Tales of humour and romance

Front matter

mm

Wmmll

\llmwnv

Contents

PAGE

MADAME DE SCUDERT, by E. T. Hoffman, 1

THE DISHONOURED IRRECLAIMABLE, by

Chapter I

O mirk, mirk, is this midnight hour, And loud the tempests roar;

A waefu' wanderer seeks thy tower, Lord Gregory ope thy door.

In the Rue St Honore till lately stood the small house wherein Magdalene Scuderi (celebrated for her beautiful verses) lived under the patronage of Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon.

About midnight, it might be in the autumn of the year 1680, there was beard a loud and violent knocking at the door of this house, which echoed through hall and passages. Baptiste, who in Madame Scudens small establishment acted as cook, lackey, and porter, had gone with the permission of his mistress to the country, to celebrate the marriage of his sister, and it so happened that Maria the chambermaid was the only person awake in the house. She heard the oft repeated knockings at the door, and it immediately occurred to her, that Baptiste was absent and that she remained the sole protector of herself and mistress. All the cruelties of thieves, robbers, and murderers, which were then so prevalent in Paris rushed to her remembrance, and it appeared to her highly probable that it might be a party of assassins aware of the unprotected and lonely situation of the house that were now making the noise, and who if admitted would execute some base design upon her mistress. Maria therefore remained in her chamber trembling and in despair, at the same time vowing vengeance upon Baptiste and his sister's marriage.

The knocker meanwhile thundered louder and louder, while in the intervals Maria thought she heard a voice crying, " For the love of God, open the door ! open the door!" Trembling with anxiety she seized hold of a candlestick with a burning taper and ran out to the passage, — there she distinctly heard the voice of the disturber of her rest, exclaiming. " For heaven's sake open the door, — open the door !" In this strain thought the maid no robber speaks ; who knows but it may be some persecuted wretch who seeks the protection of my mistress who is well known to delight in generous actions, but I must be cautious !

Maria therefore opened a window and cried down, " Who knocks so loud at this unseasonable hour, awaking every one from their sleep?" while she gave to her deep voice as much of the manly character as was possible.

In the glimmer of the moonbeams which then broke through the dark clouds she beheld a tall figure, muffled in a light grey mantle with a broad slouched hat drawn down so far as to shade eyes and countenance. She now called with a louder voice, so that it might be heard by the person below, " Baptiste, Claude, Pierre, rise and see what villain attempts to break into the house!" Immediately upon this a soft and lamentable voice answered from below, " Alas Maria, I know full well it is you, notwithstanding the vain attempt to disguise your voice, I know too, that Baptiste has gone to the country and that you remain at home alone with your lady — only trust me, open the door and fear nothing; I must needs speak with your mistress this very moment." " Do you imagine," replied the chambermaid, " that you could speak with my lady at this untimely hour ; you must know she has long since gone to sleep, and that I would not waken her upon any account from the first sweet slumber which her years so much require."

" I know," replied the stranger, " I know that your lady has but this very moment laid aside the manuscript of her novel Clelia, at which she incessantly and anxiously labours, and is just now writing down some verses of it which she intends reading over to Madame de Maintenon to-morrow morning. I beseech you Maria have compassion on me and open the door; — know that it is no smaller matter than to save a wretch from destruction, know that honour, liberty, even the very life of a man depend upon my speaking to your lady this moment. Consider too, that your mistress would never forgive you should she be informed, that it was you who with hard-hearted cruelty drove from her door the wretched creature who came to implore her assistance."

" But why do you claim the compassion of my mistress at this unusual hour, come back early to-morrow ;" this said Maria from above, while it was answered from below, — " Think ye that Fate can pause and suit itself to time and hours, when like the thunderbolt it is about to strike, — if there be but one moment left for salvation dare it be posponed ? — Open the door and fear nothing from a miserable, helpless creature, forsaken by the whole world, pursued and hunted by a horrid destiny, — who wishes to implore your lady to save him from a threatened danger.

Maria perceived that while the unknown uttered those words, he gave a deep groan as if from violent sorrow, and at the same time the tone of the voice resembled that of a youth deeply yet softly penetrating to the heart. She felt moved, and without further consideration went for the keys.

The door was scarcely opened when the mantlemuffled figure rushed impetuously forward, and cried with a commanding and frantic voice while stepping past the maid into the hall ; " Conduct me to your lady !" In the greatest consternation Maria raised the candlestick, and the rays of the taper fell upon the countenance of a youth that was deadly pale and frightfully distorted, and the maid's terror was assuredly not diminished when the young man threw open his mantle and her eye caught the bright handle of a stiletto peeping out of his bosom. The man darted at her his sparkling eyes and cried in a tone of greater agitation, " Conduct me to your lady — this instant conduct me to your lady!"

Maria now imagined her worthy lady in the greatest danger; the profound respect and ardent attachment which she had so long entertained for one who had treated her so kindly, burned now more strongly than ever in her affectionate bosom, and produced a courage which she herself never once dreamt of possessing. She hastily shut the door of the chamber which had been left open, placed herself before it, and said with energy and firmness, "your intemperate conduct in the house accords indeed badly with your lamentable wailings when on the outside, which as I now observe, have awakened at an evil hour my sympathy and compassion; — with my lady you neither shall nor can speak at present, and provided you have no evil design and fear not to meet the light of day, come to-morrow and tell her what you are now so anxious to relate ; but at present I beg you will quit the house."

The man gave a deep sigh, stared at the girl with a terrifying look and seized hold of his stiletto. Maria secretly recommended her soul to heaven, but remained stedfast, looked the man boldly in the face, and pressed herself closer to the door of the chamber through which he must needs go to reach the apartment of her mistress.

" Let me go to your lady I tell you," reiterated the stranger.

"Do what you please," rejoined Maria, " I shall not stir from this spot; execute the foul deed which you have begun, and you will also find a shameful death on the Place de Greve, like your villanous companions."

" Ha," exclaimed the man, " you are right, Maria, you are right, I do appear armed like a robber and assassin, but my companions are not judged — are not executed!" While saying so he drew from his bosom the dagger and cast a withering look at the terrified woman.

" Merciful God!" cried Maria, expecting the deadly thrust, but at that moment the clash of arms and the trampling of horses were heard in the street. " The police, the police ! — help, help !" cried the maid.

" Unfeeling woman! you wish my destruction — all is over, all is over — take, take — give this to your lady this very night; to-morrow if you please." The man lowly murmuring pulled the candlestick from the girl's grasp, extinguished the taper, and pressed a small casket into her hands. " For heaven's sake give this casket to your mistress," cried the man and rushed from the house.

Maria who had fallen to the ground, arose with difficulty and groped back to her chamber, where quite exhausted and incapable of speech, she sank upon a chair; but a few seconds had not elapsed before a noise with the keys which she had left in the street door, attracted her attention ; the door was then locked and at length light uncertain footsteps approached her room. Immoveably fixed and speechless from terror, she awaited her frightful fate, but how changed were her feelings when the door opened and at the first glance she recognised the faithful Baptiste, who, looking deadly pale and full of consternation, exclaimed on entering, " By all the saints, tell, Maria, what

has happened ; oh my anxiety, my deadly anxiety

I do not know what it was, but something impelled me, irresistibly, to leave the marriage feast yesterday evening, and so I came to our street, and there I thought to myself Maria is easily awakened, she will hear though I but tap at the street door, and will admit me ; but at that moment a strong patrole of horse and foot, armed to the teeth, siezed me and would not permit me to proceed. Most fortunately Desgrais, the Lieutenant of Police, who knows me well, recognised me as a lantern was held before my face and said, ' Aha! Baptiste, how are you in the street at this hour of the night? You should remain in the house to protect it ; it is dangerous to be found here at this hour, — we expect to seize a good prize to-night/ You cannot conceive how these words struck me; and then when I step upon the threshold and encounter a disguised man, with a bare stiletto in his hand, who, in his hurry to escape, whirles me round and round ; the house open, the keys in the lock, — tell me, tell me, Avhat all this betokens?''

Maria in some measure relieved from her fearful anxiety, related what had happened. Both went into the hall and found the candlestick on the ground where the stranger had flung it on quitting the house.

" It is but too true/' said Baptiste, " that our lady would have been robbed if not murdered ; the man knexv, as you have said, that you were alone with our mistress, and knew likewise, that she was still awake over her works ; probably he was one of those execrable villains who introduce themselves into the interior of houses, cunningly spying every thing that may serve for the furtherance of their diabolical purposes ; and the small casket, Maria, I think we ought to throw into the deepest part of the Seine. Who is our guarantee that this fellow may not in some way or other aim at to the life of our respected mistress ; that she, opening the casket, may not fall down dead, as the old Marquis of Tournay did whilst merely opening a letter from an unknown hand?"

The faithful servants after consulting for a long time, determined at last to relate every thing on the morrow to their mistress, and to present her also with the mysterious casket, which with due caution, might be safely opened. Both weighing every circumstance connected with the appearance of the suspicious stranger, thought that such a mystery upon which they dared not decide, on their own judgment, should, at least, be concealed from the world, and they determined to leave it entirely to be discovered by their mistress.

CHAPTER II. Put this in any liquid thing you will

And drink it off; and, if you had the strength

Of twenty men, it would despatch you straight.

There were good grounds for Baptiste's worst suspicions. At that very moment Paris was the theatre of the most diabolical outrages, for it was then that a fatal proficiency in art, gave to wickedness the easiest and safest means for accomplishing its purposes.

Glaser, a German apothecary, the best chemist of his time, busied himself, as was usual with persons of his science, in the study of alchymy ; he entertained the foolish hope with others like himself, of discovering the philosopher's stone. An Italian named Exili became his associate ; however, with him the art of making gold was only a pretence. He wished merely to learn the method of preparing, mixing, and subliming stuffs of a poisonous nature, in which his master was vainly attempting to find his fancied fortune, and he succeeded at last in the preparation of that fine poison, which, without smell or taste, was productive of the most fatal consequences, and which would work either immediately or at a distant period ; a mixture which left not the slightest trace in the human body, and deceived the vigilant and scientific eye of the physician, who never dreaming of poison, was ever willing to ascribe the death which it occasioned, to some natural cause.

However cautiously Exili went to work, still he incurred the suspicion of selling deadly drugs, and he was consequently carried to the Bastile. In the same room, soon after his apprehension, was confined Captain Godin de St. Croix. This person had for a long time lived in that intimate connection with the Marchioness de Brinvillier, which brought disgrace upon her family; and while the Marquis remained totally insensible to the crimes of his lady, her father, Dreux d' Aubray, Civil Lieutenant of Paris, was forced to separate the guilty pair, by an order of arrest which was executed against the Captain. Passionate and careless of character, a contemner of religion, and a zealous pursuer of vice from his youth, vindictive and revengeful even to death, there could be nothing so

MADAME DE SCUDERI. IB

welcome to this officer as the diabolical secret of Exili, which put into his hands the means of destroying all his enemies. He became the devoted scholar of this Italian, and equalled his master so soon, that on leaving the Bastile, he was fully qualified to prosecute his art alone.

The Marchioness de Brinvillier was a woman of little principle, and under the tuition of St. Croix, became fit for any thing. He persuaded her successively to poison her father, with whom she lived, and that even while in the act of nursing him with pretended kindness ; afterwards her two brothers, and lastly her sister — the father from revenge, the others to inherit their riches.

The history of several persons who have been guilty of poisoning their fellow-creatures, convinces us of this horrid truth, that when the mind is once habituated to the idea, it becomes a powerful and irresistible passion. Without any ulterior object, but merely from a pleasure similar to that which the chemist enjoys when making experiments, have these miscreants poisoned persons whose existence or destruction was perfectly indifferent to them. The sudden death of several poor persons in the Hotel-Dieu, created afterwards suspicions that the bread which Brinvillier was accustomed to distribute weekly at that hospital, for the purpose of being regarded as a pattern of charity and piety, had heen poisoned. It is however true, that the pigeon pies which she presented to some guests whom she had invited to her house, were mixed with a deadly drug. The Chevalier de Guet and several others were the victims of this diabolical entertainment.

For a long time St. Croix, his companion La Chaussee and Brinvillier, were successful in impenetrably veiling these nefarious and diabolical deeds from justice and the world ; but what can the cunning and artfulness of even the most unprincipled accomplish, if heaven decrees that such crimes shall be judged on earth ?

The poison which St. Croix prepared was so fine, that if the powder (poudre de succession as it was called by the Parisians,) lay open during preparation, a single inhalation of it was sufficient to cause instant death. St. Croix, therefore, during his operations made always use of a fine glass masque. But it happened one day, just as he had completed the preparation and was about to put it into a phial, that this masque fell off, and having thus inhaled some of the finer particles of the poison he fell down dead upon the spot. As he died without heirs, the Government officers soon hastened to his house to attach their seals to what was left. There they found locked up in a chest, not only the whole diabolical arsenal of poisonous utensils which had been used by the vile St. Croix, but also the letters of Brinvillier, which left no doubt of her infamous transactions. She instantly fled to a nunnery in Liittich, and hither Desgrais the Lieutenant of Police was dispatched after her. Disguised as a priest he arrived and was admitted into the nunnery where she was concealed ; and having commenced a love affair with this abominable woman, he succeeded, without much persuasion in inducing her to make a secret rendezvous with him in a solitary garden out of the town. Scarcely was she arrived there, before she found herself surrounded by the assistants of Desgrais, who, changing his priestly appearance and passionate deportment into that of the Lieutenant of Police, forced her to step into the carriage which stood ready at the garden gate, and guarded by a party of the gens d'arrnerie proceeded directly to Paris.

La Chausee sometime previous to this had been beheaded, and Brinvillier suffered the same death, her body after execution being burned, and its ashes dispersed in the air. — But for a short period did the Parisians rejoice that this dreadful band of miscreants was out of the world, — a band which could direct without detection in the family circle its murderous weapons against both friend and foe, for it was soon discovered that the art of the villanous St. Croix had found heirs.

Like an invisible malicious spirit, death slipt into the closest circles, that acquaintanceship, love and friendship produce, and there seized surely and quickly the unfortunate victim. He, whom we saw to-day in blooming health, tottered on the morrow sick and languishing, and no art of the Physician could save him from the grave. Wealth — a profitable employment — a beautiful, perhaps a too youthful wife, were sure to attract the deadly draught. Frightful suspicion severed the most sacred ties. The husband trembled before his wife — the father before his son — the sister before her brother. The meal remained untouched, — the wine which one friend offered to another stood untasted on the board, and where formerly gaiety and wit resounded, bewildered and anxious looks tried to discover the hidden poison.

The fathers of families purchased the means of thensubsistence far from their homes, and got it dressed in this and that dirty cook-shop, fearing treason even in their own houses. And yet frequently the greatest caution was without avail.

The king to put a stop to the evil which was daily becoming more and more alarming, appointed a particular court, to which he committed entirely the discovery and punishment of those secret crimes. This court was the well known Chambre Ardente which held its sittings under the Bastile, and over which La Regnie reigned as president.

The labours of La Regnie with whatever zeal they might have been conducted, would have remained however much longer fruitless than they did, had it not been left to the artful Desgrais to discover the secret corner where these frightful crimes were concocted.

In the Faubourg St. Germain there lived an old woman called La Voisin, whose profession it was to tell fortunes and to raise spirits, and who, with the assistance of her associates Le Sage and Le Vigoreux, understood the mode of astonishing and terrifying persons who were neither weak nor credulous. But she understood more than this. The disciple of Exili, she manufactured like St. Croix the fine and tasteless poison, and assisted by its means profligate sons to an earlier inheritance, and unprincipled wives to younger husbands. Desgrais however discovered her secret operations, she confessed every thing, and the Chambre Ardente doomed her to the stake for crimes which she soon expiated upon the Place de Greve. A list of all the persons who had requested her assistance was found in her possession, and it so happened, that not only execution followed upon execution, but serious suspicion fell even upon individuals of the highest rank.

It was currently believed that Cardinal Bonzy, by means of La Voisin had found out a way to shorten the r existence of all those persons whom he as Archbishop "of Narbonne was obliged to pay pensions to. The Duchess de Bouillon and the Countess de Soissons, whose names were found in the list, were also accused of being connected with the secret machinations of this diabolical woman; and even Francis Henry de Montmorenci, Duke and Marshall of the kingdom, was not spared. The frightful Chambre Ardente prosecuted him, and although he presented himself instantly at the prison of the Bastile to answer to the allegations preferred against him, the hatred of Louvois and La Regnie caused him to be shut up in a dungeon not exceeding six feet in length. Months passed before those ministers of justice were forced to acknowledge that the crime of the Duke deserved no punishment. He had merely had the weakness to apply to Le Sage to have his horoscope cast.

It is but too true that blind zeal misled the President La Regnie into violence and cruelty. The tribunal assumed the character of the Inquisition, — the slightest suspicion and the most trivial delinquency led to immediate and close imprisonment, and it but too often happened that the innocence of persons which had been condemned to death, was by the merest accident discovered in time to save them from the scaffold. Besides this La Regnie had such a disgusting countenance and such a deceitful look, that he brought upon himself the hatred even of those whom he was called to protect or avenge. The Duchess de Bouillon being asked by him on her trial, whether she had seen the devil, replied, "Methinks I see him now!"

CHAPTER HI.

The trembling stars See crimes gigantic, stalking through the gloom With front erect, that hide their head by day, And making night still darker by their deeds. Slumbering in covert, till the shades descend, Rapine and Murder, link'd, now prowl for prey.

Young,

While the blood of the guilty and of the suspected flowed in streams upon the Place de Greve, a calamity of another kind appeared which created new consternation throughout the city. A band of thieves seemed to have determined on getting possession of all the valuable jewels in the capital. The rich ornament was scarcely purchased, before it disappeared, and by means too that were imperceptible. But it was still more dreadful, that every one who ventured to wear any costly gem in the evening upon the streets or in the dark passages that led to their houses were sure of being robbed, perhaps of being murdered.

The story of those who escaped with their lives was; that they were knocked down with a blow upon the head as if by a stroke of lightening, and on recovering from their stupefaction they always found themselves robbed of their jewels, and never at the spot where they had been attacked. The murdered, who were found almost every morning in the streets or in the entrances to houses, had all a similar wound ; a dagger had been thrust through their heart, and according to the opinion of physicians this had been done so quickly and so surely that the murdered person must have fallen to the ground without the power of crying for assistance, nay of even emitting the least sound.

Who was there at the gay court of Louis XIV. entangled as they all were, in the silken chains of some love intrigue, that did not slip out after sunset to the abode of his mistress carrying with him some rich present for her who at the moment monopolized all his affections? But just as if the thieves had been in league with foretelling spirits, it appeared they exactly knew when such a thing would happen. Frequently the unfortunate victim of their rapacity never reached the house where he had hoped to enjoy an hour of love and gossip, — often he fell at the threshold and even at the very chamber door of her ^vhose eye longing to meet the smiling countenance of her fond admirer was often the first to be startled by the ghastly appearance of his bloody corpse.

In vain did Argenson the minister of Police cause every one to be arrested who appeared to be in any way the object of suspicion; in vain did La Regnie rage and endeavour to extort confessions; — in vain were watchmen and patroles augmented — no trace of the perpetrators could be discovered. The caution of arming oneself to the teeth and being accompanied by a servant with a lantern was perhaps the only security against attack, but still there were examples of persons, whose servants being terrified by a shower of stones, were murdered and robbed during the temporary panic.

It was remarkable that notwithstanding the enquiries and searches that were made at every place where jewellery was bought and sold, not the most minute portion of any of the tiinkets that had been stolen was to be found, and thus even here where there was the strongest hopes of finding a clue that might lead to the detection of the robbers, not even a vestige was discovered that could clear up the horrid mystery.

Desgrais foamed with rage that the thieves were thus so long able to elude his snares. The quarter of the city wherever he happened to be present always remained undisturbed; while in the other quarters of the capital where no one suspected any danger, the assassin was sure to seek out his wealthy victims.

The Lieutenant of Police thought upon the snare of creating several Desgrais, so similar in walk, appearance, speech, figure, and countenance, that even the gens d'armes themselves should not be able to discover the real one. In the meantime he secretly watched, and at the risk of his own life did he follow alone even into the most obscure corners of the city, this or that person, who by his orders wore a rich and valuable ornament. The person was never attacked; — of this measure also it appeared that the thieves were aware. The zealous but outwitted Lieutenant was in despair.

One morning Desgrais came to La Regnie, pale, confused, and agitated.

" What news? Have you discovered any trace ?" exclaimed the President, in hasty agitation.

" Ah noble Sir 1" began Desgrais, stammering with rage, " noble Sir, yesterday night the Marquis de la Fare was attacked in my presence and in the neighbourhood of the Louvre too."

" Heaven and Earth !" shouted La Regnie for joy, — " now we have them !"

" Listen but a moment," interrupted the Lieutenant with a bitter smile, " listen but a moment to what has really happened — I stood at the Louvre in watchful anxiety ; rage burned in my bosom against those who were thus making game of me; a figure approached apparently under the influence of some dreaded fear, went close past me, but evidently without perceiving me. In the moonbeams I discovered the figure to be that of the Marquis de la Fare. I could easily account for his presence there at that hour as I knew he usually slept in that neighbourhood. He had scarcely proceeded ten or twelve paces from the dark spot I occupied when a figure sprang up as if from the ground, knocked him down, and fell upon him. Surprised at the circumstance that could deliver into my hand the murderer, I inconsiderately gave a loud cry and endeavoured by a leap from my secret corner to pounce upon him at once ; but in the act of making the exertion I got entangled in my cloak, and fell headlong upon the pavement. When I recovered my feet I beheld the man hastening away as if on the wings of the wind; I sounded my horn and pursued him, — from a distance the whistle of the gens d'armes answers my call, — all is alive, — every one in motion, — the clash of arms, the trampling of horses, is heard on every side, — this way, this way, — Desgrais, Desgrais, cried I, so loud as to be echoed back from every street."

" In the light of the moon I saw the man always before me, turning here, there, nay in every direction, in order to confuse me — at length we came into the Rue de Nicaise, and here his strength seemed to fail him — I redoubled my efforts — there were but fifteen steps betwixt us. — "

" You came up with him — you seized him — the gens d'armes were near—" cried Regnie, with eyes of fire, laying hold of the arm of Desgrais as if he were the flying murderer.