Part 10 (1/2)

END OF PART ONE

PART II

CHAPTER XIV

DOWN IN THE DEPTHS

With Henrietta condemned to the cruel fate of immurement in a prison for the fallen, the Chevalier trussed up in royal Caen, and his aunt the Countess prostrated by the hag's recapture of and disappearance with the n.o.blewoman's long-lost daughter, blind Louise, 'twould seem as if our characters faced indeed blank walls of ruin, misery and despair, from which no power could rescue them.

In those times, the utter vanis.h.i.+ng of persons who incurred police disfavor was no uncommon incident. Often no public charge was made; merely the gossiped whisper that So-and-So lay in Bastille or La Salpetriere ”at the royal pleasure,” kept the unfortunate faintly in memory till the lapse of years caused him or her to be forgotten. And, sometimes, even, at the prison gate, ident.i.ty vanished. Did not the celebrated and mysterious Man in the Iron Mask carry his baffling secret through decades of dungeon death-in-life to the prisoner's dark grave?

Others were silently transported to exile overseas. As England had her Botany Bay, so France had Louisiana. Let us take a glance at La Salpetriere (as Henriette is being dragged there by Count de Linieres'

troopers) to look at the sights and scenes of the famous female prison, and contemplate what the inmates had in store.

There was no interesting toil to relieve their unhappy lot, and no distinction was made of the insane, the law-breaking criminal, and the wretched streetwalker or demimondaine. In the courtyard, during the exercise periods, the only talk was of the terms of imprisonment and of the chances of Louisiana. In that gray monotony the ministrations of the charitable Sisters, headed by the saintly Sister Genevieve (who had been born within the walls of the prison), furnished the one bright spot.

”Do not grieve so!” said one of the older inmates who had begged a little needlework, to a novice who was seated on a bench, weeping convulsively with her head in her arms.

”Oh, I can never live such a life as this!” replied the poor girl, giving way to new grief.

”Try to do something or other, 'twill make you forget your troubles.”

”I've never done anything in my life--except amuse myself!” replied the ex-grisette.

”That would be precious hard work in this place,” said a third speaker, who had pa.s.sed several years of the dreary inactions of prison life.

”Well, anyhow, I've had my fling!” remarked the newcomer, drying her eyes. ”Scores of admirers crowded around me, willing to ruin themselves for my amus.e.m.e.nt--” she said in a vivacious manner, as she recalled her past triumphs.

”And it all peters down to prison, eating gruel with a wooden spoon,”

said the cynical old-timer; ”then, some day, we shall be treated as those poor creatures were yesterday--hurried off with a guard of soldiers to see us safe on our weary exile--”

”Does the idea of exile frighten you?”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF THE BEAUTIES OF THE GARDEN FETE OF BEL-AIR.]

”Who would not be frightened at the idea of being led off amid insults and jeers--condemned to a two months' voyage in the vilest company--and at the end of it be landed in a wild country to face the alternatives of slavery or a runaway into the savage swamps?”

”Plenty of work to relieve monotony--”

”They say women are scarce out there in Louisiana. Perhaps I shall get a husband, and revenge myself on the male creation that way--”

Their speculations were cut short by the entry of a squad of troopers literally dragging tiny Henriette Girard within the prison walls. Cold and unfeeling at best, these men had no sympathy with their young charge whom they naturally believed to be one of the harpies or half-wits caught in the police dragnet. They thrust her mid the crowd in the courtyard and departed. The great iron doors clanged shut. The gatekeeper turned the ma.s.sive key. Henriette--without a friend in the world to appeal to--was an inmate of dread La Salpetriere!

Like a flock of magpies the imprisoned demi-mondaines, petty thieves, and grosser criminals for love or for hate, crowded around the girl, inquiring what offence had brought her amongst them.