Alfred de Rosann by G.W.M. Reynolds — page 47: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

34 Alfred de Rosann. the most trivial circumstance, when employed in hunting out a male- factor, are not less notorious. And such in habiliments, in princi- ples, and in dispositions, were the Gendarmes who escorted the chain of convicts that were now delighted to seek the protection of an almost roofless barn against the violence of the storm. Let us take advantage of the moment to say one word relative to Belle-Rose. This hardy galerien or forcat was a man of about thirty-five years of age. His life had been a continual scene of debauchery and licen- tiousness, save when the prisons of Brest or Toulon furnished him with quarters which the law carefully provided for so turbulent a subject. He had inherited some fortune on attaining his majority 5 but an ill-assorted marriage, vicious examples, bad associates, and a natural predilection for gaming, soon compelled him to descend to any means to obtain the necessary supplies for supporting his extra- vagances. The first time that he expiated a portion of his crimes at Brest, was for bigamy. He had inveigled a rich widow into the matrimonial noose, and was visited the next morning by his other wife, who doubtless called to congratulate him on his felicitous hymeneal speculation. An unweleome eclaircissement took place; a trial ensued—and the galleys received Monsieur Pierre Belle- Rose. But chains and lofty walls could neither curb his restless disposition, nor abridge, for any length of time, his personal free- dom. At the expiration of three or four months he had enfranchised himself from the limite of his dungeon in company with another con- vict named Theodore, and was once more a free man in the open fields. Full of lively hope, and emboldened by success, he pushed bravely on towards Paris, having bidden adieu to the partner of his Bight at a short distance from Brest. The inconvenience of tra- velling in France without a passeport en régle,* added to the dread of encountering the Gendarmes, who might demand his papers, and arrest him when they found he had none, obliged him, notwith- standing his unwearied perseverance, to waste upwards of ten days in his journey from Brest to the metropolis. During this tedious march he was fain to make divers turnings, and to follow many cir- cuitous routes which the traveller without fear would have avoided ; and he was not unfrequently obliged to conceal himself for hours together in woods and dense thickets, whenever he arrived in the vieinity of a town, or in the neighbourhood of barracks. Atlength the stupendous domes and towers of Paris greeted his anxious eyes —and he felt his spirits rise, and his heart leap within him, as he entered the vast city by the Faubourg du Roule, about an hour after sunset, in the month of October. That day year he was again arrested, and was compelled to renew his acquaintance with the Procureur du Roi. It appeared that he had contrived to hire a mag. nificent house, ready furnished in a most costly manner, of an old French baron who was desired by the physicians to retire for the sum- mer months to his chateau in the country. A short time after the wor- thy peer’s back was turned upon Paris, Belle-Rose sold the furniture, the plate, the linen—in fine, the whole moveable contents of the * A passport that has gone through the necessary formalitics to make it available. COnicbooolks (GO)