Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 10 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

-— Caer A ee EE. Sa — — — ‘ = ~- — ee - = all r See SS =a" 2 if id } oz ointed ont tome across road leading to the high route this city, which I immediately took, trembling at tng | moment, lest 1 should meet any of the soldiers of | the English army, then lying in the villages between About ten in the morning, on reach- ing a small hamlet, I inquired if there were soldiers near, evincing much fear, which was real however, lest they should examine me, which would have led toa detection. The person whom I asked was a sacristan, full of chatter and inquisitiveness, who compelled me Nantes and Brest, to enter the curate’s house near at hand, to take some | refreshments. The curate, an elderly man, whose face betrayed that benevolence so rare among the ecclesiastics who come into towns to blazon forth their pretensions and con- their immorality, received me very kindly. ‘* My dear sister,’’ said he, ‘ I was about to celebrate mass; as soon as that is over, you shall breakfast with us.’ I was then compelled to go to church, and it was no embarrassment for me make the signs and genuflections prescribed to a nun, Fortunately, the curate’s old female servant was at my side, and I got through very well by imitating her in every particular. Mass concluded, we sat down to table, and interroga tories commenced, I told the good people that I was going to Rennes to perform pennance, The curate asked nothing more; but the sacristan, pressing me rather importunately to know why I was thus punished, I told him, Foca hy was for curiosity!" This closed the little man’s mout My situation was, however, one of difficulty. 1 was afraid to eat, lest I should betray too manly an appetite; and again, I more frequently said, **M. Je cure,” then “‘my dear brother:” so that my blunders would have betrayed all, had I not terminated the breakfast. I found means, however, to learn the names of the pe a of the district, and, strengthened by the blessings of the curate, who promised not to for- get me in his prayers, I went on my way somewhat more accustomed to my new attire. I met few people on my way, the wars of the revolu- tion had depopulated the wretched country, and I tra- versed the villages while the inhabitants were all in bed, Arriving one night at a hamlet, composed of a few houses, I knocked at the door of a farm-house, An old woman came to open it to me, and conducted me to @ {good sized parlor. The family consisted of father, mother, a young lad, and two girls, from fifteen to seventeen years of age. When I went in, they were eo seme a kind of cake of buckwheat flour, and were all around thefrying-pan. I expressed my desire for some refreshment. Out of respect to my sacred office, they ave me the first cakes, which I devoured without even eeling that they were so burning hot as to scorch my te. I have often since sat down at sumptuous bles, where I have had abundance of most exquisite wines, and meats of the most delicate and delicious flavor, but I can never forget the cakes of the peasant of Lower Brittany. On the termination of sup we had prayers, and then the father and mother lighted their pipes, Suf- tering greatly from agitation and fatigue, I ex pressed a wish to retire. ‘* We have no bed to give you,” said the master of the house, who having been a sailor, spoke \very good French; “ you shall sleep with my two girls.”’ [ observed to him, that going on a vow I must sleep on straw, adding that I should be contented with a corner in the stable, ‘* Oh!” replied he: ‘‘ sleeping with Jeanne aud Madelon you will not break your vow, for the bed is only made of straw. Besides you cannot be in the stable, for that is alr occupied by a tinker and two soldiers who asked my leave to pass the night there.” I could say greet more; and but too glad to escape the soldiery, Ir ed the boudoir of the young ladies, It was a loft filled with cider apples, cheese, and smoked n; in one corner a dozen fowls were roosting, and lower down were hutched eight rabbits. The furniture consisted of a dilapidated ee hes worm-eaten joint- stool, and the fragment of a pm lass; the like all in that country, was only a ches aped like a coffin, half filled with straw, and scarcely three feet wide. Here was a fresh embarrassment for me; the two oung girls undressed very deliberately before me, who many and good reasons for seeming very shy. In- dependently of cireumstances that may be guessed, I under my female attire a man’s shirt, which would betray my sex and my incognito. Not to be detected, I took out a few pins very slowly, and when I saw the two sisters had got into bed I overturned, as if by acci- dent, the iron lamp which lighted us, and then took off my feminine habits without fear. On getting between the sail-cloth sheets, Ilaid down so as to avoid all un- lucky detection, I was motionless, with my eyes Pp like a hare in its form, when long before daylight I heard a knocking with the butt-end of a musket against the door. My first idea, like every man in similar circumstances, was that they had traced me, and were coming to appre- hend me; but I did not know where to conceal myself. The blows were redoubled: and I then bethought me of the soldiers sleeping in the stable, which dissipated my fears. ‘ Who is there?’’ said the master of the house, leaping up. “Your soldiers.”” “Well, what do you want?” “Fire to light our pipes before we set, off,” Our host then arose, and blowing Wp he fire left in the ashes, he opened the door to the soldiers, One of these, looking at watch by the lamp light, said “It is half- past four o’clock. me, let us go; the rations are in good order. Come, to the march, my lads." y went away, and our host, putting out the lamp, went to bed again, Asfor me, not wishing to dress myself in presence of my bedfellows any more than undress my- self, I immediately rose, and lighting the lamp, put on my woolen gown, and then going down on my knees in a corner, Pr ed to pray until the family should awake. I did not remain long in waiting. At five o’clock in the morning the mother cried from her bed, “ Jeanne, get Fave get some sou for the sis- e ter, who wishes pe early.” Jeanne got up, and the butter-milk soup having been made eaten with the good persons who had to kindly welcomed me good appetite, 11 Gaving walked all day without ging, I found my- seif at the close of the day in a e near the en- virons of Vannes, when I remembered I had been de- ceived by false or mistaken directions. I slept at this 4 “Tend ot coat days wal our, en ys’ W and I ingui'ed for th» Ile !eydeau, I ha. learnt fro "7 he robbers met with- vul f .r of disturbance. that by aw k.i-wn name I should be admitte’ with. ut culty: wat I nly remembered the address ve y vaguely, and ell- | livered this sum to a scarcely knew how an! where to find out he place, I ad. pte. an expedi nt which ucceeded. I went into many houses and asked o. M, Grenier; a) the fourth were I sought .or this name, the h st ss, leaving two ), ersons with whom she was conversing, took me into a small room, and said to me, ‘‘ Have you seen Gr. nier? Is he st ll sic. (in pri.on)?”’ “ No,” an wered I, “he is well (free); a d \erceiving that Iwasal ri th. mother of robbers, I told her unhesitatingly wh I was, and how 1 was situated. Without replying she took my arm, «ud opening a door let into the panel made meé enter a low room where eight men and women were playing at cards and drinking brandy, etc, ‘Here,’ said my guide, presenting me to the goodly party, muc . astonished at the appearance of a nun, “here is a sister come to convert you all.”’ At the same ine | tore off my handkerchief, and three of the party whom I had met at. ihe Bagne, recognized me; they were Berry, Bidaut Mauger, and t eyou & Goupy, Whom I had met at Q.imper; the others were fugitives from the rouch amused at m made us all very 1 y, one of the females put on my nun’s habits, and her gestures and attitudes contrasted 80 strangely with his costume, that we all laughed till we cried, u.tilthe moment when we went to bed. On w , I found on my bed new clothes, linen, and io fact SVE TUNG DOORRSATT for my toilet Whence did they come? but was of no consequence, The little money which I had not expended st the hospital of Quimper, where I paid dearly for everything, had been used on bef journey; and without clothes, re- sources, or acquaintances, | was compelled to wait until lcould write to my mother; and in the meantime ac- cepted all that was offered tome. But one circum- stance of a particular nature oe my stay at the lle .eydeau, At theend of a week, my companions se ing me perfectly recovered from my fatigues, told me one evening that they intended on th next ay to break into a house on the Place Graslin, and relied on my going with them; I was even to have the post of honor, that of working inside with Mauger. But I did not feiand ta do t is, and thought how I could make use of the circum tance to get away and go to aris, where, near my family, my resources would not fail me; but it neve: entered in os | calculations to enroll inyself in a band of thieves; for although I associated with robbers, and lived by my wits, I felt an invincible repugnance to entering on a career of crimes, of which early experience had taught me the perils and risks, A refusal would, on the other hand, render me suspected by my new companions, who, in this retreat, secure from sight or hearing, could knock me on the head with impunity, and send me to kee company with the salmon and smelts of the Loire; an I had only one cours» to take, which was to set out as quickly as possible, and this Iresolved on doing. Having exchanged my new clothes for a country- man’s frock and eighteen francs to boot, I left Nantes, carrying at the end of astick a basket of pr. visions, which gave me at once the appearance of an inhabi- tant of the environs, CHAPTER X. On quitting Nantes, I waiked for a day and two nights without stopping at any village, and my provisions were exhausted; still d went on hap-hazard, although decided on reaching Paris or the sea-shore, hoping to get to sea in some ship, when I reached the first habitations of a town which appeared to have been lately the scene of a combat, The greater part of the houses were nothing but a heap of rubbish, blackened by fire, and all that surrounded the lace had been entirely destroyed, Nothing was standing ut the church tower, whence the clock was. striking the hour for inhabitants who no longer existed, This scene of desolation presented at the same time the most whimsi- occurrences. On the only piece of wall which re- mained belonging to an auberge, were still the words “Good entertainment for man and horse;’’—there the soldiers were watering their horses in the holy-water ves- sels;—-farther on, their companions were dancing to the tune of an organ with the countrywomen, who, ruined and wretched, had prostituted themselves to the Blues (repub- licans) for bread. By the traces of this war of cxtermina- tion, we might have thought ourselves in the midst of the wilds of America, or the oases of the desert, where. bar- barous tribes were cutting each other’s throats with blind fury, Yet there had only been on both sides, Frenchmen; but every species of fanaticism made rendezvous there, I was in La Vendée, at Cholet. The master of a wretched cabaret, thatched with broom where I halted, gave me my cue, by asking me if I had come to Cholet for the next day’s market. I answered in the affirmative, much astonished that one should be held in the midst of these ruins, and even that the farmers of the environs had anything to sell; but my host told me that scarcely anything was brought to this market but cattle from distant districts; on the other hand, although no one had yet done anything to repair the disasters of the war, the amnesty was nearly terminated by general Hoche, and if republican soldiers were still found in the country, it was that they might keep down the chouans (a contraction of the word chat-huant, a screech-owl; a title iven to parties of Vendéeans, and afterwards to bands ormed for plunder, who ravaged the western part of France subsequently to 1793, and were called by this name, because like owls they came out only at night),who were becoming formidable, : I went to the market carly the next day, and thinking to take aay ontage of it, I accosted a cattie-dealer, whose face was familiar to me, asking him to listen to me for amoment. He looked at me with distrust, taking me probably for a spy, but I hastened to relieve his suspicions, elling him that it was only a personal affair. e then entered a hovel where they sold brandy, and I then told him that having deserted from the 36th demi-brigade to see ny parents, who lived at Paris, 1 was desirous of get- ting some situation which would allow me to reach m destination without fear of arrest, This good fellow tol me that he had no situation to offer me, but that if I would drive a drove of oxen as far as Sceaux, I might go with him. No proposal was ever accepted with more readiness, and Y autored on my duties instantly, anxious to show my new master all the return I could testify for his kindness, In the afternoon he sent me to carry a letter to a person in the town, who asked me if my master to take an back with me; I said no, mind,” said the person, who was, I believe, a notary, ‘‘take him this ag with three hundred francs."’ I de- e cattle-dealer, to whom my punctu- ality gave confidence. We set out next day, and on the third morning, my master calling to me, said, “ Louis, The N ew York Library _ ere ee ~~—- —--— --—— + can you write?’’—“ Yes, sir.” ‘ Reckon?’—“ Yes, sir." ‘* Keep an account?*’—*“ Yes, sir.”’—‘' Ah, well; as I must go out of the road to see some lean beasts, at St. Gau urge, you will drive the oxen on to Paris, with Jacques and Saturnin; you will be head man."’ He then gave me his instructions and left us. By reason of my advancement, I no longer traveled on foot, which was a great relief to me; for the drivers of cattle are always stifled with the dust, or up to their knees in mud, which increases as they proceed. I was, besides, better paid and better fed, but | did not abuse these advantages, asI saw many other head droyers do on the journey. Whilst the food of the animals was con- verted by them into pullets, or legs of mutton, or ex- changed with the innkeepers, the poor brutes grew visibly | thinner, I behaved myself most faithfully, so that joining us at Verneuil, my master, who had preceded us, complimented me on the state of the drove, On reaching Sceaux, my beasts were worth twenty francs a-head more than any Bagne of Rochfort, The, were | Others, and I had spent ninety francs less than my com- disguise; and when su per had panions fer my traveling expenses. My master, enchant- ed, made me a present of forty francs, and cited me as the Aristides of cattle drovers, and I was in some sort quite an object of admiration at the market of Sceaux, and, in return, my colleagues would willingly have knocked me on the head, One of them, a chap of Lower Normandy, famed for strength and skill, endeavored to disgust me with my avocation by taking upon himself to inflict the popular vengeance upon me; but what could such a clumsy bem, do against the pupil of the renowned Goupel!l The Low Norman cried craven, after one of the most memorable boxing matches of which the inhabn- ants of a fat cattle market ever preserved a remembrance. sas conquest was the more glorious, as I had testifi_.d much forbearance, and had only consented to fight when it would have been impossible to ayoid it, My master, more and more satisfied with me, wished absolutely to engage me fora year, as foreman, promising me a small share of the profits. Lbad received no news of my moth. er; and here I found resources which I was about to seek at Paris; and, besides, my new dress disguised me so much that I felt no fear of detection in my frequent ex- cursions to Paris. 1 passed, in fact, many persons of my acquaintance, who pare no attention to me. But one eve- ning as I was passing along the Rue Dauphine, to get to the Barriére d’Enfer, some one tapped me on the shoulder, My first thought was to run for it, without turning round, being aware that, whoever thus stops yon, relies on your looking back to seize you; but a stoppage of carriages choked up the passage. I therefore waited the result, and in a twinkling discovered that it was a false alarm. The person who had so much alarmed me was no other than Villedieu,the captain of the 13th chasseurs, with whom I had been intimately acquainted at Lille. Al- though surprised to see me with a hat covered with waxed cloth, a smock-frock, and leathern gaiters, he testified much pleasure at the meeting, and invited me to supper, saying that he had some marvelous narratives to tell me. He was not in his uniform, but this did not astonish me, as the oflicers commonly wore common clothes when stay ing in Paris, What strack me most was his uneasy air and excessive paleness. As he expressed a wish to suy out of the barriers, we took a coach which conveyed us tc Sceaux, On reaching the Grand Cerf, we asked for a private room, We were scarcely served with what we asked for when Villedieu, double-locking the door and putting the key in his pocket, said to me, with tears in his eyes, and with a wild air, ‘‘My friend, I am alost man! lost! un done! Iam pursued, and you must get me a habit similar to your own. If you want it, | have money, plenty of money, and we will start for Switzerland together, ] know your skill at escapes, and you, and you only, can extricate me,” This commencement did not piece me upon a seat of velvet: already much embarrassed myself, I did not much care to place myself again in the way of being apprehend. ed, and to unite my fortunes with those of aman hotly pursued might lead to my detection. This reasoning, which I made to myself, decided me on being wary wit Villedieu; besides, as yet I did not know exactly whe: he wished to do, At Lille, I had seen him spending much more than his pay; but a young and handsome officer has 80 many Ways of procuring money that no one thinks any harm of that. I was then greatly astonished at the fol. lowing details, “IT will not speak to you of those circumstances in m life which preceded your acquaintance with me; it will suffice lo say, that as brave and intelligent as most, and backed with good interest, I found myself at the age of thirty-four, a captain of chasseurs, when 1 met you at Lille, at the Café de la Montagne. There I associated with an .ndividual whose honest appearance prepossessed me in his favor, and our intimacy ripened into so close a friendship that he introduced me to his house, It was one replete with comfort avd elegance, and I received every attention and token of amity; so good a fellow was M. Lemaire, so charming a woman was Madame Lemaire, A jeweler, traveling about with his articles of trade. he made frequent absences of six or eight days; but still 1 visited his wife, and es may guess that 1 soon became her lover. Lemaire did not perceive it, or would not per. ceive it. I led, to be sure, a most agreeable life, when one morning I found Josephine in tears. Her husband, she told me, had just been apprehended, with his clerk, for having sold unstamped plate, and as it was probable that his house would soon be visited, all its contents must be speedily removed. The most valuable goods were then L gareast in my portmanteau, and conveyed to my lodgings, osophine then entreated me to go to Courtrai, where the influence of my rank might be of avail to her husband, I did not hesitate for a moment, for so deeply was I enam- ored of this woman that I would have given up the exer- cise of my faculties if I did not think as she thought, and wish what she wished, eta ing obtained my colonel’s permission, I sent for horses and a post chaise, and set out with the e