The False Chevalier Read online

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  THE

  FALSE CHEVALIER

  OR

  The Lifeguard of Marie Antoinette

  BY

  W. D. LIGHTHALL

  F. E. GRAFTON & SONS

  MONTREAL

  1898

  _This Edition is intended for circulation only in the Dominion ofCanada._

  THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES_After the contemporary acquarelle by Portail._]

  (_All rights reserved_)

  To

  CYBEL, MY WIFE,

  THE SWEET COMPANION AND CRITICOF MY LABOURS ONTHIS BOOK

  CONTENTS

  CHAP.

  I. THE FUR-TRADER'S SON

  II. GERMAIN IN FRANCE

  III. THE INNKEEPER'S LESSON

  IV. THE CASTLE OF QUIET WATERS

  V. MONSIEUR DE REPENTIGNY

  VI. EPERGNES AND WAX-LIGHTS

  VII. "THE LEAP IS TAKEN"

  VIII. THE ABBE'S DISASTER

  IX. A PHILOSOPHER BEHIND HORSE-PISTOLS

  X. THE GALLEY-ON-LAND

  XI. THE COURT

  XII. GERMAIN GOES TO PARIS

  XIII. A JAR IN ST. ELPHEGE

  XIV. THE OLD-IRON SHOP

  XV. THE BEGGARS' BALL

  XVI. BROKEN ON THE WHEEL

  XVII. THE SAVING OF LA TOUR

  XVIII. MADAME L'ETIQUETTE

  XIX. THE COMMISSION

  XX. DESCAMPATIVOS

  XXI. THE SHADOW OF THE GOLDEN DOG

  XXII. THE SECRET OUT

  XXIII. THE EXECUTIONER OF DESTINY

  XXIV. A CURIOUS PROFESSION

  XXV. FACING THE MUSIC

  XXVI. A DUEL

  XXVII. JUDE AND THE GALLEY

  XXVIII. ANOTHER DUEL

  XXIX. THE LETTRE DE CACHET

  XXX. THE HEAVENS FALL

  XXXI. ONE DEFENDER

  XXXII. A STRONG PROOF

  XXXIII. THE REGISTER OF ST. GERMAIN-DES-PRES

  XXXIV. AT QUEBEC

  XXXV. AT ST. ELPHEGE

  XXXVI. AT MONTREAL

  XXXVII. ONCE MORE THE SWORD

  XXXVIII. THE RECORD

  XXXIX. THE MARQUIS'S VISITOR

  XL. AN UNEXPECTED ALLIANCE

  XLI. A POOR ADVOCATE

  XLII. A HARD SEASON

  XLIII. BACK AT EAUX TRANQUILLES

  XLIV. SELF-DEFENCE

  XLV. THE NECESSITIES OF CONDITION

  XLVI. THE PATRIOTS

  XLVII. THE DEFENCE OF THE BODYGUARD

  XLVIII. SISTERS DEATH AND TRUTH

  XLIX. CIVIC VIRTUE

  L. JUDGMENT DAY

  LI. LOVE ENDURETH ALL THINGS

  LII. THE SUPREME EXACTITUDE

  LIII. RETRIBUTION ACCOMPLISHED

  PREFATORY NOTE

  This story is founded on a packet of worm-eaten letters and documentsfound in an old French-Canadian house on the banks of the St. Lawrence.The romance they rudely outline, its intrigues, its brilliancy ofsurroundings, its intensity of feelings, when given the necessarytouches of history and imagination, so fascinated the writer that theresult was the present book. A packet of documents of course is not anovel, and the reader may be able to guess what is mine and what islikely to have been the scanty limit of the original hint.

  The student of history will recognise my debt to many authorities; amongwhom the chief are Paul Lacroix and Taine. I wish it distinctlyunderstood that the person attacked in the documents in question is notthe hero of this narrative.

  W. D. L.

  THE FALSE CHEVALIER