt determined in former days the site of 
 the monastery. The late owner of the title to the forest 
 of Nodesme was the first to recognize the etymology of 
 the name, which dated back for eight centuries, and to 
 discover that at one time a monaster}* had existed in 
 the heart of the forest. When the first rumblings of 
 the thunder of the Revolution were heard, the Marquis 
 de Simeuse, who had been forced to look into his title 
 b} T a lawsuit and so learned the above facts as it were 
 by chance, began, with a secret intention not difficult 
 to conceive, to search for some remains of the former 
 monastery. The keeper, Michu, to whom the forest 
 was well known, helped his master in the search, and it 
 was his sagacity as a forester which led to the dis- 
 covery of the site. Observing the trend of the five 
 chief roads of the forest, some of which were now 
 effaced, he saw that they all ended either at the little 
 eminence or by the pond at the foot of it, to which 
 points travellers from Troj'es, from the valle} T of Arcis 
 and that of Cinq-Cj'gne, and from Bar-sur-Aube doubt- 
 less came. The marquis wished to excavate the hillock, 
 but he dared not employ the people of the neighbor- 
 hood. Pressed bj* circumstances, he abandoned the 
 intention, leaving in Michu's mind a strong conviction 
 that the eminence had either the treasure or the found a- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 113 
 
 tions of the former abbe}\ He continued, all alone, 
 this archaeological enterprise ; he sounded the earth 
 and discovered a hollowness on the level of the pond 
 between two trees, at the foot of the only craggy part 
 of the hillock. 
 
 One fine night he came to the place armed with a 
 pickaxe, and by the sweat of his brow uncovered a suc- 
 cession of cellars, which were entered by a flight of 
 stone steps. The pond, which was three feet deep in the 
 middle, formed a sort of dipper, the handle of which 
 seemed to come from the little eminence, and went far 
 to prove that a spring had once issued from the crags, 
 and was now lost by infiltration through the forest. 
 The niarshy shores of the pond, covered with aquatic 
 trees, alders, willow, and ash, were the terminus of all 
 the wood-paths, the remains of former roads and forest 
 by-ways, now abandoned. The water, flowing from a 
 spring, though apparently stagnant, was covered with 
 large-leaved plants and cresses, which gave it a per- 
 fectly green surface almost indistinguishable from the 
 shores, which were covered with fine close herbage. 
 The place is too far from human habitations for any 
 animal, unless a wild one, to come there. Convinced 
 that no game was in the marsh and repelled b}' the 
 craggy sides of the hills, keepers and hunters had never 
 explored or visited this nook, which belonged to a part 
 of the forest where the timber had not been cut for 
 
 8 
 
114 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 man} T years and which Michu meant to keep in its full 
 growth when the time came round to fell it. 
 
 At the further end of the first cellar was a vaulted 
 chamber, clean and dry, built with hewn stone, a sort of 
 convent dungeon, such as they called in monastic da}'S 
 the in pace. The salubrit} 7 of the chamber and the 
 preservation of this part of the staircase and of the 
 vaults were explained by the presence of the spring, 
 which had been inclosed at some time by a wall of 
 extraordinary thickness built in brick and cement like 
 those of the Romans, and received all the waters. 
 Michu closed the entrance to this retreat with large 
 stones ; then, to keep the secret of it to himself and 
 make it impenetrable to others, he made a rule never to 
 enter it except from the wooded height above, by clam- 
 bering down the crag instead of approaching it by the 
 pond. 
 
 Just as the fugitives arrived, the moon was casting 
 her beautiful silvery light on the aged tree-tops above 
 the crag, and flickering on the splendid foliage at the 
 corners of the several paths, all of which ended here, 
 some with one tree, some with a group of trees. On all 
 sides the e}'e was irresistibly led along their vanishing 
 perspectives, following the curve of a wood-path or the 
 solemn stretch of a forest glade flanked by a wall of 
 verdure that was nearly black. The moonlight, filter- 
 ing through the branches of the crosswaj's, made the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 115 
 
 lonely, tranquil waters, where they peeped between the 
 cresses and the lily-pads, sparkle like diamonds. The 
 croaking of the frogs broke the deep silence of this 
 beautiful forest-nook, the wild odors of which incited 
 the soul to thoughts of liberty. 
 
 " Are we safe? " said the countess to Michu. 
 
 "Yes, mademoiselle. But we have each some work 
 to do. Do you go and fasten our horses to the trees at 
 the top of the little hill ; tie a handkerchief round the 
 mouth of each of them/' he said, giving her his cravat; 
 " j'our beast and mine are both intelligent, they will 
 understand they are not to neigh. When }T>u have 
 done that, come down the crag directly above the pond ; 
 but don't let j'our habit catch an\'where. You will find 
 me below." 
 
 "While the countess hid the horses and tied and 
 gagged them, Michu removed the stones and opened the 
 entrance to the caverns. The countess, who thought 
 she knew the forest by heart, was amazed when she 
 descended into the vaulted chambers. Michu replaced 
 the stones above them with the dexterity of a mason. 
 As he finished, the sound of horses' feet and the voices 
 of the gendarmes echoed in the darkness ; but he quietly 
 struck a match, lighted a resinous bit of wood and led 
 the countess to the in pace, where there was still a piece 
 of the candle with which he had first explored the caves. 
 An iron door of some thickness, eaten in several places 
 
116 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 by rust, had been put in good order by the bailiff, and 
 could be fastened securely by bars slipping into holes in 
 the wall on either side of it. The countess, half dead 
 with fatigue, sat down on a stone bench, above which 
 there still remained an iron ring, the staple of which was 
 imbedded in the masonry. 
 
 " We have a salon to converse in," said Michu. 
 " The gendarmes may prowl as much as they like ; the 
 worst the}' could do would be to take our horses." 
 
 " If the}' do that," said Laurence, "it would be the 
 death of my cousins and the Messieurs d'Hauteserre. 
 Tell me now, what do you know?" 
 
 Michu related what he had overheard Malin say to 
 Grevin. 
 
 " They are already on the road to Paris ; they were 
 to enter it to-morrow morning," said the countess when 
 he had finished. 
 
 "Lost!" exclaimed Michu. "All persons entering 
 or leaving the barriers are examined. Malin has strong 
 reasons to let my masters compromise themselves ; he 
 is seeking to get them killed out of his way." 
 
 " And I, who don't know anything of the general 
 plan of the affair," cried Laurence, " how can I warn 
 Georges, Riviere and Moreau? Where are they? — 
 However, let us think only of my cousins and the 
 d'Hauteserres ; you must catch up with them, no mat- 
 ter what it costs." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 117 
 
 "The telegraph goes faster than the best horse," 
 said Michu ; "and of all the nobles concerned in this 
 conspiracy your cousins are the closest watched. If I 
 can find them, the} r must be hidden here and kept here 
 till the affair is over. Their poor father may have had 
 a foreboding when he set me to search for this hiding- 
 place ; perhaps he felt that his sons would be saved 
 here." 
 
 " My mare is from the stables of the Corate d'Artois, 
 — she is the daughter of his finest English horse," said 
 Laurence; "but she has already gone sixty miles, she 
 would drop dead before you reached them." 
 
 "Mine is in good condition," replied Michu; 
 " and if you did sixty miles I shall have only thirty 
 to do." 
 
 " Nearer forty," she said, " they have been walking 
 since dark. You will overtake them beyond Lagny, 
 at Coupvrai, where they expected to be at daybreak. 
 They are disguised as sailors, and will enter Paris by 
 the river on some vessel. This," she added, taking 
 half of her mother's wedding-ring from her finger, " is 
 the only thing which will make them trust you ; they 
 have the other half. The keeper of Coupvrai is the 
 father of one of their soldiers ; he has hidden them to- 
 night in a hut in the forest deserted by charcoal-burners. 
 They are eight in all, Messieurs d'Hauteserre and four 
 others are with my cousins." 
 
118 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Mademoiselle, no one is looking for the others ! let 
 them save themselves as they can ; we must think only 
 of the Messieurs de Simeuse. It is enough just to warn 
 the rest." 
 
 "What! abandon the d'Hauteserres ? never!" she 
 said. ' ' They must all perish or be saved together ! " 
 
 44 Onty petty noblemen ! " remarked Michu. 
 
 44 They are only chevaliers, I know that," she replied, 
 44 but they are related to the Cinq-Cygne and Simeuse 
 blood. Save them all, and advise with them how best 
 to regain this forest." 
 
 44 The gendarmes are here, — don't you hear them? 
 they are holding a council of war." 
 
 44 Well, you have twice had luck to-night ; go ! bring 
 my cousins here and hide them in these vaults ; they '11 
 be safe from all pursuit — Alas ! I am good for noth- 
 ing ! " she cried, with rage ; " I should be only a beacon 
 to light the enemy — but the police will never imagine 
 that my cousins are in the forest if the} 7 see me at my 
 ease. So the question resolves itself into this : how 
 can we get five good horses to bring them in six hours 
 from Lagny to the forest, — five horses to be killed and 
 hidden in some thicket." 
 
 44 And the money?" said Michu, who was thinking 
 deeply as he listened to the }'oung countess. 
 
 4C I gave my cousins a hundred louis this evening," 
 she replied. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 119 
 
 "I'll answer for them!" cried Michu. " But once 
 hidden here you must not attempt to see them. Mj t 
 wife, or the little one, shall bring them food twice a 
 week. But, as I can't be sure of what may happen to 
 me, remember, mademoiselle, in case of trouble, that 
 the main beam in my hay-loft has been bored with an 
 auger. In the hole, which is plugged with a bit of 
 wood, you will find a plan showing how to reach this 
 spot. The trees which you will find marked w r ith a 
 red dot on the plan have a black mark at their foot 
 close to the earth. Each of these trees is a sign- 
 post. At the foot of the third old oak which stands 
 to the left of each sign-post, two feet in front of it 
 and buried seven feet in the ground, you will find a 
 large metal tube ; in each tube are one hundred thou- 
 sand francs in gold. These eleven trees — there are 
 only eleven — contain the whole fortune of the Si- 
 meuse brothers, now that Gondreville has been taken 
 from them." 
 
 " It will take a hundred years for the nobility to 
 recover from such blows," said Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 Cygne, slowty. 
 
 " Is there a pass- word? " asked Michu. 
 
 " ' France and Charles ' for the soldiers, ' Laurence 
 and Louis ' for the Messieurs cVHauteserre and Simeuse. 
 Good God ! to think that I saw them yesterday for the 
 first time in eleven j-ears, and that now they are in dan- 
 
120 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 ger of death — and what a death ! Michu," she said, 
 with a melancholy look, "be as prudent during the 
 next fifteen hours as you have been grand and devoted 
 during the last twelve years. If disaster were to over- 
 take my cousins now I should die of it — No," she 
 added, quickly, " I would live long enough to kill 
 Bonaparte." 
 
 " There will be two of us to do that when all is lost," 
 said Michu. 
 
 Laurence took his rough hand and wrung it warmly, 
 as the English do. Michu looked at his watch ; it was 
 midnight. 
 
 " We must leave here at any cost," he said. "Death 
 to the gendarme who attempts to stop me ! And you, 
 madame la comtesse, without presuming to dictate, 
 ride back to Cinq-C}-gne as fast as you can. The 
 police are there by this time ; fool them ! delay 
 them ! " 
 
 The hole once opened, Michu flung himself down with 
 his ear to the earth ; then he rose precipitately. " The 
 gendarmes are at the edge of the forest towards 
 Troyes! " he said. " Ha, I'll get the better of them 
 yet ! " 
 
 He helped the countess to come out, and replaced the 
 stones. When this was done he heard her soft voice 
 telling him she must see him mounted before mounting 
 herself. Tears came to the eyes of the stern man as he 
 
An Historical Mystery, 
 
 X — » 
 
 exchanged a last look with his young mistress, "whose 
 own eyes were tearless. 
 
 "Fool them! yes, he is right!" she said when 
 she heard him no longer. Then she darted towards 
 Cinq-Cygne at full gallop. 
 
 AxisH&Aiaa 
 
122 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 VIII. 
 
 TRIALS OF THE POLICE. 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre, roused by the danger of her 
 sons, and not believing that the Revolution was over, 
 but still fearing its summary justice, recovered her 
 senses by the violence of the same distress which made 
 her lose them. Led by an agonizing curiosity she re- 
 turned to the salon, which presented a picture worthy of 
 the brush of a genre painter. The abbe, still seated at 
 the card-table and mechanically playing with the coun- 
 ters, was covertly observing Corentin and PejTade, who 
 were standing together at a corner of the fireplace and 
 speaking in a low voice. Several times Corentin's keen 
 e} T e met the not less keen glance of the priest ; but, like 
 two adversaries who knew themselves equally strong, and 
 who return to their guard after crossing their weapons, 
 each averted his eyes the instant they met. The 
 worthy old d'Hauteserre, poised on his long thin legs 
 like a heron, was standing beside the stout form of the 
 mayor, in an attitude expressive of utter stupefaction. 
 The mayor, though dressed as a bourgeois, always 
 looked like a servant. Each gazed with a bewildered 
 e} r e at the gendarmes, in whose clutches Gothard was 
 
An Historical Mystery. 123 
 
 still sobbing, his hands purple and swollen from the 
 tightness of the cord that bound them. Catherine main- 
 tained her attitude of artless simplicity, which was quite 
 impenetrable. The corporal, who, according to Corentin, 
 had committed a great blunder in arresting these smaller 
 fry, did not know whether to stay where he was or to 
 depart. He stood pensively in the middle of the salon, 
 his hand on the hilt of his sabre, his eye on the two 
 Parisians. The Durieus, also stupefied, and the other 
 servants of the chateau made an admirable group of 
 expressive uneasiness. If it had not been for Gothard's 
 convulsive snifflings those present could have heard the 
 flies fly. 
 
 When Madame d'Hauteserre, pale and terrified, 
 opened the door and entered the room, almost carried 
 by Mademoiselle Goujet, whose red eyes had evidently 
 been weeping, all faces turned to her at once. The 
 two agents hoped as much as the household feared to 
 see Laurence enter. This spontaneous movement of 
 both masters and servants seemed produced b} T the 
 sort of mechanism which makes a number of wooden 
 figures perform the same gesture or wink the same eye. 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre advanced by three rapid strides 
 towards Corentin and said, in a broken voice but vio- 
 lently : "For pity's sake, monsieur, tell me what my 
 sons are accused of. Do you really think they have 
 been here?" 
 
124 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 The abbe, who seemed to be saying to himself when 
 he saw the old lady, " She will certainly commit some 
 folly," lowered his eyes. 
 
 " My duty and the mission I am engaged in forbid 
 me to tell you," answered Corentin, with a gracious but 
 rather mocking air. 
 
 This refusal, which the detestable politeness of the 
 vulgar fop seemed to make all the more emphatic, petri- 
 fied the poor mother, who fell into a chair beside the 
 Abbe Goujet, clasped her hands and began to pra}\ 
 
 " Where did you arrest that blubber? " asked Coren- 
 tin, addressing the corporal and pointing to Laurence's 
 little henchman. 
 
 44 On the road that leads to the farm along the park 
 walls ; the little scamp had nearly reached the Closeaux 
 woods," replied the corporal. 
 
 "And that girl?" 
 
 " She? oh, it was Oliver who caught her." 
 
 44 Where was she going? " 
 
 " Towards Gondreville." 
 
 "They were going in opposite directions?" said 
 Corentin." 
 
 44 Yes," replied the gendarme. 
 
 44 Is that boy the groom, and the girl the maid of the 
 citizeness Cinq-Cygne ? " said Corentin to the mayor. 
 
 44 Yes," replied Goulard. 
 
 After Corentin had exchanged a few words with 
 
An Historical Mystery. 125 
 
 Peyrade in a whisper, the latter left the room, taking 
 the corporal of gendarmes with him. 
 
 Just then the corporal of Arcis made his appearance. 
 He went up to Corentin and spoke to him in a low 
 voice: "I know these premises well," he said; "I 
 have searched everywhere ; unless those young fellows 
 are buried, the}' are not here. We have sounded all 
 the floors and walls with the butt end of our muskets." 
 
 Peyrade, who present^ returned, signed to Corentin 
 to come out, and then took him to the breach in the 
 moat and showed him the sunken way. 
 
 44 We have guessed the trick," said Pe}Tade. 
 
 " And Ull tell you how it was done," added Corentin. 
 44 That little scamp and the girl decoyed those idiots of 
 gendarmes and thus made time for the game to escape." 
 
 44 "We can't know the truth till daylight," said Pe}- 
 rade. 44 The road is damp; I have ordered two gen- 
 darmes to barricade it top and bottom. We '11 examine 
 it after daylight, and find out by the footsteps who went 
 that way." 
 
 " I see a hoof-mark/' said Corentin ; 44 let us go to 
 the stables." 
 
 44 How many horses do you keep?" said Peyrade, 
 returning to the salon with Corentin, and addressing 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre and Goulard. 
 
 44 Come, monsieur le maire, you know, answer," cried 
 Corentin, seeing that that functionary hesitated. 
 
126 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Wh} T , there 's the countess's mare, Gothard's horse, 
 and Monsieur d'Hauteserre's." 
 
 " There is only one in the stable," said Peyrade. 
 
 "Mademoiselle is out riding," said Durieu. 
 
 u Does she often ride about at this time of night?" 
 said the libertine Peyrade, addressing Monsieur d'Haute- 
 serre. 
 
 " Often," said the good man, simply. " Monsieur le 
 maire can tell you that." 
 
 " Eveiybody knows she has her freaks," remarked 
 Catherine ; ' ' she looked at the sky before she went to 
 bed, and I think the glitter of 3-our bayonets in the 
 moonlight puzzled her. She told me she wanted to 
 know if there was going to be another revolution." 
 
 " When did she go? " asked Peyrade. 
 
 " When she saw 3'our guns." 
 
 " Which road did she take? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " There's another horse missing," said Corentin. 
 
 "The gendarmes — took it — away from me," saiu 
 Gothard. 
 
 " Where were } t ou going? " said one of them. 
 
 "I was — following — my mistress to the farm," 
 sobbed the boy. 
 
 The gendarme looked towards Corentin as if expect- 
 ing an order. But Gothard's speech was evidently so 
 true and yet so false, so perfectly innocent and so 
 
An Historical Mystery. 127 
 
 artful that the two Parisians again looked at eacli other 
 as if to echo Peyrade's former words : " They are not 
 ninnies." 
 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre seemed incapable of a word ; 
 the mayor was bewildered ; the mother, imbecile from 
 maternal fears, was putting questions to the police 
 agents that were idiotically innocent ; the servants had 
 been roused from their sleep. Judging by these trifling 
 signs, and these diverse characters, Corentin came to 
 the conclusion that his only real adversary was Made- 
 moiselle de Cinq-Cygne. Shrewd and dexterous as the 
 police may be, "they are always under certain disadvan- 
 tages. Not only are they forced to discover all that is 
 known to a conspirator, but they must also suppose and 
 test a great number of things before the}- hit upon the 
 right one. The conspirator is always thinking of his 
 own safety, whereas the police is only on duty at cer- 
 tain hours. Were it not for treachery and betrayals, 
 nothing would be easier than to conspire successfully. 
 The conspirator has more mind concentrated upon him- 
 self than the police can bring to bear with all its vast 
 facilities of action. Finding themselves stopped short 
 morally, as they might be physically by a door which 
 they expected to find open being shut in their faces, 
 Corentin and Peyrade saw the}' were tricked and misled, 
 without knowing bv whom. 
 
 " I assert," said the corporal of Arcis, in their ear, 
 
128 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " that if the four young men slept here last night it 
 must have been in the beds of the father and mother, 
 and Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, or those of the ser- 
 vants ; or they must have spent the night in the park. 
 There is not a trace of their presence." 
 
 " Who could have warned them? " said Corentin, to 
 Peyrade. " No one but the First Consul, Fouche, the 
 ministers, the prefect of police, and Malin knew any- 
 thing about it." 
 
 " We must set spies in the neighborhood," whispered 
 Pej'rade. 
 
 " And watch the spies," said the abbe, who smiled as 
 he overheard the word and guessed all. 
 
 "Good God!" thought Corentin, replying to the 
 abbe's smile with one of his own ; " there is but one 
 intelligent being here, — he 's the one to come to an 
 understanding with; I'll try him." 
 
 "Gentlemen — " said the mayor, anxious to give 
 some proof of devotion to the First Consul and address- 
 ing the two agents. 
 
 " Say l citizens ; ' the Republic still exists," interrupted 
 Corentin, looking at the priest with a quizzical air. 
 
 "Citizens," resumed the mayor, "just as I entered 
 this salon and before I had opened my mouth Catherine 
 rushed in and took her mistress's hat, gloves, and 
 whip." 
 
 A low murmur of horror came from the breasts of all 
 
An Historical Mystery. 129 
 
 the household except Gothard. All eyes but those of 
 the agents and the gendarmes were turned threateningly 
 on Goulard, the informer, seeming to dart flames at 
 him." 
 
 " Very good, citizen mayor," said Peyrade. " We 
 see it all plainly. Some one " (this with a glance of 
 evident distrust at Corentin) " warned the citizeness 
 Cinq-Cygne in time." 
 
 " Corporal, handcuff that bojY' said Corentin, to the 
 gendarme, " and take him awa}* b} T himself. And shut 
 up that girl, too," pointing to Catherine. " As for you, 
 Peyrade, search for papers," adding in his ear, " Ran- 
 sack everything, spare nothing. — Monsieur l'abbe," he 
 said, confidentially, " I have an important communica- 
 tion to make to you ; " and he took him into the garden. 
 
 " Listen to me attentively, monsieur," he went on ; 
 " you seem to have the mind of a bishop, and (no one 
 can hear us) vou will understand me. I have no longer 
 anj T hope except through }'Ou of saving these families, 
 who, with the greatest folly, are letting themselves roll 
 down a precipice where no one can save them. The 
 Messieurs Simeuse and d'Hauteserre have been betrayed 
 by one of those infamous spies whom governments in- 
 troduce into all conspiracies to learn their objects, 
 means, and members. Don't confound me, I beg of 
 you, with the wretch who is with me. He belongs to the 
 police ; but I am honorably attached to the Consular 
 
 9 
 
130 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 cabinet, I am therefore behind the scenes. The ruin 
 of the Simeuse brothers is not desired. Though Malin 
 would like to see them shot, the First Consul, if they 
 are here and have come without evil intentions, wishes 
 them to be warned out of danger, for he likes good 
 soldiers. The agent who accompanies me has all the 
 powers, I, apparently, am nothing. But I see plainly 
 what is hatching. The agent is pledged to Malin, who 
 has doubtless promised him his influence, an office, and 
 perhaps money if he finds the Simeuse brothers and 
 delivers them up. The First Consul, who is a realty 
 great man, never favors selfish schemes — I don't 
 want to know if those young men are here," he added, 
 quickly, observing the abbe's gesture, "but I wish to 
 tell 3'ou that there is only one wa}* to save them. You 
 know the law of the 6th Floreal, 3-ear X., which amnes- 
 tied all the emigres who were still in foreign countries 
 on condition that they returned before the 1st Vende- 
 miaire of the year XI., that is to say, in September of 
 last year. But the Messieurs Simeuse having, like the 
 Messieurs d'Hauteserre, served in the army of Conde, 
 they come into the category of exceptions to this law. 
 Their presence in France is therefore criminal, and suf- 
 fices, under the circumstances in which we are, to make 
 them suspected of collusion in a horrible plot. The 
 First Consul saw the error of this exception which has 
 made enemies for his government, and he wishes the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 131 
 
 Messieurs Simense to know that no steps will be 1 
 against them, if the}' will send him a petition saying 
 that the}' have re-entered France intending to submit to 
 the laws, and agreeing to take oath to the Constitution. 
 You can understand that the document ought to be in 
 my hands before the}' are arrested, and be dated some 
 days earlier. I would then be the bearer of it — I do 
 not ask you where those young men are," he said again, 
 seeing another gesture of denial from the priest. " We 
 are, unfortunately, sure of finding them ; the forest is 
 guarded, the entrances to Paris and the frontiers are 
 all watched. Prav listen to me ; if these gentlemen are 
 between the forest and Paris they must be taken ; if 
 they are in Paris the}' will be found ; if they retreat to 
 the frontier they will still be arrested. The First Con- 
 sul likes the ci-devants, and cannot endure the republi- 
 cans — simple enough ; if he wants a throne he must 
 needs strangle Liberty. Keep the matter a secret be- 
 tween us. This is what I will do ; I will stay here till 
 to-morrow and be blind / but beware of the agent ; that 
 cursed Provencal is the devil's own valet ; he has the 
 ear of Fouche just as I have that of the First Consul." 
 
 14 If the Messieurs Simense are here," said the abbe, 
 " I would give ten pints of my blood and my right arm 
 to save them ; but if Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne is in 
 the secret she has not — and this T swear on my eternal 
 salvation — betrayed it in anj .._.}', neither has she 
 
132 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 done ine the honor to consult me. I am now very glad 
 of her discretion, if discretion there be. We played 
 cards last night as usual, at boston, in almost absolute 
 silence, until half-past ten o'clock, and we neither saw 
 nor heard an3*thing. Not a child can pass through this 
 solitary valley without the whole community knowing 
 it, and for the last two weeks no one has come from 
 other places. Now the d'Hauteserre and the Simeuse 
 brothers would make a party of four. Old d'Hauteserre 
 and his wife have submitted to the present government, 
 and they have made all imaginable efforts to persuade 
 their sons to return to France ; the}' wrote to them 
 again 3 T esterday. I can only sa}% upon nry soul and 
 conscience, that jour visit has alone shaken my firm 
 belief that these 3'oung men are living in Germany. 
 Between ourselves, there is no one here, except the 
 young countess, who does not do justice to the eminent 
 qualities of the First Consul." 
 
 " Fox!" thought Corentin. " Well, if those }*oung 
 men are shot," he said, aloud; "it is because their 
 friends have willed it — I wash my hands of the affair." 
 
 He had led the abbe to a part of the garden which 
 lay in the moonlight, and as he said the last words he 
 looked at him suddenly. The priest was greatly dis- 
 tressed, but his manner was that of a man surprised and 
 wholly ignorant. 
 
 " Understand this, monsieur l'abbe," resumed Coren- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 133 
 
 tin; "the right of these young men to the estate of 
 Gondreville will render them doubly criminal in the 
 eyes of the middle class. I 'd like to see them put 
 faith in God and not in his saints — " 
 
 " Is there really a plot? " asked the abbe, simply. 
 
 " Base, odious, cowardly, and so contrary to the gen- 
 erous spirit of the nation," replied Corentin, " that it 
 will meet with universal opprobrium." 
 
 " Well ! Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne is incapable of 
 baseness," cried the abbe. 
 
 "Monsieur l'abbe," replied Corentin, "let me tell 
 you this ; there is for us (meaning you and me) proof 
 positive of her guilt ; but there is not enough for the 
 law. You see she took flight when we came ; I sent 
 the mayor to warn her." 
 
 " Yes, but for one who is so anxious to save them, 
 you followed rather closety on his heels," said the 
 abbe. 
 
 At those words the two men looked at each other, 
 and all was said. Each belonged to those profound 
 anatomists of thought to whom a mere inflexion of the 
 voice, a look, a word suffices to reveal a soul, just as 
 the Indians track their enemies by signs invisible to 
 European eyes. 
 
 " I expected to draw something out of him, and I 
 have 011I3' betrayed uij*self," thought Corentin. 
 
 " Ha ! the sly rogue ! " thought the priest. 
 
134 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Midnight rang from the old church clock just as 
 Corentin and the abbe re-entered the salon. The open- 
 ing and shutting of doors and closets could be heard 
 from the bedrooms above. The gendarmes pulled open 
 the beds ; Peyrade,, with the quick perception of a sp}-, 
 handled and sounded everything. Such desecration 
 excited both fear and indignation among the faithful 
 servants of the house, who still stood motionless about 
 the salon. Monsieur d'llauteserre exchanged looks of 
 commiseration with his wife and Mademoiselle Goujet. 
 A species of horrible curiosity kept every one on the 
 qui vive. Peyrade at length came down, holding in his 
 hand a sandal-wood box which had probabry been 
 brought from China by Admiral de Simeuse. This 
 pretty casket was flat and about the size of a quarto 
 volume. 
 
 Peyrade made a sign to Corentin and took him into 
 the embrasure of a window. 
 
 "I've an idea!" he said, "that Michu, who was 
 ready to pa} r Marion eight hundred thousand francs in 
 gold for Gondreville, and who evidently meant to shoot 
 Malin yesterday, is the man who is helping the Simeuse 
 brothers. His motive in threatening Marion and aim- 
 ing at Malin must be the same. I thought when I saw 
 him that he was capable of ideas ; evidently he has but 
 one ; he discovered what was going on and he must 
 have come here to warn theni." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 135 
 
 "Probably Malin talked about the conspirac}' to his 
 friend the notary, and Miehu from his ambush over- 
 heard what was said," remarked Corentiu, continuing 
 the inductions of his colleague. " No doubt he has only 
 postponed his shot to prevent an evil he thinks worse 
 than the loss of Gondreville." 
 
 " He knew what we were the moment he laid e3"es on 
 us," said Peyrade. " I thought then that he was amaz- 
 ingly intelligent for a peasant." 
 
 " That proves that he is always on his guard," replied 
 Corentin. " But, mind you, my old man, don't let us 
 make a mistake. Treachery stinks in the nostrils, and 
 primitive folks do scent it from afar." 
 
 " But that's our strength," said the Provencal. 
 
 " Call the corporal of Arcis," cried Corentin to one 
 of the gendarmes. " I shall send him at once to 
 Michu's house," he added to Peyrade. 
 
 " Our ear, Violette, is there," said PejTade. 
 
 " We started without getting news from him. Two 
 of us are not enough ; we ought to have had Sabatier 
 with us — Corporal," he said, when the gendarme 
 appeared, taking him aside with Peyrade, " don't let 
 them fool 3'ou as the} T did the Troyes corporal just now. 
 "We think Michu is in this business. Go to his house, 
 put your eye on everything, and bring word of the 
 result." 
 
 " One of my men heard horses in the forest just as 
 
136 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 they arrested the little groom ; I 've four fine fellows 
 now on the track of whoever is hiding there," replied 
 the gendarme. 
 
 He left the room, and the gallop of his horse which 
 echoed on the paved courtyard died rapidly away. 
 
 " One thing is certain," said Corentin to himself, 
 " either they have gone to Paris or the}' are retreating 
 to German}*." 
 
 He sat down, pulled a note-book from the pocket of 
 his spencer, wrote two orders in pencil, sealed them, 
 and made a sign to one of the gendarmes to come to 
 him. 
 
 44 Be off at full gallop to Troyes, wake up the prefect, 
 and tell him to start the telegraph as soon as there 's 
 light enough." 
 
 The gendarme departed. The meaning of this move- 
 ment and Corentin's intentions were so evident that the 
 hearts of the household sank within them ; but this new 
 anxiety was additional to another that was now martyr- 
 izing them ; their eyes were fixed on the sandal-wood 
 box ! All the while the two agents were talking to- 
 gether they were each taking note of those eager looks. 
 A sort of cold anger stirred the unfeeling hearts of 
 these men who relished the power of inspiring terror. 
 The police man has the instincts and emotions of a 
 hunter : but where the one employs his powers of mind 
 and body in killing a hare, a partridge, or a deer, the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 137 
 
 other is thinking of saving the State, or a king, and of 
 winning a large reward. So the hunt for men is supe- 
 rior to the other class of hunting by all the distance 
 that there is between animals and human beings. 
 Moreover, a spy is forced to lift the part he plays to 
 the level and the importance of the interests to which 
 he is bound. Without looking further into this calling, 
 it is easy to see that the man who follows it puts as 
 much passionate ardor into his chase as another man 
 does into the pursuit of game. Therefore the further 
 these men advanced in their investigations the more 
 eager they became ; but the expression of their faces 
 and their eyes continued calm and cold, just as their 
 ideas, their suspicions, and their plans remained impene- 
 trable. To any one who watched the effects of the 
 moral scent, if we may so call it, of these bloodhounds 
 on the track of hidden facts, and who noted and under- 
 stood the movements of canine agility which led them 
 to strike the truth in their rapid examination of proba- 
 bilities, there was in it all something actually horrifying. 
 How and why should men of genius fall so low when 
 it was in their power to be so high? What imperfection, 
 what vice, what passion debases them? Does a man 
 become a police-agent as he becomes a thinker, writer, 
 statesman, painter, general, on the condition of knowing 
 nothing but how to spy, as the others speak, write, gov- 
 ern, paint, and fight? The inhabitants of the chateau 
 
 I 
 
138 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 had but one wish, — that the thunderbolts of heaven 
 might fall upon these miscreants ; the}* were athirst 
 for vengeance ; and had it not been for the presence, 
 up to this time, of the gendarmes there would un- 
 doubtedly have been an outbreak. 
 
 " No one, I suppose, has the key of this box?" said 
 the cynical Pe3*rade, questioning the family as much by 
 the movement of his huge red nose as by his words. 
 
 The Prov r eneal noticed, not without fear, that the 
 guards were no longer present ; he and Corentin were 
 alone with the family. The j'ounger man drew a small 
 dagger from his pocket, and began to force the lock of 
 the box. Just then the desperate galloping of a horse 
 was heard upon the road and then upon the pavement 
 by the lawn ; but most horrible of all was the fall and 
 sighing of the animal, which seemed to drop all at once 
 at the door of the middle tower. A convulsion like 
 that which a thunderbolt might produce shook the spec- 
 tators when Laurence, the trailing of whose riding- 
 habit announced her coming, entered the room. The 
 servants hastily formed into two lines to let her pass. 
 
 In spite of her rapid ride, the girl had felt the full 
 anguish the discovery of the conspirac}' must needs 
 cause her. All her hopes were overthrown ! she had 
 galloped through ruins as her thoughts turned to the 
 necessity of submission to the Consular government. 
 Were it not for the danger which threatened the four 
 
An Historical Mystery. 139 
 
 gentlemen, and which served as a tonic to conquer her 
 weariness and her despair, she would have dropped 
 asleep on the way. The mare was almost killed in her 
 haste to reach the chateau, and stand between her 
 cousins and death. As all present looked at the heroic 
 girl, pale, her features drawn, her veil aside, her whip 
 in her hand, standing on the threshold of the door, 
 whence her burning glance grasped the whole scene 
 and comprehended it, each knew from the almost im- 
 perceptible motion which crossed the soured and bitter 
 face of Corentin, that the real adversaries had met. A 
 terrible duel was about to begin. 
 
 Noticing the box, now in the hands of Corentin, the 
 countess raised her whip and sprang rapidly towards 
 him. Striking his hands with so violent a blow that the 
 casket fell to the ground, she seized it, flung it into 
 the middle of the fire, and stood with her back to the 
 chimney in a threatening attitude before either of the 
 agents recovered from their surprise. The scorn which 
 flamed from her eyes, her pale brow, her disdainful 
 lips, were even more insulting than the haughty action 
 which treated Corentin as though he were a veno- 
 mous reptile. Old d'Hauteserre felt himself once more 
 a cavalier ; all his blood rushed to his face, and he 
 grieved that he had no sword. The servants trem- 
 bled for an instant with joy. The vengeance thev had 
 called down upon these men had come. But their joy 
 
140 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 was driven back within their souls by a terrible fear ; 
 the gendarmes were still heard coming and going in the 
 garrets. 
 
 The spy — noun of strength, under which all shades 
 of the police are confounded, for the public has never 
 chosen to specify in language the varieties of those who 
 compose this dispensary of social remedies so essential 
 to all governments — the spy has this curious and 
 magnificent quality : he never becomes angry ; he pos- 
 sesses the Christian humility of a priest ; his e3'es are 
 stolid with an indifference which he holds as a barrier 
 against the world of fools who do not understand him ; 
 his forehead is adamant under insult ; he pursues his 
 ends like a reptile whose carapace is fractured only by 
 a cannonball ; but (like that reptile) he is all the more 
 furious when the blow does reach him, because he 
 believed his armor invulnerable. The lash of the whip 
 upon his fingers was to Corentin, pain apart, the can- 
 nonball that cracked the shell. Coming from that 
 magnificent and noble girl, this action, emblematic of 
 her disgust, humiliated him, not only in the eyes of the 
 people about him, but in his own. 
 
 Peyrade sprang to the hearth, caught Laurence's 
 foot, raised it, and compelled her, out of modesty, to 
 throw herself on the sofa, where she had lately lain 
 asleep. The scene, like other contrasts in human 
 things, was burlesque in the midst of terror. Peyrade 
 
An Historical Mystery. 141 
 
 scorched his hand as he dashed it into the fire to seize 
 the box ; but he got it, threw it on the floor and sat 
 down upon it. These little actions were done with 
 great rapid it} T and without a word being uttered. Cor- 
 entin, recovering from the pain of the blow, caught 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne by both hands, and held 
 her. 
 
 u Do not compel me to use force against you," he 
 said, with withering politeness. 
 
 Peyrade's action had extinguished the fire by the 
 natural process of suppressing the air. 
 
 "Gendarmes! here!" he cried, still occupying his 
 ridiculous position. 
 
 " Will you promise to behave yourself? " said Cor- 
 entin, insolently, addressing Laurence, and picking up 
 his dagger, but not committing the great fault of threat- 
 ening her with it. 
 
 " The secrets of that box do not concern the govern- 
 ment," she answered, with a tinge of melancholy in her 
 tone and manner. " When you have read the letters it 
 contains you will, in spite of your infamy, feel ashamed 
 of having read them — that is, if you can still feel 
 shame at anything," she added, after a pause. 
 
 The abbe looked at her as if to say, " For God's sake, 
 be calm ! " 
 
 Peyrade rose. The bottom of the box, which had 
 been nearly burned through, left a mark upon the floor ; 
 
142 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the lid was scorched and the sides gave way. The 
 grotesque Scaevola, who had offered to the god of the 
 Police and Terror the seat of his apricot breeches, 
 opened the two sides of the box as if it had been a book, 
 and slid three letters and two locks of hair upon the 
 card-table. He was about to smile at Corentin when 
 he perceived that the locks were of two shades of gray. 
 Corentin released Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne's hands 
 and went up to the table to read the letter from which 
 the hair had fallen. 
 
 Laurence rose, moved to the table beside the spies, 
 and said: — "Read it aloud; that shall be 3-our 
 punishment." 
 
 As the two men continued to read to themselves, she 
 herself read out the following words : — 
 
 Dear Laurence : — My husband and I have heard of 
 your noble conduct, on the day of our arrest. We know that 
 you love our dear twins as much, almost, as we love them 
 ourselves. Therefore it is with you that we leave a token 
 which will be both precious and sad to them. The execu- 
 tioner has come to cut our hair, for we are to die in a few 
 moments; he has promised to put into your hands the only 
 remembrance we are able to leave to our beloved orphans. 
 Keep these last remains of us and give them to our sons in 
 happier days. We have kissed these locks of hair and have 
 laid our blessing upon them. Our last thought will be of 
 our sons, of you, and of God. Love them, Laurence. 
 
 Bkrthe de Cinq-Cygne. 
 
 Jean de Simeuse. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 143 
 
 Tears came to the e3 r es of all the household as they 
 listened to the letter. 
 
 Laurence looked at the agents with a petrifying glance 
 and said, in a firm voice : — 
 
 " You have less pit}* than the executioner." 
 
 Corentin quietly folded the hair in the letter, laid 
 the letter aside on the table, and put a box of counters 
 on the top of it as if to prevent its blowing awa}\ 
 His coolness in the midst of the general emotion was 
 horrible. 
 
 Peyrade unfolded the other letters. 
 
 "Oh, as for those," said Laurence, "they are very 
 much alike. You heard the will ; vou can now hear of 
 its fulfilment. In future I shall have no secrets from 
 any one." 
 
 1704, Anderxach. Before the battle. 
 
 My dear Laurence, — I love you for life and I wish vou 
 
 to know it. But you ought also to know, in case T die, that 
 
 my brother, Paul-Marie, loves you as much as I love you. 
 
 My only consolation in dying would be the thought that you 
 
 might some day make my brother your husband without 
 
 being forced to see me die of jealousy — which must surely 
 
 happen if, both of us being alive, you preferred him to me. 
 
 After all, that preference seems natural, for he is, perhaps, 
 
 more worthy of your love than I — 
 
 Marie-Paul. 
 
 " Here is the other letter," she said, with the color 
 in her cheeks. 
 
144 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Andernach. Before the battle. 
 My kind Laurence, — My heart is sad ; but Marie-Paul 
 has a gayer nature, and will please you more than T am able 
 to do Some day you will have to choose between us — well, 
 though I love you passionately — 
 
 " You are corresponding with emigres," said Peyrade, 
 interrupting Laurence, and holding the letters between 
 himself and the light to see if they contained between 
 the lines any treasonable writing with invisible ink. 
 
 " Yes," replied Laurence, folding the precious letters, 
 the paper of which was already yellow with time. "But 
 by virtue of what right do you presume to violate my 
 dwelling and my personal liberty ? " 
 
 " Ah, that's the point ! " cried PejTade. " By what 
 right, indeed ! — it is time to let } t ou know it, beautiful 
 aristocrat," he added, taking a warrant from his pocket, 
 which came from the minister of justice and was coun- 
 tersigned by the minister of the interior. " See, the 
 authorities have their eye upon }"ou." 
 
 " We might also ask }'ou," said Corentin, in her ear, 
 " by what right } T ou harbor in this house the assassins 
 of the First Consul. You have applied your whip to 
 m}' hands in a manner that authorizes me to take nry 
 revenge upon 3 T our cousins, whom I came here to save." 
 
 At the mere movement of her lips and the glance 
 which Laurence cast upon Corentin, the abbe guessed 
 what that great artist was sa}ing, and he made her a 
 
An Historical Mystery. 145 
 
 sign to be distrustful, which no one intercepted but 
 Goulard. Peyrade struck the cover of the box to see if 
 there were a double top. 
 
 44 Don't break it ! " she exclaimed, taking the cover 
 from him. 
 
 She took a pin, pushed the head of one of the carved 
 figures, and the two halves of the top, joined by a 
 spring, opened. In the hollow half lay miniatures of 
 the Messieurs de Simeuse, in the uniform of the army of 
 Conde, two portraits on ivory done in German}'. Cor- 
 entin, who felt himself in presence of an adversary 
 worthy of his efforts, called Peyrade aside into a corner 
 of the room and conferred with him. 
 
 " How could you throw that into the fire? " said the 
 abbe, speaking to Laurence and pointing to the letter of 
 the marquise which inclosed the locks of hair. 
 
 For all answer the young girl shrugged her shoulders 
 significantl}'. The abbe comprehended then that she 
 had made the sacrifice to mislead the agents and gain 
 time ; he raised his eyes to heaven with a gesture of 
 admiration. 
 
 14 Where did they arrest Gothard, whom I hear cry- 
 ing? " she asked him, loud enough to be overheard. 
 
 44 1 don't know," said the abbe. 
 
 44 Did he reach the farm? " 
 
 44 The farm ! " whispered Peyrade to Corentin. " Let 
 us send there." 
 
 10 
 
146 An Historical MyUery. 
 
 "No," said Corentin ; " that girl never trusted her 
 cousins' safety to a farmer. She is playing with us. 
 Do as I tell you, so that we may n't have to leave with- 
 out detecting something, after committing the great 
 blunder of coming here at all." 
 
 Corentin stationed himself before the fire, lifting: the 
 long pointed skirts of his coat to warm himself and 
 assuming the air, manner, and tone of a gentleman who 
 was paying a visit. 
 
 " Mesdames, }*ou can go to bed, and the servants 
 also. Monsieur le maire, your services are no longer 
 needed. The sternness of our orders does not permit 
 us to act otherwise than as we have done ; but as soon 
 as the walls, which seem to me rather thick, have been 
 thoroughly examined, we shall take our departure." 
 
 The maj'or bowed to the company and retired ; but 
 neither the abbe nor Mademoiselle Goujet stirred. The 
 servants were too uneas} T not to watch the fate of their 
 young mistress. Madame d'Hauteserre, who, from the 
 moment of Laurence's entrance, had studied her with 
 the anxiety of a mother, rose, took her by the arm, led 
 her aside and said in a low voice, " Have vou seen 
 them ? " 
 
 " Do 3'ou think I could have let your sons be under 
 this roof without your knowing it?" replied Laurence. 
 ." Durieu," she added, " see if it is possible to save my 
 poor Stella ; she is still breathing." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 147 
 
 " She must have gone a great distance," said 
 Corentin. 
 
 " Forty miles in three hours," she answered, address- 
 ins the abbe, who watched her with amazement. " I 
 started at half-past nine, and it was well past one when 
 I returned." 
 
 She looked at the clock which said half-past two. 
 
 " So you don't deny that you have ridden forty 
 miles? " said Corentin. 
 
 U No," she said. " I admit that m} r cousins, in their 
 perfect innocence, expected not to be excluded from the 
 amnest}*, and were on their way to Cinq-Cygne. When 
 I found that the Sieur Malin was plotting to injure 
 them, I went to warn them to return to Germany, where 
 they will be before the telegraph can have guarded the 
 frontier. If I have done wrong I shall be punished for 
 it." 
 
 This answer, which Laurence had carefully con- 
 sidered, was so probable in all its parts that Corentin's 
 convictions were shaken. In that decisive moment, 
 when ever} 7 soul present hung suspended, as it were, on 
 the faces of the two adversaries, and all eyes turned 
 from Corentin to Laurence and from Laurence to Cor- 
 entin, again the gallop of a horse, coming from the 
 forest, resounded on the road and from there through 
 the gates to the paved courtyard. Frightful anxiet} T 
 was stamped on every face. 
 
148 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Peyrade entered, bis e}'es gleaming with joy. He 
 went hastily to Corentin and said, loud enough for the 
 countess to hear him : " We have caught Michu." 
 
 Laurence, to whom the agony, fatigue, and tension of 
 all her intellectual faculties had given an unusual color, 
 turned white and fell back almost fainting on a chair. 
 Madame Durieu, Mademoiselle Goujet, and Madame 
 d'Hauteserre sprang to help her, for she was suffocating. 
 She signed to cut the frogging of her habit. 
 
 "Duped!" said Corentin to Peyrade. "I am cer- 
 tain now the}- are on their way to Paris. Change the 
 orders." 
 
 The}' left the room and the house, placing one gen- 
 darme on guard at the door of the salon. The infernal 
 cleverness of the two men had gained a terrible advan- 
 tage b} r taking Laurence in the trap of a not uncommon 
 trick. 
 
An Historical Mystery, 149 
 
 IX. 
 
 FOILED. 
 
 At six o'clock in the morning, as day was dawning, 
 Corentin and Peyrade returned. Having explored the 
 covered way they were satisfied that horses had passed 
 through it to reach the forest. They were now await- 
 ing the report of the captain of gendarmerie sent to 
 reconnoitre the neighborhood. Leaving the chateau in 
 charge of a corporal, they went to the tavern at Cinq- 
 Cygne to get their breakfast, giving orders that Go- 
 thard, who never ceased to reply to all questions with a 
 burst of tears, should be set at liberty, also Catherine, 
 who still continued silent and immovable. Catherine 
 and Gothard went to the salon to kiss the hands of 
 their mistress, who la} 7 exhausted on the sofa ; Durieu 
 also went in to tell her that Stella would recover, but 
 needed great care. 
 
 The mayor, uneasy and inquisitive, met Peyrade and 
 Corentin in the village. He declared that he could not 
 allow such important officials to breakfast in a miser- 
 able tavern, and he took them to his own house. The 
 abbe}' was only three quarters of a mile distant. On 
 the way, Peyrade remarked that the corporal of Arcis 
 had sent no news of Michu or of Violette. 
 
150 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " We are dealing with veiy able people," said Cor- 
 entin ; " they are stronger than we. The priest no doubt 
 has a finger in all this." 
 
 Just as the mayor's wife was ushering her guests into 
 a vast dining-room (without any fire) the lieutenant of 
 gendarmes arrived with an anxious air. 
 
 "We met the horse of the corporal of Arcis in the 
 forest without his master," he said to Peyrade. 
 
 " Lieutenant/' cried Corentin, " go instantly to 
 Michu's house and find out what is going on there. 
 The}' must have murdered the corporal." 
 
 This news interfered with the mayor's breakfast. 
 Corentin and Peyrade swallowed their food with the 
 rapidity of hunters halting for a meal, and drove back 
 to the chateau in their wicker carriage, so as to be 
 ready to start at the first call for any point where their 
 presence might be necessary. When the two men re- 
 appeared in the salon into which they had brought such 
 trouble, terror, grief, and anxiety, the}* found Laurence, 
 in a dressing-gown, Monsieur d'Hauteserre and his wife, 
 the abbe and his sister, sitting round the fire, to all 
 appearance tranquil. 
 
 " If they had caught Michu," Laurence told herself, 
 -' they would have brought him with them. I have the 
 mortification of knowing that I was not mistress of my- 
 self, and that I threw some light upon the matter for 
 those wretches ; but the harm can be undone — How 
 
An Historical Mystery. 151 
 
 long are we to be jour prisoners ? " she asked sarcasti- 
 call}', with an easy manner. 
 
 " How can she know an} T thing about Michu? No 
 one from the outside has got near the chateau ; she is 
 laughing at us," said the two agents to each other by a 
 look. 
 
 " We shall not inconvenience you long," replied Cor- 
 entin. " In three hours from now we shall offer our 
 regrets for having troubled your solitude." 
 
 No one replied. This contemptuous silence redoubled 
 Corentin's inward rage. Laurence and the abbe (the 
 two minds of their little world) had talked the man over 
 and drawn their conclusions. Gothard and Catherine 
 had set the breakfast-table near the fire and the abbe 
 and his sister were sharing the meal. Neither masters 
 nor servants paid the slightest attention to the two 
 spies, who walked up and down the garden, the court- 
 yard or the lawn, returning every now and then to the 
 salon. 
 
 At half-past two the lieutenant reappeared. 
 
 " I found the corporal," he said to Corentin, li lying 
 in the road which leads from the pavilion of Cinq-Cygne 
 to the farm at Bellache. He has no wound, only a bad 
 contusion of the head, caused, apparently, by his fall. 
 He told me he had been lifted suddenlv off his horse 
 and flung so violently on the ground that he could not 
 discover hou- the thing was done. His feet left the 
 
152 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 stirrups, which was lucky, for he might have been killed 
 by the horse dragging him. We put him in charge of 
 Michu and Violette — " 
 
 44 Michu ! is Michu in his own house? " said Coren- 
 tin, glancing at Laurence. 
 
 The countess smiled ironically, like a woman ob- 
 taining her revenge. 
 
 "He is bargaining with Violette about the sale of 
 some land," said the lieutenant. " They seemed to me 
 drunk ; and it 's no wonder, for they have been drinking 
 all night and discussing the matter, and they have n't 
 come to terms yet." 
 
 44 Did Violette tell you so? " cried Corentin. 
 
 44 Yes," said the lieutenant. 
 
 44 Nothing: is right if we don't attend to it ourselves ! ' 
 cried Peyrade, looking at Corentin, who doubted the 
 lieutenant's news as much as the other did. 
 
 44 At what hour did you get to Michu's house?" 
 asked Corentin, noticing that the countess had glanced 
 at the clock. 
 
 44 About two," replied the lieutenant. 
 
 Laurence covered Monsieur and Madame d'Haute- 
 serre and the abbe and his sister in one comprehensive 
 glance, which made them fancy they were wrapped in 
 an azure mantle ; triumph sparkled in her eyes, she 
 blushed, and the tears welled up beneath her lids. 
 Strong under all misfortunes, the girl knew not how to 
 
An Historical Mystery. 153 
 
 weep except from joy. At this moment she was all 
 glorious, especially to the priest, who was sometimes 
 distressed by the virility of her character, and who now 
 caught a glimpse of the infinite tenderness of her 
 woman's nature. But such feelings lay in her soul like 
 a treasure hidden at a great depth beneath a block of 
 granite. 
 
 Just then a gendarme entered the salon to ask if he 
 might bring in Michu's son, sent by his father to speak 
 to the gentlemen from Paris. Corentin gave an affirma- 
 tive nod. Francois Michu, a sly little chip of the old 
 block, was in the courtyard, where Gothard, now at 
 liberty, got a chance to speak to him for an instant 
 under the eyes of a gendarme. The little fellow man- 
 aged to slip something into Gothard's hand without 
 being detected, and the latter glided into the salon after 
 him till he reached his mistress, to whom he stealthily 
 conve}'ed both halves of the wedding-ring, a sure sign, 
 she knew, that Michu had met the four gentlemen and 
 put them in safet}'. 
 
 " My papa wants to know what he 's to do with the 
 corporal, who ain't doing well," said Francois. 
 
 " What's the matter with him? " asked Peyrade. 
 
 " It 's his head — he pitched down hard on the 
 ground," replied the boy. " For a gindarme who 
 knows how to ride it was bad luck — I suppose the 
 horse stumbled. He 's got a hole — my ! as big as 
 
154 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 3 T our fist — in the back of his head. Seems as if he 
 must have hit some big stone, poor man ! He may be 
 a gindarme, but he suffers all the same — you'd pity 
 him." 
 
 The captain of the gendarmerie now arrived and 
 dismounted in the courtyard. Corentin threw up the 
 window, not to lose time. 
 
 4 ' What has been done ? " 
 
 " We are back like the Dutchmen ! We found noth- 
 ing but five dead horses, their coats stiff with sweat, in 
 the middle of the forest. I have kept them to find out 
 where thev came from and who owns them. The forest 
 is surrounded ; whoever is in it can't get out." 
 
 "At what hour do you suppose those horsemen 
 entered the forest?" 
 
 " About half-past twelve." 
 
 " Don't let a hare leave that forest without your see- 
 ing it," whispered Corentin. "I'll station Pe} T rade at 
 the village to help } t ou ; I am going to see the corporal 
 myself — Go to the mayor's house," he added, still 
 whispering, to Pe3 T rade. "I'll send some able man to 
 relieve you. We shall have to make use of the country- 
 people ; examine all faces." He turned towards the 
 family and said in a threatening tone, " Au revoir ! " 
 
 No one replied, and the two agents left the room. 
 
 " What would Fouche say if he knew we had made a 
 domiciliary visit without getting any results?" re- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 155 
 
 marked Peyrade as lie helped Corentin into the osier 
 vehicle. 
 
 "It isn't over yet," replied the other, "those four 
 young men are in the forest. Look there ! " and he 
 pointed to Laurence who was watching them from a 
 window. " I once revenged myself on a woman who 
 was worth a dozen of that one and had stirred my bile 
 a good deal less. If this girl comes in the wa}* of my 
 hatchet I '11 pay her for the lash of that whip." 
 
 "The other was a strumpet," said Peyrade; "this 
 one has rank." 
 
 "What difference is that to me? All's fish that 
 swims in the sea," replied Corentin, signing to the 
 gendarme who drove him to whip up. 
 
 Ten minutes later the chateau de Cinq-C}'gne was 
 complete!} 1- evacuated. 
 
 " How did the}- get rid of the corporal?" said Lau- 
 rence to Francois Michn, whom she had ordered to sit 
 down and eat some breakfast. 
 
 " My father told me it was a matter of life and death 
 and I must n't let anybody get into our house," replied 
 the boy. " I knew when I heard the horses in the for- 
 est that I 'd got to do with them hounds of gindarmes, 
 and I meant to keep 'em from getting in. So I took 
 some big ropes that were in our garret and fastened 
 one of 'em to a tree at the corner of road. Then I 
 drew the rope high enough to hit the breast of a man 
 
156 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 on horseback, and tied it to the tree on the opposite 
 side of the way in the direction where I heard the 
 horses. That barred the road. It did n't miss fire, I 
 can tell you ! There was no moon, and the corporal 
 just pitched ! — but he was n't killed ; the} T 're tough, 
 them gindarmes ! I did what I could." 
 
 " You have saved us!" said Laurence, kissing him 
 as she took him to the gate. When there, she looked 
 about her and seeing no one she said cautiously, " Have 
 they provisions ? " 
 
 " I have just taken them twelve pounds of bread and 
 four bottles of wine," said the boy. ' ' They '11 be snug 
 for a week." 
 
 Returning to the salon, the girl was beset with mute 
 questions in the eyes of all, each of whom looked at her 
 with as much admiration as eagerness. 
 
 "But have you really seen them?" cried Madame 
 d'Hauteserre. 
 
 The countess put a finger on her lips and smiled ; 
 then she left the room and went to bed ; her triumph 
 sure, utter weariness had overtaken her. 
 
 The shortest road from Cinq-Cygne to Michu's lodge 
 was that which led from the village past the farm at 
 Bellache to the rond-point where the Parisian spies had 
 first seen Michu on the preceding evening. The gen- 
 darme who was driving Corentin took this way, which 
 was the one the corporal of Arcis had taken. As they 
 
An Historical Mystery. 157 
 
 drove along, the agent was on the look-out for signs to 
 show wh} T the corporal had been unhorsed. He blamed 
 himself for having sent but one man on so important an 
 errand, and he drew from this mistake an axiom for the 
 police Code, which he afterwards applied. 
 
 -' If they have got rid of the corporal," he said to 
 himself, " the}* have done as much by Violette. Those 
 five horses have evidently brought the four conspira- 
 tors and Michu from the neighborhood of Paris to the 
 forest. Has Michu a horse ? " he inquired of the gen- 
 darme who was driving him and who belonged to the 
 squad from Arcis. 
 
 "Yes, and a famous little horse it is," answered the 
 man, " a hunter from the stables of the ci-devant Mar- 
 quis de Simeuse. There 's no better beast, though it is 
 nearly fifteen }*ears old. Michu can ride him fifty miles 
 and he won't turn a hair. He takes mighty good care 
 of him and would n't sell him at any price." 
 
 " What does the horse look like? " 
 
 -- He 's brown, turning rather to black ; white stock- 
 ings above the hoofs, thin, all nerves like an Arab." 
 
 " Did 3'ou ever see an Arab? " 
 
 " In Egypt — last year. I've ridden the horses of 
 the mamelukes. We have to serve twelve years in the 
 cavalry, and I was on the Rhine under General Steingel, 
 after that in Italv, and then I followed the First Consul 
 to Egypt. I'll be a corporal soon." 
 
158 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " When I get to Micbu's house go to the stable ; if 
 you have served twelve }ears in the cavahy you know 
 when a horse is blown. Let me know the condition of 
 Michu's beast." 
 
 " See! that's where our corporal was thrown/' said 
 the man, pointing to a spot where the road they were 
 following entered the rond-point. 
 
 " Tell the captain to come and pick me up at Michu's, 
 and I'll go with him to TWves." 
 
 So sa} T ing Corentin got down, and stood about for 
 a few minutes examining the ground. He looked at 
 the two elms which faced each other, — one against the 
 park wall, the other on the bank of the rond-point / 
 then he saw (what no one had yet noticed) the but* 
 ton of a uniform lying in the dust, and he picked it up. 
 Entering the lodge he saw Violette and Michu sit- 
 ing at the table in the kitchen and talking eagerl}*. 
 Violette rose, bowed to Corentin, and offered him some 
 wine. 
 
 " Thank you, no ; I came to see the corporal," said 
 the 3'oung man, who saw with half a glance that Vio- 
 lette had been drunk all night. 
 
 " M} r wife is nursing him upstairs," said Michu. 
 
 " Well, corporal, how are j'ou? " said Corentin who 
 had run up the stairs and found the gendarme with his 
 head bandaged, and lying on Madame Michu's bed ; 
 his hat, sabre, and shoulder-belt on a chair. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 159 
 
 Marthe, faithful to her womanly instincts, and know- 
 ing nothing of her son's prowess, was giving all her 
 care to the corporal, assisted by her mother. 
 
 " We expect Monsieur Varlet the doctor from Arcis," 
 she said to Corentin ; " our servant-lad has gone to 
 fetch him." 
 
 44 Leave us alone for a moment," said Corentin, a 
 good deal surprised at the scene, which amply proved 
 the innocence of the two women. " Where were you 
 struck?" he asked the man, examining his uniform. 
 
 " On the breast," replied the corporal. 
 
 "•Let's see your belt," said Corentin. 
 
 On the 3'ellow band with a white edge, which a re- 
 cent regulation had made part of the equipment of the 
 guard now called National, was a metal plate a good 
 deal like that of the foresters, on which the law 
 required the inscription of these remarkable words : 
 44 Respect to persons and to properties." Francois's 
 rope had struck the belt and defaced it. Corentin took 
 up the coat and found the place where the button he 
 had picked up upon the road belonged. 
 
 " What time did they find you? " asked Corentin. 
 
 " About davbfeak." 
 
 44 Did thev bring you up here at once?" said Coren- 
 tin, noticing that the bed had not been slept in. 
 
 44 Yes." 
 
 44 Who brought 3 r ou up?" 
 
160 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " The women and little Michu, who found me 
 
 unconscious." 
 
 "So!" thought Corentin : "evidently they didn't 
 go to bed. The corporal was not shot at, nor struck 
 by an} T weapon, for an assailant must have been at his 
 own height to strike a blow. Something, some obsta- 
 cle, was in his way and that unhorsed him. A piece 
 of wood ? not possible ! an iron chain ? that would 
 \ave left marks. What did 3'ou.feel?" he said aloud. 
 
 " I was knocked over so suddenly — " 
 
 "The skin is rubbed off under your chin," said 
 Corentin quickly. 
 
 "I think," said the corporal, "that a rope did go 
 >ver my face." 
 
 "I have it!" cried Corentin; "somebody tied a 
 rope from tree to tree to bar the wa}." 
 
 " Like enough," replied the corporal. 
 
 Corentin went downstairs to the kitchen. 
 
 " Come, you old rascal," Michu was sa}'ing to Vio- 
 lette, "let's make an end of this. "One hundred 
 thousand francs for the place, and you are master of 
 my whole propert}'. I shall retire on my income." 
 
 "I tell vou, as there's a God in heaven, I haven't 
 more than sixt} r thousand." 
 
 "But don't I offer you time to pay the rest? 
 Ton 've kept me here since 3-esterday, arguing it. The 
 /and is in prime order." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 161 
 
 44 Yes, the soil is good," said Violette. 
 
 44 Wife, some more wine," cried Michu. 
 
 " Have n't you drunk enough?" called down Marthe's 
 mother. " This is the fourteenth bottle since nine 
 o'clock j'esterda}'." 
 
 " You have been here since nine o'clock this morning, 
 have n't you ? " said Corentin to Violette. 
 
 " No, beg your pardon, since last night I have n't 
 left the place, and 1 've gained nothing after all ; the 
 more he makes me drink the more he puts up the 
 price." 
 
 "In all markets he who raises his elbow raises a 
 price," said Corentin. 
 
 A dozen empty bottles ranged along the table proved 
 the truth of the old woman's words. Just then the 
 gendarme who had driven him made a sign to Coren- 
 tin, who went to the door to speak to him. 
 
 " There is no horse in the stable," said the man. 
 
 " You sent your bo} T on horseback to the chateau, 
 did n't } T ou ? " said Corentin, returning to the kitchen. 
 " Will he be back soon?" 
 
 44 No, monsieur," said Marthe, 44 he went on foot." 
 
 44 What have j'ou done with your horse, then? " 
 
 44 1 have lent him," said Michu, curtly. 
 
 44 Come out here, my good fellow," said Corentin ; 
 44 I've a word for your ear." 
 
 Corentin and Michu left the house. 
 
 11 
 
162 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 " The gun which you were loading yesterda}' at four 
 o'clock you meant to use in murdering the Councillor 
 of State ; but we can't take } r ou up for that — plenty of 
 intention, but no witnesses. You managed, I don't 
 know how, to stupefy Violette, and you and }>our wife 
 and that young rascal of yours spent the night out of 
 doors to warn Mademoiselle de Cinq-C3*gne and save 
 her cousins, whom you are hiding here, — though I 
 don't as yet know where. Your son or j T our wife threw 
 the corporal off his horse cleverly enough. Well, 
 you 've got the better of us just now ; } T ou 're a devil 
 of a fellow. But the end is not } T et, and you won't 
 have the last word. Had n't you better compromise? 
 your masters would be the better for it." 
 
 "' Come this way, where we can talk without being 
 overheard," said Michu, leading the way through the 
 park to the pond. 
 
 When Corentin saw the water he looked fixedlj' at 
 Michu, who was no doubt reckoning on his physical 
 strength to fling the sp} T into seven feet of mud below 
 three feet of water. Michu replied with a look that 
 was not less fixed. The scene was absolutelj T as if a 
 cold and flabb} r boa constrictor had defied one of those 
 tawn} T , fierce leopards of Brazil. 
 
 " I am not thirst}'," said Corentin, stopping short at 
 the edge of the field and putting his hand into his 
 pocket to feel for his dagger. 
 
An Historical Mystery, 163 
 
 " We shall never come to terms," said Michu, colcll}-. 
 
 " Mind wbat }'0ii 're about, my good fellow ; the law 
 has its eye upon 3'ou." 
 
 "If the law can't see any clearer than } T ou, there's 
 danger to ever}' one," said the bailiff. 
 
 "Do you refuse?" said Corentin, in a significant 
 tone. 
 
 "I'd rather have my head cut off a hundred times, 
 if that could be done, than come to an agreement with 
 such a villain as }'Ou." 
 
 Corentin got into his vehicle hastily, after one more 
 comprehensive look at Michu, the lodge, and Couraut, 
 who barked at him. He gave certain orders in passing 
 through Troyes, and then returned to Paris. All the 
 brigades of gendarmerie in the neighborhood received 
 secret instructions and special orders. 
 
 During the months of December, Januaiy, and Feb- 
 ruary the search was active and incessant, even in 
 remote villages. Spies were in all the taverns. Coren- 
 tin learned some important facts : a horse like that of 
 Michu had been found dead in the neighborhood of 
 Lagny ; the five horses burned in the forest of No- 
 desme had been sold, for five hundred francs each, b} r 
 farmers and millers to a man who answered to the 
 description of Michu. When the decree against the 
 accomplices and harborers of Georges was put in 
 force Corentin confined his search to the forest of 
 
164 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 Nodesme. After Moreau, the royalists, and Pichegru 
 were arrested no strangers were ever seen about the 
 place. 
 
 Michu lost his situation at that time ; the notary 
 of Arcis brought him a letter in which Malin, now made 
 senator, requested Grevin to settle all accounts with 
 the bailiff and dismiss him. Michu asked and obtained 
 a formal discharge and became a free man. To the 
 great astonishment of the neighborhood he went to live 
 at Cinq-Cygne, where Laurence made him the farmer 
 of all the reserved land about the chateau. The day 
 of his installation as farmer coincided with the fatal 
 day of the death of the Due d'Enghien, when nearly 
 the whole of France heard at the same time of the 
 arrest, trial, condemnation, and death of the prince, — 
 terrible reprisals, which preceded the trial of Polignac, 
 Riviere, and Moreau. 
 
An Historical Mystery, 16& 
 
 PART II. 
 X. 
 
 ONE AND THE SAME, YET A TWO-FOLD LOVE. 
 
 While the new farm-house was being built Michu the 
 Judas, so-called, and his family occupied the rooms over 
 the stables at Cinq-Cygne on the side of the chateau 
 next to the famous breach. He bought two horses, one 
 for himself and one for Francois, for they both joined 
 Gothard in accompanying Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne 
 in her many rides, which had for their object, as ma} r 
 well be imagined, the feeding of the four gentlemen and 
 perpetual watching that they were still in safety. Fran- 
 cois and Gothard, assisted by Couraut and the conn 
 tess's dogs, went in front and beat the woods all around 
 the hiding-place to make sure that there was no on« 
 within sight. Laurence and Michu carried the provis- 
 ions which Marthe, her mother, and Catherine pre- 
 pared, unknown to the other servants of the household 
 so as to restrict the secret to themselves, for all were 
 sure that there were spies in the village. These expedi- 
 tions were never made oftener than twice a week and 
 
166 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 on different days and at different hours, sometimes by 
 da}*, sometimes by night. 
 
 These precautions lasted until the trial of Riviere, 
 Polignac, and Moreau ended. When the senatus-con- 
 sultum, which called the dynast}' of Bonaparte to the 
 throne and nominated Napoleon as Emperor of the 
 French, was submitted to the French people for accept- 
 ance Monsieur d'Hauteserre signed the paper Goulard 
 brought him. When it was made known that the Pope 
 would come to France to crown the Emperor, Made- 
 moiselle de Cinq-Cygne no longer opposed the general 
 desire that her cousins and the young d'Hauteserres 
 should petition to have their names struck off the list of 
 emigres, and be themselves reinstated in their rights as 
 citizens. On this, old d'Hauteserre went to Paris and 
 consulted the ci-devant Marquis de Chargeboeuf who 
 knew Talleyrand. That minister, then in favor, con- 
 ve} T ed the petition to Josephine, and Josephine gave it to 
 her husband, who was addressed as Emperor, Majest}*, 
 Sire, before the result of the popular vote was known. 
 Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, Monsieur d'Hauteserre, and 
 the Abbe Goujet, who also went to Paris, obtained an 
 interview with Talleyrand, who promised them his sup- 
 port. Napoleon had alread}* pardoned several of the 
 principal actors in the great royalist conspiracy ; and 
 3*et, though the four gentlemen were merely suspected 
 of complicity, the Emperor, after a meeting of the Coun- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 167 
 
 cil of State, called the senator Malin, Fouche, Talley- 
 rand, Canibaceres, Lebrun, and Dubois, prefect of police, 
 into his cabinet. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the future Emperor, who still 
 wore the dress of the First Consul, " we have received 
 from the Sieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre, officers 
 in the army of the Prince de Conde, a request to be 
 allowed to re-enter France." 
 
 " The^v are here now," said Fouche. 
 
 " Like many others whom I meet in Paris," remarked 
 Talleyrand. 
 
 " I think 3'ou have not met these gentlemen," said 
 Malin, " for they are hidden in the forest of Nodesme, 
 where they consider themselves at home." 
 
 He was careful not to tell the First Consul and 
 Fouche how he himself had given them warning, by talk- 
 ing with Grevin within hearing of Michu, but he made 
 the most of Corentin's reports and convinced Napoleon 
 that the four gentlemen were sharers in the plot of 
 Riviere and Polignac, with Michu for an accomplice. 
 The prefect of police confirmed these assertions. 
 
 " But how could that bailiff know that the conspiracy 
 was discovered?" said the prefect, "for the Emperor 
 and the council and I were the only persons in the 
 secret." 
 
 No one paid attention to this remark. 
 
 " If the}' have been hidden in that forest for the last 
 
168 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 seven months and } T ou have not been able to find them," 
 said the Emperor to Fouche, " they have expiated their 
 misdeeds." 
 
 " Since they are my enemies as well," said Malin, 
 frightened by the prefect's clear-sightedness, " I desire 
 to follow the magnanimous example of your Majesty ; 
 I therefore make nryself their advocate and ask that 
 their names be stricken from the list of emigres" 
 
 " They will be less dangerous to you here than if they 
 are exiled ; for they will now have to swear allegiance 
 to the Empire and the laws," said Fouche, looking at 
 Malin fixedly. 
 
 "In what way are they dangerous to the senator?" 
 asked Napoleon. 
 
 Talleyrand spoke to the Emperor for some minutes 
 in a low voice. The reinstatement of the Messieurs de 
 Simeuse and d'Hauteserre appeared to be granted. 
 
 "Sire," said Fouche, "rely upon it, you will hear 
 of those men again." 
 
 Talle}Tand, who had been urged by the Due de 
 Grandlieu, gave the Emperor pledges in the name of 
 the young men on their honor as gentlemen (a term 
 which had great fascination for Napoleon) , to abstain 
 from all attacks upon his Majesty and to submit 
 themselves to his government in good faith. 
 
 " Messieurs d'Hauteserre and de Simeuse are not 
 willing to bear arms against France, now that events 
 
An Historical Mystery. 169 
 
 have taken their present course," he said, aloud ; " they 
 have little S3'mpathy, it is true, with the Imperial gov- 
 ernment, but they are just the men that your Majesty 
 ought to conciliate. They will be satisfied to live on 
 French soil and obey the laws." 
 
 Then he laid before the Emperor a letter he had 
 received from the brothers in which these sentiments 
 were expressed. 
 
 " Anything so frank is likely to be sincere," said the 
 Emperor, returning the letter and looking at Lebrun 
 and Cambaceres. " Have you any further objections? " 
 he asked of Fouche\ 
 
 "In your Majesty's interests," replied the future 
 minister of police, "I ask to be allowed to inform 
 these gentlemen of their reinstatement — when it is 
 really granted" he added, in a louder tone. 
 
 " Very well," said Napoleon, noticing an anxious 
 look on Fouche's face. 
 
 The matter did not seem positively decided when the 
 Council rose ; but it had the effect of putting into Napo- 
 leon's mind a vague distrust of the four }*oung men. 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre, believing that all was gained, 
 wrote a letter announcing the good news. The family 
 at Cinq-Cygne were therefore not surprised when, a few 
 days later, Goulard came to inform the countess and 
 Madame d'Hauteserre that the}' were to send the four 
 gentlemen to Troyes, where the prefect would show 
 
170 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 them the decree reinstating them in their rights and 
 administer to them the oath of allegiance to the Empire 
 and the laws. Laurence replied that she would send 
 the notification to her cousins and the Messieurs 
 d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " Then they are not here? " said Goulard. 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre looked anxiously after Lau- 
 rence, who left the room to consult Michu. Michu saw 
 no reason why the young men should not be released 
 at once from their hiding-place. Laurence, Michu, his 
 son, and Gothard therefore started as soon as possible 
 for the forest, taking an extra horse, for the countess 
 resolved to accompany her cousins to Troyes and return 
 with them. The whole household, made aware of the 
 good news, gathered on the lawn to witness the depart- 
 ure of the happy cavalcade. The four young men 
 issued from their long confinement, mounted their 
 horses, and took the road to Troyes, accompanied by 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. Michu, with the help of 
 his son and Gothard, closed the entrance to the cellar, 
 and started to return home on foot. On the way he 
 recollected that he had left the forks and spoons and a 
 silver cup, which the young men had been using, in the 
 cave, and he went back for them alone. When he 
 reached the edge of the pond he heard voices, and 
 went straight to the entrance of the cave through the 
 brushwood. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 171 
 
 "Have you come for your silver?" said Peyrade, 
 showing his big red nose through the branches. 
 
 Without knowing why, for at any rate his young 
 masters were safe, Michu felt a sharp agony in all his 
 joints, so keen was the sense of vague, indefinable com- 
 ing evil which took possession of him ; but he went 
 forward at once, and found Corentin on the stairs with 
 a taper in his hand. 
 
 " We are not very harsh," he said to Michu ; " we 
 might have seized your ci-devants any da}' for the last 
 week ; but we knew thev were reinstated — You 're 
 a tough fellow to deal with, and you gave us too much 
 trouble not to make us anxious to satisfy our curiosity 
 about this hiding-place of yours." 
 
 " I'd give something," cried Michu, "to know how 
 and by whom we have been sold." 
 
 " If that puzzles you, old fellow," said Peyrade, laugh- 
 ing, ik look at your horses' shoes, and you '11 see that 
 you betrayed yourselves." 
 
 "Well, there need be no rancor!" said Corentin, 
 whistling for the captain of gendarmerie and their 
 horses. 
 
 " So that rascally Parisian blacksmith who shoed the 
 horses in the English fashion and left Cinq-Cygne only 
 the other day was their spy ! " thought Michu. " They 
 must have followed our tracks when the ground was 
 damp. Well, we 're quits now ! " 
 
172 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Michu consoled himself by thinking that the discover}^ 
 was of no consequence, as the young men were now 
 safe, Frenchmen once more, and at liberty. Yet his 
 first presentiment was a true one. The police, like the 
 Jesuits, have the one virtue of never abandoning their 
 friends or their enemies. 
 
 Old d'Hauteserre returned from Paris and was more 
 than surprised not to be the first to bring the news. 
 Durieu prepared a succulent dinner, the servants donned 
 their best clothes, and the whole household impatiently 
 awaited the exiles, who arrived about four o'clock, 
 happy, — and yet humiliated, for they found they were to 
 be under police surveillance for two years, obliged to 
 present themselves at the prefecture every month and 
 ordered to remain in the commune of Cinq-Cygne dur- 
 ing the said two years. u I '11 send you the papers for 
 signature," the prefect said to them. •■* Then, in the 
 course of a few months, 3'ou can ask to be relieved of 
 these conditions, which are imposed on all of Pichegru's 
 accomplices. I will back }-our request." 
 
 These restrictions, fairly deserved, rather dispirited 
 the young men, but Laurence laughed at them. 
 
 " The Emperor of the French," she said, " was badly 
 brought up ; he has not yet acquired the habit of 
 bestowing favors graciously." 
 
 The party found all the inhabitants of the chateau at 
 the gates, and a goodly proportion of the people of the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 173 
 
   
 
 village waiting on the road to see the 3'oung men, whose 
 adventures had made them famous throughout the 
 department. Madame d'Hauteserre held her sons to 
 her breast for a long time, her face covered with tears ; 
 she was unable to speak and remained silent, though 
 happy, through a part of the evening. No sooner 
 had the Simeuse twins dismounted than a cry of sur- 
 prise arose on all sides, caused b}' their amazing resem- 
 blance, — the same look, the same voice, the same 
 actions. They both had the same movement in rising 
 from their saddles, in throwing their leg over the 
 crupper of their horses when dismounting, in flinging 
 the reins upon the animal's neck. Their dress, pre- 
 cisely the same, contributed to this likeness. The} 7 
 wore boots a la Suwaroff, made to fit the instep, tight 
 trousers of white leather, green hunting-jackets with 
 metal buttons, black cravats, and buckskin gloves. The 
 two young men, just thirt}*-one years of age, were — to 
 use a term in vogue in those da} T s — charming cavaliers, 
 of medium height but well set up, brilliant e^-es with 
 
 long lashes, floating in liquid like those of children, black 
 
   
 hair, noble brows, and olive skin. Their speech, gentle 
 
 as that of a woman, Tell graciously from their fresh red 
 lips ; their manners, more elegant and polished than those 
 of the provincial gentlemen, showed that knowledge of 
 men and things had given them that supplemental edu- 
 cation which makes its possessor a man of the world. 
 
174 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Not lacking money, thanks to Michu, during their 
 emigration, the}' had been able to travel and be re- 
 ceived at foreign courts. Old d'Hauteserre and the 
 abbe thought them rather haughty ; but in their present 
 position this may have been the sign of nobility of char- 
 acter. They possessed all the eminent little marks of 
 a careful education, to which the}- added a wonderful 
 dexterity in bodily exercises. Thei r only dissimilarity 
 was in the region of ideas. The youngest charmed- 
 others by his gayety, the eldest by his melancholy ; but, 
 the contrast, which was purely spiritual, was not at 
 first observable. 
 
 " Ah, wife,*' whispered Michu in Marthe's ear, 
 " how could one help devoting one's self to those young 
 fellows ? " 
 
 Marthe, who admired them as a wife and mother, 
 nodded her head prettily and pressed her husband's 
 hand. The servants were allowed to kiss their new 
 masters. 
 
 During their seven months' seclusion in the forest 
 (which the young men had brought upon themselves) 
 the}' had several times committed the imprudence of 
 taking walks about their hiding-place, carefully guarded 
 by Michu, his son, and Gothard. During these walks, 
 taken usually on starlit nights, Laurence, reuniting the 
 thread of their past and present lives, felt the utter 
 impossibility of choosing between the brothers. A 
 
An Historical Mystery. 175 
 
 pure and equal love for each divided her heart. She 
 fancied indeed that she had two hearts. On their side, 
 the brothers dared not speak to themselves of their 
 impending rivalry. Perhaps all three were trusting to 
 time and accident. The condition of her mind on this 
 subject acted no doubt upon Laurence as they entered 
 the house, for she hesitated a moment, and then took 
 an arm of each as she entered the salon followed by 
 Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, who were occu- 
 pied with their sons. Just then a cheer burst from 
 the servants, " Long live the Cinq-Cygne and the 
 Simeuse families ! " Laurence turned round, still be- 
 tween the brothers, and made a charming gesture of 
 acknowledgment. 
 
 When these nine persons came to actually observe 
 each other, — for in all meetings, even in the bosom of 
 families, there comes a moment when friends observe 
 those from whom they have been long parted, — the 
 first glance which Adrien d'Hauteserre cast upon Lau- 
 rence seemed to his mother and to the abbe to betra} r 
 love. Adrien, the younger of the d'Hauteserres 1 had a 
 sweet and tender soul ; hiXheart had remained, adoles- 
 cent in spite of the catastrophes which had nerved the 
 man. Like many young heroes, kept virgin in spirit 
 by perpetual peril, he was daunted by the timidities of 
 youth. In this he was very different from his brother, 
 a man of rough manners, a great hunter, an intrepid 
 
 
 m s i L ^^\ 
 
176 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 soldier, full of resolution, but coarse in fibre and with- 
 out activity of mind or delicacy in matters of the heart. 
 One was all soul, the other all action ; and yet they 
 both possessed in the same degree that sense of honor 
 which is the vital essence of a gentleman. Dark, short, 
 slim and wiry, Adrien d'Hauteserre gave an impression 
 of strength ; whereas Robert, who was tall, pale and 
 fair, seemed weakly. Adrien, nervous in temperament, 
 was stronger in soul ; while his brother though lym- 
 phatic, was fonder of bodil}* exercise. Families often 
 present these singularities of contrast, the causes of 
 which it might be interesting to examine ; but the} T are 
 mentioned here merely to explain how it was that 
 Adrien was not likely to find a rival in .his brother. 
 Robert's affection for Laurence was that of a relation, 
 the respect of a noble for a girl of his own caste. In 
 matters of sentiment the elder d'Hauteserre belonged 
 to the class of men who consider woman as an appen- 
 dage to man, limiting her sphere to the ph}*sical duties 
 of maternity ; demanding perfection in that respect, 
 but regarding her mentally as of no account. To such 
 men the admittance of woman as an actual sharer in 
 society, in the body politic, in the family, meant the 
 subversion of the social svstem. In these davs we are 
 so far removed from this theory of primitive people 
 that almost all women, even those who do not desire 
 the fatal emancipation offered by the new sects, will be 
 
An Historical Mystery. 177 
 
 shocked in merely hearing of it ; but it must be owned 
 that Robert d'Hauteserre had the misfortune to think 
 in that way: Robert was a man of the middle-ages, 
 Adrien a man of to-day. These differences instead of 
 hindering their affection had drawn its bonds the closer. 
 On the first evening after the return of the young men 
 these shades of character were caught and under- 
 stood b}* the abbe, Mademoiselle Goujet, and Madame 
 d'Hauteserre, who, while playing their boston, were 
 secretly foreseeing the difficulties of the future. 
 
 At twenty-three years of age, haying passed through 
 the man}' reflections of a long solitude and the anguish 
 of a defeated enterprise, Laurence had become a woman, 
 and felt within her an absorbing desire for affection. 
 She now put forth all the graces of her mind and .was 
 charming ; she revealed the hidden beauties of her ten- 
 der heart with the simple candor of a child. For the 
 last thirteen j^ears she had been a woman only through 
 suffering; she longed to obtain amends for it, Land 
 she— showed herself as loving and winning as she had 
 been, up to this time, strong and great 
 
 The four elders, who were the last to leave the salon 
 that night, admitted to each other that they felt uneasy 
 at the new position of this charming girl. What power 
 might not passion have on a }'Oung woman of her char- 
 acter and with her nobility of soul? The twin brothers 
 loved her with one and the same love and a blind devo- 
 
 12 
 
178 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 tion ; which of the two would Laurence choose ? To 
 choose one was to kill the other. Countess in her own 
 right, she could bring her husband a title and certain 
 prerogatives, together with a long lineage. Perhaps in 
 thinking of these advantages the elder of the twins, the 
 Marquis de Simeuse, would sacrifice himself to give 
 Laurence to his brother, who, according to the old laws, 
 was poor and without a title. But would the younger 
 brother deprive the elder of the happiness of having 
 Laurence for a wife? At a distance, this strife of love 
 and generosity might do no harm, — in fact, so long as 
 the brothers were facing danger the chances of war 
 might end the difficulty ; but what would be the re- 
 sult of this reunion? When Marie-Paul and Paul- 
 Marie reached the age w T hen passions rise to their 
 greatest height could they share, as now, the looks and 
 words and attentions of their cousin? must there not 
 inevitably arise a jealousy between them the ^conse- 
 quences of which might be horrible ? What would then 
 become of the unity of those beautiful lives, one in 
 heart though twain in body? To these questionings, 
 passed from one to another as the}* finished their game, 
 Madame d'Hauteserre replied that in her opinion Lau- 
 rence would not marry either of her cousins. The 
 poor lad}' had experienced that evening one of those 
 inexplicable presentiments which are secrets between 
 the mother's heart and God. 
 
J 
 
 An Historical Mystery. 179 
 
 Laurencel in her inward consciousness, was not less 
 alarmed at finding herself tete-a-tete with her cousins. 
 To the active drama of conspiracy, to the dangers which 
 the brothers had incurred, to the pain and penalties of 
 their exile, was now succeeding another sort of drama, 
 of which she had never thought. This noble girl could 
 not resort to the violent means of refusing to many 
 either of the twins ; and she was too honest a woman 
 to marry one and keep an irresistible passion for the 
 other in her heart. To remain unmarried, to weary 
 her cousins' love by no decision, and then to take the 
 one who was faithful to her in spite of her caprices, was 
 a solution of the. difficulty not so much sought for by 
 her as vaguety admitted. As she fell asleep that night 
 sjie told herself the wisest course to follow was to let 
 things take their chance. Chance is, in love, the 
 providence of women. *3hUt-r^ 
 
 The next morning Michu went to Paris, whence he 
 returned a few da}*s later with four fine horses for his 
 new masters. In six weeks' time the hunting would 
 begin, and the young countess sagety reflected that the 
 violent excitements of that exercise would be a help 
 against the tete-a-tetes of the chateau. At first, how- 
 ever, an unexpected result surprised the spectators 
 of these strange loves and roused their admiration. 
 Without any premeditated agreement the brothers 
 rivalled each other in attentions to Laurence, with a 
 
} 
 
 180 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 sense of pleasure in so doing which appeared to suffice 
 them. The relation between themselves and Laurence 
 was just as fraternal as that between themselves. 
 What could be more natural? After so long an ab- 
 sence the} T felt the necessity of studying her, of know- 
 ing her well and letting her know them, leaving to her 
 the right of choice. The}' were sustained in this first 
 trial by the mutual affection which made their double 
 life one and the same life. 
 
 Love, like their own mother, was unable to distin- 
 guish between the brothers. Laurence was obliged (in 
 order to know them apart and make no mistakes) to 
 give them different cravats — to the elder a white one, 
 to the 3-ounger black. Without this perfect resem- 
 blance, this identity of life, which misled all about 
 them, such a situation would be justly thought impossi- 
 ble. It can, indeed, be explained only by the fact 
 itself, which is one of those which men do not believe m 
 unless they see them ; and then the mind is more be- 
 wildered by having to explain them than b}' the actual 
 sight which caused belief. If Laurence spoke, her voice 
 echoed in two hearts equally faithful and loving with 
 one tone. Did she give utterance to an intelligent, or 
 witty, or noble thought, her glance encountered the 
 delight expressed in two glances which followed her 
 eveiy movement, interpreted her slightest wish, and 
 beamed upon her ever with a new expression, gayety 
 
An Historical Mystery, 181 
 
 in the one, tender melancholy in the other. In any 
 matter that concerned their mistress the brothers 
 showed an admirable quick- wittedness of heart coupled 
 with instant action which (to use the abbess own exjjresj^ 
 sion) approached the(sublime L Often, if something had 
 to be fetched, if it was a question of some little atten- 
 tion which men delight to pay to a beloved woman, the 
 elder would leave that pleasure to the younger with a 
 look at Laurence that was proud and tender. The 
 younger, on the other hand, put all his own pride into 
 paying such debts. This rivalry of noble natures in a 
 feeling which leads men often to the jealous ferocity 
 of the beasts amazed the old people who were watching 
 it, and bewildered their ideas. 
 
 Such little details often drew t ears to the eyes of the 
 countess. A singh ^ pp.n aafcto fla. which is perhaps all 
 
   T* 
 
 powerful in some rare organizations, will give an idea 
 of Laurence^ emotion s ; it may be perceived by recall- 
 ing the perfect unison of two fine voices (like those of 
 Malibran and Sontag) in some harmonious duo, or the 
 blending of two instruments touched by the hand of 
 genius, their melodious tones entering the soul like the 
 passionate sighing of one heart. Sometimes, seeing the 
 Marquis de Simeuse buried in an arm-chair and glanc- 
 ing from time to time with deepest melancholy at his 
 brother and Laurence who were talking and laughing, 
 the abbe believed him capable of making the great 
 
 <sj^M~ *\ L * ^- 
 
182 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 sacrifice ; presently, however, the priest would see in 
 the young man's eyes the flash of an unconquerable 
 passion. Whenever either of the brothers found him- 
 self alone with Laurence he might reasonably suppose 
 himself the one preferred. 
 
 " I fancv then that there is but one of them," ex- 
 plained the countess to the abbe when he questioned 
 her. That answer showed the priest /her total want o f 
 
 coquetry. LaurenQfi_...di& not conceive that she was 
 
 [oved by two men. 
 
 " But, my dear child," said Madame d'Hauteserre 
 ■^one evening (her own son silently dying of love for 
 Laurence), " 30U must choose ! " 
 
 " Oh, let us be happy," she replied ; " God will save 
 us from ourselves." 
 
 Adrien d'Hauteserre buried within his breast the 
 jealousy that was consuming him ; he kept the secret of 
 his torture, aware of how little he could hope. He tried 
 to be content with the happiness of seeing the charm- 
 ing woman who during the few months this struggle 
 lasted shone in all her l^rjlliancv^ i In one sense Lau- 
 rence had become coquettish, taking that dainty care of 
 her person which women who are loved delight in. She 
 followed the fashions, and went more than once to 
 Paris to deck her beaut} r with chiffons or some choice 
 novelty. Desirous of giving her cousins a sense of 
 home and its every enjoyment, from which they had so 
 
An Historical Mystery. 183 
 
 long been severed, she made her chateau, in spite of the 
 remonstrances of her late guardian, the most completely 
 comfortable house in Champagne. 
 
 Robert d'Hauteserre saw nothing of this hidden 
 drama ; he never noticed his brother's love for Lau- 
 rence. As to the girl herself, he liked to tease her 
 about her coquetiy, — for he confounded that odious 
 defect with the natural desire to please ; he was alwaj's 
 mistaken in matters of feeling, taste, and the higher 
 ethics. So, whenever this man of the middle-ages ap- 
 peared on the scene, Laurence immediately made him, 
 unknown to himself, the clown of the play ; she amused 
 her cousins by arguing with Robert, and leading him, 
 step b}' step, into some bog of ignorance and stupidity. 
 She excelled in such clever mischief, which, to be really 
 successful, must leave the victim content with himself. 
 And yet, though his nature was a coarse one, Robert 
 never, during those delightful months (the only happy 
 period in the lives of the three young people) said one 
 virile word which might have brought matters to a crisis 
 between Laurence and her cousins. He was struck 
 with the sincerity of the brothers ; he saw how the 
 one could be glad at the happiness of the other and yet 
 suffer anguish in the depths of his heart, and he did 
 perceive how a woman might shrink from showing ten- 
 derness to one which would grieve the other. This per- 
 ception on Robert's part was a just one ; it explains 
 
184 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 a situation which, in times of faith, when the sovereign 
 pontiff had power to intervene and cut the Gordiau 
 knot of such phenomena (allied to the deepest and most 
 impenetrable mysteries), would have found its solution. 
 The Revolution had deepened the Catholic faitti in 
 these young hearts, and religion now rendered this 
 crisis in their lives the more severe, because nobility of 
 character is ever heightened by the grandeur of cir- 
 cumstances. A sense of this truth kept Monsieur and 
 Madame d'Hauteserre and the abbe* from the slightest 
 fear of an}^ unworthy result on the part of the brothers 
 or of Laurence. 
 
 This private drama, secretly developing within the 
 limits of the family life where each member watched it 
 silently, ran its course so rapidly and withal so slowly, ;t 
 carried with it so many un-hoped for pleasures, trifling 
 jars, frustrated fancies, hopes reversed, anxious waitings, 
 delayed explanations and mute avowals that the dwellers 
 at Cinq-Cygne paid no attention to the public drama of 
 the Emperor's coronation. At times these passions 
 made a truce and sought distraction in the violent 
 enjoyment of hunting, when weariness of body took 
 from the soul all occasions to wander in the danger- 
 ous meads of re very. Neither Laurence nor her 
 cousins had a thought now for public affairs ; each day 
 brought its palpitating and absorbing interests for their 
 hearts. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 185 
 
 " Really," said Mademoiselle Goujet one evening, "I 
 don't know which of all the lovers loves the most." 
 
 Adrien, who happened to be alone in the salon with 
 the four card-pla3'ers, raised his eyes and turned pale. 
 For the last few days his only hold on life had been the 
 pleasure of seeing Laurence and of listening to her. 
 
 " I think," said the abbe, " that the countess, being 
 a woman, loves with the greater abandonment to love." 
 
 Laurence, the twins, and Robert entered the room 
 soon after. The newspapers had just arrived. Eng- 
 land, seeing the failure of all conspiracies attempted 
 within the borders of France, was now arming Europe 
 against their common enemy. The disaster at Trafal- 
 gar had overthrown one of the most amazing plans 
 which human genius ever conceived ; b} T which, if it had 
 succeeded, the Emperor would have paid the nation for 
 his election by the ruin of the British power. The 
 camp at Boulogne had just been raised. Napoleon, 
 whose soldiers were, as always, inferior in numbers 
 to the enemy, was about to carry the war into parts 
 of Europe where he had not before waged it. The 
 whole world was breathless, awaiting the results of the 
 campaign. 
 
 "He'll surely be defeated this time," said Robert, 
 laying down the paper. 
 
 " The armies of Austria and of Russia are before 
 him," said Marie-Paul. 
 
186 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 "He has never fought in German}-," added Paul- 
 Marie. 
 
 4 ' Of whom are you speaking ? " asked Laurence. 
 
 44 The Emperor," answered the three gentlemen. 
 
 The jealous girl threw a disdainful look at her twin 
 lovers, which humiliated them while it rejoiced the heart 
 of Adrien, who made a gesture of admiration and gave 
 her one proud look, which said plainly that he thought 
 only of her, — of Laurence. 
 
 " I told you," said the abb£, in a low voice, " that love 
 would some day cause her to forget her animosity." 
 
 It was the first, last, and only reproach the brothers 
 ever received from her ; but certainty at that moment 
 their love, which could still be distracted by national 
 events, was inferior to that of Laurence, which, absorbed 
 her mind so completely that she only knew of the amaz- 
 ing triumph at Austerlitz by overhearing a discussion 
 between Monsieur d'Hauteserre and his sons. 
 
 Faithful to his ideas of submission, the old man 
 wished both Robert and Adrien to re-enter the French 
 army and apply for service ; they could, he thought, be 
 reinstated in their rank and soon find an opening to 
 militaiy honors. But royalist opinions were now all- 
 powerful at Cinq-Cygne. The four } r oung men and 
 Laurence laughed at their prudent elder, who seemed to 
 foresee a coming evil. Possibly, prudence is less a 
 virtue than the exercise of some instinct, or sense of the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 187 
 
 mind (if it is allowable to couple those two words) . A 
 day will come, no doubt, when physiologists and phi- 
 losophers will both admit that the senses are, in some 
 way, the sheath or vehicle of a keen and penetrative 
 active power which issues from the mind. 
 
188 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 XL 
 
 WISE COUNSEL. 
 
 After peace was concluded between France and 
 Austria, towards the end of the month of February, 
 1806, a relative, whose influence had been employed 
 for the reinstatement of the Simeuse brothers, and who 
 was destined later to give them signal proofs of family 
 attachment, the ci-devant Marquis de Chargebceuf, 
 whose estates extended from the department of the 
 Seine-et-Marne to that of the Aube, arrived xme morn- 
 ing at Cinq-Cygne in a species of caleche which was 
 then named in derision a berlingot. When this shabby 
 carriage was driven past the windows the inhabitants of 
 the chateau, who were at breakfast, were convulsed with 
 laughter ; but when the bald head of the old man was 
 seen issuing from behind the leather curtain of the 
 vehicle Monsieur d'Hauteserre told his name, and all 
 present rose instantly to receive and do honor to the 
 head of the house of Chargebceuf. 
 
 " We have done wrong to let him come to us," said 
 the Marquis de Simeuse to his brother and the d'Haute- 
 serres ; "we ought to have gone to him and made our 
 acknowledgments." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 189 
 
 A servant, dressed as a peasant, who drove the 
 horses from a seat on a level with the bod}' of the car- 
 riage, slipped his cartman's whip into a coarse leather 
 socket, and got down from the box to assist the marquis 
 from the carriage ; but Aclrien and the younger de 
 Simeuse prevented him, unbuttoned the leather apron, 
 and helped the old man out in spite of his protestations. 
 This gentleman of the old school chose to consider his 
 yellow berlingot with its leather curtains a most con- 
 venient and excellent equipage. The servant, assisted 
 by Gothard, unharnessed the stout horses with shining 
 flanks, accustomed no doubt to do as much duty at the 
 plough as in a carriage. 
 
 "In spite of this cold weather! Why, 30U are a 
 knight of the olden time," said Laurence, to her visitor, 
 taking his arm and leading him into the salon. 
 
 " What has he come for?" thought old d'Hauteserre. 
 
 Monsieur de Chargebceuf, a handsome old gentleman 
 of sixt3'-six, in light-colored breeches, his small weak 
 legs encased in colored stockings, wore powder, pigeon- 
 wings and a queue. His green cloth hunting-coat with 
 gold buttons was braided and frogged with gold. His 
 white waistcoat glittered with gold embroidery. This 
 apparel, still in vogue among old people, became his 
 face, which was not unlike that of Frederick the Great. 
 He never put on his three-cornered hat lest he should 
 destroy the effect of the half-moon traced upon his 
 
190 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 cranium by a layer of powder. His right hand, resting 
 on a hooked cane, held both cane and hat in a manner 
 worthy of Louis XIV. The fine old gentleman took off 
 his wadded silk pelisse and seated himself in an arm- 
 chair, holding the three-cornered hat and the cane 
 between his knees in an attitude the secret of which has 
 never been grasped by any but the roues of Louis XV. 's 
 court, an attitude which left the hands free to play with 
 a snuff-box, always a precious trinket. Accordingly 
 the marquis drew from the pocket of his waistcoat, 
 which was closed by a flap embroidered in gold ara- 
 besques, a sumptuous snuff-box. While fingering his 
 own pinch and offering the box around him with another 
 charming gesture accompanied with kindly smiles, he 
 noticed the pleasure which his visit gave. He seemed 
 then to comprehend why these young emigres had been 
 remiss in their duty towards him, and to be saying to 
 himself, " When we are making love we can't make 
 visits." 
 
 " You will stay with us some days? " said Laurence. 
 
 44 Impossible," he replied. " If we were not so sep- 
 arated by events (for as to distance, you go farther than 
 that which lies between us) you would know, my dear 
 child, that I have daughters, daughters-in-law, and 
 grand-children. All these dear creatures would be very 
 uneasy if I did not return to them to-night, and 1 have 
 forty-five miles to go." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 191 
 
 " Your horses are in good condition," said the Mar- 
 quis de Simeuse. 
 
 " Oh ! 1 am just from Troyes, where I had business 
 yesterday." 
 
 After the customary polite inquiries for the Marquise 
 de Chargeboeuf and other matters really uninteresting 
 but about which politeness assumes that we are keenly 
 interested, it dawned on Monsieur d'Hauteserre that 
 the old gentleman had come to warn his young relatives 
 against imprudence. He remarked that times were 
 changed and no one could tell what the Emperor might 
 not become. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Laurence, " he '11 make himself God." 
 
 The Marquis spoke of the wisdom of concession. 
 When he stated, with more emphasis and authority than 
 he put into his other remarks, the necessity of submis- 
 sion, Monsieur d'Hauteserre looked at his sons with an 
 almost supplicating air. 
 
 "Would you serve that man?" asked the Marquis 
 de Simeuse. 
 
 " Yes, I would, if the interests of my family required 
 it," replied Monsieur de Chargeboeuf. 
 
 Gradually the old man made them aware, though 
 vaguely, of some threatened danger. When Laurence 
 begged him to explain the nature of it, he advised the 
 four 3*ou ng men to refrain from hunting and to keep 
 themselves as much in retirement as possible. 
 
192 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " You treat the domain of Gondreville as if it were 
 3'our own," he said to the Messieurs de Simeuse, " and 
 you are keeping alive a deadly hatred. I see, by the 
 surprise upon your faces, that you are quite unaware of 
 the ill-will against 3-011 at Troyes, where your late brave 
 conduct is remembered. They tell of how you foiled 
 the police of the Empire ; some praise you for it, but 
 others regard you as enemies of the Emperor ; partisans 
 declare that Napoleon's clemency 7 is inexplicable. That, 
 however, is nothing. The real danger lies here ; you 
 foiled men who thought themselves cleverer than 3'ou ; 
 and low-bred men never forgive. Sooner or later jus- 
 tice, which in j T our department emanates from 3'our 
 enenrry, Senator Malin (who has his henchmen every- 
 where, even in the ministerial offices), — his justice will 
 rejoice to see you involved in some annoj'ing scrape. 
 A peasant, for instance, will quarrel with you for riding 
 over his field ; your guns are in your hands, you are 
 hot-tempered, and something happens. In your posi- 
 tion it is absolute^ 7 essential that you should not put 
 yourselves in the wrong. I do not speak to you thus 
 without good reason. The police keep this arrondisse- 
 ment under strict surveillance ; thev have an asrent in 
 that little hole of Arcis expressl} 7 to protect the Impe- 
 rial senator Malin against 3'our attacks. He is afraid 
 of you, and says so openly." 
 
 4 ' It is a calumny ! " cried the younger Simeuse. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 198 
 
 "A calumny, — I am sure of it myself, but will the 
 public believe it? Michu certainly did aim at the sena- 
 tor, who does not forget the danger he was in ; and 
 since 3 T our return the countess has taken Michu into 
 her service. To man}' persons, in fact to the majority, 
 Malin will seem in the right. You do not understand 
 how delicate the position of an emigre is towards those 
 who are now in possession of his property. The pre- 
 fect, a very intelligent man, dropped a word to me yes- 
 terda} T about you which has made me uneasy. In 
 short, I sincerely wish you would not remain here." 
 
 This speech was received in dumb amazement. Marie- 
 Paul rang the bell. 
 
 " Gothard," he said, to the little page, " send Michu 
 here." 
 
 " Michu, my friend," said the Marquis de Simeuse 
 when the man appeared, "is it true that you intended 
 to kill Malin?" 
 
 " Yes, Monsieur le marquis ; and when he comes here 
 again I shall lie in wait for him." 
 
 " Do you know that we are suspected of instigating 
 it, and that our cousin, by taking }*ou as her farmer is 
 supposed to be furthering }'our scheme ? " 
 
 " Good God ! " cried Michu, " am I accursed? Shall 
 I never be able to rid you of that villain ? " 
 
 " No, my man, no!" said Paul-Marie. "But we 
 will always take care of you, though }X)u will have to 
 
 13 
 
194 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 leave our service and the country too. Sell your prop- 
 erty here ; we will send you to Trieste to a friend of 
 ours who has immense business connections, and he '11 
 employ you until things are better in this country for 
 all of us." 
 
 Tears came into Michu's eyes ; he stood rooted to 
 the floor. 
 
 " Were there any witnesses when 3*011 aimed at 
 Malin ? " asked the Marquis de Chargeboeuf. 
 
 " Grevin the notary was talking with him, and that 
 prevented my killing him — very fortunately, as Ma- 
 dame la Comtesse knows," said Michu, looking at his 
 mistress. 
 
 "Grevin is not the only one who knows it?" said 
 Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, who seemed annoyed at what 
 was said, though none but the family were present. 
 
 " That police-spy who came here to trap my masters, 
 he knew it too," said Michu. 
 
 Monsieur de Chargeboeuf rose as if to look at the 
 gardens, and said, " You have made the most of 
 Cinq-Cygne." Then he left the house, followed bj r the 
 two brothers and Laurence, who now saw the meaning 
 of his visit. 
 
 •'You are frank and generous, but most impru- 
 dent," said the old man. " It was natural enough that 
 I should warn you of a rumor which was certain 
 to be a slander ; but what have 3*011 done now ? 3'ou 
 
An Historical Mystery, 195 
 
 have let such weak persons as Monsieur and Madnme 
 d'Hauteserre and their sons see that there was truth in 
 it. Oh, young men ! young men ! You ought to keep 
 Michu here and go away yourselves. But if you per- 
 sist in remaining, at least write a letter to the senator 
 and tell him that having heard the rnmors about Michu 
 you have dismissed him from your employ." 
 
 "We!" exclaimed the brothers; " what, write to 
 Malin, — to the murderer of our father and our mother, 
 to the insolent plunderer of our property ! " 
 
 " All true ; but he is one of the chief personages at 
 the Imperial court, and the king of your department." 
 
 " He, who voted for the death of Louis XVI. in case 
 the army of Conde entered France ! " cried Laurence. 
 
 "He, who probably advised the murder of the Due 
 d'Enghien ! " exclaimed Paul-Marie. 
 
 " Well, well, if you want to recapitulate his titles of 
 nobility," cried Monsieur de Chargebceuf, " say he who 
 pulled Robespierre b} r the skirts of his coat to make 
 him fall when he saw that his enemies were stronger 
 than he ; he who would have shot Bonaparte if the 
 18th Brumaire had missed fire; he who manoeuvres 
 now to bring back the Bourbons if Napoleon totters ; 
 he whom the strong will ever find on their side to han- 
 dle either sword or pistol and put an end to an adver- 
 sary whom the}' fear ! But — all that is only reason 
 the more for what I urge upon 3*011." 
 
196 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 " We have fallen very low," said Laurence. 
 
 " Children," said the old marquis, taking them by the 
 hand and going to the lawn, then covered b} r a slight 
 fall of snow ; " you will be angry at the prudent advice 
 of an old man, but I am bound to give it, and here it is : 
 If I were you I would emplo}' as go-between some trust- 
 worthy old fellow — like myself, for instance ; I would 
 ;ommission him to ask Malin for a million of francs for 
 he title-deeds of Gondreville ; he would gladly con- 
 * ent if the matter were kept secret. You will then 
 have capital in hand, an income of a hundred thousand 
 francs, and you can bivy some fine estate in another 
 part of France. As for Cinq-Cygne, it can safely be left 
 to the management of Monsieur d'Hauteserre, and you 
 can draw lots as to which of 3'ou shall win the hand of 
 this dear heiress — But ah ! I know the words of an old 
 man in the ears of the } T oung are like the words of the 
 young in the ears of the old, a sound without meaning." 
 
 The old marquis signed to his three relatives that he 
 wished no answer, and returned to the salon, where, 
 during their absence, the abbe and his sister had 
 arrived. 
 
 The proposal to draw lots for their cousin's hand had 
 offended the brothers, while Laurence revolted in her 
 soul at the bitterness of the remedy the old marquis 
 counselled. All three were now less gracious to him, 
 though the} r did not cease to be polite. The warmth of 
 
An Historical Mystery. 197 
 
 their feeling was chilled. Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, 
 who felt the change, cast frequent looks of kindly com- 
 passion on these charming 3*oung people. The conversa- 
 tion became general, but the old marquis still dwelt on 
 the necessity of submitting to events, and he applauded 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre for his persistence in urging his 
 sons to take service under the Empire. 
 
 " Bonaparte," he said, " makes dukes. He has 
 created Imperial fiefs, he will therefore make counts. 
 Malin is determined to be Comte de Gondreville. That 
 is a fane}'," he added, looking at the Simeuse brothers, 
 " which might be profitable to you — " 
 
 " Or fatal," said Laurence. 
 
 As soon as the horses were put-to the marquis took 
 leave, accompanied to the door by the whole part}'. 
 When fairly in the carriage he made a sign to Laurence 
 to come and speak to him, and she sprang upon the 
 foot-board with the lightness of a swallow. 
 
 44 You are not an ordinary woman, and you ought to 
 understand me," he said in her ear. " Malin's con- 
 science will never allow him to leave 3'ou in peace ; he 
 will set some trap to injure you. I implore 30U to be 
 careful of all 3*our actions, even the most unimportant. 
 Compromise, negotiate ; those are n^ last words." 
 
 The brothers stood motionless beside their cousin and 
 watched the berlingot as it turned through the iron 
 gates and took the road to Tro3*es. Laurence repeated 
 
198 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the old man's last words. But sage experience should 
 not present itself to the eyes of youth in a berlingot, 
 colored stockings, and a queue. These ardent young 
 hearts had no conception of the change that had passed 
 over France ; indignation crisped their nerves, honor 
 boiled with their noble blood through every vein. 
 
 "He, the head of the house of Chargebceuf ! " said 
 the Marquis de Sinieuse. " A man who bears the motto 
 Adsit fortior , the noblest of warcries ! " 
 
 " We are no longer in the days of Saint-Louis," said 
 the younger Simeuse. 
 
 " But 'We die singing,'" said the countess. "The 
 cry of the five 3'oung girls of my house is mine ! " 
 
 "And ours, ' Cy meurs,' " said the elder Simeuse. 
 "Therefore, no quarter, I say; for, on reflection, we 
 shall find that our relative had pondered well what he 
 told us — Gondreville to be the title of a Malin ! " 
 
 " And his seat ! " said the younger. 
 
 " Mansart designed it for noble stock, and the popu- 
 lace will get their children in it ! " exclaimed the elder. 
 
 " If that were to come to pass, I 'd rather see Gon- 
 dreville in ashes ! " cried Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. 
 
 One of the villagers, who had entered the grounds to 
 examine a calf Monsieur d'Hauteserre was tr} T ing to sell 
 to him, overheard these last words as he came from the 
 cow-sheds. 
 
 "Let us go in," said Laurence, laughing; "this is 
 
An Historical Mystery. 199 
 
 ver}' imprudent ; we are giving the old marquis a right to 
 blame us. My poor Michu," she added, as she entered 
 the salon, " I had forgotten }our adventure ; as we 
 are not in the odor of sanctity in these parts 3'ou must 
 be careful not to compromise us in future. Have you 
 an}' other peccadillos on your conscience?" 
 
 " I blame myself for not having killed the murderer 
 of nry old masters before I came to the rescue of my 
 present ones — " 
 
 " Michu ! " said the abbe in a warning tone. 
 
 "But I'll not leave the country," Michu continued, 
 paying no heed to the abbe's exclamation, "till I am 
 certain vou are safe. I see fellows roaming about here 
 
 whom I distrust. The last time we hunted fn the for- 
 est, that keeper who took m}' place at Gondreville 
 came to me and asked if we supposed we were on our 
 own property. 'Ho! my lad,' I said, 'we can't get 
 rid in two weeks of ideas we've had for centuries.' " 
 
 " You did wrong, Michu," said the Marquis de 
 Simeuse, smiling with satisfaction, 
 
 "What answer did he make?" asked Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " He said he would inform the senator of our claims," 
 replied Michu. 
 
 " Comte de Gondreville ! " repeated the elder Si- 
 meuse ; " what a masquerade ! But after all, they say 
 ' your Majesty ' to Bonaparte I " 
 
200 An Historical Myitery. 
 
 " And to the Grand Due de Berg, ' your Highness ! ' " 
 said the abbe. 
 
 " Who is he?" asked the Marquis de Simeuse. 
 
 " Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law," replied old 
 d'Hauteserre. 
 
 "Delightful!" remarked Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 C}'gne. "Do they also sa} T 'your Majesty' to the 
 widow of Beauharnais ? " 
 
 "Yes, mademoiselle," said the abbe. 
 
 " We ought to go to Paris and see it all," cried 
 Laurence. 
 
 "Alas, mademoiselle," said Michu, "I was there to 
 put Francois at school, and I swear to you there 's no 
 joking with what they call the Imperial Guard. If the 
 rest of the army are like them, the thing maj T last longer 
 than we." 
 
 " The}'' say many of the noble families are taking 
 service," said Monsieur d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " According to the present law," added the abbe, 
 " you will be compelled to serve. The conscription 
 makes no distinction of ranks or names." 
 
 " That man is doing us more harm with his court 
 than the Revolution did with its axe ! " cried Laurence. 
 
 " The Church pra}*s for him," said the abbe. 
 
 These remarks, made rapidly one after another, were 
 so many commentaries on the wise counsel of the old 
 Marquis de Chargeboeuf; but the young people had 
 
An Historical Mystery. 201 
 
 too much faith, too much honor, to dream of resorting 
 to a compromise. They told themselves, as all van- 
 quished parties in all times have declared, that the luck 
 of the conquerors would soon be at an end, that the 
 Emperor had no support but that of the army, that the 
 power cle facto must sooner or later give way to the 
 Divine Right, etc. So, in spite of the wise counsel 
 given to them, they fell into the pitfall, which others, 
 like old d'Hauteserre, more prudent and more amen- 
 able to reason, would have been able to avoid. If 
 men were frank they might perhaps admit that mis- 
 fortunes never overtake them until after they have 
 received either an actual or an occult warning. Many 
 do not perceive the deep meaning of such visible or 
 invisible signs until after the disaster is upon them. 
 
 " In any case, Madame la comtesse knows that I 
 cannot leave the country until I have given up a certain 
 trust," said Michu in a low voice to Mademoiselle de 
 Cinq-Cj'gne. 
 
 For all answer she made him a sign of acquiescence, 
 and he left the room. 
 
202 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE FACTS OF A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR. 
 
 Michu sold his farm at once to Beauvisage, a farmer 
 at Bellache, but he was not to receive the money for 
 twenty days. A month after the Marquis de Charge- 
 bceuf's visit, Laurence, who had told her cousins of 
 their buried fortune, proposed to them to take the day 
 of the Mi-careme to disinter it. The unusual quantity 
 of snow which fell that winter had hitherto prevented 
 Michu from obtaining the treasure, and it now gave 
 him pleasure to undertake the operation with his mas- 
 ters. He was determined to leave the neighborhood 
 as soon as it was over, for he feared himself. 
 
 " Malin has suddenly arrived at Gondreville, and 
 no one knows why," he said to his mistress. " I shall 
 never be able to resist putting the property into the 
 market by the death of its owner. I feel I am guilty 
 in not following my inspirations." 
 
 "Why should he leave Paris at this season?" said 
 the countess. • . 
 
 " All Arcis is talking about it," replied Michu ; " he 
 has left his family in Paris, and no one is with him but 
 his valet. Monsieur Grevin, the notary of Arcis, Ma- 
 
An Historical Mystery, 203 
 
 dame Marion, the wife of the receiver-general, and her 
 sister-in-law are staying at Gondreville." 
 
 Laurence had chosen the mid-lent day for their pur- 
 pose because it enabled her to give her servants a 
 holiday and so get thein out of the way. The usual 
 masquerade drew the peasantry to the town and no one 
 was at work in the fields. Chance made its calcula- 
 tions with as much cleverness as Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 Cygne made hers. The uneasiness of Monsieur and 
 Madame d'Hauteserre at the idea of keeping eleven 
 hundred thousand francs in gold in a lonely chateau on 
 the borders of a forest was likely to be so great that 
 their sons advised they should know nothing about it. 
 The secret of the expedition was therefore confined to 
 Gothard, Michu, Laurence, and the four gentlemen. 
 
 After much consultation it seemed possible to put 
 forty-eight thousand francs in a long sack on the crup- 
 per of each of their horses. Three trips would there- 
 fore bring the whole. It was agreed to send all the 
 servants, whose curiosity might be troublesome, to 
 Troyes to see the shows. Catherine, Marthe, and 
 Durieu, who could be relied on, stayed at home in 
 charge of the house. The other servants were glad of 
 their holida}- and started by daybreak. Gothard, as- 
 sisted b} T Michu, saddled the horses as soon as they 
 were gone, and the party started 03' way of the gardens 
 to reach the forest. Just as they were mounting — for 
 
204 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the park gate was so low on the garden side that they 
 led their horses until they were through it — old Beau- 
 visage, the farmer at Bellache, happened to pass. 
 
 " There ! " cried Gothard, " I hear some one." 
 
 " Oh, it is only I," said the worth} 7 man, coming 
 toward them. " Your servant, gentlemen ; are 3-011 off 
 hunting, in spite of the new decrees? /don't complain 
 of you ; but do take care ! though }-ou have friends 
 you have also enemies." 
 
 " Oh, as for that," said the elder d'Hauteserre, smil- 
 ing, " God grant that our hunt may be luck}' to-day, — 
 if so, 3011 will get 3'our masters back again." 
 
 These words, to which events were destined to give 
 a totally different meaning, earned a severe look from 
 Laurence. The elder Simeuse was confident that 
 Malin would restore Gondreville for an indemnity. 
 These rash 3'ouths were determined to do exactly the 
 contrar3 7 of what the Marquis de Chargeboeuf had ad- 
 vised. Robert, who shared these hopes, was thinking 
 of them when he gave utterance to the fatal words. 
 
 "Not a word of this, old friend," said Michu to 
 Beauvisage, waiting behind the others to lock the gate. 
 
 It was one of those fine mornings in March when the 
 air is dry, the earth pure, the sky clear, and the atmos- 
 phere a contradiction to the leafless trees ; the season 
 was so mild that the e} r e caught glimpses here and there 
 of verdure. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 205 
 
 " We are seeking treasure when all the while you are 
 the real treasure of our house, cousin," said the elder 
 Simeuse, gayly. 
 
 Laurence was in front, with a cousin on each side of 
 her. The d'Hauteserres were behind, followed by Michu. 
 Gothard had gone forward to clear the way. 
 
 44 Now that our fortune is restored, you must marry 
 my brother," said the younger in a low voice. "He 
 adores you ; together you will be as rich as nobles 
 ought to be in these davs." 
 
 44 No, give the whole fortune to him and I will marry 
 you," said Laurence ; "I am rich enough for two." 
 
 " So be it," cried the Marquis; "I will leave you, 
 and find a wife worthy to be your sister." 
 
 " So }'ou really love me less than I thought you did ? " 
 said Laurence looking at him with a sort of jealous}'. 
 
 u No ; I love you both better than either of you love 
 me," replied the marquis. 
 
 44 And therefore you would sacrifice vourself ? " 
 asked Laurence with a glance full of momentary 
 preference. 
 
 The marquis was silent. 
 
 44 Well, then, I shall think onty of }OU, and that will 
 be intolerable to my husband," exclaimed Laurence, 
 impatient at his silence. 
 
 44 How could I live without you?" said the younger 
 twin to his brother. 
 
206 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 "But, after all, you can't marry us both," said the 
 marquis, replying to Laurence; "and the time has 
 come," he continued, in the brusque tone of a man who 
 is struck to the heart, " to make your decision." 
 
 He urged his horse in advance so that the d'Haute- 
 serres might not overhear them. His brother's horse 
 and Laurence's followed him. When they had put 
 some distance between themselves and the rest of the 
 party Laurence attempted to speak, but tears were at 
 first her only language. 
 
 " I will enter a cloister," she said at last. 
 
 "And let the race of Cinq-Cygne end?" said the 
 younger brother. " Instead of one unhappy man, would 
 you make two? No, whichever of us must be your 
 brother only, will resign himself to that fate. It is the 
 knowledge that we are no longer poor that has brought 
 us to explain ourselves," he added, glancing at the 
 marquis. " If I am the one preferred, all this money 
 is my brother's. If I am rejected, he will give it to me 
 with the title of de Simeuse, for he must then take the 
 name and title of Cinq Cygne. Whichever way it ends, 
 the loser will have a chance of recover}' — but if he 
 feels he must die of grief, he can enter the arm}* and 
 die in battle, not to sadden the happy household." 
 
 " We are true knights of the olden time, worthy of 
 our fathers," cried the elder. " Speak, Laurence ; de- 
 cide between us." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 207 
 
 " We cannot continue as we are," said the younger. 
 
 44 Do not think, Laurence, that self-denial is without 
 its joys," said the elder. 
 
 "My dear loved ones," said the girl, " I am unable 
 to decide. I love you both as though you were one 
 being — as your mother loved you. God will help us. 
 I cannot choose. Let us put it to chance — but I make 
 one condition." 
 
 44 What is it?" 
 
 44 Whichever one of you becomes my brother must 
 stay with me until I suffer him to leave me. I wish to 
 be sole judge of when to part." 
 
 44 Yes, yes," said the brothers, without explaining 
 to themselves her meaning. 
 
 44 The first of vou to whom Madame d'Hauteserre 
 speaks to-night at table after the Benedicite, shall be 
 my husband. But neither of you must practise fraud 
 or induce her to answer a question." 
 
 44 We will play fair," said the younger, smiling. 
 
 Each kissed her hand. The certainty of some deci- 
 sion which both could fane}' favorable made them ga}\ 
 
 44 Either way, dear Laurence, }'OU create a Comte de 
 Cinq-Cygne — " 
 
 44 1 believe," thought Michu, riding behind them, "that 
 mademoiselle will not long be unmarried. How gay 
 m} T masters are ! If my mistress makes her choice I 
 shall not leave ; I must stay and see that wedding." 
 
208 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Just then a magpie flew suddenly before his face. 
 Michu, superstitious like all primitive beings, fancied 
 he heard the muffled tones of a death-knell. The day, 
 however, began brightly enough for lovers, who rarely 
 see magpies when together in the woods. Michu, armed 
 with his plan, verified the spots ; each gentleman had 
 brought a pickaxe, and the money was soon found. 
 The part of the forest where it was buried was quite 
 wild, far from all paths or habitations, so that the 
 cavalcade bearing the gold returned unseen. This 
 proved to be a great misfortune. On their way from 
 Cinq-C3*gne to fetch the last two hundred thousand 
 francs, the party, emboldened by success, took a more 
 direct way than on their other trips. The path passed 
 an opening from which the park of Gondreville could 
 be seen. 
 
 " What is that? " cried Laurence, pointing to a 
 column of blue flame. 
 
 " A bonfire, I think," replied Michu. 
 
 Laurence, who knew all the by-ways of the forest, 
 left the rest of the party and galloped towards the 
 pavilion, Michu's old home. Though the building was 
 closed and deserted, the iron gates were open, and 
 traces of the recent passage of several horses struck 
 Laurence instantly. The column of blue smoke was 
 rising from a field in what was called the English park, 
 where, as she supposed, they were burning brush. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 209 
 
 " Ah ! so you are concerned in it, too, are you, made- 
 moiselle?" cried Violette, who came out of the park at 
 top speed on his pony, and pulled up to meet Laurence. 
 " But, of course, it is only a carnival joke? They surely 
 won't kill him?" 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " Your cousins would n't put him to death? " 
 
 " Death! whose death?" 
 
 "The senator's." 
 
 " You are crazy, Violette ! " 
 
 " Well, what are you doing here, then? " he 
 demanded. 
 
 At the idea of a danger which was threatening her 
 cousins, Laurence turned her horse and galloped back 
 to them, reaching the ground as the last sacks were 
 filled. 
 
 " Quick, quick ! " she cried. " I don't know what is 
 going on, but let us get back to Cinq-Cygne." 
 
 While the happy party were emplo} T ed in recovering 
 the fortune saved by the old marquis, and guarded for 
 so many 3 r ears b} r Michu, an extraordinary scene was 
 taking place in the chateau of Gondreville. 
 
 About two o'clock in the afternoon Malin and his friend 
 Grevin were playing chess before the fire in the great 
 salon on the ground-floor. Madame Grevin and Ma- 
 dame Marion were sitting on a sofa and talking together 
 at a corner of the fireplace. All the servants had gone 
 
 14 
 
210 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 to see the masquerade, which had long been announced 
 in the arrondissement. The fainil}' of the bailiff who 
 had replaced Michu had gone too. The senator's valet 
 and Violette were the only persons beside the famity at 
 the chateau. The porter, two gardeners, and their 
 wives were on the place, but their lodge was at the 
 entrance of the courtyards at the farther end of the 
 avenue to Arcis, and the distance from there to the cha- 
 teau is beyond the sound of a pistol-shot. Violette was 
 waiting in the antechamber until the senator and Grevin 
 could see him on business, to arrange a matter relating 
 to his lease. At that moment five men, masked and 
 gloved, who in height, manner, and bearing strongly 
 resembled the Simeuse and d'Hauteserre brothers and 
 Michu, rushed into the antechamber, seized and gagged 
 the valet and Violette, and fastened them to their chairs 
 in a side room. In spite of the rapidity with which this 
 was done, Violette and the servant had time to utter 
 one cry. It was heard in the salon. The two ladies 
 thought it a cry of fear. 
 
 14 Listen!" said Madame Grevin, " can there be 
 robbers ? " 
 
 " No, nonsense ! " said Grevin, " only carnival cries ; 
 the masqueraders must be coming to pay us a visit." 
 
 This discussion gave time for the four strangers to 
 close the doors towards the couilyards and to lock up 
 Violette and the valet. Madame Grevin, who was 
 
An Historical Mystery. 211 
 
 rather obstinate, insisted on knowing what the noise 
 meant. She rose, left the room, and came face to face 
 with the five masked men, who treated her as they had 
 treated the farmer and the valet. Then they rushed 
 into the salon, where the two strongest seized and 
 gagged Malin, and carried him off into the park, while 
 the three others remained behind to gag Madame 
 Marion and Grevin and lash them to their armchairs. 
 The whole affair did not take more than half an hour. 
 The three unknown men, who were quickly rejoined 
 by the two who had carried off the senator, then pro- 
 ceeded to ransack the chateau from cellar to garret. 
 They opened all closets and doors, and sounded the 
 walls ; until five o'clock they were absolute masters of 
 the place. By that time the valet had managed to 
 loosen with his teeth the rope that bound Violette. 
 Violette, able then to get the gag from his mouth, began 
 to shout for help. Hearing the shouts the five men 
 withdrew to the gardens, where they mounted horses 
 closely resembling those at Cinq-Cygne, and rode awa} T , 
 but not so rapidly that Violette was unable to catch 
 sight of them. After releasing the valet, the two ladies, 
 and the notaiy, Violette mounted his pon\ T and rode 
 after help. When he reached the pavilion he was 
 amazed to see the gates open and Mademoiselle de 
 Cinq-Cygne apparently on the watch. 
 
 Directly after the young countess had ridden off, Vio- 
 
212 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 lette was overtaken 03' Grevin and the forester of the 
 township of Gondreville, who had taken horses from the 
 stables at the chateau. The porter's wife was on her 
 way to summon the gendarmerie from Arcis. Violette 
 at once informed Grevin of his meeting with Laurence 
 and the sudden flight of the daring girl, whose strong 
 and decided character was known to all of them. 
 
 44 She was keeping watch," said Violette. 
 
 "Is it possible that those Cinq-Cygne people have 
 done this thing?" cried Grevin. 
 
 44 Do }'ou mean to say you did n't recognize that stout 
 Michu? " exclaimed Violette. " It was he who attacked 
 me ; I knew his fist. Besides, they rode the Cinq-Cygne 
 horses." 
 
 Noticing the hoof-marks on the sand of the rond- 
 point and along the park road the notary stationed the 
 forester at the gateway to see to the preservation of 
 these precious traces until the justice of peace of Arcis 
 (for whom he now sent Violette) could take note of 
 them. He himself returned hastily to the chateau, 
 where the lieutenant and sub-lieutenant of the Imperial 
 gendarmerie at Arcis had arrived, accompanied by four 
 men and a corporal. The lieutenant was the same man 
 whose head Francois Michu had broken two years 
 earlier, and who had heard from Corentin the name 
 of his mischievous assailant. This man, whose name 
 was Giguet (his brother was in the army, and became 
 
An Historical Mystery. 213 
 
 one of the finest colonels of artilleiy), was an extremely 
 able officer of gendarmerie. Later he commanded the 
 squadron of the Aube. The sub-lieutenant, named 
 Welff, had formerly driven Corentin from Cinq-Cygne 
 to the pavilion, and from the pavilion to Troyes. On 
 the wa}% the spy had fully informed him as to what he 
 called the trickery of Laurence and Michu. The two 
 officers were therefore well inclined to show, and did 
 show, great eagerness against the family at Cinq- 
 Cygne. 
 
214 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE CODE OF BRUMAIRE, YEAR IV. 
 
 Malin and Grevin had both, the latter working for 
 the former, taken part in the construction of the Code 
 called that of Brumaire, j T ear IV., the judicial work of 
 the National Convention, so-called, and promulgated 
 by the Directory. Grevin knew its provisions thor- 
 oughly, and was able to apply them in this affair with 
 terrible celerit} 7 , under a theory, now converted into a 
 certainty, of the guilt of Michu and the Messieurs de 
 Simeuse and d'Hauteserre. No one in these days, un- 
 less it be some antiquated magistrates, will remember 
 this s} T stem of justice, which Napoleon was even then 
 overthrowing by the promulgation of his own Codes, 
 and by the institution of his magistracy under the form 
 in which it now rules France. 
 
 The Code of Brumaire, year IV., gave to the director 
 of the jury of the department the duty of discovering, 
 indicting, and prosecuting the persons guilty of the 
 delinquency committed at Gondreville. Remark, by 
 the way, that the Convention had eliminated from its 
 judicial vocabulary the word " crime ; " delinquencies and 
 misdemeanors were alone admitted ; and these were pun- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 215 
 
 ished with fines, imprisonment, and penalties " afflic- 
 tive or infamous." Death was an afflictive punishment. 
 But the penalty of death was to be done awaj T with 
 after the restoration of peace, and twenty-four years of 
 hard labor were to take its place. Thus the Conven- 
 tion estimated twenty-four years of hard labor as the 
 equivalent of death. What therefore can be said for 
 a code which inflicts the punishment of hard labor 
 for life? The system then in process of preparation 
 by the Napoleonic Council of State suppressed the 
 function of the directors of juries, which united many 
 enormous powers. In relation to the discovery of 
 delinquencies and their prosecution the director of the 
 jury was, in fact, agent of police, public prosecutor, 
 municipal judge, and the court itself. His proceedings 
 and his indictments were, however, submitted for sig- 
 nature to a commissioner of the executive power and 
 to the verdict of eight jurymen, before whom he laid 
 the facts of the case, and who examined the witnesses 
 and the accused and rendered the preliminary verdict, 
 called the indictment. The director was, however, in 
 a position to exercise such influence over the jurymen, 
 who met in his private office, that they could not well 
 avoid agreeing with him. These jun*men were called the 
 jury of indictment. There were others who formed the 
 juries of the criminal tribunals whose dut} T it was to 
 judge the accused ; these were called, in contradistinc- 
 
216 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 tion to the jury of indictment, the judgment jury. The 
 criminal tribunal, to which Napoleon afterwards gave 
 the name of criminal court, was composed of one Presi- 
 dent or chief justice, four judges, the public prosecutor, 
 and a government commissioner. 
 
 Nevertheless, from 1799 to 1806 there were special 
 courts (so-called) which judged without juries certain 
 misdemeanors in certain departments ; these were com- 
 posed of judges taken from the civil courts and formed 
 into a special court. This conflict of special justice 
 and criminal justice gave rise to questions of compe- 
 tence which came before the courts of appeal. If 
 the department of the Aube had had a special court, 
 the verdict on the outrage committed on a senator 
 of the Empire would no doubt have been referred to it ; 
 but this tranquil department had never needed unusual 
 jurisdiction. Grevin therefore despatched the sub- 
 lieutenant to Troyes to bring the director of the jury 
 of that town. The emissary went at full gallop, and 
 soon returned in a post-carriage with the all-powerful 
 magistrate. 
 
 The director of the Troyes jury was formerly secre- 
 tary 7 of one of the committees of the Convention, a 
 friend of Malin, to whom he owed his present place. 
 This magistrate, named Lechesneau, had helped Malin, 
 as Grevin had done, in his work on the Code during 
 the Convention. Malin in return recommended him to 
 
An Historical Mystery. 217 
 
 Cambaceres, who appointed hiiri attorne}'-general for 
 Italy. Unfortunately for him, Lechesneau had a liaison 
 with a great lady in Turin, and Napoleon removed him 
 to avoid a criminal trial threatened by the husband. 
 Lechesneau, bound in gratitude to Malin, felt the im- 
 portance of this attack upon his patron, and brought 
 with him a captain of gendarmerie and twelve men. 
 
 Before starting he laid his plans with the prefect, 
 who was unable at that late hour, it being after dark, 
 to use the telegraph. They therefore sent a mounted 
 messenger to Paris to notify the minister of police, the 
 chief justice and the Emperor of this extraordinary 
 crime. In the salon of Gondreville, Lechesneau found 
 Mesdames Marion and Grevin, Violette, the senator's 
 valet, and the justice of peace with his clerk. The 
 chateau had already been examined ; the justice, as- 
 sisted by Grevin, had carefully collected the first testi- 
 mony. The first thing that struck him was the obvious 
 intention shown in the choice of the day and hour for 
 the attack. The hour prevented an immediate search 
 for proofs and traces. At this season it was nearly 
 dark by half-past five, the hour at which Violette gave 
 the alarm, and darkness often means impunity to evil- 
 doers. The choice of a holiday, when most persons 
 had gone to the masquerade at Arcis, and the senator 
 was comparatively alone in the house, showed an ob- 
 vious intention to get rid of witnesses. 
 
218 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Let us do justice to the intelligence of the prefect- 
 ure of police,'* said Lechesneau ; " they have never 
 ceased to warn us to be on our guard against the nobles 
 at Cinq-Cygne ; they have always declared that sooner 
 or later those people would play us some dangerous 
 trick." 
 
 Sure of the active co-operation of the prefect of the 
 Aube, who sent messengers to all the surrounding pre- 
 fectures asking them to search for the five abductors 
 and the senator, Lechesneau began his work by veil- 
 ing the first facts. This was soon done bj- the help of 
 two such legal heads as those of Grevin and the justice 
 of peace. The latter, named Pigoult, formerly head- 
 clerk in the office where Malin and Grevin had first 
 studied law in Paris, was soon after appointed judge of 
 the municipal court at Arcis. In relation to Michu, 
 Lechesneau knew of the threats the man had made 
 about the sale of Gondreville to Marion, and the dan- 
 ger Malin had escaped in his own park from Michu's 
 gun. These two facts, one being the consequence of 
 the other, were no doubt the precursors of the present 
 successful attack, and the}' pointed so obviously to the 
 late bailiff as the instigator of the outrage that Grevin, 
 his wife, Violette, and Madame Marion declared that 
 they had recognized among the five masked men one 
 who exactly resembled Michu. The color of the hair 
 and whiskers and the thick-set figure of the man made 
 
An Historical Mystery. 219 
 
 the mask he wore useless. Besides, who but Michn 
 could have opened the iron gates of the park with a 
 key? The present bailiff and his wife, now returned 
 from the masquerade, deposed to having locked both 
 gates before leaving the pavilion. The gates when 
 examined showed no sign of being forced. 
 
 " When we turned him off he must have taken some 
 duplicate keys with him," remarked Grevin. "No 
 doubt he has been meditating a desperate step, for he 
 has lately sold his whole property, and he received the 
 money for it in my office day before yesterda}*." 
 
 "The others have followed his lead!" exclaimed 
 Lechesneau, struck with the circumstance. "He has 
 been their evil genius." 
 
 Moreover, who could know as well as the Messieurs 
 de Simeuse the inns and outs of the chateau. None 
 of the assailants seemed to have blundered in their 
 search ; they had gone through the house in a confident 
 way which showed that they knew what the}* wanted 
 and where to find it. The locks of none of the opened 
 closets had been forced ; therefore the delinquents had 
 keys. Strange to say, however, nothing had been taken ; 
 the motive, therefore, was not robber}*. More than all, 
 when Violette had followed the tracks of the horses 
 as far as the rond-point, he had found the countess, 
 evidently on guard, at the pavilion. From such a com- 
 bination of facts and depositions arose a presumption as 
 
220 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 to the guilt of the Messieurs de Simeuse, d'Haute- 
 serre, and Michu, which would have been strong to 
 unprejudiced minds, and to the director of the jury had 
 the force of certainty. What were they likely to do to 
 the future Comte de Gondreville? Did they mean to 
 force him to make over the estate for which Michu de- 
 clared in 1799 he had the money to pay? 
 
 But there was another aspect of the case to the 
 knowing criminal lawyer. He asked himself what 
 could be the object of the careful search made of the 
 chateau. If revenge were at the bottom of the matter, 
 the assailants would have killed the senator. Perhaps 
 he had been killed and buried. The abduction, how- 
 ever, seemed to point to imprisonment. But wiry keep 
 their victim imprisoned after searching the castle ? It 
 was folly to suppose that the abduction of a dignitary of 
 the Empire could long remain secret. The publicity of 
 the matter would prevent an} 7 benefit from it. 
 
 To these suggestions Pigoult replied that justice was 
 never able to make out all the motives of scoundrels. 
 In every criminal case there were obscurities, he said, 
 between the judge and the guilty person ; conscience 
 had depths into which no human mind could enter un- 
 less by the confession of the criminal. 
 
 Grevin and Lechesneau nodded their assent, without, 
 however, relaxing their determination to see to the 
 bottom of the present mystery. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 221 
 
 " The Emperor pardoned those young men," said 
 Pigoult to Grevin. " He removed their names from 
 the list of emigres, though they certainly took part in 
 that last conspiracy against him." 
 
 Lechesneau made no delay in sending his whole force 
 of gendarmerie to the forest and to the valley of Cinq- 
 Cygne ; telling Giguet to take with him the justice of 
 peace, who, according to the terms of the Code, would 
 then become an auxiliary police-officer. He ordered 
 them to make all preliminary inquiries in the township 
 of Cinq-Cygne, and to take testimony if necessary ; and 
 to save time, he dictated and signed a warrant for the 
 arrest of Michu, against whom the charge was evident 
 on the positive testimony of Violette. After the de- 
 parture of the gendarmes Lechesneau returned to the 
 important question of issuing warrants for the arrest of 
 the Simeuse and d'Hauteserre brothers. According to 
 the Code these warrants would have to contain the 
 charges against the delinquents. 
 
 Giguet and the justice of peace rode so rapidly to 
 Cinq-Cygne that the}' met Laurence's servants return- 
 ing from the festivities at Troyes. Stopped, and taken 
 before the mayor where they were interrogated, they 
 all stated, being ignorant of the importance of the an« 
 swer, that their mistress had given them permission to 
 spend the whole da}* at Troyes. To a question put by 
 the justice of the peace, each replied that Mademoiselle 
 
m 
 
 222 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 had offered them the amusement which they had not 
 thought of asking for. This testimony seemed so im- 
 portant to the justice of the peace that he sent back a 
 messenger to Gondreville to advise Lechesneau to pro- 
 ceed himself to Cinq-Cygne and arrest the four gentle- 
 men, while he went to Michu's farm, so that the five 
 arrests might be made simultaneously. 
 
 This new element was so convincing that Leches- 
 neau started at once for Cinq-Cj'gne. He knew well 
 what pleasure would be felt in Troyes at such proceed- 
 ings against the old nobles, the enemies of the people, 
 now become the enemies of the Emperor. In such 
 circumstances a magistrate is ver} T apt to take mere 
 presumptive evidence for actual proof. Nevertheless, 
 on his way from Gondreville to Cinq-Cygne, in the 
 senator's own carriage, it did occur to Lechesneau 
 (who would certainly have made a fine magistrate had 
 it not been for his love-affair, and the Emperor's sudden 
 moralit}* to which he owed his disgrace) to think the 
 audacity of the young men and Michu a piece of folly 
 which was not in keeping with what he knew of the 
 judgment and character of Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 C}'gne. He imagined in his own mind some other 
 motives for the deed than the restitution of Gondreville. 
 In all things, even in the magistracy, there is what ma}' 
 be called the conscience of a calling. Lechesneau's 
 perplexities came from this conscience, which all men 
 
An Historical Mystery. 228 
 
 put into the proper performance of the duties they like 
 — scientific men into science, artists into art, judges 
 into the rendering of justice. Perhaps for this reason 
 judges are realty greater safeguards for persons accused 
 of wrong-doing than are juries. A magistrate relies 
 only on reason and its laws ; juries are floated to and 
 fro by the waves of sentiment. The director of the 
 jury accordingly set several questions before his mind, 
 resolving to find in their solution satisfactor}' reasons 
 for making the arrests. 
 
 Though the news of the abduction was already agi- 
 tating the town of Tro}'es, it was still unknown at Arcis, 
 where the inhabitants were supping when the messenger 
 arrived to summon the gendarmes. No one, of course, 
 knew it in the village of Cinq-Cygne, the valley and 
 the chateau of which were now, for the second time, 
 encircled by gendarmes. 
 
 Laurence had only to tell Marthe, Catherine, and the 
 Durieus not to leave the chateau, to be strictly obe\'ed. 
 After each trip to fetch the gold, the horses were fas- 
 tened in the covered wa}* opposite to the breach in the 
 moat, and from there Robert and Michu, the strongest 
 of the part}', carried the sacks through the breach to a 
 cellar under the staircase in the tower called Mademoi- 
 selle's. Reaching the chateau with the last load about 
 half-past five o'clock, the four gentlemen and Michu 
 proceeded to bury the treasure in the floor of the cellar 
 
224 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 and then to wall up the entrance. Michu took charge 
 of the matter with Gothard to help him ; the lad was 
 sent to the farm for some sacks of plaster left over 
 when the new buildings were put up, and Marthe 
 went with him to show him where the}' were. Michu, 
 very hungry, made such haste that b} T half-past seven 
 o'clock the work was done ; and he started for home at 
 a quick pace to stop Gothard, who had been sent for 
 another sack of plaster which he thought he might 
 want. The farm was already watched by the forester 
 of Cinq-C3*gne, the justice of peace, his clerk and four 
 gendarmes who, however, kept out of sight and allowed 
 him to enter the house without seeing them. 
 
 Michu saw Gothard with the sack on his shoulder 
 and called to him from a distance : " It is all finished, 
 my lad ; take that back and stay and dine with us." 
 
 Michu, his face perspiring, his clothes soiled with 
 plaster and covered with fragments of muddy stone 
 from the breach, reached home joyfully and entered the 
 kitchen where Marthe and her mother were serving the 
 soup in expectation of his coming. 
 
 Just as Michu was turning the faucet of the water- 
 pipe intending to wash his hands, the justice of peace 
 entered the house accompanied by his clerk and the 
 forester. 
 
 " What have j t ou come for, Monsieur Pigoult?" 
 asked Michu. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 225 
 
 " In the name of the Emperor and the laws, I arrest 
 3*ou," replied the justice. 
 
 The three gendarmes entered the kitchen leading 
 Gothard. Seeing the silver lace on their hats Marthe 
 and her mother looked at each other in terror. 
 
 "Pooh! why?" asked Michu, who sat down at the 
 table and called to his wife, " Give me something to 
 eat ; I 'in famished." 
 
 " You know why as well as we do," said the justice, 
 making a sign to his clerk to begin the proces-verbal 
 and exhibiting the warrant of arrest. 
 
 " Well, well, Gothard, }'ou need n't stare so," said 
 Michu. " Do you want some dinner, 3*es or no? Let 
 them write down their nonsense." 
 
 " You admit, of course, the condition of your clothes ? " 
 said the justice of peace; "and you can't deny the 
 words you said just now to Gothard?" 
 
 Michu, supplied with food by his wife, who was 
 amazed at his coolness, was eating with the avidity of 
 a hungry man. He made no answer to the justice, for 
 his mouth was full and his heart innocent. Gothard's 
 appetite was destroyed by fear. 
 
 " Look here," said the forester, going up to Michu 
 and whispering in his ear : ' ' What have 30U done with 
 the senator? You had better make a clean breast of 
 it, for if we are to believe these people it is a matter 
 of life or death to you." 
 
 15 
 
226 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Good God ! " cried Marthe, who overheard the last 
 words and fell into a chair as if annihilated. 
 
 " Violette must have played us some infamous trick," 
 cried Michu, recollecting what Laurence had said in the 
 forest. 
 
 " Ha ! so you do know that Violette saw }*ou? " said 
 justice of peace. 
 
 Michu bit his lips and resolved to sa}' no more. 
 Gothard imitated him. Seeing the uselessness of all 
 attempts to make them talk, and knowing what the 
 neighborhood chose to call Michu's perversity, the jus- 
 tice ordered the gendarmes to bind his hands and those 
 of Gothard and take them both to the chateau, whither 
 he now went himself to rejoin the director of the jury. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 227 
 
 XIV. 
 
 THE ARRESTS. 
 
 The four young men and Laurence were so hungry 
 and the dinner so acceptable that they would not delay 
 it by changing their dress. They entered the salon, she 
 in her riding-habit, they in their white leather breeches, 
 high-top boots and green-cloth jackets, where they 
 found Monsieur d'Hauteserre and his wife, not a little 
 uneasy at their long absence. The goodman had 
 noticed their goings and comings, and, above all, their 
 evident distrust of him, for Laurence had been unable 
 to get rid of him as she had of her servants. Once, 
 when his own sons evidently avoided making any 
 reply to his questions, he went to his wife and said, 
 " I am afraid that Laurence may still get us into 
 trouble ! " 
 
 "What sort of game did }'Ou hunt to-day?" said 
 Madame d'Hauteserre to Laurence. 
 
 "Ah!" replied the j'oung girl, laughing, "you'll 
 hear some day what a strange hunt your sons have 
 joined in to -da} T . 
 
 Though said in jest the words made the old lady 
 tremble. Catherine entered to announce dinner. Lau- 
 
228 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 rence took Monsieur d'Hauteserre's arm, smiling for a 
 moment at the necessity she thus forced upon her 
 cousins to offer an arm to Madame d'Hauteserre, who, 
 according to agreement, was now to be the arbiter of 
 their fate. 
 
 The Marquis de Simeuse took in Madame d'Haute- 
 serre. The situation was so momentous that after the 
 Benedicite was said Laurence and the young men trem- 
 bled from the violent palpitation of their hearts. 
 Madame d'Hauteserre, who carved, was struck by the 
 anxiety on the faces of the Simeuse brothers and the 
 great alteration that was noticeable in Laurence's 
 lamb-like features." 
 
 " Something extraordinary is going on, I am sure of 
 it ! " she exclaimed, looking at all of them. 
 
 " To whom are you speaking? " asked Laurence. 
 
 " To all of you," said the old lad}'. 
 
 " As for me, mother/' said Robert, "lam frightfully 
 hungry, and that is not extraordinary." 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre, still troubled, offered the 
 Marquis de Simeuse a plate intended for his brother. 
 
 "lam like your mother," she said. " I don't know 
 you apart even by your cravats. I thought I* was help- 
 ing yoxxv brother." 
 
 " You have helped me better than you thought for," 
 said the youngest, turning pale ; " you have made him 
 Comte de Cinq-Cygne." 
 
An Historical Mystery, 229 
 
 " What ! do }'OU mean to tell me the countess has 
 made her choice ? " cried Madame d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " No," said Laurence ; "we left the decision to fate 
 and you are its instrument." 
 
 She told of the agreement made that morning. The 
 elder Simeuse, watching the increasing pallor of his 
 brother's face, was momentarily on the point of crying 
 out, u Marry her; I will go away and die!" Just 
 then, as the dessert was being served, all present heard 
 raps upon the window of the dining-room on the garden 
 side. The eldest d'Hauteserre opened it and gave 
 entrance to the abbe, whose .breeches were torn in 
 climbing over the walls of the park. 
 
 " Fly ! they are coming to arrest you," he cried. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "I don't know yet; but there's a warrant against 
 you." 
 
 The words were greeted with general laughter. 
 
 " We are innocent," said the young men. 
 
 "Innocent or guilty," said the abbe, "mount your 
 horses and make for the frontier. There you can prove 
 your innocence. You could overcome a sentence by 
 default ; you will never overcome a sentence rendered 
 by popular passion and instigated by prejudice. Re- 
 member the words of President de Harlay, ' If I were 
 accused of carrying off the towers of Notre-Dame the 
 first thing I should do would be to run away.' 
 
230 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 "To run away would be to admit we were guilty,' 
 said the Marquis de Simeuse. 
 
 " Don't do it ! " cried Laurence. 
 
 " Always the same sublime folly!" exclaimed the 
 abbe, in despair. " If I had the power of God I would 
 cany } r ou away. But if I am found here in this state 
 the} T will turn my visit against 3'ou, and against me too ; 
 therefore I leave 3'ou by the way I came. Consider 
 my advice ; you have still time. The gendarmes have 
 not }'et thought of the wall which adjoins the parson- 
 age ; but 3 T ou are hemmed in on the other sides." 
 
 The sound of many feet and the jangle of the sabres 
 of the gendarmerie echoed through the courtj'ard and 
 reached the dining-room a few moments after the 
 departure of the poor abbe, whose advice had met the 
 same fate as that of the Marquis de Chargebceuf. 
 
 "Our twin existence," said the 3 T ounger Simeuse, 
 speaking to Laurence, "is an anomaly — our love for 
 3'ou is anomalous ; it is that ver3 T quality which has 
 won 3 r our heart. Possibly, the reason why all twins 
 known to us in histo^ have been unfortunate is that 
 the laws of nature are subverted in them. In our case, 
 see how persistentty an evil fate pursues us ! 3'our 
 decision is now postponed." 
 
 Laurence was stupefied ; the fatal words of the 
 director of the jury hummed in her ears: — "In the 
 name of the Emperor and the laws, I arrest the Sieurs 
 
An Historical Mystery. 231 
 
 Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul Simeuse, Adrien and Robert 
 d'Hauteserre — These gentlemen," he added, address- 
 ing the men who accompanied him and pointing to the 
 mud on the clothing of the prisoners, " cannot deny 
 that they have spent the greater part of this day on 
 horseback." 
 
 "Of what are they accused?" asked Mademoiselle 
 de Cinq-Cygne, haughtily. 
 
 "Don't } r ou mean to arrest Mademoiselle?" said 
 Giguet. 
 
 " I shall leave her at liberty- under bail, until I can 
 carefulty examine the charges against her," replied the 
 director. 
 
 The ma} T or offered bail, asking the countess to merety 
 give her word of honor that she would not escape. 
 Laurence blasted him with a look which made him a 
 mortal enemy ; a tear started from her e}*es, one of 
 those tears of rage which reveal a hell of suffering. The 
 four gentlemen exchanged a terrible look, but remained 
 motionless. Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, 
 dreading lest the }'Oung people had practised some 
 deceit, were in a state of indescribable stupefaction. 
 Clinging to their chairs these unfortunate parents, find- 
 ing their sons torn from them after so many fears and 
 their late hopes of safety, sat gazing before them with- 
 out seeing, listening without hearing. 
 
 "Must I ask you to bail me, Monsieur d'Haute- 
 
232 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 serre?" cried Laurence to her former guardian, who 
 was roused b} T the cry, clear and agonizing to his ear as 
 the sound of the last trumpet. 
 
 He tried to wipe the tears which sprang to his eyes ; 
 he now understood what was passing, and said to his 
 3'oung relation in a quivering voice, " Forgive me, coun- 
 tess ; you know that I am yours, bod}' and soul." 
 
 Lechesneau, who at first was much struck by the evi- 
 dent tranquillity in which the whole party were dining, 
 now returned to his former opinion of their guilt as he 
 noticed the stupefaction of the old people and the evi- 
 dent anxiety of Laurence, who was seeking to discover 
 the nature of the trap which was set for them. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, politely, " }'OU are too well- 
 bred to make a useless resistance ; follow me to the 
 stables, where I must, in your presence, have the shoes 
 of your horses taken off; they afford important proof of 
 either guilt or innocence. Come, too, mademoiselle." 
 
 The blacksmith of Cinq-Cygne and his assistant had 
 been summoned b} T Lechesneau as experts. While the 
 operation at the stables was going on the justice of 
 peace brought in Gothard and Michu. The work of 
 detaching the shoes of each horse, putting them together 
 and ticketing them, so as to compare them with the 
 hoof-prints in the park, took time. Lechesneau, noti- 
 fied of the arrival of Pigoult, left the prisoners with the 
 gendarmes and returned to the dining-room to dictate 
 
An Historical Mystery. 233 
 
 the indictment. The justice of peace called his atten- 
 tion to the condition of Michu's clothes and related the 
 circumstances of his arrest. 
 
 " They must have killed the senator and plastered 
 the body up in some wall," said Pigoult. 
 
 " I begin to fear it," answered Lechesneau. "Where 
 did you cany that plaster? " he said to Gothard. 
 
 The boy began to ciy. 
 
 " The law frightens him," said Michu, whose e3*es 
 were darting flames like those of a lion in the toils. 
 
 The servants, who had been detained at the village 
 by order of the mayor, now arrived and filled the ante- 
 chamber where Catherine and Gothard were weeping. 
 To all the questions of the director of the jury and the 
 justice of peace Gothard replied by sobs ; and by dint 
 of weeping he brought on a species of convulsion which 
 alarmed them so much that they let him alone. The 
 little scamp, perceiving that he was no longer watched, 
 looked at Michu with a grin, and Michu signified his 
 approval by a glance. Lechesneau left the justice of 
 peace and returned to the stables. 
 
 " Monsieur," said Madame d'Hauteserre, at last, ad- 
 dressing Pigoult ; " can you explain these arrests? " 
 
 "The gentlemen are accused of abducting the sena- 
 tor by armed force and keeping him a prisoner ; for we 
 do not think the}' have murdered him — in spite of 
 appearances," replied Pigoult. 
 
234 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 a 
 
 What penalties are attached to the crime ? " asked 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " Well, as the old law continues in force, and the} T 
 are not amenable under the Code, the penalty is death," 
 replied the justice. 
 
 "Death!" cried Madame d'Hauteserre, fainting 
 awa}\ 
 
 The abbe now came in with his sister, who stopped 
 to speak to Catherine and Madame Durieu. 
 
 ' ' We have n't even seen your cursed senator ! " said 
 Michu. 
 
 "Madame Marion, Madame Grevin, Monsieur Gre^ 
 vin, the senator's valet, and Violette tell another tale," 
 replied Pigoult, with the sour smile of magisterial 
 conviction. 
 
 " I don't understand a thing about it," said Michu, 
 dumfounded by this reply, and beginning now to believe 
 that his masters and himself were entangled in some 
 plot which had been laid against them. 
 
 Just then the party from the stables returned. Lau- 
 rence went up to Madame d'Hauteserre, who recovered 
 her senses enough to say : " The penalty is death ! " 
 
 ' ' Death ! " repeated Laurence, looking at the four 
 gentlemen. 
 
 The word excited a general terror, of which Giguet, 
 formerly instructed by Corentin, took immediate ad- 
 vantage. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 235 
 
 " Everything can be arranged," he said, drawing the 
 Marquis de Simeuse into a corner of the dining-room. 
 ''Perhaps after all it is nothing but a joke; you 've 
 been a soldier and soldiers understand each other. 
 Tell me, what have you really done with the senator? 
 If you have killed him — wiry, that 's the end of it ! 
 But if you have only locked him up, release him, for you 
 see for yourself } r our game is balked. Do this and I 
 am certain the director of the jury and the senator him- 
 self will drop the matter." 
 
 " We know absolutely nothing about it," said the 
 marquis. 
 
 4 'If 3 t ou take that tone the matter is likely to go far," 
 replied the lieutenant. 
 
 "Dear cousin," said the Marquis de Simeuse, " w r e 
 are forced to go to prison ; but do not be uneasy ; we 
 shall return in a few hours, for there is some misunder- 
 standing in all this which can be explained." 
 
 " I hope so, for } T our sakes, gentlemen," said the 
 magistrate, signing to the gendarmes to remove the 
 four gentlemen, Michu, and Gothard. " Don't take 
 them to Troyes ; keep them in your guardhouse at 
 Arcis," he said to the lieutenant ; " they must be present 
 to-morrow, at daj'break, when we compare the shoes of 
 their horses with the hoof-prints in the park." 
 
 Lechesneau and Pigoult did not follow until they had 
 closely questioned Catherine, Monsieur and Madame 
 
236 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 d'Hauteserre, and Laurence. The Durieus, Catherine, 
 and Marthe declared they had only seen their masters 
 at breakfast-time ; Monsieur d 'Hauteserre said he had 
 seen them at three o'clock. 
 
 When, at midnight, Laurence found herself alone 
 with Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, the abbe and 
 his sister, and without the four }'onng men who for the 
 last eighteen months had been the life of the chateau 
 and the love and joy of her own life, she fell into a 
 gloomy silence which no one present dared to break. 
 No affliction was ever deeper or more complete than 
 hers. At last a deep sigh broke the stillness, and all 
 eyes turned towards the sound. 
 
 Marthe, forgotten in a corner, rose, exclaiming, 
 "Death! They will kill them in spite of their in- 
 nocence ! " 
 
 " Mademoiselle, what is the matter with you? " said 
 the abbe*. 
 
 Laurence left the room without replying. She needed 
 solitude to recover strength in presence of this terrible 
 unforeseen disaster. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 237 
 
 XV. 
 
 DOUBTS AND FEARS OF COUNSEL. 
 
 At a distance of thirty-four years, during which three 
 great revolutions have taken place, none but elderly 
 persons can recall the immense excitement produced in 
 Europe b}- the abduction of a senator of the French 
 Empire. No trial, if we except that of Trumeaux, the 
 grocer of the Place Saint-Michel, and that of the widow 
 Morin, under the Empire ; those of Fualdes and de 
 Castaing, under the Restoration ; those of Madame 
 Lafarge and Fieschi, under the present government, 
 ever roused so much curiosity or so deep an interest as 
 that of the four young men accused of abducting Malm. 
 Such an attack against a member of his Senate excited 
 the wrath of the Emperor, who was told of the arrest of 
 the delinquents almost at the moment when he first 
 heard of the crime and the negative results of the in- 
 quiries. The forest, searched throughout, the depart- 
 ment of the Aube, ransacked from end to end, gave not 
 the slightest indication of the passage of the Comte de 
 Gondreville nor of his imprisonment. Napoleon sent 
 for the chief justice, who, after obtaining certain infor- 
 mation from the ministry of police, explained to his 
 
238 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 Majesty the position of Malin in regard to the Simeuse 
 brothers and the Gondreville estate. The Emperor, at 
 that time pre-occupied with serious matters, considered 
 the affair explained by these anterior facts. 
 
 " Those young men are fools," he said. " A lawyer 
 like Malin will escape any deed they may force him to 
 sign under violence. Watch those nobles, and discover 
 the means they take to set the Comte de Gondreville at 
 liberty." 
 
 He ordered the affair to be conducted with the utmost 
 celerity, regarding it as an attack on his own institu- 
 tions, a fatal example of resistance to the results of the 
 Revolution, an effort to open the great question of the 
 sales of " national propertj'," and a hindrance to that 
 fusion of parties which was the constant object of his 
 home polic}'. Besides all this, he thought himself 
 tricked by these young nobles, who had given him their 
 promise to live peaceably. 
 
 " Fouche's prediction has come true," he cried, re- 
 membering the words uttered two } T ears earlier b} T his 
 present minister of police, who said them under the 
 impressions conveyed to him by Corentin's report as to 
 the character and designs of Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 Cygne. 
 
 It is impossible for persons living under a constitu- 
 tional government, where no one really cares for that cold 
 and thankless, blind, deaf Thing called public interest, to 
 
An Historical Mystery. 239 
 
 imagine the zeal which a mere word of the Emperor was 
 able to inspire in his political or administrative machine. 
 That powerful will seemed to impress itself as much upon 
 things as upon men. His decision once uttered, the 
 Emperor, overtaken by the coalition of 1806, forgot the 
 whole matter. He thought only of new battles to fight, 
 and his mind was occupied in massing his regiments to 
 strike the great blow at the heart of the Prussian mon- 
 archy. His desire for prompt justice in the present 
 case found powerful assistance in the great uncertainty 
 which affected the position of all the magistrates of 
 the Empire. Just at this time Cambaceres, as arch- 
 chancellor, and Regnier, chief justice, were preparing 
 to organize tribunanx de premiere instance (lower 
 civil courts), imperial courts, and a court of appeal or 
 supreme court. They were agitating the question of a 
 legal garb or costume ; to which Napoleon attached, 
 and very justly, so much importance in all official sta- 
 tions ; and they were also inquiring into the character 
 of the persons composing the magistrac}\ Naturally, 
 therefore, the officials of the department of the Aube 
 considered they could have no better recommendation 
 than to give proofs of their zeal in the matter of the 
 abduction of the Comte de Gondreville. Napoleon's 
 suppositions became certainties to these courtiers and 
 also to the populace. 
 
 Peace still reigned on the continent ; admiration for 
 
 /mi 
 
240 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 the Emperor was unanimous in France ; he cajoled all 
 interests, persons, vanities, and things, in short, every- 
 thing, even memories. This attack, therefore, directed 
 against his senator, seemed in the eyes of all an assault 
 upon the public welfare. The luckless and innocent 
 gentlemen were the objects of general opprobrium. A 
 few nobles living quietly on their estates deplored the 
 affair among themselves but dared not open their lips ; 
 in fact, how was it possible for them to oppose the cur- 
 rent of public opinion. Throughout the department the 
 deaths of the eleven persons killed hy the Simeuse 
 brothers in 1792 from the windows of the hotel Cinq- 
 Cygne were brought up against them. It was feared 
 that other returned and now emboldened emigres might 
 follow this example of violence against those who had 
 bought their estates from the " national domain," as a 
 method of protesting against what they might call an 
 unjust spoliation. 
 
 The unfortunate young nobles were therefore con- 
 sidered as robbers, brigands, murderers ; and their con- 
 nection with Michu was particularly fatal to them. 
 Michu, who was declared, either he or his father-in-law, 
 to have cut off all the heads that fell under the Terror 
 in that department, was made the subject of ridiculous 
 tales. The exasperation of the public mind was all the 
 more intense because nearly all the functionaries of the 
 department owed their offices to Malin. No generous 
 
An Historical Mystery. 241 
 
 voice uplifted itself against the verdict of the public. 
 Besides all this, the accused had no legal means with 
 which to combat prejudice ; for the Code of Brumaire, 
 year IV., giving as it did both the prosecution of a 
 charge and the verdict upon it into the hands of a juiy, 
 deprived the accused of the vast protection of an appeal 
 against legal suspicion. 
 
 The dav after the arrest all the inhabitants of the 
 chateau of Cinq-C}'gne, both masters and servants, 
 were summoned to appear before the prosecuting jury. 
 Cinq-Cygne was left in charge of a farmer, under the 
 supervision of the abbe and his sister who moved into 
 it. Mademoiselle de Cinq-C} T gne, with Monsieur and 
 Madame d'Hauteserre, went to Troyes and occupied a 
 small house belonging to Durieu in one of the long and 
 wide faubourgs which lead from the little town. Lau- 
 rence's heart was wrung when she at last comprehended 
 the temper of the populace, the malignit} T of the bour- 
 geoisie, and the hostility of the administration, from the 
 many little events which happened to them as relatives 
 of prisoners accused of criminal wrong-doing and about 
 to be judged in a provincial town. Instead of hearing 
 encouraging or compassionate words they heard only 
 speeches which called for vengeance ; proofs of hatred 
 surrounded them in place of the strict politeness or the 
 reserve required hy mere decency ; but above all they 
 were conscious of an isolation which eveiy mind must 
 
 16 
 
242 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 feel, but more particularly those which are made dis- 
 trustful by misfortune. 
 
 Laurence, who had recovered her vigor of mind, re- 
 lied upon the innocence of the accused, and despised 
 the community too much to be frightened by the stern 
 and silent disapproval they met with ever} r where. 
 She sustained the courage of Monsieur and Madame 
 d'Hauteserre, all the while thinking of the judicial 
 struggle which was now being hurried on. She was, 
 however, to receive a blow she little expected, which, 
 undoubtedly, diminished her courage. 
 
 In the midst of this great disaster, at the moment when 
 this afflicted family were made to feel themselves, as it 
 were, in a desert, a man suddenly became exalted in 
 Laurence's eyes and showed the full beauty of his char- 
 acter. The day after the indictment was found by the 
 jury, and the prisoners were finally committed for trial, 
 the Marquis de Chargeboeuf courageously appeared, still 
 in the same old caleche, to support and protect his 
 3'oung cousin. Foreseeing the haste with which the 
 law would be administered, this chief of a^reat family 
 had already gone to Paris and secured the services of 
 the most able as well as the most honest lawyer of the 
 old school, named Bordin, who was for ten years 
 counsel of the nobility in Paris, and was ultimately 
 succeeded by the celebrated Derville. This excellent 
 lawyer chose for his assistant the grandson of a former 
 
An Historical Mystery. 243 
 
 president of the parliament of Normandy, whose studies 
 had been made under his tuition. This young lawyer, 
 who was destined to be appointed cleputy-attorne}-- 
 general in Paris after the conclusion of the present 
 trial, became eventually one of the most celebrated of 
 French magistrates. Monsieur de Grandville, for that 
 was his name, accepted the defence of the four 3*oung 
 men, being glad of an opportunity to make his first 
 appearance as an advocate with distinction. 
 
 The old marquis, alarmed at the ravages which 
 troubles had wrought in Laurence's appearance, was 
 charmingly kind and considerate. He made no allusion 
 to his neglected advice ; he presented Bordin as an 
 oracle whose counsel must be followed to the letter, and 
 3'oung de Grandville as a defender in whom the utmost 
 confidence might be placed. 
 
 Laurence held out her hand to the kind old man, and 
 pressed his with an eagerness which delighted him. 
 
 " You were right," she said. 
 
 " Will you now take m} r advice? " he asked. 
 
 The 3 T oung countess bowed her head in assent, as did 
 Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre. 
 
 " Well, then, come to my house ; it is in the middle 
 of the town, close to the courthouse. You and your 
 law} T ers will be better off there than here, where you are 
 crowded and too far from the field of battle. Here, 
 you would have to cross the town twice a day." 
 
244 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Laurence accepted, and the old man took her with 
 Madame d'Hauteserre to his house, which became the 
 home of the Cinq-C3 T gne household and the lawj'ers of 
 the defence during the whole time the trial lasted. 
 After dinner, when the doors were closed, Bordin made 
 Laurence relate every circumstance of the affair, en- 
 treating her to omit nothing, not the most trifling 
 detail. Though many of the facts had already been told 
 to him and his young assistant by the marquis on their 
 journey from Paris to Troyes, Bordin listened, his 
 feet on the fender, without obtruding himself into the 
 recital. The young lawyer, however, could not help 
 being divided between his admiration for Mademoiselle 
 de Cinq-Cygne and the attention he was bound to give 
 to the facts of his case. 
 
 " Is that really all?" asked Bordin when Laurence 
 had related the events of the drama just as the present 
 narrative has given them up to the present time. 
 
 " Yes," she answered. 
 
 Profound silence reigned for several minutes in the 
 salon of the Chargebceuf mansion where this scene took 
 place, — one of the most important which occur in life. 
 All cases are judged by the counsellors engaged in them, 
 just as the death or life of a patient is foreseen b}^ 
 physician, before the final struggle which the one sus- 
 tains against nature, the other against law. Laurence, 
 Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, and the marquis 
 
An Historical Mystery. 245 
 
 sat with their eyes fixed on the swarthy and deeply 
 pitted face of the old law}'er, who was now to pro- 
 nounce the words of life or death. Monsieur d'Haute- 
 serre wiped the sweat from his brow. Laurence looked 
 at the younger man and noted his saddened face. 
 
 " Well, my dear Bordin?" said the marquis at last, 
 holding out his snuffbox, from which the old lawyer 
 took a pinch in an absent-minded way. 
 
 Bordin rubbed the calf of his leg, covered with thick 
 stockings of black raw silk, for he alwa}*s wore black 
 cloth breeches and a coat made somewhat in the shape 
 of those which are now termed a la Frangaise. He 
 cast his shrewd ej'es upon his clients with an anxious 
 expression, the effect of which was icy. 
 
 "Must I analyze all that?" he said; "am I to 
 speak frankly?" 
 
 " Yes ; go on, monsieur," said Laurence. 
 
 " All that you have innocently done can be converted 
 into proof against }'OU," said the old lawyer. " We 
 cannot save your friends ; we can only reduce the 
 penalty. The sale which you induced Michu to make 
 of his property will be taken as evident proof of your 
 criminal intentions against the senator. You sent }-our 
 servants to Troyes so that you might be alone ; that is 
 all the more plausible because it is actually true. The 
 elder d'Hauteserre made an unfortunate speech to 
 Beauvisage, which will be your ruin. You yourself, 
 
246 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 mademoiselle, made another in 3'our own court}' ard, 
 which proves that you have long shown ill-will to the 
 possessor of Gondreville. Besides, you were at the 
 gate of the rond-point, apparently on the watch, about 
 the time when the abduction took place ; if they have 
 not arrested you, it is solely because they fear to bring 
 a sentimental element into the affair." 
 
 " The case cannot be successfully defended," said 
 Monsieur de Grandville. 
 
 " The less so," continued Bordin, " because we can- 
 not tell the whole truth. Michu and the Messieurs de 
 Simeuse and d'Hauteserre must hold to the assertion 
 that you merely went for an excursion into the forest 
 and returned to Cinq-Cygne for luncheon. Allowing 
 that we can show you were in the house at three o'clock 
 (the exact hour at which the attack was made), who are 
 our witnesses? Marthe, the wife of one of the accused, 
 the Durieus, and Catherine, 3 r our own servants, and 
 Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, father and mother 
 of two of the accused. Such testimony is valueless ; 
 the law does not admit it against you, and common- 
 sense rejects it when given in your favor. If, on the 
 other hand, you were to say you went to the forest to 
 recover eleven hundred thousand francs in gold, 30U 
 would send the accused to the galleys as robbers. 
 Judge, jur3 r , audience, and the whole of France would 
 believe that you took that gold from Gondreville, and 
 
An Historical Mystery. 247 
 
 abducted the senator that 3*011 might ransack his house. 
 The accusation as it now stands is not wholly clear, 
 but tell the truth about the matter and it would 
 become as plain as day ; the jury would declare that 
 the robbery explained the mysterious features, — for 
 in these days, you. must remember, a ro}'alist means 
 a thief. This very case is welcomed as a legitimate 
 political vengeance. The prisoners are now in danger 
 Df the death penalty ; but that is not dishonoring under 
 come circumstances. Whereas, if they can be proved 
 to have stolen money, which can never be made to seem 
 excusable, you lose all benefit of whatever interest ma}' 
 attach to persons condemned to death for other crimes. 
 If, at the first, you had shown the hiding-places of 
 the treasure, the plan of the forest, the tubes in which 
 the gold was buried, and the gold itself, as an expla- 
 nation of your day's work, it is possible you might 
 have been believed by an impartial magistrate, but 
 as it is we must be silent. God grant that none of 
 the prisoners may reveal the truth and compromise 
 the defence ; if they do, we must rely on our cross- 
 examinations ." 
 
 Laurence wrung her hands in despair and raised her 
 eyes to heaven with a despondent look, for she saw at 
 last in all its depths the gulf into which her cousins had 
 fallen. The marquis and the 3*oung lawyer agreed with 
 the dreadful view of Bordin. Old d'Hauteserre wept. 
 
248 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 " Ah! why did they not listen to the Abbe Goujet 
 and fly ! " cried Madame d'Hauteserre, exasperated. 
 
 " If they could have escaped, and you prevented 
 them," said Bordin, " 3'ou have killed them yourselves. 
 Judgment by default gains time ; time enables the in- 
 nocent to clear themselves. This is the most mysteri- 
 ous case I have ever known in my life, in the course 
 of which I have certainly seen and known many 
 strange things." 
 
 "It is inexplicable to every one, even to us,'* 
 said Monsieur de Grandville. "If the prisoners are 
 innocent some one else has committed the crime. Five 
 persons do not come to a place as if by enchantment, 
 obtain five horses shod precisety like those of the ac- 
 cused, imitate the appearance of some of them, and put 
 Malin apparently underground for the sole purpose of 
 casting suspicion on Michu and the four gentlemen. 
 The unknown guilty parties must have had some strong 
 reason for wearing the skin, as it were, of five innocent 
 men. To discover them, even to get upon their traces, 
 we need as much power as the government itself, as 
 many agents and as many eyes as there are townships 
 in a radius of fifty miles." 
 
 " The thing is impossible," said Bordin. " There 's 
 no use thinking of it. Since society invented law it has 
 never found away to give an innocent prisoner an equal 
 chance against a magistrate who is pre-disposed against 
 
An Historical Mystery. 249 
 
 him. Law is not bilateral. The defence, without spies 
 or police, cannot call social power to the rescue of its 
 innocent clients. Innocence has nothing on her side 
 but reason, and reasoning which may strike a judge is 
 often powerless on the narrow minds of jurymen. The 
 whole department is against you. The eight jurors 
 who have signed the indictment are each and all pur- 
 chasers of national domain. Among the trial jurors we 
 are certain to have some who have either sold or bought 
 the same property. In short, we can get nothing but a 
 Malin jury. You must therefore set up a consistent 
 defence, hold fast to it, and perish in your innocence. 
 You will certainly be condemned. But there 's a court 
 of appeal ; we will go there and try to remain there as 
 long as possible. If in the mean time we can collect 
 proofs in 3*0111* favor you must apply for pardon. That 's 
 the anatomy of the business, and my advice. If we 
 triumph (for everything is possible in law) it will be a 
 miracle ; but your advocate Monsieur de Grandville is 
 the most likely man among all I know to produce that 
 miracle, and I '11 do my best to help him." 
 
 " The senator has the key to the mystery," said Mon- 
 sieur de Grandville ; " for a man knows his enemies and 
 why they are so. Here we find him leaving Paris at the 
 close of the winter, coming to Gondreville alone, shutting 
 himself up with his notary, and delivering himself over, 
 as one might say, to five men who seize him." 
 
250 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 "Certainly," said Bordin, " his conduct seems in- 
 explicable. But how could we, in the face of a hostile 
 community, become accusers when we ourselves are 
 the accused? We should need the help and good-will 
 of the government and a thousand times more proof 
 than is wanted in ordinary circumstances. I am con- 
 vinced there was premeditation, and subtle premedita- 
 tion, on the part of our mysterious adversaries, who 
 must have known the situation of Michu and the Mes- 
 sieurs de Simeuse towards Mai in. Not to utter one 
 word ; not to steal one thing ! — remarkable prudence ! 
 I see something very different from ordinary evil-doers 
 behind those masks. But what would be the use of 
 saying so to the sort of jurors we shall have to face?" 
 
 This insight into hidden matters which gives such 
 power to certain law} T ers and certain magistrates aston- 
 ished and confounded Laurence ; her heart was wrung 
 by that inexorable logic. 
 
 "Out of every hundred criminal cases," continued 
 Bordin, " there are not ten where the law really lays bare 
 the truth to its full extent ; and there is perhaps a good 
 third in which the truth is never brought to light at all. 
 Yours is one of those cases which are inexplicable to 
 all parties, to accused and accusers, to the law and to 
 the public. As for the Emperor, he has other fish to fry 
 than to consider the case of these gentlemen, suppos- 
 ing even that they had not conspired against him. But 
 
An Historical Mystery. 251 
 
 who the devil is Malin's enemy? and what has really 
 been done with him ? " 
 
 Bordin and Monsieur de Grandville looked at each 
 other ; they seemed in doubt as to Laurence's veracity. 
 This evident suspicion was the most cutting of all the 
 many pangs the girl had suffered in the affair ; and she 
 turned upon the lawyers a look which effectually put an 
 end to their distrust. 
 
 The next day the indictment was handed over to the 
 defence, and the law3*ers were then enabled to communi- 
 cate with the prisoners. Bordin informed the family 
 that the six accused men were "well supported," — 
 using a professional term. 
 
 " Monsieur de Grandville will defend Michu," said 
 Bordin. 
 
 " Michu ! " exclaimed the Marquis de Chargeboeuf, 
 amazed at the change. 
 
 "He is the pivot of the affair — the danger lies 
 there," replied the old lawyer. 
 
 "If he is more in danger than the others, I think 
 that is just," cried Laurence. 
 
 " We see certain chances," said Monsieur de Grand- 
 ville, "and we shall stud} T them carefullv. If we are 
 able to save these gentlemen it will be because Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre ordered Michu to repair one of the stone 
 posts in the covered wa} T , and also because a wolf has 
 been seen in the forest ; in a criminal court everything 
 
252 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 depends on discussions, and discussions often turn 
 on trivial matters which then become of immense im- 
 portance." 
 
 Laurence sank into that inward dejection which 
 humiliates the soul of all thoughtful and energetic per- 
 sons when the uselessness of thought and action is 
 made manifest to them. It was no longer a matter of 
 overthrowing a usurper, or of coming to the help of 
 devoted friends, — fanatical sympathies wrapped in a 
 shroud of mystery. She now saw all social forces full- 
 armed against her cousins and herself. There was no 
 taking a prison by assault with her own hands, no 
 deliverance of prisoners from the midst of a hostile pop- 
 ulation and beneath the e} T es of a watchful police. So, 
 when the young lawyer, alarmed at the stupor of the 
 generous and noble girl, which the natural expression 
 of her face made still more noticeable, endeavored to 
 revive her courage, she turned to him and said: "I 
 must be silent ; I suffer, — I wait." 
 
 The accent, gesture, and look with which the words 
 were said made this answer one of those sublime things 
 which only need a wider stage to make them famous. 
 
 A few moments later old d'Hauteserre was saying to 
 the Marquis de Chargebceuf : " What efforts I have 
 made for my two unfortunate sons ! I have already 
 laid by in the Funds enough to give them eight thou- 
 sand francs a year. If they had only been willing to 
 
An Historical Mystery. 253 
 
 serve in the army they would have reached the higher 
 grades by this time, and could now have married to 
 advantage. Instead of that, all m}' plans are scattered 
 to the winds ! " 
 
 " How can % you," said his wife, " think of their in- 
 terests when it is a question of their honor and their 
 lives?" 
 
 " Monsieur d'Hauteserre thinks of everything," said 
 the marquis. 
 
254 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 XYI. 
 
 MARTHE INVEIGLED. 
 
 While the masters of Cinq-Cj-gne were waiting at 
 Troyes for the opening of the trial before the Criminal 
 court and vainly soliciting permission to see the pris- 
 oners, an event of the utmost importance had taken 
 place at the chateau. 
 
 Marthe returned to Cinq-Cygne as soon as she had 
 given her testimony before the indicting jury. This 
 testimony was so insignificant that it was not thought 
 necessaiy to summon her before the Criminal court. 
 Like all persons of extreme sensibility, the poor woman 
 sat silent in the salon, where she kept compan}^ with 
 Mademoiselle Goujet, in a pitiable state of stupefaction. 
 To her, as to the abbe, and indeed to all others who did 
 not know how the accused had been emploj'ed on that 
 daj T , their innocence seemed doubtful. There were 
 moments when Marthe believed that Michu and his 
 masters and Laurence had executed vengeance on the 
 senator. The unhappy woman now knew Michu's devo- 
 tion well enough to be certain that he was the one who 
 would be most in danger, not only because of his ante- 
 cedents, but because of the part he was sure to have 
 taken in the execution of the scheme. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 255 
 
 The Abbe Goujet and his sister and Marthe were 
 bewildered among the possibilities to whieh this opinion 
 gave rise ; and yet, in the process of thinking them 
 over, their minds insensibly took hold of them in a 
 certain way. The absolute doubt which Descartes 
 demands can no more exist in the brain of a man than 
 a vacuum can exist in nature, and the mental operation 
 required to produce it would, like the effect of a pneu- 
 matic machine, be exceptional and anomalous. What- 
 ever a case may be, the mind believes in something. 
 Now Marthe was so afraid that the accused were guilt} 7 
 that her fear became equivalent to belief; and this con- 
 dition of her mind proved fatal to her. 
 
 Five days after the arrests, just as she was in the act 
 of going to bed about ten o'clock at night, she was 
 called from the courtyard by her mother, who had come 
 from the farm on foot. 
 
 "A laboring man from Tro}*es wants to speak to 
 3 r ou ; he is sent by Michu, and is waiting in the covered 
 wa}'," she said to Marthe. 
 
 They passed through the breach so as to take the 
 shortest path. In the darkness it was impossible for 
 Marthe to distinguish anything more than the form of 
 a person which loomed through the shadows. 
 
 " Speak, madame ; so that I may be certain 3*011 are 
 really Madame Michu," said the person, in a rather 
 anxious voice. 
 
256 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 " I am Madame Michu," said Marthe ; " what do you 
 want of me ? " 
 
 44 Very good," said the unknown, "give me 30111* 
 hand ; do not fear me. I come," he added, leaning 
 towards her and speaking low, " from Michu with a 
 note for } t ou. I am employed at the prison, and if m}* 
 superiors discover nrv absence we shall all be lost. 
 Trust me ; your good father placed me where I am. 
 For that reason Michu counted on my helping him." 
 
 He put a letter into Marthe's hand and disappeared 
 toward the forest without waiting for an answer. 
 Marthe trembled at the thought that she was now to 
 hear the secret of the m3 T stery. She ran to the farm 
 with her mother and shut herself up to read the follow- 
 ing letter : — 
 
 My dear Marthe, — You can rely on the discretion of 
 the man who will give you this letter ; he does not know how 
 to read or to write He is a stanch Republican, and shared in 
 Baboeuf's conspiracy; your father often made use of him, and 
 he regards the senator as a traitor. Now, my dear wife, at- 
 tend to my directions. The senator has been shut up by us 
 in the cave where our masters were hidden. - The poor creat- 
 ure had provisions for only five days, and as it is our interest 
 that he should live, I wish you, as soon as you receive this 
 letter, to take him food for at least five days more. The for- 
 est is of course watched ; therefore take as many precautions 
 as we formerly did for our young masters. Don't say a word 
 to Malin ; don't speak to him ; and put on one of our masks 
 which you will find on the steps which lead down to the 
 
An Historical Mystery. 257 
 
 cave. Unless you wish to compromise our heads you must 
 be absolutely silent about this letter and the secret I have 
 now confided to you. Don't say a word to Mademoiselle de 
 Cinq-Cygne, who might tell of it. Don't fear for me. We 
 are certain that the matter will turn out well; when the 
 time comes Malm himself wiil save us. I don't^need to tell 
 you to burn this letter as soon as you have read it, for it 
 would cost me my head if a line of it were seen. I kiss you 
 for now and always, 
 
 Michu. 
 
 The existence of the cave was known only to Marthe, 
 her son, Michu, the four gentlemen, and Laurence ; or 
 rather, Marthe, to whom her husband had not related 
 the incident of his meeting with Peyrade and Corentin, 
 believed it was known only to them. Had she con- 
 sulted her mistress and the two lawyers, who knew the 
 innocence of the prisoners, the shrewd Bordin would 
 have gained some light upon the perfidious trap which 
 was evidently laid for his clients. But Marthe, acting 
 like most women under a first impulse, was convinced 
 by this proof which came to her own e3*es, and flung the 
 letter into the fire as directed. Nevertheless, moved 
 \>y a singular gleam of caution, she caught a portion of 
 it from the flames, tore off the five first lines, which 
 compromised no one, and sewed them into the hem of 
 her dress. Terrified at the thought that the prisoner 
 had been without food for twenty-four hours, she resolved 
 to carry bread, meat, and wine to him at once ; curiosity 
 
 17 
 
258 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 as well as humanity permitting no delay. Accordingly, 
 she heated her oven and made, with her mother's help, 
 a pati of hare and ducks, a rice cake, roasted two 
 fowls, selected three bottles of wine, and baked two 
 loaves of bread. About two in the morning she started 
 for the forest, carrying the load on her back, accom- 
 panied by Couraut, who in all such expeditions showed 
 wonderful sagacit}? - as a guide. He scented strangers 
 at immense distances, and as soon as he was certain of 
 their presence he returned to his mistress with a low 
 growl, looking at her fixedly and turning his muzzle in 
 the direction of the danger. 
 
 Marthe reached the pond about three in the morning, 
 and left the doo; as sentinel on the bank. After half an 
 hour's labor in clearing the entrance she came with a 
 dark lantern to the door of the cave, her face covered 
 with a mask, which she had found, as directed, on the 
 steps. The imprisonment of the senator seemed to 
 have been long premeditated. A hole about a foot 
 square, which Marthe had never seen before, was 
 roughly cut in the upper part of the iron door which 
 closed the cave ; but in order to prevent Malin from 
 using the time and patience all prisoners have at their 
 command in loosening the iron bar which held the door, 
 it was securely fastened with a padlock. 
 
 The senator, who had risen from his bed of moss, 
 sighed when he saw the masked face and felt that there 
 
An Historical Mystery. 259 
 
 was no chance then of his deliverance. He examined 
 Marthe, as much as he could by the unsteady light of 
 her dark lantern, and he recognized her by her clothes, 
 her stoutness, and her motions. When she passed the 
 pate through the door he dropped it to seize her hand 
 and then, with great swiftness, he tried to pull the rings 
 from her fingers, — one her wedding-ring, the other a 
 gift from Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. 
 
 " You cannot den} r that it is }'ou, my dear Madame 
 Michu," he said. 
 
 Marthe closed her fist the moment she felt his fingers, 
 and gave him a vigorous blow in the chest. Then, 
 without a word, she turned awa}* and cut a stick, at the 
 end of which she held out to the senator the rest of the 
 provisions. 
 
 " What do they want of me? " he asked. 
 
 Marthe departed giving him no answer. By five 
 o'clock she had reached the edge of the forest and was 
 warned b} T Couraut of the presence of strangers. Sh& 
 retraced her steps and made for the pavilion where she 
 had lived so long ; but just as she entered the avenue 
 she was seen from afar by the forester of Gondreville, 
 and she quickly reflected that her best plan was to go 
 straight up to him. 
 
 "You are out earl} r , Madame Michu," he said, 
 accosting her. 
 
 " We are so unfortunate," she replied, " that I am 
 
260 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 obliged to do a servant's work mj-self. I am going 
 to Bellache for some grain." 
 
 " Have n't } T ou any at Cinq-Cygne? " said the 
 forester. 
 
 Marthe made no answer. She continued on her way 
 and reached the farm at Bellache, where she asked 
 Beauvisage to give her some seed-grain, saying that 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre advised her to get it from him 
 to renew her crop. As soon as Marthe had left the 
 farm, the forester went there to find out what she asked 
 for. 
 
 Six days later, Marthe, determined to be prudent, 
 went at midnight with her provisions so as to avoid the 
 keepers who were evidently patrolling the forest. After 
 carrying a third supply to the senator she suddenly 
 became terrified on hearing the abbe read aloud the 
 public examination of the prisoners, — for the trial was 
 by that time begun. She took the abbe aside, and after 
 obliging him to swear that he would keep the secret she 
 was about to reveal as though it was said to him in the 
 confessional, she showed him the fragments of Michu's 
 letter, told him the contents of it, and also the secret of 
 the hiding-place where the senator then was. 
 
 The abbe at once inquired if she had other letters 
 from her husband that he might compare the writing. 
 Marthe went to her home to fetch them and there found 
 a summons to appear in court. B} T the time she re- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 261 
 
 turned to the chateau the abbe and his sister had 
 received a similar summons on behalf of the defence. 
 The}' were obliged therefore to start for Troves immedi- 
 ately. Thus all the personages of our drama, even those 
 who were onl} T , as it were, supernumeraries, were col- 
 lected on the spot where the fate of the two families 
 was about to be decided. 
 
262 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 THE TRIAL. 
 
 There are but few localities in France where Law 
 derives from outward appearance the dignity which 
 ought always to accompauy it. Yet it surely is, after 
 religion and royalty, the greatest engine of societ}\ 
 Everywhere, even in Paris, the meanness of its sur- 
 roundings, the wretched arrangement of the court- 
 rooms, their barrenness and w r ant of decoration in the 
 most ornate and showy nation upon earth in the matter 
 of its public monuments, lessens the action of the law's 
 mighty power. At the farther end of some oblong 
 room ma}- be seen a desk with a green baize covering 
 raised on a platform ; behind it sit the judges on the 
 commonest of arm-chairs. To thus left, is the seat of the 
 public prosecutor, and beside him, close to the wall, is 
 a long pen filled with chairs for the juiy. Opposite to 
 the jury is another pen with a bench for the prisoners 
 and the gendarmes who guard them. The clerk of the 
 court sits below the platform at a table covered with 
 the papers of the case. Before the imperial changes 
 in the administration of justice were instituted, a com- 
 missary of the government and the director of the jury 
 
An Historical Mystery. 263 
 
 each had a seat and a table, one to the right, the other to 
 the left of the baize-covered desk. Two sheriffs hovered 
 about in the space left in front of the desk for the station 
 of witnesses. Facing the judges and against the wall 
 above the entrance, there is always a shabby gallery 
 reserved for officials and for women, to which admit- 
 tance is granted only b}' the president of the court, 
 to whom the proper management of the courtroom 
 belongs. The non-privileged public are compelled to 
 stand in the empt} r space between the door of the hall 
 and the bar. This normal appearance of all French 
 law courts and assize-rooms was that of the Criminal 
 court of Troves. 
 
 In April, 1806, neither the four judges nor the presi- 
 dent (or chief-justice) who made up the court, nor the 
 public prosecutor, the director of the jury, the commis- 
 sar} T of the government, nor the sheriffs or lawyers, in 
 fact no one except the gendarmes, wore an} r robes or 
 other distinctive sign which might have relieved the 
 nakedness of the surroundings and the somewhat mea- 
 gre aspect of the figures. The crucifix was suppressed ; 
 its example was no longer held up before the eyes of 
 justice and of guilt. All was dull and vulgar. The 
 paraphernalia so necessary to excite social interest is 
 perhaps a consolation to criminals. On this occasion 
 the eagerness of the public was what it ever has been 
 and ever will be in trials of this kind, so long as France 
 
264 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 refuses to recognize that the admission of the public to 
 the courts involves publicity, and that the publicity 
 given to trials is a terrible penahty which would never 
 have been inflicted had legislators reflected on it. 
 Customs are often more cruel than laws. Customs are 
 the deeds of men, but laws are the judgment of a na- 
 tion. Customs in which there is often no judgment are 
 stronger than laws. 
 
 Crowds surrounded the courtroom ; the president 
 was obliged to station squads of soldiers to guard the 
 doors. The audience, standing below the bar, was so 
 crowded that persons suffocated. Monsieur de Grand- 
 ville, defending Micbu, Bordin, defending the Simeuse 
 brothers, and a lawyer of Troyes who appeared for the 
 d'Hauteserres, were in their seats before the opening 
 of the court ; their faces wore a look of confidence. 
 When the prisoners were brought in, sympathetic 
 murmurs were heard at the appearance of the } T oung 
 men, whose faces, in twenty days' imprisonment and 
 anxiety, had somewhat paled. The perfect likeness of 
 the twins excited the deepest interest. Perhaps the 
 spectators thought that Nature would exercise some 
 special protection in the case of her own anomalies, 
 and felt ready to join in repairing the harm done to 
 them b}^ destiny. Their noble, simple faces, showing 
 no signs of shame, still less of bravado, touched the 
 women's hearts. The four gentlemen and Gothard 
 
An Historical Mystery. 265 
 
 wore the clothes in which they had been arrested ; but 
 Michu, whose coat and trousers were among the " arti- 
 cles of testimony," so-called, had put on his best 
 clothes, — a blue surtout, a brown velvet waistcoat a la 
 Robespierre, and a white cravat. The poor man paid 
 the penalty of his dangerous-looking face. When he 
 cast a glance of his yellow eye, so clear and so pro- 
 found upon the audience, a murmur of repulsion an- 
 swered it. The assembly chose to see the finger of 
 God bringing him to the dock where his father-in-law 
 had sacrificed so many victims. This man, truly great, 
 looked at his masters, repressing a smile of scorn. He 
 seemed to say to them, "I am injuring } T our cause." 
 Five of the prisoners exchanged greetings with their 
 counsel. Gothard still pla}-ed the part of an idiot. 
 
 After several challenges, made with much sagacity 
 by the law} T ers of the defence under advice of the Mar- 
 quis de Chargebceuf, who boldly took a seat beside 
 Bordin and de Grandville, the jury were empanelled, 
 the indictment was read, and the prisoners were brought 
 up separately to be examined. They answered every 
 question with remarkable unanimity. After riding 
 about the forest all the morning, they had returned to 
 Cinq-Cygne for breakfast at one o'clock. After that 
 meal, from three to half-past five in the afternoon, the} r 
 had returned to the forest. That was the basis of each 
 testimony ; any variations were merely individual cir- 
 
266 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 cumstances. When the president asked the Messieurs 
 de Sinieuse why they had ridden out so earty, the} r both 
 declared that wishing, since their return, to buy back 
 Gondreville and intending to make an offer to Malin 
 who had arrived the night before, the}' had gone out 
 earl}' with their cousin and Michu to make certain 
 examinations of the property on which to base their 
 offer. During that time the Messieurs d'Hauteserre, 
 their cousin, and Gothard had chased a wolf which was 
 reported in the forest by the peasantry. If the director 
 of the jury had sought for the prints of their horses' 
 feet in the forest as carefully as in the park of Gondre- 
 ville, he would have found proof of their presence at 
 long distances from the house. 
 
 The examination of the Messieurs d'Hauteserre cor- 
 roborated this testimonv, and was in harmony with their 
 preliminary depositions. The necessity of some reason 
 for their ride suggested to each of them the excuse of 
 hunting. The peasants had given warning, a few days 
 earlier, of a wolf in the forest, and on that thej' had 
 fastened as a pretext. 
 
 The public prosecutor, however, pointed out a dis- 
 crepanc}' between the first statements of the Messieurs 
 d'Hauteserre, in which the} T mentioned that the whole 
 party hunted together, and the defence now made by 
 the Messieurs de Simeuse that their purpose on that 
 day was the valuation of the forest. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 267 
 
 Monsieur de Grandville here called attention to the 
 fact that as the crime was not committed until after 
 two o'clock in the afternoon, the prosecution had no 
 ground to question their word when they stated the 
 manner in which the}' employed their morning. 
 
 The prosecutor replied that the prisoners had an in- 
 terest in concealing their preparations for the abduction 
 of the senator. 
 
 The remarkable ability of the defence was now 
 felt. Judges, jurors, and audience became aware 
 that victory would be hotly contested. Bordin and 
 Monsieur de Grandville had studied their ground and 
 foreseen everything. Innocence is required to render 
 a clear and plausible account of its actions. The duty 
 of the defence is to present a consistent and probable 
 tale in opposition to an insufficient and improbable 
 accusation. To counsel who regard their client as 
 innocent, an accusation is false. The public examina- 
 tion of the four gentlemen sufficiently explained the 
 matter in their favor. So far all was well. But the 
 examination of Michu was more serious ; there the real 
 struggle began. It was now clear to eveiy one why 
 Monsieur de Grandville had preferred to take charge of 
 the servant's defence rather than that of his masters. 
 
 Michu admitted his threats against Marion ; but de- 
 nied that he had made them violently. As for the am- 
 
 */ 
 
 bush in which he was supposed to have watched for his 
 
268 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 enemy, he said he was merely making his rounds in the 
 park ; the senator and Monsieur Grevin might perhaps 
 have been alarmed at the sight of his gun and have 
 thought his intentions hostile when they were really 
 inoffensive. He called attention to the fact that in the 
 dusk a man who was not in the habit of hunting might 
 easily fancy a gun was pointed at him, whereas, in 
 point of fact, it was held in his hand at half-cock. To 
 explain the condition of his clothes when arrested, he 
 said he had slipped and fallen in the breach on his way 
 home. " I could scarcely see my way," he said, " and 
 the loose stones slipped from under me as I climbed 
 the bank." As for the plaster which Gothard was 
 bringing him, he replied as he had done in all previous 
 examinations, that he wanted it to secure one of the 
 stone posts of the covered wa} r . 
 
 The public prosecutor and the president asked him 
 to explain how he could have been at the top of the 
 covered way engaged in mending a stone post and at 
 the same time in the breach of the moat leading to the 
 chateau ; more especially as the justice of peace, the 
 gendarmes and the forester all declared they had heard 
 him approach them from the lower road. To this 
 Michu replied that Monsieur d'Hauteserre had blamed 
 him for not having mended the post, — which he was 
 anxious to have finished because there were difficulties 
 about that road with the township, — and he had there- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 269 
 
 fore gone up to the chateau to report that the work 
 was done. 
 
 Monsieur d'Hauteserre had, in fact, put up a 
 fence above the covered way to prevent the township 
 from taking possession of it. Michu seeing the im- 
 portant part which the state of his clothes was likely to 
 play, invented this subterfuge. If, in law, truth is 
 often like falsehood, falsehood on the other hand has 
 a very great resemblance to truth. The defence and 
 the prosecution both attached much importance to this 
 testimony, which became one of the leading points of 
 the trial on account of the vigor of the defence and 
 the suspicions of the prosecution. 
 
 Gothard, instructed no doubt by Monsieur de Grand • 
 ville, for up to that time he had only wept when they 
 questioned him, admitted that Michu had told him to 
 carry the plaster. 
 
 " Why did neither you nor Gothard take the justice 
 of peace and the forester to the stone post and show 
 them your work?" said the public prosecutor, address- 
 ing Michu. 
 
 " Because," replied the man, " T did n't believe there 
 was any serious accusation against us." 
 
 All the prisoners except Gothard were now removed 
 from the courtroom. When Gothard was left alone 
 the president adjured him to speak the truth for his 
 own sake, pointing out that his pretended idiocy had 
 
270 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 come to an end ; none of the jurors believed him imbe- 
 cile ; if he refused to answer the court he ran the risk 
 of serious penalty ; whereas b} 7 telling the truth at once 
 he would probably be released. Gothard wept, hesi- 
 tated, and finally ended by saying that Michu had told 
 him to carry several sacks of plaster ; but that each 
 time he had met him near the farm. He was asked 
 how many sacks he had carried. 
 
 ' ' Three," he replied. 
 
 An argument hereupon ensued as to whether the three 
 sacks included the one which Gothard was canying at 
 the time of the arrest (which reduced the number of the 
 other sacks to two) or whether there were three without 
 the last. The debate ended in favor of the first pro- 
 position, the jury considering that only two sacks had 
 been used. They appeared to have a foregone convic- 
 tion on that point, but Bordin and Monsieur de Grand- 
 ville judged it best to surfeit them with plaster, and 
 weary them so thoroughly with the argument that they 
 would no longer comprehend the question. Monsieur 
 de Grandville made it appear that experts ought to 
 have been sent to examine the stone posts. 
 
 " The director of the jury," he said, " has contented 
 himself with merely visiting the place, less for the pur- 
 pose of making a careful examination than to trap 
 Michu in a lie; this, in our opinion, was a failure of 
 dut}', but the blunder is to our advantage." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 271 
 
 On this the Court appointed experts to examine the 
 posts and see if one of them had been really mended 
 and reset. The public prosecutor, on his side, endeav- 
 ored to make capital of the affair before the experts 
 could testify. 
 
 You " seem to have chosen," he said to Michu, who 
 was now brought back in the courtroom, " an hour 
 when the daylight was waning, from half-past five to 
 half-past six o'clock, to mend this post and to cement 
 it all alone." 
 
 " Monsieur d'Hauteserre had blamed me for not 
 doing it," replied Michu. 
 
 " But," said the prosecutor, " if 3'ou used that plas- 
 ter on the post you must have had a trough and a 
 trowel. Now, if you went to the chateau to tell Mon- 
 sieur d'Hauteserre that vou had done the work, how 
 do you explain the fact that Gothard was bringing 
 you more plaster. You must have passed 3'our farm 
 on your wa} T to the chateau, and 3011 would naturally 
 have left 3'our tools at home and stopped Gothard." 
 
 This overwhelming argument produced a painful 
 silence in the courtroom. 
 
 " Come," said the prosecutor, " you had better admit 
 at once that what 3'ou buried was not a stone post." 
 
 "Do 3'ou think it was the senator?" said Michu, 
 sarcastically. 
 
 Monsieur de Grandville hereupon demanded that the 
 
272 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 public prosecutor should explain his meaning. Michu 
 was accused of abduction and the concealment of a 
 person, but not of murder. Such an insinuation was a 
 serious matter. The code of Brumaire, }'ear IV., forbade 
 the public prosecutor from presenting any fresh count 
 at the trial ; he must keep within the indictment or 
 the proceedings would be annulled. 
 
 The public prosecutor replied that Michu, the person 
 chiefly concerned in the abduction and who, in the in- 
 terests of his masters, had taken the responsibility on 
 his own shoulders, might have thought it necessary to 
 plaster up the entrance of the hiding-place, still undis- 
 covered, where the senator was now immured. 
 
 Pressed with questions, hampered by the presence of 
 Goth arc! , and brought into contradiction with himself, 
 Michu struck his fist upon the edge of the dock with a 
 resounding blow and said : " I have had nothing what- 
 ever to do with the abduction of the senator. I hope 
 and believe his enemies have merely imprisoned him ; 
 when he reappears you '11 find out that the plaster was 
 put to no such use." 
 
 "Good!" said de Grand ville, addressing the public 
 prosecutor ; " you have done more for my client's cause 
 than anything I could have said." 
 
 The first day's session ended with this bold declara- 
 tion, which surprised the judges and gave an advantage 
 to the defence. The lawj-ers of the town and Bordin 
 
An Historical Mystery. 273 
 
 • 
 
 himself congratulated the young advocate. The prose- 
 cutor, uneasy at the assertion, feared that he had fallen 
 into some trap ; in fact he was really caught in a snare 
 that was cleverly set for him by the defence and admir- 
 ably played off by Gothard. The wits of the town 
 declared that he had white-washed the affair and 
 splashed his own cause, and had made the accused as 
 white as the plaster itself. France is the domain of 
 satire, which reigns supreme in our land ; Frenchmen 
 jest on a scaffold, at the Beresina, at the barricades, and 
 some will doubtless appear with a quirk upon their lips 
 at the grand assizes of the Last Judgment. 
 
 18 
 
274 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 XYIII. 
 
 TRIAL CONTINUED: CRUEL VICISSITUDES. 
 
 On the morrow the witnesses for the prosecution were 
 examined, — Madame Marion, Madame Grevin, Grevin 
 himself, the senator's valet, and Violette, whose testi- 
 mony can readily be imagined from the facts already 
 told. They all identified the five prisoners, with more 
 or less hesitation as to the four gentlemen, but with 
 absolute certainty as to Michu. Beauvisage repeated 
 Robert d'Hauteserre's speech when he met them at day- 
 break in the park. The peasant who had bought Mon- 
 sieur d'Hauteserre's calf testified to overhearing that of 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-C}'gne. The experts, who had 
 compared the hoof-prints with the shoes on the horses 
 ridden by the five prisoners and found them absolutely 
 alike, confirmed their previous depositions. This point 
 was naturally one of vehement contention between 
 Monsieur de Grandville and the prosecuting officer. 
 The defence called the blacksmith at Cinq-Cygne and 
 succeeded in proving that he had sold several horse- 
 shoes of the same pattern to strangers who were not 
 known in the place. The blacksmith declared, more- 
 over, that he was in the habit of shoeing in this par- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 275 
 
 ticular manner not only the horses of the chateau de 
 Cinq-Cygne but those from other places in the canton. 
 It was also proved that the horse which Michu habitu- 
 ally rode was always shod at Troj'es, and the mark of 
 that shoe was not among the hoof-prints found in the 
 park. 
 
 " Michu's double was not aware of this circumstance, 
 of he would have provided for it," said Monsieur de 
 Grand ville, looking at the jur}-. " Neither has the 
 prosecution shown what horses our clients rode." 
 
 He ridiculed the testimony of Violette so far as it 
 concerned a recognition of the horses, seen from a long 
 distance, from behind, and after dusk. Still, in spite 
 of all his efforts, the body of the evidence was against 
 Michu ; and the prosecutor, judge, jury, and audience 
 were impressed with a feeling (as the lawj'ers for the 
 defence had foreseen) that the guilt of the servant car- 
 ried with it that of the masters. So the vital interest 
 centred on all that concerned Michu. His bearing was 
 noble. He showed in his answers the sagacity with 
 which nature had endowed him ; and the public, seeing 
 him on his mettle, recognized his superiority. And 
 yet, strange to say, the more the} r understood him the 
 more certainty they felt that he was the instigator of 
 the outrage. 
 
 The witnesses for the defence, always less important 
 in the eyes of a jury and of the law than the witnesses 
 
276 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 for the prosecution, seemed to testif}^ as in duty bound, 
 and were listened to with that allowance. In the first 
 place neither Marthe, nor Monsieur and Madame 
 d'Hauteserre took the oath. Catherine and the Durieus, 
 in their capacity as servants, did not take it. Mon-. 
 sieur d'Hauteserre stated that he had ordered Michu to 
 replace and mend the stone post which had been thrown 
 lown. The deposition of the experts sent to examine 
 the fence, which was now read, confirmed his testimon} r ; 
 but the} T helped the prosecution by declaring tXiey could 
 not fix the exact time at which the repairs had been 
 made ; it might have been several weeks or no more 
 than twent} r days. 
 
 The appearance of Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne 
 excited the liveliest curiosity : but the sight of her 
 cousins in the prisoners' dock after three weeks' separa- 
 tion affected her so much that her emotions gave the 
 audience an impression of guilt. She felt an over- 
 whelming desire to stand beside the twins, and was 
 obliged, as she afterwards admitted, to use all her 
 strength to repress the longing that came into her mind 
 to kill the prosecutor so as to stand in the eyes of the 
 world as a criminal beside them. She testified, with 
 simplicity, that riding from Cinq-Cygne and seeing 
 smoke in the park of Gondreville, she had supposed 
 there was a fire ; at first she thought they were burning 
 weeds or brush ; "but later," she added, "I observed 
 
An Historical Mystery, 211 
 
 a circumstance which I offer to the attention of the 
 Court. I found in the frogging of my habit and in the 
 folds of my collar small fragments of what appeared to 
 be burned paper which were floating in the air." 
 
 " Was there much smoke? " asked Bordin. 
 
 "Yes," replied Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, "I 
 feared a conflagration." 
 
 " This is enough to change the whole inquiry," re- 
 marked Bordin. " I request the Court to order an im- 
 mediate examination of that region of the park where 
 the fire occurred." 
 
 The president ordered the inquiry. 
 
 Grevin, recalled by the defence and questioned on 
 this circumstance, declared he knew nothing about it. 
 But Bordin and he exchanged looks which mutually 
 enlightened them. 
 
 "The gist of the case is there," thought the old 
 lawj'er. 
 
 " Tr^'ve laid their finger on it," thought the notaiy. 
 
 But each shrewd head considered the following up of 
 this point useless. Bordin reflected that Grevin would 
 be silent as the grave ; and Grevin congratulated him- 
 self that every sign of the fire had been effaced. 
 
 To settle this point, which seemed a mere accessory 
 to the trial and somewhat puerile (but which is really 
 essential in the justification which histoiy owes to these 
 young men), the experts and Pigoult, who were des- 
 
278 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 patched by the president to examine the park, reported 
 that they could find no traces of a bonfire. 
 
 Bordin summoned two laborers, who testified to hav- 
 ing dug over, under the direction of the forester, a tract 
 of ground in the park where the grass had been burned ; 
 but they declared they had not observed the nature of 
 the ashes they had buried. 
 
 The forester, recalled by the defence, said he had 
 received from the senator himself, as he was passing the 
 chateau of Gondreville on his way to the masquerade at 
 Arcis, an order to dig over that particular piece of 
 ground which the senator had remarked as needing it. 
 
 " Had papers, or herbage been burned there?" 
 
 "I could not say. I saw nothing that made me 
 think that papers had been burned there," replied the 
 forester. 
 
 " At any rate," said Bordin, " if, as it appears, a fire 
 was kindled on that piece of ground some one brought 
 to the spot whatever was burned there." 
 
 The testimony of the abbe and that of Mademoiselle 
 Goujet made a favorable impression. They said that 
 as they left the church after vespers and were walking 
 towards home, thej T met the four gentlemen and Michu 
 leaving the chateau on horseback and making their way 
 to the forest. The character, position, and known 
 uprightness of the Abbe Goujet gave weight to his 
 words. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 279 
 
 The summing up of the public prosecutor, who felt 
 sure of obtaining a verdict, was of the nature of all 
 such speeches. The prisoners were the incorrigible 
 enemies of France, her institutions and laws. They 
 thirsted for tumult and conspirac} 7 . Though the} T had 
 belonged to the arnry of Conde and had shared in the 
 late attempts against the life of the Emperor, that mag- 
 nanimous sovereign had erased their names from the 
 list of emigres. This was the return they made for his 
 clemency ! In short, all the oratorical declamations 
 of the Bourbons against the Bonapartists, which in our 
 day are repeated against the republicans and the legiti- 
 mists by the Younger Branch, flourished in the speech. 
 These trite commonplaces, which might have some 
 meaning under a fixed government, seem farcical in 
 the mouth of administrators of all epochs and opinions. 
 A saying of the troublous times of }'ore is still appli- 
 cable : " The label is changed, but the wine is the same 
 as ever." The public prosecutor, one of the most dis- 
 tinguished legal men under the Empire, attributed the 
 crime to a fixed determination on the part of returned 
 Emigres to protest against the sale of their estates. He 
 made the audience shudder at the probable condition 
 of the senator ; then he massed together proofs, half- 
 proofs, and probabilities with a cleverness stimulated by 
 a sense that his zeal was certain of its reward, and sat 
 down tranquilly to await the fire of his opponents. 
 
280 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Monsieur de Grandville never argued but this one 
 criminal case ; and it made his reputation. In the first 
 place, he spoke with the same glowing eloquence which 
 to-day we admire in Berryer. He was profoundly con- 
 vinced of the innocence of his clients, and that in itself 
 is a most powerful auxiliaiy of speech. The following 
 are the chief points of his defence, which was reported 
 in full by all the leading newspapers of the period. In 
 the first place he exhibited the character and life of 
 Michu in its true light. He made it a noble tale, ring- 
 ing with loft} 7 sentiments, and it awakened the sympa- 
 thies of many. When Michu heard himself vindicated 
 by that eloquent voice, tears sprang from his yellow 
 eyes and rolled down his terrible face. He appeared 
 then for what he really was, — a man as simple and as 
 wily as a child ; a being whose whole existence had but 
 one thought, one aim. He was suddenly explained to 
 the minds of all present, more especially by his tears, 
 which produced a great effect upon the jury. His able 
 defender seized that moment of strong interest to enter 
 upon a discussion of the charges : — 
 
 " Where is the body of the person abducted? Where 
 is the senator? " he asked. " You accuse us of walling 
 him up with stones and plaster. If so, we alone know 
 where he is ; you have kept us twentj'-three days in 
 prison, and the senator must be dead by this time for 
 w r ant of food. We are therefore murderers, but you 
 
An Historical Mystery. 281 
 
 have not accused us of murder. On the other hand, if 
 he still lives, we must have accomplices. If we have 
 them, and if the senator is living, we should assuredly 
 have set him at liberty. The scheme in relation to 
 Gondreville which you attribute to us is a failure, and 
 only aggravates our position uselessly. We might 
 perhaps obtain a pardon for an abortive attempt by 
 releasing our victim ; instead of that we persist in de- 
 taining a man from whom we can obtain no benefit 
 whatever. It is absurd ! Take away 3-our plaster ; 
 the effect is a failure," he said, addressing the public 
 prosecutor. "We are either idiotic criminals (which 
 3'ou do not believe) or the innocent victims of circum- 
 stances as inexplicable to us as they are to you. You 
 ought rather to search for the mass of papers which 
 were burned at Gondreville, which will reveal motives 
 stronger far than yours or ours and put } T ou on the 
 track of the causes of this abduction." 
 
 The speaker discussed these hypotheses with marvel- 
 lous ability. He dwelt on the moral character of the 
 witnesses for the defence, whose religious faith was a 
 living one, who believed in a future life and in eternal 
 punishment. He rose to grandeur in this part of his 
 speech and moved his hearers deepl}' : — 
 
 " Remember ! " he said ; " these criminals were tran- 
 quilly dining when told of the abduction of the senator. 
 When the officer of gendarmes intimated to them the 
 
282 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 best means of ending the whole affair by giving up the 
 senator, they refused, for the}' did not understand what 
 was asked of them ! " 
 
 Then, reverting to the mystery of the matter, he de- 
 clared that its solution was in the hands of time, which 
 would eventually reveal the injustice of the charge. 
 Once on this ground, he boldly and ingeniously supposed 
 himself a juror ; related his deliberations with his col- 
 leagues ; imagined his distress lest, having condemned 
 the innocent, the error should be known too late, and 
 drew such a picture of his remorse, dwelling on the 
 grave doubts which the case presented, that he brought 
 the jury to a condition of intense anxiety. 
 
 Juries were not in those davs so blase to this sort of 
 
 90 
 
 allocution as they are now ; Monsieur de Grandville's 
 appeal had the power of things new, and the jurors 
 were evidently shaken. After this passionate outburst 
 they had to listen to the wily and specious prosecutor, 
 who went over the whole case, brought out the darkest 
 points against the prisoners and made the rest inex- 
 plicable. His aim was to reach the minds and the 
 reasoning faculties of his hearers just as Monsieur de 
 Grandville had aimed at the heart and the imagination. 
 The latter, however, had seriousty entangled the con- 
 victions of the juiy, and the public prosecutor found 
 his well-laid arguments ineffectual. This was so plain 
 that the counsel for the Messieurs d'Hauteserre and 
 
An Historical Mystery. 283 
 
 Gotharcl appealed to the judgment of the jury, asking 
 that the case against their clients be abandoned. The 
 prosecutor demanded a postponement till the next day 
 in order that he might prepare an answer. Bordin, 
 who saw acquittal in the eyes of the jury if the}' delib- 
 erated on the case at once, opposed the delay of even 
 one night by arguments of legal right and justice to his 
 innocent clients ; but in vain, — the court allowed it. 
 
 " The interests of societ}- are as great as those of 
 the accused," said the president. " The court would 
 be lacking in equity if it denied a like request when 
 made by the defence ; it ought therefore to grant that 
 of the prosecution." 
 
 4 ' All is luck or ill-luck ! " said Bordin to his clients 
 when the session was over. "Almost acquitted to- 
 night you may be condemned to-morrow." 
 
 " In either case," said the elder de Simeuse, " we 
 can only admire your skill." 
 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne's eyes were full of tears. 
 After the doubts and fears of the counsel for the de- 
 fence, she had not expected this success. Those 
 around her congratulated her and predicted the acquit- 
 tal of her cousins. But alas ! the matter was destined 
 to end in a startling and almost theatrical event, the 
 most unexpected and disastrous circumstance which 
 ever changed the face of a criminal trial. 
 
 At five in the morning of the day after Monsieur de 
 
284 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 Grandville's speech, the senator was found on the high 
 road to Troyes, delivered from captivity during his 
 sleep, unaware of the trial that was going on or of the 
 excitement attaching to his name in Europe, and simply 
 happy in being once more able to breathe the fresh air. 
 The man who was the pivot of the drama was quite as 
 amazed at what was now told to him as the persons 
 who met him making his way to TWyes were astounded 
 at his reappearance. A farmer lent him a carriage and 
 he soon reached the house of the prefect at Troj'es. 
 The prefect notified the director of the jury, the com- 
 missary of the government, and the public prosecutor, 
 who, after a statement made to them by Malin, arrested 
 Marthe, while she was still in bed at the Durieus' house 
 in the suburbs. Mademoiselle de Cinq-C3'gne, who was 
 only at liberty under bail, was also snatched from one 
 of the few hours of slumber she had been able to obtain 
 at rare intervals in the course of her ceaseless anxiety, 
 and taken to the prefecture to undergo an examination. 
 An order to keep the accused from holding any com- 
 munication with each other or with their counsel was 
 sent to the prison. At ten o'clock the crowd which 
 assembled around the courtroom were informed that 
 the trial was postponed until one o'clock in the after- 
 noon of the same day. 
 
 This change of hour, following on the news of the 
 senator's deliverance, Marthe's arrest, and that of 
 
An Historical Mystery. 285 
 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-C3'gne, together with the denial 
 of the right to communicate with the prisoners carried 
 terror to the hotel de Chargebceuf. The whole town 
 and the spectators who had come to Troj'es to be pres- 
 ent at the trial, the short-hand writers for the daily 
 journals, even the populace were in a ferment which can 
 readily be imagined. The Abbe Goujet came at ten 
 o'clock to see Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre and 
 the counsel for the defence, who were breakfasting — 
 as well as they could under the circumstances. The 
 abbe took Bordin and Monsieur Grandville apart, told 
 them what Marthe had confided to him the day before, 
 and gave them the fragment of the letter she had 
 received. The two lawyers exchanged a look, after 
 which Bordin said to the abbe*: " Not a word of all 
 this ! The case is lost ; but at any rate let us show a 
 firm front." 
 
 Marthe was not strong enough to evade the cross- 
 questioning of the director of the jury and the public 
 prosecutor. Moreover the proof against her was too 
 overwhelming. Lechesneau had sent for the under 
 crust of the last loaf of bread she had carried to the 
 cavern, also for the empty bottles and various other 
 articles. During the senator's long hours of captivit}' 
 he had formed conjectures in his own mind and had 
 looked for indications which might put him on the track 
 of his enemies. These he now communicated to the 
 
286 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 authorities. Michu's farmhouse, lately built, had, he 
 supposed, a new oven ; the tiles or bricks on which the 
 bread was baked would show their jointed lines on the 
 bottom of the loaves, and thus afford a proof that 
 the bread supplied to him was baked in that particular 
 oven. So with the wine brought in bottles sealed with 
 green wax, which would probably be found identical 
 with other bottles in Michu's cellar. These shrewd 
 observations, which Malin imparted to the justice of 
 peace, who made the first examination (taking Marthe 
 with him), led to the results foreseen hy the senator. 
 
 Marthe, deceived b} T the apparent friendliness of 
 Lechesneau and the public prosecutor, who assured her 
 that complete confession could alone save her husband's 
 life, admitted that the cavern where the senator had 
 been hidden was known only to her husband and the 
 Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre, and that she 
 herself had taken provisions to the senator on three 
 separate occasions at midnight. 
 
 Laurence, questioned about the cavern, was forced 
 to acknowledge that Michu had discovered it and had 
 shown it to her at the time when the four young men 
 evaded the police and were hidden in it. 
 
 As soon as these preliminary examinations were 
 ended, the jury, lawyers, and audience were notified that 
 the trial would be resumed. At three o'clock the presi- 
 dent opened the session by announcing that the case 
 
An Historical Mystery, 287 
 
 would be continued under a new aspect. He exhibited 
 to Michu three bottles of wine and asked him if he 
 recognized them as bottles from his own cellar, showing 
 him at the same time the identity between the green 
 wax on two empty bottles with the green wax on a full 
 bottle taken from his cellar that morning by the justice 
 of peace in presence of his wife. Michu refused to 
 recognize anything as his own. But these proofs for 
 the prosecution were understood by the jurors, to whom 
 the president explained that the empty bottles were 
 found in the place where the senator was imprisoned. 
 
 Each prisoner was questioned as to the cavern or cel- 
 lar beneath the ruins of the old monastery. It was 
 proved by all witnesses for the prosecution, and also for 
 the defence, that the existence of this hiding-place dis- 
 covered b}' Michu was known only to him and his wife, 
 and to Laurence and the four gentlemen. We may 
 judge of the effect in the courtroom when the public 
 prosecutor made known the fact that this cavern, known 
 only to the accused and to their two witnesses, was the 
 place where the senator had been imprisoned. 
 
 Marthe was summoned. Her appearance caused 
 much excitement among the spectators and keen anxiety 
 to the prisoners. Monsieur de Grandville rose to pro- 
 test against the testimony of a wife against her husband. 
 The public prosecutor replied that Marthe by her own 
 confession was an accomplice in the outrage ; that she 
 
288 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 had neither sworn nor testified, and was to be heard 
 solely in the interests of truth. 
 
 "We need o\\\y submit her preliminary examination 
 to the jury," remarked the president, who now ordered 
 the clerk of the court to read the said testimony aloud. 
 
 "Do }'ou now confirm your own statement?" said 
 the president, addressing Marine. 
 
 Michu looked at his wife, and Marthe, who saw her 
 fatal error, fainted awa} r and fell to the floor. It may 
 be truly said that a thunderbolt had fallen upon the 
 prisoners and their counsel. 
 
 " I never wrote to my wife from prison, and I know 
 none of the persons employed there," said Michu. 
 
 Bordin passed to him the fragments of the letter 
 Marthe had received. Michu gave but one glance at it. 
 " My writing has been imitated," he said. 
 
 " Denial is 3 T our last resource," said the public 
 prosecutor. 
 
 The senator was introduced into the courtroom with all 
 the ceremonies due to his position. His entrance was 
 like a stage scene. Malin (now called Comte de Gon- 
 dreville, without regard to the feelings of the late owners 
 of the property) was requested by the president to look 
 at the prisoners, and did so with great attention and for 
 a long time. He stated that the clothing of his abduc- 
 tors was exactly like that worn by the four gentlemen ; 
 but he declared that the trouble of his mind had been 
 
An Historical Mystery. 289 
 
 such that he could not be positive that the accused were 
 really the guilty parties. 
 
 " More than that," he said, " it is my conviction that 
 these four gentlemen had nothing to do with it. The 
 hands that blindfolded me in the forest were coarse 
 and rough. I should rather suppose," he added, look- 
 ing at Michu, " that my old enemy took charge of that 
 dutj r ; but I beg the gentlemen of the jury not to give 
 too much weight to this remark. M}' suspicions are 
 very slight, and I feel no certainty whatever — for this 
 reason. The two men who seized me put me on horse- 
 back behind the man who had blindfolded me, and 
 whose hair was red like Michu 's. However singular 
 3-011 may consider the observation I am about to make, 
 it is necessar3 T to make it because it is the ground of an 
 opinion favorable to the accused — who, I hope, will 
 not feel offended by it. Fastened to the man's back I 
 would naturany have been affected by his odor — yet I 
 did not perceive that which is peculiar to Michu. As 
 to the person who brought me provisions on three 
 several occasions, I am certain it was Marthe, the wife 
 of Michu. I recognized her the first time she came bv 
 a ring she alwa}'s wore, which she had forgotten to 
 remove. The Court and juiy will please allow for the 
 contradictions which appear in the facts I have stated, 
 which I myself am wholly unable to reconcile." 
 
 A murmur of approval followed this testimon}\ Bor- 
 
 19 
 
290 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 din asked permission of the Court to address a few 
 questions to the witness. 
 
 " Does the senator think that his abduction was due 
 to other causes than the interests respecting property 
 which the prosecution attributes to the prisoners ? " 
 
 4 ' I do " replied the senator, ' ' but I am wholly igno- 
 rant of what the real motives were ; for during a cap- 
 tivity of twenty days I saw and heard no one." 
 
 44 Do you think," said the public prosecutor, 44 that 
 your chateau at Gondreville contains information, title- 
 deeds, or other papers of value which would induce a 
 search on the part of the Messieurs de Simeuse ? " 
 
 44 I do not think so," replied Malm ; " I believe those 
 gentlemen to be incapable of attempting to get posses- 
 sion of such papers by violence. The}' had only to ask 
 me for them to obtain them." 
 
 44 You burned certain papers in the park, did you 
 not?" said Monsieur de Grandville, abruptly. 
 
 Malin looked at Grevin. After exchanging a rapid 
 glance with the notary, which Bordin intercepted, he 
 replied that he had not burned any papers. The public 
 prosecutor having asked him to describe the ambush 
 to which he had so nearly fallen a victim two years 
 earlier, the senator replied that he had seen Michu 
 watching him from the fork of a tree. This answer, 
 which agreed with Grevin's testimony, produced a great 
 impression. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 291 
 
 The four gentlemen remained impassible during the 
 examination of their enemy, who seemed determined to 
 overwhelm them with generosit}'. Laurence suffered 
 horrible agony. From time to time the Marquis de 
 Chargeboeuf held her b} T the arm, fearing she might dart 
 forward to the rescue. The Comte de Goudreville retired 
 from the courtroom and as he did so he bowed to the 
 four gentlemen, who did not return the salutation. 
 This trifling matter made the jury indignant. 
 
 " They are lost now," whispered Bordin to the Mar- 
 quis de Chargeboeuf. 
 
 "Alas, yes! and alwa}*s through the nobility of 
 their sentiments," replied the marquis. 
 
 " My task is now only too eas} r , gentlemen," said the 
 prosecutor, rising to address the jury. 
 
 He explained the use of the cement b} T the necessity 
 of securing an iron frame on which to fasten a padlock 
 which held the iron bar with which the gate of the 
 cavern was closed ; a description of which was given in 
 the proces-verbal made that morning by Pigoult. He 
 put the falsehoods of the accused into the strongest 
 light, and pulverized the arguments of the defence with 
 the new evidence so miraculously obtained. In 1806 
 France was still too near the Supreme Being of 1793 to 
 talk about divine justice ; he therefore spared the jury 
 all reference to the intervention of heaven ; but he said 
 that earthly justice would be on the watch for the 
 
292 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 mysterious accomplices who had set the senator at 
 liberty, and he sat down, confidently awaiting the 
 verdict. 
 
 The jury believed there was a mystery, but the} r were 
 all persuaded that it came from the prisoners, who were 
 probably concealing some matter of a private interest of 
 great importance to them. 
 
 Monsieur de Grandville, to whom a plot or machina- 
 tion of some kind was quite evident, rose ; but he 
 seemed discouraged, — less, however, b}^ the new evi- 
 dence than by the manifest opinion of the jury. He 
 surpassed, if anything, his speech of the previous even- 
 ing ; his argument was more compact and logical ; but 
 he felt his fervor repelled by the coldness of the juiy ; 
 he spoke ineffectually, and he knew it, — a chilling situa- 
 tion for an advocate. He called attention to the fact 
 that the release of the senator, as if b}- magic and clearly 
 without the aid of any of the accused or of Marthe, 
 corroborated his previous argument. Yesterdaj- the 
 prisoners could most assuredly rely on acquittal, and 
 if they had, as the prosecution claimed, the power to 
 hold or to release the senator, the}' certainly would 
 not have released him until after their acquittal. He 
 endeavored to bring before the minds of the Court 
 and jury the fact that mysterious enemies, undiscovered 
 as }'et, could alone have struck the accused this final 
 blow. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 293 
 
 Strange to sa}', the only minds Monsieur de Grand- 
 ville reached with this argument were those of the 
 public prosecutor and the judges. The jury listened per- 
 functorily ; the audience, usually so favorable to prison- 
 ers, were convinced of their guilt. In a court of 
 justice the sentiments of the crowd do unquestionably 
 weigh upon the judges and the jury, and vice versa. 
 Seeing this condition of the minds about him, which 
 could be felt if not defined, the counsel uttered his last 
 words in a tone of passionate excitement caused by his 
 conviction • — 
 
 " In the name of the accused," he cried, " I forgive 
 you for the fatal error }'ou are about to commit, 
 and which nothing can repair ! We are the victims 
 of some m}'sterious and machiavelian power. Marthe 
 Michu was inveigled by vile perfidy. You will dis- 
 cover this too late, when the evil you now do will be 
 irreparable." 
 
 Bordin simply claimed the acquittal of the prisoners 
 on the testimony of the senator himself. 
 
 The president summed up the case with all the more 
 impartiality because it was evident that the minds of 
 the jurors were already made up. He even turned the 
 scales in favor of the prisoners by dwelling on the sena- 
 tor's evidence. This clemency, however, did not in the 
 least endanger the success of the prosecution. At 
 eleven o'clock that night, after the jury had replied 
 
294 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 through their foreman to the usual questions, the Court 
 condemned Michu to death, the Messieurs de Simeuse 
 to twenty-four 3'ears' and the Messieurs d'Hauteserre 
 to ten years, penal servitude at hard labor. Gothard 
 was acquitted. 
 
 The whole audience was eager to observe the bearing 
 of the five guilty men in this supreme moment of their 
 lives. The four gentlemen looked at Laurence, who 
 returned them, with dry ej'es, the ardent look of the 
 martyrs. 
 
 " She would have wept had we been acquitted," said 
 the younger de Simeuse to his brother. 
 
 Never did convicted men meet an unjust fate with 
 serener brows or countenances more worthy of their 
 manhood than these five victims of a cruel plot. 
 
 "Our counsel has forgiven 3*ou," said the eldest de 
 Simeuse to the Court. 
 
 Madame d'Hauteserre fell ill, and was three months 
 in her bed at the hotel de Chargebceuf. Monsieur 
 d'Hauteserre returned patiently to Cinq-C3~gne, in- 
 wardly gnawed by one of those sorrows of old age 
 w r hich have none of }*outh's distractions ; often he was 
 so absent-minded that the abbe, who watched him, 
 knew the poor father was living over again the scene 
 of the fatal verdict. Marthe passed away from all 
 blame ; she died three weeks after the condemnation 
 
,n; it 
 'ter a 
 
 An Historical Mystery. 295 
 
 of her husband, confiding her son to Laurence, in whose 
 arms she died. 
 
 The trial once over, political events of the utmost 
 importance effaced even the memory of it, and nothing 
 further was discovered. Societ}- is like the ocean ; it 
 returns to its level and its specious calmness afte 
 disaster, effacing all traces of it in the tide of its 
 eager interests. 
 
 Without her natural firmness of mind and her knowl- 
 edge of her cousins' innocence, Laurence would have 
 succumbed ; but she gave fresh proof of the grandeur 
 of her character ; she astonished Monsieur de Grand- 
 ville and Bordin by the apparent serenitj* which these 
 terrible misfortunes called forth in her noble soul. She 
 nursed Madame d'Hauteserre and went dail} r to the 
 prison, saying openly that she would marry one of her 
 cousins when they were taken to the gallejs. 
 
 "To the galleys!" cried Bordin, "Mademoiselle! 
 our first endeavor must be to wring their pardon from 
 the Emperor." 
 
 " Their pardon ! — from a Bonaparte ? " cried Lau- 
 rence in horror. 
 
 The spectacles of the old lawyer jumped from his 
 nose ; he caught them as they fell and looked at the 
 young girl who was now indeed a woman ; he under- 
 stood her character at last in all its bearings ; then he 
 took the arm of the Marquis de Ch'argeboeuf, saving : — 
 
296 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Monsieur le Marquis, let us go to Paris instantly and 
 save them without her ! " 
 
 The appeal of the Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Haute- 
 serre and that of Michu was the first case to be brought 
 before the new court. Its decision was fortunately de- 
 layed by the ceremonies attending its installation. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 297 
 
 XIX. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S BIVOUAC. 
 
 Towards the end of September, after three sessions 
 of the Court of Appeals in which the lawyers for the 
 defence pleaded, and the attornej'-general Merlin him- 
 self spoke for the prosecution, the appeal was rejected. 
 The Imperial Court of Paris was by this time insti- 
 tuted. Monsieur de Grand ville was appointed assistant 
 attorney-general, and the department of the Aube com- 
 ing under the jurisdiction of this court, it became 
 possible for him to take certain steps in favor of the 
 convicted prisoners, among them that of importuning 
 Cambaceres, his protector. Bordin and Monsieur de 
 Chargebceuf came to his house in the Marais the day 
 after the appeal was rejected, where they found him 
 in the midst of his honeymoon, for he had married 
 in the interval. In spite of all these changes in his 
 condition, Monsieur de Chargebceuf saw very plainly 
 that the young lawyer was faithful to his late clients. 
 Certain law} r ers, the artists of their profession, treat 
 their causes like mistresses. This is rare, however, 
 and must not be depended on. 
 
 As soon as they were alone in his study, Monsieur 
 de Grandville said to the marquis: "I have not 
 
298 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 waited for your visit ; I have already emplo}*ed all ray 
 influence. Don't attempt to save Michu ; if you do, 
 )ou cannot obtain the pardon of the Messieurs de 
 Simeuse. The law will insist on one victim." 
 
 "Good God ! " cried Bordin, showing the young 
 magistrate the three petitions for mercy; " how can I 
 take upon myself to withdraw the application for that 
 man. If I suppress that paper I cut off his head." 
 
 He held out the petition ; de Grandville took it, 
 looked it over, and said : — 
 
 " We can't suppress it ; but be sure of one thing, if 
 you ask all you will obtain nothing." 
 
 " Have we time to consult Michu? " asked Bordin. 
 
 "Yes. The order for execution comes from the 
 office of the attorney-general ; I will see that you. have 
 some days. We kill men," he said, with some bitterness, 
 '* but at least we do it formally, especially in Paris." 
 
 Monsieur de Chargebceuf had already received from 
 the chief justice certain information which added weight 
 to these sad words of Monsieur de Grandville. 
 
 " Michu is innocent, I know," continued the 3'oung 
 law3 T er, ' ' but what can we do against so many ? Re- 
 member, too, that my present influence depends on my 
 keeping silent. I must order the scaffold to be pre- 
 pared, or my late client is certain to be beheaded." 
 
 Monsieur de Chargebceuf knew Laurence well enough 
 to be certain she would never consent to save her 
 
An Historical Mystery. 299 
 
 cousins at the expense of Michu ; he therefore resolved 
 on making one more effort. He asked an audience of 
 the minister of foreign affairs to learn if salvation could 
 be looked for through the influence of the great diplo- 
 mat. He took Bordin with him, for the latter knew the 
 minister and had done him some service. The two old 
 men found Talleyrand sitting with his feet stretched out, 
 absorbed in contemplation of his fire, his head resting 
 on his hand, his elbow on the table, a newspaper lying 
 at his feet. The minister had just read the decision of 
 the Court of Appeals. 
 
 " Pra} r sit down, Monsieur le marquis," said Talle\*- 
 rand, " and yon, Bordin," he added, pointing to a place 
 at the table, " write as follows : — 
 
 Sire, — Four innocent gentlemen, declared guilty by a 
 jury have just had their condemnation confirmed by your 
 Court of Appeals. 
 
 Your Imperial Majesty can now only pardon them. These 
 gentlemen ask this pardon of your august clemency, in the 
 hope that they may enter your army and meet their death in 
 battle before your eyes ; and thus praying, they are, of your 
 Imperial and Royal Majesty, with reverence, etc. 
 
 " None but princes can do such prompt and graceful 
 kindness," said the Marquis de Chargebceuf, taking the 
 precious draft of the petition from the hands of Bordin 
 that he might have it signed by the four gentlemen ; 
 resolving in his own mind that he would also obtain the 
 signatures of several august names. 
 
300 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 " The life of }'Our young relatives, Monsieur le mar- 
 quis," said the minister, " now depends on the turn of 
 a battle. Endeavor to reach the Emperor on the morn- 
 ing after a victory and they are saved." 
 
 He took a pen and himself wrote a private and con- 
 fidential letter to the Emperor, and another of ten lines 
 to Marechal Duroc. Then he rang the bell, asked his 
 secretary for a diplomatic passport, and said tranquilly 
 to the old lawyer, * ' What is your honest opinion of 
 that trial?" 
 
 " Do you know, monseigneur, who was at the bottom 
 of this cruel wrong? " 
 
 ' ' I presume I do ; but I have reasons to wish for 
 certainty," replied Talleyrand. "Return to Troves; 
 bring me the Comtesse de Cinq-Cj'gne, here, to-morrow 
 at the same hour, but secretly ; ask to be ushered into 
 Madame de Talleyrand's salon ; I will tell her you are 
 coming. If Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cj'gne, who shall bo 
 placed where she can see a man who will be standing 
 before me, recognizes that man as an individual who 
 came to her house during the conspiracy of de Polignac 
 and Riviere, tell her to remember that, no matter what I 
 say or what he answers me, she must not utter a word 
 nor make a gesture. One thing more, think only of 
 saving the de Simeuse brothers ; don't embarrass your- 
 self with that scoundrel of a bailiff — " 
 
 " A sublime man, monseigneur ! " exclaimed Bordin. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 301 
 
 " Enthusiasm ! in you, Bordin ! The man must be 
 remarkable. Our sovereign has an immense self-love, 
 Monsieur le marquis," he said, changing the conversa- 
 tion. " He is about to dismiss me that he may commit 
 follies without warning. The Emperor is a great 
 soldier who can change the laws of time and distance, 
 but he cannot change men ; yet he persists in trying 
 to run them in his own mould ! Now, remember this ; 
 the young men's pardon can be obtained by one person 
 only — Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne." 
 
 The marquis went alone to Tro}*es and told the whole 
 matter to Laurence. She obtained permission from the 
 authorities to see Michu, and the marquis accompanied 
 her to the gates of the prison, where he waited for her. 
 When she came out her face was bathed in tears. 
 
 " Poor man ! " she said ; "he tried to kneel to me, 
 praying that I would not think of him, and forgetting 
 the shackles that were on his feet! Ah, marquis, I 
 will plead his cause. Yes, I '11 kiss the boot of their 
 Emperor. If I fail — well, the memory of that man 
 shall live eternall}' honored in our family. Present his 
 petition for mercy so as to gain time ; meantime I am 
 resolved to have his portrait. Come, let us go." 
 
 The next day, when Talleyrand was informed by a 
 sign agreed upon that Laurence was at her post, he 
 rang the bell; his orderly came to him, and received 
 orders to admit Monsieur Corentin. 
 
302 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 1 ' My friend, you are a ver}~ clever fellow," said 
 Talleyrand, " and I wish to employ you." 
 
 " Monseigneur — " 
 
 "Listen. In serving Fouche } r ou will get mone} r , 
 but never honor nor any position }*ou can acknowledge. 
 But in serving me, as you have lately done at Berlin, 
 you can win credit and repute." 
 
 " Monseigneur is very good." 
 
 " You displa} T ed genius in that late affair at Gondre- 
 ville." 
 
 "To what does Monseigneur allude?" said Cor- 
 entin, with a manner that was neither too reserved nor 
 too surprised. 
 
 " Ah, Monsieur ! " observed the minister, dryly, "you 
 will never make a successful man ; you fear — " 
 
 " What, monseigneur?" 
 
 " Death ! " replied Talleyrand, in his fine, deep voice. 
 " Adieu, my good friend." 
 
 " That is the man," said the Marquis de Chargeboeuf 
 entering the room after Corentin was dismissed; "but 
 we have nearly killed the countess." 
 
 " He is the only man I know capable of pla}*ing such 
 a trick," replied the minister. " Monsieur le marquis, 
 you are in danger of not succeeding in }our mission. 
 Start ostensibly for Strasburg ; I '11 send 3-011 double 
 passports in blank to be filled out. Provide yourself 
 with substitutes ; change your route and above all your 
 
An Historical Mystery. 303 
 
 carriage ; let }'our substitutes go on to Strasburg, and 
 do 3'ou reach Prussia through Switzerland and Bavaria. 
 Not a word — prudence ! The police are against you ; 
 and you do not know what the police are — " 
 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne offered the then cele- 
 brated Robert Lefebvre a sufficient sum to induce him 
 to go to Troyes and take Michu's portrait. Monsieur 
 de Grandville promised to afford the painter every pos- 
 sible facility. Monsieur de Chargeboeuf then started in 
 the old berlingot, with Laurence and a servant who 
 spoke German. Not far from Nancy the}' overtook 
 Mademoiselle Goujet and Gothard, who had preceded 
 them in an excellent carriage, which the marquis took, 
 giving them in exchange the berlingot. 
 
 Talleyrand was right. At Strasburg the commissary- 
 general of police refused to countersign the passport of 
 the travellers, and gave them positive orders to return. 
 By that time the marquis and Laurence were leaving 
 France by way of Besancon with the diplomatic pass- 
 port. 
 
 Laurence crossed Switzerland in the first days of 
 October, without paying the slightest attention to that 
 glorious land. She la}' back in the carriage in the torpor 
 which overtakes a criminal on the eve of his execution. 
 To her C3 T es all nature was shrouded in a seething vapor ; 
 even common things assumed fantastic shapes. The 
 one thought, "If I do not succeed they will kill them- 
 
304 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 selves," fell upon her soul with reiterated blows, as the 
 bar of the executioner fell upon the victim's members 
 when tortured on the wheel. She felt herself breaking ; 
 she lost her energy in this terrible waiting for the cruel 
 moment, short and decisive, when she should find her- 
 self face to face with that man on whom the fate of the 
 condemned depended. She chose to yield to her de- 
 pression rather than waste her strength uselessly. The 
 marquis, who was incapable of understanding this 
 resolve of firm minds, which often assumes quite diverse 
 aspects (for in such moments of tension certain superior 
 minds give wa} 7 to surprising gayet} 7 ), began to fear that 
 he might never bring Laurence alive to the momentous 
 interview, solemn to them only, and yet bej'ond the 
 ordinary limits of private life. To Laurence, the neces- 
 sity of humiliating herself before that man, the object 
 of her hatred and contempt, meant the sacrifice of all 
 her noblest feelings. 
 
 " After this," she said, " the Laurence who survives 
 will bear no likeness to her who is now to perish." 
 
 The travellers could not fail to be aware of the vast 
 movement of men and material which surrounded them 
 the moment they entered Prussia. The campaign of 
 Jena had just begun. Laurence and the marquis beheld 
 the magnificent divisions of the French army deploying 
 and parading as if at the Tuileries. In this display of 
 military power, which can be adequately described only 
 
An Historical Mystery. 305 
 
 with the words and images of the Bible, the proportions 
 of the Man whose spirit moved these masses grew 
 gigantic to Laurence's imagination. Soon, the ay of 
 victory resounded in her ears. The Imperial arms had 
 just obtained two signal advantages. The Prince of 
 Prussia had been killed the evening before the da} T on 
 which the travellers arrived at Saalfeld in their en- 
 deavor to overtake Napoleon, who was marching with 
 the rapidity of lightning. 
 
 At last, on the 13th of October (date of ill-omen) 
 Mademoiselle d% Cinq-Cygne was skirting a river in 
 the midst of the Grand Arm}', seeing nought but con- 
 fusion, sent hither and thither from one village to an- 
 other, from division to division, frightened at finding 
 herself alone with one old man tossed about in an ocean 
 of a hundred and fifty thousand armed men facing a 
 hundred and fifty thousand more. Weary of watching 
 the river through the hedges of the mudd}^ road which 
 she was following along a hillside, she asked its name 
 of a passing soldier. 
 
 " That's the Saale," he said, showing her the Prus- 
 sian arm}-, grouped in great masses on the other side of 
 the stream. 
 
 Night came on. Laurence beheld the camp-fires 
 lighted and the glitter of stacked arms. The old mar- 
 quis, w r hose courage was chivalric, drove the horses 
 himself (two strong beasts bought the evening before), 
 
 20 
 
306 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 his servant sitting beside him. He knew very well he 
 should find neither horses nor postilions within the lines 
 of the arm y. Suddenly the bold equipage, an object of 
 great astonishment to the soldiers, was stopped by a 
 gendarme of the military gendarmerie, who galloped up 
 to the carriage, calling out to the marquis : " Who are 
 you ? where are y ou going ? what do } t ou want ? " 
 
 ' ' The Emperor," replied the Marquis de Chargeboeuf ; 
 ' ' I have an important dispatch for the Grand-marechal 
 Duroc." 
 
 " Well, you can't stay here," said tl^e gendarme. 
 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and the marquis were, 
 however, compelled to remain where they were on ac- 
 count of the darkness. 
 
 "Where are we?" she asked, stopping two officers 
 whom she saw passing, whose uniforms were concealed 
 by cloth overcoats. 
 
 '* You are among the advanced guard of the French 
 armv," answered one of the officers. " You cannot 
 stay here, for if the enemy makes a movement and the 
 artillery opens 3'ou will be between two fires." 
 
 ' ' Ah ! " she said, with an indifferent air. 
 
 Hearing that il Ahf" the other officer turned and 
 said : " How did that woman come here? " 
 
 " We are waiting," said Laurence, " for a gendarme 
 who has gone to find General Duroc, a protector who 
 'will enable us to speak to the Emperor." 
 
An Historical Mystery. 307 
 
 " Speak to the Emperor ! " exclaimed the first officer ; 
 " how can you think of such a thing — on the eve of a 
 decisive battle ? " 
 
 " True," she said ; u I ought to speak to him on the 
 morrow — victory would make him kind." 
 
 The two officers stationed themselves at a little dis- 
 tance and sat motionless on their horses. The carriage 
 was now surrounded by a mass of generals, marshals, 
 and other officers, all extremely brilliant in appearance, 
 who appeared to pay deference to the carriage merely 
 because it was there. 
 
 " Good God ! " said the marquis to Mademoiselle de 
 Cinq-Cygne ; " I am afraid you spoke to the Emperor." 
 
 " The Emperor?" said a colonel, beside them, " why 
 there he is ! " pointing to the officer who had said, 
 " How did that woman get here?" He was mounted 
 on a white horse, richly caparisoned, and wore the cele- 
 brated gray top-coat over his green uniform. He was 
 scanning with a field-glass the Prussian arm}' massed 
 be}*ond the Saale. Laurence understood then why the 
 carriage remained there, and why the Emperor's escort 
 respected it. She was seized with a convulsive tremor 
 — the hour had come ! She heard the heav}' sound of 
 the tramp of men and the clang of their arms as they 
 arrived at a quick step on the plateau. The batteries 
 had a language, the caissons thundered, the brass 
 glittered. 
 
308 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Marechal Lannes will take position with his whole 
 corps in the advance ; Marechal Lefebvre and the 
 Guard will occupy this hill," said the other officer, who 
 was Major-general Berthier. 
 
 The Emperor dismounted. At his first motion Rous- 
 tan, his famous mameluk, hastened to hold his horse. 
 Laurence was stupefied with amazement ; she had never 
 dreamed of such simplicity. 
 
 "I shall pass the night on the plateau," said the 
 Emperor. 
 
 Just then the Grand-marechal Duroc, whom the 
 gendarme had finally found, came up to the Marquis de 
 Chargeboeuf and asked the reason of his coming. The 
 marquis replied that a letter from the Prince de Talley- 
 rand, of which he was bearer, would explain to the 
 marshal how urgent it was that Mademoiselle de Cinq- 
 Cygne and himself should obtain an audience of the 
 Emperor. 
 
 " His Majesty will no doubt dine at his bivouac," 
 said Duroc, taking the letter, "and when I find out 
 what your object is, I will let you know if }*ou can see 
 him. Corporal," he said to the gendarme, " accompany 
 this carriage, and take it close to that hut at the rear." 
 
 Monsieur de Chargeboeuf followed the gendarme and 
 stopped his horses behind a miserable cabin, built of 
 mud and branches, surrounded by a few fruit-trees, and 
 guarded by pickets of infantry and cavalry. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 309 
 
 It may be said that the majest}' of war appeared here 
 in all its grandeur. From this height the lines of the 
 two armies were visible in the moonlight. After an 
 hour's waiting, the time being occupied by the incessant 
 coming and going of the aides-de-camp, Duroc himself 
 came for Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and the marquis, 
 and made them enter the hut, the floor of which was of 
 battened earth like that of a stable. 
 
 Before a table with the remains of dinner, and before 
 a fire made of green wood which smoked, Napoleon 
 was seated in a clumsy chair. His muddy boots gave 
 evidence of a long tramp across countiy. He had 
 taken off the famous top-coat ; and his equally famous 
 green uniform, crossed by the red cordon of the Legion 
 of honor and heightened by the white of his kersey- 
 mere breeches and of his waistcoat, brought out vividly 
 his pale and terrible Caesarian face./ One hand was 
 on a map which lay unfolded on his knees. Berthier 
 stood near him in the brilliant uniform of the vice- 
 constable of the Empire. Constant, the valet, waa 
 offering the Emperor his coffee from a tray. 
 
 " What do you want?" said Napoleon, with a show 
 of roughness, darting his eye like a flash through Lau- 
 rence's head. "You are no longer afraid to speak to 
 me before the battle? What is it about?" 
 
 " Sire," she said, looking at him with as firm an eye, 
 "lam Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne." 
 
310 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 " Well?" he replied, in an angry voice, thinking her 
 look braved him. 
 
 "Do you not understand? I am the Comtesse de 
 Cinq-Cygne, come to ask mercy," she said, falling on 
 her knees and holding out to him the petition drawn up 
 by Talleyrand, endorsed by the Empress, by Cambaceres 
 and by Malin. 
 
 The Emperor raised her graciously, and said with 
 a keen look : i * Have you come to j'our senses ? Do 
 you now understand what the French Empire is and 
 must be? " 
 
 " Ah ! at this moment I understand only the Empe- 
 ror," she said, vanquished by the kindly manner with 
 which the man of destiny had said the words that fore- 
 told to her ears success. 
 
 "Are they innocent? " asked the Emperor. 
 
 " Yes, all of them," she said with enthusiasm. 
 
 "All? No, that bailiff is a dangerous man, who 
 would have killed my senator without taking your 
 advice." 
 
 "Ah, Sire," she said, " if you had a friend devoted 
 to you, would you abandon him? Would you not 
 rather — " 
 
 "You are a woman," he said, interrupting her in a 
 faint tone of ridicule. 
 
 " And you, a man of iron ! " she replied with a pas- 
 sionate sternness which pleased him. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 311 
 
 u Tliar man has been condemned to death by the 
 laws of his country," he continued. 
 
 " But he is innocent ! " 
 
 44 Child!" he said. 
 
 He took Mademoiselle de Cinq-C} T gne by the hand 
 and led her from the hut to the plateau. 
 
 " See," he continued, with that eloquence of his 
 which changed even cowards to brave men, " see those 
 three hundred thousand men — all innocent. And 
 yet to-morrow thirty thousand of them will be lying 
 dead, dead for their country ! Among those Prussians 
 there is, perhaps, some great mathematician, a man of 
 genius, an idealist, who will be mown down. On our 
 side we shall assuredly lose many a great man never 
 known to fame. Perhaps even I shall see my best 
 friend die. Shall I blame God ? No. I shall bear it 
 silently. Learn from this, mademoiselle, that a man 
 must die for the laws of his country just as men die 
 here for her glory." So saying, he led her back into 
 the hut. " Return to France," he said, looking at the 
 marquis ; " my orders shall follow } T ou." 
 
 Laurence believed in a commutation of Michu's pun- 
 ishment, and in her gratitude she knelt again before 
 the Emperor and kissed his hand. 
 
 " You are the Marquis de Chargeboeuf ? " said Napo- 
 leon, addressing the marquis. 
 
 14 Yes, Sire." 
 
312 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 1 ' You have children ? " 
 
 " Many children." 
 
 4 ' Why not give me one of your grandsons ? he shall 
 be my page." 
 
 "Ah!" thought Laurence, "there's the sub-lieu- 
 tenant after all ; he wants to be paid for his mercy." 
 
 The marquis bowed without replying. Happily at 
 this moment General Rapp rushed into the hut. 
 
 " Sire, the cavalry of the Guard, and that of the 
 Grand-due de Berg cannot be up before midday to- 
 
 morrow." 
 
 a 
 
 Never mind," said Napoleon, turning to Berthier, 
 " we, too, get our reprieves; let us profit by them." 
 
 At a sign of his hand the marquis and Laurence re- 
 tired and again entered their carriage ; the corporal 
 showed them their road and accompanied them to a 
 village where they passed the night. The next day 
 they left the field of battle behind them, followed by 
 the thunder of the cannon, — eight hundred pieces, — 
 which pursued them for ten hours. While still on their 
 wa}' they learned of the amazing victor} 7 of Jena. 
 
 Eight days later, they were driving through the fau- 
 bourg of Troyes, where they learned that an order of 
 the chief justice, transmitted through the procureur 
 imperial of Ti'03'es, commanded the release of the four 
 gentlemen on bail during the Emperor's pleasure. But 
 Michu's sentence was confirmed, and the warrant for his 
 
An Historical Mystery, 313 
 
 execution had been forwarded from the ministry of 
 police. These orders had reached Troves that very 
 morning. Laurence went at once to the prison, though 
 it was two in the morning, and obtained permission to 
 stay with Michu, who was about to undergo the melan- 
 choly ceremony called "the toilet." The good abbe, 
 who had asked permission to accompany him to the 
 scaffold, had just given absolution to the man, whose 
 only distress in dying was his uncertainty as to the fate 
 of his 3'oung masters. When Laurence entered his cell 
 he uttered a cry of joy. 
 
 44 I can die now," he said. 
 
 " They are pardoned," she said ; " I do not know on 
 what conditions, but they are pardoned. I did all I 
 could for you, dear friend — against the advice of 
 others. I thought I had saved you ; but the Emperor 
 deceived me with his graciousness." 
 
 44 It was written above," said Michu, " that the 
 watch-dog should be killed on the spot where his old 
 masters died." 
 
 The last hour passed rapidly. Michu, at the moment 
 of parting, asked to kiss her hand, but Laurence held 
 her cheek to the lips of the noble victim that he might 
 sacredly kiss it. Michu refused to mount the cart. 
 
 44 Innocent men should go afoot," he said. 
 
 He would not let the abbe give him his arm ; reso- 
 lutely and with dignity he walked alone to the scaffold. 
 
314 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 As he laid his head on the plank he said to the exe- 
 cutioner, after asking him to turn down the collar of 
 his coat, " My clothes belong to you ; try not to spot 
 them." 
 
 The four gentlemen had scarcely time to even see 
 Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. An orderly of the 
 general commanding the division to which they were 
 assigned, brought them their commissions as sub-lieu- 
 tenants in the same regiment of cavalry, with orders 
 to proceed at once to Bayonne, the base of supplies 
 for its particular army-corps. After a scene of heart- 
 rending farewells, for they all foreboded what the 
 future should bring forth, Mademoiselle de Cinq-C} T gne 
 returned to her desolate home. 
 
 The two brothers were killed together under the eyes 
 of the Emperor at Sommo-Sierra, the one defending 
 the other, both being already in command of their 
 troop. The last words of each were, " Laurence, cy 
 meurs ! " 
 
 The elder d'Hauteserre died a colonel at the attack 
 on the redoubt at Moscow, where his brother took his 
 place. 
 
 Adrien d'Hauteserre, appointed brigadier-general at 
 the battle of Dresden, was dangerously wounded there 
 and was sent to Cinq-Cygne for proper nursing. While 
 endeavoring to save this relic of the four gentlemen 
 
An Historical Mystery. 315 
 
 who for a few brief months had been so happy around 
 her, Laurence, then thirty-two }ears of age, married 
 him. She offered him a withered heart, but he ac- 
 cepted it ; those who truly love doubt nothing or 
 doubt all. 
 
 The Restoration found Laurence without enthusiasm. 
 The Bourbons returned too late for her. Nevertheless, 
 she had no cause for complaint. Her husband, made 
 peer of France with the title of Marquis de Cinq-Cygne, 
 became lieutenant-general in 1816, and was rewarded 
 with the blue ribbon for the eminent services which he 
 then performed. 
 
 Michu's son, of whom Laurence took care as though 
 he were her own child, was admitted to the bar in 1817. 
 After practising two years he was made assistant-judge 
 at the court of AlenQon, and from there he became 
 procureur-du-roi at Arcis in 1827. Laurence, who had 
 also taken charge of Michu's property, made over to 
 the young man on the day of his majority an investment 
 in the public Funds which yielded him an income of 
 twelve thousand francs a year. Later, she arranged a 
 marriage for him with Mademoiselle Girel, an heiress 
 at Troyes. 
 
 The Marquis de Cinq-C}'gne died in 1829, in the arms 
 of his wife, surrounded by his father and mother, and 
 his children who adored him. At the time of his death 
 no one had ever fathomed the mystery of the senator's 
 
316 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 abduction. Louis XVIII. did not neglect to repair, as 
 far as possible, the wrongs done by that affair ; but he 
 was silent as to the causes of the disaster. From that 
 time forth the Marquise de Cinq-Cj'gne believed him 
 to have been an accomplice in the catastrophe. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 317 
 
 XX. 
 
 THE MYSTERY SOLVED. 
 
 The late Marquis de Cinq-C}'gne had used his sav- 
 ings, as well as those of his father and mother, in the 
 purchase of a fine house in the rue du Faubourg-du- 
 Roule, entailing it on heirs male for the support of the 
 title. The sordid economy of the marquis and his 
 parents, which had often troubled Laurence, was then 
 explained. After this purchase the marquise, who lived 
 at Cinq-Cygne and economized on her own account 
 for her children, spent her winters in Paris, — all the 
 more willingly because her daughter Berthe and her son 
 Paul were now of an age when their education required 
 the resources of Paris. 
 
 Madame de Cinq-C3 T gne went but little into societ}\ 
 Her husband could not be ignorant of the regrets which 
 lay in her tender heart ; but he showed her always the 
 most exquisite delicacy, and died having loved no other 
 woman. This noble soul, not fulty understood for a 
 period of time but to which the generous daughter of 
 the Cinq-Cygnes returned in his last 3-ears as true a 
 love as that he gave to her, was completely happy in 
 his married life. Laurence lived for the joys of home. 
 
318 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 No woman in Paris has ever been more cherished by 
 her friends or more respected. To be received in her 
 house is an honor. Gentle, indulgent, intellectual, 
 above all things simple and natural, she pleases choice 
 souls and draws them to her in spite of her saddened 
 aspect; each longs to protect this woman, inwardly so 
 strong, and that sentiment of secret protection counts 
 for much in the wondrous charm of her friendship. 
 Her life, so painful during her 3*011 th, is beautiful and 
 serene towards evening. Her sufferings are known, 
 and no one asks who was the original of that portrait 
 by Lefebvre which is the chief and sacred ornament of 
 her salon. Her face has the maturity of fruits that 
 have ripened slowly ; a hallowed pride dignifies that 
 long-tried brow. 
 
 At the period when the marquise came to Paris tc 
 open the new house, her fortune, increased by the law 
 of indemnities, gave her some two hundred thousand 
 francs a year, not counting her husband's salaiy ; 
 besides this, Laurence had inherited the money guarded 
 by Michu for his young masters. From that time forth 
 she made a practice of spending half her income and of 
 laying by the rest for her daughter Berthe. 
 
 Berthe is the living ima^e of her mother, but without 
 her warrior nerve ; she is her mother in delicac}', in 
 intellect, — "more a woman," Laurence sa3 r s, sadly. 
 The marquise was not willing to marry her daughter 
 
An Historical Mystery. 319 
 
 until she was twenty years of age. Her savings, judi- 
 ciously invested in the Funds by old Monsieur d'Haute- 
 serre at the moment when consols fell in 1830, gave 
 Berthe a dowry of eighty thousand francs a \-ear in 
 1833, when she was twenty. 
 
 About that time the Princesse de Cadignan, who was 
 seeking to marry her son, the Due de Maufrigneuse, 
 brought him into intimate relations with Madame de 
 Cinq-Cygne. Georges de Maufrigneuse dined with the 
 marquise three times a week, accompanied the mother 
 and daughter to the Opera, and curvetted in the Bois 
 around their carriage when they drove out. It was evi- 
 dent to all the world of the Faubourg Saint-Germain 
 that Georges loved Berthe. But no one could discover 
 to a certainty whether Madame de Cinq-Cygne was 
 desirous of making her daughter a duchess, to become 
 a princess later, or whether it was only the princess 
 who coveted for her son the splendid dowry. Did the 
 celebrated Diane court the noble provincial house? and 
 was the daughter of the Cinq-C}-gnes frightened by the 
 celebrity of Madame de Cadignan, her tastes and her 
 ruinous extravagance? In her strong desire not to in- 
 jure her son's prospects the princess grew devout, shut 
 the door on her former life, and spent the summer sea- 
 son at Geneva in a villa on the lake. 
 
 One evening there were present in the salon of the 
 Princesse de Cadignan, the Marquise d'Espard, and de 
 
320 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Marsay, then president of the Council (on this occa- 
 sion the princess saw her former lover for the last time, 
 for he died the following 3'ear), Eugene de Rastignac, 
 under-secretary of State attached to de Marsay's min- 
 istry, two ambassadors, two celebrated orators from the 
 Chamber of Peers, the old dukes of Lenoncourt and 
 de Navarreins, the Comte de Vandenesse and his young 
 wife, and d'Arthez, — who formed a rather singular 
 circle, the composition of which can be thus explained. 
 The princess was anxious to obtain from the prime 
 minister of the crown a permit for the return of the 
 Prince de Cadignan. De Marsa} 7 , who did not choose 
 to take upon himself the responsibilit}* of granting it 
 came to tell the princess the matter had been entrusted 
 to safe hands, and that a certain political manager had 
 promised to bring her the result in the course of that 
 evening. 
 
 Madame and Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne were an- 
 nounced. Laurence, whose principles were unyielding, 
 was not only surprised but shocked to see the most 
 illustrious representatives of Legitimacy talking and 
 laughing in a friendly manner with the prime minister 
 of the man whom she never called anything but Mon- 
 seigneur le Due d'Orleans. De Marsaj', like an expir- 
 ing lamp, shone with a last brilliancy. He laid aside 
 for the moment his political anxieties, and Madame de 
 Cinq-Cygne endured him, as they say the Court of Aus- 
 
An Historical Mystery. 321 
 
 tria endured de Saint- Aulaire ; the man of the world 
 effaced the minister of the citizen-king. But she rose 
 to her feet as though her chair were of red-hot iron 
 when the name was announced of ' ' Monsieur le Comte 
 de Gondreville." 
 
 " Adieu, madame," she said to the princess in a curt 
 tone. 
 
 She left the room with Berthe, measuring her steps to 
 avoid encountering that fatal being. 
 
 "You may have caused the loss of Georges' mar- 
 riage," said the princess to de Marsay, in a low voice. 
 " Why did you not tell me your agent's name?" 
 
 The former clerk of Arcis, former Conventional, 
 former Thermidorien, tribune, Councillor of State, 
 count of the Empire and senator, peer of the Restora- 
 tion, and now peer of the monarch} 7 of July, made a 
 servile bow to the princess. 
 
 " Fear nothing, madame," he said ; "we have ceased 
 to make war on princes. I bring you an assurance of 
 the permit," he added, seating himself beside her. 
 
 Malin was long in the confidence of Louis XVIII., to 
 whom his varied experience was useful. He had greatly 
 aided in overthrowing Decazes, and had given much 
 good advice to the ministry of Villele. Coldly received 
 by Charles X., he had adopted all the rancors of Talley- 
 rand. He was now in high favor under the twelfth gov- 
 ernment he had served since 1789, and which in turn he 
 
 21 
 
322 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 would doubtless betray. For the last fifteen months he 
 had broken the long friendship which had bound him 
 for thirty-six years to our greatest diplomat, the Prince 
 de Talleyrand. It was in the course of this very even- 
 ing that he made answer to some one who asked why 
 the Prince showed such hostility to the Due de Bor- 
 deaux, " The Pretender is too young ! " 
 
 "Singular advice to give young men," remarked 
 Rastignac. 
 
 De Marsay, who grew thoughtful after Madame de 
 Cadignan's reproachful speech, took no notice of these 
 jests. He looked askance at de Gondreville and was 
 evidently biding his time until that now old man, who 
 went to bed early, had taken leave. All present, who 
 had witnessed the abrupt departure of Madame de 
 Cinq-Cygne (whose reasons were well-known to them), 
 imitated de Marsay 's conduct and kept silence. Gon- 
 dreville, who had not recognized the marquise, was 
 ignorant of the cause of the general reticence, but the 
 habit of dealing with public matters had given him a 
 certain tact ; he was moreover a clever man ; he saw 
 that his presence was embarrassing to the company and 
 he took leave. De Marsay, standing with his back to 
 the fire, watched the slow departure of the old man in a 
 manner which revealed the gravity of his thoughts. 
 
 " I did wrong, madame, not to tell you the name of 
 my negotiator," said the prime minister, listening for 
 
An Historical Mystery. 323 
 
 the sound of Malin's wheels as the}' rolled away. " But 
 I will redeem my fault and give 3*011 the means of mak- 
 ing your peace with the Cinq-Cygnes. It is now thirty 
 3 T ears since the affair I am about to speak of took place ; 
 it is as old to the present day as the death of Henri IV. 
 (which between ourselves and in spite of the proverb is 
 still a nrvstery, like so many other historical catas- 
 trophes). I can, however, assure }~ou that even if this 
 affair did not concern Madame de Cinq-Cygne it would 
 be none the less curious and interesting. Moreover, it 
 throws light on a celebrated exploit in our modern an- 
 nals, — I mean that of the Mont Saint-Bernard. Mes- 
 sieurs les Ambassadeurs," he added, bowing to the two 
 diplomats, " will see that in the element of profound 
 intrigue the political men of the present day are far 
 behind the Machiavellis whom the waves of the popular 
 will lifted, in 1793, above the storm, — some of whom 
 have ' found,' as the old song says, ' a haven.' To be 
 anything in France in these days a man must have been 
 tossed in those tempests." 
 
 " It seems to me," said the princess, smiling, " that 
 from that point of view the present state of things under 
 3'our regime leaves nothing to be desired." 
 
 A well-bred laugh went round the room, and even the 
 prime minister himself could not help smiling. The 
 ambassadors seemed impatient for the tale ; de Marsa} r 
 coughed dryly and silence was obtained. 
 
324 An Historical Mystery, 
 
 " On a June night in 1800," began the minister, " about 
 three in the morning, just as dajiight was beginning to 
 pale the brilliancy of the wax candles, two men tired of 
 playing at bouillotte (or who were playing merely to 
 keep others employed) left the salon of the ministry 
 of foreign affairs, then situated in the rue du Bac, and 
 went apart into a boudoir. These two men, of whom 
 one is dead and the other has one foot in the grave, 
 were, each in his own way, equally extraordinary. 
 Both had been priests ; both had abjured religion ; 
 both were married. One had been merely an Oratorian, 
 the other had worn the mitre of a bishop. The first 
 was named Fouche ; I shall not tell jon the name of 
 the second ; ' both were then mere simple citizens — 
 with very little simplicity. When they were seen to 
 leave the salon and enter the boudoir, the rest of the 
 company present showed a certain curiosit} T . A third 
 person followed them, — a man who thought himself far 
 stronger than the other two. His name was Sieyes, 
 and you all know that he too had been a priest before 
 the Revolution. The one who walked icith difficulty 
 was then the minister of foreign affairs ; Fouche was 
 minister of police ; Sieyes had resigned the consulate. 
 
 "A small man, cold and stern in appearance, left 
 his seat and followed the three others, saying aloud in 
 
 1 Talleyrand was still living when de Marsay related these 
 circumstances. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 325 
 
 the hearing of the person from whom I have the infor- 
 mation, ' I mistrust the gambling of priests.' This 
 man was Carnot, minister of war. His remark did not 
 trouble the two consuls who were playing cards in the 
 salon. Cambaceres and Lebrun were then at the mercy 
 of their ministers, men who were infinitely stronger 
 than they. 
 
 " Nearly all these statesmen are dead, and no secrecy 
 is due to them. They belong to historj' ; and the his- 
 tory of that night and its consequences has been terrible. 
 I tell it to you now because I alone know it ; because 
 Louis XVIII. never revealed the truth to that poor 
 Madame de Cinq-Cygne ; and because the present gov- 
 ernment which I serve is wholly indifferent as to 
 whether that truth be known to the world or not. 
 
 " All four of these personages sat down in the boudoir. 
 The lame man undoubtedly closed the door before a 
 word was said ; it is even thought that he ran the bolt. 
 It is only persons of high rank who pa} T attention to 
 such trifles. The three priests had the livid, im- 
 passible faces which } r ou all remember. Carnot alone 
 was ruddy. He was the first to speak. ' What is the 
 point to be discussed?' he asked. 'France,' must 
 have been the answer of the Prince (whom I admire as 
 one of the most extraordinary men of our time). ' The 
 Republic,' undoubtedly said Fouche. 'Power' prob- 
 ably said Sieyes." 
 
326 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 All present looked at each other. With voice, look, 
 and gesture de Marsay had wonderfully represented the 
 three men. 
 
 "The three priests fully understood one another," 
 he continued, resuming his narrative. " Carnot no 
 doubt looked at his colleagues and the ex-consul in a 
 dignified manner. He must, however, have felt bewil- 
 dered in his own mind. 
 
 "'Do you believe in the success of the army?' 
 Sieyes said to him. 
 
 "'We may expect everything from Bonaparte/ re- 
 plied the minister of war ; ' he has crossed the Alps.' 
 
 "'At this moment,' said the minister of foreign 
 affairs, with deliberate slowness, ' he is pla}'ing his last 
 stake.' 
 
 " * Come, let 's speak out,' said Fouche ; ' what shall 
 we do if the First Consul is defeated? Is it possible to 
 collect another army? Must we continue his humble 
 servants ? ' 
 
 "'There is no republic now,' remarked Sie} T es ; 
 * Bonaparte is consul for ten j-ears.' 
 
 " ' He has more power than ever Cromwell had,' said 
 the former bishop, ' and he did not vote for the death 
 of the king.' 
 
 " ' We have a master,' said Fouche ; ' the question 
 is, shall we continue to keep him if he loses the battle 
 or shall we return to a pure republic ? ' 
 
An Historical Mystery. 327 
 
 44 ' France,' replied Carnot, sententiously, ' cannot re- 
 sist except she reverts to the old Conventional energy.' 
 
 44 4 1 agree with Carnot,' said Sieyes ; ' if Bonaparte 
 returns defeated we must put an end to him ; he has let 
 us know him too well during the last seven months.' 
 
 44 'The army is for him/ remarked Carnot, thought- 
 fully. 
 
 44 4 And the people for us ! ' cried Fouche. 
 
 444 You go fast, monsieur,' said the Prince, in that 
 deep bass voice which he still preserves and which now 
 drove Fouche back into himself. 
 
 44 4 Be frank,' said a voice, as a former Conventional 
 rose from a corner of the boudoir and showed himself; 
 ' if Bonaparte returns a victor, we shall adore him ; if 
 vanquished, we '11 bury him ! ' 
 
 44 4 So you were there, Malin, were you? ' said the 
 Prince, without betraying the least feeling. 4 Then 
 you must be one of us ; sit down ; ' and he made him 
 a sign to be seated. 
 
 44 It is to this one circumstance that Malin, a Conven- 
 tional of small repute, owes the position he afterwards 
 obtained and, ultimately, that in which we see him at the 
 present moment. He proved discreet, and the minis- 
 ters were faithful to him ; but the}- made him the pivot 
 of the machine and the cat's-paw of the machination. 
 To return to my tale. 
 
 44 4 Bonaparte has never yet been vanquished,' cried 
 
328 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 Carnot, in a tone of conviction, ' and he has just sur- 
 passed Hannibal.' 
 
 " 'If the worst happens, here is the Director}',' said 
 Sieves, artfully, indicating with a wave of his hand the 
 five persons present. 
 
 " ' And,' added the Prince, ' we are all committed to 
 the maintenance of the French republic ; we three 
 priests have literally unfrocked ourselves ; the general, 
 here, voted for the death of the king ; and you,' he said, 
 turning to Malin, ' have got possession of the property 
 of Emigres' 
 
 " 'Yes, we have all the same interests,' said Sie}'es, 
 dictatorially, ' and our interests are one with those of 
 the nation.' 
 
 " ' A rare thing,' said the Prince, smiling. 
 
 " ' We must act,' interrupted Fouche. ' In all prob- 
 ability the battle is now going on ; the Austrians out- 
 number us ; Genoa has surrendered ; Massena has 
 committed the great mistake of embarking for Antibes ; 
 it is ver} T doubtful if he can rejoin Bonaparte, who will 
 then be reduced to his own resources.' 
 
 " ' Who gave you that news ? ' asked Carnot. 
 
 " ' It is sure,' replied Fouche. ' You will have the 
 courier when the Bourse opens/ 
 
 "Those men didn't mince their words," said de 
 Marsa}', smiling, and stopping short for a moment. 
 Remember,' continued Fouche, ' it is not when the 
 
 U i. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 329 
 
 news of a disaster comes that we can organize clubs, 
 rouse the patriotism of the people, and change the con- 
 stitution. Our 18th Brumaire ought to be prepared 
 beforehand.' 
 
 ' ' ' Let us leave the care of that to the minister of 
 police,' said the Prince, bowing to Fouche, ' and beware 
 ourselves of Lucien.' (Lucien Bonaparte was then 
 minister of the interior.) 
 
 " i I '11 arrest him,' said Fouche. 
 
 " ' Messieurs ! ' cried Sieves, ' our Directory ought 
 not to be subject to anarchical changes. We must 
 organize a government of the few, a Senate for life, 
 and an elective chamber the control of which shall be 
 in our hands ; for we ought to profit by the blunders of 
 the past.' 
 
 414 With such a system, there would be peace for 
 me,' remarked the ex-bishop. 
 
 " ' Find me a sure man to negotiate with Moreau ; 
 for the Army of the Rhine will be our sole resource,' 
 cried Carnot, who had been plunged in meditation. 
 
 " Ah ! " said de Marsay, pausing, " those men were 
 right. They were grand in this crisis. I should have 
 done as they did ; " then he resumed his narrative. 
 
 " ' Messieurs ! ' cried Sieyes, in a grave and solemn 
 tone. 
 
 " That word ' Messieurs ! ' was perfectly understood 
 by all present ; all eyes expressed the same faith, the 
 
330 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 same promise; that of absolute silence, and unswerving 
 loyalty to each other in case the First Consul returned 
 triumphant. 
 
 " ' We all know what we have to do/ added Fouche. 
 
 " Sieves softly unbolted the door; his priestly ear 
 had warned him. Lucien entered the room. 
 
 " 4 Good news ! ' he said. ' A courier has just brought 
 Madame Bonaparte a line from the First Consul. The 
 campaign has opened with a victory at Montebello.' 
 
 The three ministers exchanged looks. 
 
 " * Was it a general engagement ? ' asked Carnot. 
 
 " i No, a fight, in which Lannes has covered himself 
 with glory. The affair was bloody. Attacked with ten 
 thousand men by eighteen thousand, he was only saved 
 by a division sent to his support. Ott is in full retreat. 
 The Austrian line is broken.' 
 
 " ' When did the fight take place? ' asked Carnot. 
 
 " * On the 8th,' replied Lucien. 
 
 " ' And this is the 13th/ said the sagacious minister. 
 4 Well, if that is so, the destinies of France are in the 
 scale at the very moment we are speaking.' " 
 
 (In fact, the battle of Marengo did begin at dawn of 
 the 14th.) 
 
 44 ' Four days of fatal uncertainty ! ' said Lucien. 
 
 44 * Fatal? ' said the minister of foreign affairs, coldly 
 and interrogatively. 
 
 " ' Four days,' echoed Fouche. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 331 
 
 " An e} T e-witness told me," said de Marsaj", continu- 
 ing the narrative in his own person, " that the consuls, 
 Cambaceres and Lebrun, knew nothing of this momen- 
 tous news until after the six personages returned to the 
 salon. It was then four in the morning. Fouche left 
 first. That man of dark and mysterious genius, ex- 
 traordinary, profound, and little understood, but who 
 undoubtedly had the gifts of a Philip the Second, a 
 Tiberius and a Borgia, went at once to work with an 
 infernal and secret activity. His conduct at the time 
 of the affair at Walcheren was that of a consummate 
 soldier, a great politician, a far-seeing administrator. 
 He was the only real minister that Napoleon ever had. 
 And }'Ou all know how he then alarmed him." 
 
 " Fouche, Massena and the Prince," continued de 
 Marsa} r , reflectively, are the three greatest men, the 
 wisest heads in diplomac}', war, and government, that 
 I have ever known. If Napoleon had frankly allied 
 them with his work there would no longer be a Europe, 
 only a vast French Empire. Fouche did not finally 
 detach himself from Napoleon until he saw Sie} T es and 
 the Prince de Talleyrand shoved aside. 
 
 " He now went to work, and in three days (all the 
 while hiding the hand that stirred the ashes of the Mon- 
 tagne) he had organized that general agitation which 
 then arose all over France and revived the republicanism 
 of 1793. As it is necessary that I should explain this 
 
332 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 obscure corner of our history, I must tell }ou that this 
 agitation, starting from Fouche's own hand (which held 
 the wires of the former Montagne), produced republican 
 plots against the life of the First Consul, which was in 
 peril from this cause long after the victory of Marengo. 
 It was Fouche's sense of the evil he had thus brought 
 about which led him to warn Napoleon, who held a 
 contrary opinion, that republicans were more concerned 
 than roj'alists in the various conspiracies. 
 
 " Fouche was an admirable judge of men ; he relied 
 on Sieyes because of his thwarted ambition, on Talley- 
 rand because he was a great seigneur, on Carnot for 
 his perfect honesty ; but the man he dreaded was the 
 one whom you have seen here this evening. I will now 
 tell how he entangled that man in his meshes. 
 
 " Malin was only Malin in those days, — a secret 
 agent and correspondent of Louis XVIII. Fouche now 
 compelled him to reduce to writing all the proclamations 
 of the proposed revolutionary government, its warrants 
 and edicts against the factions of the 18th Brumaire. 
 An accomplice against his own will, Malin was required 
 to have these documents secretly printed, and the copies 
 held ready in his own house for distribution if Bona- 
 parte were defeated. The printer was subsequent^ 
 imprisoned and detained two months ; he died in 
 1816, and alwa} T s believed he had been employed by 
 a Montagnard conspiracy. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 333 
 
 " One of the most singular scenes ever played by 
 Fouche's police was caused by the blunder of an agent, 
 who despatched a courier to a famous banker of that 
 day with the news of a defeat at Marengo. Victory, 
 you will remember, did not declare itself for Napoleon 
 until seven o'clock in the evening of the battle. At 
 midday the banker's agent, considering the day lost and 
 the French armv about to be annihilated, hastened to 
 despatch the courier. On receipt of that news Fouche 
 was about to put in motion a whole army of bill-posters 
 and criers, with a truck full of proclamations, when the 
 second courier arrived with the news of the triumph 
 which put all France beside itself with joy. There were 
 heav}' losses at the Bourse, of course. But the criers 
 and posters who were gathered to announce the politi- 
 cal death of Bonaparte and to post up the new procla- 
 mations were only kept waiting awhile till the news of 
 the victory could be struck off ! 
 
 ' ' Malin, on whom the whole responsibility of the plot 
 of which he had been the working agent was likely to 
 fall if it ever became known, was so terrified that he 
 packed the proclamations and other papers in carts and 
 took them down to Gondreville in the night-time, where 
 no doubt they were hidden in the cellars of that chateau, 
 which he had bought in the name of another man — 
 who was it, by the bye? he had him made chief-justice 
 of an Imperial court — Ah ! Marion. Having thus 
 
334 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 disposed of these damning proofs he returned to Pari* 
 to congratulate the First Consul on his victory. Napo- 
 leon, as you know, rushed from Italy to Paris after the 
 battle of Marengo with alarming celerity. Those who 
 know the secret history of that time are well aware that 
 a message from Lucien brought him back. The minis- 
 ter of the interior had foreseen the attitude of the Mon- 
 tagnard party, and though he had no idea of the quarter 
 from which the wind really blew, he feared a storm. 
 Incapable of suspecting the three ministers and Carnot, 
 he attributed the movement which stirred all France 
 to the hatred his brother had excited by the 18th 
 Brumaire, and to the confident belief of the men of 
 1793 that defeat was certain in Italv. 
 
 " The battle of Marengo detained Napoleon on the 
 plains of Lombardy until the 25th of June, but he 
 reached Paris on the 2d of Jul}\ Imagine the faces 
 of the five conspirators as the} f met the First Consul at 
 the Tuileries, and congratulated him on the victory. 
 Fouche on that ver} 7 occasion at the palace told Malin 
 to have patience, for all ivas not over yet. The truth 
 was, Talleyrand and Fouche both held that Bonaparte 
 was not as much bound to the principles of the Revolu- 
 tion as they were, and as he ought to be ; and for this 
 reason, as well as for their own safety, they subse- 
 quently, in 1804, buckled him irrevocably, as they 
 believed, to its cause by the affair of the Due d'Enghien. 
 
An Historical Mystery. 335 
 
 The execution of that prince is connected by a series of 
 discoverable ramifications with the plot which was laid 
 on that June evening in the boudoir of the ministry of 
 foreign affairs, the night before the battle of Marengo. 
 Those who have the means of judging, and who have 
 known persons who were well-informed, are fully aware 
 that Bonaparte was handled like a child by Talleyrand 
 and Fouche, who were determined to alienate him irrev- 
 ocably from the House of Bourbon, whose agents were 
 even then, at the last moment, endeavoring to negotiate 
 with the First Consul." 
 
 "Talleyrand was pla} T ing whist in the salon of Ma- 
 dame de Luynes," said a personage who had been 
 listening attentively to cle Marsay's narrative. " It 
 was about three o'clock in the morning, when he pulled 
 out his watch, looked at it, stopped the game, and 
 asked his three companions abruptly and without any 
 preface whether the Prince de Conde had any other 
 child than the Due d'Enghien. Such an absurd inquiry 
 from the lips of Talle}*rand caused the utmost surprise. 
 ' Why do you ask us what 3*011 know perfectly well 
 yourself? ' they said to him. - Only to let 3-ou know 
 that the House of Conde comes to an end at this mo- 
 ment.' Now Monsieur de Talle}Tand had been at the 
 hotel de Lirynes the entire evening, and he must have 
 known that Bonaparte was absolutel}* unable to grant 
 the pardon." 
 
\ 
 
 336 An Historical Mystery. 
 
 "But," said Eugene de Rastignac, "I don't see in 
 all this any connection with Madame de Cinq-C3 T gne 
 and her troubles." 
 
 "Ah, you were so young at that time, my dear 
 fellow ; I forgot to explain the conclusion. You all 
 know the affair of the abduction of the Comte de Gon- 
 dreville, then senator of the Empire, for which the 
 Simeuse brothers and the two d'Hauteserres were con- 
 demned to the galle} 7 s, — an affair which did, in fact, 
 lead to their death." 
 
 De Marsay, entreated by several persons present to 
 whom the circumstances were unknown, related the 
 whole trial, stating that the mj^sterious abductors were 
 five sharks of the secret service of the ministry of the 
 police, who were ordered to obtain the proclamations of 
 the would-be Directory which Malin had surreptitiously 
 taken from his house in Paris, and which he had him- 
 self come to Gondreville for the express purpose of 
 destroying, being convinced at last that the Empire was 
 on a sure foundation and could not be overthrown. " I 
 have no doubt," added de Marsay, " that Fouche took 
 the opportunity to have the house searched for the cor- 
 respondence between Malin and Louis XVIII., which 
 was alwa}^s kept up, even during the Terror. But in 
 this cruel affair there was a private element, a passion 
 of revenge in the mind of the leader of the party, a man 
 named Corentin, who is still living, and who is one of 
 
An Historical Mystery. 337 
 
 those subaltern agents whom nothing can replace and 
 who makes himself felt by his amazing ability. It ap- 
 pears that Madame, then Mademoiselle de Cinq-C3*gne, 
 had ill-treated him on a former occasion when he at- 
 tempted to arrest the Simeuse brothers. What hap- 
 pened afterwards in connection with the senator's 
 abduction was the result of his private vengeance. 
 
 " These facts were known of course, to Malin, and 
 through him to Louis XVIII. You may therefore," 
 added de Marsay, turning to the Princesse de Cadignan, 
 " explain the whole matter to the Marquise de Cinq- 
 Cj'gne, and show her why Louis XVIII. thought fit to 
 keep silence." 
 
 i/.-' THE J r 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 THE END. 
 
Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF HONORE DE BALZAC. 
 
 Compiled and written by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, translator 
 of Balzac's works. With portrait of Balzac, taken one hour after 
 death, by Eugene Giraud, and a Sketch of the Prison of the College 
 de Vendome. One volume, i2mo. Half Russia, uniform with our 
 edition of Balzac's works. Price, #1.50. 
 
 A complete life of Balzac can probably never be written. The sole object of 
 the present volume is to present Balzac to American readers. This memoir is 
 meant to be a presentation of the man, — and not of his work, except as it was a 
 part of himself, — derived from authentic sources of information, and presented in 
 their own words, with such simple elucidations as a close intercourse with Balzac's 
 mind, necessitated by conscientious translation, naturally gives. The portrait 
 in this volume was considered by Madame de Balzac the best likeness of her 
 husband. 
 
 Miss Wormeley's discussion of the subject is of value in many ways, and it has 
 long been needed as a help to comprehension of his life and character. Person- 
 ally, he lived up to his theory. His life was in fact austere. Any detailed ac- 
 count of the conditions under which he worked, such as are given in this volume, 
 will show that this must have been the case; and the fact strongly reinforces the 
 doctrine. Miss Wormeley, in arranging her account of his career, has, almost 
 of necessity, made free use of the letters and memoir published by Balzac's sister, 
 Madame Surville. She has also, whenever it would serve the purpose of illus- 
 tration better, quoted from the sketches of him by his contemporaries, wisely 
 rejecting the trivialities and frivolities by the exaggeration of which many of his 
 first chroniclers seemed bent upon giving the great author a kind of opera-bouffe 
 aspect. To judge from some of these accounts, he was flighty, irresponsible, 
 possibly a little mad, prone to lose touch of actualities by the dominance of his 
 imagination, fond of wild and impracticable schemes, and altogether an eccentric 
 and unstable person. But it is not difficult to prove that Balzac was quite a 
 different character ; that he possessed a marvellous power of intellectual organi- 
 zation ; that he was the most methodical and indefatigable of workers ; that he 
 was a man of a most delicate sense of humor ; that his life was not simply de- 
 voted to literary ambition, tut was a martyrdom to obligations which were his 
 misfortune, but not his fault. 
 
 All this Miss Wormley has well set forth ; and in doing so she has certainly 
 relieved Balzac of much unmerited odium, and has enabled those who have not 
 made a study of his character and work to understand how high the place is in 
 any estimate of the helpers of modern progress and enlightenment to which his 
 genius and the loftiness of his aims entitle him. This memoir is a very modest 
 biography, though a very good one. The author has effaced herself as much as 
 possible, and has relied upon "documents" whenever they were trustworthy. — 
 N. V. Tribune. 
 
 Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, postpaid, on receipt of 
 price, by the publishers, 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 
 
BALZAC 
 
 M ENGLISH 
 
 Fame at 
 
 TRANSLATED BY KATRA NE PRESCOTT WORMELEY. 
 
 i2mo. Half Russia. Uniform with our edition of Balzac's 
 Works. Price, $1.50. In addition to this remarkable story, 
 the volume contains the following, namely : " Colonel Chabert," 
 " The Atheist's Mass," " La Grande Breteche," " The Purse," and 
 u La Grenadiere." 
 
 The force and passion of the stories of Balzac are unapproachable. He had 
 
 lie art of putting; into half a dozen pages all the fire and stress which many 
 
 writers, who are still great, cannot compass in a volume. The present volume is 
 
 an admirable collection, and presents well his power of handling the short story. 
 
 That the translation is excellent need hardly be said — Boston Courier. 
 
 The six stories, admirably translated by Miss Wormeley, afford good examples 
 of Balzac's work in what not a few critics have thought his chief specialty. It is 
 certain that no writer of many novels wrote so many short stories as he ; and it is 
 equally as certain that his short stories are, almost without an exception, models 
 of what such compositions ought to be. . . No modern author, however, of any 
 school whatever, has succeeded in producing short stories half so good as Balzac's 
 best. Balzac did not, indeed, attempt to display his subtility and deftness by 
 writing short stories about nothing. Every one of his tales contains an episode, 
 uot necessarily, but usually, a dramatic episode The first in the present collec- 
 tion, better known as "La Maison du Chat-qui-pelote," is really a short novel. 
 It has all the machinery, all the interest, all the detail of a regular story. The 
 difference is that it is compressed as Balzac only could compress ; that here and 
 there important events, changes, etc., are indicated in a few powerful lines instead 
 of being elaborated; that the vital points are thrown into strong relief. Take the 
 pathetic story of " Colonel Chabert " It begins with an elaboration of detail. 
 The description of the lawyer's office might seem to some too minute. But it is 
 the stage upon which the Colonel is to appear, and when he enters we see the 
 value of the preliminaries, for a picture is presented which the memory seizes and 
 holds. As the action progresses, detail is used more parsimoniously, because tho 
 mise-en-scene has alreadv been completed, and because, also, the characters once 
 clearly described, the development of character and the working of passion can 
 be indicated with a few pregnant strokes. Notwithstanding this increasing 
 economy of space, the action takes on a swifter intensity, and the culmination of 
 the tragedy leaves the reader breathless 
 
 In " The Atheist s Mass" we have quite a new kind of story This is rather 
 a psychological study than a narrative of action. Two widely distinguished char- 
 acters are thrown on the canvas here, — that of the great surgeon and that of the 
 humble patron ; and one knows not which most to admire, the vigor of the 
 drawing, or the subtle and lucid psychical analysis. In both there is rare beauty of 
 soul, and perhaps, after all, the poor Auvergnat surpasses the eminent surgeon, 
 though this is a delicate and difficult question. But how complete the little story 
 is; how much it tells ; with what skill, and in how delightful a manner! Then 
 there is that tremendous haunting legend of " La Grande Breteche," a story which 
 has always been turned into more languages and twisted into more new forms than 
 almost any other of its kind extant. What author has equalled the continuing 
 horror of that unfaithful wife's agony, compelled to look on and assist at the slow 
 murder of her entrapped lover? . . Then the death of the husband and wife, — 
 the one by quick and fiercer dissipation, the other by simple refusal to live longer, 
 — and the abandonment of the accursed dwelling to solitude and decay, complete 
 a picture, which for vividness, emotional force, imaginative power, and compre- 
 hensiveness of effects, can be said to have few equals in its own class of fiction. — 
 Kansas City Jour7ial. 
 
 Sold by all booksellers. Mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, by 
 the publishers, 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 
 
ENGLISH. 
 
 .IBERT. 
 
 "As for Balzac," writes Oscar Wilde, " lie was a most remarkable combination 
 of the artistic temperament with the scientific spirit." It is his artistic tempera* 
 ment which reveals itself the most clearly in the novel before us. As we read 
 " Louis Lambert," we fed convinced that it is largely autobiographical. It is a 
 psychical study as delicate as Amiel's Journal, and nearly as spiritual. We follow 
 the life of the sensitive, poetical schoolboy, feeling that it is a true picture of Bal- 
 zac's own youth. When the literary work on whicli the hero had written for years 
 in all his spare moments is destroyed, we do not need to be told by Mr. Parsers 
 that this is an episode in Balzac's own experience ; we are sure of this fact ahead 
 and no writer could describe so sympathetically the deep spiritual experiences of 
 an aspiring soul who had not at heart felt them keenly. No materialist could have 
 written " Louis Lambert." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 Of all of Balzac's works thus far translated by Miss Katharine Prescott Wormeley. 
 the last in the series, " Louis Lambert," is the most difficult of comprehension. 
 It is the second of the author's Philosophical Studies. "The Magic Skin" being 
 the first, and " Seraphita," shortly to be published, being the third and last. In 
 "Louis Lambert" Balzac has presented a study of a noble soul — a spirit of 
 exalted and lofty aspirations which chafes under the fetters of earthly existence, 
 and has no sympathy with the world of materialism. This pure-souled genius is 
 made the medium, moreover, for the enunciation of the outlines of a system of 
 philosophy which goes to the very roots of Oriental occultism and mysticism as its 
 source, and which thus reveals the marvellous scope of Balzac's learning. The 
 scholarly introduction to the book by George Frederic Parsons, in addition to 
 throwing a great deal of valuable light upon other phases of the work, shows hovv 
 many of the most recent scientific theories are directly in line with the doctrines 
 broadly set forth by Balzac nearly sixty years ago. The book is one to be studied 
 rather than read ; and it is made intelligible by the extremely able introduction 
 and by Miss Wormeley's excellent translation. — The Book-Buyer 
 
 " Louis Lambert," with the two other members of the Trilogy, " La Peau de 
 Chagrin" and "Seraphita," is a book which presents many difficulties to the 
 student. It deals with profound and unfamiliar subjects, and the meaning of the 
 author by no means lies on the surface. It is the study of a great, aspiring soul 
 enshrined in a feeble body, the sword wearing out the scabbard, the spirit soaring 
 away from its prison-house of flesh to its more congenial home. It is in marked 
 contrast to the study of the destructive and debasing process which we see in the 
 " Peau de Chagrin." It stands midway between this study of the mean and base 
 and that noble presentation of the final evolution of a soul on the very borders of 
 Divinity which Balzac gives us in " Seraphita." 
 
 The reader not accustomed to such high ponderings needs a guide to place him 
 en rapport with the Seer. Such a guide and friend he finds in Mr. Parsons, 
 whose introduction of one hundred and fifty pages is by no means the least valu- 
 able part of this vol nine. It is impossible to do more than sketch the analysis of 
 Balzac's philosophy and the demonstration so successfully attempted by Mr. Par- 
 sons of ihe exact correlation between many of Balzac's speculations and the 
 newest scientific theories. The introduction is so closely written that it defies 
 much condensation, it is so intrinsically valuable that it will thoroughly repay 
 careful and minute study. — From " Light,'''' a London Journal of Psychical and 
 Occult Research, March 9,18^0. 
 
   
 
 One handsome \2tn0 volume, uniform with " Pere Goriot," " The 
 Duchesse de Langeais,'" " Cesar Birofteazt," " Eugenie Grandet, u 
 " Cousin Pons," " The Country Doctor." " The Two^ Brothers," " The 
 Alkahest." " Modeste Mi?non," u The Magic Skin? "Cousin Bette." 
 Bound in half morocco, French Style. Price, £1.50. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, 
 
 Boston- 
 
BALZAC IS ENGLISH 
 
 COUSIN BETTE. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 KATHARINE PRESCOTT WORMELEY. 
 
 He [Balzac] does not make Vice the leading principle of life. The most terrible 
 punishment invariably awaits transgressors. . . Psychologically considered, 
 ; ' Cousin Bette " with the " Peau de Chagrin " and "The Alkahest" are the most 
 powerful of all Balzac's studies. The marvellous acquaintance this romance-writer 
 had with all phases and conditions of French men and women has never been 
 more strongly accentuated. For a French romance presenting difficulties in 
 translation, Aliss Wormeley's work is excellent. Its faithfulness is even remark- 
 able. We can hardly conceive that after this series is completed Balzac will 
 remain unknown or unappreciated by American readers. — New York Times. 
 
 Balzac aspired to paint French life, especially Parisian life, in all its aspects, — 
 " the great modern monster with its every face," to use his own words ; and in no 
 one of his novels is his insight keener, his coloring bolder, or his disclosures of the 
 corruptions of city life more painfully realistic, than in " Cousin Bette." . . . Not 
 one of the admirably rendered series shows more breadth, skill, and sympathy 
 with every characteristic of the great French author than does this. And it is 
 quite a marvel of translation. — The American, Philadelphia. 
 
 'T is true the book is not for babes, but he must have strange views of innocence 
 who would ignore the influence for good inherent in such a work. Ignorance con- 
 stitutes but a sorry shield against the onslaughts of temptation. It is well if wis- 
 dom can be so cheaply got as by the perusal of the book. — American Hebre'v. 
 
 It is an awful picture, but it is emphatically a work of genius. ... It cannot 
 be said that "Cousin Bette" is a book for those who like only optimistic presen- 
 tations of life. It is a study in morbid pathology ; an inquiry into the working of 
 passions and vices, the mischief actually caused by what in all human societies is 
 too patent and too constantly in evidence to be denied or ignored. . . He [Bal- 
 zac] must be judged by the scientific standard, and from that point of view there 
 can be no hesitation in declaring " Cousin Bette " a most powerful work. — New 
 York Tribune. 
 
 And there is much in the characters that is improper and fortunately counter to 
 our civilization ; still the tone concerning these very things is a healthy one, and 
 Balzac's belief in purity and goodness, his faith in the better part of humanity, is 
 shown in the beautiful purity of Madame Hulot, and the lovely chastity of Hor~ 
 tense. In "Cousin Bette," as in all Balzac's works, he manifests a familiarity 
 with the ethics of life which has gained for him the exalted position as the greatest 
 of French novelists. — St. Paul Dispatch. 
 
 One handsome \imo volume, uniform with " Pere Goriot" " The 
 Duchesse de Langeais," " Cesar Birotteau," " Eugenie Grandet" 
 " Cousin Pons;' " The Country Doctor? " The Two Brothers," " The 
 Alkahest? " The Magic Skin," and " Modeste Mignon." Bound in half 
 morocco, French Style. Price, $1.50. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, 
 
 Boston. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 REC'D LD 
 
 JON 1 1 '65 -12 m 
 
 
 
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 15*607 2ftcfl 
 
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 (F2336sl0)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
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